Tiaj; TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [AtTG. 1, 1903. 
under rubber, especially so if tlie rubber be 
planted 12x12 feet apart, thus giving 300 trees 
to the acre. Cocaine is anotli«i' valuable product 
of the troi)ical portions of Mexico, and a plant that 
grows large enough to give a good plucking of 
leaves the third yeai-. Vanilla is also grown in 
paying quantities in South Mexico. Sugar-cane is 
perhaps one of the quickest money- getting crops 
that offers just now to the parties with sufficient 
means to plant a good large acreage and to erect 
a modern mill thiit will extract the whole of the 
juice from the cane. Sugar is highly protected in 
Mexico, as well as the spirits made from the 
syrup. Indeed, the possibilities of tropical agri- 
culture in southern Mexico are very great,"— 
Modern Mexico. 
[* Over 13 cwt ! How long can this last? — if 
correct.— Ed. T.A.] 
"» — ' 
PONDICHERRY. 
(Comm^micated.) 
■The once flourishing and fashionable capital of 
French India, which for nearly half a century, 
has been slowly but surely retrograding from her 
former exalted position has, it is hoped, passed 
its lowest levi^l and is now on a fair way of 
regaining her lost popularity and eminence. For 
more than one hundred-and-fifty years Pondicherry 
was regarded as one of the chief export com- 
mercial centres in all India, and her merchants 
controlled to a large extent the Foreign Export 
Trade of Southern India; but after the departure 
of Dupleix the French made but slow progress 
in extending the colony, and the competition from 
Madras soon limited the operations of the port 
to the comparatively few and small transactions 
Ibetween France and French India. About 40 
years ago a considerable local business was 
established by the opening of a general 
AGENCY FOR SUPPLYING INDUN COOLIES 
to the Frencli settlements of Martinique, 
Guadaloupe, Guyane and Keunion ; the 
trade prospered for about 15 years when 
in consequence of repeated complaints from 
ail quarters regarding the treatment of the coolies 
—who for the most part were British subjects 
and had been recruited under British protection, 
the Indian Government, after an exhaustive 
enquiry, was forced to forbid the recruitment of 
British Indian subjects for emigration to the 
French Colonies; and thus ended the existence 
of a very profitable source of income — brought 
about entirely by the greed and cruelty of the 
French planters — and whose acts have not only 
caused their own ruin, but have reduced the 
Colonies concerned to a state of bankruptcy. It 
is unlikely that the West India Emigration will 
revive, but it is possible Mr. Chamberlain may 
eventually allow Indian coolies to proceed to 
Keunion, under special labour contracts. Follow- 
ing shortly after the emigration escapade the 
discovery was made that 
THE COMMON INDIAN GROUND NUT 
then worth in the bazaar about one 
iupee per bag of 168 lb. was a valuable export 
commodity and capable of almost unlimited 
"extension : the conception of this weighty fact 
was due in the first pla^e to the fertile 
brain of the late Monsieur A Gallois 
MoAtU'UD> the foaader and senior partaec 
of the present firm of Messieurs Gallois 
Montbran et Fils. The Indian sTOund-nut trade 
wen'-, ahead from the very beginning by leaps 
and bounds and cultivators were quite unable to 
keep pace with the ever-increasing demand. The 
mania for growing the nuts soon became a passion, 
and the ryots in North and South Arcot, 
Cliingleput, Nellore, Tiichinopoly and Tanjore 
districts, especially, neglected the cultivation of 
most other crops. Within a period of about five 
years the local value of a bag of nuts increased 
600 or 700 per cent. For upwards of a decade of a 
years the ground-nut commerce flourished and 
the growers rose from a state of abject poverty 
and overwhelming indebtedness, to positions of ease 
and independence : the village s/iro^ was dismissed, 
new lands were bought, comfortable pucka 
houses and stores built, while sufficient cattle 
and agricultural implements were provided to 
work the farm efficiently and economically. In 
many cases too material additions were made to 
the generally small stock of family jewels, The 
merchants and other operators in the trade did 
not, however, as a rule, make profits— several, in 
fact, were either partly or wholly ruined. Bub 
the first epoch of the ground-nut frenzy was 
destined to meet with an abrupt check, and, after 
a success of a decade or so of years — owing to 
the repeated cropping with the same seed and 
also the want of manure, the land refused to 
bring forth the usual increase. 
THE COLLAPSE 
of the export ground-nut traffic was as sudden and 
unexpected as it was complete and widespread ; 
yet, notwithstanding repeated losses, the ryott 
continued the cultivation with extraordinary 
tenacity for several years, amidst most unpro- 
pitous circumstances and surrounded by unplea- 
sant experiences and forebodings. Bat these 
loyal toilers of the soil were destined to receive 
a just and generous reward for their faithful 
and ungrudging labours. A second epoch of the 
ground-nut trade was lately inaugurated by means 
of a very ordinary coincidence. The local 
Chamber of Commerce, having exhausted its 
inventive genius after failing to provide a remedy 
for the loss of this valuable trade, petitioned 
the Government t3 import a consignment of 
seed from the East Coast of Africa and which 
arrived in due time : the new nuts were distributed 
among approved cultivators who willingly paid 
the actual charges incurred by the importation. 
The scheme proved a complete success and the 
demand for the exotic seed soon became general 
throughout the southern districts. 
THE GROUND NUTS NOW GROWN 
in Southern Indian are the product of 
a mixture of the indigenous with the exotic 
seed and the amalgamation so far has 
been an unqualified success. The crops, durinfj 
the last three years, have exceeded all expecta- 
tion ; the total for the season of 1902 amounting 
to 1,600,000 bags, being record figures and ex- 
ceeding all previous shipments by a quarter 
million of bags. For the current year a much 
larger export was anticipated. The acreage planted 
was largely increased and up to the end of 
December the condition of the crop was all that 
could be desired ; but unfortunately in the early 
part of January heavy and unprecedented rains 
fell throughout the southern districts of Madras 
and the kernels suffered severely, and it ia now 
