686 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[May  x,  1893. 
Date  Sugar. — The  comparatively  low  price  of  gur 
and  sugar  and  the  scarcity  of  fuel  in  Bengal  are  said 
to  be  having  a distinct  effect  in  gradually  reducing 
the  old  native  industry  of  the  manufacture  of  date 
sugar.  An  enquiry  has  recently  been  made  with  a 
view  to  reviving  the  industry,  but  it  is  found  that 
the  estimates  that  have  been  made  of  the  profit  to 
be  derived  from  it  are  very  muoh  exaggerated.  Date 
palms  only  thrive  in  the  light  loamy  Boils  of  Lower 
Bengal,  where  the  climate  is  humid,  and  the  prospeot 
of  any  extensive  growth  in  the  industry  does  not 
seem  to  be  at  all  promising  at  present. — Indian 
Agriculturist,  Feb.  25. 
Strawbebbies  Want  Water. — Strawberries  when 
in  flower  and  setting  their  fruit  will  usually  re- 
quire oopious  supplies  of  water,  and  will  generally 
be  benefited  by  mulching  For  this  purpose  short 
grass  or  lawn  mowings  are  very  ueeful.  Runners 
should  be  removed,  if  not  required  for  making 
fresh  beds.  Bush  fruits  will  also  be  benefited  by 
mulching,  almost  anything  that  will  oheek  eva- 
poration of  moisture  from  the  surface  will  answer 
the  purpose.  Moisture  encourages  slugs  and  snails, 
and  these  will  have  to  be  treated  with  strong 
but  eloar  lime  water,  not  whitewash. — Horticultural 
Times, 
Jute  Manufacture  in  Mexico. — London  Industries 
says  : — “ Au  important  concession  has  recently  been 
granted  to  an  American  syndioate  for  the  establish- 
ment of  four  extensive  jute  factories  in  different 
parts  of  Mexico.  The  concessionnaires  must  invest 
at  least  £400,000  in  the  enterprise,  work  on  the 
first  factory  to  begin  within  nine  months,  and  the 
building  to  bo  completed  within  three  years.  The 
construction  mateiials  and  machinery  for  eachfaotory 
will  be  admitted  into  the  oountry  free  of  duty. 
The  capital  invested,  the  buildings  and  the  business 
will  be  exempt  from  all  taxation,  except  the  stamp 
tax,  for  ten  years.” 
Coffee  Notes  from  Coorg,  14th  Feb. — Take  the 
case  of  the  owner  of  a coffee  estate  who  lives  at  home 
in  England.  Say  a year's  expenditure  on  his  place 
amounts  to  R32,000  all  told  and  he  gets  say  an  average 
of  35  tons  of  crop  off  it.  For  purposes  of  easy  calcu- 
lation we  will  take  exchange  at  R15  per  £ sterling, 
and  the  price  realised  for  the  coffee  at  £100  per  ton. 
It  is  easy  to  see  how  he  fares  under  these  circum- 
stances. To  meet  the  expenditure  on  his  estate  he 
has  to  remit  £2,133^.  He  sells  the  coffee  for  £3,500, 
so  that  his  income  amounts  to  £1,366§.  If  exchange 
went  back  to  par  we  find  bis  profits  would  be  reduced 
to  only  £300  unless  he  curtailed  expenditure  which 
would  be  a very  risky  proceeding  in  these  days  of  leaf 
disease  &c.  The  above  will  serve  to  illustrate  how 
every  further  drop  in  the  value  of  the  rupee  benefits 
the  Planter  and  how  any  approach  to  the  par  value 
of  the  rupee  affects  him  prejudicially.  By  far  the 
greater  number  of  estates  in  Coorg  have  finished 
picking.  Indeed  I believe  only  a few  out  Somwarpette 
way  are  still  somewhat  backward.  I will  let  you  know 
results  in  my  next.  Pruning  and  manuring  are 
now  in  hand  Suntikoppa  way  but  work  in  the  Bamboo 
is  almost  entirely  completed. — Nilgiri  News. 
Rubber  Forests  in  Burmah,— The  Forest  Report 
of  Upper  Burmah  says  that  it  is  hoped  that  two 
Assistant  Conservators  of  Forests,  will  be  employed 
on  settlement  duty  during  the  next  open  season. 
At  present  officers  can  with  difficulty  be  spared 
from  district  work  for  settlement  duty.  During  the 
year  1,024  square  miles  of  forests  were  notified  as 
reserved  in  Upper  Burmah,  and  at  the  <-nd  of  the 
year  3,978  were  awaiting  settlement.  The  total 
area  of  protected  forests  at  the  year’s  close  was 
16,461.  Among  the  forests  examined  during  the 
year  were  the  famous  rubber  forests  of  the  Hukong 
Valley.  Mr.  O’Bryen,  the  visiting  officer,  found  the 
forests  wastefully  worked,  but  it  is  reported  that 
the  Katchin  Chiefs,  who  collect  and  sell  the  rubber 
to  Chinese  merchants,  are  beginning  to  realise  the 
disadvantages  of  destroying  the  trees  by  over- 
tapping. Rules  have  been  made  on  the  model  of  the 
Assam  rules,  but  these  will  remain  a dead  letter  un- 
til the  Hukong  Valley  is  brought  under  direct  ad- 
ministration ; a task  not  likely  to  be  unde  taken  at 
present.  Ficus  elastica  is  reported  to  extend  to  the 
Indawgyi  Lake  northwards,  and  northwest  into  Assam; 
but  rubber  does  not  appear  to  grow  east  of  the 
Irrawaddy.  A considerable  area  of  rubber  forests 
appears  so  remote  as  to  be  practically  unworkable. 
Countings  made  in  the  forest  showed  a general 
average  of  nine  trees  per  100  acres,  but  on  the  jade 
mines  road  50  trees  per  100  acres  were  found. — 
Indiarubber  Journal. 
Burmese  Rubies.— A Mandalay  correspondent 
states  that  the  Ruby  Mines  Company  have  obtained 
from  thtir  new  borings  at  Kyoatpyin  two  rubiep, 
one  estimated  at  over  five  lakh?,  and  the  other 
considered  as  one  of  the  most  valuable  extant. — 
Indian  Engineer. 
Monsoon  and  Crop. — This  is  a year  of  short 
crops  generally,  the  estates  that  have  been  well 
worked  and  not  stinted,  are  the  ones  that  pay  the 
current  expenses  and  give  a profit.  An  estate 
should  pay  its  expenses  in  a short-crop  year  any- 
way, or  it  is  a case  of  going  back,  and  in  other 
years  it  ought  to  give  a handsome  income  to  its 
Proprietor,  at  present  exchanges  and  prices  of 
coffee,  which  is  a great  chance  for  all  who  own 
coffee  and  land.  Young  plants  should  have  soil 
pulled  up  round  their  roots  before  the  hot  weather 
sets  in,  after  the  monsoon,  and  ferns  stuck  in  round 
them  bring  them  on  rapidly  even  in  the  poorest  land. 
— Nilgiri  News. 
Nicaragua  Rubber  Outlook. — The  wasteful  methods 
prevalent  in  many  regions  as  regards  the  collection 
of  india-rubber  and  gutta-percha  have  often  been 
commented  on  in  these  pages.  Happily,  in  some 
parts  an  improved  policy  is  now  adopted  as  we  had 
occasion  to  notice  last  month  in  our  remarks  on 
the  Congou  rubber  supply.  But  in  Nicaragua  im- 
providence as  regards  this  valuable  natural  product 
is  still  rife.  The  rubber  is  procured  by  felling  the 
trees,  thus  taking  no  care  of  the  future  whatever. 
Consequently,  the  yearly  output  of  this  valuable 
substance  from  Nicaragua  is  steadily  decreasing. 
The  Government  attempts  no  supervision  of  the 
forests  ; anyone  may  cut  down  the  trees,  and  great 
destruction  is  caused  by  the  saplings  being  cut  down 
as  well  as  the  mature  trees.  Yet  it  cannot  be  that 
the  gutta  tree  cannot  be  cultivated  in  Nicaragua  as 
well  as  elsewhere  ; in  the  district  of  Managua  there 
are  large  tracts  of  lands  that  could  readily  be  thus 
utilised.  There  can  be  no  question  that  if  it  be 
profitable  to  plant  tracts  of  land  with  coffee,  oranges, 
&c  , and  wait  years  for  the  crop,  that  the  financial 
return  from  a rubber  crop  would  well  repay  the 
enterprising  planters  who  turned  their  attention  to  it. 
— Indiarubber  Journal,  Feb.  8. 
The  Caoutchouc  Industry  of  Assam.— The  Calcutta 
Englishman  states  that  a change  has  been  recom- 
mended in  the  present  regulations  affect  ng  the  sale 
of  caoutchouc  in  the  Government  forests  of  Assam. 
Owing  partly  to  the  reckless  method  of  working 
adopted  by  contractors  and  their  agents,  and  partly 
to  the  depredations  of  illicit  tappers,  there  has  been 
a serious  falling  1 ff  in  production.  The  unprotected 
and  inaccessible  situation  of  most  of  the  rubber 
tracts  enables  the  neighbouring  hill  tribes  to  illicitly 
tap  the  trees  and  import  the  rubber  into  Assam  free 
of  duty  as  foreign  produce.  It  is  stated  that  the 
Government  forests  on  the  frontier  are  overrun  with 
foreign  rubber  tappers  who  come  down  systematically 
by  night  in  separate  gangs,  each  under  a sardar, 
and  tap  nearly  all  the  trees  growing  within  a few 
miles  of  the  border.  The  leases  to  contractors  have, 
however,  now  expired,  and  a scheme  for  the  better 
protection  of  the  forests  is  now  under  consideration. 
On  the  average  about  R30,000  has  been  derived 
annually  from  this  source  during  the  past  10  years, 
and  under  an  effective  system  of  administration  the 
revenue  could  doubtless  be  largely  increased. — India- 
rubber  Journal,  Feb.  8. 
