go 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
[August i, 1890. 
But in the second crop there were only 6 or 7 hongs 
engaged. The question is why is there this great drop- 
ping off in the second crop. The answer is to be found 
in the above reasons. But there is still another, and 
the greatest reason of all. It is the hsavy duties levied 
by the Government on the article. The dealers are 
compelled by the enormous taxation to abandon the 
trade. Formerly when a picul of tea cost Tls. 50 or 
BO, the duty was fixed at Tls. 5 ; but in consequence 
of 'the lowering of prices a picul of tea of the ordinary 
kind costs only Tls. 8 or 9, and of course on this the 
traders cannot afford to pay a duty of Tls. 5. There is 
no proportionate lowering of the duty with the lower- 
ing of prices, and unless the authorities take timely 
measures to redress this, the trade that has for so 
many centuries been the staple of Ohina will be utterly 
rained. . 
It is rumoured that on her last trip the Whaon car- 
ried a lot of fire bricks and all the necessary plant of 
tea manufacturing machinery destined for Kiukiang. 
It is to be hoped that by this the Chinese may be 
enabled to compete in the trade with other nations.— 
China Mail' June 12bh. 
PLANTING IN FIJI, 
Alpha, Fiji, May 15th. 
We escaped a blow this past season, for which 
everyone is thankful and feels more hopeful 
for the future. The plantations, coconut, have 
not yet recovered from the disastrous effects of 
the 1889 hurricane, and it will take some 2 or 3 
years more ere they will give any return to speak of 
and even then they will not give the crops they 
used as such a large percentage of the trees have 
died.’ The Colonial Sugar Co. are talking of putting 
up a mill in Vanua Levu on the Labasa. They 
have been taking levels of and surveying the 
land. Most probably they will first try 100 
acres of cane, and if it grows and turns out well 
then launch out further. That old Ceylon planter 
Cottam has been up this way and spent some time 
with me. The country was not go-ahead enough 
for him, so he has cleared out to New Zealand. 
Tea is looking A 1, but the crop has not been 
Up to expectation on account of incessant ram for 
5 months. I am hoping for better things this 
season Prices of tea in the Colonies are very poor. 
Lanvon, an old Ceylon man, has gone to Sumatra 
to try and learn all about tobacco. He will return 
here, i. e. Fiji, to show us all how to do it. The 
colony grows good tobacco, but no one knows the 
secret of curing. Coolies can now be got for about £18 
to £19 from India instead of costing £25 as formerly. 
The introduction of Polynesians is still heavy, £15. 
The Government is now prepared I hear to lease 
out land at a cheap rate and for lengthened periods. 
I am in a hurry to catch the mail, so must deier 
writing to you more fully on the labour and Imd 
questions till some other time. Wishing the Old 
Colony all prosperity. «• 
♦ 
THE JAVA TRADE. 
Though Java grows rice, the quantity raised does 
not meet home consumption, and yearly importations, 
more or less considerable, have to supplement local 
cr"P». The importation of petroleum has increaied 
five fold wilhin the last fifteen years in Netherlands 
India. There, the average consumption per head ot 
the population comes to four times the percentage 
in Briti h India The extension of steaminnavigation 
and railways of late years takes effect in steadily 
arger ariiviils ot coals from foreign lands- ilio ‘ xport 
of sugar has tallen off a good d, al. The coffee toUls 
come to :i70.000 piculs, winch compare fiivouiabiy with 
those for 1888. The figures for indigo mark steady 
and growing inorease, a (ealure common to few Java 
export articles. It has doubled within the last twelve 
years, and oommauda so much fat our that many 
planters put that staple above sugar. The exports 
of tobacco remain stationary owing to the low prices 
ruling in Holland, and very little of the article finds 
its way to Singapore. Hides present the same state 
of matters but nutmegs and mace show a decline, 
hardly any being grown in Java. The same may be 
said of pepper, the quantities figuring in the trade 
returns coming for the most part from the Lampong 
districts, where its cultivation is a leading industry 
among the people. Jungle produce makes little show, 
gum dammar lessening in importance, and india rub- 
ber and gutta percha steadily figuring less and less. 
The yield of tea grows slowly compared with the 
leaps and bounds characterising its production in Cey- 
lon and India. Cinchona shows more than 40 per cent 
increase, and kapok compares favourably with the 
figures in the returns of ten years ago. Decrease is 
noted under the head of rattans but the article comes 
from Sumatra and Borneo, Java itself being a non- 
produoer. As will have been seen Java still holds a 
commanding position in the market, and mav be 
trusted to recover ground when the times mend. — 
Straits Times, June llth. 
MAANA AND CITRONELLA GRASS FOR 
STRAWBOARD— TEA CHESTS— FIBRES, 
A good deal was written you in mv last letter 
about the prospect of successfully substituting mana 
grass and eitronella stalks for the straw which is 
now worked up into strawboard, and the possi- 
bility arising from that prospect of the establish- 
ment of factories in Ceylon to give effect to it. 
Since writing you to that effect Dr. Evans and 
Dr. Wirtz have conjointly sent in a report upon 
further experiments conducted by them which 
opportunity has been afforded me to read. Ana- 
lysing this report, it appears that when boiled 
under pressure with water alone mana grass yields 
about 50 per cent of fibre ; but as of course these 
experiments have been made with grass that has 
parted with nearly all its moisture during its 
conveyance to this country, this percentage would 
not represent the proportion that could be obtained 
from the grass gathered wet for local manufacture. 
The addition of certain proportions of lime during 
the boiling process appears to have been possessed 
of but little value; while an experimental admix- 
ture of soda, made with the view of bleaching the 
outturn, proved to have the effect of seriously 
diminishing the amount of pulp obtained from any 
given weight of the grass. 
Summing up the results to these experiments, 
the experts above-mentioned give it as their opinion 
that the grass is ‘‘ well suited ” for making into 
millboard, but that it would be useless for white 
papers from the fact that the admixture of soda 
above referred to largely diminishes the amount of 
pulp obtained, and that the material is, under 
other conditions, exceedingly difficult to bleach. 
However, what it was desired to ascertain has been 
definitely confirmed by this report, — viz. that in the 
mana grass — as probably in many other of your 
fibrous plants and grasses — Oeylon is possessed of 
admirable and abundant material for coarse paper 
making. 
You will naturally be desirous to hear what result 
this report may be expected to lead up to. As yet, 
and until the success of the shipment of the Stanley- 
Wrightson tea chests to Ceylon has been confirmed, 
it is impossible for anything definite to be decided 
upon. But so far as discussion has at present 
proceeded, it would seem as if the syndicate 
manufacturing these chests was desirous of erecting a 
small factory here with the object of working up 
mana grass to oe imported from Ceylon, before 
undertaking the establishment of manufactories in 
that island. Certainly, should that undertaking 
establish the value of the new substitute, it must ulti- 
mately find location in (be land of natural produo 
