THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[July 1, 1898. 
of tho coffee interest is likely to continue for some 
time. An interesting featuie of the Iranpactioiis of 
the year is the increase of foreign capital which has 
been invested in Brazilian coffee jjlantations. It is 
reported that extei sivc properties in the Stulcs of 
Santo Taiilo and Minas Goraes have been acquired 
by Eiuop'^an syndicaies chiefly English ; stid it is 
also Baicl that a company hos been organised at 
Antwerp, which will have a branch at Santos for the 
pnspose of bujing ccffee of the planters direct, f-nd 
selling it '^y retail in Europe lor acr-ount of the 
said planters. Tho ri-ctipls of liiu this yenr up to 
May 1, vve.o .3,800,000 b.igs, ngainst 3,)5C,0(O for the 
first four months o£ 1897.— (?;&cer« Juuinal, May 21. 
TIMBER AiND BOXES rt)li TEA. 
It seems somewhat of an anomaly tliat about 
half of the tea crop of Asnam is shipped in paek- 
nccfi imported from Jiipan, Burma, Noiway and 
Great Britain, and it points to a seriou.>i error 
in the conduct of the vast forest territory of 
Assam that such a slate of things .sliould exist. 
Japsncse sliooks ol all those mentioned above, 
can be landed probably most economi?ally, but 
tiie class of timber used, althougli very nice to 
look at, is somewhat brittle and fragile ; yet 
there is no doubt that it is properly sea.soned, 
which is not the case with country-made boxes; 
and nowadays when there is such a glut of tea 
in the market, the condition of the packages 
on arrival can no longer be ignored, and planters 
will have to look to this and endeavour to 
copy the Chinese trade, It lias often been a 
marvel to us how the Indian packages have 
gone on from year to year, exhibiting the same 
rough exterior, and that no attempt has been 
made to furbish up 1 he appearance a bit. Were 
any of our lars'e manufacturers of tinned pro- 
visions to neglect this for a moment, tiicir 
trade would at once suirer. We by no means 
sufo'est that " the out.side of llie platter should 
be'^cleansed at the expense of the inside," but 
we would advocate an attempt being made to 
put the teas into move attractive case^^. The 
old China package would not have been much 
to look, at, without its outside covering of 
paper with the old quaint Chinese characters 
that were engraved on it, in addition to other 
desif^ns. What would a tin of Lipton's Marma- 
lade" look like without the touch of paint and 
showy label, and yet that is what the common 
Indian package is as compared with its Chinese 
rival. Is it not a matter that might well be 
ennuired into, and an endeavour made to en- 
coura<^e a trade in 1— Indian Planters' Gazette. 
IMPROVED PRUNING OF TEA. 
Our Indian tea-planting correspondent who 
gi<rns "1874"— as the year from which his ex- 
ne'lience dates-has startled our local community 
bv his exposition of an unproved system ot 
Pruning and Manuring, which he says, ought to raise 
the Yield of average estates to 1,600 lb. an acre. 
"Credat JudwHs" seems the more common local 
commentary on this sanguine estimate ; but today 
a representative Ceylon planter treats the matter 
more seriously and although stil dubious of 
results, expresses himself as " willing to try. 
Meantime, clearly Ceylon planters would like to 
hear a Httle more of " 1874's" experiments and 
experience-although no doubt time '""st 
allowed for both. As regards the merits of Ceylon 
and Indian estates, we doubt if there is any- 
tiling even in the ricliest part of NorUiern India 
to touch the recoid of the 100 acre-liuUI of 
Mariawatte which has given au average yield for 
14 years of 1,137 lb. of made tea per acre, the 
\\li<de ]ilatitation of 4(j7 acres aveisiging 9iJ6 lb. 
jier acre last year. Nor in this a Military cbrc 
in Ceylon ; for figures were i;iven lately for a 
Matale or L'kuwclla ef-t.ile indicating f|uitc n* 
good results for a c^^i taio numlier of >e«is. We 
doubt it at the end of 14 years, " ih74" could 
shew as good a record as Iv. ariawatte ; and yet 
the Manajj'ers of the latter are, no doubt, «juite 
ready to consider a wystein which would add 25 
to 30 jjer cent to their already large yieldii, juo- 
vided ic does not tend to injure their bu.'lie8 
in the long run. Of course Mariawatte is regu- 
larly manured. 
COFFEE IN EAST JAVA. 
We are much indebted to the corrcBpondent 
who sends us for inspection the set of photo- 
graphs referred to in the folloiving notes: — 
Rrading your recent publications of papers from 
Mexico about the coffee these lead ine to think you 
will be interested to see the amateur photos I Heod 
herewith of the coHee at Glcn Falloch Estate in 
East Java. The most striking perhaps is that of a 
ccffee tree with two man near it. This tree was 
planted in January tith 189S, the photo hxving been 
taken in Fcbrnxry 1898. The oldest co£ree iu any 
of the photos dates from July 1894 but all those 
marked 15 division are a year youcger. 
The photographs are very intercBting in abow> 
ing us the vegetation and glimpses »l mountain 
and river f^cenery as well as of the growth of 
coffee in East Java. The special picture of Glen 
Falloch coft'ee bushes three years old shows a 
wonderfully luxuriant grow th, the bushes topping 
both the planteiB shewn and indicating a gieat 
wealth of leaf, wood and berries— reminding ub 
of Dumbera iu its lichest coffee days. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Lady Bird.s.— The publication of the cones- 
pondence respecting the proposal made in the 
interests of the coffee planters of Ceylon, in re- 
ference to the introduction from our Southern 
colonies of lady birds, has been delayed by cir- 
cumstances beyond our control. The letters pnb- 
lished sliow that the matter is one of more than 
passing interest, and it is to be hoped that the 
Planters' Association will not dally with the 
question, but will take such steps as will ensure 
to the coffee proprietors and planter.s of Ceylon 
the same advantages that are evidently going to 
be pained by Southern India. 
The Export of Isdia-Ruebkr from India 
has steadily fallen year by year since 1892, as 
the following figures compiled for our " Hand- 
book" will sliew : — 
Year. Exports to U.K. Total cwt. 
1892-3 .. cwt. 4,712 9,972 
3-4 .. „ 9,616 
4 5 .. „ 6,695 9^10 
5-6 .. „ 6,833 7,154 
6 7 „ 3,941 6,213 
1897-8 .. „ 3,017 5,565 
A fall of 40 per cent in six years is a serious 
matter and affords additional leason for cultiva- 
ting rubber in Ceyloi*. The supplies of rubber 
from indigenous or wild trees cannot well in- 
crease — but must rather tend to decrease shortly 
—from Africa as from South America. 
