862 
THK  TROPIC  A1 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[June  r,  1897. 
pared  to  answer  any  qaestions  the  shareholders  might 
put  to  them,  when  Mr.  Meunell  said  that  after  tlie 
explanations  given  hy  the  chaiiman  lie  had  little 
to  ask,  but  ho  thcuglit  M ■.  Mitchell  deserved  great 
blame  foi  the  falling  off  in  quality  of  the  tea,  and 
after  Mr.  Dodds  had  r.  "o  icci  to  the  .same  subject 
the  following  re^oliition  iras  tl  on  proposed  by  the 
chaiiman,  seconded  b\M-.  O, ivies,  and  carried  un- 
animously ; *'  That  the  i cp'Oi  i and  accounts,  i s pre- 
sented to  the  shareholders,  bo  received  and  adopted.” 
Mr.  G.  W.  I'air.e  proposed,  seconded  hy  IMr. 
Andrew,  ‘‘  That  a liu.il  dividend  of  5 per  cent 
(free  of  income  tax),  making  10  per  cent  for  the 
year,  be  declared,  payable  fort.i.vith.”  Carried 
unanimously. 
On  the  motion  of  Mr.  P.aine,  seconded  by  the 
11)11.  5.  A.  0.  S ott,  Mr.  D.  Andrew  was  rc-electcd 
a director  of  the  company. 
INfr.  Dodds  proposed,  .\Fr.  Monoell  secoivied,  and 
it  w,rs  carried  unanimously,  that  Mr.  James  B.  Jraurie 
be  re-elected  auditor  for  the  ensuing  year. 
A vote  of  Blanks  was  also  p iss  d to  the  chairman 
and  directors,  and  Mr.  Paine  having  replied  to  the 
compliment,  llie  proceedings  then  terminated. 
VAIMOUS  PLANTING  NOTES. 
Coffee. — The  coff  le  ni  • : ket  has  been  demoralised 
by  the  heavy  outtn  u from  Brazil.  The  downward 
movement  in  prices  has  been  very  severe,  the  kinds 
of  coffee  undergoing  the  greatest  depreciation  being 
those  below  90s.  per  cwt.,  the  lower  the  grade  the 
sevote.T  being  the  fall,  which  in  extreme  cases  has 
amounted  to  nearly  16s  from  the  highest  point  in 
January;  good  Santos,  which  was  then  worth  51s  to 
55s  for  “future”  delivery,  having  recently  been 
sacrifice  d at  97s  6d  to  40s  per  cwt.— /J.  <5  C.  Mail 
April  2d. 
“ Timehki.” — The  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural 
and  Commercial  Society  of  British  Guiana  has  just 
reached  ms  for  December,  1S9(>— with  Contents ; 
Papers. — Other  Times,  other  Manners,  by  the  Editor  : 
Migratory  Birds  in  British  Guiana,  by  J.  J-  Quek-h, 
B. Sc.  (Loud.),  C.M..O.S.;  A Literary  Half-hour,  hy  \V. 
Alleyne  Ireland  ; T ibaeco  Ciiltiv.i,tion  and  Manu- 
facture, by  H.  B.  Van  Rae  ; Some  Notes  upon  ITy 
Eishing  in  Bril;  .ii  Gnian.i,  by  “Oxou.”;  Lp  the 
Ouyuiii  in  189V,  hy  William  Iliihmme;  O.i  Lac 
Potaro,  by  C.  A.  Lloyd  ; E uiy  Engli.sh  Cuiomo.s  in 
Trinidad,  by  Hon.  N.  D.irnoll  D.ivis  ; Ileaorts  of 
Society’s  Meetings,  fi'oin  July  to  December,  J.>9i;. 
1T..\NTIN(J  in  the  Stk.ut.s. — In  tlie  Annual 
lleport  of  tlie  Perak  Mii.seiim  we  iv.ad  •— An 
interesting  series  (>f  saniple.s  from  the  I raiis 
Allan  sugar  e.^LRo,  w.as  )>re.seuted  by  Mr.  P. 
Pulsford.  Spocimciis  of  cleaned  Perak  grown 
ramie  iibre,  and  many  other  vegetable  products 
were  added  to  the  coiiection.  Among.st  these 
mention  may  bo  made  of  some  parlicnlarly  well 
cured  liherian  coirce  from  an  estate  near  Go- 
peng,  contributed  by  Mr.  F.  1).  Osborne.  This 
coll'ee  lias  been  fetching  a better  juice  in  Singa- 
jiure  than  any  other  produced  in  tlie  Straits. 
'J'he  high  value  jih  red  on  it  is  due  to  its  colour 
and  not  to  any  su[)criority  of  tlie  bean^  The 
Liheiian  coll’ee  grown  on  the  hill  at  Waterloo 
estate  ajijiarently  has  a liner  bean  than  any 
from  the  jilains.  Some  trees  planted  by  Mr. 
Cecil  WLay,  in  I8S0-I,  are  well  grown,  vigorous 
hushes  in  full  hearing,  wliile  trees  of  four  years 
old  jdanted  hy  Sir  Graeme  Elphinstone,  on  land 
cleared  twelve  years  jirevionsly,  comj'.are  most 
favourably  witli  hnslies  of  the  same  age  on  the 
low  lands  phuiLcd  on  newly  cleared  lorost  land. 
'J'lie  collection  of  I’erak  woods  now  iinmhcrs 
207  examples.  It  is  of  more  than  ordinary  in- 
terests as  it  .shews  that  there  are  so  many  line 
and  liandsome  woods  in  the  jungles  liesides  the 
four  or  live  kinds  known  to  Europeans. 
DimI!UL\,  Ajiril  23. — The  Labour  question 
all-iiiijiorlaiit  now  and  for  sonic  time  in  all  its 
vaiious  head.s  and  ramifications.  It  includes  all 
others — plucking,  jirnning,  niahnring  and  every- 
thing. it  is  the  “be  all  .and  end  all”  of  plant- 
ing prosjierity  now  and  always.  And  tbe  ques- 
tion of  most  importraice  tliat  can  occnjiy  your 
niiiid  and  the  jutb  of  the  'J  .A.  is  the 
settlement  (a  settlement)  of  an  eliicient  siijijily 
of  coolies.  Un  a small  acreage  like  mine  here 
the  (jiiestion  does  not  show  itself  so  inncli,  hut 
1 have  seen  llnsli  not  very  far  off  on  a London 
Company’s  estate  that  might  have  been  shorn 
with  a grass  liook,  and  men  get  desjierate  when 
these  things  liajijien  ! 
Life  in  PAnEliMO,  Sicmv.— Some  of  our  readers 
m.xy  rein  ember  Mr.  -I.  R.  W,  Pigott,  when  a jdanter 
on  Ahnvihare,  Matale.  He  afterwards  entered  into 
the  service  of  the  Foreign  Olfice  .as  an  Acent  in 
British  East  Africa  at  Mombasa,  ami  frum  there 
he  has  been  jiroinoted  to  tiio  British  Consulate, 
Palermo,  Sicily.  From  a letter  ot  Air.  Pigott, 
dated  3 lih  April,  we  ijiiote  some  interesting  ji.av.a- 
grajilis  as  follows  : — 
“ Tea  is  practically  nnohtiinable  here.  In  one 
shop  norniinan’a  pu’re  tea  is  sold,  but  it  is  not  good 
and  is  very  expensive. 
“ I came  here  last  October,  having  left  East 
Africa  in  May  last  just  after  our  rebellion  was  put 
an  end  to.  In  October  1895  I had  a bad  attack  of 
congestion  of  the  lungs  and  applied  for  s'x  months’ 
furlough  in  the  spring.  Lord  Salisbury  then  tele- 
graphed to  mo  that  owing  to  my  long  service  in  East 
Africa  he  had  derided  to  appoint  me  to  a European 
post  and  offered  me  the  Consulate  for  Sicily  to 
reside  at  Palermo,  which,  of  course,  I accepted  as  in 
duty  bound.  Palermo  is,  as  .>  ou  know,  a lovely  place  ; 
but  the  inhabitants  are,  as  a rule,  great  ruffians 
and  do  not  compare  favourably  with  my  East 
African  friends.  There  are  very  few  English 
residents  here,  and  of  those  all  who  are  able  to 
do  so  go  awaj' for  four  or  five  months  every  year  in 
the  summer.” 
Tk.v  Ckoi*  Pkosi’Ects  of  Indi.v.— The 
Indian.  I'lantcrs'  Gazctlr  ai  May  1st  has  the  frdlow- 
i ig  deliverance  : — 
As  yet  it  is  too  early  to  do  anything  hut  make  a 
gnes-!  at  what  the  season  is  likely  to  bo,  but  rumours 
are  floating  about  thai  there  is  to  he  a huge  increase 
in  the  crop  of  this  year,  although,  upon  what  grounds 
this  calculation  is  made,  it  would  he  difficult  to  say. 
The  latter  end  of  189(1  was  abnoimally  dry,  and  up  to 
date  the  rainfall  has  been  very  scant  in  the  tea  dis- 
tricts generally,  and  the  result  must  inevitably  be 
short  outuini.  Up  to  date  we  liavo  no  hesitation  in 
saying  that  theaiiiouiit  of  tea  made  is  not  anything 
like-  u p to  last  year's  ; and  evcni  if  rain  does  now  come 
it  wi  11  take  the  hushes  a full  month  to  recover  the 
broiling  they  have  had.  Anyone  visiting  the  tea 
districts  must  he  struck  by  the  want  of  leaf  on  the 
bushes,  and  unless  the  plant  is  in  vigorous  health,  the 
only  outlook  is  poor  quantity  and  poor  quality.  It 
looks  as  if  the  season  in  the  three  districts  were  now  a 
days  be  coming  more  assimilated  to  that  of  Calcutta 
and  Lower  Bengal,  for  it  is  only  within  the  last  few 
years  that  there  has  been  what  we  might  call  a distinct 
lull  between  the  “ Ciiola’’  and  “ Durni  Ilaisaf.t,”  nni 
there  is  no  doubt  that  tiiis  is  telling  iij)ou  many  of  the 
older  gardens,  and  when  to  this  has  to  be  added  a jieriod 
of  drought  of  unusual  length,  the  idea  naturally  is  a 
short  crop,  i.r.,  from  old  tear,  for  in  writing  thus  we  do 
not  take  into  account  the  young  tcatliat  is  coining  into 
bearing,  and  of  which,  no  doubt,  there  will  be  several 
miUiou  jiouiids.  Last  season’s  niinfall  was  short  in  all 
tuo  districts,  and  what  was  jiorliaps  more  felt,  was  its 
uneven  distii billion.  The  outlook  for  all  kinds  of  crops 
is  very  dejirossing,  uiilosa  there  is  a good  monsoon,  and 
the  ,scarcii,y  of  water  Is  being  already  felt  iu  some 
parts,  more  than  the  shortness  of  food  supplies. 
