25-2 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. 1, 1899. 
slioiild be easier ai)d its crops le&s precarious 
than would be tbe case in countries where less 
favourable conditions obtain. Ceyion is only about 
half the distance fi om London that Australia is, 
so that the fruit from liere could be landed in 
Loudon, by means of steamer cold storage, in a 
comparai/ively fresh condition. Labour heie is 
also relatively cheap. Theie would tlius appear 
to be favourable prospects of the Passion-fruit 
becoming; an important article of export in the 
island. Upcountry planters have frequently re- 
marked on the enviable and neglected advantages 
of the lowcountry for pi educing the choicest fruits, 
both for expert and for local consumption, but now 
that they have the monopoly themselves of so tine 
a fruit as the Passion-fruit, it is to be hoped they 
will not long show the. -^ame vein of apathy as their 
lowcountry brethren. 
Those who are not acquainted with this plant 
may be interested to know that it i_s a climber, 
belonging to the same genus as the' Granadilla, 
whidi has a mucli larger but inferior fruit and 
thrives only in the loAvcountry. The former lias 
also very ornamental foliage, and makes a iiand- 
some and quick-growing screen over fences, 
palings, &c. 
The fruit, when obtainable, is otten recommended 
as a special delicacy toinvalids and convalescents, 
and is said to be also used in medicine. A most 
palatable way of taking it as a dessert is, to empty 
out a tew of' the fruits into a tumbler, adding a 
pinch of carbonate of soda, also some sugar or 
sheriy, according to taste (although some prefer 
eating the contents as they are from the shell) ; 
then Itir it up briskly. It may also be made into 
a delicious jam, in this case the shell and all 
being used, , . . . 
The name Passion-fruit is a derivation or 
"Passion-flower" fthe flower of the same plant), 
which is so named on account of the supposed 
resemblance of its component parts to the Cruci- 
fixion, the various parts repiesenting the " crown 
of thorns," the ten T^postles ard Peter and Judas, 
the " scourge," &c. Tlie fruit was formerly called 
Sweet cup, which is a more appiopriate and a 
better name. 
UNITED PLAISTES' ASSOCIATION OF 
SOUTHERN INDIA. 
BANGALOiiE, August 14th.— A Conference of the 
United Planters' Association of Southern Indin as.<iem- 
bled here to-day in the Cubbon Eooms, the delegates 
present being :— -Central Travancore, Mr G Arworth ; 
Coors, Messrs W H Sprott, A Lambert Murray, 
Aynsiey ; Kanan Deven, H Knight ; Nelliampathies, 
Mr J Abott; Nilgiris, Messrs Hodgson aud Edmis- 
ton- North Mysore, Messrs Scoti, Skirving, and 
Parsons; South Mysore, Messrs Grahame-Andeison, 
Home, Crawford, " Park, and Playfair ; Shevaroys, 
Messrs Lechler, Messrs Gompertz: Wynaad, Mr 
^'committee work occupied from 10 o'clock till 1. 
At 2 the Agenda vtas taken up, the Secretary's an- 
nual report and Statement of accounts being duly 
THE CHAIRMAN'S ABDRESS. 
The Chairman (Mr. George Romilly) delivered bia 
address. He said :— The Secretary has told you in his 
Keport, clsarly and concisely, about all the work that 
the Association has carried out during the past year, 
but naturally does not touch on those subjects 
in which, although they affect our interests, we have 
not been actively engaged. I wril in conscquem e con- 
fine rny opening retiia)ks to the:-.e matters and m the 
forefront stands out the great question of exchange, 
THE CUIiBENCV ClUBSTION. 
A strong and impartial Commiltte h'ls given its 
verdict i& favour of an attempt at r. j^old currency 
and a la. 4d. rupee, and this notwithstanding that 
our plea for re-opened Mints was backed up not 
only by K,il other hona fide producers, but also by 
the leading exporting and importing merchants, and 
a vast amount of evidence was given in favour of 
this viev/. It seems to have been a fight between 
confiictiDg interests, tbe trade and people of the 
country ou one side and the Government a,nd 
their Bujjporters on the other. The evidence 
of the experts was pretty equally divided. Un- 
fortunately for us. Government has won, and 
we must accept the verdict- 1 don't want to dispute 
it, but I want to call attention to one or two points 
that seem to me worthy of study. The whole trend 
of the evidence, fron Lord Horthbrook on the Gov- 
ernment side to the most ardent of our own supporters, 
seemed to be that the prosperity of the country 
depended on its exports, and that nothing must 
be done in the way of export duty to check exports. 
This seems to be a generally received axiom and the 
logical conclusion would be that some recommenda- 
tions would be made, whereby exports might be 
stimrdatcd. But instead, th^y are left to do 
the best they can for themselves under a crushing, 
but indirect tax. Another argument, which seema 
to me anomalous, is that export must be en- 
couraged but only moderately, for if there is an exceaa 
of encouragement, overproduction ensues. Now 
I will give you an illustration of these two theories 
in one of our own trades. Our coffee has been com- 
peting with the produce of a country where produc- 
tion has been stimulated by abnormally low exchange 
and where, in consequence, over-production has en- 
sued — I speak of course of Brazil. Now, who in thia 
case are the real sufferers ? Profits in this country 
among coffee planters have, in recent years with 
high exchange ruling, been small and now, except 
in especial cases, are none-existent— in fact many 
of us will have to face a loss in the coming year. 
Things will right themselves, uo doubt, but in the 
interval the unfortunate ludian planter has but little 
saved wherewith to tide over the bad days. Against 
this take the case of the Brazilan. Even supposing 
that he can no longer harvest and ship at a profit, 
let alone his cultivation expenses, he has been 
steadily making four years past abnormal profits 
owing to a falling exchange, and if he has been 
a sensible man and foreseen the undoubted fall in 
prices that must follow on over production, he haa 
saved his profit and now has capital to turn into 
other channels. If this logic is right, poor India, 
you will admit, is the greater suffer. I don't for 
one instant deny that unnatural profits, owing to a 
falling excb.inge or indeed owing to any other cause, 
will bring capital rushing into the enterprise and 
lead to eventual over-production, but in the mean- 
time the producer is laying up for himself the 
wherewithal to face the cataa rophe, and profits and 
capital in the country are accumulating. Another 
argument that has been brought up before the Com- 
mittee is that a fixed exchange will attract capital, 
and I suppose from their recommendations that 
they have accepted this as correct. It may be so, 
but I cannot myself understand why the mere fact 
of being able to withdraw your capital at a fixed 
exchange should attract it for long investment 
when profits have been reduced to a minimum. I 
have always regretted that native public opinion 
was not moie forcibly expressed over this currency 
question in Inriia, as it was in Ceylon. 
THE FIGHT IN THE TEA TRADE. 
First as regards the fight io the Tea trade that has 
recently been going on. We were not consulted by 
the Indian Tea Association, as of course our interests 
in the Tea trade are too small to inliuence the position, 
so I do not know how negotiations were carried on 
before the deadlock, but judging from what one can 
read in the papers it does not seem to me to have been 
good generalship. Of course our sympathies must be 
with the Indian Tea Association in their demand, as 
doubtless the distiibutors and grocers can very much 
better afford to loss the 1 lb. draft than the unfortu. 
nat& producers can ; bnt yet, if that was all that wa| 
