502 
THE TROPICAL AGEICULTURLST. 
[Jan. 1, 1900. 
PRODUCE AND PLANTING. 
Thibetan Trade. — The report for the past year of 
the Commissioner of Chinese Customs at Yatung, iu 
the Chumbi Valley, the town opened to Indian trade 
with Thibet, shows the growth of trade at the place 
for the four years it has been opened, no duties of 
any kind being levied during that period. The Com- 
missioner doubts whether, when the duty is imposed, 
the trade will be able to bear it, and whether it will 
not take some other route. 
Developments in Trans-Caucasia. — In addition to 
the cultivation of tea, the Russian Imperial authorities 
have introduced viticulture. Last year the area under 
the vine in all Trans-Caucasia was 250,675 acres, from 
which over 17 millions of gallons of winowere obtained, 
besides grapes sold in the local markets and used for 
distillation, the total of which amounts to about 108,000 
tons. Most of the wine is consumed locally, and is of 
inferior quality, for the growers are poor, and cannot 
afford to keep it in stock to mature. Cotton of good 
quality is growing in great abundance both m Trans- 
Caucasia and Central Asia, nnd finds its way to the 
Russian markets. The silk industry, also, is growing, 
but it is affected by the poverty of those engaged in 
rearing the worms, so that last year more than half 
the latter had to be destroyed in the second and third 
stages of their growth, as their owners were unable to 
buy leaves for their food. The cultivation of liquorice, 
which was an important industry in certain districts, 
is giving place to cotton and rice, so that the factory- 
owners last year had to pay higher prices. 
China and the Paris Exhibition. — The Chinese 
section of the Paris Exhibition is under the control of 
Sir Robert Hart and the IMaritime Customs, there 
being only one private exhibitor, a well known curio 
dealer from Pekin. Special efforts will be made to make 
the section especially interesting, and the tea industry 
will be to the fore. An officer of the Customs, M. Va- 
pereau, has been in Paris for some months past getting 
the section into order. The position is not a central 
one, for it is in the gardens near the end of the eastern 
wing of the Trocadero, but the slope of the ground and 
the large trees afford an opportunity for effect. There 
will be a four-storeyed pavilion, sixty feet high, cover- 
ing about 400 square yards, and with a lake in front. 
One of the floors of the pavilion will contain a Chinese 
theatre and restaurant, while the exhibits will take up 
two of the floors. There are to be three smaller pavi- 
lions, and a row of Chinese shops with men at work. 
Changes in Mauritius. — The report of Sir Graham 
Bower, Colonial Secretary of Mauritius, which has 
recently been issued, draws attention to " a steady but 
absolutely sure change " that is taking place in the 
population of the island, which is likely to have im- 
portant social, political, and economic results. Thirty 
years ago Port Louis, the' capital, was a European 
town to all intents and purposes : now the greater part 
of it has passed into the hands of either Indians or 
Chinese. The change does not stop with the town, for 
a process of moroellement is going on in the sugar 
estates, many of the old French sugar planters parting 
with their lands to Indians, who last year, in 
spite of the general financial depression of the 
colony, purchased nearly 15,000 acres for 
over two millions of rupees. The purchasers num- 
bered 1,427, of whom 485 were originally immigrants, 
introduced at the expense of the colony. During 
the last four years East Indians spent over seven 
millions of rupees in purchasing land, and it is 
estimated that about a third of the total sugar crop 
is grown by these small proprietors. The economic 
effects of this change, say Sir Graham Bower, have 
yet to be ascertained ; a peasant proprietor is, as a ' 
rule, )es8 able to bear the vicissitudes incidental to 
agriculture than a capitalist proprietor employing 
Jaboarers at fixed wages. When disaster comes, it is 
more widespread with peasant proprietors, and dis- 
aster is always possible in a country to frequently 
visited by hurricanes. Besides the financial supporters 
of a peasant proprietary are usually a small and 
unscrupulous money-lender class. -But, whatever 
the economic&i problem may be, the political 
and social consequences are apparent." 
CoFFEC ic Tobacco Cultivation in Queensland. — 
In the Treasury annual report it is mentioned that 
the laying down of plantations is gradually 
increasing, with a tendency to develop rather 
within the tropics than 'in the semi-ti opical 
regions. The products that have been sent home, 
thouf;h from first crops and dressed with, in many 
cases, makeshift appliancep, have mr-t with encourag- 
ing encomiums from merchants in L:.noon. An in- 
structor in ccffee culture has ijeen jippointed, and 
with bis advice and as.sistaace it is ilioiight that 
before long Queensland-grown coffeg will have a place 
in the London markets. According to the Registrar- 
General's statistics there were under ccffee in 16% 
1H8 acres; 1897, 311 acres ; 18;»8, 4.S2 acres. The ac- 
tual area planted has been ascertained to be consi- 
derably larger, but of the area under crop 199 acres 
only were in full bearinjr. the production fiom which 
was .")6.552 lb. Our imports of raw and roasted coffee 
totalled 179,681 lb., of the value of f7,304, so that 
there is yet a considerable margin for local wants 
to be supplied before the export trade r an be com- 
mercially reached. The appointment of an instruc- 
tor in the art of cultivating tobacco has been well 
justified by the renewed attention that has been paid 
to this crop during the year; and it is intended— bhould 
this harvest be a favourable one — to test the London 
market upon a scale that will command the atten- 
tion ot the European merchants.— J/, and (\ Vail 
Dec. 29. 
— 
WYNAAD PLANTING NOTES. 
Nilgiri-Wynaad, Jan. 8 —The past two 
months, with the e.xceptjon of a sliglit drizzle in 
December, have been quite lainle.s.s. Water is 
said to be setting scarce in some parts, and 
.'springs and rivers are all very low. It is .safe 
to say that no one can remember them having 
been lower. 
The picking of coffee crops will soon be al- 
most over. What the quality will turn out to 
be, we do not yet know, but the bean runs- 
larger, whatever its actual weight may turn out. 
With abnoimal seasons it .seems scarcely reason- 
able to exiiect a uniform good average quality, 
although some estates, as was so conspicuously 
the case last season, may be quite up to standard. 
Estimates will mostly be reached, and in some 
cases exceeded, especially in the Onchterlony 
Valley, where a few estates are picking up to 
35 and 50 per cent, of their big crops of la.st 
year. 
The proposal of the Director of the Govern- 
ment Cinchona Plantations, to fell a large block 
of forest at the head of the Onchterlony Valley, 
owing to the appeal of the proprietors of pro- 
perty in the valley to His Excellency the (-iov- 
ernor strorgly protesting against it. is not likely 
to be carried out. It is understood that His Ex- 
cellency will give the matter his sympathetic 
consideration, and it is rumoured that the pro- 
posal has been dropped. 
I believe there are now five Euiopean miners 
resident in Devala and Pnndalur— a beginning 
a-' least of a revival of gold mining. The whule 
of the District is without any hospital accom- 
modation for Europeans, — Madras Mail, Jan. 12. 
