THE TROPICAL AGRICULT URIST. TSept. 1,1894. 
impressed by the apparent value of Mr. Roberts' 
invention, and if he can deliver his chest at the 
price above mentioned it Etems to be likely they 
will soon become favourite with your planters. For 
many reasons, well-seasoned wco.l is much to be 
preferred to metal for tea chest, and these new 
ones oan be used over aud over again, and folding 
flat as they do, can readily be re-shipped without 
occupying much spaoe or with aoy risk of 
breakege. They oan be closed up completely in 
a oouple of minutes.— London Cor., July 2 0. 
THE TEA TRADE IN AUSTRALIA. 
The Melbourne Argus of the 12th nit. in reviewing 
the tea trade for the season 1893 says the most 
striking feature was the comparative absence 
of the disturbance which so seriously affected 
almost all the channels of commerce during the 
financial troubles of the past twelve months. 
Importations were heavier than usual, owing 
primarily to the low state to which stocks had 
fallen at the end of last season. This increase had 
not tended to benefit the small section of the com- 
munity, composed of importers and dealers, but 
almost exclusively the public, who, through the 
whole year, bad reaped the benefit of a fully-supplied 
market. The bleeding trade now took a distinct lead, 
the great bulk of the year's sales having been effected 
by those houses that had paid the closest attention 
S ail the details of this interesting branch. Id 
elbourne and the country towns the exclusive t a 
shops had made rapid progress as diiect supplieis 
and it only required a few more seasons to conqut r 
the trade of the country and fair inland disti i.ts, 
where at present Foochow teas were in the mii« 
sold as imported. The expansion of the trade, both 
in Indian and Ceylon teas, bad been very rapid. 
The consumption of these now exceeded that of 
the product of China, aud this expansion was cer- 
tainly due to merit. No doubt the finer Fooohow 
kinds had flavour and better keeping qualities, but 
they lacked strength ; while both Iodians andCeylons 
had a great advantage both in strength and color - 
the qualities that, so far, the publio appreciate. At 
present consumers were not educated up to fine 
qaality, and consequently there had been a marked 
absence throughout a 1 the colonies of really fine tea. 
Ooylon sent quite a surfeit of common teas, and 
consequently all concerned in this trade reaped but 
little DSDefit from them. They had also received a 
larger proportion than they cared for of faultily- 
cared better class leaf ; in faot a great blot in this 
trade had been the apparent belief of buyers in 
Colombo that any tea would suit Australia, and, 
acting upon it, they had caused heavy losse3 to all 
concerned; but lat'erly some rea ly good quality 
had been sent, and all of it had foucd a ready sale. 
Indian paid very well for the first three months, 
held their own for another three months, and had 
gradually tended to more or less severe losses as the 
season closed. Ceylon also commenced well, but 
gradually lost way, excess of supply and their in- 
different keeping qualities having led to some of the 
smartest losses of tbe season ; so severe, indeed, had 
these losses been upon some of the "held over" 
shipments that it would be a bold importer who again 
held for a better market. Dealers had been more 
fortunate; there had always been plenty of stock, and 
therefore no occasion to speculate. 
❖ 
COFFEE, PALMS, RICE &c IN SOUTH 
CHINA. 
It is an orthodox economical dootrine in China, 
for the agriculturist, that the man must plough the 
rice-fields, and the woman must rear si'kworms and 
weave oloth, or starve. The offioials sometimes take 
laudable pains in extending sericulture, for instance, 
in Ewangai province in 1891, and, at the date of this 
report, in tbie district. But it wonld probably be easy 
t'it per.ple less opposed to novelties than tbe Chinese 
to grow many other things in tbe neighbourhood, 
screened by the existing bamboos and pine- woods from 
the violeut winds which make *ucb protection net»M>ary. 
The ricinui, or castor-oil plant, grows all about 
here and in South China as a wild weed. In Tong- 
King, when exploited, it is said to be aim"** atomoe 
remuneraiive. Areca and oocrnut palms and coffee 
would probablv do well. In the same latitude a> d 
olimate a little west, in the Frei ch territory, the 
traveller steaming up the Red River to Hanoi admire* 
an interminable panorama of areca* inising their 
elegant crests above the banana*; and near T«-Kow 
and Tainan, in Formosa, are flourishing plantations of 
this tree. The coconut grows abundintlv in Han h- 
quite close. Coffee grows well in Tor g. King, at lee»t 
as far cortb, and io the little island of GwMchow, 
only thirty mile- south of Pakboi, it thrive* m tbe 
erouods of the Catholic Fathers of the Mie-ioi e 
E'rang$rep. Of tbis, last, however, it tnuat be said 
that it has not yet fonnd its way to favour with the 
Chinese as an article of food.— Consular IttjtOrt. 
PLANTING ON THE SHIRE 
HIGHLANDS. 
Mr. A. J. Swann writing from the Zambesi 
River, says : — 
Whatever prospect* there may be offered at Johan- 
nesburg, Port 'Salisbury, or Barbnton. the Zambesi 
and Sbire Highlands mast be considered eisentiallf a 
field for capitalists. Let nn young man, led away with 
the glowing prostectuaes of this company and the 
other, launch ■ 'it fr in borne for these parts unlets be 
has an engagement before leaving. I parted with my 
fellow-passengers at Cape Town, Natal, Port Eliza- 
beth and even Beir», all on spec, but bound rip country, 
where doobtl< b« Mtuation* will be obtainable almost 
at once for steady, trustworthy men. Hut that does 
not apply to Ct indi and the Zimbesi ; there- 
fore oo no account emigrate here unless with 
oapital. Pro?iding one has capital — aay, £1,000 — 
he cm cemmence operations either as a ooffee or 
cocoa planter, and if one may judge by the present 
crop", be oeriain of success. The oountry immediately 
adjoining this grand river presents all sorts of induce- 
ments to the man eager and willing to work, but there 
is one fatal condition to be faced — viz., it belongs to 
Portugal. No one would question ber right to the 
land, being tbe first pioneers, but it is a fact beyond 
contradiction that ehe will neither make nse of it nor 
allow others. Capitalists are eager to start all kinds 
of legitimate undertakings, to rent their land, to im- 
prove their revenue, and make use of tbe finest East 
African waterway, bnt they invariably find that as 
soon as capital is expended, plant fixed op, and a 
concern set running, all kind of hindrances are thrown 
in their way, they are burdened with increasing taxes 
beyond reasonable bounds, their industry i* crippled 
in its early stages and collapses, brii ging rain to the 
shareholders and dead loss to the Portuguese offioials, 
who get little or no salary except what can be made by 
a disgraceful system which could only be tolerated in 
a Portuguese colony, and thus these out-of-date 
people, who pretend to be a civilised race, block the 
way of millons who are clamouring for room to work 
and live. No sane person who has studied the world's 
history and marked the ever-inereasing rush of business 
competition in Europe, America and elsewhere ean 
question the certain fate of such a race, providing they 
continue to stand in the way of progress — Christian 
World 
PLANTING TEA IN RUSSIA. 
An ( xperiment already tried without success baa 
been lately repeated. Tea plants have been sent from 
here io Ra-hm to be planted on the slopes of th" 
Cauoasus. It is a private enterprise on tbe part of 
Messrs. Popoff, Freres, but the ground is granted by 
the Government. About 2,000 plants have been sent 
