MAitCH 2, 1903.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. m 
PLANTING ON THE ANAMALAIS. 
We were pleased to learn today from 
Messrs. Martin and Bannatine, how well the 
new planting district— fostered by Sir Arthur 
Havelock. when Governor of Madras— is de- 
veloping. Out of 15,000 acres taken up, about 
3,00(J have been opened in tea and coffee with 
cardamoms, cinchona and some rubber. The 
plantations run from 3,000 feet upwards. A 
'cart road is already right into the district. 
Calicut is the port ; butMadras will have to be 
utilised for the S.-^\. monsoon partof the year. 
The railway is coming nearer. Mr. Martin's 
tea of ^ood jat has made splendid growth 
and a factory is now being built. Not a 
few still believe in coffee, if only prices would 
keep up. Cardamoms do well, but get a win- 
tering ; and produces expected to be all sold 
locally. Cinchona trees (from 15 p c. Java 
seed) are growing well; and Para rubber in 
the flats has made growth equal to 6 feet 
in six months. Altogether therefore, Mr. 
Martin has reason to be satisfied with the 
inspection from which he has returned; 
— nor are the eight Anaraalai planters now at 
work afraid about a labour supply. 
GREEN TEA. 
We hear of a sample of St. L/eonard's 
green tea, spoken ot very highly l)y an 
expert, as equal to the very best China of 
the same class. This is good testimony to 
the patent process of Messrs. Heath and 
Wiggin. 
COCOS ISLAJsDS. 
WHERE IT IS FASHIONABLE TO DANCE IN BOOTS ! 
The annual visit to Cocos Islands, which are 
under the paternal rule of Mr George Clunies-Ros?, 
was paid lliis year by Mr L H Clayton, district 
officer at Ciiristnias Island. 
Mr. Clayton found nothing of importance to re- 
port, but there are one or two very suggestive 
passages in his remarks. For instance, he tells us 
of a severe cyclone that visited the islands when all 
the inhabitants ran into the lagoon np to their 
necks to escape the falling trees. There seems to 
be a novel view held concerning the value of boots. 
The winners of a race were offered as prizes their 
choice of a piece of serge or a pair of boots. They 
chose the serge as the men explained that boots 
were of no use except to dance in ! 
Mr Clayton visited North Keeling Island where 
every tree and bush is covered with the nests of 
frigate-birds, boobys, gannets, terns, &c. The birds 
are quite tame and have no fear of man. The white 
tern, Clayton thinks, is the prettiest of all. Mr 
Ross showed him one of this bird's eggs in situ. 
It had been laid so as to rest between two ribs of a 
coconut leaf, and was so placed that the swaying 
of the leaf in the wind did not shako it off. There 
was no nest of any klad. —Commercia,l Intelliqencc, 
Jan. 22. 
■ ♦ 
MOSQUITO BLIGHT ON INDIAN TEA. 
Mr. Harold Mann, the scientific Officer of 
the Indian Tea Association, has left Calcutta 
to spend six weeks iu the tea districts making 
further investigations into the mosquito 
blight. Problems in the manufacttiring of 
tea are to be taken in hand on his return 
to Calcutta. A farther monograph on tea 
soils will be issued shortly.— ilf. Mail, Feb. 13. 
« i 
PRODUCE AND PLANTING. 
It is somewhat curious to notice the way in which 
fads are ministered to by public caterers. A corre- 
spondent informs us that ou visiting one of the co- 
operative stores he noticed on the menu that 
TEA COULD BE HAD AT 2D. PER CUP. 
Tnis, he presumed, waa ordinary Indian and Ceylon 
tea. China tea could also be had, bub this being an 
article likely to be asked for by faddists, was marked 
at 3d. Our correspondent asked the distinction 
between the two. and was told that the China tea was 
a special scented sort, ,and very delicate in fl^ivour. 
This need not frighten producers of Indian tea any 
more than the advice given by the late Sir Andrew 
Clark to his lady friends to drink only China tea. 
For the present day economic reasons prevent the 
majority of people from indulging in drinks that cost 
50 per cent, more than they have been accustomed 
to pay. It is only right, however, that those who 
call for special brands should be prepared to pay 
something extra for the gratification of their tastes. 
The Grocers' Gazette, commenting on the 
A NEW USE HAS BEEN FOUND FOR TEA 
according to the British Consul at Bordeaux who 
reports that he is informed that tea is largely used to 
colour brandy, the tannin giving the brown appear- 
ance like that produced by long storage in oak casks. 
— With regard to 
DISPUTED BIDDING AT TEA SALES, 
the "Grocer" says : " Friction has been experienced 
for some time past at the tea sales owing to certainty 
as to whether bids of ^d per lb are to be allowed. 
The present rule is to advance by farthings. Com- 
petition, however, for the lower grades of leaf 
tea is generally very keen, it being the desire of every 
buyer to get his bid accepted by the auctioneer, and in 
the shouting that always occurs with active markets, 
everyone yelling out at the same time, it is difficult 
for auctioneers to do justice to all bidders, which 
naturatly causes great dissatisfaction. On these occa- 
sions a buyer is often prompted to offer per lb. 
more. Many breaks are divided into two lines, and 
the buyer then offers a :}d more and ' drop ' ; or if 
the break is in only one line suggests that it should 
be divided, and he will give a farthing advance and 
drop which works out the increased equivalent of Jd 
per lb. This innovation is resisted by some brokers 
for reasons of their own, and objected to by others 
ou the ground that it is irregular, whilst there are 
auctioneers who refuse these |d's at the public sales, 
but accept them privately. At the Indian auctions 
last Wednesday a definite ruling was asked upon the 
subject by more than one buyer, bat only the usual 
stereotyped answer was forthcoming, which means 
that the matter remains as it did before. It is a 
great pity that brokers cannot come to a decision 
among themselves, as the uncertainty engenders a 
good deal of vexation and irritation between buyers, 
besides often rendering the sale-room the scene of 
moat disorderly proceedings. Bat those auctioneers 
who present a tiim front and back their own decisions 
invariably command attention ; it is the vacillatora 
who fail to keep order." — //. <& C. Mail, Jan. 23. 
CEYLON TEA IN RUSSIA. 
Our Odessa Correspondent writes : — The 
Colombo representative of a group of Moscow 
tea merchants states that the export of Ceylon 
tea last year exceeded by 2,000,0001b. that of the 
previous twelve mouths, and the trade is iucrea** 
