Aug.  I,  1895.] 
AGRICULTURIS  I\ 
THE  TROPICAL 
Old  Ceylon  Residents  and  Fiji  Estate  Phoducts. 
Mrs.  James  Uicksoii,  the  wife  of  a former  Ccylou 
coffee  planter,  was  at  Colombo  yesterday  on  her  way 
to  Fiji  by  the  s.s.  “ Prinz  Ref'ent  Luitpold."  Mr. 
Dixoii  has  a sugar  estate,  Navua  by  name,  coffee 
having  gone  under  there  as  in  Ceylon,  owing  to  leal- 
disease.  With  the  beet  cultivation  in  Europe  and 
elsewhere  cane  sugar  manufacturing  is  also  but  a 
wreck,  of  what  it  was,  and  a number  of  planters  in 
Fiji  have  turned  their  attention  to  such  other  pro- 
ducts as  tobacco  and  tea.  Dhe  greater  cost  of  Tamil 
labour,  brought  there  from  India,  however,  has  pre- 
vented the  tea  planters  from  competing  prohtably 
in  the  world’s  markets;  and  consequently  tobacco 
cultivation  appears  to  be  the  most  promising  one 
of  those  mentioned.  Fruit  cultivation,  it  seems,  has 
also  been  resorted  to  considerably,  because  we  were 
informed  that  Fiji  already  supplies  Australia  with  all 
the  bananas  that  country  required,  and  also  with  a 
large  quantity  of  pine-apples.  There  are  still  a num- 
ber of  former  Ceylon  men  in  Fiji. 
The  Tea  Tiiade  in  Australia. — Mr.  Thomson,  of 
the  firm  of  Messrs.  Finlay,  Muir  & Co.  .returned  to 
the  Island  by  the  “Arcadia”  this  week;  but  he  has 
little  information  to  afford  as  the  result  of  his  fort- 
night’s stay  in  Melbourne  and  Sydney  as  inspect- 
ing agent  for  Messrs.  Finlay  Muir  & Co.,  The 
taste  for  British  grown  teas,  he  says,  is  undoubtedly 
growing  ; but  he  does  not  anticipate  a very  great 
increase  in  the  near  future,  nor  has  there  been  a 
very  marked  one  in  recent  months.  His  view  is  a 
decidedly  pessimistic  one.  Three  years  ago,  before 
the  boom  the  Colonies  were  in  a very  different  con- 
dition from  what  they  are  now,  and,  when  one  of  our 
representatives  said  to  him  today  : “ The  press  of 
Australia  tells  us  more  of  the  sport  there  than  it  tells 
us  of  colonial  commerce,  he  replied  : “That's  just  it; 
the  principal  products  of  Australia  at  present  are 
the  horse  and  the  book-maker.”  All  the  same,  he 
thinks,  British-grown  teas  aregoing  ahead  down  there, 
though  how  far  Sylhet  and  FinW  Muir  teas  are  pro- 
gressing he  would  not  say.  Mr.  Thomson  will  remain 
for  the  present  in  Colombo. 
CoMMEuuiAL  Fibres. — Dr.  D.  Morris,  in  a series  of 
Canter  Lecuires  before  the  Society  of  Ar!s,  when 
reviewing  the  fibres  of  the  palm  order,  recently  drew 
attention  to  the  remarkable  vegetable  substance,  re- 
sembling whalebone  in  strength  and  elasticity,  called 
bass  or  piassava.  This  was  extensively  used  for 
making  brooms  and  brushes,  and  consisted  of  the 
indurated  fibre  bundles  thickly  clothing  the  stems  of 
palms.  The  fibres  yielded  by  the  husk  of  the  coco- 
nut were  of  considerable  commercial  importance. 
They  afforded  material  for  brushes,  mats  and  matting, 
cords,  ropes,  and  tow.  Coconut  refuse,  on  account 
of  its  wonderful  properties  of  absorbing  moisture,  had 
been  recommended  for  use  as  a backing  material  for 
steel  plates  in  the  construction  of  men-of-war.  Of 
all  vegetable  substances  the  most  noted  substitute 
for  horsehair  was  the  fibre  of  the  Spanish  moss 
(Tillaiuhia  imncoides).  The  plant  grew  in  long,  hang- 
ing tresses  on  cypress  trees  in  the  swamps  of  the 
Southern  United  States.  The  supply  of  material  lor 
paper-making  was  becoming  more  dependent  on  wood 
pulp.  The  lecturer  concluded  the  course  by  discuss- 
ing in  some  detail,  problems  connected  with  the 
introduction  of  new  fibres,  the  improvement  of  fibre 
Elants  by  systematic  selection  and  cultivation,  and 
y a general  review  of  the  methods  hitherto  adopted 
by  mechanical  and  chemical  means  for  the  extrac- 
tion of  commercial  fibres. — Chemical  Trade  Journal, 
May  11. 
A "Visit  to  North  Tr.yvancore. — Mr.  Cl.  D.  Braba- 
2011  of  New  Peacock,  Pussellawa,  and  Mr.  J.  Coles 
of  Ruanwela,  returned  yesterday  ('2nd)  morning  from 
Travancore.  Both  gentlemen  speak  highly  of  what 
they  saw  in  Travancore.  The  climate,  the  soil,  and' 
the  tea — though  of  this  in  bearing  there  docs 
not  axipear  to  be  much  in  bearing  at  present — all 
beat  those  of  Ceylon ; and  the  outlook  for  the  dis- 
trict is  in  every  way  excellent  if  only  the  labour 
difficulty  can  be  got  over  and  better  outlets  provided 
{or  proaucBi  'While  itaying  with  Wr.  Knight,  Messrs, 
T13 
Brabazon  and  his  companion  paid  . a visit  to  Mr. 
Benzie,  wlio,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  got  up  from 
Ceylon  by  Messrs.  Finlay,  Muir  A Go.  to  trace  an 
outlet  from  tlieir  new  property  to  Cochin  on  the 
west  coast.  The  journey  from  Colombo  to  Travan- 
core does  not  apiiear  to  be  a very  formidable  one, 
and  Mr.  JliMbazo  1 declares  that  it  is  possible,  within 
forty-eight  hours  after  leaving  Colombo,  to  reach 
tlie  portion  of  Travancore  he  visited,  the  route  being 
by  B.I.  steamer  to  Tuticoriu,  then  by  rail,  then  on 
horseback  liy  road  to  the  foot  of  the  ghauts, 
a stiff  ride  up  the  ghauts,  and  you  are  at 
your  destination  in  a beautiful  climate,  very 
much  like  that  upcountry  in  Ceylon,  but  a good  deal 
drier.  The  country  Mr.  Brabazon  went  over  ranged 
from  2,uyu  to  8.0UU  ft.,  at  which  elevation,  it  is  need- 
less to  say,  it  was  “ coiiiiderably  cool.”  Though  some 
of  the  land  was  very  steep  and  broken,  a good  por- 
tion of  it  is  undulating  country,  of  patana  interspersed 
with  Idocks  of  jungle,  very  similar  to  the  Uva  coun- 
try, though  the  visitors  declare  that  Rravancore  grass 
land  is  much  superior  to  what  we  have  in  Ceylon, 
the  short  grass  there  being  suitable  for  grazing 
piuqioses,  and,  as  far  as  could  be  judged,  as  well 
adapted  for  tea  as  a good  deal  of  the  jungle  in 
Ceylon.  The  jungle  soil  is  pronounced  to  be  splendid, 
aud  the  little  tea  that  was  inspected,  though  not  of 
the  best  jat,  was  doing  excellently;  the  cinchona,  of 
which  there  is  still  a little  left  in  the  district,  though 
it  was  steadily  coming  out,  was  in  very  good  heart  : 
and  at  the  lower  elevations  coffee  promised  to  do 
very  well.  At  the  higher  elevations  Mr.  Brabazon 
thought  it  possible  that  the  frost  they  have  occa- 
sionally there  might  damage  the  tea,  but  in  every 
other  respect  he  was  wonderfully  struck  with  the 
suitability  of  the  country  for  its  cultivation.  As  stated 
above.  However,  there  is  a difficulty  about  labour,  and 
it  is  this  that  has  decided  Messrs.  Finlay,  Muir 
& Co.  to,  at  first,  only  open  a small  xiortion  of  their 
twenty  square  miles  of  land,  beginning  with  about 
three  nhundred  acres  and  opening  about  ten  thousand 
withita  the  next  three  or  four  years.  This  will  be 
only  small  portion  of  the  virgin  jungle  which  covers 
about  half  the  enormous  acreage  they  have  purcHased. 
They  hope  to  work  up  a labour  force  by  degrees  and, 
no  doubt,  tliey  will  be  as  generous  in  the  matter  of 
advances  and  rates  of  pay  as  they'  are  known  to  be 
in  Ceylon.  The  coolies  in  Travancore,  who  are  all 
Tamils  and  are  recruited  from  much  the  same  districts 
as  our  own  in  Ceylon,  seem  to  work  on  a very 
different  system  to  the  latter.  They  are  advinced 
money  in  just  the  same  way  as  are  our  own 
but,  on  arrval  at  the  estate,  they  piroceed  to  work 
the  advances  off  at  once  and,  as  soon  as  this  is 
done,  they  clear  off  apparently  without  much 
further  ceremony,  leaving  the  planter  with- 
out any  labour  unless  he  goes  on  sending 
fresh  advances  out  for  more  coolies.  The 
coolies  there,  too,  have  the  same  objection  to  go 
to  uowly-opcnod  land  that  they  have  in  Ceylon,  and 
altogether  there  is  undoubtedly  hard  work  to  be  done 
before  Travancore  planters  put  their  labour  supply 
on  a firm  and  permanent  basis;  but  Messrs.  Finlay, 
Muir  A Co.,  who  are  the  principal — and  nearly  the 
sole — jiroprietors  in  that  part  of  Travancore,  have 
immense  cajiital  at  their  back,  and  are  determined 
to  persevere  till  they  have  brought  their  fine  and 
extensive  property  under  tea.  If  they  succeed  in  do- 
ing this  in  the  near  futiu-e,  it  will  undoubtedly  throw 
a large  amount  of  tea  on  the  markets  of  the  world 
to  swell  the  already  big  total  from  India  and  Ceylon, 
and,  as  they  procure  their  labour  force  from  the  same 
parts  of  South  India  as  Ceylon  planters  do,  their  com- 
petition cuts  in  two  ways.  But  this  cannot  be  helped, 
and  the  only  way  to  meet  it  is  for  us  to  increase 
our  endeavours  to  open  up  new  markets,  aud  to  grapple 
practically  and  speedily  with  the  labour  supply  diffi- 
culty. Mr.  Brabazon  aud  his  companion  speak  highly 
of  tlio  main  roads  in  Travancore,  which  aie  kept  in 
excellent  condition,  though  they  seem  to  require  little 
attention  comx>ared  to  what  our  roads  up-country  do, 
owing  probably  to  a lesser  rainfall  and  to  the  superi- 
ority of  the  soil  there  for  road  pur^ioses.  One  road 
Mr.  Brabazon  went  over,  and  which  ivas  in  fii-st- 
rate  condition,  had  not  been  repaired  for  so®^ 
five  years. 
