July i, 1891. 1 
THE TROPICAL AtlfRI^OLTUiRlST- 
49 
JAMAICA: THE EXHIBITION, &c. 
(Extract from a letter of Mr. W. Sabomdiere' s dated 
21sf April 1891.) 
The Exhibition has in itself been a great 
Buocees, but the attendance only about pays the 
current expenses, and the guarantors will have 
to pay up every penny for which they are liable. 
I wrote a lettpr in the Olcaner suggesting the 
loss on the Exhibition should be made good 
out ot the surplus revenue, brought about by 
the Exhibition, but the Governor will not hear of 
it, and wants J.imaioans to be patriotic for the 
good of their country ; declares himself ready with 
his £i!00, and believes he has had full value for 
it. and so he thinks should every other guarantor. 
When the time comes I guess he will find he has 
reckoned beyond his post, and that this guarantee 
business will turn out a sad fiasoo. The Legislature 
ia still " en stance," and immigration has been 
renewed. 500 coolies arrived lately, and as many 
more shortly expscted. The Public Works Depart- 
ment has received some very hard and very justi- 
fiable knocks from our member Mr. Espeut, who 
introduced the now hated mongoose, and whose 
wife is a daughter of Major Armit, b. e. , formerly 
stationed at Kandy. Our crops are very backward 
this year, our heaviest picking will not be on till 
May and June. We have had a dry spring which 
should be favorable for good crops in 1891-92. I 
see Oeylon psaberry has sold in London for 141/6, 
This beats Blue Mountain hollow even at Liver- 
pool. Our sizers unfortunately do not throw out 
yeaberry and they don't seem to care for it at 
Liverpool. 
Dr. Calder is interested in rice growing at the 
western end of the island where there is plenty 
of marshy and swampy land ; and he wants to 
get as much information as possible on the sub- 
ject: hence partly his present order for your 
Tropical Agriculturist. 
« 
NEWS FEOM "THE CITY." 
(From a correspondent.) 
The following news by mail of 8th May may in- 
terest yon : — 
" AdamaoD, Bell & Oo., a firm largely interested 
in China tea, ehipping &c., have come to grief. The 
unseonred creditors will have rather a bad time of 
it, the heaviest being the Yokohama Specie Bank 
(Japanese). Other Eistern banks supposed to be 
well secured. 
" The Ceylon tea export frightens importers as well 
as buyers; for if India and Uhina seud to England 
more than last seasson the market will be glutted 
in August and September. Very high prices have 
been paid for the new Hankow teas by Russian 
buyers, and it is feared that the Chinese may be 
encouraged to prepare a large third crop, most of which 
wonld come to England. 
" Oeylon Plantation Coffee steady for fair colory 
parcels. Ceylon Cocoa 113s-123i for brighter pale lots. 
" Cinchona has advanced to 1^- |d per unit 
Quinine has also recovered to 10| to lid for German. 
» 
A Cinnamon Eetate Lease Cash was tried before 
theDistriot Court, Kalutara, on the 28th May in which 
Mr. Jardine of Goluapokuna had to give evidence. 
The plaintifi was Mr. S. E. Eonseka, his case 
being against the lessee of one of his properties 
who had out hia cinnamon about after a very 
unplanterlike and injurious fashion. Mr. Jardine 
had no hesitation in testifying against the lessee. 
Judgment was reserved. 
7 
TOBACCO CULTIVATION IN SUMATRA 
AND IN CEYLON. 
From the Singapore papers we learn that the 
tobacco industry in Deli is in a very critical con- 
dition. For some time past matters have been 
going from bad to worse, until now the planters 
have to face a serious problem. The causes of this 
state of things are three, — competition by Borneo, 
low prices, and exhaustion of the soil. As is 
well known, the tobacco plant is one that draws 
from the soil in a very short space of time all 
its nutritive constituents, and leaves it impoverished 
and unfitted for the cultivation of any product. 
Even guano, it is said, is unable to restore to 
the soil the phosphates needed to produce the 
pli'-nt at the desired level of quality ; and the 
only thing to be done is to let the land lie fallow 
until nature has restored it to its pristine condition 
of fertility. But what are the unfortunate planters 
to do meanwhile? The remedy is said to be in 
the planting of tobacco in other parts of Sumatra, 
such as Indragiri and Palem'oang, where suitable 
laod can be ha^t on easy terras. It is possible there- 
fore that there may erelong be a wholesale exodus 
of planters from Dali to the abovementioned dis- 
tricts. But then the question arises, will it pay? 
As we have said, prices ra Europe are very low 
exoept for the finest qualities, and stocks are 
ample; so that, altogether, the lot of the 
tobacco planter is not a happy one. The re- 
cent experiments with tobacco by Europeans in 
Ceylon have also — with few exceptions^not 
been encouraging; aud we think that there 
can be no doubt that, in this island at least, 
tobacco is more suited for native garden ouUivation 
than to be grown on a large scale by Europeans. 
At any rate, the experience of the Deli planters is 
not one to inspire confidonoe in the enterprise. 
^ . 
WANTED, A "WITHERING MACHINE"— 
MR. JACKSON? 
A " proprietor" who has no connection with any 
Engineering business, writes from the Central 
Province :— " I have a letter from the manager of 
an estate who sends his leaf to a neighbouring 
factory to be manufactured : ' I have had to stop 
plucking ; not from the lack of leaf but because the 
factory is chokeful ot wet leaf which will not 
wither or cannot be withered fast enough in thjs 
weather. 
"I wish Mr. Jackson would bring out hia new wither- 
ing machine which will pay him better than 
spending money on those land sharks of lawyers in 
Colombo. I hear his new drying machine, the 
Britannia' is a great euocess." 
■ — 
Cultivation of China Grass. — An attempt to 
cultivate China grass is to be made on a large 
island, " Li, Isla Menor," on the shores of the 
River Guadalquivir. It is intended to plant 5,000 
acres with the grass, and to erect a mill for the 
production of goods from the fibre. The scheme is 
to be carried out with English capital, and 100 
acres are to be planted at first, A capital of 
£6,000 has been subscribed in order to make ex. 
periments,3 one-half of which has been furnished 
by the proprietor of the land, and the other half, 
by an EugUsh capitalist, who represents a syndicate; 
The scheme exoites muoh interest in Seville, as 
that city would be greatly benefited by the accom- 
plishment of the projects. — Public Opinion. 
