^•28 THE TROPICAL A^xRlCTTLTCRIST 
Nov 1. 1&02. 
Irrigation in India.— The scale on which 
irrigation works are provided in India is 
not, we fear, appreciated by those who de- 
nounce official neglect whenever a famine 
occurs. We learn from an Indian paper that 
the irrigation st.itisiics for 1901 02 break the 
record. The previous maximum area under 
canal irrigation in one year was 18^ million 
acres. The area, now under irrigation exceeds 
194 million acres. 
CAi^SAVA.— An iiDportant Experiment". — Swift 
nnd Con-pany and other Chicngo packers, have 
begun ( xperiiiients on a projset for shipping stock 
to Florida and fattening it on cassava root. This 
projeefe was broached about yeai' ago by southern 
men and representatives of the Louisville & Nash- 
ville and an investigation was made. Itwasfsund 
that cassava would strow well in waste laud in 
northern Florida and .southern Alabama acd was 
a splendid catt'e feed. Investigation so far made 
it appears that it would be much cheaper to send 
stock to Florida to fatten than to the western 
rangss. It is said that 1,000,000 acres in the South 
are available, much of it government land, ready 
for homesteaders. The value of cassara as pig food 
and for making starch is being looked into. The 
project will be nndtrtaken gradually, and ulti- 
mately may result in large and profitable changes 
to the packing industry. — " News Bureau," 
Boiton. — Jamaica Agricultural Society, August. 
Planting Manicob.v Pvubrer in Sekgipe 
In a report on the little state of Seigipe (Brazil), 
the coast line of which lies between the ports of 
Pernambuco and Bahia, the United States eon.sul, 
Mr Henry W Furn'ss, mentions that in 1898 the 
state appointed a commission to report upon the 
introduction of the Ueard variety of rubber for 
cultivation, should improve advisable. The coni- 
nus^sioa visited Cear^, where the Manicoba rubber 
trees were originally founa wild and are now under 
extensive cultivation, a;id as a result of their iu- 
vestigation Manicoba has been planted in various 
parts of Sergipe. The consul has seen two planta- 
tions, one with about 17,000 trees and the other 
with more than 20,000 both three years of age and 
apparently in a flourishing condition. Manicoba 
is grown from seed, planted at the commencement 
of the rainy season, 12 to 15 feet apart, usually 
three seeds to a hill, the most vigorous resulting 
plant being left to stand. Soma planters file one 
end of the hard seed — which much resembles the 
seed of the castor bean — to as'^ist germination ; 
others soak the seeds before planting, bat generally 
the seed is planted without previous preparation. 
It is said that the plant will grow on rundown 
8ugar lands. It is cultivated on the sandy soils of 
Ceara, but it doubiles? will succeed best on good 
farming land. The tree requires little attention, 
in many places the soil receiving no culti,'ation, 
and reaches a height of from 12 to 36 feet in four 
to six years. It yields rubber at a very early age, 
the average stated at about 2^ years from planting, 
when from 7 to 35 ounces of rubber may be 
obtained in a .'season. Rubber is obtained by re- 
moving from the trunk a V shaped piece of bark, 
to the lowfr angle of which a small vessel is placed 
to collect the latex. Coagulation is assisted by 
emokiiit;. as in the case of Para rubbei', though 
the latex will coagulate spontaneously in the air. 
The cost of planting and gathering the initial crop 
is stateil to be less than in the ease of coffee, 
sugar, or cotton, while the profit is greater, and 
the consul believe* that the new industry will 
become important.— /n(<irt TfwWg/' World, Aug. 1. 
Graphite (Plumbago).— In the State of Tra- 
vancore there are four mines from which graphite 
was extracted in 1901-02 to the amount of 2,490 
tons. No information has been given of the quality 
of the graphite. It is doubtless exported, but no 
particulars of the trade have been fnrnisbad, nor 
are the eapabiliiies of the mines kno-vn.— 7ndia>i 
Agricultvrist, Oct. 1. 
Flantins in Mysore.— At an extraordinary 
General Meeting of the South Mysni-e Planters 
Association held recently the subject of the 
Coffee Cess was discussed, and the proposal that 
the Agents should be asked to raise their rates by 
Rs5 per ton to provide for the Coffee Cess met with 
very little support. As i-egards limitalion of 
advances to coolies, it was unanimnu.sly agreed 
that advances should be limited to Rs 20 per 
head. — Pinneer, Oct. 9. 
The Pepper Tiiade of Siam appears to he im- 
proving, though not extending in area. Last year 
the exports amounted to 1,156 tons, and the prices 
varied from 8Jd to 9Jd in the London market. 
Prices have a tendency to rise each year. The 
latest account says that this year pepper is coming 
in rapidly, but the export will piobably only 
amount to 70 per cent, of that of 1901. Prices 
have been steady for the new season's pepper, 
which began to come in at the end of March. 
Most of it comes to London. — Globe. Sept. 12 
Ceylon Tea for the Philippines.— We 
direct the attention of the " Thirty Com- 
mittee " to a letter of an American gentle- 
man, Mr. Dunleary, written from Min- 
dinao in the Philippines, which has been 
prompted by his reading in the Tropical 
Agriculturist of the efforts made by Ceylon 
planters to push their teas. He points out 
that there is an excellent field to be exploited 
in the Philippines — where inferior China tea 
is now uhiefiy used — and that the Americans 
who once got used to the flavour of Ceylon 
tea would carry the taste back with them 
to America and there demand the same tea. 
What surprises us in this connection is that 
an enterprising Ceylon man like Mr Tom 
Stephens, the well-known Dentist, established 
for some time in Manila, has not put a tea 
merchant there up to importing from Col- 
ombo, or gone in for a trial shipment him- 
self. He will in due course read Mr. Dun- 
leary's letter and may have something to 
sav about its contents. Meantime the 
"Thirty Committee" should pass a hearty 
vote of thanks, in the name of the whole 
body of our te.i planters, to Mr. Frank J. 
Dunleary for the testimony he bears as to 
the repulsive nature of much that he him- 
self has seen in connection with the pre- 
paration of China and Japan teas. This 
testimony ought to be reprinted in large 
type above Mr, Dunleary's name, for circu- 
lation all the world over, but especially in 
North America. Owing to some blundering 
at this end which we cannot understand, 
Mr. Dunleary's letter, which is dated May last, 
only reaches us now. He encloses a second 
letter for the " Planters' Association " in 
which he mentions a Manila Tea House as 
suitable for an Agency for Ceylon Tea. 
But Mr. Dunleary has to learn that the 
planters or their Association do not establish 
Agencies. That must be done by the mer- 
chants of Colombo in the regular course of 
business. 
