July 1, 18D9.] THE TROPICAL AGElCULTUEIST. 37 
The fact that teas are costing more thau in 1898 
would in itself help to swell the value of the teas 
imported ; hut when the full leturns hav? bsen issued, 
it will doubtless be seen that there is au increase in 
the quantity as well as in the value, particular!" in 
view of the smailuess of spot stocks in Oana.'! x in fiiit 
and second hands. 
It may, perhaps, not be uninteresting to note that 
the ten imporced lu 1877, 22 years ago, exceeded in 
v.iluethe imports of tea during any one of the past 
nine yec-ra given in ' he above table, in regaud to 
qnaiititv, however, the conditions were the very 
opi>03ite, there only being 13,575,657 1b iiuported. 
Indirectly these figures show the difference in the 
price of the tea imported in 1877 and 1898 respec- 
tively, the cost being 25'90a. per lb in the former year 
and 13'63 in the latter, a decline of over 47 per cent. 
Taking the population at 5,Ot)0,O0 Jin 1890 91, and at 
5,500.000 in 1897,93, the average o.our.uuiption of tea 
in Canada per head during tlie former two-year 
f)eriod was about 3 64 lb and during the latter 4'02 
b.— Canadian Grocer, April 2Sth, 
FACILLTIES FOR MAKIiNG GOOD TEA: 
BOGAWANTALAWA. 
The informatiou collated in our recent 
articles on this subject does not seem quite 
correct, to a correspondent whose letter is 
before lis — more especially on tlie subject of 
MANURING. "Tlie district, we are surprised 
to leai'U, is a stranger to manure," we are 
assured, is not correct. Seven estates could 
be named that have been manuring regu- 
lai-ly for the last four years at all events — 
and six other estates that have either tried 
manvire, and not gone on with it, or have 
just begun manuring and intend to go on 
with it. In regard to "Plucking" we are 
told that a good many planters have gone 
in for coarser leaf, because they find it iias 
paid best, and is not so trying to the tea 
bushes: and ''two or three estates whicli 
"have been most careful about their leaf: 
' ' and whose plucking has been the most 
"costly, are now getting hardly any better 
"prices than tliose that have gone in for 
"coarser leaf, and clieaper working." Again, 
we are assured that tliough " ^Vithering 
Space" may be deficient in a few cases, as 
a rule the Bogawantalawa factories ai'e as 
well found in this respect, and in machin- 
ery, as in inost districts. No doubt, in 
every district one could find some estates 
that, for various reasons, are not as ' ' up to 
date," with manufacture, and factory ac- 
commodation, as they might be, and espe- 
cially so on estates that are not all in bearing 
yet; and the same, of course, applies to 
some estates in Bogawantalawa ; but only 
to a few. Altogether, the summary we gave 
does less than justice to this fine district, 
and so we give prominence to the above 
corrections. 
COOLIES FOK ASSAM. 
UEVISION OF IMMIGRATION EULES. 
. A set of revised rules under the Immigration 
Act for regulating the importation of coolies into 
the tea districts of Assam have now been pub- 
Hshed by the Chief Commissioner of Assam to 
remedy the defects existinjj; in the matter of sani- 
tary conditions, transit, food and clothing of emi- 
grants, which were brought to light by the in- 
vestigations of Lieutenant-Colonel R. Neil Camp- 
bell, who, in eonseriuence of a severe outbreak 
of cliolera on the river steamars wiiicli formerly 
were exclusively used for the transit of emigrants 
to tiie var'o'is districts of the province, was 
specially ilep-.ited to enquire into the ni itter. ■ The 
new rules iiave been rtrav/a up on the lines of those 
recently issue ! by the Gove: n-nent of Bengal, who 
took action ;ifler consultation with the Local 
Gavenimcnts concerned, the Chamber of Com- 
merce, and the Tea Association^. On the railway 
routes from the Recrnitiiig Depols the adoption 
of a system of telegraDliic advices will enable the 
authorities to prevent coai-estioa of traffic, and a 
furtiuif improvement is the restriction of traffic 
to the two main routes, one via Naihati and 
Goalundo. and the other via Katihar and Jatra- 
pur.— Pioneer, May 28. 
THE FLORIDA VELVET BEAN. 
For the past year or two— says the Editor 
of the New South Wales Acjrknltu ml Gazette 
—a great deal has been written about this 
extraordinary plant. Mr. Geo. W. Hastings, 
an orange-grower in Florida State, thus sums 
up his experience of it in one of the leading 
American papers, and in view of the intro- 
duction of the bean to this Colony his words 
may be of interest : — 
"The cultivation of the velvet bean up to 
the present time has established the follow- 
ing facts :— For tiie extreme south, it is the 
greatest forage and hinnus producer yet dis- 
covered. North of central Georgia, only in 
exceptionally long seasons Avill the seed 
mature. North of the Ohio River, it will 
make large growth of vine and leaves but 
will not come to bloom. 
"It is a great fertiliser for orange groves, 
but its jise is not advisable after the groves 
come into bearing, as the vines are a habitat 
of the pumpkin (stink) bug, and on the decay 
of the bean this pest goes to the orange, 
puncturing the fruit, and causing it to fall. 
" As a rule, the velvet bean is not the equal 
of red clover or the cowpea, either for seed 
or forage, north of the Gulf States. For 
forage and fertiliser it l^as no equal in the 
barren sandy lands of the South, where the 
seasons are long enough for the crop to 
mature before the coming of frosts." 
COFFEE NOTES FROM RIO. 
The coft'ae crop of Nicaragua, which is now 
being gathered, is reported as yielding only about 
one-half the usual (luantity of berries. 
Our advices from one of thi interior coffee 
districts of S. Paulo are to the effect that the 
growing crop is well grown and of better quality 
thau last year, 
A gentleman who was tlirouoh tlie new coffee 
district as far as Ribeirai Preto last week, says 
the coffee plantations are iu splendid condition 
and are loaded with fruit. The crop will be a 
very large one. Commenting on an estimate in 
the papers of two millions bags, oae gentleman 
in that locality said it was more likely to be 
six millioas. Ten years ago the country was 
quite new and few cofloe trees were to be seen; 
now said our informant, the whole country is 
covered with splendid coffee orchards and trees 
are just reaching tlieir best bearing age.— Tvw 
Neivn, ■ 
