^50 THE TROPICAL AGRiCULTUIlIST. [Oct. 1, 1901. 
months old) to be sure about it. Another small 
bed in the Badulla gardens lias made a very e;ood 
start, but was only about .3 montbs old when I 
saw it last and it was then 9 inches high-" 
COCONUTS IN DEMAND. 
Coconut cultivation has been rapialy extending 
in these |)arts through Kinop'.-au an;! native en- 
terprise during the last fitLy years ; buc instead of 
the apprehension of ov(jr p)0(iiu:tiu'i which, like a 
hobgoblin, now haunts the pillows and disturbs 
the slumbers of the Tea-planter, the local coc&nut 
planter is cheerefl by the Ijriglit prospect of steaOi- 
iy increasing prices for his produce for which the 
demand is in excess of the supply. Coconut timber, 
nuts, oil, copperah, hbre, in tact, the various pro- 
duce of the palm, fetch very good prices. Coconuts 
are at present very dear and the demand for them 
will be greater when the railway begins to run. — 
Cor, Jaffna, Catholic Guardian, Aug. 31. 
TOBACCO AND OTHER CULTIVATION 
IN NORTH-CENTRAL CEYLON— AND 
IN BOENEO. 
Mr. W. D. GU)l)on writes :— 
''I note your footnote to my news from 
Borneo. ' God help the man ' who tries to 
plant tobacco of the sort that Borneo and 
Sumatra supply, in the North-Central Pro- 
vince. You seem to forget the melancholy 
failure made by ihe Sumatra planters who 
certainly knew how to grow in Kurunegala 
the sort of leaf wanted ; but whose under- 
taking was such a ghastly failure. 
A JAPANESE TEA COMMISSIONER 
STARTING FOR FRANCE. 
The late Paris Exposition of 1901 has unexpec- 
tedly had a good effect upon our tea trade. Since 
the close of the exposition, during which display 
our tea house opened there enjoyed universal 
favour, the Central Tea Guild in tlie Capital, by 
which corporation the above tea house was opened 
in the Exposition grounds, has received many 
orders either officially or privately from various 
establishments and individuals in France for the 
shipment of the Japanese leaves ; our honorary 
Consul in Marseilles having likev.'ise been asked 
by some French merchants for recommendation to 
a respectable Japanese establishment for the 
opening of transactions in the tea business. Such 
being the case, the Tea Guild will despatch Mr. 
Kisaburo Sano to France for the purpose of ar- 
ranging contracts with the French establi-hments 
in connection with orders received and the gentle- 
man is expected to set out on his mission on the 
10th instant, taking with him a variety of samples 
consisting of 500 kilo, of leaves from the Kobe 
Seicha Kaisha, 300 kilo, from the Yokohama Seicha 
Kaislia, 100 kilo, each from the Chuo Kaigisho, 
the Formosa, Chasho Kokai, etc. It is said that, 
in case the contracts will be arranged between 
the French establishments and the conniiissioner 
above referred to. our tea shall hereafter be shipped 
directly to France from various tea establishments 
both in Formosa and Japdn proper.— /a;paJi/ 
W^Mu Timeti, Aug, 10. 
TEA IN AUSTRALIA. 
"The Story of the Tea Trade" is the 
title of an attractively written and illus- 
trated pamphlet issued by the well-known 
Indo-Ceylon Tea Firm. James Inglis & Co. 
of Sydney, the founder of which has done 
so much to popularise British-grown teas 
in the Austi'alian Colonies. Charming pic- 
tures are given of both Indian and Ceylon 
tea planta<ious and of all the processes 
from the clearing of land to the shipping of 
tea boxes. The following page is worth 
reproducing : — 
The Mfclbourne IntcrnatioDal Exhibition of 1880-81 
was inanguiated with much pomp and ceremony in 
the Victorian capital. Mr. Inglis, under Sir Edward 
Buck, K.C.SJ., Chief Commiseioner for the Indian 
Empire, was again put in cha-rge of the Indian Coort 
and Exhibits, as Executive Oommissioner. Special 
attention was, of course, paid to the exploitation of 
the Indian Tea industry. A dear old colleague of 
the writer — the late A. M. Ferguson, C.M.G., pro- 
prietor of The Ceylon Observer, and Executive Com- 
missioner for Ceylon — proved a willing and able 
co-worker with Mr, Inglis, in the effort to exclude 
impure and objectionable China Teas from the 
Australian market, and substitute therefor, the pure, 
Btrong, and flavoury growths ot India and Ceylon" 
It was a " hard rov/ to hoe." Vested interests were 
strong. The China traders and importers had long 
" ruled the roost," but the twin colonies in Her 
Majesty's Indian Empire, had a " good cock to fight," 
and they fought it for all it was worth. In the Press 
and on the platform, white-heated controversy raged. 
Mr, Inglis was in the thick of the fight. He wrote 
pamphlets ; he lectured ; he wrote to the Press, and 
in both the Indian and Ceylon Courts, beautifully 
furnished Tea kiosks or lounge rooms were fitted up, 
wherein Tea was dispensed ; and so by " here a little 
and there a little," the undoubted merits of the 
Indo-British-grown Teas forced their acceptance far 
and wide, and the following table, kindly compiled 
for us by Mr. Dyer, of Alfred Harvey and Co., shows 
at a glance how the fortunes of the light have gone. 
In 188H-1, the total recorded imports of Indian and 
Ceylon Teas to all Australia, were less than 100 lb. 
of either. Leaving the intermediate early years out 
of the record, a glance at this table will, we think, 
somewhat astonish you. 
Shipments of Tea to Australia since 1888. 
Tear. 
1st May to 30th China, Indian. Ceylon. 
April. lb. lb. lb, 
1888- 89 .. 24,118,451 2,880,596 846,104 
1889- 90 .. 21,050,332 8,600,000 1,533,440 
1890- 91 .. 15,378,142 4,716,827 2,814,71.3 
1891- 92 .. 13,875,993 6,139,523 3,541,618 
1892- 93 .. 14,898,258 3,845,328 6,694,729 
1893- 94 ., 13,986,445 6,514,356 7,650,000 
1894- 95 .. 10,463,585 8,000,000 4,452,214 
1895- 96 .. 11,262,500 11,102 506 6,818,503 
1896- 97 .. 6,766,656 12,862,701 6,267.000 
1897- 98 .. 4,593,000 0,596,728 13,837,604 
1898- 99 .. 5,737,063 6.248,811 15,899,389 
1899- 1900.. 6,517,406 8.301.839 15,349,144 
See the enormous shrinkage in China Teas, Even 
now Indian imports exceed those from China, and 
the Ceylon shipments about equal both combined. 
F Quinine in Corea.— Our Consul at Corea says 
that the importation of quinine, to which reference 
was made in the trade Report for 1898, continues 
to be an item of some importance in the import 
trade. During 1900 the quantity imported was 
120 cases of 100 1-oz. bottles each, representing a 
value of about £8,000. The business is in the 
hands of a German iixxii,— British and Colmiai 
Dmcfgist) Aug. 23. 
