THE TROPICAL AGKICULTURIBT. [Oct. 1, 189k. 
work and of rougbing it at first. Every coffee 
plant he puts ia with his own hands or any 
oblier hiinils will, four years after it is put in, 
bring bun in a clear income of a sbillinj.; per 
annum for life. Surely it is worth doing where 
there is no risk of cliraatic dantrer." 
But surely cacao aiid rubber may be planted 
as well as coffee? At tiiis moment, coffee does 
not stand liigb, although the price of properly 
grown and ]>repared colfee lias not fallen much, 
and we see re[iorb« of Brazil being likply to fall 
off in its crops. Still, the line soil of Costa liica 
may well be utilised for cacao, and rubber as 
well as coffee, so as to have several strings to 
one's bow. 
THE WEST INDIES DEVASTATED. 
Very terrible is the burden of Keuter's message 
recently as to the destruction in life and pro- 
perty, wrought thronj;li()UC the Windward an<l 
Leeward Islands, by one of those awful hurricanes 
with which this legion is ))eriodioally visited. The 
groups ot islainis named, range over nearly 
8 degrees of latitude -from Tobago very near to 
Trinidad in the So\ith lo the Virgin Islands in 
the North or North- West. It would seem as if 
the storm took most effect about the 14th degree 
North Latitude, in the line of St. Vincent and 
the Barbadoes ; and while 300 persons were 
killed and 20,000 rendered homeless in the forujer, 
we are told of 200 being killed and the whole 
of the sugar estates being ruined in the latter. 
This is far more awful destruction than in the 
recent battles of the Spanish and Americans. St. 
Vincent is a tiny island 18 miles by 11 — not 
much larger than the area of the Colombo Muni- 
cipality — with a population not much over 40,000. 
Barbadoes has always been regarded as about 
the best cultivated of the West Indian islands : it 
covers 166 square miles witli a population of about 
190,000. Strangely enough, heie Dr. Morris was 
to establish his heailquarters because of its 
central position, taking British Guiana as well as 
Jamaica into account. There are both Eurojiean 
and Ceylonese officers in the West Indies, about 
whom relatives and fi iends iu Ceylon will be anxious 
uutil further details are got. Dominica has 
several such including Mr. Templer and family ; 
in Ttinidad there is Mr. Wrightson and fauiily ; 
in St. Vincent we see Drs. Biuce-Austin and 
M. G. Pereira among Medical Officers and Mi-. 
C. Messervy, Director of Public Works. Doubt- 
less there are more in the several islands affected ; 
bat we trust there has been no casualty among-t 
them. Once again how thankful residents in 
Ceylon ought to be at its immunity from liurri- 
cane, cyclone or volcanic disturbances. We do 
not want; to preach ; but if such exemption does 
not find acknowledgment in more than meie 
words of thankfulness, there will assuredly be 
visitations in another form,— plague, pestilence 
or dejjression. It is '• righteousness that exalteth 
a nation." 
AUSTRALIANS AS TEA DKINKEKS. 
The following very clear and interesting state- 
nieut is from the Melbourne Ze«(?c'r :— 
The psople of Australasia, as freqnently remarked, 
aie well in arivancie of the rest of the hum^n race with 
regard CO rheir coiisunipiion ol ttj;.i. Xiiu Oiiiuese, ho;v- 
ever, are omioied froui the couipai-ison, aa owing £0 the 
lack of Celestial Empire scatiatics, there is no 
means of assertaining what position it occupies 
per capita iu the list of the world's toa drinket*. The 
Australian average conButnptioD per bea.d is a fraction 
over 7 lb. a year. The United Kingdom comes next in 
the list with an average of lb. The loUowioK are the 
Australian ten statistics for 1897 : — 
Colony. 
Victoria 
We«t Australia 
South Australia 
New South Wales 
Queensland 
Tasoiauii 
New Zealand 
Population. TeaConsnmed 
1,170.^100 
157,781 
1.311,440 
167.062 
1.414 992 
2,734,H27 
9,594,198 
3.074,080 
901,670 
4,561,640 
4,362,531 ai.S7Q,893 
The value of the 31,570 893 lb. of tea if given approxi- 
mately as £975,000. It is intereeting to no;« that 
the quantities of tea consumed per head Id the Hereral 
col'juiea exhibit cousiderabie variaiions. Wes; Aiwtra- 
lia, with a cousaniptiou of about 9i lb., ia an easy 
first. Ncxt conieii Victoria with Hi lb., whilst the other 
colonies, in order, are South Australia, R lb.; New South 
Wales, 7i lb.; t^fneensland, 6J lb.; New Zealand, ti lb.; 
aud Tasmania. 6 lb. As coffee diiukeri tiie Australians' 
stand on a much lower scale, their average per capita 
coasumptiou being about J lb. per aiiuum. 
Would that in Euroi>e aud North Americ& tea 
was <lrunk up to 7 lb a head per annum ! It will 
be observed that Westralia is the lartrest con- 
sumer per liead— no less tban 9J lb. ;— while New 
Zealand, Queensland and Tasmania are below the 
average, only 0 lo 6j lb.:— the latter three mar- 
kets should be worked up by Ceylon Dierchants. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
To Lay off an Acre with approximate accu. 
rrcy, you can measure 161 yards by 30 yards ; 1"1 
yards by 40 yards ; 103 yards by 47 yards • 
07 yards by oO yanh ; 83 yardH by y,lrd^ •' 
8i yards by 59 yards ; 69 yafls 5 in<-he« by 
70 yards. An En;,disli custom u.sed to he to 
take 70 by 70 yards, Imt this m^k -s 4.dX* 
square yards, and is therofore too mu .ii by 91 
square yards.- Jo u»-jjo/ of the Jamaica Agricultu- 
ral Socifii/. 
Thl Futcre of Ceylov Tea in Fifld axd 
F.\CTORY.-A thoughtful as well as experienced 
Colonist, and who has mucli to do with lea and 
no small stake in the Colony, tluw expresses 
his opmion in a letter now before us :— 
" I am afrai 1 I am not sanguine enough to 
expect much from Mr. Bamber's investijrations 
nor do I quite see why money raised for the 
express purpo.se of ' oushin- Ceylon Teas ' should 
be thus applied, or rather misapplied. If planters 
were really in earnest they mi;,'ht find out a <rreat 
deal for themselves as to the effects produced 
by different methods of treatment of Teas, both 
i!i the field and factory, and now t.'iat the shoe 
IS beginning to [unch we may hope for more 
valuable information under the.se heads than 
has yet been available. V\'e have much to learn 
froni many of the Indian planters. In Northern 
India, teapianting is a f,iMne.^s, here in the 
majority of cases it is an occupation ; and 
tliere 13 a vast difi'erence between the two ' 
This IS a terrible slur on the leputation of 
Ceylon tea planters ; of course our correspondent 
would, at least admit there are exceptions-and 
brilliant exceptions? Anyli..«-, no one can he 
better fitted tlian Mr. ' Kel ivay.3.T,n],pr af^er 
he hi..s been a year or .so in tii^-ir !-)i.i-t, to s--r 
whether the training and apoaeation of Ceyh.n 
tea planters as a whole, is inferior to tho^'e of 
their Assam brethren, 
