JULV I, 1890 .] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
63 
days) is so little provision made for the supply of tea* 
coffee, and light refreshments.” The enquiry has 
received a remarkably prompt reply from the pecu liarly 
authoritative voice of Messrs. Spiers and Pond. That 
eminent firm of refreshment contractors have given a 
very plain and pertinent answer to the question of the 
Daily Telegraph. That question, say Messrs. Spiers and 
Pond, is not difficult to answer. “The great general 
public will not, and do not, when taking their 
holiday patronise in any appreciable number the 
places devoted to the supply of tea, coffee, 
and light refreshments only.” It is sad, but it is so. 
And of the fact that it is so Messrs. Spiers and 
Pond have had very practical proof at the Royal Mili- 
tary Exhibition. There they have erected two large 
pavilions, a temperance and an intemperance pavilion, 
with the result that, while the working expenses of 
the two are exactly the same, the temperance pavilion 
only does about one-sixth part of the trade which 
falls to the share of its rival. Moreover, the tea and 
coffee tents of Spiers and Pond at the Zoological Gar- 
dens, which were specially commended by the Daily 
Telegraph, were chiefly crowded on account of the 
bottled beer to be obtained within them. The experi- 
ence of Messrs. Bertram and Co., of the Crystal Palace, 
appears to be the reverse of that of Messrs. Spiers 
and Pond. They write;— On the question mooted by 
Messrs. Spiers and Pond in their interesting letter as 
to the consumption of non-intoxicating drinks by the 
people on days when they moat do congregate, such 
as bank holidays, we think it will be of interest to 
state that our experience at this present does not 
coincide with that of your correspondents. Whether 
it is due to the conditions of the Crystal Palace or 
the facilities that are given there for the easy prac- 
tical supply of non-intoxicants, the proportion of money 
received in the refreshment department on such occa- 
sions for tea, coffee, cocoa, milk, aerated waters, and 
light refreshmetits is two-thirds of the entire receipts, 
a notable increase on the one-fixth calculated by our 
friends-—//, and C, Mail, May 30th. 
“ Kew Bulletin.” — The June number, now before 
us, contains an article on compressed or tablet tea, 
dealing with the methods of its manufacture at 
Hankow, and at Chungking inlThibet. Timber trees 
of the Straits Settlements forms the subject of 
another paper. It contains much useful information 
on a great number of different species, giving the 
weights of a certain number of cubic inches, and 
of a cubit foot of each and native names of the 
trees. Cotton in West Africa forms the subject 
of another paper. — Gardeners' Chronicle, June 14th. 
Substitute for Ivory ; — A commercial reportere, 
writing from Sheffield, says ; — “ The bulk of thy 
ivory sold at the periodical sales finds its wae 
here, and enormous quantities are used in thd 
cutlery and silver trades. The growing scarcity an- 
ever-increasing cost of ivory has, however, com- 
pelled manufacturers to turn their attention to the 
production ef various substitutes. One of these is 
celluloid, and thousands of tons of this material is 
annually worked up in Sheffield. One firm alone who 
made a speciality of this article last year, sold upwards 
of 1,800 dozen table-knives with ivory. grained celluloid 
handles. Great imnrovements have been made in the 
manufacture of this material recently, and certainly 
the prejudice entert lined against it is not shared by 
Sheffield cutlery manufacturers, who boldly assert that 
it is superior to ivory in some respects, although it 
only costs about on -sixth the money. No amount 
of heat will cause combustion unless the c--ru!oid is 
brought into direct contact with flime It stinds hot 
water belter, and retains its beautiful creamy polish 
longer than ivory, for which it seems to be a really 
perfect substitute so far as Sheffield trades are con- 
cerned.”— 0. Mail. 
Coffee in the Karen Hills.— a contemporary says : 
— “ Among the attempts already being made to start 
the tea and coffee industries in the hilly districts of 
Burma, the Nancho estate in the Karen Hills seems to 
promise well. The coffee grown on this estate has been 
found to be of excellent quality and has sold at good 
prices, and tea could also be produced in paying quan- 
tities but for the great scarcity of labour which at present 
exists. In the early part of last year the prospects of 
the coffee crop looked remarkably bright but a calamity 
of an extraordinary and unforeseen kind nearly wrecked 
the small plantation. This was nothing ehe than an 
invasion of travelling rats, which in two nights nearly 
stripped all the trees of their fruit, cutting off the 
shoots and small branches and leaving the trees to all 
appearance as if severely pruned. The rats appear to 
have been animated purely by a spirit of dt strucaveness, 
for the fruit of the trees was untouched, but as the 
fruit was then only hali-grown the loss was very great. 
The ultimate yield was only 5,400 lb. as compared with 
12,000 lb in the previous year. It would be interesting 
to have some particulars about these migrating rats, and 
Mr. Ootes would do well to direct his attention to the 
subject, as the plague seomes to be an entirely new one. 
Fortunately the trees on the Nancho estate have reco» 
vered rapidly, and the blo.somiug this year has been 
abundant and hua set well, so *hat a large crop is 
expected.” — Pioneer, May 22nd. 
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