July  i,  1895.I 
THE  TROPICAl.  AGRICULTURIST. 
47 
went  well,  but  agents  of  tea  gavclens  seem  n bit  dis- 
satisfied.  The  corres)iondent  himself  tbinlcs  that 
bearing  in  mind  that  al)Oiit  (10  per  cent  of  the  crop 
is  of  tile  class  that  sells  at  7*  annas  and  under,  it 
should  be  taken  as  satisfactory  that  there  was  a fairish 
demand  for  such.  There  is  another  point  of  view, 
however  and  seen  in  this  the  apjjarent  firmness  of 
demand,  for  inferior  qualities,  and  slackness  of  inquiry 
for  medium  sorts,  is  not  altogether  satisfactory. 
There  is  some  risk  of  Indian  tea-planters  attend- 
ing too  much  to  (juantity  and  too  little  to  quality. 
Any  such  policy  would  be  short-sighted,  and  would 
certainly  bring  about  a destruction  of  the  trade,  if 
the  Chinese  were  to  bestir  themselves  and  compete 
more  actively  than  they  have  lately  done.  No  doubt, 
a larger  quantity  of  low  class  tea  must  be  grown, 
because  there  is  a market  for  it,  and  because  many 
buyers  cannot  nfford  to  pav  more  than  a certain  price. 
But  speaking  generally,  the  taste  of  the  groat  con- 
suming public  in  the  United  Kingdom  is  likely  to 
improve  rather  than  to  deteriorate,  and  India's  hopes 
lie  in  an  improvement  of  quality  rather  than  in  a 
simultaneous  reduction  of  both  quality  and  price. — 
Miuh-as  Timex,  May  24. 
INDIAN  PATENTS. 
(.lALCUTTA,  May  fitll. 
Applications  in  respect  of  the  undermentioned  in- 
ventions have  been  filed,  during  the  week  ending  4th 
-May  1890,  under  the  provisions  of  Act  V.  of  1888. 
William  Bull,  Civil  Engineer,  of  Calcutta,  for  im- 
provements in  hurning  bricks  and  tiles, — hulinn  d' 
Eastern  Tin/iiieer. 
SERDANd— SUMATP.A  ; No.  V. 
(Bi/  an  ex'-Ccijhm  ricnitev.) 
LIVli  AND  LEARN. 
My  silence  since  my  last  has  been  longer  than  I 
intended;  but  I was  called  to  the  other  end  of  the 
•‘Dost  Keast”;  and  what  with  travelling,  prospecting, 
and  writing  leports,  time  has  gone  ahead,  and  left 
me  a bad  second.  So  now  I must  endeavour  to 
catch  time  by  the  fetlock,  his  forelock  being  beyond 
my  reach. 
I read  lately  that  most  of  the  aphorisms  w'hich  are 
always  on  our  lips  are  trash;  and  misleading  at  that. 
One,  however,  surely  stands  good:  “Live  and  learn.’’ 
1 remember  when  I was  a youngster  at  dinner  one 
evening  a fellow  S.D.  asked  the  chief  ‘how  long  it 
took  to  learn  coffee  planting  thoroughly?’  The  reply 
with  a genial  laugh  was;  “Well,  my  boy,  I’ve  been 
planting  coffee  for  a quarter  of  a ceutiu-y,  and  I learn 
something  new  every  day !’’  The  youngster  was 
ferried  across  by  Charon  15  years  ago ; and  the  P.D. 
is  now  a well  known  cross-country  man  with  fo.v- 
hounds  in  the  Midlands. 
We  all  remember  in  planting  a new  clearing,  how 
it  was  always  dinned  into  our  ears,  “Be  careful,  and 
don’t  turn  the  tap-root.’’  A few  days  ago  I met  a man 
who,  I am  told,  puts  turned  tap-roots  to  good  account. 
However,  I am  due  to  visit  him  shoi  tly  ; and  will  try  and 
get  liold  of  his  modus  oimnintU  m\<\  describe  it  to  you. 
But  in  any  case  he  must  surely  be  a genius  ! An- 
other maxim  always  diilled  into  us  in  the  pruning 
season  vvas  ‘‘  Never  touch  a primary,  ’’  though  if  I 
remember  rightly.  Mr.  W.  S.abonadiere  in  his  monograph 
on  coffne-phinting  adds  “ until  necessary.’’  But  even 
then,  (I  speak  from  memory.)  his  restrictions  are 
rather  severe.  A few  miles  froth  here  is  an  estate 
where  on  the  four-year-old  coffee,  every  primary  is 
tipped  ! And  this  is  the  thusness  of  it.  The  planter, 
working  for  his  own  experience,  noticed  that  his 
trees  threw  out  no  secondary  branches.  “ T il  forn‘ 
them  to,"  said  he.  And  he  tiiiped  every  primarv. 
He  knew  not  at  the  time  that  the  reason  his  bushes 
were  unable  to  make  wood  was  that  the  enormous 
crop  upon  them  took  up  all  their  strength.  Strangely 
enough,  his  experiment  was  a success;  and  now  he 
has  a fine  supply  of  wood  for  next,  year,  as  well  as 
his  present  crop.  The  wood,  of  course,  is  largely  in 
the  shape  of  gormandizers  ; but  these  are  always 
orop-bcarers  ; and  if  it  is  attempted  to  cultivate  Liberian 
coffee  into  the  symmetrical  shape  of  the  friend  of 
our  youth,  Arabica,  disaster  will  en.suc  both  to  the  bush 
and  the  bank-book. 
I am  a firm  believer  in  the  force  of  heredity,  and 
we  must  not  forget  that  Liherian  coffee  is  only  a 
very  few  generations  from  forest  trees.  So  it  would  be 
absurd  to  attempt  to  train  it  d la  Arahna.  Every 
bush  must  h.ave  individual  treatment ; and  men  who 
know  the  plant  ken  full  well  how-  imirkod  is  the 
individuality  of  each  bush.  In  this  cultivation  a 
pruning  knife  is  a planter’s  worst  enemy.  (Theex- 
l>eriment  mentioned  above,  I do  not  include  as  culti- 
vation. It  was  a bow  drawn  at  a venture  ; and 
luckily  hit  the  mark.)  At  the  same  time  an 
enormous  amount  of  good  can  be  done  by  judicious 
handling.  I rememher  a saying  attrihuted  to  old 
Dr.  Thwaites  of  Veradeniya,  viz. : that  in  pruning, 
we  planters  without  a moment’s  thought  would  rip 
off  valuable  wood  which  it  would  take  the  Almighty 
and  the  bush  a long  time  to  put  on  again.  One  of 
the  best  known  planters  in  the  Native  States  once 
told  me  that  in  Liberian  coffee  he  would  leave 
everything  to  nature.  This,  1 think,  is  going  too 
far.  Nature,  animal  or  vegetable,  must,  to  a cer- 
tain extent,  have  it’s  way'  ; and  among  the  minor 
crowds  Liberian  coffee  is  one  that  must  be 
humoured  ; but  cannot  be  forced. 
Interesting  figures  next  lettei'. 
THE  INDIAN  GOVERNMENT  AND  THE 
SALE  OF  QUININE. 
Regarding  the  sale  of  quinine  in  pice  packets,  the 
Calcutta  Gazette  says : — Reviewing  the  operations  as 
a whole,  and  having  regard  to  the  novelty  of  selling 
quinine  by  the  dose,  and  the  various  difficulties  of 
detail  which  had  to  be  overcome  at  starting,  the 
Lieut. -Governor  considers  that  the  scheme  has  been 
quite  as  successful  as  could  reasonably  have  been 
expected.  An  effective  demand  for  cheap  quinine 
among  the  masses  of  the  people  has  been  called  into 
existence ; the  demand  is  shown  to  vary  from  month 
to  month  in  general  accordance  with  the  conditions 
tending  to  produce  fever;  and  there  seem  to  be  grounds 
for  hoping  that  it  will  continue  to  increase  if  stimu- 
lated by  judicious  administration.  Under  the  scheme 
as  now  modified  the  post-offices  all  over  Bengal  will 
continue  to  be  the  main  agency  for  distributing 
quinine.  The  Lieut.-Governor  tiuists  that  District 
Officers  and  the  higher  sanitary  officials  will  lose  no 
opportunity  of  helping  to  promote  sales  and  of  spreading 
information  as  to  the  wishes  of  Government  in  the 
matter.  In  the  Darjeeling  district  (in  parts  of  which 
the  mortality  from  fever  is  extremely  high)  quinine 
is  now  sold,  or  shortly  will  be  sold,' at  no  less  than 
19  rural  centres  in  addition  to  places  where  there 
are  post-offices.  'The  vendors  are  for  the  most  part 
respectable  shop-keepers  'They  are  suppliecl  with 
parcels  containing  102  packets  of  quinine,  on  the 
same  terms  as  postal  officials  to  remit  the  price  to 
Government,  less  commission  of  six  packets  per  pa, reel 
All  Magistrates  of  district.s  are  authorised  to  indent 
on  the  Superintendent  of  , Jail  lAJauuf.ictures  for  the 
necessary  supplies  of  quinine  ; and  they  should  arrange 
to  renrit  the  sale  proceeds  to  that  officer. 
«. 
f’OFFEE  Uw  MlIISKV-'rODDY. 
Coffee  ami  how  to  get  it  good  ” i.s  the  title 
of  an  article  in  Srinnr  Siftiia/.s  of  d.ate  Ainil 
‘27th.  'I’lie  differsnf,  v.arieties  .are  de.seribed  .and 
ill  do:\iing  wilh  coffee  as  a slinmlaiil,  in  cases 
ol  aci-idenl,  its  use  is  recommended  in  place  of 
the  usual  o\er-.still  whisky-toddy,  not  only  for 
medical  reasons,  but  because  it  renders  the 
patient  li.able  to  the  charge  later,  from  those  not 
Jamihar  with  the  facts,  of  Ills  htti'ing  becil  iiijurcil 
on  account  of  (Inmkeimess, 
