530 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Fei3. 1, 1900. 
Cacao in Trinidad.— There is a curious 
statement intheletterof Mr.Hamel-Smithdeal- 
ing with Cacao (see elsewhere). It is stated 
that the niemliers of the Legislative Council 
of Trinidad '* refused to sanction " tliis year's 
estimate of the crop, on tlie ground that the 
deficiency will be 3U (and not 25) per cent as 
estimated by experts ! Trinidad has had a 
dreadful drought. 
Tea in Teavancore. — Tlie Travaucoie corre- 
spondent of the Madras Mail writes: — " A whisjier 
reaches me that, ihe tea planting on the Higher 
Kanges is not likely to be quite the success that 
was at first expected it would he. But I shall 
make further enquiries. There are all kinds of 
difficulties, the greatest of which are a want of 
sufficient rain during certain months and too much 
frost during others, thus minimising seasonable 
and prolitable flushes." 
India-Kubber Trees. ^Large tracts of forest 
with abundance of rubber trees are said to exist in 
the unexplored interior ot the State of Bahia 
(Brazil) ; but, unfortunately, owing to the difficul- 
ties of transport through a country w ithout roads, 
and to the fact that the forests are inhabited by 
different tribes of Indians, some of whom are can- 
nibals, it is said to be unavailable. The quantity 
of rubber produced in the State during 1898, how- 
ever, increased materially, the high piices 
realised inducing collectors to proceed further 
a field for supplies. — British and Colonial 
Dcuggist. 
Indigo : A Threatened Industry and Sugar 
as a Substitute. — A long communication to the 
London Times of Dec. 26th on Indigo, winds up 
as follows :— 
Such careful selection oi land as has been indicated 
will of necessity leave at the factories a larger ra-ea 
available for the cultivation of other crops. If we 
were to assume even that indigo-growing were ab- 
solutely killed by chemical discoveries and were to 
cease to exist at sotm future date, then, obviously, 
those now engaged in that industry would be called upon 
to grow other crops on their land, and would be 
obliged to find out what crops would pay them best. 
In this coiinexiou their attention may well be directed 
to articles which appeared in The Times of Sept- 
ember 2, 8, 12, 19 and 21 on the subject of growing 
sugar canes, and which are full of valuable informa- 
tion. Canes are already produced in nearly all parts 
of India, and in the aggregate the production must 
be very large. A new kind of cane is mentioned aa 
growing in some of theWest India Islands, which yields 
23 per cent of saccharose, and modern machinery is 
said to extract 90 per cent thereof. From such cane 
sugar should cost less tii^a £b per ton. By way of 
concluding these remarks a final suggestion is made 
to Indian iudigo planters. Experiment at your fac- 
tories on growing sugar canes, for the product from 
which there is an ample market at your own doors. 
Remember that the conditions of India in these 
days in respect of communications and otherwise are 
very much more favourable to the successful working 
of sucn an industry than in the days when sugar 
was largfcly exporteii from the country ; also that 
modern sugar machinery .is more efficacious in treat- 
ing the canes; and If it c;'-ii be clearly demonstrated 
that canes of the best kind can be grown success- 
fully in Behar, and that a formerly existing industry 
can bo established and extended, taking the place 
of incligo in l.hat quarter if the worst should befall 
it, then assuredly the necesaary modern factory 
will not fail to .bo established to deal with the 
canes. 
CaSuakina. — Though the Casuarinas is not of much 
value as a timber tree, it runs up quick enough to b« 
a most valuable rain a'.tractor and might with ad- 
vantige be laid down on the bare Jhumed slopes 
of the Assam midrange, wherever the rainfall does 
not exceed sixty inches. When the Madias Railway 
was first aligned the villagers along the route were 
induceed to plant casuarina which supplied the line 
with fuel for many years. Presumption as it may 
seem to parade such an idea, floods can be controlled 
by reloresting denuded tracts, and now that the 
Assam railway is entertaining the project of throwing 
out feeder lines in all directiuns, the necessity of pro- 
tecting the earthworks from breeching as much as pos- 
sible IS imperatively called for. — The J'lanfer, ia,Q. I'i. 
Coffee in Brazil. — From the Eio News of 
December 5th we note the committee of coffee 
merchants estimate at 2,250,000 bags the Kio 
coffee crop fer 1900-1901. The committee sajs 
that coffee in elevated and cool localities has 
suffered very little from drouth.— We see by the 
report of the last half yearly meeting of the Recife 
and Sao Franci'^co Co. that coffee planting in the 
state of I'ernambuco has been receiving consider- 
alile attention and that the proiluct, though small 
as yet, is steadily iiicieasing. — The govefni<r of Kio 
(le Janeiro has sanctioned the assembly resolution 
of the first inst. which concedes ne.xt year 0 02 of 
the proceeds the export duty of coffee to be 
applied to the expenses of a propaganda abroad in 
favor of Brazilian coffee. The same resolution also 
concedes exemption from export duties on all 
coffee sent abroad for propaganda purpo.ses. — The 
Sao Paulo Diario Popular of the 27th ultimo is 
informed that a inactical and credible planter 
exjiresses the opinion that the abundant rains 
lately experienced will develop the c^offee produced 
from the extemporaneous blossoming of June last 
so that it will ripen in January, or in February at 
the latest. As it will be impjssible, in the present 
state of the industry, to find labor for a partial 
gathering of the crop, he thinks tha* this part 
will be wholly lost, thus greatly reducing the 
reason s crop. 
Tea Distribution the " Thirty Com- 
mittee." — Several of the subjects dis- 
cussed at the last meeting had been 
previously considered by the Planters' 
Association Committee, stich as the 
proposal to retluce the grant for Am- 
erica, and are referred to in our note 
dealing with the proceedings of that body. 
The amount voted to Mr. Mackenzie is 
£10,000 and a similar sum will be expended 
by Mr. Renton in pursuing his work on the 
Continent of Europe where it is considered 
that there are larger markets to be gained 
than in America. An interesting report was 
submitted on the manufacture of green tea 
on Brunswick estate and it shotild be a guide 
to those who are desirous of taking to this 
to supply the demand from America. 
Another very important matter that was 
discussed was a scheme for the protection 
of Ceylon tea in packets at home and abroad, 
and we loolt forward with interest to the 
result of the conference to take place be- 
tween the Principal Collector of Customs and 
the Sub-Comrnittee on the subject. W e trust 
that fsteps will be taken to obviate the 
complaints that have been formulated by 
the Russian, and other tea buyers in the 
local market regarding slack packing and 
inaccuracy in the nett and irregnlarity in 
the tare weights. 
