May 1, 1899.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
761 
CAMPHOR. 
The position of this article rei!;ains stiono-, 
but it is felt that we are approacliing the end 
of the advance. At this time of the year piu-- 
ciiases for domestic purposes are generally made, 
l)ut since camphor became of technical importance, 
much of it beinp; used in llie manufacture of 
cellnloul, a new basis is supplied fo.- calculations. 
The utility of celluloid is iucreasin;; day by day, 
and nothing so far has been found to take the 
place of the ten per cent or so of camphor which 
it contains. There has been little speculation 
in the heavy purchases made recently ; cam- 
plior ieliners bought well, and the advance is 
commensurate with supply and demand. The 
subjoined figures show tlie statistical position in 
London for January-February and stocks on Feb- 
ruary 28th in the respective years : — 
1899. 1898. 1897. 1896 1895, 
Imports .. 775 134 1,934 447 6.S0 
Deliveries... 1,701 368 1,991 3,045 451 
Stocks ... 4,968 11,204 11,874 13,674 4,379 
The stock is, therefore, much lower now than it 
has been for live years. — Chemist and Druggist, 
March, 11. 
♦ ~ 
A RUBBER PECULIAR TO COLUMBIA. 
In a recent official report, the British Consul at 
Tolima, Columbia, iiiakts the following leferenee to 
a tree which is little known as a producer of rubber. 
If the rubber is really of good quality, it may iu 
time prove of iinportauce, owing to its adaptability 
to high elevations, which, as a rule, is not true of 
rubber trees. The report says : " A very important 
species of rubber is indigenous, and I am inclined to 
think peculiar, to Tolima. Unlike other importai.t 
kinds of rubber, it grows at high elevations, namely, 
at from G,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level. Several 
thousand bales of it were exported a dozen years ago. 
But as the tn e was only locally distributed, ihe 
source of supply was soon exhausted. The authorities 
at Kew have named this plant Sapium hirjlandulosum, 
a species which is also said to be found in liritish 
Guiana, where, however, it seems to be of no value as 
a rubber producer. Tn connection with the cinchona 
plantations * * * * a plantation of this rubber 
was made ftbout ten years ago. The trees grew with 
remarkable lapi'iity, with trunks a foot in diameter 
in six years; but tins plantation shared the same fate 
as the cinchonas — that is, it was abandoned years ago 
because the cinchona was abandoned. With renewed 
attention, however, this plantation may still be made 
important. — Indian Planlem' Gn^elte. 
THE FUTURE OF CEYLON TEA. 
THE RISK OF HEAVY CHINA EXPORTS. 
{By an ex-Ceylon Merchant.) 
London, March 16. 
As long as the lower grades of common Indian 
or Ceylon tea could he bought iu London at five- 
pence per pound, there was not much chance of 
the market being inundated with increased im- 
port of common China congou, because this price 
would not pay exporters from China, even with 
the protection afforded to them, by the ellect of 
the closing of the Indian mints. But v/itli pekoe 
souchongs at 7d per pound, the matter assumes 
a very difl'erent aspect, and it is to be teared 
that larger shipments may be made from Chii,» 
ne.\t June, July and August. The only thing 
that will prevent iliem, is the fear of the certain 
loss that would occur, if sucli shi[)ment3 were 
made. 
Prices in China will doubtless open high in 
May ne.xt, and when they arrive here Ihev wil' 
95 
biing down prices to their old level. Unfor- 
tunately the British speculator seldom benefits by 
past experience ; old ones die olF, or have re- 
tired from the trade, but a new set always springs 
up to take their place. A friend in the China 
trade, told me yesterday, he was going to send 
out an order for common congou by the next 
mail. I asked liim if he had lost his senses, 
or had more money than he knew what to do 
with, for in the latter case I could comfortably 
help him to get ritl of it. When I pointed out 
to him that present prices of common tea could 
only be maintained by being scarce, and any 
large increase from China would lead to dis- 
aster, he made up his mind not to send the 
order. 
Indian and Ceylon planters will this year have 
to watch the China exports closely. As I told you 
in my last letter, the advance has not sfrected 
Home consumption ; the retail prices cannot be 
raised ; but there is no doubt, it is interfering 
with the continental and Ainerican demand, 
and may extend to the Australian colonies. It 
has been somewhat too rapid, r'onimon teas will 
1 think more than hold their own until July, 
when the market will have before it the un- 
known Indian and China supplies. Every en- 
deavour will be made to push forward ship- 
ments to catch the high prices now current 
whilst they last ; it will be a case of " devil take 
the hindmost." 
If no great increase takes place in next season's 
Cihna exports to England, then I think the Indian 
and Ceylon Tea Industry has a good future before 
it, because though Foreign and Colonial consump- 
tion may not expand, at the same rate as 
during last year, it will not be diminished by 
an advance of only a penny per pound on the 
average, 
CALABRIAN MOTHEK-OF-PEARL 
INDUSTRY; 
An interesting report was received at the For - 
eign Office on 7th January last from H. M. Vice- 
Consul at Taranto, giving an account of the nev\" 
mother-of-pearl industry on the Calabrian coast. 
The prices obtained for mother-of-pearl vary 
fr'om year to year, but the average price realised at 
the Torres Straits fisheries is dB125 per ton f or the 
raw shell. The only place, so far, where the pearl 
oysters are cultivatecl, is Queensland ; at all the 
other fisheries the shells are collected from the 
banks formed by the natural oyster. Queensland, 
however, is far distant from the chief markets for 
mother-of-pearl, London, Hamburg, and Trieste, 
and it was this fact that gave rise to the idea of 
cultivating the pearl oyster in European waters. 
A series of interesting experiments was com- 
menced by bignor Comba, in 1860, and continued 
by him from time to time till 1884, when he was 
director of the aquarium of the National Exhibi- 
tion at Turin. These experiments proved defi- 
nitely that pearls can be produced by a certain 
process of treatment, and also that the cultivation 
might be conducted on a large scale on the Cala- 
brian coast. 
In a pamphlet on the subject, Signer Comba 
.says that "Having proxed that they are repro- 
ductive in a domesticated state, that is in .small 
atiuariums, we can be certain that in large basins 
they will reproduce with better results. The 
facility with which these oysters throw out their 
byssus allows thiin to be transferred from the 
brooding tanks to the coast, where the natural 
banks would he made, without any danger of 
their dying. As the spawn is not exposed in 
the tanks to currents or to the danger of des- 
truction by fishes, it would be ejvsy to form Uvrgo 
