July i, 1891.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
II 
Total Exportss of Tea trom Calcutta, from 
IsT Max 1890 to end April 1891. 
Great BrilaiD... 
Australia and New Zealand 
America 
Bombay 
Sundry Ports... 
1890-91. 
9S,lS2,a98 
4,837,998 
13:j,818 
601,297 
3o7,42a 
1889-90. 
98,303.11„ 
3,596,04,. 
187,50; 
1,133,97* 
419,503 
104:, 812,834 103,640,142 
FLOODING THE PEODUCE MAKE.ETS. 
The following editorial from the Chemist and 
Druggist (April 18th) contaiad a grave lesson to 
Ceylon planters, who, indeed, know too well already 
from their experience of cinchona bark, what over- 
produotion and ruinously low prices mean. The 
question is now whether there should be any further 
extension of tea ouliivatsd here, seeing the heavy 
production and tha scaroity of labour which are 
likely to be encountered : — 
Not the least interesting among the results of the 
immense expansion which the boundaries of our empire 
have undergone in Africa and Asia during the last five 
years, and of the extraordinary revival of the feeliugs 
of kinship among the scattered parts of the Empire 
are the numerous schemes to render the outlying 
portions of Greater Britain more productive and to 
utilise their latent resources so a greater extent than 
heretofore. To say that, from climatic and economio 
standpoints, there is scarcely a natural product which 
cannot be produced within the limits oi the British 
dominions is a truism bo trite that we almost apologise 
for repeating it, and general sympathy with all elforts 
to increase the productivity of any p&rE of the Empire 
and enhance the well-being of its inhabitants, may bn 
similarly assumed. But enthusiasm for Colonial de- 
velopment has its dangerous side. And io no cue should 
the reverse of the medal be more apparent than to the 
produce merchant, who with an intelligent interest 
keeps himself informed of tbe new sources of produc- 
tion of the raw materials of industry, and compares their 
probable supply with the demand which may fairly be ex- 
pected lor them. The drug importer in particular enjoys 
unusual means of observatiou on this point. No other 
merchant draws his raw materials from so many 
sources, and there is probably no other trade in 
whicii the grades of usefulness of any given article, 
from the almost absolutely valuele.-s to the highest 
excellence, are liable to vary so much as in his. 
To the produce importer, who sees the probability 
and often actually experiences the difficulties attending 
the glut of his market by the introduction of now 
developments of enterprise, the proverbial benefactor 
who enriches the world with that often-mentioned 
additional blade of grass, is not always so welcome 
as he expects to be. The authorities of the Boyal 
Gardens at Kew, who are doing eminently useful ex- 
perimental work in connection with tbe acclimatisauon 
of produce, are not free from the risk of allowing 
their zeal to outrun their^discretiou, from the importer's 
point of view. It may be suggested even to them 
that in selecting their new investigations they might 
at least first ascertain approximately the world's 
requirements and capabilities of absorption. A case 
in point has occurred this week. Before the Royal 
Colonial Institute, on Tuesday night, Mr. Morris, tha 
energetic assistant-director of Kew Gardane, read an 
interesting paper oa the " Leeward Islands " — that 
little group of western paradises entwining the Carib- 
bean Sua with a girdle of fragrant verdure. Mr. Morris 
ban previously spent many years in botatdoal pursuits 
in the Antilles, and has just returned home, filled with 
re-awakened memories of the unexhausted fertility of 
the Antilles. He talks of their wonderful productive- 
ness, and urges the investment of a " moderate 
amount " of capital in their development. Dominica 
produces annually about 8,000?. worth of lime-juice; 
and in Monteerrat a thousand acres are covered with 
lime pUnJations. The profits, as a commuoicative 
planter rashly explained to him, as it were with • 
view of inviting others to come and compete, are large. 
An outlay of 1,000?. will establish a 20-acre plantation 
in full working order, v^-ith works and plants complete, 
and defray the expenses of supervision for seven years. 
At the end of that time the estate would yield at the 
rate of 40 hogsheads of ooncentrated lime-juioe, 
worth 401 each, or 480?.; while tbe yearly cost of 
cultivation and manufacture would be about h»lf 
that amount, leaving 240?. as the set annual profit. 
If the industry is such a profitable one at the 
present time, the happy lime-juicers of Dominica had 
better rest content in their modern Arcadia, instead of 
bragging of their gains to the promiscuous visitor ; but 
what prospect is there, we ask, that this rate of profit 
would be maintained if, say, the acreage under cultiv- 
ation were doubled or trebled ? So with gambier. 
The Kew authorities have lately been paying special 
attention to this valuable tanning material, and num- 
erous attempts at its propagation are being made in the 
West India islands. The United States being among 
the largest consumers of gambier, it is certainly rea- 
sonable to expect that, if they could obtain it as cheaply 
at their own doors, they would not go to the Strait* 
Settlements for it. But while we do not say that there 
is not room for an increased output of gambitr, it should 
be borne in mind that itu manufacture in the Straits 
Settlements is practically a monopoly of the Chinese, 
who have thus far been the only people who can make 
the culture pay. What Chinese oompdtition would 
mean, if it is a question of producing cheaply, there is 
no need to particularise. Are our West Indian colonies 
prepared, at a time when Australia and the 
States are compelled to exclude Chinese from 
their labour markets, to rush in where the 
European planters of the Straits Settlements 
hsve hitherto feared to tread? It is not quite enough 
that the warm moist valleys of Dominica are likely 
to suit the gambier-plant In every way. The question 
is, whether the planters there couid face the possibility 
of a fall in tha value of the manufactured product 
to eay 10?. per ton, instead of the 40?. which it 
realises now. Again, we are informed that " spices, 
such as nutmeg and maco, vaniiia, black pepper, 
cubeb pepper, long pepper, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, 
cardamoms are already introduced into this part of 
the world. The demand for spices is increasing, and 
these islands could gcow every one of tho.--e meu'.ioned, 
if only the people would give their attention to them 
p.,nd treat them scoordiug to thrir special require- 
ments.'" But is it not afact that the cultivation of nearly 
every one of these produc;s is already, i< not over- 
done, at least so tuliy proviaea iC'r that (urihor com- 
petition can only prjve distsatroas from a financial 
point of view ? Pepper, for instance, is almost ex- 
clusively produced aud brought into commerce by 
Chin;se cheap labour; vauilla is a product the culti- 
vation of whicn requires not only unremitting care but a 
dexterity only to be acquired by practice, and 
any considerable addition to the production of 
Mauritius?, the Seychelles iiD.d Mexico, would 
send prices down to tha lowest verge of ro. 
munerativeness. The commercial history of cubebB« 
records price-fluotuationa from 35s. to 30?. per cwte 
within a few years. The increase in value of thn 
article has led to an enormous extension of cultivatiod 
in Java, and the value of the drug — which, it shouli- 
be remembered, is oae of compirativeiy small signw 
ficance — has failen 100 per cent, within the last fern 
months, while the exports from Java have risen froal 
118 piouls in 18S8 to 1,373 picula in 1890. Essentioh 
oils scarcely offer greater promise. Witn those whioh 
are produced in France and Italy it would require not 
only a considerable capital, but also a vast fund of 
practical experience to cope. Our knowledge of the 
chemistr of essential oils is as yet so limited, and 
adulteration so difficult of detection that buyers 
are compelled to rely very largely upon the 
honour aud commercial reputation of the growers 
with whom they deal ; hence custom and preju- 
diee prevail in this trade to an almost incredible 
extent, A slight innovation — often of the nature 
of an undoubted improvement— in the packing gf 
