January i, iSgi.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 485 
in — ^eysav^^^x^/.-esess^itmxntMtw 
that, although the tea could uot bo said manifestly to 
havepud duty, yet that as it had not be cu removed 
furtively, and to a certain extent had even been taken 
with tho consent of the Oustoms officers, it might be 
difficult to contend that it constituted “ uncustomed 
goods,” or that selling the tea could bo sustained 
so as “a dealing with uncustomed goods,” so as to 
involve a penalty. At the same time, it was manifestly 
injurious to tho revenue that such a practice should be 
allowed to contdiuo ; and, also, there was no moral 
reason for it, hecause the removing contractor pays 
only for refuse and is not supp s^d to convert any of 
that refuse into an article by the sale of which in the 
market he would presumably displace an equivalent 
amount of the same article which would otherwise pay 
duty. It has cuiisequeutly been enacted by the recent 
Act, that when any goo.is of a kind or description liable 
to a duty of Customs have been taken from a warehouse 
either with or without the permission of an officer of 
Customs, as unfit for consumption by reason of the mix- 
ture therewith of any other matter, the separation of 
such goods shall be deemed to be de.aling with them 
with intent to defraud Her Majesty, and shall involve 
penalties accordingly. — II. G. Mail. 
4. 
FATJ-INT LEGISLATION EOE A CENTURY. 
The present century has been the time, and the 
United States the pilace, in which invention has 
made its greatest strides. 
The growth of the patent system in the century 
■which has ela-psed since the first patent law was 
passed in 1790 has been enormous. Only three 
patents were granted the first year, and only fifty- 
five were granted under it before its repeal in 
1793. The whole number of patents granted be- 
fore 1800 was 25G, a little more than one-half 
the number now issued weekly. The number 
issued in the last ten yoar,s from 1880 to 1890 
was 195,454, or more than 800 times the number 
issued during the first ten years of the patent 
law. During the forty- sis years prior to the 
passage of tlie act of 1836 the number of patents 
granted, exclu‘ivo of reissues, was 9,957, a number 
now exceeded in a period of six months. The 
number of patents issued by tho office in 1836, 
after the date of the act establishing it, was 109, 
and the number for the fully year 1837 was 436. 
The whole number of patents issue 1 iu 1889 was 
24,083. The whole number of patents granted 
since 1836 was 431,541. According to Mr. Smith’s 
calculation, in fifty-four years tho number of 
patents increa.sed more than fifty-five fold, tho 
receipts more than forty fold, the expenses more 
than thirty-two fold and the number of persons 
employed seventy fold. This increase has been 
truly wonderful. It speaks volumes for the growth 
of invention and the application of ecienoo to in- 
dustry in the last century, and more particularly 
nthe last half century. — Bradstreet’s, Oct. 25th. 
♦ 
COTTON AND TEA. 
Wo notice that some of our contemporaries have a 
lougth sounded the note of alarm respecting th© 
inevitable eli'ect that tho recent ri.se in exchange wifi 
have upon many of the tor. gardens. It must be mani- 
fest to the merest tyro that shoubl tho rupee rise to 
par or even remain at its present value those gardens 
that have kept afloat simply by selling iu London to 
obtain tho benefit of tlie exchange, must close, for it 
is not to be expected that either banks or agency 
houses will continue to advance funds to bolster up 
concerns whose prospects are hopeless. Such companies 
who possess (Ut or undulating land, not liable to 
wash, with good soil, favourable site with regard to 
communications and a superior Jnt of plants will 
no doubt, couiiuuQ to hold their own, but a glance 
at the dividend list is sufficient to shew that most of 
the older gardens, especially those planted on 
steep sandy tcchihs are doomed, and in fact 
several arc now in liquidation, while others, unless 
they can raise money for opening fresh planting on 
favorable sites, must in due course follow suit ; but 
as we have written above, tho probability of such 
concerns being able to obtain pecuni.ary assistanoo is 
highly protdematical. When tho falling off in yield 
and quality is duo to exhaustion of the soilaud they 
lai/ of tho pbintatioa is m: deratoly fiat, we would 
reiterate the advice given some seventeen years back, 
viz. to dig well into tho root finely pulverised lime 
stone, at the same time making either trenches of 
renovating pits between the rows of plants, which 
should be filled with bheel soil, if available, mixed 
with vegetable refuse and also a duo proportion of 
lime stone. But best of all the coolies should be in- 
duoed to st'all their cattle for the night in one or more 
sheds, down the centre of which a drain should be 
carried so as to secure tho urine in a tub, tank 
or other reservoir, and this, added to tho other 
matters we have enumerated, well worked into 
a compost would gt far towards stimulating the 
flagging vitality of the exhausted plants. Annually 
cutting back a certain area until the whole plantation 
has been thus tre.ated, adopted iu conjunction with high 
manuring, has proved beneficial, though, of course, 
diminished return would have to be submitted to until 
the cut back portion had re-grown sufficiently to bear 
plucking. All this, cf course, means the raising of 
fresh capital and, probably, many shareholders would 
demur to what they', no doubt, would consider as 
throwing good money after bad, but unless they make 
up tbcT minds to adopt some method of ende s* vouring 
to retrieve matters — and we venture on oner or two 
suggestions — the aiteriiative is bankruptcy, foo that in 
tho case of tea properties under the present Put-look, 
is the true interpretation of tho more eunhonious 
term liquidation. Upon those plantations w ere the 
plant is exhausted but the soil still retains 
a moderate amount of vigor, wo would rccom- 
roend tlio cutting back of tho entire planting 
and the sowing between the rows iu well manured pit.«, 
which could bo easily and rapidly excavated by means ot 
sms.ll shtdges such as are u.sed in ascertaining tho 
character of the soil in river beds, with the best cotton 
seed available ; for if it ]iays to grow cotton in tho 
southern states of the U. S. A. with wages equivalent 
to R24 per month, it would surely do so in Cachar, at 
less than halt that rate. Of course, some arrange- 
ment would have to be c^ma to with the steamer com- 
panies for conveying tho bales to a sea port at a reason- 
able rate, or if the companies declined to entertain any 
proposition for reduction in freight it would be neces- 
sary to raise funds for tho purchase and equipment of 
one or more steamers and flats, on tho co-operative 
principle. It is no use people arguing that cotton will 
not pay, as every cold weather an enterprising foreign 
firm locates its employes with gins and presses at Goal- 
para m Assam, purchasing cotton from the Garrows 
with highly profitable results. 
It must be recollected that the difference iu price be- 
tween cotton and tea is, under the present state of the 
tea market, not so very great and, when it is considered 
that cotton needs but packing in gunny (costing but 
some 6 aunas per bale) and that tea requires load-lined 
chests, solder clamps, etc., tho difference in laying- 
down the two commodities is reduced to a mioimum. 
Reverting to the question of cultivation it must bo 
borne in mind that tea gives no appreciable yield till 
its fourth year, whi'e cotton, being an annual, furnishes 
returns in nine months; though among the hill tribes 
who know nothing of manuring tho jhooiii.i, cultivated 
by them, aro abandoned after three years — the soil 
being by that time emsidered oxliausterl. Were the 
system ot cultivation, adopted in the cotton state.-', 
fol owed out iu Oaehar, Sylhet and Assam, tho Saino 
fields wonl-J turn out steady even crops for twenty 
years and even thould signs of deterioration brcome 
apparent, most of the non-paying tea concerns have 
sufficiently largo tracts of forest to fall back upon, so 
that no anxiety on the score of want of area uoed be 
eutertaiucd,— JjjrkifUuritit, Oct. 25th. 
