4^6 
[Df;c.  2,  t<S95, 
'I'HE  TROPICAL 
than  ten  niillions  to  not  far  from  forty  millions.  Tho 
rubber  countries  look  to  us  for  capital.  The  natives 
in  South  and  Central  America  have  already  be- 
gun the  planting  of  rubber  trees,  and  a traveler  will 
meet  here  and  there  plantations  of  considei’able 
importance.  But  American  capital  will  do  the  real 
work  when  the  time  is  ripe.  There  is,  however,  one 
serio's  drawback, — the  lack  of  labor.  There  is  no 
civilized  population  in  the  rubber  districts,  and  the 
Indians  cannot  be  depended  on  for  regular,  syste- 
matic, and  continuous  application.  They  are  not 
accustomed  to  order  and  discipline,  and  they  will 
work  in  their  own  way,  getting  drunk  or  loafing 
whenever  it  suits  them.  ’ — India  lUihher  W'oiUl. 
YABIOUS  PL.YNTING  NOTES. 
Wood  Ashes,  fresh  and  unbleached,  are  of  great 
value  as  a manure  for  fruit  trees  generally  and  also  for 
strawberries,  but  the  bare  advice  often  given  that  they 
be  “ stored  for  use”  should  be  accompanied  by  in- 
structions regarding  the  proper  method  of  storing. 
If  wood  ashes  are  once  wetted  they  will  have  lost  much 
of  their  manurial  value  ; therefore  they  should  be 
stored  as  soon  as  made.  They  should  he  kept  quite 
dry  at  all  times ; but  better  still  would  be  the  adop- 
tion of  a system  of  applying  them  to  the  soil  while 
fresh. — Indian  .Ujiirnlturist. 
Tiir.  Nkw  DiMiiCi.-V  Co.,  Lo.— We  attract  at- 
tention to  the  i)roceedings  at  the  annual  meeting 
of  tliis  Company  in  London  as  given  in  another 
column.  They  reveal  a si>ecially  satisfactory  state 
of  atl'airs  and  it  is  no  wonder  though  tlie  share.s 
in  this  Company  are  strongly  hekl  in  jiew  of 
the  dividends  paid,  and  the  fact  that  8:17, 1 Id  lb. 
of  tea  last  sea.son  were  jilaceil  on  hoard  ship 
,at  the  very  low  rate  of  :i"2(id  ])er  Ih.  Altogether, 
the  vote  of  tliank.s  to  the  Ceylon  Manager  was 
e.Kceptionally  well  deserved. 
The  “ Aoiucuetuual  Gazette”  of  New  South  Wales, 
Vol.  VI.,  part  1),  September  1895. — Contenfs  Notes 
of  a Trip  to  the  North  Central  Coast  Forests  of 
New  South  Wales,  J.  H.  Maiden  ; The  Cultivation 
of  Lucerne  [Medicuijo  saliva.)  J.  L.  Thompson  ; 
Broom  Corn  or  Broom  Millet  [Sortjhuin  vuh/are, 
Pels  ) G.  Valder  ; Comparative  Test  of  Sorghums, 
G.  Valder;  Sugar-cane  at  the  Experimental^  Farm, 
Wollongbar,  llichmoud  Kiver,  G.  M.  McKeowu  ; 
The  Honey  Bee — On  the  lielationship  of  all  Bee- 
races  with  suggestions  for  their  Improvement,  II. 
Helm’s  ; Bee-keeping— The  Inmates  and  Economy  of 
the  Hive — The  Oueen  Bee  [rontinund)  Albert  Gale  ; 
Practical  Vegetable  and  Flower  Growing,  Directions 
for  the  month  ot  October;  Orchard  Notes  for  Oct., 
General  Notes  ; Growing  Flax  ; Table  showing  the 
Districts  in  which  tho  under  mentioned  Timbers  are 
obtainable  ; Wild  Oats ; Yorkshire  Fog,  Agricultural 
Societies’  Shows.  1895-0. 
COl'PKE  IN  Ckkman  E.a.st  Afi!IC.\.— TheZle»fs- 
chr.s  Kolonkdblatt  says: — 
The  firm  of  A.  Zuntsel,  Wve.,  has  given  the  fol- 
lowing report  respecting  a sample  of  coffee  sent  by 
the  station  Kilossa  in  German  East  Africa:— “The 
coffee  resembles  the  increasingly  scarcer  fine  Ceylon 
coffee  TTie  beau  is  not  yet  fully  developed;  the 
roasted  beans  also  appear  somewhat  shriveled ; but 
nrobablv  the  product  could  be  brought  to  develop 
well  by  means  of  practical  cultivation  and  rational 
treatment  The  flavour  of  the  roasted  beans  is  good 
and  resembles  that  of  Ceylon  coffee.  The  price  of 
the  raw  coffee  I should  estimate  at  8o  to  9U  pf.  per 
i kilo  without  duties.  The  price  of  good  Ceylon 
coffee’  or  of  its  superseder,  namely  ‘West  Indian 
cured’  varies  from  90  to  105  pf.  per  A kilo  without 
duties’  If  I place  the  price  of  the  sample  sent 
lower  ' it  is  because  it  is  still  somewhat  light  and 
not  so  full  of  riavoiir  as  tlie  kinds  resemhling  it  in 
the  market.”  From  the  above  it  appears  however 
that  a regular  cultivation  ot  i he  colTee  referred  to 
\wnld  in  process  of  time  pay,  and  should  thus  well 
be  recommended. 
AGRICULTURIST. 
Leeds  and  its  Tea  Trade.- The  “gift  ” system 
applied  to  the  sale  of  tea  is  popular,  we  should  im- 
agine, ill  Yorkshire.  In  Leeds  the  generosity  of  the 
tea  retailers  knows  no  bounds.  Furniture,  ujiholstery, 
in  fact  almost  anj'thiiig  from  a child’s  cot  to  a 
bootjack  is  included  in  the  items  given  away  with  a 
pound  or  more  of  tea.  Indeed,  a large  purchaser  of 
tea  who  was  about  to  start  house  furnishing  might 
stock  himself  with  tea  and  fittings  upon  reasonable 
terms,  and  upholster  his  residence  from  the  kitchen 
to  the  roof,  including  the  crockery  and  the  carpets. — 
Jl.  <(■  C.  31  ait. 
VlCTOlii.V  Kki.iA  Pi.ANT.8.  — Read  the  following 
letter  from  Mr.  Nock,  Acting  Director,  Royal 
Botanic  Gardems,  i’eradeniya,  dated  ifrd  Septem- 
ber, 1895  : — 
“ You  will  be  sorry  to  learn  that  all  the  plants  of 
the  Metoria  L'cijia,  that  you  were  good  enough  to 
send,  have  died.  On  the  other  hand  you  will  be 
pleased  to  learn  that  11  of  the  seeds  have  germinated 
and  are  doing  well  and  I hope  in  a few  weeks  time 
they  will  be  large  enough  to  plant  out.  The  only 
thing  that  has  troubled  them  yet  is  a water  slug  which 
feeds  on  the  small  tender  leaves.  I am  having  these 
carefully  hand  picked  and  I trust  all  will  now  go 
well.  1 had  much  pleasure  in  despatching  by  post 
to  your  address  on  ‘i‘2nd  ultimo,  :!ti  packets  of  Palm 
seeds  which  I trust  have  reached  you  safely  and  that 
they  will  prove  acceptable.  I very  much  regret  that, 
at  present,  we  h.ave  but  a very  few  of  the  plants 
named  in  your  list  of  desiderata,  but  I have  instructed 
my  assistant  to  propagate  as  soon  as  possible  as 
many  plants  of  those  you  ask  for  and  they  will  be 
forwarded  as  soon  as  thej’  are  ready.”— .(g/'f-Z/o/Ti- 
cultural  Socii'ti/,  dfadra.^. 
The  Laiiouu  (i»ukstion— like  the  poor— i.s 
alway.s  with  us  and  tliere  are  .signs  as  the  letter 
of  “A.F.S.”  shows  that  scarcity  of  siijiply  and 
pi'essing  needs  are  likely  to  lead  to  multi[ilication 
of  sharp  practices.  We  fear  the  ( lovernment  can- 
not take  action  in  the  way  jiointed  out,  more  esjieci- 
ally  in  respect  of  private  land  ; hut  certainly  the 
matter  should  he  hrought  undei'  the  notice 
of  the  Rlanters’  Association. — A much  larger 
question  is  opened  up  after  <a  very  interest- 
ing fashion  hy  our  corres[)ondeiit  “ Egomet,” 
He  begins  by  having  a hit  at  the  ohjectoi's  to  in- 
tlentured  labour,  and  then  jiroceeds  to  jioint  out 
to  those  whose  averseness  to  this  system  ajipears 
to  he  based  upon  the  regulations  that  obtain  in 
Assam,  that  an  organization  yiehling  very  desir- 
able results,  whicli  he  enumerates,  c.xists  on  the 
Diamond  Fields  of  South  Africa  and  is  very 
well  worthy  the  con.sideration  of  our  planters.  In 
the  concluding  ]iart  of  his  letter  he  empha.sizes 
tlie  necessity  for  reform  whether  initiated  by  the 
Government  or  hy  the  planters.  On  this  jioint  our 
opinion  is  that  the  matter  is  not  ripe  for  legis- 
lation, at  allei’ents  at  jiresent.  “ Egoniet’s”  pro- 
posal is  nothing  less  than  a revolution  in  the  pre- 
sent .system  of  dealing  with  the  planting  labour 
force  in  Geyhm.  The  sketch  given  of  what  has 
been  done  on  the  Diamond  Fields  is  most  en- 
ticing, more  es|iecially  the  substitution  of  arbi- 
tration Boards  or  ollicials  for  the  Law  ('ourls, 
the  regulation  of  the  sujiply  of  liquor,  and  the 
guarantee  of  a regular  sujiply  of  docile  labour. 
We  fear  in  the  case  of  Ceylon  that  the  formation 
and  working  of  a similar  organization  so  a,s  to 
(•o\er  the  whole  of  our  planting  districts  would 
he  expeiisiie.  But  the  members  of  the  I’hinter.s’ 
Association  would  do  well  to  invite  “ Egoniet” 
to  lay  the  scheme  before  them  in  full  detail. — 
In  the  minutes  of  the  Udaimssellawa  1*.  we 
notice  that  a very  .sensible  resolution  has  been 
]>assed  recommending  co-opertition  between  the 
planters  .and  the  (liamher  of  Commerce  tis 
to  making  a suitable  alteration  with  regard 
to  paying  coolies. 
