' Oct. 1, 1901.] THE; TROPICAL AGRICULTUHIST. 
249 
production. Special efforts will be made to culti- 
vate a taste for tea-drinking among the native 
passengers on the railways, who exceed 160,000,000 
annually. An average consumption of one ounce 
would give 10,000,000 pounds consumed in a year on 
the railways alone, without counting the consump- 
tion of the general population." 
Mark ho'f splendid is the outlook of all this ! 
Talk of storms in a teacup; here is promise and 
potency of golden prolits for the planters, enhanced 
revenue tor the Government, and health and 
pleasure for a population of 250,000,000, 
ALL ENSHRINED IN A TEA-CHEST 
If the notion took root, Assam and Cachar might 
safely double their tea-gardens ; the Indian pot- 
ters might make a little fortune in each district 
by turning out such utensils as native taste would 
demand, and although sobriety is a virtue which 
few Hindoos have to learn, the use of tea is 
everywhere seen, and above all in Japan, to be the 
greatest friend of temperance and gentle manners. 
There is a whole gold-mine in the idea of supplying 
Indian railway travellers with hot and cold tea in 
place of the un tempting and rather perilous water- 
jars now on offer at all stopping stations. Cold 
weak tea is probably the best and safest beverage 
for thirsty throats ; and if Lord Curzon's suggestion 
led to nothing more than a growing habit of 
boiling drinking-water, it would be a result worth 
any efforts. Only too much must not be hoped 
for. The Hindoo is beyond all men cautious, con- 
servative, and caste-ridden. The tea he uses 
would have to be specially grown, prepared, and 
guaranteed, and the.Brahmans and higher classes 
must first be won to the teapot. Perhaps some- 
thing classical might be found in the scrolls of 
Hindoo mythology which would sanctify and re- 
commend the tea-leaf, as has happened in the case 
of the sweet basil. In front of almost every 
Hindoo door will be seen a square earthenware 
pot marked with rude tiffures in coloured chalk, 
and containing a dwarf shrub. This is the holy 
Tulsi— the plant consecrated to the protecting 
deity ; and the Indian housewife would as soon 
forget to grind the day's grain in the little stone- 
mill as to pour the morning water over the Tulsi- 
plant on her doorstep. My good friend, 
SIR MOUNTSTUART GRANT-DUFF, 
who, like King Solomon, knows the Eastern flora 
from the cedar to the hyssop, could find, I am sure, 
something charming and authoritative about that 
plant which, indigenous in Assam, has borrowed 
its name of " Tcha" from China, and is least of 
all known in the land where it grows best and 
most) naturally. If, then. Lord Curzon can teach 
India to drink tea he would, in my judgment, 
deserve for ever to rank among her greatest bene- 
factors, and it is a policy which I am sure all 
Englishwomen will appreciate and support. 
TOBACCO AND COFFEE PLANTING IN 
DELI, SUMATRA. 
From an old Ceylon planter.) 
O. K. Sumatra Aug, 11. 
For tioo years it has been a hard struggle ; 
beef $1 per lb. and heavy Dutch import duties 
on all goods. It has been all I can do to coyer 
current expenditure. There is a cruel ineiiuality 
in this world. Here am I slaving away on 
what might almosti be called sweating wages, ia 
coffee ; and about four hours' distance ia a man, in 
tobacco, whose commission last year is stated to be 
240,000 guilders. Don't mistake it : Two hundred 
and forty thousand guilders at Is 8d = f20,000, 
twenty thousand golden sovereigns as one man's 
commission on profits for one year's working. 
This may be exaggerated : but not by very 
much, I believe. At any rate, though this be 
the highest perhaps ever won, £10,000, ten 
thousand pounds, is not an uncommon sura for 
a tobacco manager to pocket as his commission 
on a year's working. 
I know very little of 
TOBACCO ; 
and just now, my chief being in Europe, f am 
tied hand and foot. Next year I shall have more 
freedom and will try and move about and get 
some tobacco figures tor you. 
As for 
CACAO, 
with ideal soil and ideal climate, nobody will look 
at it here. 
Last year Von Roll, managing Director of the 
premier coffee Company in this district, went home 
and I gave him a letter to you — but homeward his 
ship called on Sunday, and outward at night, 
so he had no chance of seeing you. To Baumann 
also 1 gave a letter. His steamer also called on 
a Sunday ! 
We are just now picking two crops here, 
COFFEE AND CATERPILLARS. 
We have the same pest that Selangor suffered 
from two or three years ago, but I am not 
nervous about it, as I think we have taken it 
in time. One estate was eaten to besoms be- 
fore any one knew that caterpillars were in the 
district ; but this gave the alarm, and no ragged 
bushes are to be seen. 
"A NEW FODDER GRASS FOR INDIA.'' 
is the title of a paper filling the first number 
for 1901 of Dr. Watt's " Agricultural Ledger." 
dealing with " Paspalum dilatatum." Much 
of the information given refers to Austral- 
ian reports and very little experience so far 
has been got in India. Knowing the great 
interest Mr. Nock of Hakgalla takes in 
" fodder grasses," we sent him the pajier 
in the "Ledger" for his opinion and he 
has been good enough to write as follows :— 
" I notice Dr. Watt states on page 3 that ' this 
grass is indigenous to Ceylon,' which, 1 think, 
is a mistake, as I never met with it wild and it 
is not mentioned under Paspalum in Trimen's 
' Flora of Ceylon.' Baron Ferd. von Mueller (p. 1) 
gives 'Extra Tropical South America' as its 
native habitat. I am afraid I cannot say very 
much about it yet, I have it growing here, also 
in Nuwara Eliya and Badulla. In Nuwara Eliya 
in good soil it is growing very well and is parti- 
cularly robust, but its habit is nothing like 
what is described in Dr. Watt's paper, the 
longest blades in Nuwara Eliya being not more 
than 12-14 inches, instead of 5 feet. Prob- 
ably this is on account of the cold. It has, 
however, taken firm hold of the soil and bids fair 
to become a valuable addition to the few 
good fodder plants of the locality. A small bed 
of it at Hakgala is looking very healthy and 
promises to (Jo well, although it is too young 
