122 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [AOg. t, 1894. 
Coffee Planted with Tea.— We are much 
obliged to the practical planter signing "CinchoDa" 
for the encouraging information he given as to the 
planting of ocffee along with tea and the suocess 
which has attended his own efforts — we may 
add — in a district situated at a medium altitude. 
Our wish is that many more may follow our corres- 
pondent's example. 
Sylvakande. — Had any one hinted 25 years ago 
that this t slate would be fold for £2,000. he would 
have had the finger of scorn pointed at h;m at that 
time. I lave it on the suttu rity of the then Superin- 
tendent — ten hundredweights au acre was not an 
unusual crop to be despatched from the esta'e. Tine 
was good enough, bat fietsa to what my infor- 
mant addtd, " and sometimes I never pat a 
coolie into my back fields at all, aj it took all 
my force to pick the bungalow fi'-ld only." 
These were glorious dajs, and it is E&d to think how 
the mighty Sylvakande has (alien. 
Quinine in America.— In Ceylon, the question 
of the hour seems to be " how to compel Ameri- 
cans to drink Ceylon tea," and this has so jengrossed 
erevy one's attention that subjects of minor im- 
portance have been lost sight of entirely. Have 
planters given up exporting cinchona bark, else why 
did your Commissioner omit pushing the sale of it 
also, when at Chicago ? We know that no country 
is more in need of a regular supply of tonics, 
and there must be a limitless market for that drug 
when we read of such experiences as that, in a 
certain village in Michigan, so many people have 
the ague that tho Ohurch-bell is rung at specified 
hours for the inhabitants to take their quinine. 
The Failure of the Monsoon is likely 
to mean dear rice " but " abundance of coolies " 
to the Ceylon planters. Coolies always flock over 
during a bad season in Southern India. The fol- 
lowing editorial note is from the Madras Mail of the 
17th inst.:— 
The Season in Tinnevelly is causing Government 
some aDxiety. The Collector of the Distriot, it is 
understood, has sent a special report on the 
unfavourable character of the season and has asked 
the eanotion of Government to deepen the tanks in 
the villages and towns which are said to contain 
water just sufficient for drinking purposes. Tho 
merchants in the Distriot are also understood to be 
sending large orders to Oooonada and Rangoon for 
supply of rice and grains, as a precautionary provision 
against expected scarcity. 
Indiartjbbeb. — The adulteration of articles of com- 
merce is the down-draught of the present time and those 
of your community who have planted rubber 
trees, in the hope of a rich reward, will read the 
following with as depressing sensations as the merobant 
did who, having purchased feveral tons of whalebont 
at £2,250 per ton, read in next morning's paper that a 
process of forming artificial whalebone from aoimal 
hair, coneutiog in subjecting the hair to a softening 
bath, then to a bath of acetio acid, and fioally placing 
the n-ass under great pressure has been invented. 
Artificial indiarubber from cotton-Beed oil is ona of 
the latest industrial products, and claimed to possess 
commercial adaptations of peeuliar practical value, 
says the Tradesman. The manufacture involves a 
process not yet given cut to the public by the 
discoverer, who states that, while experimenting with 
the cotton-seed oil to produce a varnish for paintiDg, 
he obtained a substance entirely foreign in its make 
up and properties to what was sought— not a var- 
nish, but rubber. So simple is the process, as alleged, 
that it is not within the protection of a patent— the 
only safeguard beiug, therefore, in Iheeeorecyof the 
process, by tbe use of whiob, it is useerted, only 15 
percent is required of thegenuite rubber to produce 
an artiole whioh can in no way be distinguished from 
the ordinary crude india-rubber even by experts in tbe 
handling of the latter article. Arrangements have 
been made for its extensive manufacture and its ap- 
plication to the various purposes so long peculiar to 
the natural material, 
Thb Udtjqama Timber Compaky Saw Mills at 
Gintotte. — I paid a visit to these mills and 
was muob interested iu what I saw. This mill 
lies on private laud taken by the Company od a long 
lease about half a mile f.om the Gintotte tol'-r/ar and 
adjoining the river. Two large LuiidiDgs covered with 
BaDgalore tilts have already beeu erected, and the 
mac hinery has jast bern fixed up under the aupervisiou 
of Messrs. Icuipitr and Pate. A number tf logs 
ready for pawing have airtady be»n heaped up on the 
premin . and I ltarn that tbe mill will bb iu lull 
swing this time otxt month. Amongst otbtr machin- 
ery the mill pofseeaes a huge hoi er of 200 hoist-power 
and a circular sa w six Irct iu diameter. It is expected 
that the mill when at work will le capable of turning 
cut 500 tea-che«U a duy. Tbe approach to tbe mill 
preatnta a lively epp.arance, everyoue being buty, 
men, women, and boys. I was extreaely aurprieed to 
ere Bon ( e Moorish womtn working in tbe open with 
other men and boys at twisting ooir-yarn — a very 
uncommon sight. -Cor. 
" OVEE PRODUCTION AND GOLD PRICES." — Oar 
evening contemporary of the local '• Times " should 
really mind his own business : we had not the 
Blighteet idea of addreneing an inquiry to him in 
referenoe to " Bimetallism,'' the laet place we 
should look to for information of any weight or 
ooneequenoe ! He took up cur paragraph addressed 
to another quarter in order to tell us, — 
In the case of coffee the falling-off in production 
has beeu most marked, and this scarcity of the 
article has been such as to maintain prices in spite 
of the increase in the purchasing price of gold. 
The o.her day, our contemporary endeavoured to 
prove hie " bimetallic " argument by reference to 
" tea " EtatiEtics as follows : — 
Chioa India & Ceylon Total Avge 
lb. lb. lb. 
1885... 113,514,000 68,895,000 182,409,000 1/3J 
1891... 52,267,304 150,169,538 202,466.837 /10 
1892... 34,483,408 172,630,296 207,113,704 /» 
1893a 27,900,235 142,244,030 173.522.345* /9 
a 10 months only. 
Bat he took care not to trouble himself with 
a fact repeatedly pointed out to him, namely, 
that one lb. of Ir.dia and Ceylon tea should 
be counted as equal, at leatt, to 1£ lb. of China 
tea. This fact was brought oat very prominently 
by Mr. Goschen in a Budget Speech seme years 
ago and has often been referred to, Eince, and 
yet our contemporary persistently ignores it. The 
proper comparison of the above table (as against 
average prices) will thus show a very different 
result, working out as follows : — 
BE VISED. 
China India & Ceylon Total Avge. 
lb. lb. lb. price 
6 (Revised 
1885.. .113,514,000 103,842,500 216,856,500 1 3* 
1891... 62,287,304 225,264,300 277,541,604 /10 
1892... 34,483,408 258,945,444 293,428,852 /9J 
1893c 33,480,282 256,039,254 289,519,536 /» 
b Count ng 1 lb. Indian and Ceylon equal to lb 
lb. China. 
c Adding l-5th for the two months not in- 
cluded above, although, possibly, more should 
be added. 
In this connection we may onoe again notice the 
ourious result brought out in Mesdrs. Thompson's 
Annual Report, namely, how the average price 
of Indian tea, therein quoted, rose and fell during 
the past four seasons in exact correspondence 
with the quantity of crop. A big average yield 
per acre in 1891-92 end 1893-94 meant a lower 
average price : a smaller average yield in 1890-91 
and 1892-93 resulted in a much better average price, 
* We leave this total as given by the local "Times" 
though the additions make 170,144,265.— Ed. T.A. 
