Oct. 1, M.] 
tHE TROPICAL AGFJCULTURtST, 
times, all of which I shot. My best jaguar slda is 
9 ft. 3 in. Of course we have 
OUR DISAGREEABLES 
like other tropical countries. The festive mosquito 
in the rainy season and sand-flies and ticks in the 
dry season make their presence felt ; and I often 
hunger for niy old Sinhalese cook and a good 
curry when tackling a ehili-con-carne. The low 
price of silver has not affected us planters at all 
to our detriment, for excepting iiiachinciy and 
some tools everytiiing we need is produced iu 
Mexico and we sell onr produce for gold. With 
our Banks declaring annual dividends of from 16 to 
20 per cent and cotton mills from 20 to 55 ijer cent, 
and other enterprises equally as good, I hardly 
think that either tlie planter or the manufacturer 
has much to complain of in this country —I am, 
yours truly, E. O. DARLEY. 
P. S.— The Mexican dollar is worth two shillings, 
£J sterling exchanging for $10-50 at present rate. 
BRAZIL COFFEE NOTES. 
— A phenomenal blossomins? appeared on the coffee 
trees throughout a great part of the state of Sao Paulo 
during the last half of July. What the result will be, 
no one seems to know. The blossoms are due iu Sep- 
tember, bat they appear some five or six weeks earlier. 
It is predicted oy many that the blossoms will not 
adhere, and that they betray weakness in the trees. 
— A. project has been presented to the estate legis- 
liture of Sao Panlo, authorizing the state execiitive 
to acquire a pavilion at the Piiris exposition ofl,9C0 
where the agricultural products of Silo Paulo, prin- 
cipally coffee, can be favorably exhibited. The pur- 
pose is to make a propaganda in favour of cofJee, 
and for this purpose coffee will be placed on exhi- 
bition in every conceivable way, and cups of the 
beverage will be distributed to the public. All 
machinery for preparing coffee for the market, to- 
gether with machinery and apparatus for roasting, 
grinding and preparing the beverage, will also be 
exhibited. It is a practical idea, but why should not 
the planters bear the expense, instead of the state 
treasury ? Why should a Pindamonhangoba shoe- 
maker pay for a propaganda calculated to benefit the 
ooffee planters alone ? — liio News 2ad. 
IMPORTS OF COFFEE INTO UNITED 
STATES. 
The full report of the U.S. Bureau of Statis- 
tics shows coffee to be the most important article, 
measured by value; in the imports of 1898. The 
total net imports compare with fne preceding 
years as follows: 
Year ending June 30— Pounds. Value. 
1898 .. 851,C91,.346 $62,674,241 
1897 .. .. 724..'559,536 79,89.%943 
1896 .. .. 572,671,840 83,534,306 
1895 .. .. 643,234,760 94,.599,880 
1894 .. .. 547,068,994 89,600,572 
1893 .. .. 551,395,250 78,444,496 
meut that the increase was due to enlarged use of 
the bean. It is fair to assume that dealers and 
roasters are carrying from 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 
bags more coflee than was held at this time last 
season. 
The following table shows the average import 
)irice for the past six years : 
Year. Price per lb. — cts. Year. Price per lb 
•cts. 
14-7 
16-4 
140 
1898 .. .. 7-3 1895 
1897 .. .. 11-0 1894 
1896 .. .. 14-6 1893 
The laige imports at low prices show that a 
duty of three cents per pound might have been 
levied on cofiee and still left the average cost for 
the year nearly one cent per pound below the 
cost in 1897. 
Tlie coffee imported was 
received from liia 
foUowinL' countries : ' 
United Kingdom 
1,796,985 
France 
859,419 
Germany 
7.334,801 
Netherlands 
2,409,967 
Otber Europe 
2,427,834 
Central America . , 
35,862,885 
Mexico 
34,511,168 
West Indies 
6,412,209 
Brazil 
661,008,372 
Other South America 
90,113,241 
East Indies 
21,311,159 
Other Asia and Ooeanica 
3,947,018 
Africa 
42,. 305 
Other countries . , 
1,477,352 
Total 
870,514,215 
— America7i Grocer. 
Total .. 3,890,621,7.32 $488,747,498 
Average per year 648.436,955 $81,467,916 
It is ajiparent from the above that the very 
large imports of 189S were due tocofl'ec imported in 
excess of :equiremei)ts and in anticipation of the 
imposition of a duty. Stocks out of licensed ware- 
houses are known to be heavy and variously esti- 
mated from 100,000,000 to i5U,0i'O,0O() pounds. 
It allowance is made for increased consu/iiption, 
du^ to growth of population and to the decline iu 
price, we find that the imjiorts in 1898 were too 
far above the yearly average to warrant thestate- 
COFFE-PLANTING IN COSTA RICA: 
AN OPENING FOR YOUNG MEN OF 
CAPITAL. 
W'riting from London on 2nd Sept., "J.L.S." 
thus gives his view.s about Costa Rica : — 
"Some eTiergetic young fellows of the right sort 
should go out to Costa Rica and open land for 
themselves. A man must have the command of 
not less than £3,000 and be not afraid to do a bit 
of work himself. There is magnificent coffee land 
in an excellent climate \vhere even a sunhat is 
unuecessaiy, and ijood shooting and fishing. A 
young man could go to work very gradually 
perhaps with half-a dozen or a dozen labourers 
and plant say 50 acres, that is at 300 trees an 
acre, 15,000 trees, which in four years would 
give him a clear income of £500 to £1,000 a 
year and go on doing so longer than he required 
an income 
" If I were twenty years younger I would go and 
plant most of those 15,000 trees myself (I wish 
I had a shilling for every cinchona tree I liave 
planted with my own hands in Ceylon). Labour 
is dear, but you don't want much of it. Trans- 
port is at present bad, but by the time land now 
I)lanted comes into beaiing, it will certandy be 
much better. I do not say theie are no such 
openings anywhere ; but I say I know ot no such 
opening. The Serapiqui Conipriny would deal liber- 
ally in selling land, supplying ijl int-, and in time 
curing the cotlV.e. Mr. it. P. jMa(f{:iiaii(; s;iil 
after his return : — ' If I were a j-oung man at;ain 
I would not hesitate to cdT to (\>sta Rica at 
once.' Mr. Huntley Thring has been tlie me;uis 
of two young men alioady going out. £3,iiOO i.s 
the least I should recommend a man to go with 
the command of ; but of course he does not want 
it all at once, and he must not be afraid of 
