738 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May I, 1894. 
information) &ni the intervimers often goont, feeliag 
that they have been interviewed. 
OocoA. — The news that the Gaayaquil crop 
estimates are redaced will be somewhat comforting 
to the Oe^lon grower, for really the present position 
of prices is too awful. If the cocoa land, lately, 
planted, is worth anything, we will have a large 
increase in our Ceylon exports in two or three years. 
Dh. Trimen's Report for 1893 is interesting read- 
ing. He gives the Borneo planter a leg-np in the 
matter of gambler, and he says a word of encourage- 
ment to the Liberian coffee planter in the New 
Ceylon. 
Fire Insurance Offices. — 80 the "Economic" is 
in liquidation or amalgamation, which does not offer 
much encouragement to the non-tariff style of doing 
bosinesB. In looking over some of the Tea Companies' 
accounts, one is rather struck with the small 
bonuses, the bonus-paying offices give to their clients. 
♦ 
COFFEE CULTIVATION IN JAVA. 
From a reliable source it is reported that the 
newly -appointed inspector. Dr. Barck, who has made 
an investigation about the compulsory coffee culti- 
vation in Java, does not consider the condition so 
gloomy as was generally presumed. In CentralJava 
the prospects are not encouraging, and in many 
districts there the Government will have to give up 
the cultivation, as has been done already in the 
districts of Bantam and Japara. However, in Eastern 
Java, and especially in Probolingo and Bezoekie, 
there is an abundance of magnificent ground suit- 
able for the cultivation of coffee, and also in the 
Preanger districts the soil is certainly not exhausted. 
Dr. Burck seems to be a strong promoter of the 
system of granting an extra payment for the opening 
and mainteoanee of coffee lands, besides the price 
paid for produce iehveied.— Straits Budget, Marcn20. 
THE KWANTO TEA ASSOCIATION. 
The Kwanto Tea Aasooiatiou — our readera will 
remember thit the Kwanij, Kwaugei, and Kiuf>ha 
Associations have combined to form one great guild- 
is to have its oentraloffioe ia Yokohama, and will send 
agents abroad f.ir the purpose of " extending the 
market for Japanese tea." From this we infer that 
the members of the Assoc'ation have undertaken the 
pursuit of that ignis fatuus, direct export. We 
recommend them to pause. Every Japtnese who ha* 
hitherto essayed that experiment did bat serve to 
illustrate the familiar fable of tbe man that went out 
for wool and came home shorn. Tbe tea trade, too, 
of all bu8ine% is le»8t capable of being suooessfully 
exploited by amateurs. There is not tbe slightest 
chance for Japanese in sucb work unless they act 
in cooperation with foreigneia. Tbe time may oome, 
probably will oome, when they will be able to dispense 
with all extraneous aid, but for the present nothing 
of tbe kind is possible withoat heavy lost. — Japan 
Weekly Mail. 
EAST AFRICAN COFFEE PLANTATIONS. 
Favorable reports, says a Loudon contemporary, 
have been received during the past year from aU the 
plantations in German East Africa. The coffee 
plantations on the highlands in Usambara have been 
eepeaially successful. The German East African 
Oompany report, with regard to their plantations 
at Derems and N«cueIo, in the Hinterland of Tanga, 
that they now have 160,000 coffee trees in good 
condition, and soon hope to send samples to 
Europe. Experiments have also been made with 
tea, oocos, and cardamoms. At Muoa, the 
most northerly inlet of the German coast, the 
Sast African Company have established a coconut 
palm plantation. On Jone 7th last a new Company, 
the Usambara Coffee Plantation Oompany, was 
formed in Berlin, and has already begun operations 
on suitable land b«;ond TangHi. Anotb«c UQdert«k> 
ing proposes to grow sugar in tbe Panfcani valley, 
aad estAblisb facturies for its manipulatioo, with a 
view to exporting it to Zanzibar anl Indit. A former 
planter in Sumatr*, Mr. Johu Scbroder, baa be>n 
tikeu iato Goverumeni eervioe a« an expert to io- 
Btruct tbo natives in t'ae cultivation of profitable 
colonial products. — Ameriean Grocer. 
, ^ 
MICA AND RUBBER. 
Tbe importance of tbe Mica industry is sometbmg 
that few people sppre'-i*te, especially to the extent to 
which it touches tbe rubber trade. Some twelve years 
agu it was almost wholly utilised by stove manufac- 
tarerA fur pinelling the door* of rtoves and farnaces. 
Of late jeirs, however, the chief f<ctor in its increasing 
demand has been its mKulating properties. For ar- 
matures it is (aid to be superior to any substsnoe 
known. The reaajts for tttie ar« : itsgreai bar lnees, 
which prevents its wearing a«ay under tbe action of 
the brushes ; the ease witb which its structure may 
be divided into very fine layers of aniform tbiokoeas, 
and its faculty for standing high temperatures without 
being affectel at all, For infuiatiog purposes a oement 
is >Dadi of finely pulverised Mica, compounded with 
rubber, and out witb beozine, or it may be simply a dry 
dough of tubberand Mioa which is moulded aud vuloa- 
nise.l. Aside from this it is used lorroohog purpose*, 
aud for waterproof acd fireproof coverings, in which 
rubber, tar, caovas, and other mtterials are u<ed ia 
connection with it. Tbe best Mica oomes from Csnada, 
in the vioioity of Qoebec. In 1892, 855.000 worth wan 
imported to tbe Uuited States, and it ia said fer 1893 
over $100,000 worth came this way. Consi ierable is 
mined in the United States, bat tbe Canadian ix ra- 
pidly driving it out of tbe fie. d. It is said thitt a hot 
water valve, made of rubber and Mict, forms one of 
tt^e most lasting compounds known.— /tu^ta Ru-ftber 
Journal, 
COCONUT CRACKING OR SPLITTING 
MACHINE. 
The splitting of coconuts has hitherto been 
done in the moHt primiiive manner, the husk being 
burst open by short tteel rods thruit into it and 
tbe shell being afterwards cracked by a heavy ham- 
mer or weight. This old-fashioaed and ted ou« method 
ia now completely superseded by a new machine which 
is being manafictured and introJuced by the Ceres 
Iron Works, Limited, of Kiogtton-on-Tbames. By 
the use of this machine the nut with husk, as gathered 
from the tree, is simply dropped into tbe hopper, 
fixed above tbe revolving dises, which are kepi 
continually in motion, aad by their peculiar design draw 
down the nut, at tbe same time splitting it into three 
parts; the husk ii then io a convenient form passed 
to the fibre mills, and the kernel is ready for 
removal for oil making. The machine will, it is 
claimed do its work as quick as the hopper can be 
fed, so that a great saving of time is effected, 
removing the risk of the oil turning rancid from 
long exposure to the sun during the tedious opera- 
tion of hand-splitting. These machines are made in 
two forms, one beiog arranged for fixing to the floor of 
factory, fitted with fast and loose pulleys fur and 
driven, by steam, water, or cattle power, and the other 
being provided with travelling wheels and draw- 
handle for moving from place to place on the estate 
and working by hand power. The machines have 
been found by actual experience on coconut estates, 
to work most efficiently, one machine being sufficient 
for a factory acouslomed to work up 8,0 JO to 10,000 
nuts per At,y,— Fiji Times. 
TEA IMPOSTURES. 
Over in England, the land where tbe tea cup ri- 
vals the' beer glass, it seems that tea has been dis- 
covered eoQtamiosted with lead ; andonbtedly from 
