June r, 1891.] Ty{£ TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 83^ 
the Shows were confined etrictly to local products 
and industries, an annual collection and Exhibition 
might be managed. Such Exhibitions as that re- 
cently held at Nuwara Eliya, though no doubt very 
interesting to a large number of people brought 
together, have, we fear, not much practical result 
at any rata as regards the natives. It will be tor 
the several Government Agents and their Assis- 
tants to see if District and Villaga Shows specially 
for the benefit of native agriculturists, could not 
be organised, perhaps to follow after the provincial 
.gatherings. 
NEW FIELDS FOR THE CULTIVATION 
OF COFFEE. 
It may be presumed that the very limited supply 
of cofl'ee which Ceylon as well as Southern 
India and Java are now able to export, 
affords a very strong stimulus for the search for 
other lands which may present a proepeet of its 
successful cultivation. Added to this inducement, 
there is of course the high price which our former 
staple now commands in tlie London market, and 
both of these causes combined may readily accounf- 
for the desire to find suitable land even in sucl 
distant and, in some respects, difficult loealitiet 
as the slopes of the Andes, Mr, J. L. Shand’t 
name has received frequent mention of late as 
being among those who have become prominently 
associated with this endeavour. His venture in 
Borneo is made in a field which is not entirely 
new. In this respect it differs materially from 
that as to which he has at all events been consulted, 
the endeavour to find an opening in the more inaccess- 
ible regions of Peru. It appears that the Govern- 
ment of that South American republic has failed 
to meet its engagements to its bondholders, as so 
many other of the South American republics have 
done. In order to save a national bankruptcy, it 
has handed over certain lands and privileges as 
a quid pro quo for the indebtedness it is unable 
otherwise to meet. 
Whether the exploration now about to bo under- 
taken and in connexion with whioh Mr. ( lark of our 
Peradeniya Botanical Gardens is to give his ser- 
vices, will result in all that is hoped for, re- 
mains yet to be ascertained. But even if it should 
be the result of the expedition that land suitable 
for coffee can be found, a very serious obstacle 
to its development must be presented by the evil 
repute into which the events of the last few years 
have brought the Governments of South America. 
A very largo amount of capital will be 
required, and several years of patient waiting must 
pass before returns can be expected by those who 
may be disposed to invest. No doubt Sir Alfred 
Dent is a man of exceptional energy and resources ; 
but his highest qualifications in these respects 
must be demanded to overcome all the obstacles 
which must present themselves to the success of 
his new venture. It is probably intended to employ 
Chinese labour, but then how much farther away is 
South America than North Borneo from the 
Chinese Coast. It will be, to say the least, 
questionable if capital can be raised as readily for 
cultivation upon the slopes of Andos as for the 
enterprise in British North Borneo. 
But there is a further point to bo considered 
with reference to coffee growing in Peru. Hitherto, 
South Araerioan coffee has failed to achieve any 
position in our home markets at all approaching that 
to which tho growth of Ceylon and India has attained. 
Whether this may be duo to some defect in the 
c’imato of those vast regions, or whether the 
fact is to be attributed t) tho less careful pre- 
paration given to the berry, [it remains that as 
yet South American colieo has failed to become 
^ successful competitor with the highly valued 
Product of Ceylon. This disability will have to 
taken into serious account by those whom Sir 
Alfred Dent may delegate to make inquiry on 
behalf of the bondholders he represents. It will 
be one thing to find land, it will be another to 
so cultivate it as to ensure a larger increase of 
success for its produce than has hitherto been 
secured for that grown in other countries of South 
America. With reference to the venture to be made 
in North Borneo, it is knovvn that that country can 
and does grow coffee of high quality, and there 
can be little doubt that, should ever our own 
remaining fields once again resume their former 
prolific character, the export from Borneo will 
be found to be a serious competitor. But under 
all present conditions, and as far as may be 
foreseen, 'there is but little prospect of such a recrudes- 
cence of coffee growing in the island, at all events 
for a good many years yet to come. Wc can 
therefore well afford to regard with equanimity 
these fresh endeavours to enter into competition with 
Ceylon coffee, and to wish them every possible 
success, though may much doalii a large taeasuro 
btii;.g attained in Peru. 
THE TARING OF .LA,. N LONDON. 
We call attention to two furiher letters on this 
subject. “Proprietor" resumes bis story in order 
to clear his selling Broker who, it seems, has nothing 
to do with the “taring” which, being conducted in 
the docks for or by the Customs authorities, is a 
mai.ter for which outsiders have no responsibility. 
But surely it is the duty of the Broker, or, if 
there be one, of the Lo>rdon agent to see that the 
rules of the Customs officers are not broken, as 
seems to be the ea.e lu reference to the 28 lb. 
boxes ? The London representative of the Ceylon 
planter can surely make a big disturbance over 
an absolute breach of the standing regulations, 
and if he gets no redress can carry his complaint 
to some one or other public organ representing 
the trade. Was anything of this kind done? — 
But who then benefits by an unusual appropria- 
tion for “ iares.” Did it not come out a short time 
ago that some of the Dock Companies are in the 
habit of selling what they called “refuse and 
sweepings,” to which no doubt over-liberal or un- 
just tares, add considerably. If this be the 
case, the matter is one which ought to receive 
tho special attention of the Planters' Association 
or why not rather of its “Tea Fund Committee” 
who could get the London Association to take 
the matter up and cause enquiry to be made. 
One or other of our correspondents who feel ag- 
grieved should address the Tea Committee with 
a view to action being taken at their next sitting. 

New Products in the W.-vttegama District. 
— It is interesting to learn of the success which has 
attended the operations, among others, of Messrs. 
Vollar and Gwatkin in this district. One hundred 
acres put under tobacco gave so good a crop last 
year that a visitor from Deli declared he could 
not wish for finer tobacco from Sumatra and that 
it ought to be worth some 3s to 4s per lb. This 
was just before shipment, and when this visitor 
learned that consignments almost as good had been 
sold for 4d a lb. in London, he considered the 
tobacco had been thrown sway. It remains to be 
seen what this last consignment so much praised 
by the Sumatra visitor, will really fetch. After the 
tobacco, a crop of cotton taken off the same 100 
acres gave 112,000 or E20 per acre profit ; and now 
cacao and coconuts seem llourishiug in the 
same area 1 
