Auougf !, iS^!.] THE TROPICAL AtSRfOULTURfST 
UTA PLANTING EEPOET, 
Baaulla, June ^5th. 
Brieht pleasant weather, with an oooasioaal 
shower, is the order of the day. A good deal of 
wind on the higher estatea, but no harm has been 
d^jnej, and it will help harden the wood o{ our 
August and September blossoms. Tea haa to a 
certain extent shut up. But it is somewhat of a 
relief to have a little breathing snaoe affer the 
continued strain of keeping up with the rush of 
leaf during the past three months, and to be able 
to devote a little attention to other works. A very 
severe attack of leaf disease general in the district. 
We are all however now aooustomed to regard this 
disease with a certain amount of oomplaceney, 
after our experiences with bug. In the one case, 
we know that in a few weeks our coffee will, at 
any rate, look as well as ever. In the other, 
we cannot avoid wondering whether the present 
attack may not leave us without any coffee at all. 
There is very little bug for the time of year 
visible at present, and I trust it may give us no 
more trouble and betake itself to pastures new. 
Autumn crops are generally good, and with favour- 
able weather there is no reason why spring crops 
should no be equally satisfactory. Coffee has done 
very well in this season and has ripened its crop 
and stood its oroo better than it has for years 
past. A good deal of laud being cleared for tea 
this year and clearing works have commenced on 
some estates. Tea pruning has commenced, and 
next month will see a large acreage pruned down. 
The Brazil Coffee Receipts are realizing 
the high estimate of 5,250,000 bags to which the 
house of Messrs. J. Bradshaw <fe Co. have persistently 
pinned their faith, against the general belief in 
a much lower figure. The biggest export of 
coffee from Brazil on reoord was 6,711,000 bags 
in season 1882-83. 
The PLuirBAGO Industry. — This industry has re- 
cently assumed large proportions oonsequent upon rich 
finds and good prices, and large quantities of the 
mineral are being brought into Colombo from distant 
places. Pasdum Korle and Bayigam Korle in the 
Western Province, with Hewagam and Siyana, con- 
tribute a large quantity, while the Southern Province, 
and the Province of Sabaragamuwa and the North- 
Western Province, contribute largely almost daily to 
Colombo. Hundreds of people are employed in the 
pita, most of which wo are worked by nuars 
of improved machinery which the proprietors have 
got out. The native merchants engaged in the industry 
in the Knrunegala district are looking forvv ir l to the 
day when the railway will be opened to Knrnn°gala, 
as it will afford an easy means of transporting the 
|thou9«nd8 of tons of plumbago sent from that district 
o Colombo. — Co>'. 
Irbigation. — The reclamation of arid lands by 
means of irrigation is of historic and ancient origin. 
China has had its artesian wells for irrigating 
purposes for more than 3,000 years. Thr table 
lands of Arabia support a population of 12,000,000 
who raise wheat, barley, millet etc , from a soil 
penurious of vitality without the aid of artificial 
irrigation. Algeria is practically a desert, but its 
broad plateaus of sand are made productive by the 
same means, no less than 12,000,000 acr.is bein? 
reclaimed by artificial processes. In Mexico and 
South America there are 2,500,000 acres fertilized 
bv borrowed waters, in India 30,000,000 acres, in 
China 60,000,000 in Japan 11,000,000 iu Egypt 
6,300,000 and in antipodal Australia some 200,000 
Borea are made green and productive by thb irriga- 
tion method. — Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manu- 
factwert 
Tka and Ooppbb Iff Bono.— According to the 
official statement of the quantitifim of bonded goods 
remaining 'n the Onotom and Bxcia« wharehoasei 
of the United Kitisrdom, as published 5n the 
B Rill of VjQtrv, tho stof^k nf te* on May Sis* wan 
7<»,020.834 tb, against 85.239, "^38 lb in 1890, 
78,040,540 ft) «.t the correspondPnt netlod of 1889 : 
coffee, 236.934 cwt against 377,686 cwt. and 460,146 
ow*.— ^. nnd 0. Mail. 
AsAiNsT riHtiAP TvA,q..— A Stockton firm of eroeeri 
rooen'lv offered a nr'^7,e to ifrooerB' assistan** for the 
best essay on tea. This esaay, won bv a Mr. Lain?, bag 
I'nst been prince'', with an introflufltioti bv th<' prize- 
givers, in wh'Vh tbov nav : — " We unhesitatinglv statfl 
that no tea ofi^Bfod to tbe pubHc at a lena price than Is. 
lOd. per lb. can bo a fit or wholesome nrt'clo for COU= 
sumption." Sppakinff of inferior teaq they s*y;-= 
" These teas are no^ cheap at anv nionev ; a greater 
quantity is required to brew a fairlv strong oup of tea, 
and when made more or less to the satisfaction of the 
tea-<1rinkpr it will contain aomo 20 ner cent, of tannic 
acid, a substance which sneedilv dpstrovs the costing 
of the stomach, and tarns wholesome roaat into a hard 
and indigestible substance, iust in tho same manner as 
ttnnin is used at tan v«rd.=! to euro cowhides and make 
them fit for leather " 
The Tea Market.— Of Indian an-l Ceylon tea and 
last week's sales the Produce M/rrJrefs' Review aavs : — 
The value of Tn-'ian tea shows no change of importance, 
the good, medium, and finer grades being a shade 
firmer, while the lower descrintions havo aoH a* 
above late rates. The moderate quontHies offered 
at tho public sales mainly consisted of the inferior 
descriptions, and it appenrg evident that the supply 
of tea worth over la. will for some time to come he 
very small. The few lots of new aeaaon's broueht 
forward were, as is generally the case for the first 
arrivals, not of a very desirab'e oharaoter, the 
infusion being thin and showing a want of proper 
manufacture. As thi« is not unusual with the first 
shipment, it is no criterion of tbo quality of future 
imports, which is likely, judoriug from recent 
reports, to be quite np to the average of paat 
seasons. The figures of the pas* month are less 
satisfactory than the trade has latterly been aoous- 
tomed to, which is mainly to be accounted for by 
the poor selection and the high prices for the common 
grades compared with the lower Oevlon growths. A 
marked improvement has taken place in tho demand 
for Ceylon teas, and consequently prices have improved 
for all grades. 
Influenza and its Cure. — The Spectator 
has a good word for quinine and of all things 
" enuff-taking." in winding up a lone and rather 
despondent article about the new pestilence which 
threatens to become an annual visitor. In conclu- 
sion our contemporary says : — 
We shall have good reports this time on the dia- 
oase when it passes, and we may perhaps have some 
Incid BUffgesfion, or, at any rate, a suegestion on 
which doctors acrree. as to the best preventives. At 
nrespnt, everybody haa his own panacea, thonsrh, 
fortunately, this year preposterous doses of antipyrino 
are not among them. It is diflSoult even for laymen 
to touch the subject without offering them, bo we 
will yiold to the weakness by ending this paper with 
two suGTgestions.— the first given only for its interest 
to » minute and rapidly decreasing class, the other 
because we rather believe in its virtue. Let snuff- 
takers postpone abandoning that dirty and urIv 
practice till the pestilence passes away, for the queer 
instinnt of the common folk, which suddenly 
doubled the sales of Scotch snuff, has probably a 
btt'iis. Tobacco is of no nse as a prophylactic against 
influenza, but the thickenina: of the mucous membrane, 
which comes of snuff-taking, is probably ft protec- 
tion, and points to a quite possible preventive. So 
also, and a much better one, is solid quinine, the 
only protection against aguish fever which travellers 
in the tropics trust. Influenza is certainly an aguish 
fever of some sort, and there is no protection like 
a daily pill of three grains of quinine, a recipe which 
has at least thia advantage, that it can do nobody 
any barm. 
