130 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Aug.  I,  1895. 
The  Monsoon  in  South  of  India.— Gveat  uneasi- 
ness is  felt  in  Madras  at  the  continued  delay  of  the 
monsoon.  The  crops  in  South  India,  arc  beginning 
to  wither  up,  and,  unless  rain  conies  soon,  famine 
is  sure  to  follow.  The  heat  is  intense.  In  Ilombay 
rain  began  falling  on  the  eve  of  the  11th  instant, 
and  it  is  hoped  that  the  monsoon  has  set  in. — 
Madras  paper. 
“ A Short  Lkogu.vphy  ()!•'  Hknoai,”  by  W. 
H.  Arden  Wood,  R.A.,  K.C..S.,  I’rincipiil  of  La 
Martinieve  (’ollege,  Calcutta,  Examiner  to  the 
Calcutta  and  Punjali  Ciiiversities  witli  m;ips  and 
illustrations,  is  a very  full  and  useful  little  book 
giving  lirst  of  all  a general  view  of  tlie  pro- 
vince, (its  surface  features,  river  .system,  climate, 
plants  and  anniinals,  products,  industries  and  com- 
merce, A'C. ) and  then  dealing  sejiar.ately  witli  each 
division, — liengal  [irojicr,  lliliar,  Orissa  .and  Chota 
Nagpur.  riiere  are  12  minor  maps  be.sidcs  the 
chief  one  and  some  20  other  illustr.atious,  one 
showing  the  “Snowy  liange  above  Darjeeling 
from  the  Kailw.ay  and  C.art  Hoad”  being  parti- 
cularly effective. 
Teas  axo  their  StreN(,;th.— The  Eudget 
Speech  specially  dwelt  on  the  difference  in 
strength  between  Indian  and  China  teas  in  re- 
ferring to  the  supercession  of  the  latter  in  the 
United  Kingdom.  Sir  Win.  Harcourt  said  : — 
In  quantity,  the  increase  is  5,6.)U,000  lb.  in  excess 
of  that  of  last  year ; and  the  rate  of  increase  is  2 0 
per  cent,  which  is  a good  deal  more  than  twice  as 
great  as  the  increase  of  the  population.  It  is  a satis- 
faction to  know  that,  whilst  our  people  at  home  have 
the  benefit  of  the  increased  consumption,  our  de- 
pendencies abroad  have  the  advantage  of  the  profits 
of  production.  (Hear,  hear.)  The  te.as  of  India  and 
and  Ceylon  now  constitute  8(i  per  cent,  of  the  whole, 
whilst  in  1864  they  formed  only  three  per  cent,  of  our 
consumption.  And  it  must  also  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  much  stronger  growths  of  Indian  tea,  admitted 
at  the  same  duty,  really  represent  a far  larger  con- 
sumable commodity  than  corresnonding  quantities  of 
the  Chinese  growth,  and  I would  ask  tne  Committee 
to  observe  this  fact,  that  really  the  introduction  of 
this  stronger  infusion  at  the  same  duty  is,  in  fact, 
equivalent  to  a reduction  of  the  tax,  because  you  get 
a larger  consumable  quantity  of  liquid  at  the  same  tax 
The  Indian  Tea  Crops  EsTtM.VTE. — In  some  quarters 
the  belief  in  tea  as  a paying  speculation  is  unbounded 
and  large  sums  of  money  are  being  invested  in  gardens. 
It  is  only  to  be  hoped  that  the  larger  outturn  will 
not  so  flood  the  market  as  to  bring  down  p?  ices  to  a 
point  which  will  not  pay  the  proprietors.  The  fol- 
lowing table,  compiled  by  the  Indian  Tea  Associa- 
tion, gives  the  estimated  outturn  from  the  various 
districts  for  181)5-%  : — 
lbs 
Assam 
Cachar 
Sy  Ihet  • . • • . • 
Darjeeling  ..  •• 
Terai  • • • • 
Dooars  . • • • • • 
Chittagong  .. 
Chota  Nagpur 
Kangra  . . ' ’ . -rr 
Dehra  Dun,  Kumaon,  and  Kangra 
Private  and  native  g.ardens 
57,.5.S1,51)0 
l',).403,88(> 
22,272,900 
8,069,210 
:'>,176,000 
19,854,240 
142,000 
238,800 
3.000. 000 
2,006,000 
4.000. 000 
Total  ..  ..  ••  139,690,520 
As  compared  with  the  actual  outturn  of  the  past 
year,  this  shows  an  estimated  increase  of  13  nii  lion 
pounds — an  advance  of  10  per  cent.,  the  bulk  of 
which  will  be  thrown  upon  the  London  market. 
The  trade  in  China  tea  is  declining  gradually  and 
may  be  said  to  he  practically  out  of  the  field  ; and 
vet  it  is  an  undoubted  fact  that  by  removing  taxes 
and  other  obstructions,  China  tea  could  be  so  reduced 
ip  cost  as  again  to  enable  it  to  take  its  place  as  a 
competitor. — /.  i\  Gazette, 
Thf.  Chinese  hike  Tea-taki.oids. — Forwarding 
tea  to  China  is  very  like  sending  coals  to  Newcastle 
but  that  is  what  Messrs.  Ilurrovvs,  Wellcome  & Co. 
have  been  doing.  A correspondent  of  the  firm’s  in 
the  interior  of  China  (South  Shan-si),  in  acknowledg- 
ing two  cases  of  tea-tabloids,  says: — “ All  over  China 
north  of  the  Yellow  River,  tea  is  comparatively 
little  drunk,  the  soil  and  climate  being  unsuitable 
for  its  cultivation,  and  the  time  and  difficulty  en- 
countered in  transporting  up  from  the  Yang-tse  Valley 
rendering  it  somewhat  e.xpensive.  Boiled  water  and 
thin  gruel  of  millet  are  the  usual  drinks  of  the  masses 
so  that  the  tea-tabloids  are  greatly  appreciated. 
The  ingenuity  which  is  displayed  in  the  tabloid  is  very 
striking  in  the  eyes  of  the  Chinese  as  well  as  our 
own.” — Chemist  and  Ih-urpjist. 
Kinds  of  Ivory. — Four  principal  kinds  of  ivory 
are  known  in  the  market : that  of  Guinea,  the  Ga- 
boon, or  Angola,  wdiich  is  a little  greenish,  so  that 
it  is  soniecimes  called  green  ivory,  and  which 
whitens  with  age ; Cape  ivory,  which  is  of  a dull, 
light,  somewhat  yellowish  colour : Indian  or  Siamese 
ivory,  very  rare  and  white,  with  a tinge  of  rose 
colour;  and  the  fossil  ivory  of  Siberia,  remains  of 
the  mammoths  of  the  olden  time.  Of  these,  the 
West  African  ivory  is  most  highly  prized,  being 
liner  and  more  transparent  than  the  others.  It  is 
pretended  that  experts,  w’hen  they  see  a well-preserved 
tusk,  can  tell  whether  the  animal  that  wore  it  came 
from  East  or  West  Africa,  or  north  or  south  of  the 
equator.  The  farther  north  the,  animal’s  habitat, 
and  the  more  elevated  and  dry  the  situation,  the 
more  the  ivory  is  coarse  and  inferior.  The  principal 
market  for  ivoiw  is  at  Liverpool,  and  nearly  one-third 
of  the  stock  imported  there  is  used  in  the  Sheffield 
cutleries.  Another  considerable  market  is  at  Antwerp. 
The  annual  exports  of  ivory  from  Africa  represent 
the  product  of  sixty  thousand  elephants,  and  this 
means  a rapid  reduction  of  the  elephantine  popu- 
lation of  the  continent.  Various  artificial  ivories, 
or  imitations,  are  manufactured  to  snp))ly  the  in- 
creasing demand.  There  are  vegetable  ivory — tagua 
seed  from  Peru,  or  wood  injected  with  chloride  of 
lime  ; sheep  bone,  macerated  with  the  wastes  of 
white  skins;  paper  pulp  w’ith  gelatin,  celluloid,  and 
caoutchouc ; a preparation  of  potatoes  ; and  a substance 
obtained  hy  treating  milk  with  certain  reagents. 
The  expediencj'  has  been  suggested  of  establishing 
elephant  farms,  to  form  a more  certain  source  of 
supply  than  hunting  wild  elephants  is  destined  to 
become.  Ostrich  farming  has  proved  practicable, 
why  not  elephant  farming,  too  ? — Home  paper. 
The  Java  Gover.vment  Cinchona  Planta- 
tions.— ^^’e  direct  attention  to  the  following  in- 
teresting statement  referring  to  the  ('incliona 
industry  in  the  hands  of  the  Government  in 
Java 
'The  cinchona  bark  harvest  in  the  Government 
cinchona  gardens  in  Java  in  1894  was  590,214  half- 
kilos, of  which  522.051  half-kilos  were  Ledgeriana 
bark,  possessing  an  average  yield  of  6’55  per  cent 
of  sulp'nate  of  quinine.  The  total  cost  of  harvest- 
ing, ti'ansportation  to  the  trade  centre  of  Bandoeng, 
and  other  expenses  in  1894  were  52,195  florins.  The 
total  cost  per  half-kilo  of  producing  cinchona-bark  in 
the  Java  Government  gardens  and  supplying  it  free  to 
the  collecting  centre  has  been  : — 
In  1890 
per  half-kilo 
22  yOc  or 
about 
4d  per  ' 
1891 
do 
19  l.lc 
do 
3^1 
1892 
do 
l.'’.-S7e 
do 
2Jd  „ 
189:l 
do 
10  •29c 
do 
3.1  .. 
1894 
do 
14  71c 
do 
2id 
Those  figures  show  a remarkable  reduction  in  the 
cost  of  production,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 
nothing  seems  to  be  allowed  for  the  cost  of  land 
or  capital,  anil  that  the  figures  therefore  do  not 
represent  the  probable  cost  of  production  to  a private 
planter.  The  expenses  on  the  bark  in  Java  from 
the  plantation  to  ship  board  are  4c  per  half-kilo 
(equal  to  about  -(d  per  lb.).  The  net  profit  of  the 
Government  gardens  in  1893  was  18,449  florins  on 
the  sale  of  bark,  and  745  florins  on  that  of  young 
trees  and  seed, — Chemist  and  Drugpist. 
