October i, 1890.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
271 
Enemies of the Cotton Plant. — The Hon. 
W. W. Mitchell writes “I enclose papers I have r(i- 
oeived Iromthe U. S, Consul showing that arsenite of 
ammonia is a remedy for attacks of enemies to the 
cotton plant, and if you can publish it for general 
information, it might be a great boon. We shall 
give the full details in the Tropical Agriculturist. 
Meantime, can the remedy be bought locally at a 
cheap rate? 
The plant, known as the “Planters’ curse” in 
Coorg, is spreading fast in Bangalore, and has 
taken possession of all waste places. The fruits 
are like currants in appearance and are greedily 
eaten by birds which convey the seeds all over 
the place. When well trimmed, the Lantana makes 
neat hedges, the flowers being of every possible 
hue and looking quite gay. Just now, the Con- 
servancy Department is engaged in a crusade 
against this shrub; and it is being cut down and 
burnt on every side. — Indian Agriculturist, Aug. 2nd. 
Aetiitcial Coffee is now manufactured to an 
alarming extent, the spurious article consisting of 
the roasted meal of different cereals, worked up 
with dextrin. Two factories exist at Cologne which 
undertake to furnish the requisite machinery and 
plant, with directions for making the false coffee 
beans, for £180. The apparatus supplied by these 
wholesale swindlers is capable of turning out more 
than half a ton daily, at a cost of about £1 per 
cwt. good coffee beans being nearly five times this 
value in the market. The fictitious coffee is 
difficult of detection by ordinary examination, es- 
pecially when a proportion of genuine coffee has been 
mixed with the artificial. — Madras Mail, Aug. 15th. 
Mysoee Coffee Planter’s Grievances. — The 
agitation of the coffee planters in Mysore is at last 
likely to bear fruit. It will be remembered that the 
planters complained year after year that the working 
of the Breach of Contract Act was very defective 
and involved them in much loss. The Mysore 
Durbar have now partially redressed this long-stand- 
ing grievance. It has been laid down that all 
maestries who take advances from the colfee plantps 
and, in consideration of these, undertake to provide 
them with coolies, should register their names in the 
taluq cutchery and no one will be allowed to pursue 
the trade of a maastric unless so registered. _ The 
effect of this ruling will bo that the planters will be 
saved from the trouble of instituting inquiries in 
each case as to the antecedents of maestries who 
volunteered to provide coolies, and erring maestries 
can also be easily called to account in case of 
default. — Cor., Madras Times, July 3. 
Planting in Eastern Africa. — A n upcountry 
correspondent criticizing the article from the London 
Times in the Household Register on “ The Geo- 
graphy of the Anglo-German Agreement,” says in 
reference to the country described as fit for rich 
tea plantations, “ How silly not to state what the 
latitude of Uganda and Unyora is: if you can. 
let your readers have it.” The country referred 
as 5,000 to 6,000 feet elevation decreasing towards 
the north is all within 10 degrees north of the 
Equator. The line of Equator passes through the 
Victoria Nyanza, a good deal north of the German 
territory which may be said to run from 1 degree 
to 11 degrees South Latitude where it borders with 
the Portuguese territory and on the south-west 
with the British again. On the coast and up to 
the Victoria Nyanza, the British Northern territory 
runs down to 4 degrees south of the Equator, but 
the fine country spoken of around and north of 
the lake, begins at the Equator and runs northward 
for five and ten degrees of latitude. Coffee and tea 
plantations will no doubt be opened, but slowly, and 
labour and transport will handicap pioneering work 
for a good many years to come. 
Cassia Lignea in the United States.— I n a 
review of the spice trade in the American Drug 
Reporter of 17th June we find it stated that 
Cinnamon compares well with last year, but the cur- 
rent rates remain extremely low, and chips exhibits no 
changes of importance. Cassia lignea is exceedingly 
cheap at 21s 6d to 22s per cwt. for good quality, and, 
notwithstanding a great falling off in the importations, 
the stock retains a comparative excess of 47,000 pgks. 
Cassia lignea at 2jd per lb. must be a formidable 
competitor with even cinnamon chips, 
“ Tea ” IN France. — “ Claudius Clear ” writes 
to the British Weekly: — Speaking of French con- 
servatism, it is still rash, save in a very few places, 
to order tea. The traveller should provide himself 
with the necessary facilities — it is a simple process 
enough. The French, it seems, use tea as a 
medicine, and cherish the sound belief that all 
medicines should be nasty. I am inclined to doubt, 
however, whether they actually prepare it from the 
following recipd. Pour two quarts of tepid water 
on half a handful of chopped hay, add a soupqoit 
of tallow, and one black currant. 
The Tea Enterprise in Mauritius. — The 
following extract from the proceedings of the 
“Council of Government” shows that the Mauritians 
although on tea culture bent, have frugal minds 
as to expenditure : — 
Employment of a Tea Curer for Experimental Farm. 
— The Committee recommend that, as suggested by the 
Experimental Plantation Committee, BIr. Corson be 
employed till the end of the year on a salary of E.100 
per mensem with a lodging allowance of K26 per mensem, 
provided that the appliances now in the possession of 
the Experimental Farm Committee permit of his ser- 
vices being at once utilized, so as to thoroughly carry 
out the experiment which it is proposed to make. 
Should, however, it be necessary to obtain machinery 
and erect buildings for the purpose, the Committee are 
of opinion that the expenditure above referred to 
should not be incurred until an estimate of the pro- 
bable cost of such machinery and buildings has been 
submitted for the consideration of the Council. — Ad- 
opted. — M. and F. Gazette. 
The “ Unfounded” Charge of Ceylon Teas 
Not Keeping is thus disposed of in the London 
letter of the Indian Planters' Gazette : — 
It is a curious and significant feature of a good 
market, that when Ceylons are up, one never hears a word 
as to Ceylon Teas not keeping. On the other hand, 
directly the market goes down, the old complaint is 
heard once more. Chaffing a friendly broker about thia 
the other day, he frankly admitted that the complaint is 
unfounded, and that it was merely an echo of the dis- 
appointment felt by holders of fallen Teas. He illus- 
trated" this by saying, that, on opening Pekoes bought 
for 9d last January, now worth lid, the purchasers can 
hardly believe their eyes. “ Those Teas bought for 9d 
impossible ! What a magnificent show of tip, &c., 
&c., &o.,” and beauties are discovered in those Teas 
today, now worth lid, which quite escaped notice when 
it was a question whether 9d was not rather too dear a 
price to have paid for them. The January eye was that 
of the purchaser on a poor market, the July eye is that of 
the seller on a good market — that makes all the differ- 
ence ; Beauty being in the eye of the beholder. Had 
the case been reversed, and had those Teas cost lid and 
been now worth 9d, the Beauty would have been masked, 
and the keeping quality of Ceylon Teas would have 
again been in question. It is only human nature to 
bestow the blame of one’s faux pas upon somebody or 
something else than one’s self — if a scapegoat is con- 
veniently handy. So much for the outcry against the 
tendency to “ go off ” in Ceylon Teas — we used to hear 
a good deal to the same effect about Indians once upon 
a time, when teas were tumbling by 4d and 6d per lb. 
If the complaint has no more substantial foundation 
than this, it is safe to suppose that it will be lived 
down — as Chinas die out more and more. 
This confirms the opinion we have always held that 
"the buyer says it is naught.’ ' 
