392 
THE TROPICAL AQRIOULTURfST [December i, 1891. 
TEi at tea-time may be grateful and comforting 
but tea at luncheon-time or dinner-time is a 
delusion and a snare. Such is the sermon which 
the editor of Woman preaches to the gentler and 
■more tea-drinking sex. Even as Mr. Eudyard 
Kipling holds up one of his heroines to soorn for 
living on " tea and pickles," so this stern monitor 
of the fair asserts that " there is a dis'.inct want 
of character and dignity about a lot of women 
seated at marble tables, munching dyspepsia- 
provoking plum-cake, and sipping equally unwhole- 
some and more unpalatable tea from thick white 
bowls, facetiously styled teacups." He adds that, 
" In these days, when women have to think and act 
for themselves, they must fortify their ooDStitutions," 
a purpose clearly difficult of attainment by means 
of bath buns and scones. After this eloquent 
denunciation of these staple articles of feminine diet 
it seems almost like an anti-climax to read that 
" It is not necessary that a woman should eat a big 
rump-steak, or drink a bottle of claret or a tankard 
of ale in the middle the day." — Daily Graphic, 
Oct. 15. 
An Exhibit for the " World's Faib," Chicago. 
— The Forestry Division cf the United States is 
preparing an exhibit for the Columbian Exposition 
— or " World's Fair " — at Chicago, in 1893, and . 
will endeavour to obtain modeh or samples of the 
different forms of metal ties — sleoperfc — which are 
in actual use, in order to shov?, what is not Vftry 
generally understood, that the question of the use 
of metal track is no longer an experimental one in 
other countries. Apart from minor experiments, 
two systems are now being given careful trial— the 
Hartford steel tie on the New York Central and 
Hudson Eiver Eailroad, and the Standard steel tie 
on the Delaware and Hudson Eailroad, the 
Philadelphia and Reading Eailroad, and the Chicago 
and Western Indiana Railroad. The former is an 
inverted trough, with a groove along the top, and 
having the ends curved down. The latter is a 
channel with the open side uppermost, the bottom 
cut away at the middle and bent upwards, and a 
block of compressed wood under each rail. Both 
have bolt fastenings. A third system, the Mcrrell 
steel tie, somewhat similar to the Standard, is to 
be tried on two roads, — Indian Engineer. 
Tea and Coffee Impoets at Amsterdam. — Consul 
Robinson reports upon the Trade and Navigation of 
the Port of Amsterdam during the year 1890 as 
follows -.— Coffee. — The total importation of coffee in 
1890 was slightly larger than in tbe previous yesr, 
although the entire failure of the Java crop caused 
a great deficiency in the shipments from the Dutch 
East Indies. This was, however, made up for by an 
increased supply ol other descriptions, principally of 
Santos, the importation of which was nearly double 
that of 1889. The price of Java coffee rose, with 
some fluctuation, from 9fd per lb. in January to 
lOjd per lb. in November, closing end of December 
at lOd per lb. The production of Government coffee 
in Java showed a most remarkable decrease since 
1881, when the quantity offered for sale through the 
Netherlands Trading Company was 913,881 bags, 
dwindling to 446,490 bags in 1890; the 1891 crop 
will probably not exceed 350,000 bales. Speculative 
transactions were limited, and the Amsterdam 
clearing office reports a turn over of 978,500 bales 
(702,500 Santos, and 210,000 Java), as compared 
with 1,150,200 bales in 18S9. I'm.— Chinese tea 
continues gradually to disappear from Our market, 
the total importation being 5,293 quarter chests, as 
compared with 9,938 in 1889. The quality of the 
importations gave general dissatisfaction. The con- 
sumption of Java loa, and especially of the Assam 
BortB grown in Java continues to increase. Prices, 
especially of the better sorts, improved somewhat 
during the year. — and C, Express, 
Of the Java Coffee Ceop estimated Bt 380,596 
pikuls ; 374,559 pikuls have been received at the 
Government local storehouses and 35,629 pikuls have 
reached the shipping ports.— S. F. Pre^s, Oct. 29lh. 
Coconut Plaming in Thursday Island. — The 
Torres Straits Pilot of 3rd Oct. says : — 
Mr. Armitage, the gentleman who is engaged by 
the Qaeensland Government to plant coconut trees, 
has arrived. He will probably make a cruise in the 
cutter " Lizzie Jardine," during which he will plant 
many hundred young coconuts on the islands in 
Torres Straits. The trees in future years will prove 
of great value, especiall y in these waters ; and it is 
fiinoerely hoped the majority of them will thrive well. 
Pteuocarpos Indicds. — In the extract you pub- 
lished the other day about the timber from this 
tree, reference was made to its fine dark color. 
I have several pieces of furniture some years old 
made from one of the trees which grew in Slave 
Island, and it is a very .light color and does not 
turn so dark as satinwood with age. It is a 
beautiful close-grained wood and takes a good 
polish. — Cor. [It is possible that, as in the casa 
of many other tree, the root portion of the tree 
may be dark-coloured ?— Ed. T. A.] 
Fit for Eden. — Among cultivated fruit, one stands 
as yet umivalled for its beauty, aroma, and delicious 
flavoui'. Singularly enough, however, not even Her 
Ma,jesty, though Empress of the vast realm in which 
it is grovrti, has tasted it. Imagine a huge laurel, 
with leaves soi lewhat narrow, blossoms like a single 
rose, and lemon-shaped fruit of the colour of a ripe 
apricot — a rosy \me apparent through the primrose 
and gold. The flesh is rose-coloured. So delicious 
is it — such subtle commingling of refreshing juices, 
subacid and sweet, that even the dying vnW eat it 
greedily — one can see, as old Anglo-Indians speak of 
it, that even the reminiscence is a pleasure, making 
the mouth water. Such is a brief description of the 
Maryosteen or Maryostana.* Only twice has it been 
fruited, in a strong moist heat, in England — once at 
Sion House, the Duke of Nothumberland's, and about 
1866 at Hooley Hill, near Croodon by Mr. Mundell, 
of Moorpark Gardens. 
Jaffna Tobacco and the Government op Tra van- 
core. — The "Hindu Organ" ttates that the Government 
of tbe Nativa S'ate of Travancore " has promulgated 
a new Order, if not with the view of driving away 
the Jaffna tobacco from the Travancore market, cer- 
tainly, with the object of specially encouraging the 
consumption of the Coimbaiore tobacco in that State. 
By virtue of the Or ier m question Coimbatore to- 
Dacco can now be sold in all parts of Travancore, 
paying a duty of ooly R30 per Candy, competing with 
the Jaffna product still subject to the levy of E90 
per Oaudy. To all outward appearance, we are in- 
formed, the duty on both kinds of tobacco is still the 
same, but practically the one kind of tobacco is made 
to compete with the other with a difference of R60 
in the Government duty." " Intelligence has been 
received here from Travancore that the quantity of 
Jaffna tobacco sold in the several Government Bank- 
shalls there have been monthly decreasinj^, smce the 
new Order has come into force, although sold at a 
considerably low price to keep pace with its rival. 
Great depref^sion consequntly prevails in the Jaffna- 
Travancore tobacco trade." " We have before us copy 
of ft respectful but earnest and closely reasoned me- 
morisl addressed to His Highness, tho Maharajah of 
Travancore, by tl.e merchants of Jaffna, pointing out 
the ijijuatice and impolicy of encouraging the tobacco 
of one country at the expense of that of another, 
which had been both for a century or so, treated 
with equal favour ; and praying that the new order 
complained of may be rescinded." 
* Misprints, of course, for ' Mangosteen ' and 
'Mangostana.' The description of the fruit, however, 
does not accord with fact. — Ed. T.A. 
