THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIS  I'. 
[June  i,  1897. 
S30 
Tlie  import  cost  of  the  tea  received  in  189fi  was 
Sl5,585,741.  Tlie  retail  cost  was  at  least  double  this 
or  $31,171,4^2.  Banhofer,  chef  at  Delmonico’a,  uses 
four  gallons  of  water  to  one  pound  of  black,  and  three 
gallons  to  one  pound  of  green  tea.  Others  estimate 
200  cups  to  the  pound,  and  some  only  100.  India 
and  Ceylon  tea  will  make  fully  50  per  cent,  more  of 
infusion  than  can  be  made  from  the  best  China  and 
Japan  sorts  ; iu  fact,  sixteen  gallons  of  proper  strength 
are  made  from  one  pound  of  leaf.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  one  pound  of  tea  as  ordinarily  brewed  will  make 
five  gallons  of  beverage,  on  which  basis  there  was  last 
year  a total  consumption  of  4(Ui, 701,240  gallons,  costing 
fi  3-5  cents  per  gallon,  thus  making  tea  the  cheapest 
of  all  beverages  in  general  use.  If  machine-made 
(Ceylon  or  India)  tea  is  used,  a gallon  of  good  tea 
will  cost  the  consumer  from  3 to  5 cents  per  gallon. 
COCOA,  CHOCOL.VTE,  ETC. 
The  1896  imports  of  crude  cocoa,  leaves  and  shells, 
amounted  to  23,276,597  pounds,  valued  at  §2,387.078, 
Of  manufactured  cocoa  there  were  1,244,309  pounds 
imported, valued  at  f 110,249,  or  a total  import  of  cocoa 
and  preparations  valued  at  $2,797,327,  deducting  from 
which  $166,415  worth  re-exported,  w'o  have  as  the 
import  cost  of  the  cocoa  imported  $2,630,912.  A large 
part  of  this  is  used  for  confectionaiy  and  other 
purposes  than  a beverage,  but  it  is  safe  to  estimate 
that  the  retail  cost  of  the  chocolate  and  cocoa  used 
as  a beverage  does  not  exceed  $3,000,000. 
THE  TOTAL  DRINK  BILL. 
BringiKg  together  into  one  group,  we  find  that  the 
United  States  consumed  in  1896,  alcoholic  and  non- 
alcoholic stimulants  to  the  value  of  §1,016,126,400  as 
follows ; — 
Boilers. 
Alcoholic  drinks 
Non'alooholic  Stimulants — 
Coffee 
Tea  . . 
Cocoa 
861,693,8.32 
120,261,086  • 
31,171,482 
3,000,000 
Total  ..  ..  1,016,126,400 
The  above  represents  a yearly  per  capita  expendi- 
ture for  beverages  of  $14.31  for  the  71,000,000  inha- 
bitants of  the  United  States,  or  4 cents  per  day.  Evi- 
dently hard  times  have  cut  down  the  appetite  for  beve- 
rages of  all  kinds,  and  'render  distilleries  hazardous 
industries.  Breweries  and  coffee  mills  are  far  better 
property. 
PLANTING  IN  SUMATRA. 
British  capital  has  found  a homo  in  almost  every 
part  of  the  world  where  it  can  earn  for  its  owners 
even  bread  and  cheese,  but,  as  far  as  we  know,  the 
industrial  wealth  of  the  Dutch  Indies  has  not  received 
any  stimulus  from  English  enterprise.  This  is  certainly 
not  because  there  is  no  scope  for  profitable  invest- 
ment in  the  rubber,  tobacco,  or  coffee  industries  of  the 
island  of  Sumatra,  so  much  as  that  when  the  Hol- 
lander has  a good  thing  he  likes  to  keep  it  to  himself 
— as  we  see  every  day  in  the  Transvaal. 
The  cycle  trade  is  making  us  all  very  cosmopolitan 
in  our  tastes,  for  we  must  have  rubber  to  keep  the 
great  Dunlop  Company  earning  dividends  (as  long 
as  may  be)  on  its  famous  five  millions  of  capital, 
and  the  world’s  supply  of  this  very  useful  gum  is 
certainly  not  on  the  increase.  On  the  East  Coast  of 
Sumatra  the  rubber-tree  flourishes,  and  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  before  long  an  enormous  trade 
will  be  developed.  The  natives  tap  the  wild  trees, 
and  have  been  in  the  habit  of  exporting  consider- 
able (piantities  of  rubber  gathered  in  this  wasteful 
and  unskillful  manner;  hut  of  late  years  systematic 
planting  and  cultivation  of  the  trees  has  been  prac- 
tised, and  in  the  Tandjong  Kassau  district  already 
many  fine  estates  h ive  thus  been  formed.  Some  idea 
of  the  profitable  nature  of  the  trade  may  be  obtained 
when  we  say  that  1()0,()00  trees  produce  at  a low 
estimate  an  annual  revenue — after  deducing  expenses 
— of  from  £25,000  to  L'30,000. 
Coffee,  which  in  Sumatra  is  free  from  disease,  is  also 
a staple  product  of  the  island,  and,  no  doubt,  the 
fortunes  which,  a few  years  back,  were  made  in  Ceylon 
out  of  its  cultivation  will  be  repeated  in  Sumatra. 
Taking  the  yield  of  each  tree  as  only  three  pounds, 
an  estate  of  300,000  trees  should  give  an  annual 
profit  of  well  over  .£10,000.  Ramie  and  tobacco  are 
both  profitable  crops,  and  it  is  said  that  petroleum 
will  also  be  found  shortly  among  the  large  exports 
of  the  island.  Meanwhile,  the  Dutch  companies  which 
are  working  in  Sumatara  appear  to  have  been  very 
pro6table  investments  for  the  dwellers  by  the  Zuyder 
Zee,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  following  list  of  shares 
dealt  in  at  Amsterdam — 
Premium  on  Shares. 
per  cent. 
Amsterdam  Deli  Comp.  Aand  . . . . 378 
Deli  Batavia  Maatschappij  Aand  . . 325 
„ Cult.  Mij.  Arondsburg  Aand  ..  34J 
,,  Maatsebappij  Aand  . . . . 595 
,,  Tab.  Mij. -pref.  Aand  ..  ..  8 
,,  Langkat  Tabak  Mij  C.  v.  A.  Norn.  gor.  K.  11 
Medan  Tab.  Mij.  Aand  ..  ..98 
Padang  Tabak  Mij.  Aand  : ..9 
Senembah  Mij.  Aand  ..  ..  388J 
Serdang  Tabak  Mij.  Aand  . . . . 15 
The  field  appear.s  to  afford  considerabie  scope  for 
British  enterprise,  and,  provided  the  management 
of  tLe  plantations  is  associated  with  partial  Dutch 
control,  so  as  to  cope  with  the  natural  exclusiveness 
of  the  Government,  large  dividends  should  be  raised 
by  similar  companies  which  our  countrymen  may 
properly  establish,  and  which  we  hear,  efforts  will 
shortly  be  made  to  to  orgaoise  and  offer  for  subscrip- 
tion.— Sketch,  March  24. 
♦ 
PLANTING  PROSPECTS  IN  BRITISH 
CENTRAL  AFRICA. 
An  interesting  account  of  planting  andprospects  of 
coffee  in  British  Central  Africa  and  German  Territory 
has  been  supplied  to  a representative  of  the  Ceylon 
Observer  in  an  interview  with  Mr.  E.  Von  den  Hoff,  a 
gentlemen  who  had  been  prospecting  for  several  years 
in  Central  Africa,  and  arrived  here  recently. 
COFFEE, 
at  Blautyre  and  Zomba,  has  been  a failure  in  Mr.  Von 
Hoff’s  opinion.  The  first  crop  is  always  very  good, 
but  the  crops  after  that  are  uncertain,  and  for  three 
or  four  years  sometimes  there  is  no  margin  of  profit. 
Almost  everybody  has  been  trying  to  form  Companies 
as  soon  as  coffee  fields  are  opened,  and  on  could  rent 
out  a 200-acre  plantation  for  .£100,  crop  and  all.  The 
first  crops  being  so  very  good,  a great  many  people 
were  induced  to  settle  there. 
[All  this  differs  so  much  from  the  Reports  of  Sir  H. 
•Johnston,  and  our  own  correspondents,  Messrs.  Moirand 
Brown,  as  well  as  the  Nyassaland  Company’s  Manager, 
that  we  must  await  furiher  information. — Ed.  T.A.'\ 
TRANSPORT  AND  LABOUR. 
Transport  is  miserable  and  costly  ; labour  is  also 
difficult  to  get,  and  nas  to  be  got  from  great  distances 
from  the  interior.  Wages  are  low,  and  4s  a montq 
and  1 yd.  of  cloth  a week  is  the  usual  wage,  y 
great  many  planters  pay  in  calico.  The  labour  is 
procured  from  different  districts  in  the  Nyassa 
and  each  head  costs  about  10s  to  get  down.  There 
were  men  who  carried  on  work  in  that  direction  and 
they  used  to  bring  down  .500  to  600  at  a time  for 
different  planters.  They  had  to  send  coffee  by 
carriers  a good  distance  to  Katongo  on  the  Shire  River 
and  load  into  river  boats  and  pass  iuto  the  Zambesi 
to  Chinde  where  it  was  loaded  on  larger  German 
boats  and  taken  to  Beira  for  transhipment  to  Europe. 
SOIL  AND  CLIMATE. 
The  soil  is  not  very  good  where  estates  have  been 
opened.  It  is  a medium  quality  around  Blautyre,  and 
ill  the  interior  rather  remarkable  as  regards  soil. 
It  is  not  a country  for  white  men  to  stay  in.  I have 
been  away  up  to  Tanganyika  and  have  crossed  it  and 
saw  nothin^  in  land  fit  for  white  settlors. 
There  was  plenty  of  fever — blackwater  fever  of  a dan- 
gerous type,  and  affecting  natives  also  at  times.  I 
went  up  with  a caravan  to  the  interior  to  prospect 
for  cofleo-laud,  and  found  one  portion  on  the  Northern 
