346 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. (Nov. i, 1894. 
DROUGHT AND DISTRESS IN 
TRAVANCOR1S : 
No Proper Monsjo.n for Three Years. 
From a resident who ('ales Nngerooil, October 13 h 
we have the following sad account of the stale of 
things in South Tra T »aneoro : — 
" Wo are having a time of most severe drought 
here. No rain here for month 1 ; — in fact we have not 
had a proper monaoon for thre i years, and now 
tb/ngs have become very S6riaui with up. Ev<j£ 
drinking water i^ hard to be get. Relief works i re 
being started and rice is boirg given out, at Go- 
vernment expense, lo the poor. And unless rain 
comes in a few days, all h'-pe of a harvrs' in 
February will te gone — which is the most serious 
matter of si)." 
NOTES FROM NORTH BORNEO. 
(Forwarded By Mr. W. D, Gibbon, Kandy.) 
Sandakan, Sept. 24th.— Mr. Sarell, late of N.llo- 
mal'y, has reached Kudat and is r< siding therewith 
the resident Mr. Li tie for a few diy , before taking 
up his appointment at Taritapan estat\ The 
weather is pretty warm at present, but ha 'li nks 
everyone looks healthy, and the ecenery is lov«Iy. 
The Bungalows are most comfortable ; floors well 
raised from grout d. 
Very good news has been received at Sandakan 
from London about tobacco. New » omi anies are 
being formed. Mon are washing to send their eons 
with money to invest in North Borneo : but of 
course are handicapped by tin few openings for 
oreepe-s. A good year in tobnco is expected, and 
prices are likely to keep up. 
Mr. Walker writes that Coconut planting is taking 
hold in Borneo, and trees planted so far, are ec[uai 
to anything of their age in Ceylon which be attri- 
butes to the equal distribution of rain throughout 
the year. 
NOTES BY THE WAY. 
(By an old Cvffce Planter.) 
Dimbula, Oct. 15 h. 
How pleasant it is, rfter a number of jears' absence 
to re-visic the ecents of onVg earlitr d»is in the 
Island, and to receives as I have done a moat c rd 1 
reception from all ami sun.iry of those still locat d 
in the old districts I have pas=ed tbro >gh. I will 
not weary yon with long occouots, bat may just 
remark ibat from G^mprda on to Naw.tlapitiyi it 
is ami ziog to see the eipunse of healthy looking 
tea which has rep'accd the many sickly old c-ffe? 
'Totums" which in by gone days kept up a contiau- 
ously struggling existence. How \o- g they may keep 
up without systematic mauuririg i?, I confess, to me 
'a rather stiff problem. Opinions differ much on tbia 
head, and even visiting agents appear anything bat 
sanguine as to the benefit to be derived; but one 
thing I do know that without a su : tab!e s'.imu'ant 
carefully applied there a-e numbers of esta'ei th»t 
are bound to collipae from fheer poverty of toil 
already exhausted in the King Coffee days. Pass- 
ing on through Kotmale it was pleasiuj; to observe 
the astonishing area of promising tea where ocffef) 
of old held sway, and although perhaps results per 
acre way not compete with some other distriots 
there is a very fair return anl estimates gen- 
erally are for the pas* year well realized. As 
you know the climate of Kotmalf, although pretty 
wet, is very heal'hy, and now the planters there 
are eujoying a ?pell of fir.e weather, with good pros- 
pects. Here I may reruark that taking the est-ttes 
generally there is an absence of the eyesore of weeds 
Jfj any great extent as used to be not uncommoa 
in entile* times, and pruning is b3ing evidently syste- 
matically carried on with good results. 
Arriving at the "gap," by thesbortoatthroaghQaeebS- 
berry, where our much la-nr nted freud Elder so long was 
in charge and who «... bo much r, spocte I a 1 roind 
—we lo k aionir. this Dimbula district with surprise 
at the t an.-f "ronsiiou from, fir-t, the old expanse of 
unfel'e 1 jnngle, then held* of fine c ff«e, afterwards 
ien«lered u.«. le a by th* fell loaf diseas*. and now 
(/rem and bright agau with tVe new r'oJa. t, tea ! 
Al a-ems t ow bear y ao<l healthy, altbo'igh urotil 
lately the 'veatutr Ijas be n nvicu ag»in9t good fluaies. 
Now tf>e b.ii i,«a r^appeMeJ »t:d all aro busy, aud 
looking for go d av? ragns. May t»* fl wifcft and give 
returus approacl iog to the good old coffee king. 
THE JAVA CINCHONA INDUSTRY. 
Mr. J. A. Watering of the firm of D M ft O 
Watering of Amsterdam cinchonaand gdoeral produoe 
merchsnt* left fir Java on Friday last, with the 
olject of investigating thn aetual position of 
the cinchona industry iu the Dutch Indie*. It is 
thought that M'. Watering's journey ia connected with 
a scheme for forming a trust for regula'iog ths 
supplies of Java cinchona birk. It ia reported thai 
the Gov. rnnjtnt cinchona gardens in Java will be 
Kraltially given up, and ultimaie'y limited to an 
expeiimental station. At present these gardens con- 
tain in the opeu ground 2,956,800 ire* (of which 
2,208.000 are L dgcrs, 112,500 Officinalis, and 634,030 
Sorcirubras) a:id in nurseries 725,0K0 thrube, of which 
300,000 are Lodges and 425,00'J Suocirubras.— Clteuiut 
and Drupjtit, Sept. 29. 
THE COMING AMSTERDAM CINCHONA 
AUCTIONS. 
The next Amsterdam cinchona sale* will take p ace 
on October 4th. On that occasion 6,920 bales and 
376 cases Java oiuc' ona bark, weighing together about 
603 tons will be off > red. The average p iroentage of 
sulphate of quinine to tbe manufacturing barks is 
4 93 and thee barks represent a total weight of 
22,835 ki'os (641,360 oz) of snlpha'e of quitioe ; the 
pharmaceutical barki, of which the aggregate w i. ht 
is 30| tons represent 6J8 k lo* (or about 2 04 per 
B9Dt) of sulphate of qainina. Of the maunfaetunns; 
Larks a'-out h ton contain 0 1 per oent ; 2 tons 1-2 
par cent; 2/J tons 2-3 per cent; 110J tons 3-4 per 
c-nt ; 176 tons 4-5 per cent ; 146 tons 5-6 per cent ; 
49 tons 6-7 per cent; 44 tors 7-8 psr cent; 6 tons 
8-9 per cent; 2 tons 11-13 percent. — Ibid. 
THE NAMUNUKULU TEA COMPANY. 
Passara, Oct. 18th. — A very power/nl and 
influ-=ntiU Company has been formed in L ndon 
for the purpose of acquiricg several estates in 
the Cannavarella and Mousagalla Valleys. The 
Company bears ths well-known name of "The 
Xamunuladu Tea Company Ltd," Tbe Ehares in 
this Company were speedily disposed of by private 
treaty. The coffee estimate for its fir^t year of 
workirjg is between 5,000 ard 6,000 bushels, 
besides returns from a large area under tea, and 
cinchona bark bearing the well-known b and 
" Cannavarella." 
The London Directors of this large Com- 
pany have been advised to await any an- 
anncuuoement i*. may p'ease His Esoeilency Sir 
Arthur Havelock to make respecting the extension 
of the Namunnku'.u Railway feeder, prior to 
deciding upon a site for the large Factory whieh 
must necessarily be erected, the feeling at home 
being thtt the Governmsnt Railway should be 
patronised ;f possible, ware Sir Arthur's Govern- 
ment able to see its way hy helping them to put 
their produce on the R .iiw*y. The ospital of th r s 
C rnpany is £50,000 sterling — Tne " Times - ' is 
not acquainted with this part of our island, hence; 
its many mistakeB,— Cqr, 
