2Q2 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct.  i 1892. 
CONSULAR  REPORT. 
CANTON. 
Mr.  T,  Watters  reports  to  the  Marquis  of  Sali'- 
bury  on  the  trade  of  Canton  for  2891  as  follows:  — 
Tea. — The  customs  returns  gives  the  following  as  the 
export  of  all  tea,  including  dust  and  stalks,  for  1891, 
viz: — Canton,  10,811,89711'.;  Kowloon,  4,428,9331b.; 
Lappa,  3,422,4001b. ; total,  18,463,2001b.  Of  tea  proper 
the  total  export  was  17,533,3331b.,  bemg  3.090,0001b. 
above  1890,  and  larger  than  the  export  for  several 
years  before.  Still  the  tea  merchants  hnv  repre- 
sented the  year  as  unsatisfactory  a'ike  to  foreieners 
and  natives.  Oae  of  them,  to  whose  kindness  I am 
indebted  for  information  on  the  subject,  states  that 
‘•congous  were  in  small  supply,  but  sold  in  London  at 
lower  rates  than  have  ever  be  n known  previously.” 
He  adds:  '“Scented  capeis  have  been  in  over-supply, 
and  the  export  by  the  end  of  the  season  reached  a 
figure  much  in  excess'  of  the  moat  liberal  estimates 
previously  formed.  This  was  brought  about  partly 
by  a large  increase  of  the  supplies  of  the  lower  grades, 
caused  in  a great  measure  by  the  addition  to  them 
of  leaf  from  inferior  districts,  partly  by  the  native 
shipping  on  their  own  account  to  an  unusually  large 
extent,  and  partly  by  a reduction  in  the  duty  on  tea 
passed  through  the  natives  customs.  The  consequ- 
ence has  been  a most  depressed  market  in  London, 
where  teas  are  now  selling  at  2Jd,  to  3d.  under  rates 
ruling  at  this  time  last  year.'’ — L.  $ C.  Express. 
COCONUT  BRUSHES. 
The  manufacture  of  brushes  of  coir,  one  of  the 
industries  of  Rhode  Island,  is  carried  on  at  East 
Greenwich,  by  Messrs.  Pierce  and  Wadleigh.  This 
material  for  brushes,  says  the  “ Providence  Journal,” 
is  obtained  from  the  husk  of  the  coconut,  which  at 
first  sight  would  be  considered  very  unpromising,  but 
by  macerating  in  water  and  fermentation  all  the 
gelatinous  substance  is  washed  out,  leaving  the  fibres 
in  a state  to  be  spun  into  a coarse  yarn.  The  natives 
spin  the  fiber  by  rolling  it  on  the  knee  by  the  hand 
until  there  is  twist  enough  to  form  it  into  a coarse 
thread,  somewhat  like  rope  yarn,  which  is  then  made 
up  into  bales  for  exportation.  The  best  is  obtained 
from  coconuts  grown  on  some  of  the  Islands  on  the 
India  coast — Islands  that  are  mere  coral  circles,  on 
which  a fringe  of  the  trees  grows,  with  the  salt  water 
on  both  the  inner  side  and  the  outer  side ; while 
that  produced  by  the  trees  on  the  mainland,  for 
lack  of  the  salt  water,  apparently,  is  much  inferior, 
and  many  arts  are  used  by  the  natives  to  make  this 
fibre  simulate  that  of  the  Islands,  and  obtain  a corre- 
sponding price  in  the  market  It  is  imported  in  bales 
weighing  about  250  pounds,  in  the  form  of  small 
skeins,  very  tightly  packed.  The  first  process  in 
manufacture  of  the  brush  consists  in  reeling  the 
skeins  in  spools.  These  are  placed  on  a very 
ingenious  machine  invented  by  John  Earnshaw, 
of  East  Greenwich.  The  brushes  come  from 
the  machine  in  couples,  like  the  two  webs  of  a 
double-pile  fabric  of  plush,  for  instance,  face  to 
face,  which  is  separated  by  cutting  apart.  The 
next  process  is  putting  the  binding,  which  is  made 
from  the  same  material  on  a heavy  braiding  machine. 
This  is  secured  by  stitching  through  and  through 
the  brush  and  is  also  done  on  a machine.  Then 
the  brushes  are  finished  by  trimming  and  shearing, 
like  the  pile  fabrics  before  referred  to,  to  give  them  a 
smooth,  uniform  face.  The  brush  is  semiflexible,  as 
it  consists  almost  wholly  of  the  fibre.  A few  light 
strips  of  wood  are  inciosed  in  the  back  to  give  it 
some  stiffness.  They  are  made  in  quite  a variety, 
from  the  common  scrubbing  brush  up  to  the  neat 
clothes  brush  and  brush  for  the  bath.  This  coir 
fibre,  owing,  probably,  to  the  tannin  contained  in  it 
is  found  to  be  almost  indestructible  by  decay,  as 
shown  by  an  incident  that  occurred  early  in  its 
manufacture.  Mr.  Earnshaw  used  some  of  the 
tangled  fibre  for  bedding  in  his  stable,  from  whence 
it  went  into  the  rubbish  heap  and  after  remaining 
there  all  winter  it  was  used  with  the  fertilizer  in 
Raising  potatoes,  and  when  the  potatoes  were  dug 
to  Mr.  Earnshaw’s  great  surprise  the  fibre  was  found 
unchanged.  So  he  had  some  of  it  cleaned  out  and 
manufactured,  as  it  was  evidently  as  good  as  ever 
and  as  useless  for  a fertilizer  as  are  scraps  of  leather. 
This  property  of  the  fibre  of  resisting  decay  makes 
the  brusnes  invaluable  for  use  in  markets,  as 
they  never  become  foul,  as  the  bristle  brushes  do  in 
a very  short  time.  The  coir  fibre  is  also  used  in 
making  mats,  for  which  purpose  Mr.  Earnshaw 
invented  a loom. — Scientific  American,  Aug.  20. 
THE  WEEDING  OF  COFFEE  ESTATES.# 
Sie, — I invariably  peruse  with  interest  the  ex- 
cellent letters  from  your,Coorg  correspondent  and  ven- 
ture to  consider  them  of  the  greatest  assistance  to 
the  planting  community.  He  has  evidently  such 
favourable  opportunities  for  making  extended  and 
careful  observations  relative  to  routine  cultivation, 
that  his  remarks  and  suggestions  are  most  valuable. 
He  will,  however,  I feel  sure,  be  the  first  to  regret 
that  by  quoting  my  writings  from  memory  he  has 
misinterpreted  my  statement  that  “ burying  in 
weeds  sours  the  soil.”  My  views  were  expressed  in 
1S79,  and  *did  not  refer  in  any  way  to  the  approved 
system  of  digging  or  stirring  in  small  weeds  in  a 
well-worked  soil,  but  to  a pernicious  method 
adopted  in  olden  days  of  scraping  together  with  a 
mamotie  vast  quantities  of  rank  grass  and  weeds 
off  land  in  faulty  condition  at  the  end  of  the  mon- 
soon, and  burying  them  deeply  in  closed  pits,  in 
which,  after  undergoing  fermentation,  they  were 
converted  into  what  may  be  termed  very  bad  ensil- 
age. My  remarks  relative  to  stacking  large  weeds  on 
the  surface  or  in  renovation  pits  were  pointedly 
directed  to  the  necessity  for  hand  weeding  or  grass- 
knifing before  a general  digging.  As  the  matter  is 
one  of  great  importance  I may  be  permitted  to 
quote  what  was  really  written  by  me  : — 
“ The  soil  assisted  by  the  atmosphere  must, 
as  it  were,  cook  the  food  for  the  plant,  and 
must  do  so  thoroughly,  otherwise  the  proximity  of 
semi-decomposed  vegetable  matter  must  be  as  hurt- 
ful to  the  living  plants  as  a festering  corpse  is  to  a 
human  beiug.  Land  that  his  been  superficially  worked 
and  long  exposed  to  atmosphere  action  always 
gets  covered  with  moss  and  creeping  weeds,  loses  its 
granular  form  and  becomes  clogged.  The  soil  after  a 
time  becomes  cold  and  surcharged ; with  all  6orts  of 
acidity  and  noxious  gases.  Decomposition  of  organic) 
matter  is  checked.  . . . and  the  plant  has  to  eke 
out  a wretched  existence  surrounded  by  a clammy 
mess  of  soil  and  organic  matter  in  a form  alone  favour- 
able for  the  formation  of  pernicious  combina- 
tions. . . .It  weeds  and  rubbish  are  to  be 
buried,  such  should  not  be  doue  merely  to  get  rid  of 
them,  but  to  benefit  the  condition  of  the  soil,  and 
every  means  must  be  adopted  to  insure  their  becom- 
ing useful  ns  they  are  not  ornamental.  They mu6t  not 
be  hermetically  sealed  up  in  a small  hole  cut  cheese-like 
in  a cold  retentive  soil,  but  should  be  mixed  generally 
wi:h  the  soil,  an  operation  which  wili  make  the  land 
friable  andtich;  at  the  same  time  decomposition  will 
not  be  checked  and  the  trees  will  be  generally  bene- 
fited. A sample  of  partially  decomposed  veget- 
able matter  found  during  digging  in  a cold,  sour, 
retentive  soil  aft.  r SO  inches  of  rainfall,  clearly  shows 
what  sort  of  food  the  plants  have  in  their  proximity. 
This  substance  is  composed  of  leaves  of  forest 
tree',  twigs  and  general  debris  and  is  found  to 
be  completely  bound  together  with  fungoid  fila- 
ments. Immediately  it  is  broken  up,  exposed  to 
the  air  and  generally  mixed  with  the  soil  it  changes 
it s appearence  and  the  fungus  disappears.  Does 
this  prove  that  the  food  for  the  fungus  has  passed 
into  a more  advanced  stage  and  has  become  food 
for  a higher  order  of  plant? “The 
ground  must  be  deeply  worked.  Digging,  draining 
and  the  burial  of  surface  matter  and  green  weeds 
are  indispensable,  but  each  operation  must  be  system- 
atic illy  performed  with  the  objects  of  maintaining 
the  texture  and  condition  of  the  soil  in  a proper  state, 
* And  the  disposal  of  weeds  generally. — Ed.  T.a, 
