THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Sept i, 1894. 
Developing the Industby. — Sir Ambrose came 
cck to England to r-iise capital lot fcl e development 
of Ibis now eourco of wealth, und brought with bim 
samples of the plont, wbic'j tbe Kew Gardens people 
derlued lo bu the best fibrous leaves they hr d ever 
seen. Thus encouraged, Sir Am' rose toon get h's 
capitalist?. Heorganitod asystem of tei-ycar allolmr-nti 
and put 100,000 acres of Crown lands in'o tbe Bcbemo. 
Mr. Joseph Ohan.berlain took 20,000 acres; Mr. 
Courage, tbo brewer of a company in wbicb Lord 
Denbigh is cone-mud, and a t ig New fuiindlau 1 com- 
pany, all took BiibstRnlial holdings, and it was not 
long before the entire hundred thousand acre) were 
taken up. Land which was difficult to sell at 5s. the 
acre now commands four dol arc, a- d tbe revolt is a 
fine fnnd under the control of the Imperial Oov< rn- 
ment for the meking of roads, harbour", and other 
publio works. Upon returning 1o t e Bihi-.rnap, Sir'Ani- 
brose despatched a commissioner t ) Yuca'an. Tbere h'd 
been a similar industry there, which had icsnlti d in.tue 
making of some enormous fortunes, du>ing tne list 
thirty years. So rumour ea d, at least ; and tbe commis- 
sioner went to see to what extent these i !o iu • csnld 1 e 
veri6ecl, for Ihe statenients iu r-ome oases seemed tjo fa- 
bulous lor credence. Tbe commissioner returned with a 
report to the tlfectthat the whole thing was true. Tho 
6ainp'e3 of the Yuoatan plant! which be oioaxht back, 
moreover were very iuferior to tbe Bahamas variety. The 
hitter indeed have proved to bu from 25 to 30 per cei t su- 
perior. After tbia tbe new indus'ry was taken up en- 
thusiastically." 
Apparently Fabulous, but True. — " Sir Ambrose 
distributed the allotments in such a way th->t th<r<) 
was no orowding, ai d no competition ou the pirt 
of the holders for their neighbours' labourers. 
The syst' m is something like a revival cf a pleasant 
form of icucialism. In case tbe colonials should r wake 
and think th? English investors were making too koo.1 
a thiDg out of the islau's, Sir Ambrose gave to all 
heads of families who had neither laud nor pr.seot 
means of purchasing it ten-acre IjIs, ti be paid fcr 
out of the fi'st crop. Tins year there will be a mode- 
rate expert, wh lo next year tbe exports should reach 
2,500 tons and go on increasing ct tbe rate of about 
2,000 tons yearly. The estimated v;;l re ef £20 p r 
ton mentioned by Sir Aixbrose is, I believe, a very 
low one, f r the fibre is fo fine that it is 
likely to get into lin^n fubics and so on, increas- 
ing materially both its value and the demand for 
it. There people with the ten-acre lots em leave 
the cultivation to tbe women and children, and yet 
betiefit more than £100 a year t'erefrom. The pros- 
perity of the islands is felt by the very pDorett man 
there, and in time the colony tbreitens to give the 
world an object-lesson in what happens to a community 
whioh is too well cff. Oue matter wh : ch gave Sir 
Ambrose Shea, iu his organisation of the industry, con- 
siderable anxiety, was the absence of any satitfactory 
labour-saving appliances. But new a New York man 
bas invented a tcutcbiug machine, which separates the 
fibre from thev> getable pa t cf the leaf so rapidly that 
leaves may te picked iu the morning, and the fibre 
from them leady for shipment in the evening. Two 
women, one at each end of tbe machine, can separate 
from 1,500 to 2,000 lb. of fibre per day. Last year the 
ftuit yield was a oomplete failure, and the colony must 
have been famice-stricken bnt for tbe sisal plant. 
Sir Ambrose Shea had applications from all the ends 
of the eirth for plants, but in the intere=ils of the 
islands he pESsed a law prohibiting tho exportation of 
the plants, Regarded in tbe light of the fiscal princi- 
ple s which now obtain, such a law appears a little 
heterodox; but the case bas speciil c rcumttances, 
and the Colonial Office have confirmed Sir Ambrose's 
pronoun cement." 
Coffee in Russia. — We learn from St. Petersburg 
that a tobacco grower in the Kuban district of the 
Caucasus last year sowed four grains of Mccha coffee, 
-which he had prooured from Po!i, where it had failed 
to rjalise expectations. Two grains died, but the 
other two gave eight hundred berries. These eight 
hundred being planted out have produced seven hun- 
dred fine healthy bushes, from which an excellent lilt'.e 
ijtop is expected shortly.— H. and C, Mail, July 27, 
A WARNING TO « WOULD-BE TEA 
PLANTERS IN WESTERN LANDS:" 
TEA IN THE UNITED STATES AND RUSSIA. 
An old planter writes :— " There are miliiono of 
acres, in and out of tbe tropics, tit to grow tea ; 
much of it belt r than lands now under 
that product ; but cheap and abundent labour, 
is a far more important fac'or, than suitable laod. 
The aver.-ge wages of day lub.ur on Ceylon estate 3 , 
runs frcm 4d to 5tL sterling, at the present value 
of Ihe rupee, and ecy country that baa to psy 
higher, bad belt' r let let planting al;ne. 
Neither Russia nor tbe United can obtain labour 
at this rale, aad be can import tea much cheaper 
than they can i reduce it. As b jth those ooun riee 
however, go in for the protection of home pro- 
duct?, ft) tbe expense cf home consumers, it may 
te fearel, that if their experiments are attended 
with a fair measure of Eucoefs, foreign-grown tea, 
would be heavily handicapped in their markets." 
We see no immediate cau6e for a fear of this 
kind. It is impassible to make tea-growing a paying 
industry on any large scale, in either Russia or tbe 
United States. 
INDIAN PATENTS. 
Calcutta, the 26th July 1894. 
A rp'ic&tions iu respect of tbe uriderni'-n'ione'l in- 
ventions have been filed durir g the week ending 21st 
July 1894 :— 
Tea Roi.likg Machinery.— No. 197 of 1894.— Law- 
rence Herb<rt Su'ton, of Panitolla, Lakhimpur 
As am, Engineer, of the Jokai .Wan Tea Com- 
pany, Limited, for improvements in tea rollirg 
m'.chinery. 
Manufacture of Folding Boxsa or Cases.— No 
203 of 1804- John Coryton Roberts, cf 16, Cromwt-1 
Grove, West Kensing'on, L 'cd)n, Engau'l, Plinte 1 
f< r improven euts in the manufacture if lolding boxes 
or oases. 
Oil in Steam Boiler and other Furnaces.— No. 
^07 of 1894. — Allai Stewart and Ch rles Stewart 
Brassfounders, of Port K^linton Brass Foundry, Glas- 
gow, Lmarkshire, Scot'and, and John Farmer, Engi- 
neer, of 117. St. Andrew's R .ad, P J'o'jshitlds Ren- 
frewshire, Scollun I, for improvements iu and relit i g 
to appliances for burning oil in stem boiler 
nr<d olher furnaces. 
Burning Oil in Steam Boiler and other Fur- 
naces.— No. 208 of 1894.— Allan Stewart, and Cb»rlc- 
St-cwart, Brassfounders of Port Eglinton Brass 
Foundry, in the Citv and Co. of Glasgow, Sco'lands 
aud John Farmer, Engineer, of 147, St. Andrews' 
Road, PollokshielriB, Renfrewshire, S- o land, for im- 
provements iu and relatirg to appliances for feeding 
ai d burning oil in steam boiler and other furnaces 
— Indian Engineer. 
Calcutta, the 2nd Aug. 1894. 
Applications in respeot of tho undermentioned in- 
ventions have been filed during tbe week ending 28th 
July 1804: — 
Portable Domestic Appliances for the Thresh- 
ing of Cereals and othek Seeds, &p. — No 216 of 
1894.— James Mylne, Zemindar and Indigo Plan'er, of 
Beheei, in the district of Shahabad, Bet ga), for 
portable domestic app ianres for the threshing of 
cereals and ether seeds and the production of bhocs.* 
from tbe straw of the same. 
Sperifiations of the undermentioned invention' have 
b;en fi'ed under the provisions of Act V of 1888 ;— 
Brick Kilns. — No. 252 of 1893.— EJward Lennon 
Cantwell, Civil Engineer, and Patent Agent, of 5, 
Old Post Office S reet, Calcutta, British India, for 
improvements in brick kilns. (Filed 18th June 1894.) 
Machines. — No. 11 of 1894.— Jean Alexandre Lacote, 
of 95, Boulevard Bfaumarchais, Paris, in the Republic 
of France, Engineer, for improvements in machines 
for decoit'.cating ramie and other fibrous plants 
(Filed 20th, July 1894).— Indian Engineer, 
