1G4 
, THE TEOPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[Sept. 1, 1900. 
Malacca TiiA : What Nkxt l-'-Wegiitlior 
that tea is now beiiiK cultivated and made ui 
Malacca and nn expart in Singapore declaves 
it to be " most excellent tea ui flavour 
and quality "-capable of holding its own 
against Indian tea, at a dearer price. 
Bamboos —In Madras as usual a number of 
expeiinienbs were made witli llie bamboo ; in 
Kistiia six huiidrends bamboo plants were put 
out in the Weld reserve and ihey are doing s\ell. 
In Soutli Mabib ir several kinds of bamboos artih- 
cially introduced on the b.ud^s of ibe rivers in 
Pokoteand .vlalaLnmanna are doing well. Arundi- 
naira Brandisii (the giant bamboo), planted m Ay- 
ravallik:iva in 18797 lisive now some of them a 
girth of twenty-two inchei-— Indian Agricultu- 
rist, Aug. 1. 
Shade Trees for Plantations.— Mr 
Charlei Gibbon gives his brother planters 
the result of his prolonged experience in a very 
sensible way in his letter elsewhere, which is 
well-worth "careful consideration. It used 
to be said that no shade could be required 
above 4,000 feet, for there was nearly always 
a canopy of cloud available. But even in 
DimbuUi, the beneii':s of grevilleas among tea 
—if not for shade, at any rate as break winds 
and for their leaves as manure— have been 
appreciated. 
Tea Machinery.— Messrs. Thacker, Spink & 
Co., Calcutta, will shortly receive an entirely 
ori"'iiial work of the first importance to planters and 
to all concerned iu the tea industry. "Tea Machi- 
nery and Tea Factories" by A. J. Walhs-Taylor, 
a work concerned witli tlie machinery and niecliani- 
cal appliances required upon a tea plantation, and 
with the buildings and material arrangements 
which h ive to be provided for dealing with the 
leaf as it is taken from the plant until it is ready 
for transport. There are over 200 illustrations, for 
the most part specially drawn tor the book.— 
Planting Opinion, August 4. 
The Highest Point at which flowering plants 
have been found, acccording to a recent paper 
to the London Liunean Society, was in Til)et 
at 19,200 feet. Nine species recorded to 19,000 
feetoi' higher. The plants were mostly of the order 
conipositce, and deep-rooting perennial lierbs having 
a rosette of leaves close to the ground with the 
flowers closely nestled in the centre, are charac- 
teristic of these attitudes, lu the Bolivian Andes 
Sir Mai tin Conway found two species of floweiing 
plants at 18,700 feet and thirty-nine above 14,000 
leet, the latter belonging to thirty-four general 
and twenty-one natural orders —/>!cZia?i Agri- 
culturist, Aug. 1. 
The Sea Fisheries of Malabar and South 
Canara with seven plated (chiefly photo- 
graT)hs of fishing villages and boats) by Edgar 
Thurston, of the Madras Government Mu- 
seum, is a useful brochure of some 166 pages 
with 'statistical appendix, in which are given 
abundant particulars of a great variety of fish 
caught, contents of stomach, hauls, sale 
price &c. In one table we find the exports 
of salt fish from Mangalore to Colombo for 
seven years ; and in 1898-9 a maximum export 
was attained in 2,63.5,090 lb. valued at 
R287,817. It is certainly very strange that 
Cevlon fishermen cannot retain this industry 
and salt enougii fish for local demand. But 
we suppose nothing now remains of the 
exi)eriment set agoing by the late Mr. 
Ravenscroft, Auditor-(Jenei'al, 
Chinese Tea In Russia.- As far back a 
June a meeting of Russian tea dealers was 
held at St. Petersburg, we learn from the 
Allahaljad journal, to consider the position 
of the tea trade and the probable result of 
the disturbances in Cliina. It was resolved 
that the price of tea should be gradually 
increased 
The " Chin Bara Tea."— We are in- 
debted to the correspondent who brings Mr. 
Harcourt Skrine's enterprise in respect of 
"Tea for Chemists" under our notice — see 
elsewhere. Surely his "cold process" is 
more or less identical with that patented 
by Mr Armitage, although the latter has 
taken no credit for producing an article of 
special value to chemists who retail tea. 
Mocha Tea Company. — We heartily con- 
gratulate the shareholders upon tiie flourish- 
ing condition of this Comi)any and trust 
that the working may long continue to be 
such as to warrant an annual dividend of 15 
per cent. The whole history of this Com- 
pany (notwithstanding the purchase of fresh 
estates !) is a wonderful illustration of what 
"tea" can do under favourable circumstances 
and good management; but then the capita- 
lisation per acre of tea was low to begin with. 
New Markets for Tea and Coffee. — Perhaps 
the most interesting subject and certainly one 
of the most impotant, discussed at ibe Annual 
Meeting of the United Planters Association of 
Southern India w.is bluit entitled "NewMarkets": — 
The Hon. Mr. Acworth's remarks about tea point 
to an object lesson for planters of coffee as well a3 
tel. Some critics may urge that the euiianced demand 
for Ceylon and Indian teas, coming together with the 
expenditure of huge sums on the exploiting of old 
aud new markets, is but a coincidence. Even if so, 
siys the Sladras Mail, it is a curious coincidence that 
Ceylon, which has spent the more fr-eely, has made 
the more rapid p/ogress. We cannot overlook the 
p jasibility tiiat a great deal of trade that was for- 
merly done th OLigh London now tik^s place among 
the statistics of direct trade w.lh America, Russia 
and other countries. But the gross total has expanded ; 
and it is remarkable that the expansion of this direct 
foreign trade has been so much greater with Colombo 
than with Calcuttii. In both markets there are buyers re- 
preseuiingEnglish, American audEussian firms. There 
are as good opportunities for buying in Calcutta as in 
Colombo. We cannot, -therefore, be surprised if the 
inference be drawn that the more rapid progress of 
the one, as compared with the other, is mainly due 
to the more Uberal way in which " the wheels have 
been greased " in the case of Ceylon. At any rate, 
the suggestions that are made, baaed upon this in- 
ference, would appear to be worth a trial. Let India 
try advertising and canvassing on a scile propor- 
tionate to that of Ceylon, Let her expenditure in 
this direction be increased for a year or two. The 
results would soon show whether there was a strong 
probability that the growth of demand turned upon 
the degree of "push" applied by planters, or if we 
must seek some other explanation of the fact that 
Ceylon's superior success has been coincident with 
Ceylon's more liberal expenditure in efforts to make 
her teas kaowa and appreciated throughout the world. 
Thsrd is, W3 feir, little chance of India adopting 
a quasi-voluntary C3ss such as this which Ceylon 
planters have !n,d made compulsory upon themselves. 
There remains, however, another course open, the 
course of voluntary subscriptions to such aFundaa 
that of the American aud Foreign Market Fund of 
the Indian Toa Association. This appears to be the 
course suggested during the proceedings of the 
U. P. A. S. 1., and the futuie must largely depend 
upon the extent to which, and the manner in which 
South Indian planters follow this course, 
