Sept. r, 1894.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
167 
productions. The only exception known to me 
.as to this is the case of coffee, which for some 
unexplained cause or other still keeps up its price. 
Of course our market has now a very full supply 
of teas, but it is not in exoess of our wants. One 
thing certainly tells against price, and that is that 
the breaks sent home are so numerous that 
the testers cannot find the time to tf.ste 
all of them, and a great deal is therefore 
offered on the preference formed by appearance only, 
and not upon the verdicts of experienced tasters. 
The ground upon which bids are made is often 
therefore very uncertain. I still adhere most 
firmly to my formerly expressed opinion that the 
Americans will never be large consumers of your 
teas, whatever Messrs: Grinlinton & Co. may ssy. 
The climate of Amerioa is opposed to the appre- 
ciation of delicate fiavrurings." — LondonCor., July 13. 
COFFEE PLANTATION TOOL PROSPECTS. 
Manufacturers of coffee plantation and other tropical 
agricultural tools, and of irrigation implements and 
appliances, will congratulate themselves on a report 
just issued from Kew. It refers to the cultivation of 
a new and very prolific description of coffee pbnt, of 
which the first specimen was brought into notice in 
18S3. It is called the Maragogipe, a variety of Ara- 
bian coffee, and is remarkable for its vigorous growth,; 
the abundance an'l large size of its berries, and of the 
contained seeds which are the coffee beans of com- 
merce. The Kew plant is now of full size, and has 
this year produced en excellent crop. Seeds and plant, 
have been distributed to Ceylon, Java, Jamaica 
Trinidad, and Queensland. The only report of the. 
experiments thus initiated oomes from Queens-' 
land. This is, however, very enoouraging, especially 
with regard to the high productiveness of the 
plants, and it is stated that a large stock of them 
will be raised from seed for distribution next year. 
Unfortunately, the Maragogipe dees not enjoy the 
reputation of its inferior rival, the Liberian variety, 
of comparative freedom from liability to the attacks of 
the leaf fungus which bag proved so disastrous in 
Oeylon. Indeed, both there and in Java the plant has 
Buffered from this disease in common with other des- 
criptions of Arabian, from which mogt of the coffee 
brought into the markets is grown. It is announced 
that it dees not appear, however, that the Maragogipe 
is more liable to injury than the related varieties, and 
its unusually vigorous habit may perhaps warrant the' 
belief that it will prove better capable of resisting 
these attacks. From the fact that the coffee plant: 
does not reach the stage of full bearing until the fifth 
year, it may be inferred that we have not yet heard 1 
the utmost concerning the possibilities of this new 
variety. SuffioieDt, however, is known to safely lead 
to the conclusion that the discovery is likely to develop 
the coffee cultivation industry, and the r eby to cer- 
tainly enlarge the demand for ooffee plantation tools 
and implements, — Implement Machinery Review. 
PLANTING IN TEAVANCORE. 
Crop prospects in the Nelliampathies are very! 
hopoiul. In Peermad the crop prospects are ex- 
cel out both for tea and coffee, nnd although the 
rainfall in the low country is deficient in June, it 
^as above the average in June, while this month 
it is normal. — Western Star, July 28. 
MB. BENT ON SOUTHERN ARABIA. 
A E) <■ ial meeting of the members of the London 
ChartL <■ of Cemnierca was held on July 10ih, at 
lijioli) House, Eastohoap, when Mr. J. Theodore 
B°nt, duliverod an address on Soutbprn Arnbin. 
Th. l'r<8ident of tho Chamber (tirA, II ,ll.t, M P.) 
was in the obair, Mr. Sent last winter made an 
expedition to the Hadramut Valley, and he 
described the locality as it was at present oompared 
with ancient times. The Hadramut, he said, was 
a long, broad valley, with narrow collateral valleys 
falling into it from the north and from the south 
and ran for many miles almost parallel to the 
Indian Ocean, towards which it gradually sloped, 
and fell into the sea about 420 miles east of 
AdeD. Anoiently the Hadramut was very well 
known ; indeed, few places better; but Mahomedan 
fanatioism blotted it out of the map and obliterated 
its commercial value. During modern times the 
valley had been absolutely unknown ; a German 
reaohed it laBt year, but, owing to the fanaticism 
of the inhabitants, had to beat a hasty retreat. 
Mr. Bent and his wife, with a Government surveyor, 
a botanist from Kew, and a naturalist, through 
the hospitality of the Sultan of Shibam, spent 
three weeks in the ocunlry, and were able to do 
very satisfactory work, and they hoped to return 
during the ensuing winter. There was hardly a 
running stream in the whole district, the valleys 
being, without exoeption, silted up to a consider- 
able height by sand which in the course of ages 
had invaded them from the great central desert 
of Arabia. Beneath the sand water was always 
found, and all the cultivation had tu be oarried on 
by an elaborate syetem of irrigation.— 0. Mail. 
ECONOMIC PLANTS IN INDIA. 
( From Br. King's Annual Report Ga Calcutta Botani° 
Gardens 1893-4.) 
Attention has, as usual, been given to the cul. 
tivation and distribution of plants of economic in'erest 
whioh are suited for cultivation on tbe plains of 
India. Rhfa plants still continue to be in occasional 
demand, and supplies of these have been issued 
gratuitously to various applicants. Seeds of Coca Lave 
been freely given to various tea-planters. Coca is 
the plant from which the an;estheiio, known as cocaine, 
is prepared. This alkaloid can, from the nature 
of it, never come into very extensive use, and 
the demand for it is at present greatly below 
the supply: But, as high prices have occasionally 
within recent years been got for batches of coca 
leaves, planters have Leen led into taking up 
the cultivation with rrore enthasia m than 
discretion. Plants of Siseal hemp were in active de- 
mand for a time, and these were met as far as possible. 
Cola acuminata (which produces the Cola nut) was 
also in demand to some extent. Seed of the grass, 
known variously as hhabar, babui, and sabai, was 
issued to a few applicants cutside of India, This 
grass (of which the botaiical name ie Ischosmum an- 
gustifolium) first attracted my notice as a possible 
raw material for paper twenty-five years ago, while I 
was in the Forest Department in the North-West 
Provinces. It is very common in the Siwal-k range, 
and in the Bhabar forests of the Gharwal and 
Kama on Himalaya. Samples of it, sent home by me 
in 1873 to ii paper-maker in Scotland, were favourably 
reported upon; and aeaio in 1877 a sample sett by me 
to the India Office, having been submitted to the late 
Mr. Koutledge of the Ford paper mills (then a leading 
authority on paper making), was deolared by him to be 
little inferior to Esparto as a raw material for paper. A 
year or two subsequently to this it was disootered 
by the help of Mr. J. 8. Gamble of the Forest Depart- 
ment, that this grass is common in the forests of 
Chota Nagpur. Samples of it were accordingly sent 
by me to the Ba'ly Paper Mill, then the only one 
near Calouna. The sample was approved ofat Bally, 
and since tLm the use of this grass his so increased 
that it now ljrco .he chief raw material of an indus- 
try vh'ch, in tbis ooun*ry, is yet probably o: ly in its 
infancy. As steu of bhabar grass ie i.ow being applied 
If. r. from abroad, it i> p r s it le tf at, te;oro long, it mar 
be cultivated in oth.r tiopic.il countries. It <ti u Bub- 
jeot of much rogret to me thai my effcrts to extend tus 
