652 
TtJE TROPICAL AGB1CULTURI8T. [March 1, 1B&9. 
ditiong on the Western Australian coaf^ts line, and 
at the instigation of their present pojiular Premier, 
the Hon. Sir John Fone^t, marie oapocial experi- 
ments in the direction of ascertaining liow far out- 
side tropical limits this most Vrtlnab e .'^pecics of 
pearl ehell m gbt te snccessfu ly acclimatised. As 
an upshot of these experiments, I succeeded )n es- 
tablishing the species, and pioving that it would 
both grow and propsgate, as far south iis Shark's 
Bay, lying between the purallels of 23 leg. and 
26^deg. south latitude, and which had hitherto pro- 
duced naturally only a small and coaipHratively 
valuless varie'y known in the maiket as Shark's 
Bay shell, and to Scie ice as Meleaijrinn imhi icala. 
The one important factor in thi-i matter of mother- 
of-pearl aheli cultivation, apart from the mechanical 
difficulties of transport, is the question of tempera- 
ture. The lartre, commercially valuable mother-of- 
pearl shell, which is alone rightfully named Melea 
yrina r/arififerd, is an essentially tropical form, which 
will not lite in waters having a lower Winter mean 
isotherm than that which is coincident with the 
growth of reef-formiug corals, or one varying from 
68deg. to 70deg. Fahrenheit. 
The prospects of cultivating this shell in Mediter- 
ranean waters, with a mean Winter isotherm of less 
than 60 deg, cr of British capitalists obtaining a re- 
turn on funds invested in such an enterprise, is, to 
Bay the least of it, absolutely visionary. In the waters 
of our own Colonies, and more especially those of 
Australia, there is undoubtedly a wido and exceed- 
ingly promising field open to British enterprise in 
the direction suggested, and to which I have repeatedly 
drawn attention in reports, books and lectures 
publislied relating to Australasinvi topics. 
In the matter of the artificial production of pearls, 
in which Vice Consul Tliesiger accredits Signor 
Comba with having apparently achieved the first 
successful experiments, I may state that it was ac- 
complished by myself in connection with the pearl- 
shell culiivatiou operations iu Torres Straits, previ- 
ously referred to. Such an artificially produced pearl 
of fine quality is figured and described in my books 
— "The Great Barrier licef of Australia" and "The 
Naturalist in Australia" — and the specimen itself has 
been on view for the past two years in the Western 
Australian Court of the Imperial Institute. The pro- 
duction of thn finest quality of penrls can be 
ensured only by dealing with the true tropical pearl- 
producing mother-of-pearl shell — Meleyrina mnniarili- 
f'era; it undoubtedly represents a most profitable 
industrial branch, that could, under expert manage- 
ment, by carried on concurrently with systematic 
pearl-shell cultivation. — I am, sir, your obedient 
servant, W. Savillb-Kf.nt, F.L.S. 
Late Commissioner of Fisheries to the Governments 
of Queensland and Western Australia. 
The Elms, Croydon, January 31. 
THE CAMPHOR MAKKET. 
Reports to hand by this mail show that 
the sales of camphor on the Loudon market 
since the last week in January ag^egated 
fully £50,000 in value, the advances in prices 
amoiinting;- to 30 per cent. In an article in 
the Chemist and Dniggist in Nov. last it was 
foreseen that the spring demand for camphor 
would move the market but generally it was 
felt that the reports of scarcity of the crude 
material in China and Japan were exagger- 
ated. Events have proved otherwise and it 
is now realised that the condition of the in- 
dustry in Formosa is really bad. It is thought 
however that the improved prices will stimu- 
late production. In the Chemist and D^niggist 
for February 18, it is stated that since the 
beginning of the year nearly 8,000 piculs of 
Chinese and Japanese camphor (over 1,000,000 
lb,) have been sold in London, and nine-tenths 
of the quantity during the past three weekst 
The year ojiened w ith Chinese at 95s p<-r cwt., 
c.i.f., nomhially, and Japanese KKJw. On 
January \i the market was black. bii» the 
•luotations },'rew higlur during the f(*ll()\NinK 
week. Buyer.s of crude still held aloof, and 
purcha-ses were trifling until the refiner^ ad- 
vanced their prices Id per lb. for the v^eek 
ending January 28 ; then a large businesN wa« 
done in Chinese at up to I \Sn per cwt. and 
in Japane.se up to 126.s fid. Hefinei-« put 
another penny on last week, and for Chinew 
crude 121. s 3d was paid, and I2r7.s6d for Japanese. 
The quotations are higher, this week, 
and the refiners' prices a halfiwnny higher, 
bringing the price to the highest 'point for 
three year.s. Still further advances are ex- 
pected, sanguine sellei-s l»elie\ ing that another 
4d per lb. will be added to the present price. 
A circm)istance which gives ci-edence to their 
prophecy is that although Hamburg receivwl 
1.4-1.) chests and 1!)7 tubs of crude camphor 
from the Kast la.st week, German buyei-s nave 
been in the Ix)ndou market this week as 
seekers of lefiued, and they have been unable 
to get any. 
CEYLON PLANTERS AND THE KAISER. 
Renter today telegraphs the bald fact 
that the Emi)eror of Germany has received 
" the delegates fi^in the Ceylon Planters' 
Association," no names being mentioned or 
any infornvitlon given as to the object of 
the intervie^\. "W e know locally of course 
that a grant of 5,000 lb. of Ceylon tea was 
forwarded by the "Thirty Committee" to 
Berlin for distribution to the German regi- 
ments as might seem ))est. A special silver 
mounted chest (made of various Ceylon woods) 
containing Ceylon tea, was also despatched for 
presentation to the Emperor of Germany, 
the duty of presenting the chest being en- 
trusted to Mr. J. P. Ryan on l)ehalf of the 
Conmiittee '"in co-operation with the iiroper 
authorities." No one else wa-s asked by the 
Committee to act with Mr. Ryan ; but 
he was at full liberty to do what he thought 
best. It is thought "probable therefore that 
he was able to get some gentlemen connected 
with Ceylon to join him or perhaps members 
of the British Embassy in Berlin in the 
military and commercial attaches. We look 
forward with much interest to the details 
of the interview and trust that, as Mr. Lane 
said at the recent meeting in Kandy. much 
good to Ceylon will result from the atten- 
tioiT of a great military nation like Germany 
being specially directed" to the advantages of 
tea as evidenced in Kitchener's teatotal cam- 
paign in the Soudan. Mr. Ryan, we notice, was 
booked to leave Genoa in the "PrinzHein- 
rich " yesterday ; but no doubt his departure 
has been deferred or possibly he might have 
been aVile to catch trie steamer after being 
received by the Emperor ? 
Tea in North Amkkica.— We call special at- 
tention to the letter of IMessrs. Gow, Wilson & 
Stanton and to the figures tiiey embody in their 
Circular. Last vear North America tnolc 
lb. 
Ceylon Tea ... .. 7,636,999 
Indian „ .. ., 6,971,701 
Total ... 18,608,700 
Against only, in 1S92, 3,075,900 lb. 
