THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTCRIS  I'. 
June  I,  1S97. 
S56 
A Vkuy  Important  Shipment  op  Tropicai, 
fruit  lias  l»eeu  maile  by  tlie  <iueensland  (--'overnmoMt 
— the  (irst  of  its  kind — as  an  exiieiiinent  ; and  very 
sliortly  tii'>  consi;^iii!ient'  will  be  here.  The  fruit 
includes  uTiu^oes  and  ninoaiiples,  and  these  are  of 
tlie  lines!  - scriptiou.  It  is  tube  hoped  tliatitlie  cun- 
sij'nnient  wiU  arrive  in  :cood  condition.  The  Queen 
has  oraciou>!y  consented  to  accept  .sonic  specimens 
of  the  fruit,  ami,  if  all  "oes  well,  sonic  will  be  for- 
warded to  llei  Majesty.  The  fruit  is  couiino  by 
the  “dumna.”  rhe  maiio'oes  arc  from  Townsville, 
and  the  iiincsfrom  UrisPane.  Tiie  fruit  is  ;.;athp.red 
in  a nearly  ripe  st  vte,  and  it  will  now  be  seen 
whether  it  is  po.ssible,  by  carclul  jiackiuLf  and  by 
takiii'c  every  precaution,  to  convey  tropical  fruits 
from  .'\ astral i i.  to  l'hi,i,daml  in  tbe  same  way  that 
oranges  can  undoubtedly  bo  sent. — Ktcvopcnii  Mail, 
Aiiril  7. 
Private  E.states  in  .lAV.'.--For  some  years 
tlie  Colonial  reports — says  tlic  A.  and  C.  J'Jxprcsa — 
contain  a list  or  tlio  inim'icr  and  value  of  the 
private  estates  in  Java  w’ich  a specification  of  the 
owners,  wlietlier  Eiiropeanr-,  Cliincse.  natives,  and 
foreign  Orientals.  Tlie  report  of  1S95  mentioned 
that'the  estates  of  the  Europeans  amounted  to 
29  of  the  Chinese  to  22h,  and  those  of  natives 
and  foreign  Orientals  to  2 niilUon  guilders. 
Sine;  thoii  a modilied  list  has  been  issued. 
Successively  a number  of  estates  have  been 
converted  into  limited  companies,  and  the  follow- 
in"  ligiires  are  now  mentioned: — Estates  of 
limited  companies  16,  of  Eiiropeams  10,  of  Chinese 
IS,  of  native  and  foreign  Orientals  2J  million 
•niilders.  A fault  in  tins  statement  is  that  it 
does  not  show  which  of  the  limited  companies  are 
managed  by  Europeans  and  wliicli  by  Ciiinese. 
The  Cacao  Di.sease  in  Matale.— Mr.  James 
Pi.  Martin,  wlio  lias  prolonged  e.xperienee  in 
Yattawatte,  writes  a reassuring  letter  on  the 
subject  to  our  evening  contemporary.  We  (piote 
as  fallows  : — 
‘‘  i'iiia  disease  has  existed  amongst  cocoa  in  Ceylon 
for  the  last  10  years,  but  in  many  instances 
tlm  estates  where  it  first  ap:i  lared  arc  now  doing 
vv.'ll  and  giving  good  crops.  'LTie  a ireage  under 
cocoa  has  certainly  not  increased  since  189:5,  Imt 
the  cron  for  the  last  yen-  w is  tlie  largest  on  re- 
cord by"  a good  deal,  a :d  tiio  olheial  estimate  for 
the  present  year  exceeds  tb  it.  I remember  quite 
well  tbe  scare  about  lldopeltU.  Cocoa  planters  were 
then  reminded  of  tlie  fate  of  ciueboua,  and  were 
told  that  the  product  was  ‘doomed’  and  that  they 
were  ‘rained  men;’  but  those  expressions  merely 
preceded  the  five  most  prosperous  years  the  product 
has  known.  No  doubt  the  assistance  of  an  expert 
will  he  a groat  advantage  in  cocoa  and  otiier  cultiva- 
tions, a fact  that  Mr._  Christie  has  suddenly  awoke  to.” 
Since  quoting  tliis,  tne  important  Icttei  which 
will  he  fouml  on  oiir  otli  jiage  has  readied  ns 
from  Mr.  J.  H.  Earlier.  It  will  he  seen  that 
Mr.  Earlier  discusses  the  point  raised  Ity  Mr. 
VandmPoorlen  and  that  he  is  inclined  to  tlie 
view  wiiicli  Mr.  E.  E.  (Jreen  c.xiiresscil  on  tlie  stem 
sent  to  him  hy  Mr,  (lilibon.  Still,  here  is  what 
another  cacao  grower  writes  to  us : — ^ 
With  a Hpociaiist  on  the  horizon,  to  say  'whether  tlie 
post  is  a poochio  or  a fungus  would  not  bo  wise. 
All  the  same  if  it  is  1 ot  a ]ioochie  I’ll  bo  siiriirised. 
It  is  riMiiiikihle  hov/  vigorous  the  suckers  come  up, 
if  the  alta-k  i.s  not  too  low  down  alter  the  tree  has 
been  cut  down.”  • ^ » 
Now.  surely  onr  friend  knows  how  “Specialists 
aie  divided  and  subdivided  now-a-days  — he  has 
read  of  the  samint  wlio  refused  to  he  called  a 
S.-ientist,  Naturalist  or  iwcn  an  Entomologisi  : 
lie  only  knew'  of  one  species  of  beetles— a sub- 
division  of  Coleoptera’f  Nmv  we  have  in  our 
niidst  a working  Ihiloniologist— why  are  his  .ser- 
vices not  availed  off 
(.VlOLIK.S  AN  11  PliANTERS.— Tl.cro  call  hc  no 
doubt  of  the  scarcity  of  coo’ies  in  many  diiec- 
tions  in  the  iilanting  districts,  and  the  tricky 
cheating  disposition  which  is  spreailing  among  both 
kanganis  and  coolies  is  much  to  be  deplored.  It  will 
inentahly  sjircad  iiinch  further  too,  unless  strongly 
diseonraged  and  repressed,  no  matter  at  what 
immediate  cost,  by  the  planters  themselves. 
Here  is  an  illustration  ; a kangani  interviews  a 
planter  about  hiinging  him  a gang  of  coolies  ; 
but  lirst  their  debts  must  be  paid  — these  debts 
consist,  .‘^ay,  of  111,000  to  the  estate  they  were 
on  and  111,000  of  outside  boutique  and  clietty 
debts.  The  latter  must  lie  paid  and  the  money 
is  wanted  for  them;  but  inasmucli  as  the  estate 
Siipeiinlciidenb  refused  a “ tiiiuin,”  lie,  tlie 
kangani,  baviiur  given  proper  notice,  docs  not 
mean  to  pay  the  111,000  due  to  tlio  e.stato — but 
will  let  the  owner  whistle  for  it  ! Fortunately, 
the  Manager  applied  to  was  one  of  a good  old 
ccliool  who  at  once  hooted  the  kanguni  making 
this  dishonest  proposal,  ont  of  bis  presence  and 
off  the  estate.  But  are  there  any  Huperinten- 
dents  — bard  up  for  coolies  it  may  be — who 
wonl  ! entertain  a dishonourable  and  dislioncst 
])VOposal  of  this  kind?  TVe  trust  not.  On  the 
other  band  wliat  about  the  refusing  of  “tundus” 
~ is  that  right  or  even  wise  w'ben  application 
is  made  in  the  )u-oper  wav  ? M’e  think  not ; 
for  the  risk  is  thus  run  of  lo.sing  botli  coolies 
and  advances — the  only  remedy  being  a civil  action 
— and  w'c  all  know  what  that  is  worth. 
“ A Gentleman  of  Japan”— is  tim  heading  of 
an  article  reproduced  in  a tiny  circular  trom  the 
Canadian  Grocer.  We  quote  as  follows  : — 
Mr.  II.  Komada,  Kobe,  Japan,  manager  of  the 
Japan  Tea  Exporting  As.sociation,  arrived  in  Mon- 
treal a few  days  ago  to  visit  their  Canadian  repre- 
sentatives, Morrow  & Ewing,  Montreal.  Mr.  Komada 
is  the  founder  of  the  Japan  Tea  Traders’  Associa- 
tion and  takes  an  active  interest  in  its  affairs.  The 
association  has  over  one  and  a quarter  million  mem- 
bers. In  fact,  every  proprietor  and  dealer  in  teas 
in  .Tapan  is  required  by  law  to  join  and  obey  the 
bylaws  of  the  association.  Mr.  Komada  says  that 
the  .Tapanese  tea  merchants  are  much  e.xercised 
over  the  enornio  :s  strides  which  have  been  made 
by  Ceylon  teas  in  Canada  during  the  last  year  or 
so.  'i’lie  advertisements  in  the  Canadian  Grocer 
had  interested  the  trade  here  in  Ceylon  teas,  and 
were  creating  a feeling  against  China  and  .Tapan 
makes.  By  constant  repetition  the  trade  all  over 
Canada  were  beginning  to  believe  things  about 
Japan  teas  that  were  not  altogether  fair.  Buyers 
were  in  consequence  turning  to  Ceylous,  and  tho 
demand  for  Japan  teas  had  fallen  off  very  much. 
Wholesale  merchants  and  dealers  who  were  pushing 
other  makes  a year  ago  were  now  advertising  to 
the  consumer  all  over  Canada  nothing  but  “ pure 
Ceylon  teas.”  The  matter  had  come  before  tho 
Japan  association,  and  some  action  would  be  taken 
to  counteract  these  influences.  It  was  quite  true, 
he  said,  that  in  Ceylon  teas  were  made  by  maclii- 
nery,  while  in  Japan  they  were  still  made  hy  hand, 
but  he  explained  that  as  the  Japanese  were  a very 
cleanly  xieople  there  would  be  no  danger  of  dirt 
entering  their  makes,  or  ot  disease  being  commu- 
nicated. lie  admitted,  liowever,  tliat  the  Chinese 
tc.as  were  often  very  dirty.  In  fact,  lie  added,  that 
tlie  Chinese  were  very  dirty,  and  prejiarod  their 
teas  as  much  witli  their  feet  as  with  their  hands. 
Ho  found  that  there  wore  a great  i*any  inferior 
.Tapan  teas  coming  to  thffe  market.  They  were  not 
sliippcJ  by  the  de-sire  of  tho  Japaneso  ihomsolves, 
hut  by  foreign  firms.  They  were  what  is  known  as 
third  pieking.s,  and  the  foreign  houses  ordered  these 
to  get  low-priced  teas,  'rim  .lapancso  at  home 
would  not  use  them,  and  tlioy  wore  trying  to  pre- 
vent foreign  houses  buying  and  exporting  them. 
Handling  of  low-priced  teas  injured  the  dealers  who 
boiiglit  tho  early  pickings  at  higher  prices  , 
