824 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [June 1, 1901. 
Green Tea.— The Indian Tea Association in 
their endeavours to relieve the indu^itry of the 
heavy surplus over' consumption of our ordinary 
teas are offering a bonus for the manufacture of 
greea tea. This description of tea can well be 
made in this country, and could be relied on as 
uncolotired and unadulterated, af5d, we think, 
there is a good remunerative outlet for it in 
America, where, we understp.nd, such green tea 
would be taken freely. The quantity of green tea 
shipped to America from China is rather over 14 
millions a year ; surely some of this might well 
come from India. Some Indian greens made in 
Kangra Valley have met with a good reception in 
that market. Some 35 to 40 millions of tea goes 
also from Japan, and some of this, we do not 
know how much, is green. 
For the coming season, we recommend most 
strongly the greatest attention to quality of cup, 
in all districts and gardens wiiere strength or 
flavour can be expected ; if leaf is good so n.uclr 
the better. For other places not so favoured as to 
soil and clitnate, we say, pay particular attention 
to leaf ; if the liquor is good, too, so much the 
better ; but the chief outlet and best market for 
the>^e teas is the " outside " markets where well- 
made tippy leaf is wanted, and the liquor is of 
secondary importance. But avoid as much as possi- 
ble sending down rough, coarsely-plucUed, half- 
rolled leaf with no liquor to speak of ; such tea 
is nob in demand in any market, and only helps to 
lower prices all round. 
TOTAL EXPORT OF SEASON. 
Amounts passed through Calcutta from 1st April 
to 31st March :— 
1900-1901. 1899-1900. 1898-99. 
Great Britain 160,440,589 149,374,164 135,381,722 
Foreign Europe 1,779,9(M 1,485,146 1,171,146 
America 4,529 604 .5,923,404 3,278,096 
Asia 7,332,289 5,492.815 6,972,251 
Australia 10,102,292 8,250,486 6,398,002 
184,184,678 170,475,965 153,196,217 
IDENTIFICATION OF VARIETIES 
OF CACAO. 
In answer to our correspondent "Pod's" 
enquiry, Mr. Carruthers, at our request, has 
been good enough to supply the following 
explanntion : — 
The identification of the varieties of Theo- 
bronia Cacao L. is, like the identification of 
varieties of other cultivated plants, a matter 
which varies considerably with the expert 
who observes them, and in Ceylon so much 
crossing takes place that it is not possible 
to " classify " all fruits as " Forastero " or 
" CrioUo." 
Many pods contain seeds of the distinctly 
Criollo character, viz., white cotyledons when 
cut and roundish in shape as well as other 
fseeds with the Forastero purple-coloured 
cotyledons and longer in shape. It is im- 
possible to give a varietal name to such pods 
and they may be produced by a tree having 
the liabit and characters associated with 
,l<'()rastero or those recognised as Criollo. 
In a large number of examinations, weigh- 
ings, and measurements of pods from trees of 
both varieties, I have not as yet found the 
mean weight of seed contained to be dis- 
tinctly greater in either of the two varieties 
generally grown in Ceylon. The diagrams — 
of pods not typical of either variety - were 
published to show the unwisdom of trusting 
to external characters in valuing the fruit, 
the exact commercial value depending, as 
it does, on the quality of the individual seeds, 
and their preparation for the market. This 
■was not considered; that is ar other and a most 
important question. 
EWING'S ONE-RAILED TRAMWAY. 
MR. L. DAVIDSON AGAIN, 
ON THE NORTH TRAVANCORE TRAM. 
The writer haa frequently been aaked if the Ewiog'a 
tramway laid by us ia North Travancore was a 
success, and the following notes will answer, so far 
as lies in his power, these etiquicies. Unf irtimately, 
v/e are still in the experimenial, or rather experi- 
menting, stage but the knovviedge gained during the 
last two years, iu reciifying mintakes and improving 
the installation, affords sntiicient data to come to a 
reasooably reliable deterininai;ion as to what condi- 
tions this claes of tramway is suitable for, and under 
what conditions it would not be a commercial or, 
perhaps, engineering success. 
1 believe — and this 1=; a point we would have de- 
termined accurately before this a'^uth-west monsoon, 
had the writer remained in Travancore — that the power 
necessary to move a given quantity of goods by 
Ewiiig's tramway on a fair road, with reasonable curves, 
is less than half what is r equired to move the same 
quantity of goods by country carts — in other words, 
the same number of cattle will do double the work 
by tram that they can do by carts, and having ar- 
rived at this factor, the other points to be deter- 
mined are : 
(1) What are reasonable curves ? 
(2) What is a fair road ? 
(B) What is the cost of laying in the installation ? 
(4) a, What is the extra cost, if any, of supervision and 
upkeep of rolling stock and permanent way as com- 
pared with (b) upkeep of a metalled cart-road. 
Reasonable curves in the case of E wing's tram are 
curves of about 60 feet radius or less. 
What the writer considers a fai~ i-otd is a metalled 
road with grades of about 1 in 28 or fl itter. 
The cost of laying in the installation on a mttahle 
existing cart-road may be -oughly put at R3,000 a mile, 
for a light tram to carry 1-tou loads. 
The cost of upkeep of tramway will ba far less than 
the cost of upkeep of road, which will be readily under- 
stood when one considers the wear and tear is mostly 
on the rail instead of on the road. At the same time 
I very much doubt whether it was a profitable invest- 
ment to lay the tramway as we have done in South 
India, for the cost of constructing a road in a hilly 
country, with 60 feet radius curves, is at least 50 per 
cent, more than it would cost to cut a small road for 
a double-railed tram, which could negociate 30 to 40 
feet radius curves quite well and do as much or more 
work than Ewing's tram. 
THE SAVING AS COMPARED WITH CART HIRE . 
/ do not belieoe it will pay to lay the tram on ordinary 
low-country roads iu South India, where transpor; 
charges are very low (about R8 per ton for 50 miles) 
and where the roads have a good many steep up-ind- 
down grades on them. ind many rivers are not bridged 
hilt I do believe, where cart hire is dear, as it 
is up-country in Ceylon, or Burmah, and especially 
where heavy loads (such as timber), of from a ton to 
30 cwts. per pair of wheels have to be carried, it will 
pay well to lay this tramway along the edge of existing 
loads, where these are suitable. The writer had an 
offer from a contractor, shortly before he left Travan- 
core. to transport goods over the tramway at B.3 a ton 
for 21 miles and the same ram asked B6 per ton for 
