April 1, 1902.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
677 
the short-sighted system of mono culture followed 
in the Amazonas, a warning which in our opinion 
applies not only to this, but to almost every, 
State of the Union. — The Brazilian Hcvieiu. 
Jan. 21. 
CRUDE RUBBER IN THE WEST INDIES. 
According to the report of the Governor in 
Trinidad and Tobago rubber is the only new culti- 
vation, which, as far as present indications go, is 
likely to prove a staple export in the future. It 
is, as yet, however, in a experimental stage. 
There are some eight plantations in Trinidad and 
two in Tobago. Several large sales of Crown 
land in Trinidad have been recently made on the 
understanding that they are to be devoted to this 
cultivation. It is also extending yearly in Tobago, 
chiefly in combination with cocoa, I'he rubber 
is chiefly planted is tlie Central American tree 
Castilloa Elasti'-a. Of this sort there are 100,000 
trees planted in Tobago, as well as some 
thousands of the Brazilian " Mouchet." The 
former promises to be the more profitable. The 
West African .silk has also been recently intro- 
duced, and its importeis are hopeful of its 
success. The greater part of the plantations are 
still quite young — from one to four years old — 
and no large return can be anticipated until 
they have been seven or eight years in exi.stencp. 
The quality seems to be good. A sample of 
Castilloa grown and prepared on Richmond 
estate was sent to England last year, and was 
valued by experts at 3^ 6d per Vo.—India-Rubher 
Irades' Journal, Feb 13. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
The Upeiver Rubber Country— of the Ama- 
zon — may be in the backwoods, but it is tke scene, 
nevertheless, of many phases of business enterprise. 
For example, tlie police of Manaos arrested re- 
cently two men who had in tiieir possession 192,000 
niilreis in counterfeit money, with which they 
were proceeding to the river Purus to buy rubber, 
— India Rubber World, Feb. 1. 
GuiTA Percha.— Monsieur de Jouffroy d'Ab- 
bans, French Gons'ul at Singapore, who is very much 
interested in agricultural questions, writes that the 
extraction of gutta percha out of the leaves is not 
seriously enougli taken into consideration. Every- 
where ill the Malay Arci)ipelago and in Dutch 
India Government and private plantations of 
gutta percha trees have been established, and 
will be able in about four or live years to 
furnish all factories with leaves. The European 
factories, wliich treat the leaves in a chemical 
■way, have at present still much to cope with 
the scanty supply of leaves. They will have to 
close their factories or start plantations themselves. 
Dr. Ledeboer's factory in Holland is, in spite of 
the big capital of this company, often short of 
leaves. Another factory exists near Singapore, 
but it has met with no success, for the expenses 
are too high, the factory being too far from the 
plantations. A small factory is in Pontianak 
and another in Sarawak, in Dutch Borneo, but 
both have the same difficulty in getting leaves. 
In short the future of this very important industry 
of extracting gutta percha from the leaves depends 
on the planting of sufficient trees,— Journal 
d'A grim U ure Tropicale . 
Company Meetings.— The Horrekelly Estate 
Company has declared a dividend of 6 per 
cent for the past year, which we think very 
satisfactory on the whole. An interesting 
tabular statement is given of the working 
of the concern during 1899, 1900 and 
1901. In the report of the Clyde Tea 
Estates Company testimony is borne to the 
favourable results of fine plucking. It has 
only been considered necessary to write ofE 
*. nominal sum for depreciation and the cus- 
tomary provision has been made for deterio- 
ration in value of building. A dividend at 
the rate of 2^ per cent has been declared. 
The directors of the Agra Tea Company have 
not felt themselves justified in recommend- 
ing a dividend in view of the greater portion 
of the profits having been spent upon a new 
extension to the factory and on new clear- 
ings, but a substantial addition has been 
made to the reserve fund. 
Two OB Three Young Planters wanted 
for Blantyre, Nyassaland, forms the burden 
of a bona fide advertisement from the Com- 
pany which appears in the Ceylon Observer, and 
the salary to begin with seems a fairly good 
one, seeing that the cost of living on the 
Company's estates, we are told, is not likely 
to exceed £.50 a year, to a careful man. 
Some parts of Nyassaland have got an in- 
lifferent reputation for fever ; but this Com- 
, any's places are said to be healthy, and Mr. 
. S. Hynde, the Chief Manager, is an ex- 
perienced resident. A drawback to young 
planters offering from Ceylon is that they are 
expected to pay their own passae'es from 
Colombo to Blantyre (just, we are told, as 
" creepers" and others pay their passage out 
to Ceylon), the salary of the men selected 
and who agree to go, beginning from the 
day they report themselves at Blantyre. 
The passage from Colombo to Chinde, the 
nearest port to Blantyre, we feai', could not 
be got far less than £133 (R525) second class 
or (£48 10s R727 50) first. 
The Ceylon Plumbago Market— is the 
subject of a moderately amusing grumble 
on the part of London buyers, through the 
latest Commercial Recoi-d— which we quote 
on page 673. They complain of a combine 
amangst Ceylon native mine owners and 
exporters, not to sell plumbago below a 
certain price, and warn them that it is a 
most inopportune time for the move. The 
amusement comes in where the "screw- 
ing down of the consumer" becomes the 
subject of the writer's grousing. He appears 
completely to ignore the London attempts 
to screw down the producer— poor producer, 
we had almost said, but we have not noticed 
many bankruptcies among plumbago merch- 
ants yet! — by combinations in the Lane, 
The latter preceded the Ceylon move ; and 
as to foreign buyers having met their re- 
quirements for some time to come— the signs 
do not all point that way. We have only 
jxist had an agent of a Pittsburg firm, which 
is said to buy something over 10 per cent of 
the Ceylon output, sounding the local re- 
sources, in view — we understand— of the 
evident profits being made by the trade in 
New York who are shipping from here 
direct. The demand is not so deac}, 
