638 
THE TROPICAL AGEICULTURIST. [March 1, 1904. 
KAMIE FOE INDIA AND CEYLON. 
Mr. Edwards Radclyffe writes me that he 
has hopes that the Indian Government will 
take up ramie. He has had an encouraging 
interview with one of the officials. i3e notes 
an amusing error made by the printers in 
my account of the last meeting I had with 
him. The words " hand labour," have been 
converted into " hard labour," which makes 
him voice the aspiration that the " Sinhalese 
by hard labour should extract the fibre as 
it is done in China," an idea which I fe.ar 
would not be specially welcome to the native ! 
Mr. Radclyffe has roused Mr. G Herbert 
Brown of the Koyal Ulster Works, Belfast, 
to come forward with his firm's experience 
in ramie-weaving. The results were not 
altogether successful, probably owing to 
lack of knowledge as to the properties of 
the fibre. The yarn though strong, was 
brittle, causing imperfections when woven, 
and there were other di^cnlties. But Mr. 
Brown is convinced notwithstanding, that 
ramie ought to be a commercial success, and 
has a.pplied to Mr. RadclyfEe Edwards for 
further information and suggestions. The 
experiments he describes, were made by his 
firm a good many years ago. — London Cor., 
* 
THE INDIAN GEOLOGICAL SURVEY REPORT 
SOME INTERESTING DETAILS. 
Particulars of two finds of coal which may 
nob impossibly prove important are given in 
the records of the Geolo>^ical Survey of India 
just isiued. The first of these is iu Isa Khel, 
a tahsil ot the Mianwali Distrieb, Punjab. 
This has been favourably reported upon by Mr 
R Simpson, coalmining specialist to the Survey De- 
jsartment who estimates that there are nearly half 
a-raillion tons of workable coal available nearMalla 
Khel. The coal contains a considerable amount 
of moisture, but Mr Simpson considers it undoubt- 
edly useful with a market value which compares 
with Bengal coal in the ratio of 2 to ,3. He 
estimates that some 45,000 tons could be extracted 
annually at about R7J per ton, a price at which 
it would displace Bengal or Baudot coal over a 
considerable section of the North- Western Rail- 
way. The second find is at tiie foot of tlie 
Dinghie Hill, close to the headquarters of tlie 
Umrileng River, near Shillong, Assam. This is 
reported upon by Mr W N Bose, who finds the 
seam is five feet tiiick and capable of yielding 
something less than half a million tons. 
COPPER ORE NEAR DAEJEELING. 
In the same number of the records Mr Hayden 
describes a find of copper ore near Komai, Dar- 
jeeling, which yielded, upon assay, three and 
half per cent of copper and 1 dwt. 8 grs. of gold 
per ton of ore. He considers it might possibly 
be profitably mined, but it requires further 
exploration. 
MINERAL SAPPHIRINE IN VIZAGAPATAM. 
Mr Middlemisa describes a find of mineral 
sapphires in Vizagapatam, a minei'&l which has 
hitherto been obtained only from Greenland. There 
are also a number of practical notes by Mr Holland, 
Director of the Geological Survey, including par- 
ticulars of nome interesting tin >ves from Burma. 
-M. Mail, 
LONDON TEA FIRMS OPENING IN JAVA. 
ANOTHER MOVEMENT AWAY FROM HOME. 
For some time some discontent has prevailed 
among the tea planters in Java as to the manner 
in which their consignments are managed in this 
market and in London, and this seems to have led 
to measures by which another mode of sale will 
be introduced. The well-known tea merchants in 
London, Messrs Rowley Davies and Company, who 
have branches at Calcutta and Colombo, have sent 
a representative to Batavia to open an office there 
also. This representative lias arrived at Batavia, 
and at once commenced negotiations with several 
firms for the shipping of tea, so that the business 
has made a beginning and the first step for the 
establishment of a tea market at Batavia has been 
made. Itis not intended to reduce the prices or 
to make obstacles for the tea merchants in Europe 
but more to meet the various complaints as to i he 
way in which the business was managed in the 
European markets; The branch of the London firm 
mentioned buys the tea, prepares the produce tor the 
various firms which want it, and superintends 
shipment, &c. The object is to avoid as much as 
possible the intervention of other parties. In 
addition to the above, it may be meniioiied that 
the Netherlands firm, J Van der Chys, at Delft 
and London, has already a representative at Bata- 
via to open a branch there, and to do business in 
Java tea, as described above, and by which 
transactions at auctions are avoided,— Z. and V- 
Expres.t. 
INFLUENCE OF THE SOIL ON THE CONSTI- 
TUTION OF THE TEA LEAP AND THE 
QUALITY OP THE TEA. 
( Specially translated from the French, ) 
Dr. A. W. Naninga has just published in 
Mededeelingen uit s'Lands Plantentuin of 
Buitenzorg the first part of an interesting study on 
this subject, of which we give a general summary. 
On studying the different methods of tea manu- 
facture employed in Java, and comparing the 
results obtained in a certain number of plantations 
situated at about the same elevation, under similar 
conditions of climate and cultivated in the same 
way, one is struck by the great differences which 
exist in the marketable value of the product. Dr. 
Naninga has asked if these differences are not due 
to the special constitution of the soil. 
Two teas of different taste ought naturally to 
possess different chemical constitutions. This 
difference may be very slight and cannot be 
established by chemical means, it may exist in the 
organic constituents ; but taking two teas of differ- 
ent taste, plucked and manufactured in the same 
manner, bub cultivated under different conditions, 
the difference in taste can only be attributed to 
some elements drawn from the soil by the plant. 
The author has collected a certain number of 
samples of leal from specially selected districts, 
at the same time as the sample specimens of 
the soil from the same districts were taken. 
Comparative analyses have been made of the 
samples for the different principal minerals found 
in the leaf and in the soil, and which are ; — 
potash, lime,magnesia, manganese, phosphoric acid, 
azote, silicic acid, iron. 
The amount of ash in the leaf hardly varied, but 
it can be concluded, from former researches, that 
it increases in the older leaf. 
