THE TTfOfir'AL AGRICULTURIST. [Mabch. 1. 1900. 
PRODUCE AND I'LANTINC; 
Only this, and Nothing Mohe. — Three firms in the 
Oity, Messrs. Appletou, M;i,chin, and Smiles, Liiiuted, 
Messrs. Peek Brothers and VViuch, Limited, and 
Messrs. Joseph Tetley and Co., recently addressed 
a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer request- 
ing him to , make a.n early statement as to the 
intentions of the Government with regard to the tea 
duty, and pointing out that great disorganisation of 
the trade was at present being caused by the largu 
sums of duty being paid upon tea in anticipation 
of an increase. They have received ihe following 
reply : — " Gentlemen, — I Mn desired by the Chancellor 
of the Exchequer to acknowledge the receipt of your 
letter of the 23rd inst., asking the Governm'-nt to 
take the earliest opportunity, on the assembling of 
Parliament, to announce whether or not the tea duty 
is to be increased in the present year. lu reply I 
am to say that he thinks you will see on consider- 
tion, that for obvious reasons no information on siich 
a subject could bo -given before the introduction of 
the Budget, for which the time has by no means yet 
arrived. He regrets to learn that there'is any specu- 
lation in the tea trade of the kind to which you 
refer. The unwisdom of such action was proved last 
year in the case of tobacco. Yours faithfully, L. A. 
GUILIiEMABD." 
United States Tea Importation. — The following 
circular, containing regulations as to the importation 
of tea, has been issued by the Treasury Department of 
the United States : — '' As tea is now subject to duty, 
and as the original regulations fixing the penalty of the 
bond given by the importers thereof at one-fourth the 
invoice value of the tea was prescribed when on the 
free list, Article 1 of the Regulations of Apiil 4, 1899, 
in regard to the importation and inspection of tea under 
the Act of March 2, 1897, is hereby amended to read as 
follow: The importation of any merchandise for sale 
as tea, which is inferior in purity, quality, and 
fitness for consumption to the standards fixed and 
established by the Secretary of the Treasury in 
accordance with Section 3 of the Act cf 
March 2, 1897, is prohibited. Entries of tea will be 
made upon the ordinary warehouse forms, and the 
entry will contain the words, ' To be stored at 
pending examination under the Act of March 2 1897.' 
A bond shall be taken from the importer that such 
tea shall not be removed from the warehouse until 
released by the collector. This bond shall be under 
a penalty equal to double the amount of estimated 
duties on tea, and shall also be conditioned for the 
payment of all Custom House charges which may 
attach to the merchandise prior to its being released, 
exported, or destroyed, as the case may be, under the 
provisions of the law." 
One 'of the leading Indian Tea Garden Companies 
in London recently received a communication from 
a country grocer, with the following modest request : 
" Have you an Indian or Ceylon tea that you can put 
in for ."jd or 6d duly paid ? If so," says this ingenu- 
ous correspondent, " send samples and price list." 
This would-be patron of British planting enterpri.'^e 
should try Hamburg. — H. and C, Mail, Feb. 2. 
<a>- • 
THE BATAVIA viUlNINE AUCTIONS. 
It has now been definitely settled t lihafc tcin 
course of the present year five auctions will he 
held at Batavia, at each of which from live to 
six tons of sulphate ot quinine are to be offered. 
The Bandono factory will therefore require a 
quantity of baik not le.ss tiian 500 to 600 tons. 
At a meeting Indd on October 12th last, it was 
stated by the directors of the Bindoni; woi k.s 
that at that moment they had at their disposal 
sufficient bark to produce twelve ton.s of quinine, 
and durinf? the meeting tiiey seemed options 
from various planters for further parcels e.^timattd 
to produce nearly fourteet} tons more, giving a 
tol.il of twenLy->ix tuns of quinine. This doe.i? 
not include wny Governruenc bark, tliat it 
appears that there will be ample quinine manu- 
factured in Java to lu-'et the requirements of the 
auctions. Tiio first and ioi; will be lieM at Batavia 
0 1 February -Jyth. Thedates of the other auction.s 
aie nnojlici.illy staicil to be Aiirii 25th, June 
27tl), Aui;u.'it 29th, and October 3ist.— C%«//ij.s< and 
Drii'j(jiHt, J.tii. 27. 
TFlli TUI-:AT.M1]NT of FaiiBKK WITH 
AIJ'M IN I'ENANU. 
Co|>y of a IcMcr No. 171(9, dated tlie 29tli 
Sep'eniber IS'.W, from the Invjieetor-General of 
Forests, to \\\ • .Aissistant Hup^i iiitendent, (larderis 
anil Forest Dep.irtm 'lit. Botanic Gardens, Fining. 
I have the l)oii..ur to s^iy that I have read 
Your letter of the .Slst December last, to tiie ail- 
''less of the Direi'tor of the lioya! Gardens, Kew. 
lepjardinf.' the treatment of rubber durin;; the 
jiiocess of e.vctraccion wilii alum, with much in- 
terest. Duiiii;^ some rubber-tappiu}; opetatio.i> 
which were l.ilely undertaken in As>am much 
inconvenience and his.-< of rubber was oeca-ioned 
by the wet wp,i:licr. It appears thattl.etre.it- 
merit adajited Ijv yon greatly facilitates tiie ex- 
traction of the rubber in wet weati.ei', atui iliat 
this tieatnient i;i noway aflfects tiie value of the 
rubber. I should feel much obliLfcd if yim would 
be gooil enou;4h to favour me «iih ii full account 
of the treatment, as I should like to have it hied 
in Assam. 
C!opy of a letter dated 18th November 1S99, 
from tlie Assistant Su|iciiirtendent. Gardens and 
Foi-est Department, Rocanic Gardens, Penang, 
to the Inspector-Geneial F'oiests. 
1 have only just retuiiied from leave, or your 
le'iter of the 29tli September would not have re- 
mained so loof.' ur,an>\veied. 
The repoi t of the' expert to whom the Kew 
auiiioritits su' mitred the samples of rubber was 
that the alum tr:'atme.'it does not interfere 
with its value. You can either stir in a 
pinch of powdeied alum or dissolve the ahiin 
lirst in water, 1 prefei- the latter. You will 
find that by this treatment you will get out 
all the rubber there is without loss of time. — 
Indian Foresta-. 
THE AMSTERDAM CINX'HOXA MARKET 
IN 1899. 
A review just received from Mr. H -V van 
Overzee, of Amsterdam, gives some interesting 
statistics and other particulars of the bark mar 
ket at Amsterdam during 1889. The small ship- 
ments of bark in January and Februaiy 3aused 
a considerable rise in the prices at the early 
sales ; in fact the aver age unit, which in January 
was about 4 70c., ro-se in March to about 10'9Uc, 
an increase of aoont 1.30 per cent. Wherr. how- 
ever, it was founil that the March sliipnietitf, 
and subsequently those of April also, tvere above 
the average, and that the pr-evious small >hip- 
ments were not due to scarcity, hut to a<ci- 
deiital causes, a reaetim set in, and prices gra- 
dually dropped with c-mtinued large shipments, 
until in September, 1899, the average unit had 
come dov.'n to about 5'35. After this there " as- 
ag;un an improvement, and at the last sale of 
the year the unit was, on the aver.age, 7 75e. 
The iniiirovement in the prices, notwithstanding 
larger shipments, would point to a steady in- 
crease in the demand for Java bark -^Chemist 
and Druggist, Jan. 27. 
