Sept. 1, 1898.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
201 
latest early in August, it was decided that the 
Secretary should write to the London Secretary to 
ask hia Committee wlretber they desired the estimate 
to be continued under the present system, and to 
poict out that these early estimates had been kept 
up at the request of the London Association. It 
was further decided that it was undesirable to make 
up fresh estimates now, anticipating those published 
ia September, and the Secretary was instructed 
to advice the firms whose letters were now uoder 
discussion to this effect. — Indian Planters' Gazette, 
July 2. 
PLANTING NOTES 
New Guinea.— There can be now no doubt that 
Sir Hugh Nelson had known all about the New 
Guinea syndicate affair Jong ago, (says the Sydney 
3Iail, July 9) and he appears to have at least failed 
to adequately impress upon the other Australian 
Premiers. He says he mentioned it to Mr. Reid 
and Sir George Turner, but the latter has no 
recollection of it, and Mr. lieid did not consider 
it at a discussable stage then, while both deny 
that ifc was brought up at the Premiers' con- 
ference. Mr. Chamberlain explained last week 
that Sir William M'Gregor considered that unless 
encouragement was given to such a company as 
the New Guinea Land Syndicate there was no 
apparent prospect of early development of the 
a^rricultural resources of the protectorate, and 
the Queensland Government were responsible 
for the agreement with the sjmdicate. It is 
not only the undue concealment that Australians 
object to in this matter, but the conditions, some 
of which were certainly objectionable. If there 
was to be such a syndicate there should have 
been equality of opportunity. There was no 
need to go to English company promoters. 
Australians should have at least been permitted 
to know that such chances wereopen. 
Coconut Planters and the Plague-— The 
Bombai/ Gazette writes : — Amongst the numerous 
classes who Hed from Bombay in large numbers 
when the first epideniic of plague was at its height 
eighteen months ago, were the Bhandaris whose 
hereditary occupation is the tapping of coconut 
trees for the extraction of toddy. The number 
of persons thus employed in the town and island 
is about ten thousantl, and their operations are 
carried on at the head of about double that number 
of ti'ees. When the large majority nf these sure- 
footed climbers left the city, they were in such 
hurry that they did not stop to pay the dues 
receivable from them as licensed Bhandaris; many 
of the trees remained untapped, and distilling 
operations were greatly interrupted. As other 
work-people had iled besirles the Bhandaris this 
did not lead to any marked restriction of supply 
available for the reduced number of toddy-drinkeis 
left behind. But there is one class of the com- 
munity to vvhom the disappearance of the Bhan- 
daris has been a serious matter. The fazandars 
or owners of the coconut plantations are liable, 
under -Section 21 of the Abkari Act of 1878, to 
make good to (Government the amounts due from 
deia\ilting toddy-draM'cr.s, and the Collector of 
Bombay has served them with notices requiring 
them to so. They are thus brought face to face 
•with a lieavy burden, and as the Commissioner of 
Abkari has rejected the appeal preferred against 
the order of the Collector they liave resolved to 
petition the Governor-in-Council. His Excellency 
is to be asked to direct withdrawal of the order com- 
pelling the owners to ))ay the sum.s due by reason 
of the disappearance of tlie Bhandaris, especially as 
their absence was caused not by any act of the 
^fiiZftudaiei but by i'eai of the plague,— Pio«ccrj 
Java Quinine. -The result of the auction 
which we anounced in our issue of July 1st 
and at which 26 cases of Java quinine from the 
Bandoeng factory were to be put up in Amster- 
dam, has been that only one case was sold at 
1.5 florins per kilo (8Jd per ounce), while the rest 
were bought in at fiourins. — British and Colonial 
Druggist, July 15. 
Tea-Drinking in Assam.— It is quite refresh- 
ing to hear that the natives of TJpper and 
North ern India, especially Mahomedans, are 
taking to drinking tea in large quantity in the 
cold weather :— 
Thos." who know India-native India — have noticed 
of recent years a remarkable change coming over the 
habits, at least as regards eating and drinking, of 
vast masses of the population, except the orthodox 
Hindus of Bengal and Southern India. It is a com- 
mon fallacy to suppose that English rule and English 
civilisation has made no impression on the multitude. 
Nothing could be further from the truth. Every- 
where may be seen a breaking loose from old ties 
and truditions, an upheaval of creeds, and relax- 
ation of the rules of custom and caste. With especial 
reference to the matter in hand, there do not seem 
to be any reliable statistics available as to the con- 
sumption of tea among natives, but personal observers 
have noted that it is steadily increasing, the IVIoha- 
medan community especially growing year by year 
more partial to the beverage. About 7,000,000 lb. of 
China and Ceylon tea are annually imported into 
India. It would appear that the consumption is as 
might be expected, larger in the cold weather than 
in the hot. In Upper and Northern India the morn- 
ings are bitterly cold in tlie winter, and those who 
have to be abroad early generally if they can afford 
it fortify themselves with a dish of tea. In Calcutta 
itself the Mohamedans ai-e supplied by a large number 
of tea sho-gs located in every part of the town 
Twenty years ago, we have reason to believe, there 
was not a single one. In the cold weather here men 
may be seen parading the streets every evening with 
laige cans supplying tea to passers-by at the rate of 
only a pice a cup, and they do a thriving business. 
Quite a little trade has spiuug up in tlie capital iti 
the sale of once-used tea-leaves. But, of course this 
is not the chief source whence natives obtain their 
tea. It comes chiefly from China and Ceylon as 
noted above. Here then is a chance for planters. 
The demand is boundto gi'ow enormously, and steps 
should be taken to learn the methods "which now 
obtain among native merchants for distribution 
Planters, however, must not be above selling their 
dust in small quantities to retail dealers. Indeed 
there is no reason why pound packets should not be 
sold by gardens out of Assam direct to the con- 
sumer. The attempt, we know, has been made but 
it ,-ihould be persevered in. ' 
In Central Asia, Afghanistan, Eussian and Chinese 
Turkestan, and Tibet are to be found, one might 
almost say, the most profitable markets in the world 
In these regions everybody drinks large quantities 
of tea. So far Chinese brick-tea enjoys an absolute 
monopoly, not that it is better than Indian tea but 
becau.5e it is the only sort procurable. Eor many 
years Chinese growers jealously guarded the secret 
of the manufacture of tea in bricks, but recent 
travellers have published full particulars of their 
methods. The tea, it appears, is gathered in June 
and July after the opening of the summer rains 
After being rolled by hand into large balls, it is put 
away till it ferments. When in this slate the tea is 
put into wooden moulds and slowly dried over a 
cliarcoal .tire till baked into a solid mass in the form 
of a brick. In the countries west of Lhassa the best 
quality of brick-tea is sold at a rate averaging about 
four shillings and six-pence per pound." When 
absolutely pure the tea is really drinkable, but 
generally speaking it is so mixed with mud, twigs, 
and rice-water as to bo absolutely abhorrent "ta 
Europeans. One traveller hiV^ shortly (^escribed it 
lis " all brick and no tea,'' 
