THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST 
[June  i,  1891. 
THE  PAPAW  TREE. 
This  tree  generally  finds  a place  amongst  other 
cultivated  products  in  Zanzibar,  the  fruit,  both  green 
and  when  ripe,  being  much  esteemed  as  nD  artiole 
of  diet.  The  tree  is  more  easily  and  quickly  raised  from 
seed,  attaining  a thickness  of  one  foot  by  the  third 
year;  and  oommenciDg  to  decay  during  the  fourth 
or  fifth  year.  The  straight  and  undivided  stem  in  her- 
baceous and  soft,  though  it  develops  au  external  layer 
of  fibrous  tissue  ; as  might  be  expected  lrom  the 
rapidity  with  which  it  grows,  the  trunk  is  hollow, 
though  it  has  more  or  less  dense,  imperfect  septa. 
“The  newer  partB  of  the  stem  are  sreen,  but  as  they 
age  become  greyish  ; towards  the  top  it  also  bears 
the  scars  formed  by  the  falling-cff  of  leaves,  which 
are  arranged  in  a kind  of  umbellate  canopy.”  It 
grows  to  about  20  feet  in  height.  ( Consular  Report , 266 
1692.)-- Pharmaceutical  Journal. 
THE  INDIAN  TEA  SEASON. 
The  Indian  Agriculturalist  writes  : — Now  that  the 
tea  season  for  1892  has  closed  and  all  assets  rea- 
lised, we  can  form  a pretty  good  idea  of  the  present 
position  of  the  trade,  which  leaves  little  to  be  desired, 
though  its  future  prospects  mast  depend  greatly 
upon  the  efforts  of  the  Indian  representative  at 
Chicago,  and  the  moderation  of  planters  here  in 
the  way  of  extensions.  Of  course,  fine  plucking 
and  decreased  outturn  have  led  to  the  high  prices 
of  the  past  season,  and  though  the  greater  portion 
of  the  dividends  are  not  derived  from  sound  com- 
mericial  sources  every  one  seems  tolerably  satisfied. 
The  recent  four  or  five  years  of  depression  in  the 
trade  has  been  due  undoubtedly  to  over  production,  and 
although  efforts  have  been  made  to  open  new  marts, 
the  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  producer  has  been 
to  provide  tea  for  such  marts,  without  troubling  his 
head  as  to  whether  these  new  openings  would  absorb 
his  surplus  or  not.  The  mere  desp-tch  of  three  or 
four  travellers  to  Australia  and  New  Zealand  certainly 
did  cot  justify  the  expectations  antjcipa'ed,  but 
though  words  of  caution  were  uot  wanting,  from 
time  to  time,  a trade  was  raebly  auticipated,  with 
the  result  of  ruinously  low  prices  and  accumulated 
stocks.  Now,  though  we  look  forward  to  the  Chicago 
Exhibition  aiding  iu  materially  increasing  the  demand 
for  Indian  tea  in  the  course  of  time,  we  are  equally 
certain  that  any  sudden  demand  for  large  quantities 
is  unlikely  to  arise.  We  have  to  oust  Ohina  from 
the  Amerioa  markets,  and  introduce  our  own  article, 
which  the  past  history  of  the  trade  shows,  relies  for 
success  upon  our  creating  a taste ; and  as  this  is  in 
all  case  a matter  of  time,  are  our  planters  justified 
in  adding  to  their  planted  area  additional  acreage, 
the  produce  of  which  may  not  be  required  for 
some  half-dozen  years  to  oome?  The  new  ex- 
tensions may,  perhaps,  be  the  means  of  pressiug 
down  prices  to  the  6 anna  average  of  two  years 
ago  ere  the  new  markets  have  been  established. 
The  Tea  Association  should  look  into  these  matters, 
and  bestir  themselves,  sending  forth  the  “bagman” 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  States,  as 
we  suggested  should  he  done  in  the  United  Kingdom 
ten  years  ago.  The  London  representative  of  the  Tea 
Association  at  the  time,  harped  on  the  hopelessness 
of  competing  with  people  like  Moore  and  Horniman  ; 
in  fact,  he  was  not,  as  he  should  have  been  a trades- 
man. So  Mr.  Lipton  took  the  matter  in  hand,  and  is  tow 
in  the  position  the  Association  should  have  occupied 
from  the  outset.  If  India  tea  were  properly  pushed, 
the  future  prospects  of  the  trade  are  assured;  but 
the  work  must  be  undertaken  by  tradesmen  who 
know  their  business,  and  we  think  this  mutt  now 
be  patent  to  all  members  of  the  Association  —Madras 
Times,  April  7. 
*, 
A MONSTER  ESTATE  IN  JOHORE: 
LIBERIAN  COFFEE. 
A recent  visitor  to  the  large  estate  known  as 
Ayer  Syn,  at  Cocob,  in  the  Johore  territory,  states 
that  this  property  or  plantation  belongs  to  Syed 
Mahomed  bin  'Ahmed  Alsagoff,  and  is  under  the 
management  of  Syed  Abdulla  and  a Javanese  assistant, 
under  whom  are  several  Javanese  mandors  and  about 
170  coolies  of  the  same  nationality.  The  extent  under 
cultivation  is  some  16  square  miles,  or  about 
10.000  acres,  of  which  area  some  5,700  acres 
are  under  mature  sago  palms,  350,000  having  been 
planted  out ; the  balance,  leaving  out  what  is  under 
coconut,  areca  palms,  and  Liberian  coffee,  is  planted 
with  still  very  young  sago  palms.  The  roads  and 
drains  have  been  laid  out  with  great  care,  and  the 
drainage  especially  has  been  well  done,  at  no  small 
expense.  The  soil  consists  for  the  most  part  of 
a vegetable  humus  from  two  to  four  feet  deep,  of 
a very  dark  brown  colour,  much  resembling  coffee- 
grounds,  overlying  a fatty  clay  subsoil.  In  dry 
weather  the  top  crust  burns  just  as  readily  as  peat. 
The  one  advantage  about  it  is  that  it  retains 
moisture  more  than  any  other  class  of  land,  hence 
its  great  adaptability  to  sago  culture.  From  the 
350.000  plants  that  were  originally  planted  there 
are  now  more  than  double  that  number  of  big  sago 
palms,  varying  in  length  of  trunk  from  30  to  42ft. 
Some  of  these  trunks  have  a girth  of  from  6 to  7ft. 
6in.  The  trees  are  felled,  cut  into  lengths,  and 
removed  by  Chinese  coolies  to  the  sago  factory, 
consisting  of  some  very  primitive  attap  huts.  The 
bark  is  half  an  inch  thick,  and  is  then  removed, 
end  the  pith  is  rasped  or  grated  by  simple  graters 
like  the  coconut  parut  or  rasp,  but  somewhat  coarser. 
The  desiccated  pith  is  then  soaked  in  water,  and 
after  some  few  hours  pressed  through  coarse  sieves, 
the  residue  or  ampas  being  piled  up  in  heaps  to  be 
eventually  buried  as  a future  manure  supply.  The 
milky  residue  or  sago  water  after  repeated  washing 
in  very  primitive  troughs  is  allowed  to  settle,  and 
the  sediment  is  stored  in  vats  ready  for  shipment 
to  Singapore  by  tongkang  in  bulk,  where  it  is  re- 
fined into  flour  and  pearled.  This  work  is  all  done 
by  Chinese,  who  contract  to  divide  half  the  result 
ot  the  sago  produced  with  the  owner  of  the  estate. 
Some  idea  of  the  immense  extent  of  this  estate 
may  be  formed  from  the  monthly  shipments  which 
are  made  under  sago,  which  range  from  2,500  to 
3.000  piculs  a month,  selling  at  1.75dols.  per  picul, 
while  there  are  yet  some  300,000  stools  not  yet 
touched,  ready  for  cutting  down.  These  trees  vary 
in  the  amount  of  sago  they  yield,  as  under: — No, 
1,  8 trees  to  a koyan  of  40  piculs  ; No.  2,  10  do 
do.;  No.  3,  12  do.  do.  It  is  proposed  to  introduce 
a Decauville  18-inch  tramway  to  facilitate  the 
removal  of  the  cut-up  trees  to  the  factory.  The 
yield  ofLiberian  coffe,  according  to  figures  courteously 
supplied  by  the  manager,  show  the  output  to  be 
about  40  piculs  monthly,  selling  at  an  average  of 
32  dols.—  Globe. 
The  Prospects  of  Tea  in  America. — The 
editor  of  the  American  Grocer  thus  expresses  him- 
self in  answer  to  a correspondent: — 
The  question  of  climate  has  much  to  do  with  the 
beverages  of  a people.  It  is  a matter  of  record  that 
the  per  capita  consumption  of  tea  in  this  country  is 
not  as  large  as  it  was  years  ago,  nor  does  it  increase 
from  year  to  year.  On  the  other  hand  the  use  of 
beer  and  coffee  has  increased  largely,  particularly  the 
former.  We  think  the  point  well-taken  that  low 
grade  tea  is  largely  responsible  for  the  non-increase 
in  the  use  of  tea  as  a beverage.  The  American 
people  have  not  been  educated  to  appreciate  the 
delicacy  of  flavor  resident  in  certain  growths  and 
blends  of  tea.  We  doubt,  if  the  popular  taste  in 
this  country  will  ever  take  the  direction  of  the  pre- 
vailing taste  in  England.  Our  people  do  not  like 
heavy-bodied,  red-liquored  tea,  with  the  sweetish  flavor 
so  pronounced  in  many  sorts  of  fermented  teas, 
particularly  those  of  t eylon  and  India.  There  is 
more  hope  if  fine  China  blacks  are  urged  upon  the 
attention  of  consumers,  or,  as  suggested  by  Mr. 
Fielding,  tine  blended  teas. 
Mr.  Eiwooil  May  and  Mr.  Pineo  should  make  a 
point  of  calling  on  the  Editor  and  inviting  him 
to  judge  for  himself  that  high-grown  Ceylon  teas 
are  as  delicate  as  any  “fine  China  blacks.” 
