a68 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
tion,  or  allowed  to  become  old,  before  being  taken  ofi 
can  be  made  into  tea  of  good  quality  in  the  factory. 
Caveleseness  in  the  factory  may  spoil  good  leaf,  but,  as 
a rule,  I think  the  f actory  gets  more  than  its  fair  share 
of  supervision  in  the  plucking  season.  When  we 
think  of  the  number  of  hands  employed  in  the  field 
as  compared  with  the  factory,  at  least  10  to  1,  pro- 
bably 15  to  1,  and  very  often  one  European  in  the 
factory  and  one  in  the  field  only,  the  deficiency  of 
snpervision  of  the  latter  becomes  more  apparent. 
Again,  in  the  field,  in  plucking  each  bush  should  be 
plucked  according  to  its  growth,  and  every  individual 
shoot  in  the  same  way,  so  as  to  secure  evenness  of 
quality.  Leaf  plucked  unevenly  upsets  nearly  every 
stage  of  manufacture.  Young  leaf  withers  more 
quickly,  rolls  easier,  ferments  more  quickly  than  older 
leaf,  hence  if  we  attempt  to  do  what  we  should  for 
the  young  leaf,  we  do  not  treat  the  older  properly 
and  vice  versa.  Again  in  the  factory  we  deal  with 
three  or  four  maunds  of  leaf  at  a time,  and  so  many 
of  the  niachines  are  now  automatic  that  less  super- 
vision is  required  than  in  the  old  days  of  hand 
rolling  and  chula  firing.  The  weak  point  in  this  dis- 
trict  lies,  I think,  in  the  plucking,  not  only  ns  re- 
gards quality,  but  also  in  regard  to  quantity. — Indian 
planters'  Oauette. 
NATAL  TEA. 
Mr.  J.  Fraser,  the  lately-appointed  man"ger  of  the 
Barrow-Green  Tea  Estate,  Natal,  is  to  be  congratu- 
lated on  the  successes  he  has  scored  with  his  teas. 
The  Barrow-Green  t3as  took  first  prize  in  all  three 
classes,  viz.,  golden  pekoe,  orange  pekoe,  and  pekoe 
souchong  ; and  also  the  gold  medal  for  the  ijest 
exhibit  of  teas  of  nil  kinds.  The  judge  in  his  report 
says  : — “Upon  the  general  quality  of  the  first  prize 
teas,  I think  it  show.s  a distinct  advance.  The  teas 
are  well  made,  the  leaf  is  young,  and  the  liquor  strong, 
and  there  is  an  absence  of  the  usual  herby  flavour  so 
prevalent  in  teas  from  Natal.  A special  prize  is 
awarded,  notwithstanding  that  only  one  comiietitor 
exhibits  in  this  class.  A full  set  of  teas  also  exhibi- 
ted but  no  competitor.  I think  a prize  (or  at  auy 
rate  some  recognition)  should  be  awarded  consider- 
able trouble  and  expense  having  been  incurred  by  the 
exhibitor;  who  could  not  foresee  that  others  would 
not  compete.”  Mr.  Fraser’s  success  is  all  the  more 
gratifying  to  him,  inasmucii  as  he  is  a new  arrival. 
He  only  reached  Natal  from  Covlon,  on  February 
58th;  but  on  hearing  that  an  exhibition  was  to  be 
held  here  a fortnight  ahead,  he  proceeded  without 
the  loss  of  an  hour  to  prepare  his  samples  which  are 
now  on  exhibition, althougli  when  3Ir.  Fr.aser  arrived 
the  leaf  had  not  been  plucked  nor  even  the  cases 
jiade.  Mr.  Fraser’s  energy  has  happily  been  well 
awarded. — liout/i  African  Jiepuhlic,  March  18. 
♦ 
THE  VALUE  OF  AGRICULTURAL  EDU- 
CATION IN  INDIA;  A HINT  FOR 
THE  LOCAL  GOVERNMENT. 
Tlie  Governntent  of  Bombay  liave  (says  the 
Times  of  India)  taken  a nio.st  prudent  and  neces- 
sary step  for  Lite  encoura<renient  of  agriculture. 
It  will  be  renieinbered  that  the  Famine  Commis.sion 
recommended  - in  accordance  with  the  declared 
policy  of  Government — that  the  Revenue  Depart- 
ment, the  olficer.s  of  which  are  intimately  con- 
cerned will)  the  agricultural  interestsof  tliecountry, 
should  contain  a lea\en  (»f  oHicers  possessing 
sonie  knowledge  of  agricultural  science  and 
pr;#  ice.  Fince  then  a conference  has  been  held 
p re*  (led  over  by  Mr.  Chatlicid,  Director  of  Public 
Instruction,  and  including  among  its  members 
the  Director  of  Agriculture,  >Sii'  E.  Buck,  the 
Sec  retary  to  the  Government  of  India,  in  the 
Revenue  and  Agricultural  D('])artments,  and  Mr. 
Ozanne,  the  recommendations  of  which  w(3ie 
[June  i,  1897. 
adopted  by  the  Government  of  Lord  .Sandhurst. 
The  result  has  been  the  declaration  that  Go- 
vernment is  leady  to  place  holders  of  the  agri- 
cultural diploma,  'according  to  the  higher  standard 
now  to  be  exacted,  on  a ])ar  with  graduates  of 
the  University  for  eni|)loyment  in  the  Revenue 
Department.  Says  the  Times  of  India  we  con- 
gratulate the  Gcjvernment  on  having  taken  the 
sliortest  road  to  revive  ijiterest  in  agricultural 
study  and  to  obtain  for  the  Revenue  Dep.art- 
ment  a body  of  men  instructed,  and  therefore 
likely  to  be  interested,  in  a science,  the  practical 
importance  of  which  to  the  interests  of  the  people 
can  iiardly  be  exaggerated. 
M'e  think  it  high  time  that  our  local  Govern- 
ment thought  of  placing  the  Colombo  Agricultural 
College  on  a proper  footing,  instead  of  allowing 
it  to  languish  ;is  it  h.as  been  doing  for  lack  of 
proper  support  and  ,a  liberal  jiolicy.  Below  we 
give  recommenilations  with  reference  to  Agri- 
cultural Education  in  India. 
THE  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION 
POLICY  IN  INDIA. 
Among  the  recommendations  made  by  the  Com- 
mittees ajipointed  to  confer  with  Sir  Edward  Buck 
at  the  instance  of  the  Government  of  India  are 
the  following  : — 
That  agriculture  should  not  appear  as  a sepa- 
rate subject  in  the  curriculum  of  rural  jirimary 
schools,  but  that  the  ell'ort  should  be  to  impart 
an  elementary  knowledge  of  it  in  the  group 
“object  les.sons  and  elementary  science”  which 
group  should  be  made  a eompulsory  subject. 
That  agriculture  should  be  recognised  as  a 
separate  optional  subject  tor  boys  after  they  have 
passed  the  Fourth  Standard,  and  that  until  jiro- 
perly  qualified  teachers  become  available,  the 
study  of  a text-book  of  agriculture  in  Lower 
Secondary  scliools  will  be  better  than  nothing. 
That  the  lirst  necessary  step  is  to  provide  for 
the  training  of  the  teachers  of  Lower  Secondaiy 
and  Primary  rural  schools,  and  that  to  tliis  end 
every  training  institution,  where  such  te.achers 
are  trained  should  have  on  its  stall’  a master 
(pialilied  to  teach  .agriculture  and  have  attached 
CO  it  a school  garden. 
That  to  secuie  an  .ader|uate  sui)ply  of  trained 
teachers  for  the  rural  Piimary  and  Lower  Second- 
ary schools,  an  agricultural  class  should  be 
developed  in  selected  educational  institutions 
w'here  the  general  education  will  be  carried  on 
up  to  the  Upper  Secondary  Examination,  and 
special  education  in  agriculture  up  to  the  inter- 
mediate standard.  .Such  classes  will  need  a 
small  dernonstrational  fiirm  for  teaching  purposes. 
That  the  early  establishment  ot  experimental 
farms  as  separate  organizations,  and  designed 
for  carrying  on  agricultural  investigations,  is 
desirable. 
That  a list  of  the  principal  agricultural  defects 
of  dill’erent  districts  shouhl  be  diawn  up,  and  that 
these  should  be  gradually  investigated  in  the 
order  of  their  imi)ortance. 
-A- 
rr:ST-.SOI.UTION  for  CiNfUON.V  Ai.kai.oids. — 
A mixture  of  eipial  jiaits  of  a 10-per-cent  solu- 
tion of  sodium  thiosulphate  .and  a .5-per-cimt 
solution  of  coi)pcr  sulphate.  Add  this  drop  by 
drop  to  the  liquid  to  be  tested.  In  presence  of 
(juinine,  (luinidine,  cinchonine,  or  cinchonidine, 
a yellow,  amorphous  precipitate  is  formed  within 
a minute. — J oworowski. 
