336 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov. 1, 1900. 
Fruit Culture for the North.— A 
useful article on this subject, which will grow 
more pressing as the Northern Line advances, 
will be found quoted on another page. 
We are glad to see the emphatic advocacy- 
given to the practice of grafting, and pro- 
minence afforded to the orange and mango 
as two of the most suitable fruits for cultiva- 
tion in the Northern Province. 
NuwABA Eliya Tea Estates Company.— 
As will be seen from the letter with which 
the local agents, Messrs. Leechman & Co., 
have courteously favo\ired us an interim 
dividend has been declaimed of three per cent 
for the past half-year, being the same as 
on the previous occasion although the full 
dividend for 1899 was seven per cent— a rate 
which we trust will be realised if not ex- 
ceeded this year. 
Sugar Industry Commission in Behar. — 
Calcutta, Oct. 10.— The Government of Bengal 
has appointed a Commission consistinj; of Mr. J 
E O'Conor, Director of General Statistics, Mr. D 
M Hamilton, of Messrs. Mackinnon, Mackenzie 
and Co., and Mr. E A Hancock, Agricultural 
Chemist, to enquire into the prospects of a proHt' 
able revival of the sugar industry in Bihar, includ- 
ing the question of erecting central factories. — 
Times of India. 
'• Days of Old in Ceylon."— It is seldom 
now a-days we hear from an ex-planter like 
" K." (writing from Dublin) on another page, 
who can'ies us back to the " forties," almost 
to the very beginning of coffee ; and who 
passed through a time when £35,000 was 
offered for a Kadugannawa estate to another 
season when a bushel of rice cost a bushel 
of plantation coffee— the one being so high 
and the other so low in price ! 
Minor Products —The following from the 
Friend of India is of local interest ; and per- 
haps some of our readers who have seen Mr. 
Mollison's paper will favour us with particulars: 
— An interesting description of the methods of 
cultivation of the betel palm, of cardamoms, and 
of pepper, in vogue in the Kanara district of the 
Bombay Presidency, written by Mr, J W Molli- 
son, M.R.A.C, has been issued by the Government 
Central Press, Bombay. It is pointed out that the 
system of manuring with leaf-mould causes im- 
mense destrnction to the forest growth, and Mr. 
Mollison recommends an enquiry into the efficacy 
of castor-cake or safflower cake as a substi- 
tute. 
The Camphor Corner.— That the cornering 
of camphor for its own purposes by the Japan Gov- 
ernment is now ancient history is proved by the 
fact that it is fully reported oii in two consular 
reports which we deal with this week. Such reports 
are not regarded as the source of prompt inforrna- 
tion but sometimes they are useful in bringing 
together details of a course of events which reach 
trade journal.^ in instalments and in throwing a 
little official light on these particulars. It is in 
this way that what the British and American 
Consuls say on the camphor monopoly is useful. 
Our consular representative in Formosa has been 
furnished with a report from the governitient of the 
island, and extracts froni this appear on a later 
page. 
Peeemaad, September. — Teaprospects here poir.t 
to a shortness of crop, as we have had very abnor- 
mal rain_in June, July and August. At the west end 
of the district we mea'^urcd. in .June, 5S'5(! irches, 
in July 86-30 inches in August 86- 10 inches, against 
G0,39'.50 and 18 inches, in the same months last year. 
The wind lias been worse ilian I have ever known 
it. — Indian Gardening and Planting. 
The Pistachio Ti'EE, Pislaciho vera, the species 
which yields the eitable. pistachio nuts of commerce 
is deciduous, growing about 20ft. high, and a native 
of Western Asia. It is largely cultivated through- 
out Southern Europe. Its fruits are oval- 
shaped, nearly an inch long, and contain a seed 
with bright green cotyledons. The nuts are largely 
eaten by the Turks and Greeks, and also by the 
people of southern Europe, either simply dried like 
almonds, or made into articles of confectionery. 
Barou Von Mueller, in his list of plants for indus- 
trial culture, refers to an ingenious method of in- 
serting the pistachio seeds into dry figs, to secure 
their power of germination during transmission to 
remote places. Some of onr horticulturists should 
try and grow the pistachio. — The PI ante i\ Sept. 22. 
Peaches in Gbohgia. — In ra?.ny sections of the 
State the Peaches decayed badly, owing to the exces- 
sive amount of rain during tlie latter part of May 
and almost the entire month of June. Many of the 
early shipments were rushed into market in bad 
condition, consequently brought no returns tj the 
growers others whose fruits was in good condition 
received remunerative prices. Some late consign- 
ments fetched handsome returns. The fruit industry 
in Georgia is rapidly growing. Heretofore, when we 
have had a large fruit crop, the market being glutted, 
enormous quantities of Peaches have been allowed to 
rot in the orchards. This in a measure is now ob- 
viated, as a number of firms are running canneries, 
evaporators and distilleries. One cannery in this 
State has a capcity of ten thousand quart cans per 
day. Growers are also exercising better judgment in 
placing their consignments, thus avoiding glutting 
the markets.— Jbiti'HcZ of Horticulture and Cottage 
Gardener, Sept. 6. 
The Decadence op Coffee.— No one can 
accuse us of disloyalty to the old king. We 
stood by coffee in pi-osperity and adversity ; 
but Ave must say we are compelled, albeit 
reluctantly, to abandon hope of its revival 
here. In India, too, its days would appear 
to be numbered, though it may hold on 
yet a while. An Indian contemporary thus 
summarises the situation : — The Halcyon 
days of the coffee-planter in India have ap- 
parently gone, not to retui'n. At the end 
of 1899 there were 274,298 acres under coffee, 
all of it, with the exception of 450 acres, in 
Southern India About 47 per cent of this 
area is in Mysore, where there were 128,010 
acres under coffee last year, while 118,514 
ocres are devoted to the plant in the British 
districts ofCoorg, the Nilgiris, and Malabar. 
The yield has been very poor since 1896, 
that of last year being the worst of the 
series and representing only about 17§ million 
pounds — or about half the production of 
fifteen years ago. The poverty of the crop 
is due to adverse seasons, the fall in prices, 
and leaf-disease. The production during the 
past ten years, on an average, has been 
30,092,413 lb almost the whole of which was 
exv>orted. The foreign coffee imported during 
the last ten years has a.veraged 1,581,171 lb. 
of which 735,862 lb. were re-exported, so that 
845,309 lb. of foreigh coffee were left every 
year for consumption in India, as against 
only 74,733 pounds of Indian coffee 
