Makcit 1, 1904.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
59.". 
aa mnch body possible ani3 of a strong liquor, 
hence more Oeylou and Indian tea is imported every 
year. This refers not onl^ to lenf tea but even to 
brick ten. 'While with this tea it r.sed to be chiefly 
a question of price, the quality is now critically 
examined, and about 50 per cent, nbove Chini, tea 
is the fisture paid for brick tea, pressed oat of Ceylon 
tea dast, 
GBEEN TKA: CHINA PREFEKRED. 
The green tea trade in Russian Central Asia was 
not nnsHtisfflctory in 1902, even the great earthquake 
in Andishan in December restricting it for o ly a 
short lime. Till five or six years ago only Hysons 
and occasionally Imperials were sold there, whereas 
now in some districts, chiefly Samarkhand and the 
neighbonrhood, a goorl deal of Foongunen and S jwiiiee 
is bought and a good businees is done in even lha 
dearest kinds: the price of these fine Sr.wiriees ha^ 
in consequence bsen forced up to T1-. 110 in China. 
In the chief district of consumption, Ferghona, 
only Hysons are used even now. Experiments have 
already been made in Ceylon and Indian green teas 
in some parts with succee?, but on the whole China 
green tea seems to suit the palate best at present. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
To the Editor " Tropical Agricuturist. " 
AN APPRECIATION FROM LAGOS, WE3T 
AFRICA. 
Sir, — I beg to thank you very sincerely for your 
great kindness in forwarding to this Department your 
very excellent Magazine which we have been receiving 
regularly for a long while, 1 am unable to say how 
long, as we were receiving it when I took charge of 
this Departioen t. 
After reading, 1 forward it to the Agricultural 
Department here, which is as yet only in embryo. I 
trust when it is more complete that we may be able 
to forward you our Agricultural Publication, which, 
although it will be a very poor recompense in return 
for your splendid publication, I trust may be of some 
small value. 
Should you require any information which I can 
supply, it will give me gieat pleasure to do my b^'st 
in that direction. 
Yours faithfully, 
E P. COTTON, 
Commissioner of Lands, d'c. 
^ 
PL.\NTING AND OTHER NOTES. 
CoAGULATINQ RuBBER IN CuNTBAL AMERICA. — Th.3 
method of coigulating Castillo i latex adopted by the 
native collectors in Central America is described in the 
India Ruhher Journal by a set of four photogiaphs. 
The collector having gathered a supply of latex gets 
two leases of the C ilathaea, a plaut having large leavei 
springing from the contracted stem near the root. O.i 
these leaves ho spreads the latex, then places them one 
on the other face to face, and then presses them firmly 
together by treading on them. Tlie lattxs on cotgu 
lates and the leaves are easily stripped uS, leaving a 
finished sample of rubber in a fl it cake looking like a 
Caiathaea leaf in rubber with the impression on it of 
the mid rib and veins of the leaves. 
Sisal Ijibke in Hawaii. —A number of tropical pro- 
ducts are now receiving careful lUteutiou in Hawaii, 
including coffee, tobacco, sisal fibre, mauila hemp, 
vanilla beans, and pineapples. The experiments with 
sisal grass, be^u.i within the past two joars, have 
given great eucoucagemeiit and lead those engaged in 
(he experiments to the belief that Hawiii may b.'come 
an extensive producer of that va'uablc fibre of which 
the importations into the United States amount to 
more than Jol3,000,000 (i;2.6o0,(X)O) per annnm in value 
and steadily increasing. The Hawaiian fibre Company 
reports out of its first crop an exportation of ab nt 
§8,000 (£1,600), in value of sisal in the year 1903, this 
product being obtained from an area of about 120 acres, 
While no recent expeiiments h-ive been made with 
manila hemp, the report states that samples of the plant 
from which manila hemp is produced, introduced several 
years ago in various parts of the Hawiian Islaad?, 
jnstify by their present condition the belief that the 
Hawaiian Islands may become producers of manila 
hemp as well as sisal Another valuable production 
of the Far East introduced experimentally according 
to a report on Hawaii issued by the American Govern- 
ment is Sumatra tobicco, and the experiments thus 
fir inoicate that its cultivation in the Hawaiian 
Islands may prove extremely successful. It may 
be added that the importation into the United States 
of fisal and manila fibre amounted in 1903. to over 
|25,0(10,tiliO (£5,000,00') in value and of Sumatra, 
tobacco to over lg4.000,OOJ (£8OO,O0O; of coffee. 
A SoDTH Wynaad Agbicultueal Exi'ERnrENi. — 
A correspondent writes to the Indian Agriculturist : — 
A novel and somewhat complicated agricultural pro- 
ject is now being launched in South Wynaad, which 
merits eucces'a. A block of about 250 acres, formerly 
covered wjih coffee acd cinchona, is being cleared 
with the object of developing pepper upon two-fifihs, 
para rubber on a similar area, and rice and raggi on 
the remainder, the pepper and inbber to be planted in 
18 in. cube pits ten by ten feet apart, and the surface 
sown broadcast with the aboven^med grains so us to 
secure a catch crop towards the close of the year. 
One serious obstacle in the way of attaining this result 
lies in the fact that when this mode of cultivation is 
adopted, the haivest matures in September and 
October, during which months wet weather usually 
obtains ; consequently a large amount of labour force 
is necessary to securely gather in these cereals. The 
pepper is to be put down through the medium of rooted 
cuttings — a method strongly deprecated by the Govern- 
ment Botanist, Mr. Barber, who entertains the belief 
that plants thus grown are likely to produce far less 
robust vines than those raised from seed, and it is to 
the former system that he attributes their failure and 
dying down on this plateati. The rubber trees in 
course of time are to be thinned out, and only the 
moat healthy and vigorous retained on the land. 
Plucking the Ostrich Feather Crop.— Ostrich 
feathers have their qualities referred to in the Bazaar, 
according to which, iu the large camps of South 
Africa, a regular pluckins? takes place about twice a 
year, the great plucking being in April. Early in 
the morning of the day fixed on, all the available 
mounted Kaffirs and Hottentots ride into the camp, 
and drive the birds into the kiaal, where they are caught 
one by one and quie'ed by passing a bag or stocking 
over the head. The trained Kafiirs usually clip the 
feathers .cfl close, leaving the end of the quill lo drop 
out. This is painless, and the birds so treated will 
produce good feathers for a longer time than when 
plucked. The wing feathers of the male are the best, 
being white and long and exquisitely soft. There are 
twenty-four in each wing. These are often plucked, 
as they can then be taken earlier by a month, and 
thus run less risk of damage to the tips. They are 
suggestively known as '' blood-feathers." Three birds 
yield about 1 lb. of these ''prime whites," which 
from the best bred birds are worth to the farmer 
from £30 to £10 a pound. The tails yield also white 
feathers, but of poorer quality. The rest of the 
"pluck" consists of black or drab feathers. A single 
Bveiuge bird yields probably about £10 to £l2 worth 
per year, all qualiues included. The raw feathers 
are sold to the Jew dealers at Port E.izabeth or else- 
wheie, who resell at advanced prices to London, New 
York, etc. 
