April  i,  1893.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST 
663 
The  Fibbe  Industry  which  was  at  one  time  very 
brisk,  is  somewhat  slack  just  now.  It  has  been  a 
regular  Godsend  to  the  poor  people  all  over  the  J affna 
peninsula  ; for  with  the  almost  entire  failure  of  the 
last  paddy  crops,  they  would  have  had  little  or 
nothing  to  eat.  In  the  place  of  paddy  they  have 
money;  for  I am  credibly  informed  that  close  on 
R700,000  worth  of  fibre  has  been  bought  in  the  place  ; 
and  all  this  money  is  now  circulating  in  the  Penin- 
sula.— Ibid. 
Tea  in  the  Carolinas. — Once  more  Mr. 
Shephard  and  Mr.  Cottam  are  to  the  front  as 
witness  the  article  on  page  #59.  Nothing  oould 
be  more  vigorous  than  the  solitary  tea  plant  we 
saw  in  the  garden  of  the  Government  Agricultural 
Department  in  Washington  in  1884;  but  “one 
Bwallow  does  not  make  a summer,”  nor  is  there 
the  slightest  chance,  in  our  opinion,  of  the  Carolinas 
or  the  Southern  states  as  a whole,  giving  one 
million,  much  less  90  millions,  lb.  of  tea  to  a ■profit 
for  home  consumption.  As  the  ex-Ceylon  planters; 
with  whom  we  stayed  in  Florida,  said  of  their 
orange  garden  of  10  aores, — who  can  keep  a place 
olean,  much  Iobs  extend  the  planted  area,  with 
Negro  labour  at  a dollar  a day — and  dear  at  thatl 
A Series  of  Experiments,  to  test  the  comparative 
fire-resisting  qualities  of  different  kinds  of  flooring, 
have  been  conducted  in  Hamburg.  In  each  oase 
the  floor  was  laid  with  unplaned  pine,  the  boards 
ranging  from  l£  to  2j  inches  in  thickness.  A floor 
of  single  boards  burnt  through  in  30  seoonds.  A 
double  floor  with  parallel  joints  with  two  layers 
of  asbestos  paper  placed  between  the  boards  burnt 
through  in  64  minutes.  With  thick  asbestos  felt 
between  the  boards,  instead  of  paper,  the  floor 
only  lasted  9 minutes  longer.  A double  floor  with 
joints  crossing  at  right  angles,  with  nothing  between 
the  boards,  took  82  minutes  to  burn  through.  A 
similar  floor  with  roofing  felt  between  the  boards 
only  resisted  72  minutes.  A double  floor,  composed 
of  2£-ineh  pranks,  oovered  with  one-inch  match 
boards,  the  joints  at  right  angles,  nothing  being 
placed  between  the  two  lots  of  boards,  resisted  the 
fire  for  144  minutes,  thiB  showing  that  the  crossing 
of  the  joints  was  more  effective  than  inserting 
asbestos  paper  or  felt  between  the  floors. — Indian 
Egineer. 
Rubber,  &c.,  in  Mexico. — A concession  has  re- 
cently been  granted  by  the  Government  of  Mexico 
for  a large  tract  of  land  in  the  States  of  Tabasco 
and  Chiapas  for  colonisation  purposes.  These  are 
the  most  southern  and,  except  to  the  representatives 
of  a few  firms  dealing  in  mahogany  and  india- 
rubber,  the  least  known  States  of  the  Republic. 
The  mahogany  interest  has  gradually  been  worked 
back  from  the  coast  to  the  mountains,  making  it 
much  more  expensive  to  get  the  logs  out,  as  so 
many  are  lost  and  broken  in  floating  them  down 
the  mountain  Btreams.  There  is,  however,  still  a 
large  district  covered  with  mahogany  timber  on  the 
upper  waters  of  the  tabasco  (or  Grijah  a)  River  to 
be  opened  up  when  increased  means  of  transpor- 
tation are  procured.  The  eastern  slopes  of  Chiapas 
ai  d Tabasco  appear  to  be  singularly  favourable  to 
the  growth  of  rubber  trees,  which  grow  quickly  aud 
well.  Wi'-h  some  systematic  plan  of  planting  young 
trees,  and  by  not  tapping  the  trees  until  they  have 
attained  a sufficient  growth,  this  should  become  one 
of  the  most  important  rubber  district  of  America. 
Upon  leaving  the  low  coast  land — about  100  miles 
in  width— there  is  a sudden  ‘‘jump  up”  on  to  a 
very  broken  plateau.  On  this  plateau  there  are  very 
valuable  gold  and  silver  mines  just  Loginning  to  be 
developed.  The  two  great  wants  in  this  district  at 
present  are  decent  roads  and  labour.  The  Govern- 
ment of  Mexico  has  lately  been  utilising  the  troops 
stationed  at  Chiapas  for  road  building,  and  in  a 
few  years  there  will  be  a good  road  completed  from 
the  capital  of  Chiapas  to  the  low  coaslland  of 
Tabasco,  over  which  there  are  good  water  routes  to 
Frontera  or  Carmen. — Indiarubber  Journal. 
Valuation  of  Ceylon  Tea  Plantations. — No 
one  oan  say  that  tea  plantations  are  being  valued 
too  highly,  for  purchase  orCtmpany  purposes. 
In  the  reports  of  two  well-known  Visiting  Agents 
lately  published,  the  valuation  is  based  on  an 
estimate  of  profits  extending  over  six  or  seven 
years  only.  “ Seven  years’  purchase”  in  faot 
seems  to  be  the  rule  at  the  present  time  for  estate 
valuations. 
Indian  Tea  Exports. — It  seems  rather  late 
in  the  day  for  Messrs.  Gow,  Wilson  & Co.  to  give 
us  in  their  tea  circular,  the  figures  for  Indian  Tea 
Exports  to  30th  April  last.  Still  it  is  interesting 
to  be  reminded  how  direct  exports  to  places  outside 
the  United  Kingdom  go  on  increasing 
1889- 90  equal  to  lb.  5,388,500 
1890- 91  „ . . 6,286,416 
1891- 92  ..  9,275,473 
For  1892-3  we  may  add  the  figures  are  likely  to  be 
very  much  less  satisfactory  ; for  up  to  22nd 
February  1893  the  direct  exports  were  only 
4,751,666  lb.  against  8,263,020  lb.  to  same  date  last 
year.  For  Australia,  the  difference  was  1 million 
less;  but  for  “Bombay  and  Persian  Gulf”  the 
falling!  ff  was  over  2,300,000  lb  1 Can  “Ceylon” 
be  the  cause  of  this,  in  outting  out  “India”  to  a 
great  extent? 
CEYLON  EXPORTS  AND  DISTRIBUTION,  1893. 
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