THE TKOPICAL 
THE TEA INDUSTRY AND MANURE. 
Mr. John Hughes, of Mark Lane, writes 
to us under date, London, Mai ch 3rd :— 
"In coniinion with many others I am look- 
ing out for some report from Mr. Bamher 
in reference to an improved maniifat-tux'e of 
tea or a new system of manuring. 
"To my mind judicious manuring is speci- 
ally important, because with poor leaf it 
must be impossible to make good tea ; but 
good leaf may be spoilt in the n)anufacture. 
"I have been very ))usy wit li soil analyses 
lately and much more manure is being sent 
out from England than formerly. As the 
numerous Tea (Jompanies have tlx^ir offices 
in London, the shipment can be an-anged 
at once and a complete manure sent out in 
small bags which can be forwai-ded direct 
on to the estate, and afterwards carried 
out on to the field without the trouble and 
extra cost of casks and subsequent bagging 
up for transport upcountry." 
We heard lately that Mr. Kelway-Bamber 
had expressed a favourable opinion of certain 
of the manures- supplied for te.a by Mr. A. 
Baur. We scarcely think that the time has 
yet come for a full Rei)<)rt : let Mr. Bamber 
complete his experiments and investigations 
first. By the way his book "On the Che- 
mistry and Maiuifacture of Tea" is out of 
print ; and no doubt the next edition will 
embody the latest results of his observations 
in Ceylon. 

CACAO: EXPERIMENTS IN THE 
FERMENTATION OR SWEATING 
OF "COCOA" IN GKENAD.A. 
As it is generally believed by the planters 
of Grenada that the less cocoa is sweated or 
fermented the gi-eater is the resulting weight 
of dry cocoa, the Hon. D. S. De Freitas 
of that island conducted some experiments 
with a view of ascertaining whether this 
belief was well-founded or not. His results 
point to the fact that no appreciable differ- 
ence is observable, and being desirous of 
confii-ming siich an important result, he has 
suggested that some of the planters of 
Trinidad should be invited to conduct some 
further experiments with a view of settling 
the point. The Managing Committee of the 
Grenada Agricultural Society accordingly 
invited the Hon. Mr. De Freitas to draw up 
a plan of the experiments and directed them 
to be printed and distributed. This he has 
done, suggesting that owners and managers 
of di'ying houses in which artificial heat is 
used should be especially invited to try the 
following experiments. Five separate lots of 
cocoa, each containing 2000) of cocoa freshly 
removed from the pods, are to be treated in 
the following way : — 
Lot No. 1. — (a) That it be fermented for three days 
—72 hours; (b) that it be "shifted" aad weighed 
after 34 hours' fermeatatiou ; (c) that after 72 honrs' 
fermentation it be put out to dry : when it is perfectly 
dry it should be carefully v/eighed ; (d) that it will 
be found convenient to begin this experiment in the 
morning. , , -, 
Lot No. 2.— (a) That it be fermented for four days 
—96 hours; (h) that it be weighed and "shifted" 
after 48 hours' fermentation; fr) that after 96 hours' 
jermeutfttiou it be put out to dry : when it is perfectly 
AGl;lCi:LTllU.St. Ai'KJL ], 1^09. 
dry it should be carefully weighed ; (Jj that it will 
be found cotivenieut to begin tbi* experiment iu the 
niorning. 
Lot No. 3 — (a) That it be fectnentea for five d»ys 
—110 hours; (hj that it be wei);hed uni "shiftea" 
after 50 hours' feriiieutation ; fry that after V20 boars 
f-inientHtioii it be put out to dry : when ii is pt-ifectly 
dry it should be carefully weighed ; fiij that it will 
be found convenient to begiu this eiparimeut in the 
morning. 
Lot No. 4. — (aj That it be fermented for six days 
— 144 hours; (bj that it be weighed end " shifted " 
twicr-, namely, after 48 hours anr) again after 9(j hours' 
fermentation ; (cj thst after 144 houra' feimentatioD 
it b»i put out !o dry • when it i» perfectly dry it should 
be careiully weigher); (J) the nioiniog will be found 
a coi;Tenient time to bexin this experiment. 
Lot No. ft. — (a) Thai it be fermented for seren days 
— 1G8 hours; <h) ihat it be weighed and '• shifted " 
twice, namely, after 48 honrs' fermentation and afcain 
after 120 hoars' fermentation ; (cf that after ICb hours 
fermentation it be put out to dry : when it is perfectly 
dry it should be carefully weighed ; (<l> the raoroing 
will be found a coavenient time to begin this 
experiment. 
In carrying out these exiM-rinient* il is 
es.sential that each lot should l)e iiniforuily 
treated or no confidence can l>e jtlitced in 
the data arrived at. For example, if t>ne lot 
is tranii)led, every succeeding lot nnist also 
De trampled. With a view of arriving at 
some verified data bearing ii|M)n the imi>ortant 
(juestion <jf heat in fermentation it would be 
valuable to use a thermometer twice a day 
(8 a.m. and 4 p.m.) to test the heat of the 
cocoa in each of the five expeiimental lots, 
and that on every occasion the reading of the 
thermometer and the time when it is taken 
should be carefully recorded. Lastly, it is 
also desirable that each experimenter should 
keep a .sample of each lot of dried cocoa. 
— We shall watch with interest for leports 
of these experiments, Iwth from Grenada and 
Trinidad. 
A WORD TO CEYLON TEA PLANTERS. 
(From an ex-Ceylon Resident. J 
LoxDON, March 3. 
I think it would be a wise thing for you 
to do at the present moment, if you were 
to try and dissuade Ceylon tea planters 
from being led to commit suicide, by these 
who are interested in having cheap teas for 
blending purposes. The sudden ourst of 
sunshine that has broken through the gloom 
which has for the last two yeai's hung over 
a considerable area of the tea districts, may 
well tiu-n the heads of lowcountry planters 
and induce them to endeavom' to compen- 
sate themselves for their past disappoint- 
ments, by making hay whilst the sim shines. 
There are rumours current in Mincing Lane 
and its neighbourhood, that lecommendations 
and orders fi-om the big tea planting distri- 
butors (which is the new name for retailers) 
have gone out to pluck coarser, with the 
view of increasing the yield of common tea, 
whilst prices are nigh. You know very well 
that nothing could be more disasti'ous to the 
tea industry than for planters to increase the 
production in this way. 
It is the falling-off of supplies to England, 
owing to the expansion of exports to other 
countries, that has caused the sudden change 
in the prospects of bewailing tea planters. 
The bug-bear of orer-productiou ha;? vauishedj 
