532 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Feb. i, 1895. 
pineapplns and other fruits, owing to the difficulty 
of quick and cheap transportation to the <jii -j 
great market — that of the United States. On account 
of the transportation question along the v 
and southern slope of the republic was at once Dejected. 
On the Gulf slope most of the locations of 2,000 to 
4,000 feet was believed to be more remote from Batty, 
prompt and cheap transportation than is at the pie- 
sent time necessary to take. Later on, when tin- 
most accessible locations arc taken many of 
inland tracts will likely command even higher prices 
than are now asked, although we now reject fchi ir 
with good reasons. Nearly every American pros- 
pector is looking for coffee land because hie attention 
has been more particularly called to the profits of 
coffee culture. Believing that the rule of planting 
a diversity of crops will apply as well to the tropical 
products as to the temperate zone products of the 
United States, the wise prospdetor will select a lo- 
cation where rubber, cacao, vanilla, sugar cane and 
other crops will also grow at their best. Those pro- 
ducts do not grow at their best at the height of 
H,000 to 4,000 feet, where coffee is now grown in 
Mexico. 
Another objection, a very serious one, is found 
against many of the locations offered. A settler upon 
many of thein will find himself isolated to a large 
extent, in a strange land, surrounde 1 by strangers 
speaking a strange language. He will find himself 
without political power and without neighborly 
sympathy. His position will be an unpleasant one, 
even if the surrounding Mexicans are very friendly. 
If they are suspicious and consider the " Gringos " 
a legitimate object of prey, then, indeed, is his posi- 
tion a trying one, and will likely end, sooner or 
later, in his abandoning venture and returning to 
"Wife's Folks" in the States. 
Americans who have located in Mexico without con- 
sidering all of the above mentioned matters, must be 
the ones whose experience resulted in the late warnings 
sent to the United States by some of the consular 
agents in Mexico, 
The American prospector should go to that point 
where the majority of the settlers will be English- 
speaking and where the American influence will be 
felt and respected by Mexican citizens and govern- 
ment officials. He will be wise to go to that part 
of the country that is attracting the attention of 
the world in the matter of transportation and that 
will in a very short time offer his products com- 
petitive rates of freight to the world's markets. He will 
use good judgment if he does to that district where 
every known tropical product can be raised with 
certainty. Finding these condition-; of a friendly 
social population, a soil and climate unsurpassed for 
tropical products and lines of transportation to all 
parts of the world, the prospector may invest with 
the absolute certainty that history repeats itself 
and that his lands, bought today for a song, will 
soon command many times their first cost. That 
there is such a location we have the testimony of 
many shrewd Americans who have returned to the 
United States most enthusiastic over the opportu- 
nities for investment there at this time. 
INDIAN TEA NEWS. 
(Contributed.) 
I have just received that excellent magazine the 
Tropical Agriculturist and in it every month one 
gets a very great share of all tea news, as well as 
planting topics in general. The article from the 
London Times on "Imitation" Tea is given in full, 
I have not seen much on this head in the Planter. 
The most remarkable feature of the case against the 
promoters of Imitation Tea is that they could re-make 
the tea by the simple process of blowing the infused 
leaves " against a large pipe heated nearly red-hot. 
By the time that they reached the end of the pipe, 
the tea had curled again, and then they fell, looking 
like ordinary tea, into a receptacle at the end." 
This leads one to enquire how far the same machine 
would act in giving the desired twist to fresh tea 
leaves, and whether it would obviate the 
necessity of having the elaborate rolling tables 
now in use. Oue cannot imagine anything flatter 
tli 111 a well soaked ten leaf, an! yet the crisping 
action of hot iron seems sufficient to mil it. An- 
other marvellous item is that the Imitation tea was 
sold at OJd to the dealer, and this will make all 
who sell tea for a lower figure feel very small indeed. 
The average price paid for tea in IBM ma 
higher than that of 1«93. Who has paid f 01 the in- 
creased value of the crop '.' Shall we find retail prices 
higher in U&o ? We are told that the dealers have 
paid for the better average quality of the crop, bat 
we do not expect to hear that the consumers are 
paying more for their tea. in fact every quarter shows 
a decided reduction in retail sales, t think that We 
may presume that the dealers would prefer inferior 
quality and smaller prices.— '//,<• I'l, inter. 
VARIOUS PLANTING NOTES. 
TKA. CONSUMPTION |h thk UNllKl) STATUS — 
in nut certainly be going ahead wince the Antetican 
Grocer shows that up to the end of October la>t 
the imports into tlie States were 33 per cent 
above those for the 10 months of IS') J, 
Native Agriculture.— "A Wellwisher" favour* 
US with a long and interesting review of the 
prize .lay proceedings at the Agricultural School 
ami their bearing on the conditions of native 
agriculture. There is good sense in much that 
he says and no one is entitled to write with greater 
authority. But as regards the risk of increasing 
the production of coconuts too rapidly, we would 
point out again, the great scope there is for 
increased consumption of the nut tor food pur- 
poses among the natives themselves, apart from 
the new ami old uses appertaining to this valuable 
source of export trade. 
The Kangani and Cooly Advance System. 
—We are very pleased to have the following re- 
ply to our inquiry as to the above system in 
the early days of eonee-planting here, from one 
ol the oldest pl.ti.ers remaining in the island, 
Mr. W. H. Walters of Gonavy, Hewahetta. .Mr. 
Walters writes :—" In reply to your query re 
Kanganies, when I came out to Ceylon in 1 84 1 , 
to join my uncle on Kondasalle, the Kangani 
s , stem was tlisn in vogue ; there were not many 
Tamils employed in those days, but we had a 
Head Tamil Kangani, also a Sinhalese. Kobert 
I'ytler on the n act estate had the same, and so 
had li. D. Gerrard on Dcgalle. I have no recol- 
lection as to whether they received head money 
or not, but fancy they received a monthly sa- 
lary, for supplying and overseeing their coolies. 
Our headman was a Havildar, had been in the 
Indian Army for many years and I knew how to 
apply the rattan when needed." — Another very 
old planter, Mr. John Stephens of Dolosbage 
(did not he and Mr. Walters travel out together. ) 
writes :— " I had large gangs of Sinhalese working 
on the Cinnamon Gardens Kaderani from 1841 
to I806, at three fanams per day; Kanganis at six; 
and Head Kanganis at seven. They were paid about 
every two months."— Of course for such there were 
no advances. Still further the veteran, Mr. W. 
H. Wright, tells us that when, in 1839 he went 
to the Rajawella estate, Dumbara, Messrs. James 
and Geo. Reid were Managers and Superintend- 
ents and they paid the Kangani Id. a day per 
head of the coolies working on the estate 24 days 
in the month. Advances were also given to bring 
coolies from the Coast, and in those early days 
there never was trouble about repayment. Indeed, 
during Mr. Wright's five years on Kajawelle, he 
never heard of a run-a-way coolie. 
