262 THE TROPICAL AGlilCULTUKloT. [Oct. 1, 1901. 
PRODUCE PLANTING AND COMMER- UGANDA 
CIAL NOTES. 
THE EUSSIAN EXPERIMENTS IN TEA 
GROWING, 
AS A RUBBER-PRODUCING 
DIRTRICT. 
like those in the Southern States of America, do 
not suffer for lack of advertisement. The news of 
the success of these experiments in both countries 
is noise i abroaci rat iiiterrals, and < xpectations are 
raise which, if fulfilled, may at some future date 
have an effect on the tea markets of the world ; but 
this will not be just yfet. Referring to the Russian 
experiments, the Vienna correspondent of The Times 
says (Aug. 2lBt) : — " According to Austro-Hungarian 
official reports the effoits th(t are being made to in- 
troduce the cultivation of the t,ea plant in the eastern 
districts of the Trans-Caacasian territory are proving 
successful, The plantations iu the neighbourhood 
of Batoum are flourishing and the two crops already 
gathered were very satisfactory. The series of ex- 
perimental plantations es>^ablished last year on the 
Caucasian coast of the Black Sea are to be greatly 
extended. Further plantations are to be started 
this year in Mingrelia and the Sukham district. Up 
to the present the plants have chie fly consisted of 
slips grown from Chinese seed. This year it is 
decided to try the species known as kangru, which 
has yielded excellent results on an estate at Tchakva 
belonging to the Imperial family." 
OPPOSITION TO SECRET TEA AUCTIONS. 
Active opposition to the secret tea auctions is 
shown wherever grocers congregate. The Metropoli- 
tan Grocers, Provision Dealers, and Oilmen's Asso- 
ciation passed a resolution last week appealing to the 
Grocers' Federation to issue a circular on the sub- 
iect and the Bradford Grocer.s' Association made a 
tormal protest also. The Grocer last week again 
Tiublishes a list of marks of tea sold at the private 
sales It also publishes a letter on the subject in 
which the writers say : " It is evident that an orga- 
nised attempt is being made by the brokers, whole- 
salers and big retailers to get the conditions of tea 
sales 'back to a level of the old times which were so 
eood for the wholesale teaman. The retail grocer 
fwhat is left of him) has, however, had qwite as keen 
o time as his friend above, and having been brought 
fn the grindstone by Government-fed competition, 
oombinauons of every kind, ' presents ' humbug, bonus 
Snhisions pension weeds stamp trick, and war tax 
oppression, he is of necessity no longerthe easy-going 
tradesman of those ' good old times,' but has perforce 
In Wn himself posted with all the means at his com- 
T^and and will accordingly kick against this attempt 
folll on the extinguisher and bid him shtit his 
eves open his cheque-book, and take what - plums 
t^f'' secret' dealer has to send. Probably the 
ronntrv grocers have been waiting for the trade asso- 
^faHons to give the ball a start, and, unless the 
^Pderation dies vigorously take up the matter, it 
Should put up the Shutters." The Grocer, com- 
menting on this, says: "We strongly sympathise 
S the writers of the above excel ent letter but 
have not much faith in the black- list idea. Most 
firms buy at the secret sales i" order to pick up 
bargains thereat. The exposure should rather be of 
those who, to make the secret auctions a success, 
„ JZf\ to bovcott the public sales and so damage the 
fSnate and proper^nethod of conducting the 
tea basi^nesl--7i and C Mail. Aug. 23. 
Hrwer's Tka Company.— We publish 
on pivge 260 the annual report of the directors 
whU showsa shortage in crop of 16,819 lb., as 
ro T pared with the estimate, while the aver- 
TiTCcp realised was only 33'03 cents per Ibas 
Muni list H(i-29 in the previous year. Ihe cost 
yMlie tea in Colombo bad also been greater. 
SIR H JOHN.STON .S EKPOET. 
About one-flflh of the area of the Uganda Pro- 
ectorate is covered more or ie^s densely wi h rubber- 
producing trees and vines, principally belonging to 
the Apoeynaceous order (Taberuse montana, L/andol- 
phia). There is said also to be a species of real 
gutta-percha tree, but of this I have no certain prooof. 
The rubber derived from the above-mentioned sources 
is of very good quality, and the samples which we hive 
submitted to examination on the east coast of Africa, 
and at Kev/, though not quite property prepared, have 
fetched fcorn 25 to 3s per lb. A much larger con- 
signment of various kinds of rubber is now on its 
Wiy to England for examination. I regret that it 
should not h:),ve airived in time forme to add to this 
report more definite particulars, but the matter mast 
be tre.ated of in a subsequent despatch, when Sir W 
Thiselton Dyer has examined the specimens. 1 can, 
however, speak confidently, both in regard to the 
extent of the country with rubber-producing trees 
and vines and to the average value of the rubber. 
When I first arrived in Uganda, I found the natives 
totally ignorant of the resources of their forests. 
They valued the rubber vines chiefly for their edible 
fruit, and the sap, if used at all in any local industries, 
was not known to have any commercial value. Mr 
Whyte, the director of the Scientific and Agricultural 
Department, assisted me to take the matter up, and 
the Uganda chiefs, once informed of the value of 
this industry, co operated in sending young men to 
to be instrucied by Mr Whyte in the methods of 
procuring the rubber from the tree or vine withon? 
injury to the source of supply. We endeavour to 
impress on the natives that they must "milk" the 
trees, but not kill them, and that the trees or vines, 
dealt with properly in this fashion, furnish a con- 
tinual revenue. Prior to this course of instruction, 
an agreement was concluded with the native chiefs, 
which brought all the forests of the Uganda Pro- 
tectorate directly under the Crown. It has become, 
therefore, illegal for anyone to gather lubber iu those 
forests without permission. But in order to encourage 
the nascent industry, I informed all the chiefs that 
until further notice, we would permit their people, 
without restriction, toobtain rubber from the Govern- 
ment forests on the understaiiding that they only did 
so after the manner prescribed by the Scientiflo 
Department. They would then be permitted to sell 
the rubber thus obtained at a reasonable price 
to the merchants, retaining the price received 
for their own benefit. The Government profit 
comes in through the establishment of a 15 
per cent ad valorem duty on rubber exported 
from the Protectorate. The buying price, duty, and 
other expenses combined, should bring up the local 
cost of the rubber to the merchant to Is per lb. 
Another 3d per lb would probably meet the entire 
cost of transport by the Uganda Railway and ocean 
steamer to a European market, where the eventual 
selling price might range between 23 and 2s 6d per lb, 
so that something like 100 per cent profit ought to 
b'? made on the transaction. I have not up to the 
present time taken any 9teps to regulate the native 
price of the rubber ; but, in consideration of th« 
facilities we afford the natives, I think it would be 
as well, later on, to limit their selling price to the 
merchants to a maximum of 9d per lb. I am not 
in favour, personally, of granting at present any 
exclusive concessions of rubber foieststo individuals 
or associations. I think it would be far better to 
adopt, experimentally, the plan I have sketched forth 
of allowing the native, under proper supervision, to 
gather the rubber and to sell it to all and sundry 
at his own price up to a reasonable maximum. Tha 
Government profit would, as I have pointed out, ba ' 
represented by the export duty, which I found already 
established in the Protectorate before my arrival. I 
