March i, 1892. .1 
Wynsnd, I have been sble to trace the pedigree of the 
seed bearitig trees', snd as Ihese have always been en- 
tirely segregated, the sted is almost unique, as apnro 
Afsam indigenous tea thoroughly ncclinjatiaed in South- 
India. I find that li e oriRiual seed was importod from 
Assam hy the then Collector of S-ilem, Mr. Cookburn, 
about the year 1830, when the existence of the local 
iudigen .us lea p'ant was first known. The trees from 
tliis seed were planted on the Grange Estate at Yer- 
taud and are still thriving, some 20 to 30 feet high ; the 
stem of 0110 is nearly three feet in ciioumference and a 
leaf from one of the new shoots measured 10 + 3^ 
inches.* Ool. Scot^,of theV- riday Mulla Estate, who 
lias been conutcted with the planting industry of 
these hills for very ni°.ny years, was told of th' sa 
AsEam tea p'anis hy 1he then Collector of 
Colmba'ore, Mr. Pat Giant, in the year 1862. He was 
at (bat lime about to p'ant tea in Wynaad, so visited 
the Shevaroys. The manngor of tl:e estate did riot 
know what the t'fove cf hi;jli trees was, and was as- 
tonished at learning from Col. Scott that they were 
Assam tea trees. A nursery was fonnfdon the Surrey 
Estate from tl;e seed obtained at Yerciud, but as the 
land which Col. Scott intended to plant was refused 
him by Government, who I'nve him land on the Nil- 
jiiris at Thai MuDa instf a^, he removed most of the 
plants from the Surrey nurrery to Thai Mulls, where 
ho planted a large (ield of this variety of tfii, but tells 
me that he pulh'd them up, as they differed so much 
from General Morgan's pLuits which he ic-noranlly 
thought were the only right; kind. A few of tho plants 
escaped and were kept np on tlia Thai Mulia Bsta'e. 
Meanwhile eome of the tea plants were left in the 
Surrey S-tate nursery, and thete plants have teen 
growing there i-ince, entirely separated from ail other 
tea, a id now. like the original Shevaroy trees, resem- 
ble small poplfirs. Seed from these trei s had been 
planted on the Riuhmond and Cheria Shola Estates in 
1876, and tiiefe trees are t.ow seed bearers, and seed 
from them has been planted on the Glenrook, Wc-nt- 
worih, Richmond, Cheria Sholi and other estates 
daring the last few years. As I think this account is 
of interest, I have fent it to you at length, and as it h 
now being generally r( cognieecl that not only ihe qnan- 
tity, but also the quality of the tei depends on the pre- 
ponderance of Assam ];\t in the plants cultivated; 
Wyuaad mny bo congratulated on having a fairly largo 
supply of such good tea for seed. — Madras Times, Jan. 
4th. 
ADVANCES TO CULTIVATORS. 
(From the Administration Report of the Bombay 
Prcddeucy .) 
The total amount advanced to cultivators during 
the year for the purchase of seed and cattle was 
E57,6G6, and for the purpose of eff^ictiDg perman- 
ent improvements El, 27, 750 were lent by Govern- 
ment. The corresponding amounts for the year 
ia89-P0were B3G 499 and 74,233, and it is therefore 
clear that moderate teimscn which loans are now 
granted, by Government are gradually attracting 
the cultivator. In the Northern Division but little 
advantage was taken o£ the new takavi rules, but 
elsewhere, and especially in Sind and the Southern 
Division, large sums were advanced. From one or 
two dietricls it was reported that the rayats held 
aloof, ftaving to take advantage of the chauce of 
borrowicg money on easy terms, lefct the savk .r 
should retaliate by declining to advunco them 
money in a bad year when they urgently required 
it ; elsewhere, however, us in Belgaum, the freedom 
with which cultivators borrowed from Government 
had Ilia effect of reducing the rates of interest 
charged by local money-lenders. 
* There are tea trees on Abbotsford estate, Ceylon, 
none of which are more than 17 years old, some of 
which are over 32 feet in heiglit and 12 inches 
circiimforonco of stem, — Eu. T. A. 
BARK AND DRUG REPORT. 
(From the Chemist and Druggist.) 
London, Jan. 2, 
Cinchona. — Tlie exports of oinchoiia from Ceylon in 
October reaoherl the euorm<ius total of 1, 079,527 Ams- 
terdam lb. The equivalent of sulphate of quinine in this 
quantity may bo estimated roughly at 780,000 oz. 
The following are the exports of cinchona from Java 
during the periods between July Isli and October 3l8fi 
lour months) : 
1891 1690 188D 1888 1887 
Amster- Amster- Amster- Amster- Amster- 
dam lb. dam lb. dam lb. dam lb. dam lb. 
Government 
plantations 288,761 261,208 231,410 220,235 238,246 
Private plau- 
tions 3,488,974 2,035,890 1,600,888 1,204,732 1,308,133 
Total 3,777,725 2,.300,098 1,8.32,293 1,530,967 1,54C,379 
Quinine.— There is a pe rceptible improvement in the 
market since last week, and sales of 40.000 oz. of Ger- 
man, in second-hand, at 9,}d per oz tor March-April, and 
lO.OuO OA of ditto for April delivery are reported. On the 
spot a i^arcel cf lO.oCO oz in secoud-hsmd is reported 
to have been sold at 9jcl per oz, but this transaction has 
not been corifirmed. No particular reasons are assigned 
for this rise of jd per on tiuce last week. The influ- 
enza, perhaps, has something to do with it, and it is 
also rumoured that some of the makers are again trying 
to effect a combination. 
<S» — 
AGKICULTURAL VALUE OF SHODDY 
The value of shoddy, or woollen waste, as a manure 
for hops Das lous been recognised in this country ;and 
in It lyin the crude form of old lags, it is at present 
largo y applied as an econon ioal dressing for olive 
trefs, I eing tiecche 3 in .lome 3ft. to 4ft. from the stem 
of the tree, Qu'te reocn'ly, in Uejlon, shoddy (manu- 
factured irto a fine powder by treatment with sul- 
phuric acid) haa been tried as a manure for the tea 
planiatioDS ; and for these, benring in mind its richness 
in organic nitrogen — it promises to prove an excellent 
fertiliser, if only it be properly applied and of good 
quality. 
Of late years, liowever, the use of shoddy in Kent 
has fi'.lkn off, probably to a great extent, in conse- 
quence of the great variation in the quality of the 
deliveries, Senie lots will contain os much as 30 to 35 
per cent, of water, and others show an excess of it 
and mitcral matters, amounting, in some samples, of 
upwards of 40 per cent. 
It may beuocful, therefore, in the first place, to give, 
in the followii g table, some analyses of the different 
qualit'es of shoddy, the results being selected from a 
great Lumber of samples examined during the past 
twenty years : 
Analyses of Shoddy and Co-mpabative VALtTE. 
Organic 
" Mineral 
Ammo- 
Value per 
No. 
Water. 
matter. 
matter. 
nia. 
ton. 
£ s a 
1 
i'0-f5 
62-00 
17-12 
8-85 
3 6 4 
2 
25 57 
60 33 
10-10 
8-81 
3 6 1 
3 
2;-i4 
60-48 
18-38 
8-43 
3 3 2 
4 
25-44 
58-76 
15-80 
8 22 
3 17 
5 
19'13 
G2-80 
1807 
8-00 
3 0 0 
6 
14-13 
65 10 
20 77 
7-63 
2 17 2 
7 
17 01 
05-20 
17-79 
7-49 
2 16 2 
8 
21-04 
53 57 
25-39 
6-59 
2 9 5 
0 
£8-01 
54-71 
17-28 
6-46 
2 8 5 
10 
25-46 
57-35 
17-19 
6-33 
2 7 5 
11 
3 -81 
25 91 
42 25 
316 
13 8 
12 
3i-74 
2C-21 
41-05 
.3-13 
1 3 5 
It will be seen from the above results that there 
is great variation in the composition of shoddy, and 
that the agricultural value varies with the quality. 
It nill be noticeil that the water v.iries from 32"74 
to 1413, and the mineral matter.? from 42 25 to 10-10 ; 
while the nctrogoi.ous organic matter — upon which 
tho agricultural value as a manure chiefly depends — 
varies from 62 to 26 per cent. 
Tho quality of the orf,'aiiio matter further varies— 
according to its richness in nitrogen — which ultimately 
becomes converted into ammonia. Conpequently, the 
value cf shoddy as a fertiliser may he said to depend 
upon tho richness in ammcnia, and the comparative 
va!uo of tho above samples has been accordingly 
calculated from the proportion of amonis allow- 
ing 78, 0. per unit. Of course, it will be uuderatood 
