April  i,  1893.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
6 55 
The  Abnormal  Rains  which  wa  have  been 
getting  in  Colombo  during  February  and  March 
seem  to  be  experienced  also  in  Northern  India. 
The  Pioneer  of  Maroh  7th  has  the  following  : — 
“ Heavy  rain,  more  like  the  customary  autumn 
deluge  than  the  spring  showers  of  ordinary  years, 
fell  at  Allahabad  on  Sunday  evening  for  several 
hours.  By  yesterday  morning  the  skies  had  cleared  ; 
but  the  crops  must  have  suffered  to  some  extent.” 
Carp  in  Plantation  Ponds.— There  is  a large 
pond  on  the  Bilicul  Estate  well-stocked  we  believe, 
with  fish,  principally  Carnatic  Carp,  but  the  diffi- 
culty is  to  induce  them  to  take  bait.  Ou  the  one 
or  two  occasions  when  four  and  five  pounders 
were  caught  the  means  adopted  were,  living 
minnows  on  hookp,  attached  to  floating  bottles, 
and  these  “ took  ” during  the  night. — Nilgiri  News, 
Ceylon  Tea  in  Southern  India. — The  total 
crop  of  tea  in  Southern  India — the  Nilgiris,  Wy- 
naad  and  Travanoore— so  far  does  not  exceed 
between  3 and  4 million  lb.  per  annum  and  until 
of  late  nearly  all  this  production  found  a looal 
market.  So  muoh  is  this  the  oase  that  the  Cal- 
cutta estimates  for  Tea  Exports  from  India,  takes 
no  notice  of  Southern  India  at  all.  Well  it  is 
into  this  local  demand  for  Nilgiris  and  Travancore 
tea  that  “ Ceylon  Tea”  has  out  in  to  the  extent 
(including  the  Bombay  market)  of  600,000  to  700,000 
lb,  last  year.  Taking  advantage  of  open  markets  with 
no  duty,  Ceylon  tea  has  found  its  way  to  every  port 
in  Southern  India  we  are  credibly  informed;  and 
very  creditable  to  looal  enterprise  this  faot  un- 
doubtedly is.  But  it  is  none  the  less  galling  to 
South  of  India  Tea  Estate  proprietors;  and  does 
it  not  look  rather  like  adding  “ insult  to  injury” 
for  the  Travanoore  men  who  want  to  use  the 
Colombo  market,  to  be  told  by  the  very  producers 
who  send  700,000  1b.  tea  to  oust  theirs  in  India — 
“ Oh  no  I we  can’t  have  your  tea  here  ; we  have 
a Customs  duty  expressly  to  shut  you  out  and  we 
mean  to  maintain  it  too. 
Sugar  Planting  in  the  North-Western  Province. 
— For  many  years  past  the  only  spot  where  sugar 
planting  has  been  carried  on  in  Ceylon  has  been 
at  Baddegama,  in  the  Southern  Province.  As 
many  of  our  readers  are  doubtless  aware,  eugar- 
oane  growing  on  a large  scale  has  been  tried  in 
many  parts  of  the  rich  alluvial  lands  in  the  south 
of  the  island,  in  the  Western  Province,  and  even  on 
the  banks  of  the  Mahavilla  ganga  at  Kandy  ; but  we 
do  not  know  that  any  attempt  has  ever  been  made 
to  grow  cane  in  the  North-Western  Province.  Few 
industries  have  had  so  muoh  oapital  expended  upon 
them  for  so  little  purpose  as  sugar  produotion  here 
has.  All  that  care  and  skill  and  experience,  com- 
bined with  large  pecuniary  resources,  could  do  has 
beon  done  to  establish  the  industry  in  Ceylon  but 
without  eucoess.  It  was  net  that  the  cane  would 
not  grow  or  that  the  best  varieties  were  not  tried. 
On  the  contrary,  the  finest  varieties  known  were 
planted,  and  the  growth  was  most  satisfactory.  It 
was  in  the  vats  that  the  produce  showed  up  so 
badly,  the  saccharometer  only  showing  a small  per- 
centage  of  sacoharine.  This  excess  of  moisture  in 
the  oanes  without  a corresponding  amouat  of  sac- 
charine was  generally  believed  to  be  due  to  the  high 
rainfall  and  humid  atmosphere  of  the  island.  Whether 
this  characteristic  will  disappear  in  the  case  of  oaue 
grown  in  a drier  district,  such  as  that  lying  between 
Chilaw  and  Negombo,  remains  to  be  seen  ; but  the 
experiment  is  oertainly  worth  trying  if  Government 
are  molined  to  offer  facilities  for  such  a trial  and  this, 
we  believe,  is  about  to  be  suggested  to  them. — Loeal 
“ Times.”  [This  refers  to  the  opinion  of  an  ex- 
perienced sugar  planter  in  favour  of  experimental 
cultivation  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Bajakadaluwa 
beyond  the  Deduru-oya.  Of  the  benefit  which  would 
oome  to  the  people  in  a very  poor  neighbourhood, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  and  ou  that  account  the  pioneer 
deserves  speoial  encouragement  from  Government. — 
Ed.  T.A.] 
Tasmanian  Apples — To  accommodate  the  growing 
demand  for  cool  spaoe  in  the  mail  steamers  from 
Australia  for  the  conveyanoe  of  fruit,  chiefly 
Tasmanian  apples,  the  Orient  Company  hava 
reoently  made  large  additions  to  the  refrigerator 
holds  of  the  Orient  Line  steamers  whioh  will  be 
leaving  duriDg  the  next  fruit  season.  The  first  of 
these,  the  twin  s.s.  11  Ophir,”isdue  to  reach  England 
about  the  middle  of  April. — Colonies  and  India. 
Central  Asian  Cotton.— The  export  of  cotton 
from  Central  Asia  during  1892,  the  Odessa  cor- 
respondent of  the  Daily  Chronicle  says  reached 
nearly  50,000  tons.  During  1891  it  was  a trifle 
over  42,000  tons,  and  in  1838,  when  the  Transcas- 
pian  line  was  first  opened  to  Samarkund  only 
18,800  tons.  This  ootton  is  almost  entirely  con- 
sumed in  Russia,  being  shipped  from  the  Eastern 
Caspian  ports  to  Astrakhan,  and  thenoe  up  the 
Volga.  American  long  staple  cotton  is  gradually 
taking  the  plaoe  of  native  ootton  all  over  the 
Central  Asian  provinces. — Pioneer,  Maroh  8. 
Transmission  op  Electric  Energy.— Now  that  it 
has  been  shown  that  electrio  energy  can  be 
transmitted  over  a distance  of  fifteen  miles  with 
a loss  of  only  some  four  per  cent  , why  should 
dwellers  in  the  country  be  denied  the  advantages 
of  the  electrio  light?  EarlRuseell  and  Mr.  Thwaites 
who  treat  of  this  subject  jointly  in  an  artiole  in 
the  National  Review  propose  that  the  owners  of 
country  houses  should  oombine  for  the  purpose 
of  establishing  at  some  fixed  plaoe  (say  near  to 
a railway  station)  a station  at  whioh  to  generate 
the  foroe.  A skilled  working  eleotrioian  should  be 
engaged  to  supervise  the  generating  plant  and  that 
involved  in  the  utilisation  of  the  energy.  Eaoh 
house  could  be  connected  with  the  generating  station 
which  would  become  a “ telephonio  exchange.”  At 
the  central  station  a steam-engine,  or  a fuel-gas- 
engine,  would  drive  two  alternating  dynamo  machines. 
The  electro-motive  foroe  developed  at  a low  pressure 
would  be  transformed  into  one  of  greater  pressure, 
and  suitable  for  the  distanoe  to  be  traversed  between 
the  station  and  the  houses.  The  pressure  of  the 
current  would  be  reduced  at  each  house  to  the 
measure  appropriate  to  the  charaoter  of  the  work 
to  be  done.  Eaoh  householder  would  be  supplied 
with  a meter,  and  the  eleotrio  energy  used  would  be 
charged  against  him.— Public  Opinion. 
Coppkrah  and  Coconuts.— Our  commercial  corres- 
pondent writes  —There  has  been  a good  enquiry  for 
the  article  both  in  London  and  here ; but  we  have 
not  recently  heard  of  aDy  large  orders  being  placed. 
There  is  the  usual  demand  for  the  Oil  Mills,  and 
shipments  from  Jaffna  have  been  sold.  Advices  from 
London  state  that  there  seems  to  be  a scaroity  of 
the  artiole  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  The  value 
to  arrive  of  good  ordinary  stuff  which  was  as  low  as 
£12  15s  in  the  middle  of  last  year,  has  ever  since 
gradually  advanced  till  the  quotation  at  present  is 
£17  15s  per  ton  to  arrive  ex.  steamer,  at  which  wo 
hear  a sale  has  beeu  made  and  more  is  wanted  at 
that  figure  without,  however,  leading  to  business. 
Coconuts  are  wanted  in  any  quantity  for  the  Desioat- 
ing  Mills ; and  so  long  as  there  is  a demand  for  the 
manufactured  article,  there  will  be  a diminution  in 
the  conversion  of  the  nuts  into  Copperah.  Nuts  for 
culinary  purposes  in  the  bazaars  are  selling  at  5 to  5§ 
centa  each,  and  even  6 cents  has  been  paid  for  a 
large  sized  nut.  The  shipments  of  desiooated  cooonut 
came  to  about  3,400,000  lb.  during  last  year;  and 
as  an  average  3 nuts  go  to  a pound,  the  quantity 
of  nuts  used  in  this  industry  was  something  like 
10,200,000  ; add  to  this  the  quantity  of  nuts  exported 
during  1892,  whioh  may  be  put  down  as  9,500,000 
and  the  enormous  quantity  of  about  20,000,000  oooo- 
nuca  have  beeu  sent  out  of  the  Island  in  one  shape 
or  another  during  last  year,  and  there  i»  still  an 
increasing  demand  for  ‘Ookernuts’  from  England!— 
Looal  “ Examiner.” 
