136 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1891. 
Government to get a Postal Union Service to the 
Ohinde mouth of the Zambezi, aa well as a 
teleKtaph station, whioh I 've no doubt we shall get 
in due course. It is terrible the way the Portuguese 
humbug the British subjects here, steahng letters 
containing drafts &o. and only despatahmg wnat- 
ever telegrams they think proper, exousmg them- 
selves by saying the line is out of order &o. 
The British gunboats have just gone down to 
the Ohinde mouth to await the final decision re 
the free navigation of the rivers. The 8. 
"James Stevenson," African Lake Co. Shire 
boat, is made the subject of frequent insults to 
the British flap by the Portuguese; they Are across 
her bows at night, stop her firewood &c.,&o., till 
the gunboats are constantly running up and aowa 
ihe rivers demanding explanations, &o. 
I may tell you I have settled down at planting in 
mis outlandish spot, but would not advise any Ceylon 
than to come here yet a while, at all events till the 
country has a settled government. There are two of 
us mvself and an aosistaut, armed to the teeth with 
Martini-Henry rifles and nearly 1,000 rounds of 
ammunition in the midst of a surrounaing popula- 
tion of savages. Although a psaceable and un- 
warlike people, the life of anyone, black or white, is 
• io the hands of the Chisf ; so it is as well to be 
prepared, but it is to bo hoped no rupture will take 
place here, for ours is a peaceful mission and oar 
arms for defence only. , , .-ttj u 
The climate here is hke that of Udapussellawa ; 
but there is a lot of fever. After the lirst few attacks 
however it only comes in a very mild form, which is 
easily shaken off by a few dosas o£ quinine. 
Until I know you get my letters, as the Poituguese 
are and justly too, accused of destroying lots of lettors 
belonging to British subjects, I won't wnte much. 
I may say however that coffee grows here and the 
climate seems to suit it, but cultivatioa there id 
none the trees are allowed to run to wood, get 
smothered by weeds, and bear all the crop they can 
stand without killing tham outright, so the planters 
wonder— and well they may— why the trees won t 
crop for two years after a bumper. 
There is no leaf-disease hero, but there is a bean 
disease • in the inside of the bean black rot sets in, 
destroying it completely, in most cases leaving only 
the parchment shell, so that the cro p is worthless 
on some fields. Messrs. Buchanan Brothers attri- 
bute the disease to a small scarlet-spotted bug called 
the ladybird, but I think differently, and blame the 
clay subsoil for rotting the roots, and crop as the 
result Perhaps you would kindly let us know the 
cause of the disease, and I shall bo glad to give you 
more on the subject.* 
Slave-raiding and murder are as common as ever 
about here. A Chief near this told his people to 
kill a man of another tribe, and they at once pulled 
him limb from limb and buried their victim in 
nieces for which brutality only a few pieces of 
calico were paid to the Chief to whom the man 
belonged. at i 1 - 
The Lake Shirwa people and the Matchmgones 
have been at war for some lime and only last week 
a lot of slaves were sold to an Arab caravan on 
its way from Kilimaue to Nyassa, war prisoners 
no doubt. It 's high time the African Lakes Co. 
got a charter, or the British Government protected 
the people and not have such scenes taking pla^je 
within the sight and hearing of European British 
Bubjects who cannot interfere because of their 
weakness, 
P.H.— I send you two rnisBion papers, inere has 
been an unijrooedeated number ot deaths amongst 
the missionaries lately who have really done good 
work here abo ut. ^ 
• Will BOiue oxjiort give u» an opluloa V— liu. T. A. 
The cultivation of the giant sunfljwer for oil- 
making purposes is making great strides ic Southern 
Euasia. — B. Mail. 
The Java Coffee Crop. — According to a 
telegram from the Governor-General of Netiierlands 
India, the Governmeni's coffee crop in Java for 
1891 is estimated at 351,100 piouls. 
Tea Sale. — We learn that there is a very good jat 
of tea in the Wynssad, introduced from Assam by 
Colonel S. Poasooby Saott, and that one rapee p;r 
pound for good gunl£ seed is b&ing freely paid. It 
is also said tbat several persons aro visiting the 
locality in search of tea laud, and it is to bs hoped 
that success has attended tliem. Time will shew. — 
South of India Observer. 
China Tea Seed for Califoenu. — The 
N.-G. Herald states : — '"The Chamber of Cjmmeroe 
at Los Angeles, California, are getting tea seed from 
Hankow, in order to experiment in tea culture." 
Even if severe " freezes " were out of the question, 
the absence of cheap labour would ensure failure. 
Consumption of Non-Alcoholic Beverages 
IN THE United SiiTiss, — -The accounts for the ten 
months ended April 30ih confirm ihe view that, 
while cacao makes good progress in the United 
States and coSee consumption increases enormously, 
the use oi tea remains about stationary. la the 
case of ca .'ao, there was an increase from $1,816,001) 
in 1889 to S2,270,000. Coffee rose from S>62, 191.003 
to S7'J, 13 1,000. Tea, which showed a value of 
$15,0u0,000 in 1886 and went down to $11,345,000 
in ldS9, r,:Covered only to 112,865,000. Tea has 
probably fallen in value, but clearly the Americans 
are not vet by any means a tea-drinking people. 
Steady Pbogbbss in the Sisal iNDcrsTHY of 
the Bahama islands is reported by Consul AlcLaiu. 
No small amount of Cauadian, Euglish aod Scotch 
capital has been invested thereai durmg the past 
year. Joseph Chamberlain, for one, h&i bought 
substantially the whole of a small islaud, and one 
of his sons will manage the enierprise. Tho 
matured product is yet small, but by next year 
will make a very large-quciatity. Toe few tons 
already shipped found a ready market, and samples 
sold in London were pronounced to be of the bast 
possible quality, and brought 40 per cant higaer 
prices than ihe Mexican or Yuciton fibar. Laila 
or no American money has gone into the busi- 
ness, notwithstanding the fact that the United States 
supplies most of the imports ot the Banamas. Pos- 
sibly Florida will become distingased for sisal 
production in course of time. The natural condi- 
tions in that state are favorable. — Bradstreet's. 
Experiments in fosteriug the growth of seeds 
by electricity are not a novelty, since they were 
made by Mr. Andrew Cross many years ago, and 
even in the last century by a Scotch elecorician 
but M. Speohueff, a Russian agriculturist, has re- 
cently drav^a attention to tha subject. He electri- 
fied the seeds of peas, beans, and rye for two minutes 
by passing a current through them, and then 
sowed them. The result was that the plants which 
sprang from the seeds thus treated were much 
more vigorous than those from uneleotrified seeds. 
Mr. Speohneff also electrified the soil by burying 
plates of zinc and copper in it so as to make 
what is called an " earth-battery." The plates 
were connected above ground by an iron wire, and 
the electricity circulated from one plate to the other 
through the intervening ground. Vegetable se=ds 
planted in this ground gave rise to an astonish- 
ing crop. A radish grew over 17in. in length and 
5jm. thick ; a carrot lOJ in. diameter weighed 6ilb. 
M. Bpechnelf estimates that for root crops toe 
harvest in the electrified earth was four times 
greater than that in uneleotrified ground ; and for or- 
dinary p ants two or three times greater. — Qlobe, 
