342 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, [Nov. 1, 1898. 
Bamroos and Architectukal Featuuks.— 
The monopoly enjoyed by the \Veei)ing Willow 
threatens to he broken down. We have lafely 
seen some Jjamboos in association with nionii- 
mental urns and .similar constrnctions; and the 
effect was excellent. — Gardeners' Ch iDnidc. 
Tka Cv)mi'Anv Prospects : a Hint to the 
" TinitTl^ Co.MMiTTEE,"— One interested, wrilin;,' 
Irom home by this n)ail, makes rather an ori- 
f^inal su^'gestion for the benefit of that niucli- 
talked-of body, the " Thirty Committee." He 
writes : — 
" I hope Ceylon Tea Companies will shew up bet 
ter at the end of this year than they did at the end 
of last ; but all round for the year, .so far, the 
market has l)een no better, ami exchange is hi^rlier : 
so great thiuf^s cannot be looked for. It is i)lacc3 
like in the lowcountry that feel it mo.st, 
i.e. amonf,' iheijovd places— for, of course, there are 
a lot of poor properties at mid elevation which 
must .simply be strugglini,' to keep alive. The 
Tea Cess Fund Committee mi,!,'ht do worse than 
buy up a lot of worthless projjerty and abandon 
it for the Koneral },'ood ! ' 
" ICew Bulletin."— The contents of the Anf,Mist 
number consist of articles u))on the Coagulation of 
llubber niilk ; Keiidir Fibre (Apocynuiii vonclum, 
Ijin.), a fibre i)larit snccef-sfully used in tiie manu- 
facture of liussiaii piper-money ; Carob-tree (Cera- 
tonia siliqna, L.), including a report on the culiiva- 
tion of the Carob as a shade-tree, and its seeds as 
forage for horses when on long journeys ; Shinia in 
Cyprus (Pistacia Leniiscus), used in the adultera- 
tion of Sumach (Bhus ooriaria). Shinia is the Cy- 
prian nameof the ])lant. The number contains de- 
scriptions of a number of new Orchids, and short 
notices of Bamboo vulgaris, Artemesia pallans. 
Lemon grass-oil, hybri(i Coffee, Floiida Velvet 
Beans, now identified by Mr. V. M. Bailey, F.L.S., 
the Colonial Botanist, Queensland, as Mueuna pru- 
riens var. utilis. It is probably ^I. utili.s of Wal- 
lich, described in the Flora of British India., vol. i., 
t. 280, " a cultivated variety," with velvety not 
hairy pods. — Gardeners' Chronicle, Sept. 3. 
Hybrid Coffee.— A note «n hybrid coffee in 
Mysore was recently published in the Ktio 
Bidletin (1898 p. 30). According to the Tro- 
Tpenpflanzer (1898, p. 164), Dr. Bnrk has reconled 
a similar hybridization of Arabian and Liberian 
coffee ill Java. The lesults in that isla'ul are, 
however, not considered .so favourable as in 
Mysore. In Java the hybrid plants are said 
to yield very sparingly, while some are quite 
barren.. Herr V. von Brann is q noted as stating 
that " of the many hundred hybrid plants in the 
experimental gardens at Tjikeumeuh, near Bui- 
tenzorg, a few only |)ro(luee fruits." On the 
other hand, grafted plant (Arabian coffee on 
Liberian coffee) are saiu to be very promising. 
Hybrid coffee plants appear to have been also 
produced in the West Indies, but nothing is 
stated as to their productiveness. E.xtract from 
letter from Curator, Botanic Station, Domini;*, 
to Royal Gardens, Kew, diteil June 8th 1898. 
" I noticed in the Keiv Bulletin a note on 
hybrid coffee in Mysore. It will interest you to 
hear that there is a coffee grown in Martin- 
ique which is said to be a hybrid between 
the Arabian and Liberian kinds. A gentleman 
here obtained a small plant of it for me, and 
I am now growing it at this Station. The leaves 
of my small plant are as large as the leaves 
of Liberan coffee, but in apearance tliey are 
similar to the leaves of Arabian coffee, and like 
the latter are badly attacked by the coffee fly." 
— From Kew Bulletin for August, 
Pi'onAiiLE ScARCfTV OF Cacao?— It i* an ill 
wind that blows nobody any good, Ce^'lon Chc&o 
planters may be inclined to say when i hey read 
the details of the terrible cyclonic visitation to 
the West Indies. Many cacao p.8tate8 in Utth 
St. i..ucia and Grenada are said to be ruined, 
and it is a question if Trinidad has escaped, 
and it will be remembered that these are the 
islands which yield the larger proportion of cacao 
sent to Eurojje from the Wci^t Indies. Our 
reckoning in our World's Produce review u 
200,000 cwt from Trinidad, lOu.Ouo cwt. from 
Grenada and 3,000 cwt. from St. Lucia,— to- 
gether about ten times the export so far obtained 
for Ceylon. 
TiiK Yang-tsf, Valley and it,s Trade. — Mr. 
Archibald Little, who lias lived foitj years in 
Chilli, describes — in the ('oxttinpornii/ lieriac 
— the region that is 6uppose<l to be the s[diere of 
British interest. The river is about three thou- 
sand miles long, and two thousand of tlicM 
are navigable. Another thotisand niiles of its 
))rincipal affluents are also navigable, so that we 
have a waterway of three thousand miles in l>;ngtli 
flowing through the most populous regions on the 
earth's surface. Great Britain and her colonies 
do about twj-thirds of the ten millions sterling 
imports and exports in this region, but Mr. Little 
B.ays that our piojioi tion is steadily waning owing 
to the competition of Germany and the United 
States : — 
It is no cxfteg;eration to say that, g;iveD a stable 
and progiessive GoverDuieut, affording encouraKemeut 
to capitahsts witii secnrity for tfieir investmeDts — 
resulting in improved means cf coiumuuicatioD and 
a correspouding development of its natural resonrcea 
— the Yang-tfe valley will increase its trade by lesps 
and bonnds, and the £30,000,000 of today will be 
£300,000,000 to-morrow. 
Tea and Kconcmies.— Hitherto — says the India 
Phtiitcrs' Gazette — too much time, money and 
labour has been devoteil to extensions and too 
little attention paid to iniprovemenls on existing 
cultivation. It should be renuMiibcred that every 
acre of extension adds to the expenditure under 
which the garden may be groaning |>erhaps ; 
whilst if one can add a inaund, or part nf it, per 
acre to any portion of his existing cultivation, 
he receives at once some return for his expendi- 
ture. Tliere is at the same time no extra outlay 
in cultivation so long as his attention to im- 
provement is directed to old areas ; it costs the 
same to hoe an acre yieldinjj three inaunds, as it 
does to hoe one giving six or eight niaunds, but 
the result in the one acre is very different from 
the result in the other. We briefly pointed out 
before, tliat a planter cannot work his garden under 
an expenditure of lllOO per acre locally, and if we 
allow B30 more for Calcutta, it should do ; so 
that R130 must be realised lefore the share- 
holder can expecr. any profit. At this calculation, 
a garden must yield all round over live mai-nds 
per acre of five-anna tea, and we don't think it is 
safe to calculate higher than this ; in tact, we 
imagine we are taking an outside figure when 
we allow this. However, let this stand, and the 
conclusion is. that by studying economy in every 
way, a small margin can he got for the share- 
holder if the planter can raise his yield all round 
to six inauuds(^504 lb.) per acre, and this should be 
his aim and object. Some will ask how this is to be 
done. We reply by cutting down all unnecessary 
expenses, more especially relating to the native 
establishment, line chowkidars, etc. — a very large 
reduction in which could be made, provided 
planters would only form themselves into au 
association to protect mutual interests. 
