2*4 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct.  i,  1892. 
INDIAN  TRADE  PRODUCTS. 
Referring  to  the  catalogue  of  the  articles  of  Indian 
commerce  by  Dr.  George  Watt,  Professor  of  Botany 
in  Calcutta,  The  Times  says : — “ We  have  thus  at  last 
obtained  an  exhaustive  account  of  the  economic  pro- 
ducts of  India,  done  with  scientific  accuracy  and  a 
fair  amount  of  local  knowledge,  arranged  in  the  simple 
alphabetical  order.  The  task  proved  of  too  great 
magnitude  for  a single  worker,  and  since  the  ap- 
pearance of  his  third  volume  in  1890  Dr.  Watt  has 
had  the  assistance  of  Mr.  Duthie,  director  of  the 
Botanical  Department  of  Northern  India,  together 
with  two  other  experts  belonging  to  the  Indian 
Medical  Service.  The  leading  impression  left  by  an 
examination  of  this  Encyclopaedia,  or,  as  Dr.  Watt 
modestly  terms  it,  Dictionary  of  the  Economic  Pro- 
ducts of  India,  is  the  large  number  of  valuable  articles 
of  local  Indian  trade  which  still  remain  to  be  utilised 
by  European  commerce. 
“That the  work  has,  so  far  as  the  materials  permit, 
been  done  with  care  and  completeness  is  attested  by 
every  volume.  For  example,  an  idea  of  the  informa- 
tion given  under  the  camellia,  or  tea-plant,  may  be 
formed  from  the  fact  that  the  mere  references  to  the 
works  consulted  atmost  fill  three  olosely-printed  pages. 
The  articles  on  cochineal,  the  cocoa-nut,  coffee,  and 
the  jute  plant  ( corchorus ) are  each  of  them  admirable 
for  their  wideness  of  research  end  valuable  for  their 
commercial  information  and  statistic-*.  The  elaborate 
notice  of  cotton  ( gossgpium , Vol.  IV.),  runs  to  173 
pages.  It  clears  up  several  obscure  and  disputed 
questions  of  the  past,  while  it  affords  a due  to 
practical  methods  for  improvement  in  the  quality  and 
length  of  the  Indian  staple  in  the  fulure.  The  immense 
importance  of  this  product  may  be  estimated  from  the 
fact  that  the  total  value  of  the  cotton  trade  to  India 
works  out  at  sixty  millions  sterling  per  annum. 
“ Two  other  articles  of  capital  importance  deal  with 
indiarubber  and  indigo.  The  former  narrates  the 
series  of  experiments  at  acclimatizing  the  tree  in 
India,  and  the  success  obtained.  The  notice  of  indigo 
is  particularly  instructive.  It  shows  that  the  weak 
points  in  the  present  system  of  manufacture  in  Bengal 
are  to  a large  extent  due  to  ignorance  of  the  chemis- 
try of  the  substance  and  to  unacquaintance  with 
the  chemical  principles  which  underlie  the  isola- 
tion and  preparation  of  the  colouring  matter.  A 
suggestive  article  in  the  same  volume,  under  the  head- 
ing of  ■ Introduced  Plants,’  will  repay  careful  perusal 
alike  from  its  scientific  and  its  commercial  aspects. 
The  elaborate  account  of  flax  ( linum , Vol.  V.)  ha3 
a special  economic  value,  as  it  deals  with  the  old 
standing  failure  of  India,  while  abundantly  growing 
a linseed  rich  in  oil,  to  enter  the  world's  markets  as 
a producer  ot  flax-fibre.  Under  the  collective  title 
of  narootics  is  given  a detailed  list  of  the  articles 
used  in  India  to  produce  narcotism  or  intoxication, 
aDd  the  extent  of  the  traffic  in  each.  A reference  to 
the  separate  headings  will  convince  any  person  who  is 
still  unconvinced,  yet  open  to  conviction,  that  one  of 
the  greatest  immoralities  which  we  could  perpetrate 
upon  the  Indian  peoples  would  be  to  prohibit  the  use 
of  the  comparatively  innocuous  opium  and  to  force 
them  back  on  the  more  baneful  alternative  drugs. 
The  article  on  the  opium  plant  (papciver,  Vol.  VI.) 
has  already  attained  tho  dignity  of  a Parliamentary 
paper, and  was  noticed  in  our  columns  last  October. 
“ The  great  mercantile  questions  involved  in  the 
Indian  sugar  trade  are  dealt  with  in  the  most  elabor- 
ate exposition  which  has  ever  yet  appeared  of  the 
subject  (Vol.  VI.,  Part  II ) The  article  traoes  the 
history  of  sugar  in  India  from  remote  times,  and 
narrates  the  various  unsuccessful  efforts,  arranged 
in  three  separate  periods  to  establish  sugar 
planting  as  a European  industry  in  that  country. 
The  lesson  which  Dr.  Watt  desires  to  convey  is 
that  those  failures  were  not  a matter  of  necessity, 
but  mainly  the  result  of  a disregard  of  the  condi- 
tions of  India  and  of  the  capabilities  of  the  native 
serts  of  cane.  Vast  films  were  speut  in  vainly  try- 
ing to  acclimatize  exotic  races  the  plant,  and  in 
unwise  endeavours  to  introduce  foreigti  systems  of 
Cultivation  and  refining  unsuitable  to  India.  This,  .m* 
deed,  is  a subject  in  regard  to  which  Dr.  Watt  s 
volumes  are  pregnant  of  instruction  on  other  matte  rs 
besides  the  manufacture  of  sugar.  Too  many  of  our 
efforts  to  improve  the  agriculture  of  India  have  been 
based  on  the  false  assumption  that  progress  must  come 
from  without.  Dr.  Watt  holds,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
the  careful  cultivation  of  well-selected  indigenous  stocks 
would,  in  the  case  of  sugar  at  any  rate,  develop  a cane 
as  rich  in  crystallized  sugar  as  any  that  can  be  found 
in  the  world.  The  conclusion  is  forced  on  us  that 
the  acclimatizing  system  has  had  a long  enough 
opportunity  of  doing  what  it  can  for  India,  and 
that  a systematic  survey  of  the  existing  resources 
of  India  should  now  be  undertaken  with  a view  to 
improvement  of  the  native  plants  and  fibres. 
“ Meanwhile,  it  is  important  to  obtain  a clear 
view  of  the  effect  of  European  competition  on  the 
Indian  sugar  industry.  From  the  very  elaborate 
statements  reviewed  by  Dr.  Watt  it  appears  that 
the  cheapest  foreign  sugars  imported  into  India 
nave  been  unable  to  undersell  the  article  in  common 
use  among  the  people.  The  Indian  refineries  have, 
indeed,  keenly  felt  the  competition  of  foreign  sugars. 
But  the  Indian  cane-growers  have  not  suffered. 
Owing  to  fall  in  the  price  of  gur,  the  raw  sugar  used  by 
the  bulk  of  the  people,  consumption  has  increased  and 
the  area  under  the  crop  has  largely  extended.  Dr. 
Watt  estimates  the  value  to  India  of  her  sugar  in- 
dustries, including  the  palms  cultivated  for  this  pur- 
pose, at  20  millions  sterling  a year,  and  the  annual  out- 
turn at  2|  million  tons  of  coarse  sugar.  The  import 
from  foreign  countries  brings  up  the  total  to  three 
million  tons.  This  represents  a quantity  of  the  re- 
fined article  equal  to  more  than  one-half  the  total 
consumption  of  the  continent  of  Europe,  excluding 
the  British  Islands.” — E.  and  C.  Mail , Aug.  26th 
— 
ORCHID  TEA. 
One  would  not  look  to  the  Kev:  Bulletin  for  a hint 
upon  French  customs.  But  some  who  have  been  think- 
ing themselves  familiar  with  the  ways  of  Gaul  may  be 
surprised  to  learn  from  that  recondite  periodical  that 
a tea  of  orchid  leaves  has  long  been  popular  across  the 
Channel.  There  is  record  of  it  fifty  years  ago  as  a 
beverage  fairly  well  established,  and  of  late  consump- 
tion has  increased.  The  sagacious  and  enterprising 
people  of  this  country  are  always  glad  to  hear  of 
something  new  for  the  tea-table,  and  acquaintance 
with  this  boon  should  not  be  confined  to  the  readers 
of  the Kew  Bulletin — a peculiarly  estimable  class,  but 
limited.  The  mere  name  of  orchid  tea  has  something 
lordly  and  impressive  in  its  sound.  We  fancy  a 
millionaire  consigning  plants  worth  their  weight  in 
gold  to  the  housekeeper’s  room,  there  to  be  stewod 
and  served  up  for  royal  guests.  It  seems  a revival  ot 
theluxury  of  old  Rome,  Yitellius  should  have  drunk 
Orchid  Tea  at  bis  feasts.  Cleopatra  should  have  dis- 
solved her  pearl  therein.  It  is  a theme  for  the  invec- 
tive of  those  guileless  moralists  who  denoonoe  the 
unparalleled  extravagance  of  the  Upper  Classes. 
Looking  more  closely,  however,  we  fail  to  see  any- 
thing really  wicked  in  the  fashion  of  orchid  tea.  The 
article  is  genuine  enough.  It  is  not  compounded  of 
some  homely  weed  which  botanists  alone  identify  as 
akin  to  the  gorgeous  Cattleyas  and  the  stately  Den- 
drobes  of  the  Tropics.  The  orchid  from  which  this 
tea  is  made  is  a member  of  one  of  the  handsomest 
and  most  expensive  families — the  Angrrecum, — and 
a very  pretty  member  too.  It  grows  in  the  forests 
of  Bourbon  and  Mauritius  and  the  scientific  know  it 
as  Angrcecum  frayrans.  Probably  the  natives  have 
been  using  it  for  ages.  Incidentally  we  may  remark 
that  those  who  fear  the  extermination  of  the  nobler 
orchids  may  find  solace  here.  If  a small  species, 
occupying  a very  narrow  area,  of  which  flowers  and 
leaves  alike  are  eagerly  stipped,  can  hold  its  own  for 
generations,  there  is  not  much  cause  to  dread  that  the 
most  ruthless  of  collectors  can  do  worse  than  retard 
for  a little  while  the  increase  of  more  showy  species 
which  are  quite  as  prolific. 
The  commercial  virtue  of  Angrcecum  fragrans 
lies  in  the  strong  perfume  of  its  leaves.  The 
genus  is  allied  to  vanilla— also  an  orchid,  of  course 
