600 
THE TROPICAL AGRtCULTtJRIST. [March 1, 190]. 
lonial Secretary of the Baliamas, who says " lien- 
neqain," or " dagger plant," the fibre of Yucatan, 
and not sisal, grows all through the West Indies. 
In Yucatan there are two varieties, the Bahama 
and another. Mr. Morris imported in error an 
aloe from Ceylon, which was planted in Jamaica 
and probably in other islands, but I do not believe 
it is " hennequin," neither do I believe the dag- 
ger plant.to be hennequin. As to the statistics re- 
ferred to, all sorts of mis-statements were made 
under the " Shea " administration, so Mr. 
Churchill's estimates may be more correct ; but I 
should mention that an acre of land in the Baha- 
mas must not be confounded with an acre in this 
country ; the first would probably be equivalent 
to one-fourth of an Englisli acre, probably less, so 
much of the land being nothing but plate rock. 
•'Observer" is right as to the question of origin : 
tliat has been settled in the minds of all truth 
loving people by the Refutation ot\a Romante 
of a GovernorsM'p, but I have already had my 
say upon this point. On Mr. Chamberlain's spe- 
culation in sisal I need not enter, except to 
wish for his own sake he had bought the lands I 
pointed out to him. Eesults might then have 
been very different, and the colony would not have 
lost the great assistance in its development which 
his investments in the islands would have brought ; 
but under the influence of Sir Ambrose Shea he 
did otherwise. I wonder if Sir Ambrose's friends 
give him credit for this disastrous result of 
hi« want of judgment and knowledge. "Obser- 
ver " refers to the '' Crown Fund " of the 
colony. I am of opinion that, under the sole con- 
trol of many Governors, it has not been properly 
administered. The " options " given on land, for 
instance, were without any binding agreement or 
fine, and so the fund is not nearly so large as 
it ought to be, if any reasonable fore- 
sight iiad been exercised. Keally, this Colony 
manages its own affairs so intelligently, that it 
wou Id be well if Mr. Chamberlain turned over 
tiie Fund to its Legislature, who are the proper 
parties to administer it. — Yours truly, 
Augustus Adderley. 
SUGGESTED DANGER FROM 
ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 
i^A tit-hit for Ceylon's daily alarmist.) 
The "Lancet" says :— " Dming the past 
week our laboratory commissioners have un- 
dertaken the examination of a number of sub- 
stances, including certain foods and- drugs in 
common daily use, in the preparation of which 
sulphuric acid is used. It will be found, after 
•A few moments' consideration, that a fairly 
lengthy list of articles of everyday use may 
thus be drawn up. The results are not yet 
ripe for publication, but we feel bound to 
divulge one important result, since the disturb- 
ing announcement has this week been made by 
the analyst of Manchester that arsenic has 
been found in malt in a quantity equal to that 
ifound in glucose or malt substitutes. More- 
over, arsenic was found in beers which were 
known to be brewed from malt and hops only. 
Now that this remarkable statement has been 
made, we may say that we have found, in the 
course of the inquiry alluded to, artifieal 
manures to be rich in arsenic easily soluble in 
water. This is hardly surprising, since the 
IjHSijs o£ ai'titiciil manures— namely, superphos- 
hate of lime— is made by acting on ordinary 
one ash with common oil of vitriol. The im- 
portant point is that it has been established 
that plants to which arsenical manure is ap- 
plied take up arsenic in their tissues. Cab- 
bages and turnips gathered from fields 
manured with superphosphate have given un- 
mistakableevidence of the presence of arsenic. 
It is probable that aisenic accumulates in the 
soil which is constantly being dressed with 
superphosphates, so that plants raised on such 
soil would absorb arsenic and exercise an in- 
jurious effect on the health.of man and animals. 
The question arises, therefore, may not the 
arsenic In malt be traceable to the somewhat 
large amount of arsenic inevitably present in 
artificial manures ? This aspect of the sub- 
ject is very serious, and needs further inquiry. 
We shall return to it in a future issue, when 
we hope also to be able to record the results 
obtained in an examination of other more or 
less familiar articles in which arsenic may be 
possibly introduced through the employment 
of impure sulphtnic acid in the course of the 
manufacture.' 
^ 
TEA; POSITION AND TROSFECTS AT 
END OF YEAR IN LONDON. 
McMeekin «& Co.'s Notes on Indian a>d 
Ceylon Teas. 
Indian. — As practically all Teas on which 
duties were paid in anticipation have now passed 
into ordinary consumption, the annual sununary 
may be taken as fairly correctly repiesenting the 
year's trading in tea in the Lo ndon market,. 
From the producers' point of view, the statis- 
tical position cannot be regai ded as at all satis- 
factory. The imports during the calendar year 
showed an increase of son)e 12,000,000 lb., while 
the deliveries only increased by about 4,000,0001b,, 
and it uuist be remembered that of this in- 
crease over 2,000,000 lb. went into Export trade. 
It is evident that Ceylon teas have again gained 
materially in home consumption as compared with 
Indians, the reason doutless being the lower level 
current for the former during a large part of the 
year. For two months, however, quotations for 
Indian teas have been very low, and the efiect is 
being quickly seen. 
At the close of the year the total of seasonal 
imi)orts recorded showed an increase of about 
3,000,000 lb. only, while up to the same date 
some 9,000,000 lb. in excess of the 1899 figures 
had been shipped from Calcutta alone, irrespec- 
tive of the increase due from Southern India. 
Besides, the quantity offered to date for the seven 
months was much below the figure for the same 
seven months of 1899 and the accumulated stock 
showed an increase of 8,500,000 lb. 
The position is a most serious one to face, as, 
in addition to the London market being over- 
supplied, the other important outlets — Australia 
and America — are in a most congested state owing 
to the excessive shipments injudiciously consigned 
to them ; and the strong demand from Eastern 
Europe has been temporarily well supplied, 
A proposal is now under discussion to arrange 
for a voluntary limitation of production during 
1901 by a mutual arrangement of producers. 
Should anything of the kind be arranged an 
jnaUe effective by the conclusion of CeyJo 
