774 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May I, 1894. 
your late sec ior along wilh Mr. Ganimie of the 
Government Ciuchoiii Plantation at Darjpeliog. 
Mr. Hyslop w.13 then in charge of the icesta Valley 
Tea Pliutatioi), but he hua been pHshinj< TeaB iu New 
Zeulani] for the last 10 yeur^. Oe}loa lets ace not 
beiiif; kept up to the mark ; they are not bo guod 
aa they were a few years ago. This is to be re- 
(jre'.ted and it is bounJ to hurt the «ale find curtail 
the demand for Oeylou TeaB. Plunlers ought and 
must keep up the quality in order tu retain the r<>0(1 
Dame Ce J Ion teas have acquired in run PAsr," 
VARIOUS AGRICULTURAL NOTES. 
Travancore Tea. — We have seen a Colombo 
erperl's report on eome of the tea whioh is shut 
out from the Oolooibo market which, uith the 
aooompauying valuations, Bbould make many a 
Ceylon proprietor's mouth water ! Tra\'tiucoie 
platiters are evidently bent on turning out bttlir 
teas. 
The Kel.\ni Vallky Tka AssoouTiON.— The 
sbarehoIderH iu this Goiapany have certainly 
to be congratulated that, notwithstaudlug a 
bad year, their Directors are able to di clare 
the usual dividend of 15 per cent. The fir.st 
quarter of this year has also been a poor one 
in the Valley ; but at present all is favourable. 
The Wannara.jah Company Shakeholdeus — 
are very luoky in the prospect of an unexpsotedly 
good eoiiee crop : the experienced Manager thinks 
there may be as many as 2,000 bushels nalliercd 
of what may be called the "precious btrry" — a very 
handsome wiudfall. The lea ia comiof,' 011 well 
too ; but the shareholders will be Eorry at the 
prospect of losing the services of their ManaRPr, 
Mr. W. Taylor, as he is likely to be goinK homo 
iu June for au indciinite period. 
Cevlon Tea at the Chicago ]''xiiibition. — 
We have got into the habit in Ceylon of speaking 
loosely (and largely) about the £30,000 this 
Colony has spent to advertise her tea at Chicago 
against £7,500 on the part of Indian plaiiter.i. 
But it will be seen now that the net expendi- 
ture by the Ceylon planters for their tea is 
about £10,000 ; another £10,000 being spent from 
the General Revenue on bebulf of other Products 
and Industries of the Colony gemrally. 
Improvements in Tea Making. Au ex- 
perienced planter writes : — 
" I am interested in Bamber'a book on tea. I 
would not be surprised though the old China system 
of steaming 'green leaf before rolling instead of dry 
withering may not be taken up some time." 
But is not this very much what our Chota Nagpore 
correspondent advocates in his "Silo" tystem, 
the keeping of the juices in the leaf ? We are 
glad to say that a careful tiial of the " Silo " 
syetem is to be given by a shrewd Ceylon planter 
and the result reported to us. 
Impkoved Tea-making and Better Prices. — 
We call attention to the letter signed " 1874" 
whioh is from an Indian tea planter of 20 
years experience and who, in writing to us from 
Northern India, affords a good many reflections 
as well as suggestious of interest to bis brother 
planters. Ii is quite clear that wo are eEtering on 
a period of disouBsion and experiment in reference 
to improvements in tea-making, and we expect the 
next decade will witness a considerable chaogo iu this 
department, as well, perhaps, as iu certain branches 
of ouUivation. Hitherto our engineers have been 
busy Bolving, tor the planter, the problem of coping 
with large and increasing quantities of "leaf." This 
has now been disposed of, and we may hence- 
forward expect their aid, aa well as that of others 
interested, in experimenting towards " improved 
tea-making." 
The Cocoa Crop oI Partmaribo, ia the Netber 
landc, Guiana last year, was a remarkable oat 
beipR more than the total output of the prt vioui 
two years, ard exceeding the production of any 
other one year within the last decade. 
Bug on CcFrEE is being attackel on one of iLa 
estates near Coonoor by spraying inseoiicides 00 
the bushes. The machine used ie ona of V«r- 
morel's Eclair knapsack spraying pumpti, in vtry 
grett favour on the ('cnlint-nt and at hoLue for 
UiC in orchardp. We trust icon to bt able to give 
remits. — South of India Obxerver. 
ConEosivE Fungicides. — The KiujI-hIi Me< ha- 
nic. reports that 'h; use tf poisonous or corrosive 
fft:is as fungicides or insect desiroyei.s on plants is 
found to be almost as bad as the disease in suiae 
instances where the application has been made in a 
rather oarek-ss manner, bulphale of copper abould 
be applied only in webk solution to the foliage 
and then, when mxed wiih lime. In varioii« 
partH— this country, America and India — patalofs 
liav^ been practically destroyed by the alroog 
remidy and in th« reports «! the Stale Agricultural 
College, Miohi<^an, it is reported that lh«» joieom 
used in spraying such as the salts of copper and of 
arsenic, were found in ihe fruits —in small quaniiiies 
only of course. Dr. Kcdzi'j who made the analybes 
at the Michigan College, considers that the quantity 
of poison used is much in excees of the amount 
ineeded 10 Betas a fungicide and poibonoub salt 
should not be used at all when the frui- is ripening. 
ToD.\cco Cdltivatios in In1)I4. — Attempting the 
cultivation and curing of tobacco for ihu tiiut 
lime last svafon, the authoriiiea of the Kibpur 
Kxpc rinieotal Farm sowed in addition to some 
ordinary country varietiet the ic-od of Beveral GoKr 
f( r. ign kinds — Havana, Virginian and Kentuok. 
The sefd of thn last two varitties f»ileii to ger- 
minate. Th^ Havana &nd the country varieties 
came up well, an i uxrc plentifully iiiinuri d with 
saltpetre and sulphate of po ash, both of which 
supply potaiih, tin ingredient in which Indian 
tobacco is Slid t3 be deficient, und which iu 
r. quired in larger proportion to mak it bum 
well. All of them gave a good return, and though 
tie - had not been tested when the report of the 
txptriment was made, the country varieties »ere 
expfcted to show an improvement in quality. 
The Havana appeared to be mild and swet't in 
flavour, and was to be made up into cigars, 
and Eont out to be appri 'ted by competent 
authority.— Pioneer. 
LiPTON AND Tea. — Correspondents deal very 
freely with Mr. Liptou's name, business and 
reputatiou in our columns, one who sends 
the letter from London protesting against his 
having the Tea Kiosk, writes to usseparately :— 
"Though it may toaud paradoxical, nothing has 
doDo more harm to the interests of Ceylon plai.terg 
iu England than the L'ptonian boom, at the same 
time CO man can do more good to them in America 
if he (Lipton) cau develop the taste for cheap blaek 
teas, Ceylon, Indian or Jiva it matters not what. The 
Yankees won't drink good tea to any extent; if they 
c^a be got to take to black teas they will have them 
of the lower kinds aiid that is what we want to get 
r J of here. I knew several of the best friends 
Ce .lon tea has had in Eoglaud who have been strag- 
t^liiig to keep up quality buying tea at la, in bond 
and selling at Is. lOd. which after paying rent, wage«, 
duty, packing and carriage leaves bat little piofit but 
who liave bec-u nearly crushed out by the great ad- 
vettizfr." 
But is our correspondent aware, we would 
ask, of the great need for improvement in the 
Colombo ' Tea Kiosk ' and of the fact that ' Lip- 
ton' is willing to submit for test, the teas he 
will sell here— all " pure Ceylons." 
