.Tax. 2, 1899.1 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUKIST. 
485 
Ceylox Tea in Canada.— Tt is a pity that 
the advanta^'e which thp new tariff will give to 
Biitisli-grown teas in the Dominion does not 
ensure the snpersesMon of a lart^cr proportion 
of .Japan and Cliina teas tlian is now eon.suuied. 
Unlike the United State.s, Canada has long been 
a Kood customer of Ceylon and Indian teas. We 
gave a lecture, urgin<^ the superiority of Ceylon 
over China teas to a select body of nierciiants 
and tea dealers in Toronto, so far back a.s 18S4. 
We only trust that our cotisins in tlie_ States 
may follow the good example of the Canadians, in 
their taste for superior teas. 
Dkied LJan.vNAS. -An enterprising fiini in 
(Queensland, where enormous quantities of bananas 
are grown, recently sent overto theofticers of theco- 
iony, Victoria-street, Westminster, some oases of the 
fruit in a dried condition, for which it is tliought 
there should be a large market. It is not claimed 
that dried bananas will lind a high place amonsr 
))ippins, prunes, or apole rings, as stewiuK trans- 
fers the flavour to the juice to a marked degree 
but when used instead of raising in a pudding, 
the drietl banana has an exceedingly agreeable 
taste. Moreover, it lias no seetls and need not 
be "Stoned," like dried giapes, a point worthy 
of note in these labour-savins days.— Dai/?/ .l/«(7. 
The Northeun Oi.sti!ICT Fr.ANTER.s are ambi- 
tious in their way. Tb.ey do not want cacao to 
be lost sight of, and quite riglit to ; but we do 
not think that any steps taken by the Parent 
body will result in any fuller or better informa- 
tion than we ])resent at tlie present time each 
month- which ought to be hleil by every cacao 
as well as by every lea planter. We _ watch 
every Consular Report issued for the tropical 
world as well as every magazine, Keport tr 
l)apei-, for anything bearing on cacao oi other 
special tropic;d ]iroducts; and we should Le 
niiich surprised if the Planters Connnittee 
could add much to the material at command. 
As for crop estimates th.ey are unknown ; and 
for cacao have not yet been ado[)te<l even in 
Ceylon 1 
Long Distance Maximum of Electric 
Power- -At the Society of Arts, Mr. L. Caster 
said that he had visited some Institutions in Switzer- 
land, and li.ad seen a steam-engine factory wheie a 
current of .j.UOO volts was transmitted from a river 
12i- miles away with an elliciency of T7 per cent., 
and it was used for all the piirposes of the factory. 
Some time a<>0 Mr, Wallace read a paper at tiie 
Society of Chemical Industry on the utilisation 
,of water-power, in which he saitl that by that 
'means jiower c uld he supplied at a profit for £4 
per annum per horse-power, which was cheaper 
than sttau). The one requisite was to have a very 
large central station, as in that way it was pro- 
ducetl more economically. Por long tlistanees the 
way. to reduce the charge for copper was to 
increase the voltage. Prom Laufen to Frankfort, 
n, distance of 108 miles, a high voltage ti airsniission 
(although double transformation was used) gave 
an etticiency at Prankfurt of I'.i percent. Large 
works always produced power more chea|)ly than 
small ones, and small manufactureis did better 
by obtaining their power from such sources than 
by working independently. I'rofessor Porbes had 
shown that long distances were no obstacle, .and 
there w s every roasin to believe that the, time 
was not far (dV wdien this method wuuld be \ erv 
largely adopted. Ir i'higland had no great amount 
of water-power she hail cheap coal, and if large 
central st;aions weu'. established near the coal pits 
it woiiUl be a great benetit to the people at large. 
Planting in Costa liicA.— Mr. Hunt ley 
Thring has a high opinion of ' the prospects of 
coffee and cacao in this, about the best-governed 
and richest of Central American States. He con- 
siders that young men of the right stamp with 
£2,000 to £3,000 of ca[iital, going out there now 
would stand to in ike a fortune " (after the old 
t.-tshion in Ceylon) which it is well nigh impossible 
to do in Imlia or Ceylon now. 
The Cryptogamist. — H.E, the Governor .said 
quite truly that the seivices of a competent 
Cryptogamist are very difficult to get. The more 
pity then, if Mr.,Carruthers is allowed to resume 
duties in England without making him such an 
olfer as would induce him to take up per- 
manent work in Ceylon ; for it is al suid to sup])ose 
that any scientist is more necessary than he, in a 
land so rich in fungi. 
Cinchona Planting. — We direct the atten- 
tion ot planters, who think of following our ad- 
vice about givuiLr a fresh trial to cinchona, to the 
6 ter of " Okl Uv.i."' There is much truth in 
its statement.? and we trust not a few plantations 
will get fresh seed and do justice to cinchona 
n irsenes and the result in planting out. We 
feel surp they will not regret the little e.fpense 
involved in sucli an experiment. 
Ax Elephants Sick Diet is recorded as the 
result ol an illness at the Z'xjlogical Gaiilens of 
Pianktort-on-the-Main. A female elephant theie 
sui'denly refused food, groaned continually, 
"wept," it is saiil, and became weaker ami 
weaker. She was given draughts of bi aniiy ((lints), 
and reduced to a diet of buckets of gruel three 
times a day, each bttcket containing forty quarts. 
She soon recovered, but the dieting still con- 
tinued, and the last bulletin describes her piesent 
diet as thirty buns, a hundred-weight of hay daily, 
and suitable drinks. — D. Chronide. 
Tea in India.- Mr. H. K. Irwin spoke as 
follows at the Daije'eling i)lanters' meeting a 
month ago 
Of the teas sold in Calcutta this year I believe I 
am within the mark in saying 75 per cent of thent 
have barely coveieJ the coat of production, and if 
that is the case, it requires very little argument to 
prove that another similar season must mean the 
abandonment of thousands of acres of tea and the 
ruin of hundreds of Europeans, not to speak of uativea 
t'liown out of employment; in fact I fancy there are 
many gardens to wliich a very difficult question next 
sea=uii .s fiuancing wdl be, and already there are 
rumours going round of more llian one laig.= concern 
about to bj totallv abandoned. The tirst -thing to 
consider is, what is the cause of the pietent disas- 
trously low rangi of prices? A great many ivrgue 
that it is due to ovt-rproduciion, but looking at 
statistics. I do not see liow this contention can be 
sustained. Personally 1 fully believe that ilie ''rotten" 
artificial rupee, intlatel to very much more than its 
true value is at the botiom of the bad state of the 
industry, and nothing else. 
Proposed by Mr- H. K. Irwin, seconded by Mr, 
Nosworthy : "That ilus meeting views wilh'ilarm 
the present proposal bsfore Government for tixing 
exchaUKQ at Is -id as cjlculated to very seriously 
injure if not ruiu tbo Indian Tea Industry, and 
resolves that the Tea Associations of Assam, Cachar. 
and a!l other Tea Uistr i ;t3, tlie Indian Tea Associa- 
tion, and also the Tea Association in London, te 
addressed on the subject of taking nniled action ; 
and if thought advisable, diawing up a petition (o 
the Secretary of .State for India, to be signed ea 
widely as possible by all interested in Indian Tea 
praying that some relief ni.iy be afforded either by 
imposing a higher duty on foreign grown leas, na « 
counter balance to llie Bouuty practically bcii g 
offered to loreigD teas by' the above-iuantioDed rate 
of exchange. " 
