March 1, 189^.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
621 
mercial product. The refined prod act ia largely used 
in the manufacture of Eohigo chizimi {.% coa-ugated 
cloth). The raw material is used for hemp cloth 
and when beaten out soft, ia used for wadding in 
clothing and coverlets. Of the so-called Chinese 
hemp imported into this country, the karamnshi 
seems to form the larger part, but it is no', suitable 
for the mauufacturf? of fiue (closely woven) fabrics 
like the native yaraagata pro Juct, bnt rather foe i he 
manufacture of thips' cables, and ropes, and the 
meshes of mosquito netting. The price of the im- 
ported article is comp ■ ratively cheap, being only 
from 15 to 17 yen (j$7.50 to $S 50) per 121) lb., while 
Japanese hemp Is worth six or seven times, aud_ the 
iiitive kiramushi five or six times, that much. Not- 
withstanding its greatly inferior quality, it is being 
imported into Japan in large quantities year by year. 
There is no prospect of export of the native kvraniushi. 
KOREA. 
The Cousul General at So.il reports :— There are 
two kinds of ramie plant raised in Korea. Moshi is 
the name given to the carefully cultivated one. The 
fibres of this plant produce the silky threads made 
up into the high-ptized grass cloth. The other 
plant, called sum. seems capable of growing almist 
everywhere. It is used for making the coarse fabric 
worn by the poor classes in the summer, and for 
the very extensive mourning costumes of all cl isses 
—a veriahle " sack-cloth." Moshi is u-ed for theouter 
gowns of both sexes. Moshi, once started, becomes 
a permanent crop, easy to raise and cire for, and 
of much value. There is no export of either fibre 
or fabric. The import for 18913 amounted to 2t)7,7i>9 in 
vUue (equal to $133,834.50 gold). In 1397 the i nport 
was 432,699 yen ($216 845 gold). The imported gr.iss 
cloth comes chiefly from China, and is supposed to cou- 
.sist of the finer qualities only. The culture of this 
plant could be increased in Korea, indefinitely. 
STRAITS SETTLEiMENTS. 
In transmitting to the D.'parlinent of State, a 
pamphlet ("Pacts about Rimie"), Cjnsul-Gen-n-al 
Pratt, under date tf Singipoie, March 17th, 1898, 
reports that the ramie industry in the Straits Settle- 
ments is only in embryo, but that planters in 
the Malay Peninsal i, in Borneo, and in the D itch 
East Indies are undertaking to grow the plant on 
an extensive scale, and, with their climatic condi- 
tions so fivourable, he thinks they will eventually 
succeed in their experiments, — L. <£■ C. Express. 
♦ 
INDIAN TE^V PROSPIiCT.-; 1899. 
The season for 1899 for Indian Tea promises to 
open fairly well, if one can forecast at all. It is at all 
times dangerous, but we especially wish to point out, 
that according to all accounts the market may open 
fairly strong, but rnav b^ very eisily ove'rdone, if 
planters rush away and phick atiything and n ny how. 
An increased outturn of even one or two million 
pounds early in the season, would be attended by 
disastrous results, and we cannot too strongly impress 
upon our readers the necessity for sticking strictly to 
fine plucking, and careful manufacture, and attention 
to economy in every way. A slight boom in prices 
in the beginning must not allow our planters to at 
all lelax their efforts towards excellence of quility, 
and eonoiuv along with it; for the indmtry is far 
from being out of the wood, audit will take at least 
two or three years before it can be positively said 
chat tea investments are on a sound b isis, and 
although it seems rather a gloomy prosp* c'., we aro 
not at all certain that another year or two of bad 
prices might not be an unmixed blessing in the end. 
Aheadv we heir some whisper.s. certainly not loud, 
bnt still inlicalivo of what might liappen, wuie even 
another slight boom to occur, and it is on thi^, 
that wo aro pancipally writing. Most of those con- 
cerns that aro no v wading in deep w.iters, have a 
heavy carry in thii Urge area of uupioductive ten, 
which must l)o a s^-vere tax, and, iloubtless, when 
this comes in'.o bearing the outlook for these will be 
brighter, an ! when it conies, we tru-t Directors, or 
ManagiuK Agent*, will not allow themselves to be 
carried away by a slight rift in the present heavy 
cloud that hangs over the industry. There seems 
little chanie of cheap silver doing mu.ih towards re- 
viving the present high ratas, for wa believe thit 
Government has quite mide up its mini that ths 
ideal is Is 4.1 and we believe it will remiin there 
or thereabout; so th.xt it is no usj spjculating on 
what arrangements or wh:i,t exchange will do for tea ; 
far better to set one's hou.;e in order, to try and 
work out a certain revenue at a U 41 ex;h ingj. That 
this can be done we do not d )ubi, for if one could 
calcu'ate on an all round return of say six miunds 
per acre, there should b3 a fiir return even at five 
aana^. The locvl wojking of a girdei should be done 
for R90 to RlOO per acre, and if we allow liVi for 
Calcutta expenditure it should suffice and more pro- 
vided there is no block debt to hamper the garden 
with a big interest bill; 6 maunds of tea, at 5 annas, 
reads Rl50 an acre. So, if wo add Calcutta and 
local at R35 and RlOO respectively, we find a balance 
left of R15 per acre. Most gardens are pretty heavily 
capitalised i e. the pablic Uompanies ; and this would 
not read much to those, bnt thare are a large number 
of private coucerns thit are only standing at 11300 
to R400 per acre, so that R15 per acre, w uld mean 
4 to 5 percent to the proprietors. We do not think 
this is by nny msans a handsome return in an agri- 
cultural undertaking like tea, which is liable to 
fluctuations in more ways than one ; at the same 
time we are trying to show that there is no reason 
why gardens ordinarily capiialise 1, should not do a 
little more than cover expenses ; which will be the 
case in but too maoy instances of last year. 
CoNsuMPriON OF IS I'EA India.— It would be interesting 
to obtain statistics of the l^cil consumption of Indian; 
tea, and information as to tin progress it is making. 
Som-'. of our Calcutta fii-ms may ba ia a position to 
enlighten m and, further, supply u-j with intelli- 
gence as to whi": steps ara being taken to make 
Indiari te i better known to the natives. There is 
a la ge annual consumption of China tea among the 
poorer Christian and native populition in this city. 
'Xhe reason for Ihi^ is that it is pnt up in small 
pickets of two and four ounces and sold for two and 
four annas par packet, respectively — a price whi-:h 
the poorer classes can only just afford to pay. They 
are too needy to be able to lay in a stock for a 
week at a time. It is more convenient for |them 
to resort to the moodies (small native grocers), who, 
as well as the Chinese, realise a handsome profit 
on the transaction. The so-called tea is stuff of the 
worst descriptio:'. Surely our own low grades of 
teas (which, at any rate, are unadulterated) would 
readily be taken instead of tha Chinese articles, if 
we would but supply it in similar small packets. 
Considering the prices realised at the local sales for 
our inferior grades, they could be sold retail in small 
quantities at very low figures, and yet be made to 
return a profit. Such action would have the effect 
of relieving the home market of a certain quantity 
of low qualities, which would prove of decided ad- 
vantage to all parties concerned. What is wanted is 
any agency, pure and simple, started with the bond 
jidc intention of stimulating the sale of Indian tea, 
and not for the sake of any big immediate profit 
The agency might, for example, be composed of 
three, four, or more leading tea .firms in Calcutta 
who might be found willitig to back up such a scheme 
with advances of tea, as likewise tha necessary funds 
and to appoint agents for the sale of small packets 
of tea. Let Indian tea be found for sale in every 
huckster's shop where China tea is sold, and where 
it is not found for sale. Let it be peddled from house 
to house- -start a man with a struck round the streets to 
sell it. Obtain the services of i rea'ly good niiin to 
supervise things generally and to travel up-country, 
when it becomes necessary to work the Mofussil 
which Viiou'd, of course, he iifler tha C'alcitttft business 
had been firm!y established. In thice y»-ars the 
rasulis would sImw what a niavk-'t we had loft iincared 
fjr at our very door-', and would in the end be certain 
to turn out a profitable speculution. — Indian Planttrt' 
Gazette, Fob. 4. 
