472 
THE ITOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Jan. 2. \m. 
PLANTING iNOTES 
The Coconut Tuadk.— Inielli^^ence has been 
received in Kai)f<uo)i Hint the e.\p niation ol coco- 
nuts fioiii tlie Su;iilss liiis year »licnv a iiiitrked 
diiniiiutioii. Wiieji tlie sss. " I'alaincotta"' nrrned 
from .Singapore on \i^c last voyage lo ii-uigo(»ii slie 
brouglir, in die smallest eoiii<igiimeiit on record, while 
similarsmallsliipment^ by oJier vessei^s conlirm clie 
reports of tlie fail in the coconut trade between 
Singapore and Kangooii. — li. T. in ,S'. F. I'tr^s. 
CoFFEK Plantkrs in JJritisli Centra! Africa 
have been informed by Mr. John Hughes tliat 
the soil on which collee is grown in the Clioio 
district in IJritisli Central Africa, at an eleva- 
tion of 3,200 feet, and with a rainfall of .')0 
inches, is very similar to the codec .soil of 
Ceylon, its only deliciency being nitrogen, which 
it is believed can be siipjdied by ploughing in 
vegetable mattei . The soil is r cli in iron and alu- 
mina. — Indian I'hniters' Gazette, 
An (Jlu Ckylon I'LANTKU IX Texa.s.— We call 
attention to the chatty and instructive letter in 
our daily is.-^ue and Troj/icil A'irtcult m tat 
from Mr. 11. E. Pineo, from (ialveston, Texas, 
He does not give a very liright account, ot the 
prospects of Ceylon tea in that (juarler of the 
fetates ; but jK^rhaps it would improve if onr 
Commissioner took ah interest in backing il, 
although Mr. I'inco hinisolf inclines to the 
Canadian Dominions as olleiing the better held. 
In a separate note, Mr. Plnco says : — 
I am in receipt of a letter from the Ih itlBli Vice- 
Consul in Los Angeles, Calil'omia, in winch hu statea 
that several Eiiglisluneu have, during the past ten 
years, attempted to dobusinesa there in i;'eylon tca,and 
that they all tailed. He promises to send me a report 
on the prospects of Ceylon tsa in that secuon of 
California, eiaanating in i he Chamber ot Commerce 
of Los Angeles. I have now liad a very varied and 
bitter experience, exleuding over 13 years, in tcyibg 
to introduce Ceylon tea into tliu homes of this 
country. Auythnig that suggests itself whereby I 
can be of service to the Ceylon Tea Industry, or any 
firm to help it on, in either this country or Canada, 
will be greatly appreciated. 
THii EuTUKK OF THE Tka Indu.stuy is thus re- 
ferred to by a writer in the Calcuttai'"//ifi67i'//((i/( : — 
As already noticed briefly above, there is still a 
future, and a fair one, for tea, provided promoters and 
speculators with capital work upon broad and safe 
lines. With plenty of first class land still available, 
and as proved by tJiose estates and tea tracts which 
are already reaping a remuuerative return, for capital 
judiciously expended upon their creation, we ni.ty 
consider that tea is commercially a sound iuvestmenc 
in spite of present depression to it in time ; so I hope 
this note ot warning which is being sounded wiil not 
be without effect. From a political point of view some 
years hence the influence of the Uritish Empire, 
which IS gradu'.lly but, surely making itssll felt in 
China will probably in the interests ef commercial 
enterprise lead to the re-openiug up of the China tea 
question. And he. eiu lies the secret of future success 
for the tea industry generally, as it would opeu up a 
large field of labour for the planting coinmuniiy 
which with its valuable experience, aiaed by impro- 
ved machinery and cheap labour, would revivjfy and 
bring to perfection China tea such a^ it has hitherto 
never known. There need be no fea'' that this en- 
terprise would upset the i'adian lea marke^or prove 
destructive to our interests iu this country, for ihe 
oppositio:: \Yj;i!d necessarily have a some.vnat slow 
progreos. It would not be rushed — we ha.e ae.nthe 
folly of this already— and would be doabsiess coiiduot- 
ed upon scientiUc piinciplQS. Tnis may seem a far- 
fetched idea, but 1 maiutaiu that it is rrot unreason- 
able to hope that even in our own day such a dream 
may come to pass, and thus relieve the present stcain 
by absorbing the surplus available European labour 
in this country. 
Tla i\ India.v Makket.s.— Ceylon pioviJes 
India with a ndllion ponmis of the Ior(-i;,n tea 
iini)orte<l, ibe bulk of tiie imports being Chinese 
(suyK ihe Uiliciating Diu-ctor Ccn^ial oi .Sialis- 
tics). (Jf ihe 74 niillion pounds ielt iu ladiii, 
4^ are Indian ami 3 are loieign. I'jtr'. of ihl« 
may represent stocks iu hand, and tlie expnrU 
iicross the frontier by land, which are but iiu- 
perfectly leconltd, may be undeistatetl. Wi.re 
than a million pounds ate puicliased annually 
for the IJiiiish army, and a larger quanlity must 
be oonsuined by the European and Eiir sian 
ci\il population. In relation lo the population 
of the country the (luaniity consumed is inlini- 
te.'-itnal, and the use of tea l>y the native po|iu- 
lation is practically limited to a small myiority 
in the larger towns. 
Plantain (Banana) Diskase.— "A very danger- 
ous pest — we reati— has attacked the banana plant 
in Australia, and a shi))ment of eleven llious.iml 
bunches is reported to have been condemned on 
arrival at Sydney, and was onlered lo be des- 
troyed. The insect is stale<l lo be a tly that 
attacks tin; fruit, and destroys its value as food. 
A report states that this pest has appeared also 
in I'iji. If S I, it is likely to bo imported in any 
of this fruit brought from that group by the 
colonial line ot steamers which touch here, and 
which are usually supplie<l wiih ban.anas grown 
south of the eijuator. While thcje may h" no 
immediate danger of this pesi, being iniroducetl 
in this way, it is well to be on our guanl against 
if.'' .Shoulii not care he taken not to allow .Aus- 
tralian plantains enter Ceylon 
Coffee Peantinc; in TotrxLiOO, Uiter 
lJur.MA. — We had au interesting call from 
Mr. James Petley, whose father Capt. 
Petley, after long .service in Hurma, retired t<» 
plant coflee on one of the Karen Hill ranges in 
Cpper lJurinn. Here Capt. Petley secured 211^) 
acres of fin<» forest land at an elevation of 
:<,UO(t feet, the Karens agreeing through Iriendship 
to his having it, and the tJovernment sanctioning 
the transfer. He got his hrst coffee seed in 
1875, the son thoaglit, from Ceylon ; but it 
must have been from ^lysore, gince no leaf 
disease appeared on his plantation oi 120 acres 
until last year. Had the seed been from Ceylon, 
the di.sease would have cleveloped much earlier ; 
but how or why it developed last year is a 
puzzle. For the plantation is (juite "isolated — 
no other colTee in Hurma until Tavoy iti th« 
far South is reached, where Mr. Watson from 
Ceylon (sujipofed to be dead) pioneered. The 
Messrs. Petley got good coll'ee crops for 10 or 
11 years and they did well, because they sold 
it all locally in Rangoon, prepared, ground ami 
in tins— so combining the planter's, the mer- 
chant's and middleman's proHts. They used one 
of Walker'^ pulpers. Now, however, the leaf 
fungus has wrought sad havoc, and Mr. Petley 
came to us for information as to planting P.tr^ 
rubber. We show ed that it was impossible at 3, (WO 
feet. He woulil require to find a piece of suitable 
land iti the lowcountry. We advi<eil an e.vperiment 
iu cinchona — seed from Beng.il— on the coll'ee 
plantation ; also to see if cardamoms (for local 
sale) would not do in the jungle. 'I'ea, Mr. 
Petley said, they could not touch ; bec;iuse 
the labourers ■ (Karens) got nearly double the 
daily pay of coolies in Ce Ion. He says there 
aie great stretches of very hue lanri ; but there i^ 
difficulty in getting any of it, as GovernUient will 
donothing for would-be purchasers; the owners be- 
ing the Karens. jMr. Petley had been in England 
on furlough and is now on his way back to Burnia, 
