Aug. i, 1894.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
l J5 
EXPORT DUTY ON COFFEE FROM 
SELANGOR. 
A notice dated 7th May 1894, has been issued 
to the effect that a duty of 1^ per cent will be 
levied on the gross value of coffee exported on and 
after the 1st day of July 1894. This duty will bo 
collected ai Kuala Lumpur, Klaug Kuala Selangor, 
Sabak Bernam, Kuala Langat and Sepang, as is uow 
done in the case of other exports ; and the usual 
charge of two cents per pikul will be made for weighing. 
Uutil further notice the average value for all coffee 
will be taken as $40 per pikul, and duty at the 
rate of 60 oents per pikul will be levied. Each parcel 
of coffee exported mast be accompanied by a certi- 
ficate giving the name of tho product rand the locality 
where grown ; and the amount of the duty collected 
will in every caee be crodited to the district in 
wbtoh the coffee was produced. Receipts for the 
duty and weighing charges will be issued from 
counterfoil books, to be obtained from the Government 
Printer, and each receipt will give the tame of the 
district in which the ooffee was produced. — Selangor 
Government Gazette. 
INDIAN PATENTS. 
Caloutta, the 21st June, 1894. 
Applications in respect of the undermentioned 
inventions have been filed during the week ending 
16th June 1894 :— 
Oil. and Ga3 Engines.— No. 170 of 1894.— Hugh 
Thompson Reid, of 9, Mill Street, Conduit Street, 
London, England, Mercantile Agent, for improve- 
ments in oil and gas engines. 
The Keeler Seeder.— No. 174 of 1894.— Elisha S. 
Keeler, of Topeka, Kansas, Agricultural Implement 
Manufacturer for a seed drill and planter, to be known 
as the " Keeler Seeder." 
The fees prescribed in Schedule 4 of Act V of 1888 
have been paid for the continuance of exclusive pri- 
vilege in respect of the undermentioned inventions : — 
Stovoa or Air-heating Apparatus. — No. 69 of 1889. 
— Samuel Cleland Davidson, of Sirocco Works, 
Belfast, Ireland, Merchant, for improvements in 
Btoves or air-heating apparatus. (From 25th July 
1894 to 24th July 1895).— Indian Engineer. 
THE GUTTA-PERCHA INDUSTRY. 
(From the " Itevue des Eaux et Forets," extract from 
" Le JSois " of 10th Jan. 1894 ) 
Gutta-peroha is almost exclusively obtained from 
Malay, it is the aap of the Isonandra Gutta, a large 
tree which is fairly abuudaut ia that region. The 
tree does aot produce gutta-peroha until it is full 
growD, i.e., after about 30 to 35 years, lis height is 
then »s much us 100 foot and diamoter about 3 feet oq 
an average, 
The mode of extruding the gutta-percha as practised 
by the natives is very simple. The tree is first felled 
and allowed to remain for some time, then a trip of 
bark is cut off longitudinally, and from this cut the 
gutta-percha slowly flows. Tapping of standing trees 
lias been tried, as is done in the collection of reain, in 
order to prolong the period of production, but without 
success, the tap refutes to flow uutil ufter the tree 
ia dt ad. 
Tlie material obtained as above is in a more or les3 
pure tta'e, but from the natives it passes into tho 
hands of tbe Cbiuete, who mix various other subs'.anoes 
with it in order to incresso tho weight, and it is only 
avudablo for use after it bus further passed through the 
hands of a series ot traders whose bueiuesi it is to boil 
it and increase tho volume at the expense of the quality. 
As a result of this, for tome yoars past the qjality of 
tho gutta-percha commerae lias been ut adiiy dctoii- 
orating, and to obtain tho same effect a lar^c and larger 
quantity has to bo u ,. . I . 
THE VALUE OF THE COFFEE IN- 
DUSTRY IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 
From a careful study of the exports from the 
different ports of shipment we have set down *' Planta- 
tion'' coffee at twe-fiftbs and " Native" at three-fifths, 
We have with set purpose taken the f.o.b. price 
of coffee, as this represents the sum of money spent 
en tbe production and preparation of the bean in 
India, plus the grosa profit to the planter at the time it 
leaves these shore?. 
The following table will show at a glance how our 
calculations are arrived at: — 
Total F.O.B. F.O.B. 
Season. Exports per cwt. per cwt. Total vane, 
in cwt. Plantation. Native. 
1888- 89 ... 304,300 R57 R55 Rl,69,79,940 
1889- 90 ... 190,100 R65 R58 Rl, 15,58,080 
1890- 91 ... 200,700 R61 R58 Rl,18,81,440 
1891- 92 ... 270,000 R65 R60 Rl,67,40,000 
1892- 93 ... 255,800 R73 R69 Rl,80,59,480 
Taking now the average value of these five years, we 
find that it reaches the sum of Rl, 50,63,788 or to 
put it in other words that during this quinquennium 
tho average annual value of the Southern India coffee 
crop when it left the country amounted to one crore 
and fifty lskhe of rupees. Aooording to these figures 
the average annnal crop amounted to 244,180 cwt. 
If we ee't down the average yield per acre at 2 cwt. 
it would shew tbat there were fay 125,000 acres of 
coffee in bearing during tbis quinquennium. Bat we 
are of opiuion that the acreage in reality is larger 
then this though not eo Urge as the statistics, issued 
officially, would make out. The season of 1888-89 
was by never the be:,t, the total exports of tbat year 
having never been reached during the four succeed- 
ing ones though we tbink it is likely that the 
thipments last year [did not fall far short, if at 
oil, of the 15,000 tons, while in the corning season 
from all accounts we ought to see this figuro pa^t. 
Taking into considerate n our previous statements, 
we do not consider we shall under-estimate the annual 
profit that the European coffee-planter takes out of 
the country if wo put it down at £375,000, which meaus 
that half-a-million sterling is the money wbioh the 
coffee industry puts in circulation eaoh year through- 
out Southern India.— Madras Mail. 
COTTON GROWING IN MEXICO. 
Recent advices to the Bureau of tbe American 
Republics show that there are in the entire Republic 
of Mexico, about 84,000 hectares (2£ acres each)) 
dedicated to ootton growing, producing 30,000,000 
kilograms (66,138,000 pounds), in value about 
$18,000,000. The qnautityof cotton raised is far from 
being sufficient to supply the demands of tbe country,, 
For tbis reason there are imported annually from the 
United States about 4,500,000 kilograms (9,920,7U0 
pouuJs), worth §3,000,000. The cotton zone of today 
includes all the Gult aud Pacific States with tho 
exception of Yucatan, but the region best adapted 
for cotton growing is La Liguna, situated north* est 
of tbe State of Durango and southwest of tliBt of 
C o ah u i 1 a . — American paper. 
A NEW COFFEE. 
Of substitutes for coffee there is no lack, and they 
range from roasted acorns and date-seeds to chicory 
aud horscbeans ; but a brand new variety of tho 
well-tried old Arabian sort is a novelty worth record- 
ing, and such as has not been heard of since the 
Liberiau species was brought to notice twenty years 
ago. The new coffee, unfortunately, has a very ugly 
name, but tbis may bo fully compensated for by 
its superior quality when that part of the question 
comes to bo tested, for at present no actual examina- 
tion has beou made of its properties or aroma when 
roasted and ground. Our information, so fax as it 
goes, on this wonderful coffee is based on the high 
authority of the botanical bureau of Kew, aud 
appears iu tho number of tho Bulletin of that 
establishment for May. The plant, under the 
