Sept. 2, 1901.1 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTU lilST. 
in Europe — is making great efforts to grow a 
portion of her own tea in Rus.sia. Along the 
eastern shoie of the Black Sea, a district 
favoured with a suitable ^oil and climate, a 
namber of xlussian landowners, at their head 
Prince Voronzjff, have begun tea-planting on a 
eonsiderable scale, and the result of their efforts 
•ncourages them to persevere. One planter has 
about 40,00 J acres which he is carefully prepar- 
ing for tea culture. This year's harvest pro- 
mises to be about six tons, but each year, as 
the plants grow older, the harvests will increase. 
On Prince Voronzoff s estate it is ex[;ected that 
next year a harvest of twenty-five tons will be 
gathered. These are only small beginnings, but 
it has now been proved that tea will grow in 
that favoured locality, and that its growth will 
pay. The quality of the tea grown on the 
Ulack Sea coasts is said to be of the purest. -M. A.M. 
— Leisure Hour, (.July.) 
THE M. P.'S ORCHID. 
" Odontoglossuni crispurn var Triomphe de Kani- 
bouillet." This is the name of an orchid for which 
Mr J Rutherford, M P for the Darwen division of 
Lancashire, paid the Land Horticnle Coloniale of 
Brussels £80 in November 1899. According to the 
diagram supplied by the sellers the flower had a 
pinkish ground, dark red marks and spots, and a 
pure white lip. Instead of this, when thr plant 
flowered in 1900 it had, said Mr Rulherfrird, a 
piuddy yellow ground with brown spots. Yester- 
day Mr Rutherford sued the Land Horticole 
Coloniale to recover damages for breach of war- 
ranty in regard to the sale. The defendants 
admitted the warranty, but contended that a 
genuine Rambouillet had been sent and that Mr 
Rutherford must have got his orchids mixed. 
John Lupton, Mr Rutherford's gardener, said that, 
had this orchid blossomed as represented, ic would 
have been worth £150. As it actually bloomed it 
was worth s<miething under £5. The case was 
adjourned, — Daily Mail, July 3. 
CINCHONA PLANTATIONS IN BURMAH. 
It would be interesting to learn what has become of 
the cinchona plantations spoken of in 1880 as existiug 
in the Toungoo district by Major Spearman in his 
Gazetteer. In December 186S a small plantation way 
commenced on Plo'o-ma-do hill, south-east of Toungoos 
at an elevation of 2,100 feet. One hundreJ and eighty 
plants of the " Succirubra," or red bark variety, were 
planted, of which 128 were living tvv'elve years after- 
wards. Two plants of the sn,me species planted on 
Bogale hill at an altitude of 2,800 feet, but in rather 
an exposed situation, had attained a height of nine 
and ten feet in thirteen years. A plantation was 
formed in 1871-2 at Thandauug, eighteen miles east of 
To'ingoo, at an elevation of 3,700 feet. T i,; red bark 
variety is the only one of the different species tried 
which has auoceeded p«t all. Plants of this species, 
though vigorous enough, have a bushy and guarled 
appearance, and were covered with seed though only 
about ten to fifteen feet high. The other variety, 
planted over two-thirds of the whole area of 100 acres, 
failed. The plants grew well for two or three years 
but then began to sicken and die. Plants were gra- 
tuitously distributed to heads of Christian Missions. 
We have not noticed in any Forest Department 
report any account of these cinchona plantations, the 
oldest of which were ijlanted frrjm thirty to thirty-five 
years ago. It would be interestmg to learn what has 
become of Vaera.— Rangoon Gazette, July 15. 
SISAL HEMP INDUSTRY. 
Dr. Morris [in a letter dated Barbados, Janu- 
ary •28tli] has estimated that under favourable 
conditions the cost of cultivating and extracting 
the libre should not exceed about £10 or £12 per 
ton. The markils price, however, is very variable. 
It has been as low as about £13 per ton ; on the 
other hacd, ii has, for one or two years continu- 
ously, been as higu as £30 to £40 per lou, or 
even higher. The pUnt will undoubtedly grow in 
Trinidad and Tobago. There are already ;i lai-ge 
nuniber of plants running wild in the latter island. 
It is to be remembered that ic is not a cultivation 
tor small proprietors. It is carried on on very much 
the same lines as cane cultivation. I estimate 
that it requires a capital of about £7,000 to £10,000 
to start and maintain a plantation, say, of 1,0 '0 acres 
in regular working. yVnything less' than the area 
above given would not keep the scutchino- machines 
in full working, and thus add to the cost of 
management and the up-keep of the plantations. 
As only about three per cent of the weight of leaves 
is returned in hbre, there is a heavy cartage of 
these to the factory. On an estate turning nut, say, 
500 tons of fibre, not less than aVioat 15,000 tons 
of leaves have to be brought to the mill. Tiiis 
necessarily in.-olves considerable expenditure in 
carts and stock, or in estate tramways. It is 
stated that in very rich soils the fibre' is not so 
strong and abundant as in comparatively poor soils 
in dry climate-. Again, in the Halian'ias, it was 
found that absolutely barren land was quite use- 
less and led to disappointment and loss. — Proceed- 
ing.'^ of the Jamaica Aqricultural Society. 
TOBACCO GROWINO IN NORTH NEW 
ZEALAND. 
Mr. Gr F Sutherland, of Fiji, who was com- 
missioned by the Government of New Zealand to 
report upon the suitability of tlie North Island for 
growing tobacco as a commercial crop, has jusc 
sent in his report. Mr. Sutherland has had 23 
years' experience as a tobacco-grower in India, 
Australia, and Fiji. He has on the present occasion 
visited the whole of the North Island, and we 
understand thac his report is generally of a favour- 
able character. He deals with the questions ' of 
soil, climate, economic conditions, former experi- 
ments, and thi> reasons why they failed. Mr. 
Sutherland leaves on the 26th inst. for Fiji.— Auck- 
land Neivs, June 21. 
^ 
Tea in Mauritius —According to a report 
recently received at the Colonial Office from the 
Government of Mauritius and Rodriguez, there 
are four factories of tea in that colony and several 
plantations, covering approximately 200 acres. 
The tea maile is nearly all consumed in the 
colony. In 1898 there were five factories and 367 
acres under cultivation. The average selling 
price in 1898 and 1899 was Rl-20 per kilo. The 
approximate quantity manufactured in 1899 was 
27,000 kilos., of which only 2,585 were e\ , u ted, 
chiefly to the United Kingdom. In lS9;s ,i was 
40,0i>0 kilos., of which 7,266 kilos, were exported, 
chiefly to Madagascar. The year 1899 shows an 
approximate decrease of 13,000 kilos.— 
(May.) 
