OCT. I, 1902.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
261 
PLANTING NOTES. 
The " True Green Tea."— Messrs. Wm. 
Jas. and Hy. Thompson's tea circular, dated 
31st July, has the following ;— 
"lb has now been proved possible to make ia 
India and Ceylon, without artificially colourinac 
the leaf, the true " Green tea " of commeice, with 
pure and delicate flavour, and also tha distinct 
variety called "Uncoloured tea," each so attractive 
in quality as to almost ensure a market provided a 
regular, abundant and uniform supply of equal 
value can be guaranteed. We entirely confirm 
what we wrote on this subject in our annual 
review." 
EuBBER Exploiting in Peru.— A report by 
the United States secretary of lep;ation at Lima, 
Peru, in regard to the formation of two rubber ex- 
ploiting companies was referred to in The India 
Rubber World of June l[page 280.] It has been 
learnt that the company with £26,000 capital, 
to operate in the province of Sanrtia, department 
of Puno, Pero, is the Tambopata Gum Co., orga- 
nized by Seiior Pedro U. Gallagher, of Lima Tlie 
new company to take possession ot 50,000 acres 
of rubber lands near Marcapata, in the depart- 
ment of Cuzco, and east of the city of that name, 
was organized by Don Manuel Eiguera, also of 
Lima, and a brother of the mayor of that city. 
It was Senor Eiguera, by the way, who secured 
the concession in the Beui country, in Bolivia, 
now being exploited by the Andes Co,, of Balti- 
more, Maryland.— 7n,(im Bubber World, Aug. 1. 
Seeds i^or Indigo Planters.— In the Natal 
Mercury of July 4th it is stated that a possible 
new industry of considerable interest is in front of 
Natal. Mr A M Baily, accredited by the Govern- 
ment of India, and also by the indigo-planters 
in that country is at present in the colony 
making inquiries in regard to the indigenous 
indigo-plants of Natal, with a view to obtaining 
a large supply of indigo-seed for the use of Indian 
planter.?. It is probable that some hundreds of 
tons of the seeds will be required every year. lb 
is suggested that this would be a valuable 
crop to grow in Natal, for seed purposes if for no 
other. The yield of seed for plants growing six feet 
apart is stated to be about one pound per plant-, 
or 1,210 pounds per acre. The present price for 
the seed is Is 6d per lb. — Chemist and Druggist, 
August 16. 
Mozambique. — There is a considerable falling-olT 
inthcvalueof the exports during thepastyear. The.'5e 
consist of groundnuts, copra and a small quantity 
of ivory and calumbaroot. Formerly india-rubber 
was despatched in important quantities to Hamburg 
and elsewhere ; but the export of this valuable 
commodity was stopped in the early part of this 
year, the authorities stating that, owing to the 
admixture with the rubber of foreign bodies for the 
pnrpose of increasing its weight, it was acquiring 
a bad reputation on the European markets, and 
that until such time as the collectors of the juice 
could find means to procure a rubber calculated to 
create a demand for produce of this country, no 
more should be despatched. Naturally, \Ma some- 
what arbitrary order had a disastrous result, for 
many of the traders, who had accumulated large 
stocks, found themselves unable to put their 
produce on the market. The Governor-General 
nsw now withdrawn this prohibition — Gntta Percha 
Trades' Jotirmh August 4. 
Peru. — The india-rubber industry is likely to 
progress, as from all accounts the forests of Peru 
contain innumerable rubber trees. From July 1st, 
1900, to July 30th 1901, grants amounting in the 
agirregate to 1,240,000 acres of forest land, said 
to contain valuable rubber trees, have been made 
by the Government. These lands lie in the De- 
partments of Hnanucoand Cuzco. The periods of 
grants are either five or ten years. The royalty 
claimed by theGovernment is 2s for every quintal of 
rubber which is exported. During the same 
period six other concessions were granted under 
somewhat different conditions. One of the grants 
comprised 4,942 acres and others 1,235 acres each. 
These grants are divided into plots called "es- 
tradas." Each " estrada " contains within its 
boundaries 150 rubber trees. The royalties levied 
in this case are 20c annually for each "estrada" 
and 20c for each hectare of land which the 
estradas cover.— Gutta- Per cha Trades' Journal, 
August 4, 
Tea in India and Ceylon — Says "Indian 
Gardening and Planting" September 4th :— 
"In respect of the acreage figures it should 
be remembered that the procedure of the 
planters in the two countries is different. In 
India when land gets worn out, it is cus- 
tomary to extend and plant fresh land. This 
has been somewhat contemptuously styled a 
jhuming policy. But so it is ; the old land 
produces little, still it is often kept up and 
swells the nominal total of acreage in culti- 
vation. In Ceylon the practice is to make 
the most of existing cultivation, by forcing 
manure, which keeps up the output when the 
soil flags. Yet not content with thus forcing 
output of tea from old land, the Ceylon 
planters have gone ahead faster than the 
Indian in the typical Indian system of ex- 
tension, for which the Ceylon Observer seeks 
to blame us.'' [Not so, we maintain, India 
in four years planted 17,000 acres more than 
Ceylop ; and there has been no planting 
here at all for two years; while nearly all 
Indian Tea Company Reports up to this date, 
speak of " extensions."] 
Cacao Planting in Dominica.— Mr. G. W. 
Penrice writes to Ihe Times in a very cheery 
way of this island. He says :— 
It is very probable that newcomers landing 
at Dominica will be told that the Crown lands 
are no good, and may be advised to buy ready* 
made places on the coast, where the labour of 
clearing and preparing the land for planting will 
be avoided, but this advice should be ignored, for 
although the land on many of the coast estates 
is still very fertile, it is not to be compared to the 
virgin lancf in the interior. Some of the cocoa 
trees which I planted 18 months ago on my pro- 
perty are quite equal in size to many trees that 
1 saw on some of the plantations on the coast, 
and which I was told had been planted three years. 
Of course, the taking up of Crown land entails a 
certain amount of roughing it during the first year, 
as it takes some time to erect dwelling-houses, &c., 
but these discomforts become things of the past 
and are soon forgotten. lb is nob advisable for 
any one to go to Dominica with the intention of 
planting unless possessed of at least £2,000, but 
given this sum, together with the exercise of soma 
tact in the management of the natives, 8ucces| 
must follow. 
