Feb. i, 1895.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
PLANTING AND PRODUCE. 
The Position of the Tea Industry. — The down- 
ward tendency in the price of produce of all kinds, 
culminating in a glut of some articles of imported 
produce at the present time, is a noteworthy feature 
of the great economic question. Fortunately, the 
wind is tempered to the shorn lamb, and the pro- 
ducer has, somehow or other, risen to the necessity 
of the occasion. He has in many instances surpassed 
and astonished himself by the development of econo- 
mical methods. Tea may be quoted as an example. 
The price at which it can now be "laid down" in 
Mincing Lane, although this year's average gives no 
special cause for complaint, would have amazed a 
planter in the early days of the industry, and yet 
gardens that are favourably situated and well 
managed show results which have also astonished 
the veteraus. The lower level of prices during 
the past few years, if it has demonstrated the 
impossibility of successfully cultivating tea 
under unfavourable conditions, has also proved that 
if the handicap is not too severe, competition and 
the necessity for economy have but sharpened the 
wits and developed the resources of the grower. It 
is unquestionably a oase of " the survival of the 
fittest." There are a few tea concerns whose long- 
suffering shareholders have been expecting the 
advent of better times, and are doomed to further 
disappointment. If a garden be hopelessly encum- 
bered and restricted by conditions which fetter it in 
the competition with its neighbours the chances are 
extremely remote that it will ever recover its lost 
position. Anything approaching the good old days of 
high prices are gone, a fact the wide-awake planter 
has for some time recognised. In times when tea is 
unduly depressed, and the seasons are specially 
adverse, the planter has his gloomy moments, but 
up to now he has shown himself equal to all emer- 
gencies. The opening up of new markets is a neces- 
sity of the situation, and one which has been 
foreseen, and, as far as can be, provided for. 
During the last ten years the activity of the 
planting organisations in India and Ceylon has 
been displayed in this direction with re- 
markable vigour, and, as a result, the position of the 
industry is materially strengthened. Tea has stood 
the test of hard times remarkably well, and in the 
case alike of private and joint, stock enterprise, those 
concerns which were well managed have reason to 
feel well satisfied with the outlook, and encouraged 
to play the game of patience and perseverence, which 
in the end overcomes all obstacles. It may be 
safely asserted that the planter of the day is pre- 
eminently amasterofthe methods of economic culti- 
vation and resource, and that the exigencies of the 
situation, so far from daunting him, have but served 
to develop his staying power, and strengthen his 
determination to place the industry he represents on 
a sound and permanent footing. 
L1VF.RP001. and its Tea Trade. — A circular letter 
refers to a movement, which is supported by the in- 
fluential tea merchants in Liverpool, for the purpose 
of bringing tea round by sea from London at a cost of 
'26s 4d per ton as against 37s Gd by the rail- 
ways. The circular states that an arrangement has 
been entered into with Mr. Samuel Hough, of the 
Liverpool and London Steamship Company, to bring 
tea round by sea from London and deliver ex quay 
at the Trafalgar or Victoria Docks at the rate of 
23s. per ton weight, cartage to the warehouse at the 
rate of Is. 8d. per ton. In addition there will be 
a charge for marine insurance of 2s. 9d. per cent, 
on value, which covers all risks. Total about 26s. 
4d. per ton as against 37s. 6d. per ton rail. The 
vessels leave Loudon every Wednesday and Saturday. 
The first collection of orders will be made on Jan- 
uary 7, 1895. 
Chicory Cultivation. — It must bo very gratifying 
to coffee planters to learn that the cultivation of 
chicory occupies a very important position in Flan- 
dors. Two centurion ago somo of our ancestors, we 
know, " sworo terribly In Mdndefcs." If coffee plan- 
tors were not too polite for anything so common- 
place they might foel disposed to swear at Flan- 
ders and its chicory trade. According to the 
United States Consul at Ghent the present large trade 
in the commodity owes its begining to the native 
demand for a Substitute for coff e. Not only is 
chicory much che per f i home consumption, but 
the doctors have rV com m en tag it as n very healthy 
rii k U is said to be spiii i!y I eiufkial > pe.sous 
suffeiing fnm diso.de s >f the Stomach. Be'.gians 
usii it aim so universally for a mixture wjth coffee, 
as they consider hat ihe result is a greatly improved 
flavour. The chicory root grown in Western Belgium 
is considered to be superior to the French or German 
product. The conditions of it-i growth and the faci- 
lities for its preparation are, in this country, most 
favourable. A sandy soil and an abundance of water 
f ir properly washing the roo' are essential. Both 
these requirements pre-eminently exist in West 
Flanders. A secondary quality i rows in ihf Walloon 
provinces. Its inferiority consists in the fact that much 
earth clings to the root, it being impossible to 
thoroughly wash it, owing to the lack of water 
supply. The yearly chicory crop of Belgium 
amounts to from 280,000 to 350,000 tons. In 
the preparation by washing and drying this 
total is reduced 25 per cent. — that is, to 70,000 or 
80,000 tons of root. Of this quantity the greater 
portion is exported, and the remainder, about 25,000 
tons, consumed in Belgium. The exportation for 1893 
was approximately as follows : To France, 25,000 tons; 
Germany, 10,000; United States, 4,000; England, 
3,500; Austria, 2,000; Northern countries, 2,000; 
Switzerland, 1,500 ; Italy, 1,500 ; Baltic countries, 
1,000; total, 50,500 tons. Formerly the greater quan- 
tity of chicory sent to the United States was manu- 
factured in Belgium before export ; now, however, 
almost the entire trade consists in the shipment of 
the raw root. As an illustration of the growth of 
the American trade, one firm gives the following 
figures of the exportations : Years ending October 1, 
1892 and 1893, 500 and 931 tons respectively, and 
for the three months ending December 31, 1893, 450 
tons. — H. and C. Mail, Dec. 28. 
PLANTING PROGRESS IN NORTH 
BORNEO. 
Coffee— Cacao— Tea— Room for Invest- 
ments. 
[The following letter has been sent by our old 
Ceylon friend, Mr. Henry Walker, to Mr. W. D. 
Gibbon of Kandy, and placed at our service. — 
Ed. T.A.] 
Sandakan, Dec. 25. 
We are going on slowly here, but we are getting 
something to show and I wish your surplus popula- 
tion of young planters would give us a visit. Our 
Coffee is good, there is no doubt about that, and Sarrell 
tells me the Cacao at Taritipan is very promising. 
As that estate was only opened In September 1891 
the cacao cannot be three years old (it was planted in 
1892) but he tells me that one of the young trees 
is covered with pods, and he consulted me about 
stripping them off, to which I agreed. He will also, 
in future, take the first blossom off the Liberian 
coffee. We have too forcing a climate, and I think 
we Bhould control the bearing power of the young 
plants until they have a large quantity of wood. 
As to cacao, I believe, we have a great future be- 
fore us, but I think we should go a little higher 
than sea-level, so as to approximate more to the lati- 
tude of Caracas or even of Guatemala. 
The Cacao sliade tree of America, the En/thnna, 
appears to be indigenous here. We have two kinds, 
one with a handsome parti-coloured yellow and green 
leaf, the other a green leaf, both thorny ; and I 
think, we have also a green variety without thorns. 
The green variety is the favorite, and it seems to 
grow taller than the coloured one. Old coconuts, I 
think, boat Cuylon. We have no drought and our 
grass is always green, not burnt up like C4;dle Face. 
I believe the coconuts here may be relied on for a. 
crop m the 6th year. 
