538 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Feb. 1, 1901. 
for " the world." Nowhere in India or Java, we 
suppose liave 9961b. (tiearly 12 iiiaunds) made tea, 
been harvested over so large an area as 458 acres ? 
If we turn to the oldest field of Mariawatte, 
planted in 1879 and therefore in its 22nd year, we 
find the crop shews a large increase on the pievious 
year, reaching the aliiiosD unprecedented iignre of 
1,357 lb. per acre for the 101|: acres, against an 
average for 17 years of l,14i lb. The average for 
nine years over the whole estate is 822 lb. 
THE TEA TRADE. 
IMPORT AND CONSUMPTION— CEYLON 
PLANTERS" ENTERPRISE. 
[By An Expeet Coeresfondent.] 
increase in ceylon yield. 
4s regards Ceylon, owing to favourable flush- 
ing weather during October and November there 
will be a small further increase in this year's crop. 
The import, it will be seen, is 9,500,UO0 lb, over 
the eleven months of last year. On the otl;er 
Land, home consumption and export acfounc fur 
8,500,000 lb. of this, leaving the small surplus in 
production over consumption of 1,000,000 lb- As I 
have said bef ore, England will this year receive 
its maximum share of the Ceylon ciops, because 
it is probable our colonies and foreign countries 
will take direct from Colombo all the increase 
that may be expected from newly-planted lands. 
For instance, ficcording to " Ferguson's Directory," 
there were in 1897 350,000 acres planted, the 
whole of which will be in full bearing next year ; 
and as the average Ceylon yield per acre is 425 
lb. the 1901 crop will'be about 148,000,000 lb. 
Of this our colonies and other nations will take 
direct 38,<i00,e00 lb. calculated on the present 
rate of progress, leaving for export to England 
110,000,000 lb. In 1898 the planted area was 
increased to 364,000 acres. Theciopin 1902 will, 
therefore, probably be 154,000 000 lb. and the 
direct export to places other than England may 
be taken at 44,000,000 lb. Ten years ago, if any 
person had predicted that the export from Col- 
enibo to other countries than Englan 1 would add 
up to 32 000,000 lb. he would have been put down 
as a lunatic : yet shipments to this extent will be 
a fact by the end of this month. It is now gene- 
rally admitted that when consumers acquire the 
taste of Indian and Ceylon they case to appreciate 
the peculiar flavour of Chinese tea. 
DEVELOPMENT OF FOREIGN BU.SINESS. 
Australians, following the example of the 
British, have almost ceased to use the latter, 
and now the Russians are ueginning to try the 
former. This year they have taken from ('olom bo 
8,000,000 lb. as san:ples. Ceylon planters have 
for some years past, as is well known, spent 
nmch money in trying to induce Americans to use 
their tea. Wearied at lengih with their tortoise 
rate of progress, they are trying to force the pace 
by manufacturing and shipping green tea to com- 
pete with the .Japane.'^e, and, to encourage the 
business, are paying substantial bounties on its 
'' manufacture. If previotis experiments in the same 
'*^iiection did not succeed when the relative con- 
"'ditions of the two pi odncing countries were equal, 
O' jiOw can they expect to be able lo undersell the 
—Japanese now that they are handicapped with a 
Sitgf) percent, difference in the exchange, when the 
j,ounty funds come to an end'! 1 think the 
tortoise pace is, as in the fable, the one to win 
the race. By the Board of Trade Returns it will 
also be seen that this country has secured 10,500,000 
lb less from China tliis year, and has exported 
6,500,000 lb. more. Home consumption has 
dwindled down to 12,500,0001b. As far as we are 
concerned, it would be a matter of icdift'crence if 
we did not get any more tea from China, but to 
the British planter the duration of the present 
deadlock is of vast im[)rirtance. If it la-^ts a few 
months longer Russian dealers may have to take 
precautions against being left in the lurch. Where 
will they get what they require? — Financial Times, 
Dec. 14. 
PLANT LIFE CURIOSITIES. 
(ABEIIDEES' DIOCESAN ASSOCIATION-) 
There was a very large attendtince at the weekly 
meeting of the Diocesan Association la=t night the 
large hall of Kennaway's rooms . being crowded in 
every part. The lecturer was Mr Arthur Sinclair, F L 8, 
Oults, and the subje'.-t of his lecture "Some Curiosities 
of Plant Life" was one on which he spoke from 
personal observation while travelling in Cejlon, the 
valley of the Amazon, etc. The chdif was occupied by 
Bishop Douglas, whn brcefiy introduced the lecturer. 
At the outset Mr Sinclair spoke of the importance of a 
knowledge of botany especially in these dayb of globe- 
trottiog ; and remarked that the ignorance of that 
subject which was a characteristic of Scotch children, 
was not found in Eastern lands. The youngest Hindoo 
child knows the name of every plant and flower 
around him; the Aberdeen child if asked the name of 
the com?nonest plant would probably say, "I dinna 
ken, an' I'm nae carin' !'' The luxuciousness of the 
tropical veyetation, might to a certain extent account 
for that The Hiudjo children were brought up in the 
open air, and cradled among the plants and flowers, and 
very soon became aware what plants and fruits were 
poisoned, and which were wholes mie. Speakinf; of the 
effects of a want of botanical knowleilge, Mr. Sinclair 
said tons of ^jood food were lost by the neglect of 
mushrooms, caused by the inability to distinguish 
between the real wholesorae mushrooms and the poi- 
sonous toadstool. He went on o speak of fungus, and 
described the coffee blight in Cc^ylju and the fnugaa 
on the potato, adding some general rules by which 
poisonous fungi might be avoided. ITe spoke in 
passing of the greenhouse plants imported from the 
tropics, and now familiar iu our gordens and green- 
bouses, and described some huge tropical trees, point- 
ing out that a very high value is placed by the Indian 
on the coconut palm and the plantain or banana trees. 
The bread-fruit tree and milk-tree were also described, 
and the lecturer said that a few of these trees would 
support fa)nilies of natives, who sought no other food. 
The same class includfes the famotis upas tree, which, 
he said, was now proved innocent of the miiny baneful 
qualities once attributed to it. From the valley of the 
Amazon comes the rubber and the gutta-percha, the 
uses of the former steadily increasiPig, while without 
the latter, Mr. Sinclair said, ocean telegraphy would 
have been well-nigh impossible. To see nature in all 
her glory, it was necessary to go to the tropics, and 
especially to the western tropics, where the 
luxuriance was oppressive. He spoke ot the 
dangers and diseases to which orchid hunters 
were subject, and extolled the merits of cin- 
chona bark or quinine as a remedy for malaria, 
referring to the fact that that dread dise?.se was now 
proved to be caused by the mosquito. The strange 
flowers of tropical lands were graphically described, 
and, speaking of the "Venus Ply Trap" and the 
" Pitcher Plant " which is also a fly trap, he men- 
tioned the " Sun dew," which is found in abundance 
in our ( wn marshes at Scotston, Belhelvie, and which 
is a well-known fly-catcher. Mr. Sinclair, who en- 
livened his lecture with anecdotes and personal ex- 
