172 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Sept. 1, 1902. 
Cacao Preparation.— Is ifc because each 
Manager thinks he knows best and has 
some secret of his own. that there is so 
little interchange of opinions in regard to 
this product ? In any case we are glad to 
have one planter breaking " the conspiracy of 
silence "—if such it be— although, possibly, 
all that is of much practical value is given 
already in Mr. Hart's useful little Manual ? 
Pish Culture (the Mahseer) and the 
Rainbow Trout.— We direct the attention of 
all interested to an interesting letter and 
other remarks on the above subject to be 
found in our daily and r. .4. We suppose the 
hardy and ubiquitous '" rainbow " trout will 
flourish right along in the Mahaweliganga, 
aknost from ita source to its several mouths 
near to, and South of Trincoraalee. 
SEQU0I4. GiGANTEA Pbndula.— There exists in 
tbe pinetum at Bieton a specimen of this Conifer, 
33 feet in height, the bole girthing 26 inches at 2 
feet from the ground. A tree of this variety may 
not be out of place in a collection of Conifers, but 
as an isolated specimen it is, in my opinion, not 
a beautiful object. The plant was put into com- 
merce in 1871, so that it is highly probable taller 
specimens are to be found in this country than the 
one alluded to above. J. Mayne Btcton.— 
Gardeners' Chronicle, July 12. 
Tea Cultitation in India.— Some inter- 
esting figures published last month by Mr. 
O'Conor, Birector-General of Statistics for 
India, will be found on page 174. The 
most important fact relates to the area of 
tea planted since 1898. For that year it is 
given at 31,561 ; 1899 is put at 13,978 acres ; 
1900 at 6,829 and 1901 at 2,234— or ai total in 
four years of 54,602 acres. Ceylan compares 
much more favourably, thus : — 1898 = 14,000 
acres; 1899 = 6,000; 1900=3,000; 1901=500 (?); 
or ;l total of 23,009 acres; while 6,000 to 
8,000 acres have been abandoned in 1900-2, 
The total capital of the joint stock Com- 
panies engaged in Indian tea is close on 
R160,000,000.— Some curious information re- 
garding "extensions" in India are given 
elsewhere, 
llAiNBOW Trout— are thus referred to by 
• J. B." in his 5 page paper on Angling in 
the Supplementary New Volume of the 
" Encyclopaedia Britannica :"— 
Rainbow trout {Salmo iridens) have now been so 
largely introduced into England that they certainly 
claim attention. As regards their beauty, sport- 
giving and edible qualities they rival the sea-trout, 
while they grow with astonishing rapidity when 
well furnished with food. They are easily reared, 
and are certainly a great acqiiisiiion, They have 
not yet had time to become acquainted with the 
methods of English fly-fis!ievs, and rise freely at 
any fly and take all the ordinary tronb baits. They 
succeed particularly well in lochs and other enclosed 
sheets of water. They appear to have migratory 
tendencies, - hat it has not yet been definitely 
ascertained whether this migration is simply in 
search of food from streams and rivers where they 
find themselves starved, or whether it is an instinct. 
A quantity which were placed in the Dove have, 
to the knowledge of the writer, remained there 
three years. They haye disappeared from many 
streams, 
Rubber Cultivation.— The full and in- 
teresting information supplied by Major 
Reeves in a recent issue, respecting the 
culture of Castilloa Rubber is exciting much 
interest, to judge by enquiries made to us. 
Unfortunately, there is none of the seed of 
this valuable Rubber tree ayailable locally 
for sale. We hear of a good deal more land 
being planted with this Rubber in Matala 
Composition of Arrowroot.— The Journal of 
the Chemical Society for May records the folio iving 
analysis of arrowroot rhizomes from Jamaica : — 
Water 
Starch 
Dextrin and Sugar 
Crude fibre ... 
Ether extract 
Proteid 
Ash 
63- 42 per cent. 
27- 84 „ 
2- 08 „ 
3- 94 
0- 19 
!• 64 „ 
0- 89 
The ash consists chiefly of phosphoric acid and 
potassium carbonate. The- pulped root, when 
steam distilled, yields a volatile q\\. -Agricul- 
tural News, July 21. 
The Tea Production of Japan.— In regard 
to the production of tea, another of the principal 
resources of Jappn, the prospect is no brighter, 
as far as the foreigner is concerned. "There 
would be trouble about wages, strikes and disturb- 
ances and the foreigner v/ould be generally shown 
that he was not wanted." What is require^; to 
increase the market value of the tea is the intro- 
duction of improved machinery for its manufacture, 
but the lack of capital, together wWh the indiff- 
erence and indolence of the people, do not give 
much hope that this step will be taken. The 
melancholy conclusion, from a Western commercial 
point of view is, that " whatever value as a 
national resource the production of tea in Japan 
has for better or worse it must remain 
in the hands of the Japanese, to be developad at 
their own gnit, and that it offers no 
inducement for the investment of fAreifii canital ' 
N.a Herald, Jane IS, ' 
Green Tea in Ceylon and where it is 
Made.— We are obliged to Mr. Deane for his 
explanation elsewhere. There is, it is true 
a very large area of low to medium eleva- 
tion tea, which gets no better prices than 
the dead lowcountry estates, about 70,000 
acres in all, and it is the former which,'for 
a time at least, would make green teas 
by preference. Higher-grown estates would 
scarcely go on making greens, if the market 
for finer qualities and flavours hardened 
considerably and the better demand for 
them assumed some permanence. At the 
present moment practically all lowcountry 
estates could manufacture green teas— say a 
total outturn of 30,000,000 lbs. with the 
prospect of better results than by the 
manufacture of blacks, provided such general 
action on the part of proprietors did 
not swamp the green tea market, The 
10,000,000 lbs. limit, put by Mr. Drummond 
Deane on Ceylon lowcountry greens, is 
much too low. The question is largely one 
of supply and demand. If 20 million pounds 
of Ceylon greens are manufactured, prices 
of blacks may be expected to advance to 
such a point as to make it desirable to 
resume the manufacture of black teas, 
