714 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTrRIST. 
TEA SIFTING AND CUTTING. 
In our February number we j)ul)li8lied an account 
of the improved te.a-sifting and cutting machinery 
made by Messrs. Savage <fe Co. The sifting and 
cutting are carried out in one coml)ined app; ritus, 
the process lieing as follown :— As th* tea droji 
from the hopper it passes over a set of magnets to 
free it from pieces of wire, nails, ajid other iron 
substances, and then falls upon a vibrating sieve, 
through which the siftingsand small teas ijass down 
a shoot, the larger leaves going over another sieve 
which allows them to pass through, but holds back 
any pieces of paper or wood which may have got 
mixed therewith. Tiie leaves fall upon a distri- 
butor, which carries Iheni to the cutting rollers, by 
Qieans of which a uniform, neat, and attractive 
sample is rapidly [iroduced. Such machines, which 
are made in various sizes, are generally htted up on 
the tloor above the mixing or blending machine.— 
JirUisJi Trade Jounui/, .March 1st. 
MOTHEK-OFPEAKL TKADE. 
The principal mother-of-pearl fieherieB are scattered 
ftboat in various parts of the world, and all of them 
lie at a very considerable distance from the home 
markets; ao that the freight for transport adds in 
no small degree to the pric« of mother-of-pearl, 
whether raw or mannfactnred. The beat-knowu 
fiaberies are those of Ceylon, Tuticorin (on the Coro- 
mandel coast), Queensland, the Torres Straits, and 
the Bay of Panama, and it is from these places that 
tho bulk of the mother-of-pearl is exported. 
The true pearl oyster, the " Meleagrina Margariti- 
fera," is a native of tlie Indian and Pacific Oceans, 
and is divided into two species, one with a gold- 
coloured border, the other of a uniforn silvery colour, 
for which there is a much greater demand, the pure 
white shell being muoli preferred to the Tariegated 
mother-of-pearl for commercial purposes. A good 
^hell should weigh from 3 lb. to 4 lb., and in making a 
contract with the divers it is usHally stipulated that 
the shells should not weigh less than 2 lb. to 3 lb. a 
pair; that means, of course, the two halves which 
"Ynake up the whole shell. An exceptional pair, 
:weighing 18 lb., aud measuring over 1 ft. in diameter, 
•ias been gathered in the Torres Straits, but such 
examples are rare. 
Formerly the pearl oysters were found in greater 
abundance, and in some places could be picked up by 
band at low tide. The increasing demand, however, 
has put an end to this state of things, and the 
majority of shells are now brought up by divers 
from a' depth of 45 ft. or 50 ft. of water. This is 
about the average depth for working in, although the 
-pressure at 60 ft. or 70 ft, can be supported by a diver 
-for a quarter of an hour, or even longer. The oysters 
producing the pearls of greatest value are invariably 
found in the deeper waters, but nowadays it is the 
mother-of-pearl, and not the pearls, which are the 
primary cause of these fisheries. 
The prices obtained for mother-of-pearl vary 
nalurally from year to year, but the following, ob- 
tained from one of the principal stations in Queens- 
land, are taken by the ife/u Yoi-k Commercial as a 
Picked quality ... ^177 10 
First quality ... ••■ 125 0 
Second quality ... ... 90 0 
Third quality (inferior) ... 60 0 
The average price realised at the Torres Straits 
fisheries is £125 per ton for the raw shell, or £100 per 
ton cleaned. . . 
A company, according to our contemporary, is m 
process of formation to acquire 10,000 pearl oysters, 
of which 500 will be set aside for breeding purposes, 
on the Calabrian coast. It has been computed that 
the fcpawn produced by one of these mpUascs in the 
open sea contains something like 13,00^,000 egf«. 
The majority of tbeae are a&tarally lost, either 
because they serve as load to other auimals, or 
because they get covered up by the sand or kr* 
carried away by the carrents mto places uniuited to 
their developineat. By bre«diug iu tfiuk* thoao 
dangers can for the most part be aToided. 
It is estimated that at the eud of the seveoth yMr 
there would be 3,750.000 shells, and, at an aver«ffc r»t« 
of three pounds per shell, this would mean 5,<>% toot 
of mother-of-pearl, which, even were it nil of the third 
quality, and worth but l,500f. a ton, would yet bri f 
in a earn total of 7,5:'(il,0U0f. It is possible that ihia 
enormous quautity of mother-of-pearl, brought sad. 
denly into the market, would considerably lower th^ 
price, and therefore only half of tijis sum haa b**„ 
calculated for eacli bank hehed every seveDtb yoar 
that is, one aunaally.— //. ^ C. Mail, March 3. 
COFFKK IS NH AR.\GL'A. 
(KHOM OL'K < OHltKHlHiXDK.VT.) 
Kingston. .Taiaaita, Felt. 27. — Piiv.it*^ ad- 
vicc-s lioiu (iit'iiadu, Xi< ;iia}<iXii, stat*' tfiat the 
country in <-oiuplelelv disoi-gaiiizi-d. The 
coffee is (>p<jiliug on tlie ti-ees, hh the labour- 
ers are drafU'd int<j the army. A war cou- 
tribution of ^^S)U,OUO h;i*i In-eu levied on thm 
inhabitants of GranadH, and the export tax 
on coffee hits Ix'eii raised to §4 per quiut»L-^ 
London TintcH. 
SELANGOK PLANTERS' ASSOCIATION. 
EXTRACr FROM ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1899. 
0th Annual Report of the Planters' AsauciAtioB 
of Selangor. Owing to Vitriooa causes, exteusioo* 
during the past year hare not been upon the samo 
scale as in previous seasons, to new members bav«, 
however, been enrolled upon the books of the Associa- 
tion and the attached Btatiatics show an increao* 
under cultivation of 1,676 but of labourers of mXi 
nationalities a decrease of 1,166. 
PL.A.NTING PRODUCTS.— C) OOFFEE. WhiUI 
estimates have for the most part been realized and ia 
some cases considerably exceeded, the depression in 
prices has contiuued throughout the year, except in th# 
months of November and December, when, bo doabi 
owing to short deliveries, the market hardened 
and as much as $25 per picul was secured for the 
best No. 1 ; as soon, however, as the heavy pickings 
recommenced, values receded, and the year closed, m 
in 1897, with quotations iu the neighbourhood of fit 
per pikul, a price at which, except in veij- favoured 
localities, it becomes a difficult matter to do much 
more than cover expenses. A feature of this year'* 
transactious has been the groT7ing disincliuation on 
the part of planters to sell their coffee in outsid* 
markets, the prices ruling in biogapore having 
compared very favourably with anything obtainable 
elsewhere. Your Committee thiuk that a distinct 
improvement in quality has been effected during the 
year under review, and hope that no efforts Will be 
spared, on the part of those who have stores, to tniB 
out a sample which will hold its own with the beet 
produced anywhere. The maintenance of a high 
standard of excellence, combined with the greatest 
economy in production, are questions of vital im- 
portance if the coffee industry iu this country is to 
snccessfully battle with the present crisis, and re* 
alizing the necessity for a much closer acjaaiatanee 
than you now have with the position of affairs io 
the Brazils, the crops from which country exer ise 
so omnipotent an influence upon the markets of the 
world, your Committee propose to make immediate 
arrangements for the supply of regular and reliable 
information as to the prospects of the coffee enter* 
prize in that country. 
