420 
TlIE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[Dec. 1, 1898. 
East Indian. — Bed stem chips and shavings 2d to 
to 2^d ; poor renewed ditto l|d to 2jd. Officinalis ; 
Crown chips and shavings 2Jd to 3d ; renewed 4d. 
Ledgoriana : Natural small stem chips 2id to 3id per lb. 
Ckoton Seeds. — A paicel from Yi kohama of doubt- 
ful quality was bought in at 85s per cwt, no bid 
being obtainable. 
Kola Nuts. — Bold washed and sound Demerara sold 
at 3Jd per lb, and mouldy ditto at .3Jd to4d. African 
was limited at 3d. At the spice-auctions 2Jd to 
3Jd per lb was paid for West Indian. 
Cinnamon Oii.. — In good supply, but only one 
broker managed to sell 39 cases (about 750 bottles) 
of leaf oil at from SJd to 3Jd per oz, and this was 
without reserve Bark oil, best quality, is Is Od per oz. 
Eucalyptus Oil. — There was absolutely no bid in 
auction audthe following were the limits stated by the 
brokers :— Platypus 23 Gd ; aldehydic globulus. Is lOd ; 
and amygdalina lOd. 
LemoncjUAss Oil. — Privately the market is steady 
at 3id per oz on the spot. Samples of the public 
offerings were not available at the usual time. 
Vanilla sold, with good competition, at about Gd 
to Is per lb better prices for the finest qualities. 
Ihe following were some of the prices obtiiiued: — 
Madagascar good bold crystallised beans GgtojTi inches, 
183 to 203 ; 6| to 7 inches, IDs : to 6^ inches !?£ tid; 
5 to 5^ inches ICs Od; 4 to 5 inches 15s to 15s 6d ; 
0 to 7 inches 13a Gd. Tahiti, of good chocolate-color, 
brought 83 per lb, but were mostly bought in. Mauritius 
2 to G inches 7s 6d to 7s 9d ; 5 to 7 inches 18s Gd to 
lOs ; 5^ to 6 iuches 17s ; G to 7 inches lis Gd. Seychelles 
5| to 6 inches 18s; 7 inches 15s Gd ; 5 to GJ inches 
123 6d ; mixed sizes lis Gd subject ; and G J to 7 in;hes 
198 per lb.— Chemist ^ Di uij(iist, Oct. 15. 
niO COFFEE CROP. 
Aecorfling to the niessafre of the Pre.sident of the 
Sfate ot Rio de Janeiro the average coft'ee crop of 
the state from 1881 to 189.3 has been as follows: 
Between 1881 and 1885 ... 131,572,011 Idlos 
188G ,, 1890 ... 90,543,270 „ 
1891 ,, 1895 ... 75,366,270 ., 
*. 
BRAZIL COFFEE INDUSTRY. 
The Eio Keios suggests that : " if there is a proa 
pect of a failure of the next crop, as many planters 
allege, why not try the effect of fertilizing and prun- 
ing ? If the cofiee trees are exhausted by the heavy 
crops of the last two years, then the trees should 
be carefully pruned as a means of concentrating their 
strength and careful cultivation should be employed 
to restoro exhausted vitality." 
Nature revolts against excessive fruitage and in- 
variably exacts a penalty whether it comes in 
the shape of a failure of a crop of peaches 
prunes or coffee. The farmers of Delaware grew 
peaches and failed to restore to the soil any nourish- 
ment and today the peach orchards over a great area 
of that State are a matter of history. 
The great variiition in the coffee crop of Brazil shows 
that a continuation of mammoth crops is not to be ex- 
pected unless flue to a very extensive increase in the 
. number of trees coming into bearing from year to 
year which is the case in Brazil. Now it seems pos- 
sible that for lack of foresight on the part of the 
planter the old coffee plantations are threatened with 
decay and that means chronic disease and an easy 
prey to insect pests. — American Grocer, 
The Aht of Adulteration. — The report of the Local 
Government Board shows that tea continues to be 
free from the distinguishing touches which once 
marked it when the bulk of it came from China, 
"Coffee" is still found to consist of chicory in large 
quantities. On sample sold as " French " contained 
as much as 80 per cent. Between seven and" eight 
per cent, of the samples of sugar were impure, the 
impurities generally being an aniline dye used to 
colour the white crystals of beet sugar in imitation 
of cane sugar. — H. and C, Mail, Oct. 14. 
TEA IN FKANCE. 
INTKRESTING INFOKMATIOV. 
The imports of tea into France in 1894 amounted 
to 1,477 tons, out of which they exported 775 tons, 
presumably to the adjacent countries and their own 
colonies, 900 tons were from ' liiiui, 3G4 tons from 
Kmjlanil, GO tons from British India, and the baUnce 
from Japan and sundries. S*i8B hotels in llie eame 
consumed 37G,O0o francs worth of t< a, which mean« 
at least 5 ) tons. Assuming the average cost of first, 
second and medium qualities of tea landed ol Mar- 
scilles to be 12 annas a pound— and this is probably 
a high estimate for tea bought in the open niaiket 
at Calcutta— the following cost figures may be ascful 
in considering the subject, only it will be necessary 
to deal with French weight) and money— 2 lb. 3 oz. 
equals 1 kilo, and one franc is equal to 10 annas or 
10 pence, 
Fes. Cmea. 
1 kilo at Marseilles .. ..2 75 
Marseilles expenses and rail carriage 
to Paris . . . . . . 0 10 
Customs duty at 2Qtil. per 100 kilos . . 2 10 
Paris expenses, manipulation, etc. . . 0 23 
Cost price landed at warehouse 
20 
I have sold Ceylon tea at 3 francs 50 to 4 franca 
per pound; Indian and ( eylou mixed at H francs per 
kilo in tin canisters, and 5 kilo boxes of Indian tor 
a concession price of 40 francs, and all these pric<-s 
for tea probably not realising more than H annas 
per pound in the Calcutta market. I know ahopii in 
Paris and Marseilles where you cannot get a r«^ally 
food tea under 14 and 16 francs the kilo. Taking 
'aris, all hotels and good restaurants keep tea, of 
sorts, but they still require considerable education 
ill brewing it, and 10 distinguish between tea and 
tea. Tlie British resident gets his tea from home 
generally, and visitors frequently carry their tea cnddy 
with them. Again, the cost of tea is considerably 
enhanced by being sent from England or any Europfau 
e>itrei)ot, as the French Customs House authorities 
then enforce a surcharge of GO francs per loO kilos. 
When sent direct from the country of productions 
the ordinary duty of 208 francs per cent kilo operates. 
The French do not grow tea, I believe, in any of 
their colonies. The French themselves have begun 
to appreciate tea, particularly the upper and bonrgeoia 
classes; their 5 o'clock teas are an institution 
snd there are several large places in the shopping 
districts where ladies on pleasure bent. c;\ll for a 
gossip and a cup of tea. These cups of tea ar e sold 
at about 50 ernes, each, and is a profitable bu siness 
to the man who has the means to decorate and 
furnish suitaby. Perhips on reading this article the 
Indian tea planter may be disposed to consider whether 
he cannot assist in opening up this particular market 
and there is no question of philanthropy in the idea, 
simply a consideration of what is good for himself, and 
I do not think he may expect any help fr.aii the 
Calcutta agent.— W. S.—Lidiaii Planter's Gazette 
Oct, 22. 
KINTYRE TEA ESTATES COMFAY, LTD. 
The ordinary general meeting ' f the shareholders 
ot the Kintyre Tea Estates Company, Limited, was 
held at the offices of the Ceylon Association in London 
61 and 62, Grace-church Street, E.C., on Monday last! 
The chair was occupied by Mr. G. A. Talbot chair- 
man of the company. ' 
The Secretary read the notice convening the meeting. 
The Chairman, in moving the adoption c f the 
report and accounts, said : — The report which 
has been circulated among yon will, I pre- 
sume, be taken as read. The yestr dealt with 
in the report has been, I may say, a critical 
one for the proprietors of tea estates ; the rate of 
exchange lose Id, cansing an increased cost of pro- 
