April  i,  1893.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
647 
INDIAN  TEA  FOE  CHICAGO. 
Minutes  of  meetings  of  the  Chicago  Exhibition  Com- 
mittee, held  on  16th  and  27th  January,  and  3rd,  10th 
and  17th  February,  were  plaoed  before  a meeting  of 
the  Tea  Association  the  other  day,  and  the  Chair- 
man stated  that  the  tea  sent  in  for  exhibition  and  dis- 
tribution had  been  shipped,  freight  free,  per  “ C'ty 
line  steamer,  and  a collection  of  first-class  photo- 
graphs in  connection  with  the  tea  industry  had  also 
bepn  forwarded.  He  had  engaged  the  services  of  ten 
kbitmutgars,  and  was  arranging  for  their  clotbiDg 
and  passage  at  reduced  rates  by  British  India  Steam 
Navigation  Company.  Mr.  Blechynden  had  been  in 
London,  but  had  now  returned  to  Chioago.  A pavilion 
was  being  erected  and  the  London  Committee  bad 
expressed  themselves  satisfied  with  Mr.  Blechynden’s 
arrangements  generally. — Englishman, 
NATAL  TEA  PRODUCTION. 
Onr  special  tea  correspondent  at  Kearsney  writes. — 
Unless  something  very  extraordinary  happens,  such  as 
a visitation  of  locusts,  or  a withering  blast  of  red 
Bpider,  the  outurn  of  January  has  put  our  original 
estimate  wi«hin  easy  reach,  and  the  whole  Natal  crop 
for  1892-3  should  considerably  exceed  halt  a million 
pounds.  Daring  January,  in  both  rainfall  and  cold 
weather,  we  have  had  our  full  share,  but  the  bushes 
are  “flushing”  away  merrily,  and  the  difficulty  is 
to  get  the  leaf  off  fast  enough.  Even  if  we  get 
another  long  drought,  as  we  did  last  year,  there  is 
sufficient  moisture  iD  the  ground  now  to  tide  us  over 
a large  proportion  of  the  remaining  season.  The 
total  outturn  for  Natal  may  now  be  safely  raised 
from  560,000  lb.  to  600,000  lb. — Natal  Mercury , Feb.  8, 
NATAL  TEA. 
TO  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  “ BRITISH  AND  SOUTH 
AFRICAN  EXPORT  GAZETTE.'’ 
Dear  Sir, — In  a recent  issue  of  your  valuable  “ Export 
Gazette”  you  made  referenoe  to  Hulett’s  Natal  Tea. 
While  muoh  appreciating  your  kind  notice,  I beg  to 
draw  your  attention  to  the  faot  that  there  was  an 
error  in  the  figures  you  gave  as  to  the  output.  In. 
sttad  of  the  weight  you  gave,  it  should  have  been 
very  much  more,  viz.  355,000  lb.  for  the  1892-93  sea'on. 
I beg  to  enclose  you  some  particulars  of  tbe  Kearsney 
teas — which  5 on  may  be  interested  to  learn  have  just 
been  awarded  a gold  medal  at  the  Kimberly  Exhibition 
— as  well  as  special  prizes  for  individual  classes  of 
teas. — I am,  dear  sir,  yours  truly,  C.  Haith,  For  J. 
L.  Hulett  & Sons,  Ltd,,  Natal. 
VARIOUS  AGRICULTURAL  NOTES. 
The  Value  of  Eggs  as  food  is  an  important 
reason  why  fruit  growers  should  go  in  largely  for 
fowls.  Six  large  eggs  will  weigh  about  a pound. 
As  a flesh  producer  one  pound  of  eggs  is  equal 
to  one  pound  of  beef.  About  one-third  of-  the 
weight  of  an  egg  is  solid  nutriment,  whioh  is 
more  than  oan  be  said  of  meat.  There  are  no 
bones  aDd  tough  pieces  that  have  to  be  laid  aside. 
Practically  an  egg  is  animal  food,  and  yet  there 
is  none  of  the  disagreeable  work  of  tbe  butcher 
necessary  to  obtain  it,— Horticultural  Times. 
Mr.  T.  Walker  and  Frozen  Meat.— We  are 
glad  to  welcome  so  enterprising  a colonist  as 
Mr.  Walker  baok  to  our  midst  and  in  good  health 
though  he  does  not  give  much  credit  to  the  trying 
olimate  of  the  old  country,  Mr.  Walker,  we  are 
pleased  to  learn,  has  by  no  means  given  up  the 
idea  of  supplying  frozen  meat  to  Colombo  and 
though  at  present,  negotiations  are  not  ripe  enough 
to  be  discussed,  we  hope  ereloDg  to  be  able  to 
indicate  that  Mr.  Walker  is  in  a fair  way  to  confer, 
what  we  certainly  consider  will  be  a great  boon  on 
tbe  meat-eating  community,  even  if  the  price  for 
prime  Canterbury  mutton  should  not  be  less  than 
60  oeats  a lb; 
Ceylon  Tea  in  Mashonaland. — We  call 
attention  to  the  letter  of  Messrs.  Gow,  Wilson  & 
Stanton  announcing  their  introduction  of  Ceylon 
tea  into  Mashonaland  : we  think  the  Rood  Lane 
Firm  deserves  a vote  of  thanks  from  the  Tea 
Fund  ommittee  for  their  enterprise  in  this  and 
other  directions  in  introducing  our  teas  into  new 
markets. 
Tea  in  Australia. — We  call  attention  to  the 
interesting  Tea  Report  furnished  by  Messrs.  Alfred 
Harvey  & Co.  of  Melbourne  under  date  7th  Feb. 
given  on  page  615.  It  will  be  observed,  they  speak 
in  a very  encouraging  way  of  the  market  and  pros- 
pects, Stocks  are  certainly  very  moderate  and  there 
is  plenty  of  room  for  Oeylon  to  cut  out  China 
which  still  sends  at  least  10  million  lb.  too  many 
to  the  Southern  Colonies. 
Planting  in  East  Africa. — We  call  atten- 
tion to  the  letter  of  Mr.  W-  H.  Cowley  from 
German  East  Africa,  giving  an  encouraging  account 
of  the  position  and  planting  prospeots  of  the 
settlement.  We  hope  to  have  many  more  interest- 
ing letters  from  Mr.  Cowley.  He  is  the  gentle- 
man who  wished  to  indent  for  Sinhalese  labourers, 
and  under  his  care,  we  feel  sure  they  would  be 
well  treated  and  carefully  looked  after.  As  regards 
coffee  seed  from  Arabia,  we  would  recommend  Mr. 
Cowley  to  apply  to  Messrs.  Luke  Thomas  & Co. 
of  Aden  as  the  best  quarter  we  know,  whence  to 
procure  fresh  Mocha  seed. 
Tree  Planting  on  Estates. — We  call  atten- 
tion to  the  interesting  and  practical  letter  whioh 
our  correspondent  “Fuel”  forwards  on  this  But- 
ject.  The  figures  given  in  respeot  of  requirements 
in  fuel  for  tea-making,  and  steam  engine  (where 
used)  seem  well  on  the  safe  side,  and  are  therefore 
tbe  more  reliable ; while  his  estimate  of  h2J  per 
aore  for  planting  up  an  estate  with  useful  quick, 
growing  trees  at  the  rate  of  ICO  trees  per 
aore  cannot  be  grudged  by  any  proprietor.  We 
shall  be  glad  of  any  oriticism  if  required.  Of  the 
great  importance  which  we  attach  to  the  discharge 
of  this  duty  of  tiee-plantmg  by  all  upoountry 
plantation  proprietors,  we  need  add  nothing  to 
what  we  have  already  written. 
The  Paddy  Crop,  1892-93,  in  Madras  and 
Burma. — The  final  offioial  reports  may  be  summa- 
rized as  follows  : — 
“ According  to  the  latest  figures— those  up  to  the  end 
of  January  1893 — the  area  town  or  planted  with  paddy 
during  tbe  curreut  season  in  Government  villages  in 
this  Presidency  was  larger  than  bas  usually  been  re- 
ported np  to  tbe  corresponding  date  by  278,400  acres  or 
53  per  cent.  Taking  tbe  probable  crop,  the  outturn 
will  amount  to  51,787,400  cwt.  or  about  two-thirds  of  an 
average  crop  on  tbe  area  sown  this  year.  No  really 
aoourate  data  exist  for  calculating  the  aotual  outturn  of 
past  years.  Converting  tbe  probable  outturn  into  its 
equivalent  of  cleaned  rice,  the  yield  of  the  year  may  be 
put  at  nearly  15  per  cent  more  than  estimated  last  year 
and  nearly  9 per  cent  more  than  the  average  of  the 
estimates  of  the  last  five  years.  Bearing  in  mind  the 
very  unfavourable  character  of  tbe  season  over  t lie 
southern  half  of  the  Presidency,  the  exportable  surplus 
is  likely  to  be  very  trifliDg  if  there  be  aDy.” 
To  make  up  for  the  bad  news  in  the  last  sen- 
tence, we  have  the  offioial  report  from  Burma  : — 
“ The  area  underpaddy  cultivation  is  now  estimated 
at  4,467,438  acres,  or  252,415  acres  more  than  the 
actuals  ot  last  year,  and  15,800  acres  more  than  the 
estimate  given  last  month.  Considerable  increases  in 
area  are  reported  from  Amherst  and  Pegn,  while  the 
Bassein  estimate  has  decreased,  The  estimates  of 
outturn  given  last  month  are  unchanged.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  there  will  be  available  for  export  1,637,000 
tons  of  cargo  rioe  equivalent  to  27,746,000  owt,  of 
cleaned  rioo  including  what  is  required  for  Upper 
Burma. 
