THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Feb,  x,  1893. 
536 
Russia.— Meantime;  Messrs.  Somerville  & Co.  are 
to  send  some  Ceylon  dust  tea  to  Henkow  by  Mr. 
Maligin’s  order,  and  probably  the  intention  is  to 
try  an  experiment  with  it  in  the  manufacture  of 
brick  tea." 
PLANTING  REVIEW  FOR  1892. 
(By  “ Wanderer.”) 
Tea. — The  year  now  under  review  has  been  on 
the  whole  a fair  paying  one  for  the  tea  planter. 
He  has  been  well  supplied  with  labour,  and  though 
he  did  feel  a little  uncomfortable  when  prices 
went  down  to  8§d,  low  exchange,  oheap  freight  and 
plentiful  labour  enabled  him  to  tide  over  that 
difficulty.  The  excellent  prices  ruling  since  the 
end  of  September,  also  combined  with  low  exchange 
and  cheap  freight,  have  enabled  him  to  spend  a 
happy  Christmas  with  less  of  carking  care  for 
the  future  than  possibly  any  agriculturist  in  any 
other  part  of  the  world.  The  yield  up  to  the 
last  six  weeks  was  decidedly  less  than  1891  oon- 
sidering  the  increasing  age  and  size  of  the  bushes. 
Hill  planters  blamed  the  wet  cold  weather  since 
the  8.-W.  monsoon  set  in.  A friend  of  mine, 
who  went  over  his  estate  with  his  pluckers  every 
nine  or  ten  days  found  his  leaf  ever  so  much  finer 
than  usual,  owing  to  the  slow  growth  of  the 
foliage  in  the  last  S.-W.  monsoon.  In  the  low- 
country  the  same  excuse  cannot  be  given,  but  all  the 
same  the  yield  of  tea  there  has  not  been  so  great 
as  in  1891,  considering  the  increased  age  of  the 
tea.  In  November  and  December  there  has  been 
rather  a rush  of  leaf  especially  on  the  hills.  I 
believe  more  pruning  has  been  done  in  1892  than 
in  1891,  whioh  may  also  account  in  some 
measure  for  the  crop  being  so  short  of  estimate. 
If  that  is  so,  then  we  may  look  to  a rather  better 
crop  than  people  are  inclined  to  estimate  for  1893. 
Supplying  has  been  well  attended  to.  We  could 
not  have  had  a better  planting  year  than  we 
have  enjoyed  in  1892.  The  planted  area  of  tea 
has  not  been  much  extended  in  1892. 
Timber  planting  has  been  oarefully  attended  to. 
With  what  planting  was  accomplished  up  to  1890  the 
appearance  of  many  estates  has  been  improved. 
When  the  planting  of  the  last  two  years  shows  up, 
absentees  from  the  island  for  five  years  will  scarcely 
reoognize  them,  when  they  revisit  their  old  haunts. 
The  following  memo,  of  exports  for  the  last  three 
years  tells  its  own  tale 
Exported  tea  1890  . . 46,691,554  lb. 
1891  ..  68.274,420  lb. 
1892  ..  71,153,657  1b. 
Coffee. — AlaB  1 This  old  product  has  now  to 
take  a very  back  seat.  The  prioe  of  the  staple  is 
simply  magnificent,  but  if  you  have  not  got  it,  what 
good  does  that  faot  do  you?  The  blossoms  were 
late  and  the  crop  has  followed  suit.  So  much 
comes  off  suokers,  the  wood  of  which  is  very  irre- 
gular in  ripeniDg  blossom,  that  the  gathering  of 
orop  is  a Blow,  slow  process.  The  orders  now 
given  in  most  cases  to  managers  are  to  root  cut 
all  coffee  trees  that  do  not  appear  likely  to  give 
orop  in  1893,  I expect  your  reviewer  of  1893 
will  have  an  easy  task  before  him  as  far  as  coffee 
is  concerned  : — 
Exports  (Coffee)  1890  . . 86,009  cwt. 
1891  ..  86,692  ,, 
1892  ..  43,143  ,, 
Cocoa. — All  cacao  planters  are  growling  at  the 
lateness  of  the  crop.  If  we  were  to  judge  by  the 
exports  alone  of  1891  and  1892  we  would  feel 
inclined  to  Fay  wbat  has  come  over  this  product? 
The  year  1890,  however,  showed  a decrease  on  1889. 
We  must  therefore  trust  that  this  produot,  like 
the  flowing  tide  with  its  waves  at  times  apparently 
receding  yet  ever  gaining  ground,  is  really  advancing. 
Late  blossoms  have  however  a great  deal  to  do 
with  this  apparent  shortness  of  1892,  and  the 
early  part  of  1893  will  prove  it.  Much  labour 
and  skill  has  been  expended  by  cacao  planters 
in  growing  the  right  sort  of  shade,  the  fruits  of 
which  will  be  seen  in  the  next  two  years.  Cocoa 
stealing  is  exercising  the  Matale  men.  Corporal 
punishment  seems  to  be  the  only  cure  : — 
Exports  1890  ..  15  981  cwt. 
1891  ..  20,632  „ 
1892  ..  17,327  „ 
Cinchona.— Exports  in  1892  hold  their  own  with 
1891.  Unless  a lot  of  bark  is  stored  in  Colombo 
or  upcountry,  the  exports  must  tumble  down  in 
1893.  One  sees  so  little  of  it  travelling  in  any 
part  of  the  country  : — 
Exports  1890  ..  8,728,836  lb. 
1891  ..  5,679,339  ,, 
1892  ..  6,793,320  „ 
Cardamoms  are  a speciality,  but  the  specialist 
seems  to  be  keeping  up  the  exports  and  the 
prices  are  good.  I should  not  miDd  being  a oarda- 
mon  special  st,  for  he  must  be  making  money  : 
Exports  1890  ..  387,940  lb. 
1891  ..  422,109  „ 
1892  ..  372,510  „ 
VARIOUS  NOTES. 
Dr.  Justus  Karl  Hasskabl,  the  veteran  oinchona 
pioneer,  who  is  now  living  at  Clove,  in  Germany, 
has  been  awarded  a gold  medal  by  the  Dutoh 
Government  in  acknow’edgment  of  the  gift  of  his 
herbarium  to  Leyden  University.  The  herbarium 
oonsists  of  over  20,000  botanical  speoimens,  mostly 
oolleoted  by  the  donor  and  arranged  by  him.  Dr. 
Hasskarl  has  also  presented  to  the  same  university 
his  valuable  collection  of  cinchona  speoimens, — 
Chemist  and  Druggist. 
11  The  Garden  of  East  Africa’’— is  described 
by  Commissioner  Keane  as  Nyassaland  ; and  this 
is  how  he  was  reported  by  the  daily  Graphic 
recently  : — 
“From  Matope  to  the  Lake  i’  is  one  long  garden. 
The  traveller  passes  fields  upi  n fields  of  cereals  of 
every  description,  interrupted  here  and  there  only  by 
plantations  ot  the  biggest  sugarcare  I have  ever  seen. 
Blantjra  is  like  a prosperous  English  village.  If  you 
were  to  see  it  you  would  never  imagine  that  you  were 
in  Africa.  It  lias  a flourishing  population  of  Erglish 
and  Scotch  planters  and  employers  of  the  African 
Lake  Company,  who  live  the  European  fife  in  every 
respect,  except,  perhaps,  that  they  do  not  wear  top 
bats.  The  great  question  in  African  colonisation  is 
always  ‘ Can  a white  man  live  in  the  region  it  is  pro- 
posed to  settle  P’  Well,  this  question  has  been  solved 
in  Nyassaland.  Not  only  can  the  white  man  live 
there,  but  be  can  prosper  and  multiply,  which  is  more 
than  be  can  do  in  India.  In  Nyassaland,’’  added  the 
Commander  enthusiastically,  “the  white  man  can  erijoy 
a rattling  good  time  and  make  money.’’ 
“ How  it  is,”  inquired  our  representative,  “ that 
there  is  no  rush  ot  emigration  to  this  Canaan  ? ” 
“Fortunately  for  us,  we  have  escaped  the  notice 
of  the  outcast  and  thriftless  emigrant.  The  people 
who  have  settled  amoDg  ns  are  an  exceedingly  nice 
sort— young  men  with  muscle  aDd  intelligence  and  a 
few  hundred  pounds  of  capital.  We  hope  to  make 
the  country  a kind  of  overflow  reservoir  for  OeyloD, 
which  is  getting  rather  crowded  now.  Whatever  can 
be  grown  in  Ceylon  can  be  grown  in  Nyassaland.” 
“ An  overflow  reservoir  for  Ceylon’’  may  not  be  a bad 
description  of  Blantyre,  and  by-and-bye  of  the 
Uganda  Planting  district. 
