850 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [3m 1, 1900. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Mining Leases and Royalties in India. 
— We direct attention to the letter of the 
Secretary of the Chamber of Mines on the 
above subject, in which he shows that 2h 
per cent, ad valorem is the levy made by 
the Indian Government on plumbago. Taking 
so high an average value as £80 per ton, 
that would only mean £2 per ton ; but 
of course this is for plumbago dug on private 
lands— if Government lands are entered on 
there will require to be a lease and annua- 
lent besides. 
KuBiJKK. -The Burma Government contemplate 
starting a Government rubber plantation of 10,000 
acres, which will probably be in the Merpui district. 
ThisSir Frederick Fryer tiiinks should brinf< some 
benefit in the shape of a demand for labour, 
and will increase the trade of Mergui. It has 
been decided to set aside areas tor unrestricted 
taunf-ya cultivation in the Maliwnn towr.ship. 
In tliese areas people will be allowed to cut down 
reserved trees, and it is reported tiiat 191 fami- 
lies are prepaied to take advantage of this con- 
cession. Arrangements liave also been made to 
facilitate tlie supply of opium to Malays in Mali- 
wun, who were said to be leaving the township 
because they could not procure opium there as 
cheaply as they could in Siam. — Indian Agricuh 
turist, April 2, 
CuRiNa OF LiBERUN CoFPEE. — One of the draw" 
backs to the use of Liberian Coffee has been a strong 
unpleasant taste, and various remedies have been 
suggested. It has now been successfully overcome 
on the Borneo Coffee Co.'s estate in Marudu Bay 
by washing the coffee after pulping and before fer- 
menting. The washed coffee is in this way cleaned 
from all the minute bitg of pulp which doubtless 
imparted an unpleasant taste and before being placed 
in the fermenting cistern it is thrown into large 
baskets "coal baskets" for a few minutes to allow 
the surplus water to drain off and is then fermented 
in a comparatively dry state. To increase the heat 
sacks are placed on the top of the coffee and after 
some hours the top layer is turned in below so as 
to ferment the parcel equally. Liberian Coffee, pro- 
perly cured, has a splendid flavour which is well- 
known by the trade, who value it highly owing to 
the amount of chicory it can assimilate. As an 
after dinner coffee nothing comes up to pare Liberian 
Coffee if properly cured. — British North Borneo Herald, 
March 1. 
Thb Indian Tea Trade.— Messrs. Thomas and 
Company — says the Pioweer, — publish in connectiou 
with their annual review of the Calcutta tea mar- 
ket an extremely interesting chart of the distri- 
bution of the Indian tea crop throughout the werld. 
The most remarkable feature of tlie past season 
has been the growth of the North American trade, 
which increased ly nearly 100 per cent. The fig- 
ures for the last decade are an astonishing record 
of successful business enterprise. In 1890-1. North 
America took 133,290 lb. of Indian tea. There was 
a substantial increase the ue.xt year and' then a 
drop of a hundred thousand pounds. But since that 
date the trade has grown by leaps and bounds, 
until in 1898 99 it had reached 3,0,32,027 lb., while 
in the present year no less than 6,191,685 lb. have 
been dis-posed of. In Australia and New Zealand 
too, the sale of Indian teas has largely iacreaaed, 
the fignre.s for the last two years being 6,293,950 
lb. aiid 8,229,190 lb., respectively. It is satisfac- 
ory to learn that the prospects of the coming sea- 
on, so far as the Calcutta trade is concerned, are 
|so coQBidered ^od. 
"The Tropical Agbicultubist."— A busy 
planter writes : — " I always find it very 
convenient to note all the Tea Companies' 
Reports embodied in the T.A. from year to 
year— it is so easy to refer to them by the 
index. I trust, therefore, you are keeping 
up the practice of reprinting such reports. 
— We can assure our friend that careful 
attention is paid to giving a full reproduc- 
tion in our monthly of all such Reports 
bearing on Ceylon. 
Tea and Coconuts.— With reference to a 
paragraph from our evening contemporary, 
which we recently reproduced, a Veyangoda 
proprietor writes : — " There is evidence in the 
orders I continue to receive for seed coconuts 
and plants, that the planter has not lost 
faith in the combination of tea and coconuts. 
I have an order now for four thousand seed 
nuts from Yatiyantota. Ultimately, theshftde 
created by spreading fronds and the net 
work of vigorous roots must prevent the 
Erolitable cropping of tea under coconuts j 
ut for six or seven years the tea leaf should 
be a valuable catch-crop, while the cultiv- 
ation of the tea should hasten the bearing of 
the coconuts. 
Tea Planters in Java— says the Straits 
T«?/ies— rejoice at the progress in the cultiva- 
tion of the shi'ub there last year. The advance 
was slow but none the less sure. The prices 
for the leaf were not high. But countervail- 
ing advantage lies in the fact that thej are 
less liable to fluctuations than quotations for 
other produce articles exported from the 
island. The fluctuations in the price of 
cinchona, sugar, coffee, and indigo are so 
widely divergent that tea-growing in Java is 
the most stable line of cultivation open to 
investors. Tea planters had little to complain 
of as to insect-ravages last year. In the plant- 
ing districts of West Java, the produce crops 
now suffer heavily from the unusal wetness of 
the season, The tea crop, this year, is ex- 
pected to be of inferior quality. ' Coffee re- 
fuses to ripen well. The barx'ies in many cases 
rot on the trees. Cinchona trees show signs 
of canker on branches and roots. The roads 
are in an almost impassable condition. It is 
well nigh impracticable for planters to convey 
produce to market. 
" Is Tea Injurious ?"— We are surprised, 
and i-ather disgusted to find our contem- 
porary of the American Gi'ocer republish- 
ing under the above heading, wellnigh a 
couple of columns of opinions —medical and 
otherwise — adverse to the use of tea, without 
a word on the other side! Is the Grocer 
tied up in the coffee or cacao interest ? 
Surely the Editor is aware that the people 
most freely consuming tea — the Australians 
to wit — are among the healthiest and most 
athletic. And we fancy there are more 
dyspeptics per thousand of population 
to be picked up in the United States than 
in the United Kingdom. We know that 
both the Grocer and Christian Advocate are 
widely circidated in Ameinca, and to get 
the Editors to recognise the other side, we 
are sending them copies of our tri-lingual 
letter and of Mr. Kelsvay Bamber's " Dietetics 
of Tea." Our Commissioner should go and 
interview the Editors in question and get 
them to make amends, 
