THE TROPICAL A&KICULTUE£ST. [Aug. 1, 1902. 
Mr G S Scott, the Governraeiifc fruit expert, 
wii! i'Tiivc in Bloenif-.',i.ciu nexb wee k, after 
sps-u.iiij-. i: year in Cu-j. s ... x-uy inspciips' ifee 
Biethcd of c'-.;':nre -.ilopled o.i Rhodes' fruit 
f;'rn\-- at I't-crl the whacco farm in ti?e 
'.•u-Usciiooru diotric!, i..'ceiit>y Oranse Eiver 
Cijicrny loijiicco Ijas piacticaiiy replaced tl.Uit of 
the iiai:oVivai, altliough iS is being snU atider the 
latter iimnp, and there s.re pro:,pt?ct= ihat tlie 
iijdiisti^ will he most pvolii-„ib!e. Mr Scoi'.u will 
later act as itiut; ant iustrucitor in various distiicts. 
yimiiar arrangements will he made iu other 
branches of agriculture in the future.- iq/biw. 
INDIAN TEA FOR PEKSI.i : A FAILURE. 
Ihe Holta Couipan.y reuort considerable dis- 
appointment iu tiie attempt to exploit the Pf rsian 
market following on the represeui ations made to 
the Indian Tea Association last year. The 
Directors say: A consignment of 10,065 lb was 
sent to Persia by caravan via Seistan. With 
reference to tiiis. we may mention that we joined 
with other large proprietors in the valley in 
equipping a caravan for Persia, We were led to 
sappcjse tliat tea would meet a ready sale in Persia 
at prices which would give a very much better 
return than those obtainable in either the Calcutta 
or London Market. We regret to say that these 
hopes have not been realised, and we are afraid we 
shall not gee much )iiore than will cover cost of 
production and transport to Persia. The tea is as 
yet unsold, but the agent in charge has instruc- 
tions to ned as quickly as possiole, and return. 
Indian Gardenim/ and Planting, June 26, 
— — . 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Wire Tramways.— An interesting paper 
on Wire Tranvways by Mr. W. K. Shaw, M. E. 
(Queen's) M. Inst. C. hi., Consulting Itngineer 
tor Railways, Bombay, is reproduced on page 
Hi from the Indian and Eastern Engineer. We 
invite the attention of our readers to thearticle. 
Spineless Lime Ikebs.— In 1892 on Shawford 
estate, Dominica, a lime tiee vi'as noticed without 
the usual formidable spines, Seeds from this ap- 
parent 'sport' were collected and sown. Some 75 
per cent came true and a plot of spineless limes 
forms an interesting feature in the Bominica 
Botanic Garden. The plants in this plot are now 
bearing heavily and the Curator, Mr Jones, reports 
that 30 to 9* per cent of the seedlings raised are 
coming true. The fruit of the spineless variety is 
sligUtiy below the average in size, and it remains to 
be seen whether, for e.'^tate requirements, the new 
variety is an improvement or not. — Agricultural 
iicws. May 24. 
Lagos silk Rubher at Tobago.— A plot of 
the African or Lagos silk rubber {Funtumia 
elaatica) was planted at the Botanic Station, To- 
bago, in April 1901. The Curator reports that the 
plants have made good growth and flowered for 
the first time this month. Mr Millen adds that 
in a young state the plant assumes a shrubby 
habit, but by pruning it can be made to form a 
trunk. In Lagos it attains a height of from 90 to 
100 feet befoie (r anching. This makes it easy for 
the collector to tap the truiika. The latex Bow-; 
readily a;id rubber is easily inoduced bj ihe in.L 
and cold water proces.s, no elietaicais being required 
ai iu >nuc. i ii;,'i)ei;-;.r'M(uc;iiig trees. Eioii! its rapid 
growth liie tree is appareo'iy adapted for culti- 
vation 'm'S<i\)a.g<i.-- Agricultural I\ ews, May 24. 
Coconut Palms— are gro ving .apace in the 
Kelani Valley (and so is Rubber) ; but 
pen ripines are reported to be a terribly 
ti^.iibi'esonie enemy, ei tailing much expense 
in watchmen. Do planters know of the 
Sinhalese trench traps for porcupines ? When 
well tiaited, they are generally successful 
and ail Sinhalese villagers must know the 
plan. 
A U.S.A. EspEET ox Rice-growing- in 
THE East, — Professor S. A, Knapp, President 
of the Rice Association and Special Com- 
missioner of the Department of Agriculture, 
United States, who was sent to Asia and the 
Pa.cific Islands to investigate the rice industry 
and learn what varieties were feest adapted 
for cultivation in that country, recently made 
a report to the Secretary of Agriculture. 
Professor Knapp visited Japan, China, the 
Philippines, Hawaii, Siam, Ceylon, India and 
Burma. In speaking of his investigations, 
he said : — 
"The United States can profit from the ex- 
perience of the Oriental countries in the varieties 
of rice, but nothing can be learned from them in 
the cultivation of the plant. What the United 
States needs is the introduction of more early 
varieties of rice. I do not think the United 
States has anything to fear from Oriental com- 
petition." 
Tea in Russia.— The Dutch Consul at 
Warsaw has been giving the imports of tea 
into Russia as follows, we changing his 
kilogrammes into lbs. : — 
Total import, over ... 116,600,000 lb. 
Brick tea 75,680,000 
Black tea = 39,600,000 
Tablets tea = 2,145,000 
Green tea = 672,000 
Yellow tea=- {small quantity) =118,097,000 
We are not responsible for the discrepancy. 
Tiie estimate of Brick tea is singuh^rly near 
that of the Shanghai Tea Committee some 
years ago, which was 76,949,200 lb.; and Green 
tea was given (shipped to Batoum) at 631,733 
lb.; but the estimate of black tea was much 
larger or 45,179,066 lb.— a good deal of which 
may have been for Central Asia and adjacent 
lands. The grand total of the Shanghai 
estimate was above on 133 millions lb.; and 
it is more likely that with Ceylon and 
Indian tea now (and perhaps less China), 
some 150 millions of lb. of tea must be taken 
in a year, by Russian merchants or on 
Russian account, to supply the markets 
not only of Russia in Europe and Asia, but 
the adjacent territories which have their 
tea requirements met through the Russian 
trade routes. We simply go on the fact that 
a Tea Sub-Committee of Shanghai Merchants 
— who must have known what they were 
about — gave detailed figures showing that 
in 1896 Russia had taken, by four different 
routes, 132,567,866 lb. of tea from China. 
This was apart from Indian and Ceylon tea 
sent direct or via London— so that the total 
demand was not then much under 140 mil- 
lions lb. In the past six years in a tea- 
consuming country like Russia there must 
be a steady if slow increase in the imports, 
so th^il wc do not think 150 millions lb. can 
be an over-estimate of the total requirements, 
in all kinds of tea, at the present time. 
