468 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Jan.  2,  1893. 
work ; also  two  hyenas,  the  latter  are  awful  brutes  weigh 
ing  more  than  a full-grown  leopard ; they  devour  each 
other,  hunt  down  game  in  packs,  but  strange  to  say 
the  noble  lion  will  not  touch  his  scavanger  attendant 
when  a corpse.  I saw  an  instance  of  this  the  other 
day;  having  shot  a hyena  some  lions  came  roaring 
to  the  scent  about  dawn  but  not  one  of  them 
touched  the  carcase.  I got  out  of  my  tent  end  tried 
to  get  a shot,  but  they  cleared  off  before  I got 
within  range. 
For  the  past  month  bush  fires  have  been  running 
along  the  mountain  Blopes  on  both  sides  of  me  and 
have  driven  the  leopards  into  a corner  behind  my 
bungalow.  I can  hear  them  night  and  day  barking 
to  each  other.  I 've  got  a trap  set  in  the  old 
Ceylon  fashion  with  a goat  as  a bait,  but  they 
walk  past.  About  7-30  one  evening  when  my  servant 
had  gone  a rather  cheeky  fellow  walked  into  my 
kitchen,  seized  one  of  my  dogs  (an  African  pariah), 
who  made  the  rocks  echo  with  his  yells.  I ran  out 
gun  in  hand,  but  Master  Spot  had  got  too  far  off 
for  me  to  get  a good  shot,  it  being  dark  too.  I, 
however,  made  him  drop  the  dog  with  two 
bullets  from  my  express,  one  of  which  I found 
hit  him  somewhere  about  the  loins,  for  he 
got  away  dragging  his  hind  quarter  leaving  lots 
of  blood  on  his  trace.  The  dog  died  next 
day,  although  I heated  his  neck  wounds  immedeately 
with  warm  water  and  put  ootton  steeped  with  carbolio 
lotion  into  them. 
I have  a blossom  in  spike  on  the  coffee,  about  8 
aorea,  planted  with  stumps  brought  trom  Mandalay  18 
months  ago.  It  looks  well  and  healthy.  About  5 cwt. 
per  aore  blossom  I should  say.  We  have  no  signs  of 
leaf  disease  or  bag  here,  the  only  enemy  coffee  has 
is  borer  and  grub,  lhe  former  attaoks  the  tree  when 
12  to  18  months  old  going  up  and  down  the  pith  the 
same  fellow  as  I ’ve  seen  in  Travanoore  and  Ceylon, 
but  spare  mo  from  grub,  the  larva  of  the  cook- 
chafer  evidently  the  same  as  the  Ceylon.  Our  own  land 
1b  full  of  them.  I have  lost  about  25  per  cent  of  plants 
in  my  new  olearing.  I managed  after  all  during  last 
planting  season  to  put  out  28,000  plants — not  bad  in 
one  year  for  wild  Africa 
If  I oan  get  the  labour  I am  goiDg  to  make  a bridle 
path  up  to  the  MilaDji  upper  plateau  6,400  feet  above 
sea  level.  This  to  be  our  sanitarium.  For  about  2 
months  in  the  year  there  is  hoRr  frost  on  the  grass 
and  during  the  hottest  months  the  thermometer  is  only 
reached  to  68°  at  noon,  and  50°  at  6 a.m.  The  scenery  is 
lovely  with  its  cedar  foreBt,  spruce,  firB,  heather,  heath, 
mosses,  &o.  It  is  really  a wonder  in  Central  Afrioa  Mr. 
Johnstone  says  there  is  no  place  like  it  from  Kila- 
marijaio  to  Basutoland. 
I shall  send  you  some  hunting  yarns  in  my  next 
if  you  oare  for  them.  H.  B. 
UNITED  STATES  CONSULAR  REPORTS. 
FOOCHOW  TEA  TRADE. 
KEPOBT  BY  CONSUL  GBACEY. 
The  chief  export  from  Foochow  to  the  United  Statos 
ia  tea,  the  retrograde  in  which  trade,  beginning  eleven 
years  ago,  still  continues.  In  the  year  1880  the  ship- 
ments of  Congou  tea  from  this  port  were  about  850,000 
chests,  or  654,000  piculs,  and  of  all  kinds  738,000  picnls; 
in  1891  only  345,000  chests  of  OoDgou  and  361,966  piculs 
of  all  kinds  were  shipped.  The  production  and  sale  of 
Oolong  tea  has  been  about  the  same  as  in  the  more 
prosperous  years,  but  the  entire  produot  of  this  kind 
of  tea  has  only  been  about  19,000  piouls  or  2,533,666 
ponnds.  A large  portion  of  this  has  gone  to  American 
markets. 
The  entire  shipment  of  all  kinds  of  tea  to  the 
United  States  in  1880  was  2,763,600  ponnds  according 
to  the  customs  report,  during  the  year  1891  it  was 
3,658,133  pouDds,  which  is  a gain  of  1,148,00  pounds 
over  the  year  1890.  Turning  our  attention  to  the  ship- 
ments to  Great  Britain,  in  1880  tho  figures  were 
71,500,000  pounds,  which  have  fallen  to  17,600,000 
ponnds  in  1891.  While  the  trade  in  tea  from  this  port 
to  Great  Britain  has  fallen  off  nearly  three-fonrths 
in  ten  years,  it  has  increased  to  the  United  States,  as 
shown  above. 
As  oompared  with  England,  Australia  and  Russia 
we  arc  nut  a tea-drinkiug  people.  Three  years  ago 
statistics  showed  that  the  consumption  of  tea  pe 
capita  by  Americans  was  about  half  a pound  ; by  Eng- 
lishmen at  home,  7 pounds  fer  eaoh  inhabitant  ; by 
Australasians,  13  pounds. 
The  decrease  in  the  export  of  China  teas  to  Great 
Britain  is  due  to  the  fact  that  India  and  Ceylon  teas, 
raised  under  British  protect:on  by  English  growers, 
have  been  put  upon  the  home  markets  at  much  lower 
rates  than  China  could  furnish  them,  and  every  en- 
couragement has  been  given  to  the  production  and 
sale  of  the  tea  raised  in  those  countries. 
Tho  trade  in  tea  for  London  markets  has  not 
proved  remunerative  for  foreign  dealers  at  this  port 
an  compared  with  former  years,  while  thoee  shippers 
who  have  been  supplying  the  Araerioan  market 
report  better  profits.  This  is  due  almost  entirely  to 
the  fact  that  China  lea  ia  not  brought  into  compe- 
tition with  the  India  and  Ceylon  product  in  the 
United  States. — L.and  C.  Express. 
THE  PLANTING  INDUSTRY  OF  SOUTH  INDIA. 
During  the  time  that  H E.  the  Viceroy  remains 
with  H.  E.  the  Governor  of  Madras,  certain  subjects 
of  policy  and  statemanship  connected  with  the  ad- 
mistration  of  this  Presidency  will  no  doubt  be  dis- 
cussed by  the  distinguished  host  and  his  more  dis 
tinguished  guest, and  remembering  teat  quite  recently 
addresses  were  presented  by  the  Planters  of  Ooorg 
and  Mysore  to  Lord  Lansdowue  and  an  address  was 
handed  to  Lord  Wenlock  by  the  Chairman  of  tho 
Travanoore  Planters’  Association,  it  is  not  unreason- 
able to  presume  that  the  present  status  of  the  plant- 
ing industry  in  South  India  will  oomo  up  for  serious 
consideration.  There  is  a petition  being  prepared 
for  presentation  to  the  Governor-in-Counoil  by  the 
Planters’  Associations  in  this  Presidency,  prayiDg 
that  one  of  their  number  may  be  appointed  to 
a seat  in  the  Legislative  Counoil,  With  tho 
Viceroy’s  notable  Poona  speech  on  the  subjeot  of 
Reformed  Legislative  Council  still  fresh  in  our  minds, 
we  should  not  be  surprised  to  learn  that  Planters’ 
Associations  were  one  of  the  rural  boards  to  whom  the 
right  of  electing  one  of  their  members  to  a seat  in 
Council  was  conceded.  The  Collector  of  the  Nilgiris 
has  asked  the  Honorary  Secretary  of  that  Association 
to  endeavour  to  furnish  him  with  accurate  statistics 
showingthe  amount  of  money  invested  in  plantations 
on  those  Hills.  This  may  be  feasible  on  the  Nilgiris, 
where  the  various  produots  cultivated  by  the  planter 
have  always  thriven  well,  but  there  are  many  distriots 
where  it  would  be  impossible  to  ascertain  the  amount 
of  money  that  has  been  sunk  by  Europeans  in  land 
from  the  time  that  the  first  planter  laid  axe  to  tree. 
To  exemplify  the  foregoing,  let  us  turn  to  Travanoore, 
now  a young  and  flourishing  tea-district,  which  com- 
pares favourably  on  a small  scale  with  Ceylon.  The 
Chairman  of  the  Travancore  Planters’  Association 
could  with  but  little  difficulty  show  the  amount  of  the 
money  at  present  invested  in  the  tea-industry  ; but 
could  he  make  even  a remote  guess  at  the  lakhs  of 
rupees  swallowed  up  by  coffee?  We  doubt  it.  Fur- 
ther, there  may  be  oases  in  this  district— we 
know  there  are  in  others — where  a few  acres  under 
cultivation  represent  hundreds  of  pounds  ster- 
ling sunk  by  one  planter  in  land  now  reverting  to 
jungle  or  in  the  occupation  of  others  who  bought  it 
for  a song ; but  the  sum  sunk  by  such  a man  could 
hardly  bo  returned  as  money  invested  in  the  small 
acreage  under  cultivation. 
HOW  THE  COUNTRY  AND  PEOPLE  HAVE  BENEFITED  BY 
PLANTING  CAPITAL. 
We  have  thus  shown  how  impossible  it  is  to  obtain 
any  accurate  information  concerning  the  volume  and 
extent  of  that  Pactoliau  stream  of  British  capital 
which  for  the  last  half  century  and  more  has  been 
fiowiDg  steadily  and  perennially  through  the  jungles 
and  forest  glades  of  South  India,  enriohing  directly 
the  peasantry  of  the  surrounding  distriots  and  in- 
direotly  the  coffers  of  the  Governments  of  India,  of 
