Jan. 1, 1900.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
499 
less lucky ones. Mining 07i scientific 
principles, and by Europeans, is now being 
attempted in a number of directions, and if 
successful, this will invest the trade with an 
interest it has never possessed before. The 
exports in 1899 were over 30,000 tons, against 
about 24,000 tons in the previous year. 
CiTRONKLLA OiL shows an increase, and 
cinnamon oil a decrease in the quantities sent 
away, but the export keeps very steady from 
year to year. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Tea CoRPOTiATiON, Limited.— At the an- 
nual meeting of this Ceylon Company 
reported in our daily and Tropical Agri- 
cxMurist, an interesting speech was 
made by the Chairman (Mr. Cyril 
Gurney) explaining the working of 
the concern during the year ended 30th 
June last. Although so much tea was not 
produced as was exi)ected still the quantity 
was in advance of the crop of the previous 
year by 100,000 lb. There had also been a 
great improvement in the net price realisd 
and in the quality, and make of the tea. 
Favourable reference was also made to the 
results of manuring and a generally hope- 
ful view taken of the prospects of the con- 
cern which is being worked as economically 
as possible consistently with good cultiva- 
tion, and management. A good deal was 
said about the mining of plumbago on the 
Company's properties, and the directors 
were authorised to spend up to £.500 on 
this work provided they were advised by a 
mining expert that it was advisable to 
undertake it. The directors have also been 
authorised to issue additional debenture 
stock for the x'^^'pose of developing the 
property. 
Indiarubber. — It is hardly necessary to ex- 
plain tlie importance of the rubber industry or 
the great trade in rubber which lias now deve- 
loped witli all countries supplyinj; the raw ma- 
terial, and tlie growing need there is forsupplenient- 
ing such supplies by cultivating tiie more suitable 
kinds of rubber-yielding tiees, more especially in 
the West Indies, some parts of Africa, Ceylon, 
Southern India and the Straits Settlements. Readers 
of Commercial Intellignice, however, will keenly 
appreciate the value of a work dealing fully and 
autho''itatively with the whole question, and that 
is just what we have in '' All about Kubber and 
Gutta-Purcha," a manual compiled by Mr. J 
Ferguson, editorof the Ceylon Observer and Tropical 
Agriculturist. The first compilation of au India- 
rubber Planters' Manuel was prepared sixteen 
years ago, a second edition considerably en- 
larged appeareii in 1887, and in response to 
numerous enquiries Mr. Ferguson has now 
published a third edition. In ir !he author ha.? 
brought together all the available information 
in the latest authorities on rubber. [Tt.en 
follow extracts from the book.] Space does nob 
permit of our dealing at greater length witli 
this admirable work. In uijwards of 3.50 closely 
printed pages everything of interest in the indus- 
try is fully dealt with, and the author has taken 
great pains to present to his readers just the 
things they want to know, and in the most lucid 
and practical manner. Certainly no one interested 
in rubber should be without a copy of the book 
—Commercial Intelligence, Dec. 21. 
To the Editor. 
PLANTING IN PERU. 
Peru, S. A. 
Dear Sip,— By chance I became possessed of 
your valuable " C'off'ee Planter's Manual, 1898", 
and I pr'ze it much. There cannot be a place so des- 
titute of conveniences, of information on any subject 
and especially on the cultivation of coffee, as Peru. 
This industry, so to speak, has lived and died here 
several limes, but the introduction of pulpeis three 
years ago, more especially last year, (but mark 
t he majority are wooden jmlpers) has revived the 
interest in coffee cultivation, as the coffee can 
now be exported (although there is a six days' 
journey on mule back to the nearest railway sta- 
tion). I am ignorant on such subjects as the dif- 
feient kinds of weeds, so detrimental — IlnlantaleT, 
Spanish needle, Mana grass, Lau-la, etc. \Y^ have 
many weeds here, and I only know them in Span* 
ish, as also bad moths by the thousand. Beetles 
are not so numerous, and are very highly coloured. 
I should like to know of any book witli coloured 
plates of the coffee plant in its various stages of 
growth, also of the weeds anfl insects (cockchafers) 
we may have here, but I would require to see their 
form to disLingnish them. Unfortunately plant- 
ing here has been in the old style, seven and 
eight feet ap^rt; there is, therefore, necessity to HII 
up gaps by some other plant that will pay to cul- 
tivate. We are somewhere about 4,000 feet or 
higher, with a Hne climate, except when it rains 
heavily in the months of Dec., Jan , Feb., March; it 
may rain lightly througiiout the other months, 
and HO i<;iJip?.v to contend with. I wouUi like to re- 
ceive " The Tropical Affriculi uri.it'" which, I think, 
may just furnish the information we most require 
here and especially in my individual case. — Yonrs 
respectfully, P. H. M. 
" INDIAN GARDENING." 
Calcutta, Jan. 4, 1900. 
Dear Sir, — I beg to draw your attention to 
the current issue (today's date) of " Indian 
Gardening," which enters upon a new phase 
of its existence, by the addition of a Plant- 
ing and Agricriltnral Section. — Yours faith- 
fully, 
THE EDITOR. 
[" Indian Gardening " continues steadily to 
improve : the new section leads off with a 
sensible ai'ticle on the Imperial tea duty, 
showing that 2d reduction is preferable to 
aboliti(m ; but in a time of war like the pre- 
sent, the less said on the subject the better.— 
Ed. T.A.] 
HUBBRR IN Borneo. — A correspondent of the 
China Overland Trade Report, writing from San- 
dakan, December 18th, reports that Mr. De Nije, 
a rubber planter on the Labuk liiver, has dis- 
covered a rubber tree which he believes has 
been entirely unknown to botanists hitherto, and 
which is, moreover, indigenous to this country. 
1*^8 colour is whitish, but tlie rubber darkens 
on exposure to the atmosphere, ultinuitely going 
perfectly black. Its quality is veiy good, ami 
the Chinese here are willing to pay $100 per 
picul for as niuch of it as they can get. Sam- 
))les have been sent to Singapore and Colombo 
Botanical Gardens for classification, and it is 
hoped the discovery will prove a valuable one. 
