JAx\. 1, 1900.] 
THE TEOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
603 
THE VANILLA CROPS. 
Mr. J. S. Simon, of Paris, has issued his annual 
report on the vanilla-crops for 1898-99, and, as fore- 
seen by him, the returns have been — 
Kilos 
Seychelles .. .. 24,500 
Madagascar, &:c. . . . . 13,000 
Bourbon .. .. 77,500 
Total .. 115,000 
la 1897-98 the crops amounted to 180,000 kilos, (in- 
cluding 125,000 from Bourbon), so that ihere has 
been a shortage of 6,500 kilos. As to the 1899- 
1900 crop, competent judges are not agreed, and it 
is dilEcnlt to say anything with regard to Bourbon 
before the end of the year. The persistent drought 
of last year has had a bad effect upon the vanilla 
plantations, and the cyclone in March has much 
modified the expected pioduction after the dropping 
and death of the trees. Some planters say that 
the production ■will not exceed that of last year ; 
others fore see a crop of from 90,000 to 110,000 kilos., 
but an average figure would be 100,000 kilos. The 
Seychelles Islands are estimated to produce 5,000 
kilos, hss than last year. On the other hand, Co- 
mores is expected to yield a better return. In ad- 
•nitting 100,000 kilos from Bourbon, there will be an 
increase of only 2,000 kilos, on the total production. 
In Mexico the crop has been good, but quality is 
not satisfactory. In Europe, Mexican beans are of 
little account, first quality being quoted from 150f. 
to 200f. per kilo., according to quality. The last crop 
from Tahiti has been very large, and prices have 
declined owing to the special flavour that can be 
used only by a limited number of buyers. The 
actual stocks in Paris and Bordeaux of Bourbon 
beans are 20,000 kilof, against 45,000 kilos, at the same 
time last year. The selection offered is not com- 
j)lete, and the cheap, short, common, and split sorts 
.are not to be had. Hamburg has an insignificant 
stock, and London has very little. Prices have been 
advancing throughout the year from 50f. to 75f. net 
per kilo, for first quality, middle lentith 17 cm. The 
first lots prepared were sold at 60f. for Bourbon, and 
a few days since 62'50f. was paid, representing the 
parity of the net quotations in Europe. Seychelles 
vanilla is inquired for more than ever, and has 
reached hitherto unknown prices. The present stocks 
are not sufficient to last until the end of the year, 
and the first arrivals of the new crop will be quickly 
dealt with. At the London auctions prices have been 
constantly advancing end the demand has been good. 
Concluding, present quotations are likely to be well 
maintained, the prospects for the second part of the 
season depending on the amount of the Bourbon 
crop, prospects on the future crop, and, lastly, the 
general demand for consumption. The flowering of 
Seychelles vanilla is very short, and as already 
tated, the next crop will be a small ones. — Plant- 
ing Opinion. 
COFFEE-GKOWING ON THE CLARENCE. 
Mr. Oohn Bale, of the Ohatsworth experimental 
station, Clarence Eiver, has supplied me with some 
interesting notes on coffee-growing. Mr. Bale says; 
— " I was very much intrrested in the notes on coffee 
in Queensland which appeared in the special number 
of the 'Mail,' October 21. I have taken some interest 
in the subject for some 13 years past. Coffee was 
grown on the Clarence in 1848, but very little was 
planted prior to 1894. Some was manufactured in 
1898, and sold at Is 6d per lb. In that year we col- 
lected 5,500 lb. of berries, and made 900 lb. of coffefi. 
This season we have to date 310,080 lb., and the dried 
berries are very good as compared with those of last 
season, doubtless because both rain and sun have 
been in our favour. The roasted coffee is now first-class. 
The output will be treated at the farm, and will all 
be disposed of on the Clarence, in fact, a much larger 
quantity could be sold locally. I observe that the 
cost of picking the berries in Queensland ia very 
diffarent to that usually ruling on the Clarence. A boy 
12 years of age, can pick 100 lb to 120 lb. of berries in 
a day. Take the average to be 110 lb. This should 
give 23 lb. of cofl'ee-beans, or about 138 lb. coffee- 
beans for a week's work at a cost of 12s per week, 
or Id per lb. A boy and a girl will pick all my 
px'esent crop of two acres, and the picking will last 
into next month. We do all the pulping with a 
wooden roller turned in a trough on an incline, so 
that the berries keep a peel by rolling under the 
roller as it revolves. The coffee is dried, and the 
parchment work is completed with a U.S.A. Noi 
750 bean mill, which cost £1 10s. The revolving 
roaster was made on the farm from a large oil drum. 
A Coffee mill which costs £2 will grind 2 lb. per 
minute. With regard to the question as to whether 
the industry will pay, a great deal depends on 
whether the Staie is prepared to assist the small 
growers so that the capitalist shall not have too large 
a share of the profits. Coffee at Is per lb. should pay 
well, provided the growers obtained their fail pro- 
portion of the proceeds, but the exactions of the 
middleman retard development in this as in all other 
industries which have to grow from very small 
beginnings." — Sydney Mail. 
THE LONDON COCOA MARKET, 
[By Hakold Hamel Smith.] ' 
Noticing several piles of Trinidads of late were 
being sold from " redrawn samples," as well as the 
original ones taken by the docks when the cocoa waa 
first landed, I made enquiries to try and find out 
why the second samples had been drawn and Werel 
being shown together with the original samples on the 
counter. The reason given was that this year, owing 
to the spell of heat we had from the beginning of 
June to the end of August some of the Trinidad cocoa 
showed signs of becoming " wormy" ; a very unusual 
thing with this growth ; and so buyers wishing to 
bid for a pile that had lain at the Docks since May, 
that is during the hot weather, asked for redrawn 
samples so as to be able to judge whether the cocoa 
showed signs of becoming wormy or not. This 
precaution it seems is not only taken by the buyers, 
but by the sellers and manufacturers as well, all 
being anxious to ascertain from time to time how the 
weather has affected their stock. 
I was unable to make out what is the real cause 
of this "worminess." The actual cause is "eggs." 
But then where do the eggs come from, and are they 
always there, or only during the hot spells of 
weather. Some seem to think they come over in the 
Cocoa, and only hatch out with very warm weather. 
Another very reliable authority believes it to be due 
to insufficient air, or other causes, on the voyage 5 
and gave as a proof that a pile of a well-known 
brand of Trinidad cocoa was shipped in two IrftSj 
and though on landing, the Cocoa to all appearances 
was identically the same, the first lot soon showed signs 
of becoming •' wormy," whilst the last lot receivvd 
remained sound to the end. Another reason given 
was that perhaps the beans not being as well washed 
and free of mucilage as they might be, owing to 
the heat fermentation set in, and attracted the insect 
that lays the eggs, and it ia for this reason that 
Guayaquil, which always has a good deal of 
dried mucilage attached to the skins, is very liable 
to become wormy, more so in fact than any other 
growth, whilst (aenadas are almost, if not entirely 
free from the nuisance. On the other hand, dealers 
in Ceylon tell you that they have known the same 
thing happen with Ceylon Cocoa, which is the driest 
and cleanest of all Cocoas, so that the cause of the 
mischief has yet to be discovered, and the sooner 
this is done the better, for it causes the grower to 
lose money, and the merchant or buyer much anxiety 
to know how the cocoa is being affected by the 
weather; and I am told the CTOvernmeB^ yi\\\ 
