U2 
THE Tropical agriculturist. [max i. laoo. 
BEES AT KANDY. 
It is a strange fact that regularly once a 
year a, swarm of bees form a hive on the 
huge beam supporting the verandah of the 
upper story of Messrs. Walker, Sons and 
Company's premises in Ward Street. The 
attraction of bees to this particular beam 
is strange and on Friday last a multitude of 
them settled themselves once again on this 
their favourite spot and yesterday morning 
the unruly hand of some mischievous lad in 
all probability disturbed the insects which 
caused great commotion in Ward Street. 
The bees commenced stinging every passer- 
by. Several native men, women and boys 
were attacked and it was amusing to see 
fehem running along the streets, many of them 
with the bees sticking on to their heads 
or faces. Mr. Elton, Private Secretary of Sir 
Winfield Bonser, Chief Justice, was one 
of the victims. He was riding up the street 
on his bicycle when he was stung by one or 
two on his face and throwing his cycle aside 
he ran up to the pavement and fortunately 
found himself in the Central Dispensary. 
There the Dispenser applied some soothing 
remedies and in a few minutes he left the 
place. He was seen in Court, in the after- 
noon, however, with marks on his face. It 
would be to the safety of the passers-by if the 
bees were smoked out of the place.— Cor. 
PRODUCE AND PLANTING. 
Advance Duty Payment on Tea. — The general 
order of the Custom House Board requiring the 
immediate withdrawal from the bonded warehouse 
of goods on which duty has been paid is as follows: 
"General Older 14, 1900, — Custom House, London, 
February 19, 1900.— Duty-paid Goods: Prompt Re- 
moval from bounded Warehouses. — The Board, in 
concurrence with the Board of Inland Reveuae, 
diieci. that the following paragraph be inserted in 
tha Warehousing Code, after paragraph 489 :' 489a. 
The sole purpose for which a hooded warehouse 
is approved and appointed by the Commissioneri 
of Customs or Inlaud Revenue is to secure keeping 
of dutiable goods before and until the payment of 
duty 0 ' exportation, and subject to any permissible 
opeiations therein; and the bond taken from tha 
sureties of a warehouse-keeper is to secure the 
payment of duty upon such goods. - It follows that 
the retention in n, bonded warehoRse of dutiable 
goods after duty hap been paid thereon is to turn 
the warehouse to an illicit use. 'Warehouse-keepers 
and owners of i. onded goods must therefore be made 
to understand that the payment of dnty entails an 
obligation to remove forthwith from bonded premises 
the goods in respect of which such duty is paid 
Colltotors at outports, and tbe inspectors in London 
are directed to make this Order known to the 
several wirehouse-keepers within the respective ports 
and, in order to facilitate this notification the new 
paragraph will be printed separately for distribution 
and copies can be had on application in the usual 
manner to Division II. of the secretary's office. — By 
order of the Board, R T Pkowse." One effect of 
this general order will be that it will be difficult to 
cover the risk of any arge increase of tea duty by 
paying the duty and leaving the goods in the ware- 
house. 
Thm Outlook for OorrEE.— Coffee planters would 
be glad to hear that there was foundation fo ■ tue 
staiemenls made in some quarters that the consum- 
ption of the berry was iu.rtasing at a rate that 
threatened to overtnke the production. Statistics do 
Dot bear this out, however. Messrs. W. fl. Cro«sman 
and Bros., of New York, in their circular of the 9th 
nit., estimate that tho Brazil crops of Rio an.I Santos 
coffee together will swell to an Rggrepate of 37,663.000 
bags for the four Feasons from .July 1, 1896, to June 
30, 1900, as c ntrattfd with 22,682.000 baps for the 
same number of seasons between July, 1892, and June, 
1896, a growth in the production of about 15.000/)iK) 
bags in four ye^irs. According to Messrs. Crossman's 
statistics, the total deliveries of the Brazil description 
of coUeein the United Statrs during the four seasons 
ended June next will approximate to 22,807.000 bagg 
in comparison with a previous four years' delivery 
(1892-96) of 17,432,000 bags, which is tantamount to 
an enlaigenient of 5,375,000 bags in one country alone. 
Turning to Europe for the same peiio 's we find that 
the deliveries of coffee of all kinds (including Brazil) 
will probably amount to 32.178,000 bags, in lien of 
the 26,439,000 bags delivered in the interval prior to 
1895-96. The difference in this case is clearly shown 
to be 5,739,000 bags, but still on the favourable side, 
and makes the total gain in the quantities of coffea 
cleared from the stocks on hand in Europe and the 
United States equal to 11,114,0: 0 bags in the short 
ipace of four years. It will thus be seen that, altbongh 
the increase in consumption is considerable, it falls 
short by nearly one-third of the extra 15,000,000 bfigs 
produced in the corresponding period of time. Theie 
ia not much chance therefore at present of a failure 
in the world's supplies. — H. & C. Hail, March 2. 
THE LONDON COCOA MARKET. 
BY HAROLD HAMRL .SMITH. 
London, March 5. 
Ia comparison with the total business done In 
cocoa .since last mail, this has been quite a "Ceylon 
week," tor of the 4819 bag* of all growths offered 
this week for public sales, 2,163 bags were 
Ueylons,and of the2,200 bags sold at and after the 
sale Ceylons accounted for at least 1,400 of them, 
so the island has had a good share of attention 
On the whole it has been a quiet week, the 
sales were made np of 2,163 bags Ceylons, 1,682 
bags Trinidad, 363 Dominicas, 300 Guayaquil, 
and about 300 various. The continued pressure 
caused a further drop in Trinidads, in the lots 
sold, wliilst some of the bids were very low, 
and out of proportion to others. The market 
generally was evidently not wanting this growth 
as there was an absence of competition when it 
was offered : tniddlitig to good red sold at 75s 
to 78s, and some marks since the sale realifsed 
803. The Ceylons received much more attention 
and sold at 64s 6d for native, 56s to 68s W 
for smalls, 693 to 75s for middling to fair, 
76s to 83s 6d good to fine np to 90s for very 
tine. At times the ptices were a little irregular 
— but on the whole steady, except for the cheaper 
growths. 
The shipments from Trinidad np to the I4th 
Feb. were only 3,146,000 hags against 6,217,000 
bags last years. It is hoped the difference will be 
much less by July, and what the crop will be 
after that it is too early to' say. Although the 
Veneruelan cDcoa is coming in fairly well just 
now, it is said that owing to the Revolution, 
cultivation is neglected, many of the labourers 
are away, and the bush is growing vsry high, 
all of which is bad for the crop. 
Thanks to the courtesy of the selling brokers 
I was able to ascertain that the L R C (Trinidad) 
cocoa of which I sent you a sample, and whicii 
had been here since March 1898 had lost 18 
ounces (eighteen ounces) a bag of 1| cwt. during 
that period and the charges amounted to 13s 9a 
per bag. There are 5,210 bags Cocoa (all growthi") 
advertised at present for sale next week. 
