DkC.  2,  1895.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
401 
“ Sai!ai  ” Grass  for  Papfr. — Experiments  arc  bring 
made  in  the  Deccan  for  improving  the  gr-owth  of  the 
sahai  grass,  which  is  fast  taking  the  place  of  the 
failing  esparto  in  the  manufacture  of  paper.  The 
Deccan  Paper  Mill  Company  has  obtained  a fi’ea 
grant  for  five  years  of  .50  acies  of  land  for  the 
cultivation  of  the  sabai  grass. — A small  beginning  waa 
made  in  18'.)3  i)4  in  the  export  of  printing  and  writing 
paper  from  Bengal  to  Ceylon,  .Java,  the  Straits,  and 
even  to  Australia  when  the  export  value  was  only 
Rx.  .3,827.  In  1894-1).t  it  had  increased  to  Rx.  8,038, 
and  from  all  accounts  there  is  a distinct  probabi- 
lity of  the  export  trade  of  India  in  paper  taking  a 
pi  ominent  position  in  the  next  yearly  Trade  returns. — 
S.  and  K.  Enf/ineer. 
“CKNTitAL  Afkican  Plaxter.”— AVe  have  re- 
ceived a cotiy  of  the  lirst  number  of  this  little 
periodical  (12  pages)  published  at  Zomba,  dated 
September  ana  edited  by  R.  S.  llyiide,  f.r..s.g.s. 
AVe  quote  from  the  introduction  as  follows  : — 
We  have  already  a paper  devoted  to  Mission  in- 
terests, a general  Magazine,  and  a Goveiumient 
Gazette,  but  no  organ  devoted  to  the  planting  in- 
terests of  the  community — the  interest,  we  venture  to 
state,  on  which  the  commercial  prosperity  of  B.C  A. 
depends.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  we  are  attempting 
to  fill  a place  which  has  hitherto  been  vacant  and 
that  we  have  neither  the  wish,  nor  the  intention,  to 
trench  upon  the  fields  already  takeu  up.  Such  is 
our  apology  and  now  a few  words  as  to  our  plans. 
We  propoi-e  to  run  the  paper  somewhat  on  the  lines 
of  the  Troiiical  Af/riciillunst " of  Ceylon — a paper 
which,  .as  most  of  us  think,  may  be  fitly  styled  the 
Prince  of  Planters’  Papers.  AVe  will  endeavour  to 
put  before  our  readers  tho  latest  information  on 
Tropical  Agriculture  at  our  command  and  we  also 
hope  to  publish,  from  time  to  time,  original  articles 
from  residents  in  the  country  dealing  with  planting 
questions. 
We  a])preciate  the  compliment  to  ouiselve.s. 
The  mo, St  imi)ortant  .article  is  entitled  .a  “ Re- 
trospect” iiH  to  cotlee  planting  in  Central 
Afi'ic.a  which  we  reproduce  elsewhere.  AVe  wish 
the  “ Centr.al  Afric.an  Planter”  a .successful  career. 
.Sunspots  and  Rainfall  in  India  and 
Ceylon. — The  Pioneer  has  the  following  deliver- 
ance on  this  subject : — 
Once  upon  a time  everyone  who  aspired  to  do  his 
duty  at  an  Indian  dinner  table  had  to  know  some- 
thing about  the  theory  of  sunspots.  But  now  that 
Sir  W.  W.  Hunter  is  gone,  and  the  weather  on  tho 
whole  remains  much  the  same,  the  interest  of  the 
subject  in  general  conversation  has  rather  waned. 
There  is  in  fact  only  one  region  in  India  where  it 
has  been  shown  that  a general  agreement  exists 
between  the  changes  in  the  solar  photosphere  and 
the  amount  of  r.ainfall.  This  region  is  the  C.arnatic, 
where  the  rainfall  shows  a very  fairly  regular  in- 
crease and  decrease  which  approximates  in  a very 
remarkable  manner  to  the  course  of  the  sunspot  varia- 
tion. This  is  the  more  remarkable  as  the  total  rain- 
fall of  India  affords  no  evidence  of  a similar  eleven 
year  variation,  and  the  rainfall  of  the  present  autumn 
in  Madras  will  hence  be  carefully  watched  by  those  who 
are  interested  in  establishing  a relationship  between 
the  progress  of  solar  changes  and  terrestrial  meteo- 
rology. A slight  maximum  of  sunspots  occurred  in 
the  beginning  of  1884,  and  that  year  was  one  of 
heavy  rainfall  in  Madras.  The  present  year  1895  is 
also  one  of  maximum  spots,  hence  according  to  the 
theory  heavy  rains  should  be  received  over  the 
Carnatic  and  Southern  India  gener.ally  during  the 
prevalence  of  the  present  North-East  Monsooir.  So 
far  this  arrticipation  has  been  amply  fulfilled,  as 
drrring  the  past  fortnight,  i.e.,  since  I,l.e  setting  in  of 
the  monsoon,  the  rainfall  has  been  abnormally  heavy 
over  the  whole  of  the  peninsula  region.  Thus 
Colombo  has  received  22  inches  instead  of  8 inches  ; 
Madras  8 inches  instead  of  ti  inches;  Masulipatam  8 
inches  instead  of  5 inches  ; and  Cochin  12  inches  irr- 
stead  of  7 inches,  a result  which  will  be  equally 
acceptable  to  the  Southern  India  ryot  as  to  the  be- 
liever in  direct  solar  action  on  terrestrial  weather, 
Day.s  of  Or,u  : Mr.  R.  E.  Lewis.— AA'e  are 
much  pleased  to  h.ave  a long  ami  interesting 
communication— to  appear  in  an  early  issue— on 
“ Days  of  Old  ” from  this  gentleman  who 
pioneered  cotlee  here  in  the  early  “forties”; 
ami  .afterward.s  bec.ame  Editor  ami  .autlioi'  and 
merchant— joining  the  linn  of  Messrs,  Darley, 
Butler  A 0<».  Mr.  Lewis  was  one  of  the  very 
lirst  to  write  the  history  of  coffee-planting  in 
Ceylon.  He  must  now  be  over  75  years 
and  yet  it  is  interesting  to  lc.arn  that  although 
Mrs.  Lew’is  and  himself  “suffered  from  inlluenza  — 
critically  at  the  time — we  are  both  well  and  I 
have  legained  my  active  habits.” 
Cinchona. — Mi.  O’Conor  says  that  in  8 years 
the  area  under  cincliona  in  India  has  fallen  from 
14,4!U  to  8,709  acres ; but  the  Mad  ras  figures 
do  not  quite  agree  with  this  result.  In  Ceylon, 
however,  in  8 years  we  have  gone  from  40,000 
down  to  5,000  acres  ! — .Speaking  of  cinchona,  we 
may  here  give  ligures — the  latest  available — sup- 
plied to  us  by  Mr.  Morey  for  the  importation 
of  bark  and  quinine  into  the  United  .States: — 
Quantityn  Value. 
Cinchona  Bark  lb.  3,423,941  §299,998-00 
Cinchoniada  oz.  11,483  1, .58(3-00 
Quinia  [Sulphtof]  oz.  2,086,(377  542,440-00 
All  other  Salts  of 
Cinchona  oz.  156,442  22,366-00 
oz.  2,854,602  • |866,390  00 
Tla  and  Finance. — We  are  not  infrequently  asked 
to  express  an  opinion  as  to  the  merits  of  certain 
tea  companies  as  investments,  and  whether  the  new 
projects  launched  from  time  to  time  are  worth  at- 
tention. AA’’e  leave  to  those  who  make  a special 
study  of  the  stock  and  share  markets  the  task  of 
acting  as  financial  advisers  in  these  matters.  We 
have  continuously  pointed  out  that  the  shares  in 
sound  and  well  managed  tea  gardens  are  w’ell  worth 
attention,  and  as  w-e  give  ample  information 
about  all  that  concerns  these  gardens  w'eek  by 
week  it  is  not  a very  difficult  task  for  the 
intelligent  investor  to  ascertain  for  himself  the 
E respect  before  him.  That  tea  planting  is  on  a sound 
asis  is  quite  certain.  It  will  have  its  ups  and  downs, 
but  in  the  case  of  well-managed  properties  it  offers 
much  that  cannot  be  found  elsewhere.  The  prefer- 
ence shares  in  some  of  the  leading  companies — the 
Jokai  Company  is  an  instance— are  valued  as  highly 
by  investors  as  Colonial  Government  securities,  and 
this  is  evidence  of  the  solidity  of  the  tea  industry  from 
the  investors'  point  of  view.  That  every  new  tea  con- 
cern whose  prospectus  is  issued  is  necessarily'  a good 
thing  by  no  means  follows. 
Indian  and  Ceylon  Tea  in  America.— We  under- 
stand that  Mr.  Mackenzie,  special  commissioner  of 
Ceylon,  is  expected  at  Liverpool  tomorrow  (Satur- 
day) by  the  ss.  “ Etruria.”  His  report  on  the  out- 
look for  British-giown  teas  in  America  will  be 
awaited  with  much  interest.  It  is  stated  that  the 
304,000  acres  of  tea  at  present  under  cultivation  in 
Ceylon  will  yield,  this  season,  some  90,000,000  lb.  of 
tea,  and  the  revised  estimate  of  the  Indian  crop 
is  140,000,000  lb.,  so  that  there  will  be  no  lack 
of  tea  ^ to  supply  our  American  cousins.  Mr. 
Blechynden’s  proposed  scheme  of  operations  is  at 
m-esent  receiving  the  attention  of  the  American  and 
Foreign  Tea  Cemmittee  of  the  Indian  Tea  Associa- 
tion. His  programme  is,  we  believe,  based  in  a great 
measure  on  co-operation  with  Ceylon,  both  in  respect 
of  demonstrations  in  Food  Shows  and  in  subsidising 
firms  already  engaged  in  the  business  of  advertising 
and  selling  Indian  tea.  The  scheme  also  contemplates 
enlisting  the  interests  of  newspaper  men,  and  thus 
securing  valuable  notices.  Mr.  Blechynden’s  opera- 
tions also  include  the  services  of  six  talented  sales- 
women, who  discourse  on  the  merits  of  Indian  tea  to 
select  gatherings  of  the  sex,  in  addition  to  which,  as 
we  stated  last  week,  the  agency  of  the  Salvation 
Army  has  been  enlisted  in  the  joint  service  of  India 
and  Ceylon. 
