March i, 1895. 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
613 
impending rise. There has just been an arrival in London 
of 0 packages of crude cocaine from Callao per don. 
Qlinim:— Slow of sale. B and S., and Brunswick bulk 
quinine in second-hand offers at lid per oz, and some 
business is reported this week. The London stock at 
the docks has been reduced in the course of January by 
3,'210 lb. 
Vanilla— The stock in the London warehouses on January 
SOth was 360 tins. 
CEYLON TEA IN AUSTRALIA. 
(From Alfred Harvey <& Co.'s Tea Report.) 
Melbourne, Feb. o. 
General. — A gradually advancing market must be 
recorded for January in all but Geylons. Buyers are 
recognising the certain shortage , of leaf in both 
Chinas and Indians, and are consequently ready 
buyers of all grades with point, and also all common 
kinds with clean water ; low common Chinas alone 
are neglected. Ceylons, in consequence of accumula- 
tion of high-cost shipments, have been sold at 
auction at unduly low rates, improving in value at 
close. The falling-off in shipments continues, Cal- 
cutta being now 1,500,000 lb. behind same time last 
year, Foochow 2,000,000 lb., and Colombo 300,000 lb.— 
in all, 3,800,000 lb. With these figures before us, 
we look forward to even higher prices than present 
market for the next t^o or three months. 
Ceylon. — Shipments to date are 5,250,000 lb., or 
300,000 lb. less than at same time last year, with a 
still somewhat easier market in Colombo. Arrivals 
have been lighter than usual, and in face of the fall 
in values at public auction, sales have continued 
to be difficult to effect. There is a good demand 
at auction rates, but these are not really accepted 
by importers, owing to high cost of most of the 
held-over shipments. As anticipated, dust as sold 
down to 5d for strong water, and 5Jd for fine quality. 
Light pekoe souchongs have fetched 7d to 7|d ; 
strong to good quality, 7jd to Sid ; fair to good 
pekoes, 8d to lOd ; good leaf to good quality broken 
and orange pekoes, 9d to Is Id. As usual, the 
bulk of the sales have been effected privately, and 
the course of the market has been downward, with 
a firmer feeling at close, which will probably 
strengthen as the falling-off in supplies is con- 
firmed. Stocks in bond on the 2lith January were 
408,01!) lb. 
FRUIT EXCHANGES BETWEEN AMERICA 
AND CEYLON. 
A Planter writes : — " Enclosed letter from a 
friend of mine in the St. Louis Botanical Gardens 
may be of interest to your readers." 
St. Louis, Mm., Jan: loth, 1S!)5.— The papaw 
seeds came a good while ago and were duly 
planted and are grooving finely, at least mos't 
i>l' them are. I have written to parties in. 
Southern California ami in Florida and will get 
seeds of navel oranges if it is possible to do 
so. You 1 know the navels are seedless and only 
very rarely produce seeds. The pail bha'l ordinarily 
bears the seeds becomes aborted and is pushed up to 
one end and exists there as a little pip 
which from the outside looks something like a 
navel, hence the name. Oranges are like all 
other cultivated fruit. They mostly do not come 
true to seed and you might plant seeds of a 
hundred navel orangey and not gel a single 
navel hearing tree. This is the season for budding 
in California, and if I can get twigs across 
without getting them frozen (the thermometer 
ha-n'l been up to :>■_' for two weeks), I think 
perhaps we could gejb fresh twigs to you by 
properly packing. That would he the best way 
to be -suri of your result-. 
A schoolmate of mine is in the Government, 
Laboratory in Florida, and lie will -mid mr seeds 
in their season. Four-lilths of the Florida 
orange erop of five million oranges has been 
frozen solid, and many groves will be completely 
ruined. Such a freeze had not been Known 
or over sixty years, and the present generation 
fhad forgotten that any such thing was liable 
to occur and so were caught unprepared. 
I have not been able to iind any reference to 
coca wine, except a sort that is made from the 
sop of certain palms, which I judge is not what 
you are after, you doubtless know of the " coco " 
plant (Erythroxylon coca) a shrub of the flax 
family from which " cocaine " is made. The 
shrub grows in the Andes of S. America, es- 
pecially in Bolivia and Peru, at from 2,000 to 
s.ooo ft. elevation. The leaves are the part used 
and upwards of forty million pounds are sold 
annually. The Spanish Americans chew the leaves 
just as many Americans chew tobacco, except 
that they mix lime with it. It has a very power- 
ful stimulating effect on the nervous system. 
The plant is said to yield 3 or 4 crops of leaves 
annually and to grow well under varying con- 
ditions of soil and temperature, Plants' may be 
propogated from seed or cuttings and I suppose 
that the Botanic Gardens in Ceylon would get 
some for you. We have none liere at present. 
The Mexican cacao from which chocolate is made 
is a bird of another color and I won't pretend 
but that you know a lot more about it than I do. 
THE FUTURE OF TEA. 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE " HOME AND COLONIAL MAIL." 
Sir, — Mr. Seton has clearly stated the causes con- 
tributory to the prosperous state of the tea industry. 
Among them I am disposed to give the first place 
to the intelligence and skill of the managers at the 
gardens ; and they are such a generous set of men 
that I do not fear wounding anyone's feelings in 
mentioning, as an instance, the remarkable results 
attained on the Assam Company's estates, for they 
serve as an object lesson, and teach us the potential 
value of every good estate, and what a recuperative 
power there is in even the oldest plantations. 
But Mr. Seton has not referred to a contingency 
by no means remote— viz., the remission of the duty- 
levied on tea. It is stated by those usually well- 
informed that the next Budget will give us a "free 
breakfast-table." Whether this will be the case or 
not, we may be sure that the abolition of duty is 
only a question of time. Reduction of the poor 
man's taxes has ever been the most popular item in 
the Liberal programme, and the way has been pre- 
ared by providing for an increased revenue from the 
eath duties. When it conies, how will it affect us? 
1. By an immediate run upon existing stocks, when 
they are at a low point, with its natural effect upon 
prices. 
2. By a gradual increase in the number of those 
selling tea retail, with absorption of floating stocks. 
3. By a steady and permanent growth of cousump. 
tion. 
4. By setting free capital now locked up iu dntv, 
and so facilitating purchase of tea. 
5. By removing existiug hindrances to export of 
Indian and Ceylon tea in the form of blends. 
And who will derive the most benefit ? 
Some six months after Mr. Goschen lowered the 
duty from Gd to 4d per lb., and retailers reduced 
their quotations 2d, f inquired of some of the 
largest retailers if their average sale price had fallen 
2d per lb. They said, " No ; many of our customers 
now -buy a better quality than they did before," and 
this was reflected in the extra demand and better 
prices then received for the finer teas in Mincing 
Lane. That experience points to the conclusion that 
whenever the duty is taken off, the value of the best 
teas will he enhancod, and that producers will 
possibly enter upon a period of unlooked-for prosperity 
Apart from this contingency the outlook is im* 
proved by the gradual change in the method of dis. 
