628 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[NfARcn 1, 1899. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Thk " San Jo.sk 8cai,e " continues to give 
trouble in tlie orcliar'ls of New Sontli Wales as 
we learn from th>i A. Gazdtc last to liand. We 
niif»lit quote luucli respecting the work of this 
most pernieious past ; but we prefer to reiteat 
our wainii\;,' to the Ceyh-n Government and its 
Customs Department as to the absolute necessity 
for the fumigation of iuipoiteil fruit. 
The Ckylon Hills Ti:a Kstat;-:s Company 
had a sliort crop from its estates last year : the 
difference altogether with bonglit leaf equalling 
82,351 lb., wiiile the avera^'e selling price was a 
traction better than in 1897. Hut tiie total 
result was a deail loss on the year's working 
of U9,93;{ ; and this although Directors, Agents 
and Secretaries have drawn no fees, and no 
interest has been [laiil on debentures since 3Utli 
Sept. 1897. Tiiis is a truly u;ifortunate ex- 
perience and the more so as the estates concerned 
cannot be said to be oi l coffee estates or situated 
in the lowcountry. 
Tea in N. Amkrica.— Jas. amlJno. It. Montgo- 
mery of New York— says the Aiiwican Grorer- 
report the statistical po'^ition of China and Japan 
tea for United States and Canada on Jnanuary 1, 
as follows (in pounds): 
Total afloat to .Tail 1, 1S:)0 7,530 6S.) 
Hsceipts to J 111. 1, IS'J'J 57,32S,60u 
Total shipment advised by m.til.. tj4,8'5S,293 
Lsavin? to ba Hliipp^d 1G,1.S1,710 
Estimated supply, sea^on^ 1893 and 18')i) Bl.OW.OUO 
S ipply, seasons 18.)7 and 1S93 87.711.780 
Afloat, Jan. 1, 189J 3,99.'),30l 
Rjeelpts to Jan 1, 189S 71,303,603 
Total ahipmenta advised b m lil to Jj.ii. 
1,1893.. : 75.'2,)8 901 
Tea IN North America —The year 1898, says 
the ADurican ffro; r— c Osed with tea showing an 
advance about equivalent to the duty inipsoed. 
On somegrailes prices are not more than 8 cents 
a pound higher than when the tax was imposed. 
It is somewhat singular that the importations 
for 1898 are very much lighter than for the pre- 
ceding year, being for the year ending June .30, 
1898, "67,696..339 poumls, against 1 12,907 48 pounds 
in 1897, a decrease of 45,211,209 pounds. For the 
ten months ending October 31, they ware 
25,423,119 pounds lighter than for the corresponding 
period of 1897. Jaines and John K. Montgomery 
report that the estimated supply for the seaso:) of 
1898-99 is 80,000,000 pounds, of whicdi 57,327,605 
pounds were received to January 1st, at which date 
7,-5.39,685 pounds were afloat, leaving to be shipped 
16 131,710 pounds. The effect of the tea exclusion 
act has been to improve the general character of 
the supp'y, to send into distribution consider able 
quantities of low grade tei, which had been held 
here for years, and to give the market a nujch 
healthier and better tone. The year closed with 
prices firm. The following ^able shows the quota- 
tions of standard grades of Japan and Formosa 
Oolong tea : — 
Japan. Formosa. 
Good to Medium. Superior. 
Cents. Cant-. 
Yearly average, 1898 . . 21.4? at 22.63 . . 24.89 at 25.97 
1897 . . 17.71 at; 18.88 . . 20.42 at 21.47 
" ' 1896 .. 14| at I9i . . 19i at 20^ 
1895 . . 13 ac 17^ . . 20 at 23 
■ " 1894 . . 13 at 1S4 . . 19 at 22 
1893 . . 14i at 25| . . 22? at 24i 
1892 .. 14 1 6at21i ..22i at 25i 
DicsiRUCTioN Of Locusts in Abgentik.\.— 
The central commitision for the extinction of the 
laiKjosta iT locu^^t^' in Argentina has made a very 
iiileiv-sting report to the .Minister of Agriculture 
in that country. The coinmirision was a[)poiuted 
for the purpose of obtaining all the iiiformatioD 
|)osKible regarding the locust, its litbitai, pro- 
creation, migration, &e., and to iuaui^uiaL« 
concerted ellorts for its extinctiou. To this eud 
lite commission organised many local cuiiiiuiM- 
sioners, and these again funned a ttub-cuniinisbion. 
and all investigated and adopted kucIi iiieauH of 
dclruction as seemed most effective. Tlie lesnll* 
are th.it the habits of the locust have been well 
studied, enormous quantities of eggs and mKona* 
(locusts before they have wings) were cJe-tioyed, 
and the destruction of crops greatly li.s«eoed. 
The means of extinction employed were, a (iiepHra- 
tion ol zinc, various liquid e\tirpalori>, the plough 
and lire. The (juantilies thus destroyed ii. 1898 
are estimated in thousands of tons weiiilit, and 
the area of crops saved at hundreds of thousands 
of acres ; an<l it is believed th;it if, witli «lial lia.s 
been learneil, those organised eflbrts be a-siduously 
continued, the locust may be contndled, or ili 
ravages greatlj' restricteil. The arrest of the 
ravages of the locust, whether through the efroilx 
mentioned or other causes, has greatly encouraged 
the agriculturists of Argentina, and improved the 
general condition of the country. -./o/frMfl/ of the 
iSoru'ty of Arts, Jau. 31. 
Elkctric : Mr. C. C. F. Mo.vckton.— The mail 
last in brought a contemporary a lett<'r from tlie 
abcjve gentleman — who will be rememliered as on 
the electrical staff of Messrs. IJoustead Kros. — in 
(he course of which he says that he is quit*- fit and 
well once more. Alter arriving in England, he 
was, it seems, lucky to get work, within a week 
of starting to look out for it, with the liruKli 
Eiectiical Engineering Company, the (inn he was 
with before he came to Oeyloa. He s arted work 
in .September, and at Krst came across quite a 
number of Ceylon men, but, as winter approached 
he met fewer and fewer, and at the time of 
writing, he had not seen anybody for some litt'e 
time. About a month after he joined the Brush 
Company, lie was offered a partneiship by an old 
triend whicli, after due consideration, he accepted, 
and he lias now joined Mr. Wardrop, in his otiica 
.at the Army and Navy Mansions, two doors from 
the Aimy and Navy Stores. Mr. Wardrop's chief 
experience has been with railways and waterworks, 
but he ha-s had electrical experience as well. 
When Mr. MDnckton got to know him he was 
designing central elecric light stations from the 
Brush Company. There are several plates iu 
Ceylon^ Mr Moncktoii goes on to say, wheie 
there is sufficient water-power for light railways, 
if only the Government allowed private enter- 
prise a look in but, as it is, that power will 
soon be required tor driving the tea machinery 
within say, a radius of from five to ten miles of 
the source of power. Mr Monckton also says: — 
I wonder if the planters will wait till all the forests 
are used up before they think of the power run- 
ning to was^^e in one or two localities that I could 
name. Straugely enough I found that Wardrop is a 
con^ia to Mis. C. W. Ty tier, with whom everybody in 
Ueylon sympathised in her sad lo^s lately. Mrs. Tytler 
started a type-writing office at 54, "Whitehall, West- 
minster, with a friend of her's, last month, and she 
has now five typists at work. I am enclosing oae 
of her citds, as I know a lar^e number of Ceylon 
men will be only too glad to put work in her way. 
I can speak for the work done at the office, as we 
get all our typewriting done there. 
