sS8 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[October t, 1890. 
might easily ensure this by a little more care in se 
lecting strong chests for their dust teas. If, however, 
they continue to neglect it, they may, perhaps, find that 
buyers in this market will give duet teas less attention 
in the days to come. — I am, &o, D. P. Shillington. 
[If,_as we have seen it stated, 1501b of dust are 
sometimes crammed into a single chest, we cannot 
wonder if such chest giveaway. — E d. T. A.] 
The Java Coffee Chop.— The Amsterdam corres- 
pondent of the London and China Express writes 
under date Aug. 13th : — The reports regarding the 
Java coffee crop for this year continue to be very 
unsatisfactory, for the Government as well as for 
the private planters. There are districts in which 
the crop will not be more than 10 per cent, of the 
quantity harvested in the past year. 
Pepper &o. in Perak.— A report from Kuala 
Kangsa district states : — 
The cultivation of pepper is not making so much 
progress as might be wished, owing to the want of 
capital, and the difficulty in procuring plants. There 
are still a number of applicants, principally Achinese, 
for pepper land, but the majority of these people are 
only able to take up from one to three acres each, and 
they are very often unable to bring even one acre under 
cultivation, unless they can obtain advances. Kong 
Lin, however, is making good progress with his estate. 
He has cleared thirty acres of land in addition to the 
original clearing of ten acres, which is now almost 
planted up ; but he, also, has experienced difficulty in 
obtaining pepper cuttings, and informs me that about 
50 per cent of those sent over from Penang are not 
worth planting. He is now clearing ten acres of lacd 
near his pepper estate, which he intends planting viith 
orange trees from Kelantan. The fruit of these trees, 
he informs me, is superior to any produced in the 
Straits, and commands a ready sale. I have not lately 
been able to visit the pepper estate at Pasir Panjang, 
but Syed Musa informs me that it is progressing 
favourably, and is now partly in bearing; He has 
about 20,000 dedap cuttings for sale, and can also 
supply a few pepper plants. — Perak Government Gazette. 
The Peaed Fisheeieb of Mexico are about to be 
prosecuted with greater energy, and the Government 
has just granted a concession for fifteen years to 
Senor Quaglia for the exclusive right to fish for 
pearls in the Gulf of California and off the coasts 
of Lower California. Hitherto the average annual 
value of Mexican pearls sent to Europe has been 
about 80,000 piastres, and of mother-of-pearl about 
25,000 piastres. The divers (mostly Sonora Indians) 
are remunerated according to results, and there is 
a wide margin between the prices fetched on the 
spot and those obtained in Europe ; for instance, a 
pearl which is bought in La Paz for 500 dollars will 
fetch about 25,000 francs in Paris. Mother of- 
pearl shells, again, which may be bought in La 
Paz at from 8 to 12 oentavos per pound, are worth 
three times as much in Europe. Mexican pearls 
take the next place after the Indian for beauty ; 
they are mostly small and irregular in shape, but 
very bard, and of exceptional brilliancy. In the 
year 1881 a pearl was found weighing 28 carats, 
and this fetched 90,000 francs in Paris in 1883, 
again one of the divers brought up two pearls 
weighing together 76 carats. Mexican pearls are 
mostly white, and these are of less value than the 
brown, black, or pink the latter being the rarest. 
The finest specimen has been set in the Spanish 
Royal crown ; it weighs 100 carats, and although it 
dates from the 17th century, it still preserves its 
ancient brillianoy. The pearl fishery is a very 
lucrative business in Mexico ; the oyster shells 
bronvht up sell at the rate of 10 to 12 piastres per 
100 kilogrammes, which of itself is suffioient to 
cover all expenses, everything else being clear 
profit. — Times of Jiuiia, Aag. 15th. 
The Mongoose in Jamaica, introduced to 
destroy rats on sugar estates, has largely effected 
this object, but unfortunately “ this strange bird ” 
as Mr. Whymper called it, did not confine his 
attention to rats, but has been so destructive in 
the fowl yards and otherwise that a commission has 
been appointed to decide the question whether 
these Indian representatives of the ferret and 
weazel are not more mischievous than useful and 
whether they ought not to be exterminated 
and how* 
• Tea ,” — “ Miss Mantalini,” writing 
in the^ Pall Mall Budget of 81st July on various 
delicacies to be had at Morel’s in Regent Street 
London, says: — 
Talking about tea, Morel’s manager told me he 
had many eustomers for 12s 6d tea. This tea isn’t 
packed and its qualities are that it is weak and 
scented The taste for this tea is acquired; it 
wouldn t suit the general English palate, which likes 
something rough It is well known that Russians 
take all the best of the China teas.” 
No doubt the wealthy idiots who pay 12s 6d a 
lb. for ‘‘weak and scented” Chinese trash consider 
good wholesome Ceylon and Indian tea far too 
vulgar for their delicate palates. We hope that 
their number is not large. 
Uses of the Cotton Plant.— T wo more 
been added to the many uses 
01 the cotton plant. A report comes from Ger- 
many that a process has been discovered by which 
sugar is extracted from cotton seed meal. It is 
said^ to be very much sweeter than cane sugar but 
having a peculiar fermenting quality cannot be so 
pnerally used. For some purposes however it will 
be greatly preferred to the ordinary product. The 
other use is that of making felt from the lint which 
clings to the seed after it has gone through the 
‘ gin. This cloth, it is claimed, will come into wide 
use for hats, etc, as the process is inexpensive and 
me material has hitherto been counted waste I 
What a feature of these modern days is this utiliza- 
tion of so called “waste!” Material that like the 
cotton seed were but yesterday oonsidered a nuisance 
and some that were a menace to public health are 
today py the touch of chemistry and meohanioal 
ingenuity transformed to articles of use and beauty. 
It surely looks as though those were right who claim 
that there need be no waste and there will be none 
when men oome to understand nature’s forces better 
— Indian Agriculturist, Aug. 16th. 
A New Indian Inddstey.— The Pioneer Glass 
Manufacturing Co., Limited, has recently been 
termed in Calcutta to munufaoture glassware from 
indigenous materials, which, it has been found 
exist in abundance in Bengal and with which 
experiments on a large scale have already been 
made by a leading London glass factory. The 
first experiments were made in the presence of 
Mr. James Watson (well-known in Calcutta as the 
hydraulic press now in use here) 
and Mr. Malcolm, of Messrs. May Malcolm & Co. 
T “a- these, as well as subsequent trials 
of the Indian materials, proved their suitabilitv 
for the making of all classes of glassware in use 
m this country, including window glass. The 
Company has for the present been formed on a 
comparatively small scale, but it i.s intended 
that the work should be extended in due course. 
The cost of manufacturing glass articles here is 
estimated at from forty to sixty per cent, less 
than in Europe. The Company has secured the 
services of a highly qualified English expert as 
manager, and suitable land and buildings have 
been secured in the neighbourhood of Calcutta — 
Indian AffncMlturist^ 
