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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Sept. 1, 1903. 
The King's Coffee.— King Edward is becom- 
ing an inveterate cofiee-drinker. Wherever he 
goes his Egyptian coffee-maker, Emin Abraham, 
follows with his little coffee mill, and after luncheon 
and dinner prepares a !?peciai brew for His Majesty 
and the fortunate few who are privileged to 
taste it. Emin is able to hold this Utile mill in 
his hands when grinding the berries— a particular 
kind— and the cofiFee is served in very small cups 
which have almost the appearance of egg-cups. It 
is, of course, served by Emin himself in all the 
glory of oriental drapery. The people who have 
tasted the King's coffee are very few, and not all 
of those admire the flavour of it though none 
would dare to say so, knoviring His Majesty has 
such a high opinion of its quality, — Tatler, 
Plumbago Market Report.— London, July 17. 
— The market is distinctly weaker and, although 
quotations cabled from Colombo for all qualities 
have been materially reduced, buyers do not 
come forward. America is the weakest spot at 
the moment and there is a considerable quantity 
of unsold plumbago held by operators there, 
which is being pressed on the market. A good 
parcel of ordinary lump on spot sold at £35, but 
this is the only sale of importance during the 
week. Best quality of lump is offered for shipment 
at £.38 10s., but buyers only point to £36. 
Common lump for shipment offered at £18, with 
buyers at £15 to £16. The qualities that have 
suffered most are fine and medium qualities of 
dust which are pressed for sale without meeting 
any support. — Messrs Chapman, Anthony & Co. 
Cloves, — It is curious how Zanzibar main- 
tains its monopoly of the clove trade. Here 
are the exports for four years and distribution, 
from Messrs. Schimmel & Co.'s latest Report :— 
Cloves. — The exports were : — 
In 
1898 
1899 
1900 
1901 
Weight in Value in 
pounds. rupees. 
10,856,566 2,155,956 
16,593,340 2,958,487 
11,788 095 2,372,227 
11,962,069 2,465,373 
They were made up as follows :— 
1898. 1899. 1900. 1901. 
Europ3 ... 4,138,086 8,028,780 5,235,388 4,470,632 
America ... 729,969 648,970 719,600 252,000 
Asia ... 5,912,800 7,599,517 5,769,293 7,081,471 
Africa ... 75,720 316,073 63,814 153.966 
It will be seen that the exports to India have in- 
creased considerably, those to Europe slightly, 
whilst the exports to America have greatly gone 
down. 
There is very little encouragement to grow any 
more cloves for the present. 
BuBBER AND Tka. — Comment made today by an ex- 
perienced planter just back from a visit to Kalutara 
is interesting, especially in view of Mr. Rutherford's 
reoent prophecy. He tells ns that two years ago 
planters made the mistake of planting rubber trees 
among fine tea. They were then taking a hopeless 
view of tea, but in four years' time they will have 
to toss up to see which they will cut out— the bushes 
or the trees ! Oar visitor admits that there is plenty 
of land in the low country suitable for rubber where 
the tea is poor, and that there is plenty of suitable 
soil right np to Batnapara and beyond. He found 
the Ealntara estates be saw free from Shot-hole borer 
and, of course, of tortrix. Grey blight was to be 
found, not in patches but only on single bushes here 
{ind there.— Local "Times," July 29, 
Chinese Camphor. —In a report on the trade 
of Fuchan, the American Consul mentions that 
the camphor forests in the north-west of the 
province are a monopoly of the Chinese provincial 
Government, which has established depots, where 
all persons are required to bring their camphor. 
Foreign dealers buy from these dep6ts, not being 
permitted to purchase direct from natives in the 
interior. Camphor may be exported under the 
transit-pass system, and an effort is being made 
by ceriain British tei firms to bring tea down to 
Fuchan under the same sy-'-tem, which requires 
only the payment of half duty in addition to 
the export duty to Foreign countries, thus ex- 
empting the Foreigner from the payment of the 
likin duties up country and all the way along the 
road tc Fuchan. This is resisted by the provincial 
authorities, because they receive all the likin taxes, 
while the duties paid under the transit-pass 
system go mostly to the Government through 
the Imperial Chinese Customs, — Chemist and 
Druggist, July 25. 
Plumbago Market Report.— London, July 10. 
— No sales have taken place since last mail, and 
tlie market is of a featureless character. There 
are no available stocks in London to test the 
market, and the business formerly done here for 
transhipment to the United States and the ( on- 
tinent is quite lost. Shippers, very rightly, have 
discontinued sending unsold plumbago to London 
on consignment, and a very large proportion of 
the trade is now done by Colombo direct with 
the consuming centres, and will probably continue 
to be done so long as Colombo shippers are careful 
to ship qualities in every way equal to standard. 
Should they, however, be tempted to lower the 
quality of their shipments, the trade will return 
to its old groove, as consumers will only consent 
to operate on samples taken from actnai parcels. 
In the absence of business we cannot quote lower 
prices, but the tendency is distinctly fiat. — 
Shapman, Anthony & Co. 
The Gardener's Highe.st Degree.— In the 
World's Work for July there is an interesting 
article on Kew Gardens, which deals with a side 
of its work little dreamt of by most visitors — 
viz., the training of joung gardeners. Morning 
after morning small batches of young men are 
taken through the Museum. To the average 
visitor the Kew Museum is merely a dull 
collection of common place-looking objects. To the 
young gardener who listens to the demonstrations 
of Mr Hillier, the keeper of the Museum, it 
shows the goal of the planter who plants 
a seed. For here he sees and handles the things 
that can be made out of the plants which 
he has been tending and bringing to maturity. 
What is the best broom for sweeping ? He has 
seen the seed, tended the plant, and here is the 
broom. Does M aim at tea-planting? Here in 
the tea case he will find all manner of teas in 
balls or bricks as they come from China 
or Burmah. He sees the results of the back- 
bending labour of his profession, and realises that 
in the end the gardener is the purveyor to the 
human race. He, of course, learns much more 
beside before he gets the so-dearly-prized certifi- 
cate, but most of those who read this will 
appreciate what the Museum work meana to the 
tiller of the soiU 
