Dec. 1. 18rf9.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
most dangerous drug. He tells of servant girls 
arrested in the streets of Boston for being drank 
and disorderely who had tasted no alcohol, but 
who had 'chewed tea constantly"; also, of an old 
lady in Minneapolis who drank thirty or forty cups 
a day and ended her lite in a lunatic asylum. 
But even worse than these cases are those in which 
tea plays a more silent and insidious part. Among 
women it produces a kind of mania, " the mania 
for acting the persecuted saint. Among men, unlike 
the much condemned alcohol, it produces fear. One 
patient who was suffering from tea poisoning in this 
way never passed a high building without looking 
np to see if something was going to fall upon him. 
Then the relentless Dr. Kellogg goes on to argue that 
tea is responsible for sleeplessness, and, in fact, 
inpst of the ills which flesh is heir to. We have 
heard all this so often that it has ceased to be 
funny. There is another kind of mania than that 
Eroduced by drinking tea, and it appears to be 
rought on by the knowledge that a number of people 
drink tea in moderation and find pleasure and com- 
fort in doing so. 
Eussi.vN Geown Tea. 
The Official report as to the results of the tea 
crops on the experimental tea plantation in Tchakva, 
near Batonm, shows that all the three crops collected 
produced exceedingly good tea. The Commission 
appointed to report classfied the tea under two qua- 
lities, and came to the conclusion that the first sort 
could be sold retail at two roubles a pound. As the 
best Russian tea is sold at two roubles eighty 
copecks a pound, the two-rouble tea corresponds to 
tea at about '2s 3d in Mincing Lane. The Tchakva tea 
was appraised more highly because was it was manufac- 
tured on the Indian and Ceylon method rather than 
the Chinese. — Home and Colonial Mail, Nov. 10. 
SOUTH INDIAN PLANTING NOTES. 
OOTACAMUND, Nov. 25.— Mr. Barber, Govern- 
tneint Botanist, is under orders to proceed to Viza- 
gapatam to report on the sugar-cane disease, wliicli 
is prevalent in that District. — Madras Mail, 
Nov. 28. 
CooRG Planting Notes.— Nov, 24.— Crops be- 
gan to ripen up early this season owing to the 
«arly blossom last February, and some fly-pick- 
ing was done towards the end of October; but no 
full pickint; v/as commenced till the middle of 
the current month. Every care is being exercised 
the whole country over in tl»e curing of the coffee, 
for which there is more opportunity with the pre- 
sent small crops than when, like last season, crops 
are large and things have to be done at high pressure. 
There is every reason to hope that Coorg coffee 
of this season's growth will go a long w ay to re- 
establish its reputation for quality which it liad 
so largely lost last season. The samples of beans 
already gathered are very fine. Tliere has been 
a better demand for East Indian coffees in 
the London market lately. — Madras Mail, Nov- 
ember, 28. 
« 
WYNAAD PLANTERS' ASSOCIATION. 
- The following extracts are from proceedings of 
a General Meeting held at Meppaddi, on the 8th 
instant : — 
CorFEE Robbery. — Read letter from the Superin- 
tendent of Police, Calicut, asking for information as 
to the best time to send up the extra constables to 
prevent the theft of coffee. Resolved, that the Super- 
intendept be thanked for the trpi;blQ he has taken 
in the matter, and that ha be informed that the 
Association considers that the 1st November would 
be the best date on which to send up the con- 
stables. 
U. P. A. S.— '1) Paris Exhibition.— A subscription 
list towards the Paris Exhibition Fund was circulated ; 
the total amount celleoted came to R645. (2) The 
Secretary was requested to ask the Secretary, U.P, A. 
S. I., for a copy of the draft of the new labour ordin- 
ance ; and the Committee were asked to meet to dis- 
cuss it at the earliest opportunity. 
Alleged Cooly-Ceijipinq. — Read copy of letter from 
the Ceylon Labour Federation re-alleged crimping 
from Ceylon. Proposed by Mr. R. Lamb, seconded 
by Mr. M. D. Taylor, that this As-^ocialioii point 
out that it is not within its province to interfere in 
the matter referred to by the Secretary of the Ceylon 
Labour Association in his letter to the U. P. A. S. I., 
dated 13th September, 1899. — Madras Mail, Nov. 28. 
KOADSIDE FRUIT IN EUROPE- 
The cultivation of fruit trees along the highways 
of France is being extended each year. The Govern- 
ment having first set the example, the communes in 
certain departments adopted this practice as a source 
of revenue, so that now roadside fruit cultivation 
has become an important branch of national ludnstry. 
It is not, however, enly in France that fruit trees 
have been planted along the roadside. The United 
States Consul at St. Etienne says that in Germany, 
Belgium, and the Duchy of Luxemburg, the system 
has been greatly developed, giving satisfaction to the 
State as well as to local interests. On the Wurtemburg 
roads, for instance, the fruit harvest from this source 
produced in 1878 over £40,000, and last year the 
returns had more than trebled. The annual revenue 
derived from the national roads of Saxony planted 
with fruit trees, rose from ^1,800 in 1880 to £8,400 
in 1892, furnishing a total sum of £68,' 00 for the 
13 years. In Belgium, according to the statistics tff 
1894, over 2,87 5 miles of rods were planted with 
741,571 fruit trees, which furnished the large sum 
of £400,000. In France the production of fruit trees 
is estimated at £12,000,000. In Westphalia, in the 
Duchies of Baden and Saxe Weimar, in Alsace- 
Loraine, Switzerland, <feo., the employes of the Ad- 
ministr?tion of Roads and Bridges and the road sn* 
pervisors, are instructed in fruit culture. In some 
of the southern departments of France the roads are 
bordered with cherry trees, producing the small fruit 
called merise (wild cherry), much appreciated for 
making wine suigeneris, preserves, and even alcohol. 
In the Tououraine, plum trees predominate, while iu 
the AUier, the walnut trees transform the roads into 
shady walks. In Auvergne the chestnut tree flour- 
ishes; while in Normandy, place is naturally given 
to the apple tree. Some twenty years ago, the pic- 
turesque roads of the north-east of France were 
lined with stately poplars; but although ornamental, 
their roots went far and wide, rendering the adjacent 
meadows sterile, and ploughs were continually stopped 
by offshoots lying almost at the surface of the soil. 
The farmers appealed in such strong terms, that 
the communes decided upon the fall of the poplar, 
and soon axes and saws were brought into requisition, 
and the roads cleared of these trees in favour of the 
humble but more useful mirabelle (small plum), to 
the great satisfaction of the villagers. Thousands of 
baskets of this fruit are sent to Paris daily. Soma 
thirty years ago the distillation of the mirabelle was 
unknown in the country districts, the people plucked 
it as food for their pigs, but to-day they have 
learned to make more profitable use of iu Tliov 
distil it in large quantities, and find 8 ready market 
for it. A quart of this alcohol, slightly perfumed, 
sold five or six years ago for only about lOd. or 
15.. to-day it brings not less than 23. or 23. 6d.. 
while in Paris the best kind cannot be obtained 
upder about 43. 3d. — Journal of the Society of Arts, 
