m 
THE TEOPICAL A.GRICULTURIST. Feb. 1, 1904.] 
TEA TOPICS I'ROM AUSTEALIA. 
{From our own Correspondent,) 
Melbounie, Dec. 21. 
For a long time the price of freight has been 
the only tea topic, and lately a persistent quotatioQ 
of firmness in the Colombo market out of all pro- 
portion to the averages recorded in the Observer, 
Also no direct reports had prepared me to uuder- 
stand a letter, Messrs Gibbs Bright & Co. have 
received and published, saying that shipments of 
Black teas are now likely to decrease in Ceylon 
owing to the exhaustion of the soil as well as the 
manufacture of Greens, Kubber taking I he place of 
tea on these exhausted plantations. Shop prices 
remain the same, but I have experienced myself 
and heard many complaints of the late infeiiority 
of quality. This has disappointed me greatly in a 
particular packet tea, as I had so strongly re- 
commended it. Before leaving for the country, I 
had an interesting chat with Mr Shelley of Messrs 
Griffith Bros, and inspected their very smart 
sample-room. To Mr Shelley's question 1 could 
simply suggest that the beautifully garbed life- 
sized figure group, should have a Ceylon repre- 
sentative among them. This, Mr Shelley said lie 
>yould gladly add, could he find such. Mr Shelley is 
not a believer in giving even a small trial to Green 
Tea here ; but at the Mountain Hotel, where I was 
staying, I was introduced to a gentleman in tea 
who had with him an American returning froni 
Japan, also in the trade, whose opinion was, that, 
in all new countries especially, whatever is novel 
is worth an attempt. 
» 
PINEAPPLE GROWING AND PACKING 
FOR CEYLON. 
INTERESTING INTERVIEW. 
In connection with an interesting extract we 
published in our issue of the 5th instant a repre- 
sentative of the Ceylon Observer learnt today 
from M Adolphe Landau of the local tea firm from 
Constantinople some particulars of the industry 
of pineapple-growing and preserving as carried on 
By his brother, Mr A Landau, of Race Course 
Road, Singapore. The extract in question pointed 
out how the Queensland Minister of Agriculture, Mr 
Denham, was going to encourage the growth of 
pineapples there for supply to the Westralian 
Market to begin with, at present supplied solely 
from Singapore. Singapore, it stated, was the only 
place in the East where this industry was carried 
on. 
"The industry" Mr Landausaid,"was begun there 
some 22 years ago by MrBastiani, after which my 
brother took it up and these two are the only Euro- 
pean firms at work. I have already seen a few 
pineapple plantations in Ceylon and the 
CONDITIONS ARE EXACTLY SIMILAR 
to Singapore, or Johor, where my brother is. A 
very small capital comparatively would be neces- 
sary to set a plantation going. lb would 
be bound to pay from the start for, unlike tea, 
coconuts and other products, the crop commences 
after 18 months and can be treated in rotation, if 
various portions of the plantation are planted in 
order. The soil here is exactly like that of 
Ceylon and there is plenty of suitable land along 
the course of the Northern Railway jvhich would 
ought to be obtainable at reasonable price, say 111 
per acre. The crop is given three times a year, 
the best season being in February and March. 
M5 brother's property is of some 40D to 500 acres. 
Mr Bastiani, the pioneer of the industry, by the 
way, was formerly chief steward on a Messageries 
vessel. 
" You- would not claim pineapple growing as 
experimental cultivation here ?'' "By no means. 
It is not experimental. But if it is encouraged in 
Queensland Sir Henry Blake will probalily be 
ready to encourage it here. R50,000 is all the capi- 
tal that would be required and sleeping capitalists 
would doubtless like to take a large share in the 
enterprise if started. This sum would cover the 
planting of 100 acres or so, the cost of iimporting 
Chinese coolies and of erecting ample preserving 
and packing plant on the plantation and, I 
venture to say, of the shipment of at least the first 
three crops, 
PLANTING. 
"How do you regard the method of planting 
here?" "It is, if I may say so, all wrong. They 
take the head of the grown pine, and plane 
that ; but it cannot become a fertile growth. 
In the Straits the baby heads, which 
come out as shoots all round the plant — 4 to 5 
inches long— are taken and dried; and these have 
all the life and grow up to healthy fruit-yield- 
ing plants. In Singapore, citronella is planted 
between the pines; but I should not regard thal> 
as advantageous here, as citronella spreads and the 
pines alone would amply repay cost of land, 
cultivation &c. 
A RANGOON EXPERIMENT. 
"Are pines grown and preserved elsewhere in the 
East?" " Well, beside Singapore I have only heard 
of Rangoon. I had a letter only the other day from 
a gentleman in Rangoon who turns out 60,000 
pines per season — not a large quantity — asking me 
to join him there and experiment. I replied last 
week giving my terms, and I have yet to get his 
answer before taking up any project in Ceylon. 
But, for the benefit of the Colony, something 
might be accomplished here in more systematic and 
extensive pine.growing than anything seen hitherto, 
with preserving and packing done on the spot. 
Prices in the Straits are $5 per 3 dozen tins, 
which corresponds to the sale price of 22 cents 
per IJ lb. tins— or B8 per dozen- in Colombo. 
The biggest-sized Singapore pines (say 3| lb) would 
fetch at least 9i wholesale in England. Once 
the planting had been accomplished, only about 
10 coolies would be required to look after, say, 
500 acres, and keep it weeded, &c ; more would be 
obtained at the crop seasons— another lOor IScoolies, 
say, for picking. Or if, thanks to rotatory plant- 
ing, crops came all the year round 20 coolies would 
be quite enough for the acreage named. 
We ui:derstand that Mr Landau will take steps 
to float a Company for the enterprise if he does 
not go to Rangoon and in this case full announce- 
ment will appear in our business columns. 
TRAVANCORE CARDAMOM HILLS 
PLANTERS. 
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION. 
The Annual General Meeting of the Travancore 
Cardamom Hills Planters Association was held at 
Thevaram on the 22Qd ultimo, about four weeks 
earlier than the time fixed by rule. This was done 
in order to secure the presence of the Hon. Mr 
G L Acworth, who was unable to attend later, and 
