496 
tHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. (January i, 1892. 
the debenture bonds as they fell to be paid, I 
further saw that, at euch a time, what the bank 
would reqaire was a strong-backtd firm in the posi- 
tion of Hgents in India. On board that outward 
steamer I found myself in the company of two gen- 
tlemen representing oue of the wealthieet tea agency 
firms in Oalcutta, and who, moreover, were known 
to be on the outlook for further tea business. Under 
these ciroumstatices I considered myBelf to bo eoting 
for the bauk's true interest in reviewing its position 
with them in order that it might be improved. It is 
verj well to eay that I had no authority. Had the 
scheme produced been carried out in the peaceful way 
intended, the result would have been beneficial alike 
to board and shareholders, and instead of being balmed 
I would, as in another instance where I overstepped 
my limits of authority, have received thanks for the 
common sense exercised. 
The proposal I0 have the bank's agency transferred 
at the proper time to a strong agency firm, has the 
stamp of the board itself imprinted upon it, for 
sueh is now the very scheme which they recommend 
and wbich ten years ago, I foresaw to be a com- 
ing necessity. Ead this step been taken, say three 
years ago, instead of waiting till a call was to be made 
they could have telectad their own agents. 
I have only to add that the motives assigned to 
me by the chairman are as ungenerous as they are 
unfair. The bank's welfare had my first and chief care 
duiing the nine joara of my service, whilst at the 
meeting of 20th instant, as well as previously, the 
chairman held my p roxies as a shareholder.— Yours 
truly, D, M. Stewart. 
London, Nov. 24tb, 1891i 
CoooNOT DiBBiBB IN Oamaioa. — The Bulletin of 
the Botanical Department of Jamaica, for Septem- 
ber, contains a report by Mr. W. Fawcett, Di- 
rector of Public Gardens and Plantations, on a 
disease causing the death, on a large scale, of 
the coconut palms in the neighbourhood of 
Montego Bay. The disease first attack the tissues 
of the youngest parts. There is no evidence that 
it is produced by an' insect, and Mr, Fawcett 
considers it is due to an " organized ferment." 
In the supplement of the Jamaica Gazette for 
September is the remaik that the disease is 
"rapidly destroying the coconut walks in the 
parish of St. James, and that, it not checked, 
in a very few years the cocnnut will cease to be 
a product of this parish, indeed if not of the 
island." — Nature. 
Good News fob; Coconut Planters.— It is said 
that the Admiralty authorities are devoting their 
attention to the remarkable properties of a new 
material, which it is claimed will make an 
almost impenetrable lining to a ship's sides. 
This is made of the cellulose of coconuts, which 
has the property of absorbing eight times its 
weight of water, and several experiments have 
been made with it under Government auspices at 
Portsmouth. The material is made into squares, 
which are affixed to the interior plates of vessels, 
and it is asserted that it is extremely difficult 
to penetrate. It is claimed that the material will 
work a complete revolution in the present system 
of ships' protection, — Colonies and India. [This 
statement has been going the round for several 
years back.— Ed. T. A.] 
China v. Indian Tea, — A Glasgow correspondent 
writes : — 1 notice in your last issue that efforts are 
being made to bring China tea to the front again. I 
am dead agaiupt this Indian rubbish. I find great 
dillioulty in getting any China — I mean gonuina 
Btufl— and especially )L;()0d tea. When next I go to 
China I must make arrangt-inents for having the 
article sent home. Have you any friends in the 
China tea line in London V I should be so glad to 
get a specimen or two of good China tea, and then it 
price and quality are approved to buy a coneiderable 
quantity Can you help a poor fellow who does not 
want to be dosed with so much tannic acid as is 
contained m the Indian article? I am at one with 
the views expressed by Sir A. Clark on this subject. 
—L. and C. Express, Nov. 27th. [Sir A. Clark is to 
be congratulated on one a 'herent.— Ed. T A.'\ 
Clove Auction in Z4Nzibar.— A EeuVr's tele- 
gram from Zanzibar, dated Nov mber 21at announces 
that the first public auction sale of cloves, subi.'ot 
to duty, was held there that day. There was a large 
attendance. Mr. Gerald Portal, thenew.British Consul- 
General was present, and stated that it was hoped 
to make Zanzibar the centre of the trade of East 
Africa, and that it would probably be declared a free 
port for imports at the beginning of next year 
Public sales of cloves will henceforth be held fort- 
nightly. We understand that the spice trade here 
are quite in doubt of the results (if any should ensue) 
which this innovation may have upon the London 
market. London is now the largest centre for cloves 
but yet, if our information is correct, the announce-' 
ment that public sales had been instituted in Zsnaibar 
came upon dealers here as a surprise. It is well 
known that the Sultan of Zanzibar derives a con- 
siderable proportion of his revenue from an export 
duty on cloves, and it is surmised that the bulk of 
the cloves offered by auction in Zanzibar may be 
those which are said to be sometimes tendered to 
the Sultan in lieu of cash by exporters. One of Mr. 
Portal's chief duties is thought to be the reorganisa- 
tion of the finances of the Sultan, and it is probably 
in connection with this matter that the sales have 
been instituted.— C/imwf a/id Druggist. 
The Teuth About i- offee — Notwiihstanding the 
reduction of the duty on cofiee and the fact that the 
best coffee is sold in Great Britam cheaper than any- 
where in Europe, it is steadily falling in consumption 
There are many theories pat forward to explain this' 
One IS that coffee is more adulterated here than on 
the Continent. This is certainly not the case. It is 
easier to get pure cofiee here than in France, Austria 
Italy, or Germany, for abroad it is usually largely 
mixed with chicory, and is liked all the better for 
it. The critics who are fond of praising "coffee as 
you get it in France " are, in fact, praising a heavy 
admixture of chicory with coffee, which they depre- 
cate here, greatly preferring to have the opportunity 
of making the comhinatiou optional. The next and 
most common explanrvtion is th«t we don't know how 
to make good coffee here. But that again is a fallacy 
and its terms a misstatement. We all know how to 
make good coffee, and there is no oue who cannot 
wake it. It is in fact so easy to make good ocffee 
that it is almost impossible to make it badly 
if only oue condition is observed which depends not 
on the " makir,g the coffee," but understanding the 
principle of drinking coffee, which everyone under- 
stands abroad, and which the travelling Briton per- 
force practices because he has no chance of doing 
otherwise, and falls in with "the caatoma of the 
country." All coffee-drinking races understand very 
well that the infusion of coffee is not a fluid like tea, 
to be imbibed in copious draughts. A weak infusion 
of coffee is a tasteless and almost nauseous draught ; 
it loses all its aroma and delicMoy of flavour when 
dissipated in an ocean of hot water. This is prob- 
ably due to the fact that its flavour is largely due 
to cmpyreumatio oils, which will not bear copious 
aqueous dilution. The only way to drink coffee in 
large draughts is to make a small quantity of strong 
coffee and add to it an ample amount of hot milk • 
cold milk is out of the question. The small cup of 
"black coffee" ia to be had now eyeryw^iere ao good 
in England as elsewhere. But so long as the British 
cofff o drinker persists in treating coffee as if it were 
tea and swallowing it by the pint, he will always 
hud that he gets something unpleasing to his puJate. 
—Bntish 3Iedtcal Jmrnal, 
