40 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
ijatliereil  that  tlierc  is  no  prospect  of  Darjiliiif' 
increasing  its  line  supply  of  line  teas  to  the  houilon 
market.  . 
Talking  after  the  Scottisli  Ceylon  meeting  witli 
Mr.  Donald  Andrew— who  has  had  a prolonged 
experience  in  Southern  India — ^ye  touiul  he  (iiiite 
a‘oeed  that  the  area  in  the  Nilgiris  district  for 
tine  teas  could  not  well  be  largely  extended 
nor  could  much  be  looked  for  in  the  higher  poi- 
tions  of  the  Wynaad,  Ouchtcrlony  Valley,  etc., 
although  in  the  rest  of  these  districts,  no  doubt, 
there  is  .scope  for  a very  considerable  develop- 
ment of  tea  cultivation.  Contrary,  therefore,  to 
the  opinion  recenily  expressed  by  Sir  John  Dnn- 
linton,  we  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that 
there  is  not  much  fear  of  any  special  increase 
in  India  of  the  luoduction  oi  fine  calculated 
to  compete  with  the  hue  high-grown  teas  in 
Cevlon,  which  distinguish  a great  part  ot 
Dimbula,  Dikoya,  Maskeliya,  Maturata, 
Rambotla,  Udapussellawa,  Isew  tlalway,  Uaputale 
West,  and  the  region  still  higher  up.  1 .us  is 
an  important  matter;  but  at  the  same  time 
planters,  in  the  region  specified,  quite  understand 
that  if  they  are  to  keep  up  the  reputation  and 
prices  of  their  teas,  special  care  and  attention 
must  be  given  to  cultivation,  plucking  and  pre- 
paration, and  they  must  aim  at ‘’quality  lathei 
than  “quantity,”  as  Mr  Hancock  (of  the  well- 
known  Mincing  Lane  Broking  House)  well  re- 
minded us  at  the  Society  of  Arts  meeting.  J.K. 
CoFt^Eii  IN  Ceylon  and  Africa.— In  (he 
BmnlMU,  Gazette  we  read  ;-However  well 
cot  U planters  in  Ceylon  may  have  succeeded 
Hie  last  year  or  two  in  overcoming  the  leaf- 
1 «ease  that  so  completely  changed  the  economic 
enmUtious  prevailing  in  the  Island  twenty  years 
there  is  no  likelihood  wl.atcver  of  collee 
its  old  place  as  the  chief  economic  product. 
&vlon  tea  has^o  well  established  itselt  in  the 
European  markets,  and  its  cultivation  is  .so  free 
hand 
now 
and 
than 
will 
D-om  the  uncertainties  attending  collee  planting, 
tliat  the  colonists  are  not  likely  to  return  to  the 
old  love  that  played  them  so  falsely  in  the  past. 
Tim  fragrant  berry  seems  to  have  a much  better 
chance  before  it  in  British  Central  Africa,  where 
production  is  increasing  by  leaps  and  bounds. 
The  simde  plant  which  was  taken  out  to  A yassa- 
a few  years  ago  by  a Scottish  gardener  is 
"the  parent  of  many  millions  of  trees, 
it  is  estimated  that  this  year  no  less 
three  hundred  and  twenty  tons  of  coliee 
be  available  for  e.xiiort.  This  estimate  is 
contained  in  a report  addressed  to  Sir  11.  II. 
inhnstoii  by  Mr.  M.  Master,  the  sub-commis- 
si^  erin  dirge  of  the  Blantyre  _ district.  It 
vmnains  to  be  seen  whether  tiie  industry  wil 
move  as  prolitable  to  those  who  have  invested 
ionev  and  labour  thereon,  as  was  the  case  with 
the  pincers  of  collee  planting  in  Ceylon.  At 
nresent  great  ditliculties  staml  in  the  way  of 
Le  planters,  foremost  amongst  them  being  the 
decrease  in  the  available  supply  ot  local  labour 
iid  the  consequent  rise  in  wages.  the  planter 
hns  to  pay  no  less  than  live  shillings  a 
"inthior  its'  equivalent— to  his  native  “ boy,” 
r tl.o  t«-o  .himnp  a 
1 a vear  ago  was  tiie  local  rate  ot  wages 
U’ee  Plantations  in  Central  Africa.  Land, 
To^"  n the  township  of  Blantyre  has  doubled 
’trebled  in  value  during  the  past 
months,  ami 
place  which, 
IS  concerned 
ter? 
twelve 
takini 
other  economic  changes  are  taking 
so  far  as  the  immediate  future 
do  not  augur  well  for  the  plan- 
[JULV  I,  1896. 
INDIAN  I’vVTENTS. 
Applications  in  ri'spect  of  the  undermentioned 
inventions  have  been  filed,  dining  the  week  i nding 
Kith  May  Ib'.Ki,  under  the  provisions  of  Act  V of  1.S88. 
An  iMPllOVKMIiNT  IN  Tllli  MlCTUOJ)  OF  PACKING  TEA. 
— No.  10'.)  ol  IHDli. — Henry  fcjabow,  engineer,  of  Kur- 
seong,  ill  the  district  of  Darjeeling,  Bengal,  for  an 
iinpiovcineut  in  the  method  of  packing  t-u,  to  be 
called  “ II.  Sabow’s  patent  violating  tea  packer.,’ 
ImPKOVEMENTS  in  tea  EEAI’-IIOLLING  -VIACIIINES. — No. 
17‘2  of  1890. — Haimiel  Cleland  Davidson,  merchant’ 
of  Sirocco  Engineering  Works,  Belfast,  Ireland, 
for  inqirovements  in  tea  leaf-roliing  machines. 
Spocihcatioiia  of  the  undermentioued  inventions 
have  been  filed  under  the  provisions  of  Act  V of  1888. 
I.lllTIOVEMENTS  IN  OK  CONNECTED  WITH  MACHINERY  OR 
APPARATUS  rOR  DRYING  TEA  LEAF  OR  THE  LIKE. — No. 
1U8  of  18'JO.  — William  Jakson,  engineer,  of  Thorn 
Grove,  Mannofield,  Aberdeen,  North  Britain,  for 
improvements  in  or  connected  with  machinery  or 
apparatus  for  drying  tea  leaf  or  the  like.  (Filed 
11th  May  189(5). — Indian  and  Eastern  Enyineer,  May  80. 
SHAN  TEA  SEED. 
Whether  the  promising  outlook  that  Indian  tea 
has  assumed  since  Easter  will  be  sustained  or  not 
remains  to  be  seen,  but  certainly  there  appears 
every  prospect  that  for  this  year,  at  any  rate,  tea 
wall  maintain  the  profitabie  position  it  has  occupied 
for  the  past  two  seasons.  This  will  doubtless  beget 
a fresli  insistence  on  further  extensions  and  conse- 
quently a corresponding  demand  for  seed,  and  as  no 
one  in  a position  to  plant  will  look  at  other  than 
the  best  kind,  there  is  likely  to  be  a dearth  of  the 
favourite  (so-called)  Munipuri  seed.  True,  many  of 
the  new  gardens  planted  during  the  past  decade  have 
been  put  down  with  this,  but,  as  we  pointed  out 
three  years  since,  it  by  no  means  follows  that  the 
seed  from  these  will  produce  seedlings  of  the  same 
standard,  lor  wherever  thrown  up  xilantations  of  the 
old  kind  of  hybrids  exist  in  the  neighbourhood,  hy- 
bridising must  to  a greater  or  less  extent,  take  place, 
tiiough,  perhaps,  for  the  next  two  or  three  years  the 
deterioration  may  not  be  very  apparent  ; still  it  is 
going  on  and  in  the  natural  order  of  things,  will  in- 
crease each  successive  season.  It  would  be  as  well 
therefore  if  i rrangemenis  weie  made  to  ensure 
future  supplies  ot  seed  as  uncontaminated  as 
possible. 
Munipuri,  itself,  the  llukong  Valley  and  the  eastern 
ravines  of  the  Naga  Hills,  in  and  around  Swemi 
abutting  on  the  valley  of  the  Maglung,  are  capable 
of  furnishing  a large  amount  of  pure  seed,  but  can- 
not be  expected  to  meet  the  wnole  demand,  hence 
it  would  be  as  well  if  measures  were  taken  during 
the  lains  to  ascertain  what  quantity  may  be  pro- 
curable from  the  Sban  States,  of  which  we  heard  so 
much  a few  weeks  back.  The  Nagas  of  north- 
western Burma,  unacquainted  with  the  value  of  the 
tea  plant,  have  destroyed  whole  tracts  by  tlieir  per- 
nicious method  of  dealing  by  jhumimi,  or  there 
would  have  been  an  unlimited  supply  derivable  from 
the  Hukong  and  its  neighbourhood.  But  the  Shans, 
though  I ot  actuall3-  cultivating  tea,  conserve  it, 
though  pruning  pretty  severely  should  still  have  no 
inconsiderable  slocks  in  their  valleys,  and  as  the 
country  is  not  an  unhealthy  one  to  travel  in  (even 
during  the  rains),  there  should  be  little  difficulty  in 
sccuiiug  the  wliole  crop.  We  could  certainly  depend 
upon  the  puritj  of  this  supply,  and  plantations  estab- 
lished in  'Travancore,  or,  still  better,  the  Anda- 
mans and  Tenasserim,  would  furnish  sufficiently  iso- 
lated spots,  to  guard  against  coniamination. 
Much,  of  course,  could  bo  done  to  preserve  from 
hybridisation,  the  recent  additions  to  the  Assam  gar- 
dens if  suliicicnt  labour  were  available  to  pick  off 
the  blossom  from  the  thrown  up  plantations  in  the 
autumn,  or  severely  cut  back  the  plants  below  the 
llowering  point;  but,  on  the  whole,  we  incline  to 
the  opinion  that  the  better  plan  would  be  the  adop- 
tion of  the  isolated  seed  gardens  we  recommend. — 
Indian  1‘tantcra'  Gazette,  May  28. 
