Sept. 1, 1898.] 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
193 
Tea in Natal. — In an article entitled " The 
Imperial Heritage " — (in which by-tlie-way the 
Crown Colonies, included Ceylon, are passsed 
over in three lines) —there is a brief suniuiary 
of the position of tea in Natal. The writer of 
the article is Mr. Ern^^st E. Williams, the 
author of Made in Germany " and he says: — 
Natal also raeaiia enteriug the world's market as a 
tea planter. Aheady some 2,500 acres have been 
plautad, and the estimated return on the propcrfcion 
of chem be>tring was, for the year ]891-.i, 800,000 Ih. 
This industry should have a good futiu-e. Tiie tea 
planters at present under way appear to be thriviiig, 
and the industry ia particularly well worth the atten- 
tion of men whose capital is not large. 
Formosa Camphor.— The tall in the price of 
camphor this week gives point to two consular 
reports, which have been published since our 
last issue, regarding the trade of Formosa. In 
one of these, from Tainiin, it i.s reported that 
the danger of caniphor-distillation increased dur- 
ing the past year owing to continired brigand- 
age, which the Japanese authorities appear nut 
to have been able to overcome or minimise in 
the least. The net result is that several of the 
merchants who have provided the capital for 
camphor-distillation have lost it all, and in view 
of that there is no disposition to invest more in 
the same direction. The exports from Tainan 
since the trade commenced in Sou;h Formosa 
as are follows :— 1892, 4,315 picul^ ; 1893, 6,691 : 
1894, l-J,lo7 ; 1895, 10,145 ; 1896, 8,001 (value 
£44,888) ; 1897, £3,057) (value £12,525). The 
present out-look is far from bright. The 
Consul in North Foimosu states that at 
present no British firm in North Formosa .seems 
to interest itself in this important product, 
the handling of which is in the hands of I4ernian 
and Chinese merchants, acting probably in com. 
bination. The value of the camphor e.\ ported 
decreased from £194,221 in 1896 to £121,938 in 
1897.— C/(e;HW^ and Druqgkt, July 16. 
Paraguay Tea. — Notes ou the botany of the tea 
plants yeilding Paraguay tea or Blate were published 
iu the Kew Bulletin (1892 pp. 132-137). In the following 
year it was noted (A'. B, 1893, p. 367) that seeds of 
what was believed to be true Ilex parai/uensis had been 
received through the kinduei^s of Senor Glaziou, 
Director de Passeio pubUco, Rio de Janeiro. After 
retaining a few the others were distributed to various 
Botanical Institutions in the (Jolonies, Unfortunately 
none of the seeds sown at Kew germinated. The fol- 
lowing interesting information respecting the tea 
made from the leaves, so largely us^d in South America 
is taken from a report issued by the Foreig : Office 
(No. 1,963, 1S97) : — " Yerba-mate, or Paraguayan tea, 
i3 the most valuable article of export. There are two 
classes sold, but it is only m Ihemanaer of preparation 
that they differ. The kind known aa 'Mborovire ' is 
merely dried over a furnace, and then beaten into 
small pieces with sticks. The ' Molida ' goes through 
the same process, but it ia afterwards ground in a mill. 
The export duty on the former was incidased in 1895 
from 30 c. paper to 10 c. gold, and ou the latter from 
25 c. paper to 9 c. gold per 10 killos. The revenue 
derived from this source in 1895 amounted to 471,668 
dol. (16,8452). The yerba forests, called yerbales, were 
formerly the property of the State, but most of them 
have been sold, and are now in the bauds of a few 
capitalists and companies. The Industrial Paraguaya 
Uompany which owns about half of the yerbales known 
to exiat in the country, exports annually abom. 400,000 
arrobaa (4,512 tons). The to;,al quantity of yerbj, ex- 
ported during the past year is estimated at about 
9,024 tons, and the average price per arrob.t (25 Id.) 
was 11 dol. 50 c. paper (Ts 8d)." Paraguay teLi, is now 
adrertised for sale in this country aud appears to be 
in moderate demand ; poa^ibly, as a cuiio,sity more 
than as a regular article of food. — Royal Cntrdens Keiv 
ShIUUh fgr ^«ne 1808, 
" Tea Planting by Sirocco."— This p.aper by 
an Indian Tea Planter as given by the Pioneer, 
may now be read in lull in our Tropical Agricultur- 
lit. It coMtains some novel and anm>iiig passages ; 
but it is stid to learn how discharged coolies 
are neglected in Assam, and how a scheme for 
their " re-patriation " is required. We are cer- 
tainly better orf in our cooly dealings iu Ceylon, 
both for cooly and emploj'er. 
Vanilla Cultivati'jn Extending.— V a are 
glad to learn with refeience to cur r'iC."'nt notice, 
Irom th.e Mirigama veteran, Mr. VV. H. Wr;ght, 
that he continues to have numerous applications 
for ^^anilla cutungs. He wiices:— "I liave al- 
ready sold 12,0UG cuttings IS iri(;h'=s long at Rla 
per 1,000 cuttings, and I think I have still 8, OUO 
cuttings, but of these 4,' 00 are alretidy booked 
and the balance will soim be gone. To give you 
an idea of the quantity of Vanilla whicli I have 
sold 12,000 cuttings 18 inches long each will 
make in all 18,000 running feet, I have so'd 
cheaply and chiefly to Kelani Valley and Kandy 
planters.'' We would also direct attention to 
correspondence on page 188 et seq. 
"The Future of Coffee in Northern India 
AND BuRMAH." — iSucli is the title of a " commu- 
nicated article to tlie /. P. Gazette which opens 
out as follows : — 
With ihe persistant high exchange and low prices 
prevailing in tea, addea to the immeuiate inteiuioa 
of the United Bcates to add a 10 cent per pound 
duty on tea, it behoves the lirias interested m tea 
to supplement it as soon as possible with a second 
known staple, coffee ; jus as a similai step was touud 
necessary when, by mismanagement alone, Ceylon 
coffee planters turned the grand old fruit tree cotfee 
into a simple evergreen bush, which actually ceaaeU to 
hear. 
The writer "0. P. Q." makes out that he discovered 
in the " seventies" how Ceylon cotfee couid be 
restored to its pristine vigour and leaf disease 
got rid of. There is no need for further 
comment. Our advice to any one thinking of 
following "O.P.Q.'s" advice must be like Punch's 
to those about to marry — "Don't." V\^e have no 
belief in cofl'ee flourishing North of 15" to 18" N. 
latitude in India. 
The " Lantana Bug" in South Africa.— 
Mr. E. E. Green writes; "The enclosed may 
be of intere.^t, as siiowiiiif that we are not the 
only sulFerers from the ' Lantana Bug (Urthezia 
insignis). The insect has recently attracted cun- 
siderable attention at the Cape as a garden pest. 
It seenis,to be ]iarticularly foiid oi the ornamental 
foliage plant (Coleus)— a trait which is equally 
noticeable with the pest here. I have had many 
Coleus plants killed out in my own g.ardeii." 
Mr. Green encloses a brief paper by the Govern- 
ment Entomologist, Cape Colony, showing that 
the bug is prevalent in Natal and has been 
known there for the past 15 years. Some think 
it is a native of Natal and altogether there is 
less fear of its proving a destructive pest from 
the experience gained in that Colony. This 
leads us again to mention that a full Keport on 
this bug, by the same Entomologist Mr. ijouns- 
bury, is reproduced in the loc.il " Agiicult.iral 
ilagazine " (included in July T.A.) from which 
a good deal of information ca.n be gained. — 
Since writi.ig this, Mr. Willis's latest letter ou 
the subject lia-s come to hand and will be read 
with interest in anotiier column. Clearly Orthezia 
in.^iynis llourishes in Ceylon as it never uid in 
Natal and it ought to be fought, in our opinion, 
by Government as well as by jirivate iiKlividuala, 
