THP TROPSGAL AGRSOULTURSS'^ 
263 
October 1, 1891.J 
Iron prr^uotion by the aid of charcoal is now 
about to bo trisd ia the Mysore Province, and we 
shall watch the result of Dr. Dhanakoti Raju's 
speculation with much interest ; but it will be many 
years before this will reach a stage from which 
instruction can be At rived. ThequPB'ion ip, hnw-vei , 
one of such vital importance to the interests of the 
Presidency that it would be worth the while of 
Go'erumeiit to depute an officer to the duty of 
collecting sUtistics as to the extent of fo' est availnb'e 
after Bllowin« for the general r-quiremfntg of the 
Di-'irlcis, and of land available for planting, of 
chaicoal obtftiiifib'e per acre of forest and required 
per ton of ere emiplted or o£ iron produced, the cost 
of its raanufftcture, Ac, The present head of the 
Geolosioal Depattmrnt in this Presidency is well 
qn",i!ti'd for the tas!'. Another fuel alluded to is 
tbe peat produced on the Nilgiri Hills, and in view 
of the shortly expected Nilgiri Railway some enquiry 
in this dire tion might be usi ful. It must, we 
fear, be accepted as a fact that the cost of any 
imported fuel would be prohibitive. The au'hor 
argues, and in thi we agree, that to be a commercial 
success the prorluotion of pig iron mu.=-t be acconi- 
panitd by its m>inufiiciuri! into wrought iron bars, 
pUtea, rai s, &q.. n-'r, assuming the fu 1 difficulty 
to have bet-n uver oma for the production of the 
' x^ig. " should ;here be any obstao'e,in the present 
ailvaooing state of enterprise in India, to such further 
progress; while it is almost superfluous to point 
out, as the author doe?, the advantages to the 
country of being selt-contsincd in this important 
respect in times both of war and of peace. There 
were established some years ago at Beypore Ironworks 
for the purp ose of re-roUing rails and otherwise 
working up old railway iron, but it came to an 
early end, on account, we believe, of this same fuel 
diiflculty. S- me hazy recollection of this has caused 
a curious confusion of ideas in the author's mind 
when, on page 5, he apparently treai.s S'alcm arid 
Beypore as ronvertible tei ms, and implies that iron 
has befn producfd at both plRoes. 
Not tbe lei^ct interesting chapter in the book is 
thatwbiah treats of the tnbsidiary metals to which 
space only permits a very brief reference. Copper 
is believed tv have been worked in pre-bistorio times 
near Midnapore, and even worked with soma succe s 
in the fifties, but it W" skilled by the heavy royalties 
demanded by the Eaj ihs. In 1831 the Indian 
Copper Company wos working the Nellore iVImes. 
" In the Goomai unda Valley, in the Kurnaul District, 
there exists a deserted copper mine so old that the 
very legend of its workers has been lost to th^ 
people living there," which has been the case also 
with the gold mines of Kolar. Of other metals we 
are told of platinum in the Indus Valley and at 
K ''ar, mercury in the Andaman Islands, zinc in 
Oo'itypore, tin at Baasegunje and in several parts 
of Burma ; all showing potentialities of riches which 
have hi bfrio borne litUo fruit and which justify 
the writer's lament that " truly the mineral wealth 
of India iias been sadly neglected." Government 
can do much by exploitation una publication of 
re^ult3 and judioious uoncrssions, and we conclude 
with a passiig'i from the author wi h which at least, 
however we may have differed from some of his 
conclusions, we can cordially agree : — 
"But tlie chief thiu'iS wanted to devtlop tbe iron 
industi'i(B of Iiviift are money and experii noecl skill, 
Eeitbc" of which stiall we get until either some 
8\(iUed capitiilist is a trait d to the East with a 
view of rtevelopiug, not it-, gold and jewels, but its 
iron, uc— i\ud this is the rtiil fulutiou— the latives 
of Iu< ia, or a few of tium, taVo real interest in 
these iiiaitcrs. Wo .see how ii.tivo enterpriie has 
dovi loped tlio cotion iti<lu8try of Bomba>, and maito 
it whnt il is — an industry the greatest in all Itdia. 
Tbia is duo to the fact natives have realised 
tbe value of cotton and alfo tbe procepfiee of mann- 
facture, and are dsvotinf; tberueelvi-s to its cieve- 
lopraeiit. Let theo. devote thonaBelves to the stud" 
cf iron with equal z'^al for five or teu jeara and 
then see what grfv.t re.sults will arise. Let five or 
six of our ino t int d gei t native youthf, tht- i-ous 
and nephews of our great capi:alist.s be Htiit hy th' ir 
re'ativee to Europe to stu y tbe iron induKtriea 
s.s they now go to s u^y law and medicine. Let 
thoni be not too proud to learn in the proper way, 
viz., as wo km n, and not at fi'st as m.-sterp, and 
much will be done. It is an old siory but a truo 
one, that India, can be best developofl by h t own 
p oplo, prnvide i the people will study the right 
wfiy. " — Madras Mail. 
CINNAMON. 
The news received by wire yesterday, of the 
results of the Quarterly Sales held in London on 
Monday last, is not very cheering, though it can- 
not be said to have been imexpected. This is the 
third sale in succession at which fine qualities have 
been neglected, and a drop in prices has been ex- 
perienced. In November last, fine qualities » ere 
not in demand, and were chiefly bought in. What 
little was told changed hands at ^rf. to Id. less 
than August prices. At the February sales, out of 
1.582 Bales ofl'ered, only about 100 sold — fine qualities 
being again neglected, and largely bought in, though 
sellers were willing to accept Id. to '2d. less than 
the previous ratts. There was no private inquiry 
between the sales for the lots which did not find 
bviyers ; and, with the quantities sent forward since 
February to add to the imsold parcels, it is not 
surprising that a further drop was experienced. 
Whether the small proj^ortiou of lots which found 
buyers — 600 Bales out of 1300 — means that some 
holders of fine spice were firm, and bought in their 
lots in hopes of better prices, or that even at the 
decline of Id. buyers neglected the better qualities, 
we cannot say. It is to be feared that the latter 
is the case, as a dead set seems to have been ori- 
ginated against fine spice, and London Agents have 
begun to counsel their Principals here to manufacture 
medium sorts. This is not the first time that Cinna- 
mon of superior make has been neglected ; but it is, 
so far as we know, the first occasion on which fine 
sorts have been neglected at three successive Quarterly 
Sales, selling at a decline each time, while coarser 
sorts have advanced almost pa) ijpassu. In February 
these sold at an advance of about §d , and this week 
of about Jd- to Id per lb. This woiild seem to in- 
dicate a determination on the part of buyers to lower 
the price of fine Cinnamon, whether for s, eculative 
purposes, or from a conviction that the coarser 
qualities answer quite as well as the finer manu- 
factures for most of the pur oses to which they are 
put. The consoling features in the situation are 
that the fall in Exchange will, to some extent at 
least, nullify the fall in price ; and that the current 
p'ices might help to po|.ularise the best spice. When 
good times set in, there may be a brisker demand 
for fine qualities. Good time , we say, because the 
financial troubles of the | riucipal foreign countries 
which consume the spice may account largely for 
the droxj. Spain, Portugal and the South American 
Republics are known to absorb large quantities in 
their Roman Catholic Churches ; and among the 
Continental nations the spice is used freely for con- 
fectionery, chiefly chocolates. Meanwhile, manu- 
facturer.-, of ordinary qualities are to be congratulated 
on tiie better demand for their wares; and there 
should be a rise in local prices in sympathy with 
the upward tendency in London. The extent to which 
fine qualities have been neglected may be inferred 
* from the following figures : — 
November 1890 . . 3,029 Bales ... 1,520 
February 1891 . . 1,582 „ . . 700 
May _ 1891 . . 1 3uO „ . . 000_ 
The decreasing offerings do not imply a falling oit 
in the quantities imported into Great Britain; for 
last year, out of 1,094,61^ lb. quills exported hcuoo, 
