Sept, r, 1897.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 163 
free of rent till it is required. There is besides an 
export duty on coffee of per cent ad valorem, 
that is, all the rent and taxes to pay. All imports, 
except wines and spirits, are free of duty. In fact 
the ports of Perak are practically free. The polite 
Malays do all the felling and clearing. It is gentle- 
manly work that can be done in their own way, 
and in the doing of which they can take their rest 
at will, and smoke their cigarettes as often as 
they like. Such freedom suits their lazy, lounging 
habits, and easy-going, snffioient-for-the-day dis- 
position. 
The more muscular and uncouth 
CHINAMAN 
follows. He cuts the roads and drains, and digs big 
holes for the coconut, and smaller holes for the 
coffee. The two products are sometimes interplanted, 
the one slow-growing, coming into full bearing in 
ten years ; and the other quicker, giving crop in 
the third year, and being in full bearing in the fifth 
or sixth. The light work of making and tending 
nurseries, taking the plants thereform. filling the 
holes with good soil, and putting the plants therein, 
is, as a rule, done by the slim Indian Tamils, though 
the Malays are gradually getting into this work, and 
do a fair day’s work when they can gather sufficient 
energy to compete with the Tamil, whom they despise. 
THE WORK OF UPKEEP 
of the estate is in Perak rather more expensive than 
in Ceylon, not so much from difference in cost of 
labour (which is as sixpence in the latter to nine- 
pence in the former) as from the more rapid 
growth of weeds in a more forcing and at the 
same time more equable climate, much the 
same all the year round, with a mean tempera- 
ture of 80 degrees, and a well-distributed rainfall aver- 
aging 120 inches per annum. There is never a day 
without sunshine, there is hardly ever a month with- 
out rain, though it does come down “ a plumper” in 
some months more than in others, causing havoc to 
roads and to drains, of which many are required to 
meet these downpours, and so save damage by wash. 
The invariable sunshine, even distribution of rainfall, 
and absence of high winds are valuable elements in 
producing, ripening, and curing crop. 
The disturbance of the soil to any extent in tropical 
lands gives out malarial gases, and fever results. For 
this the planter has to be prepared, and where there 
is a large charge he is often kept busy with his medi- 
cine chest, for there is no doctor or hospital within 
many miles, and fever treated quickly is as a rule fever 
treated, successfully. The methods may be wrong and 
the doses strong, but the cooly has faith in his master 
and lives. 
Both coconut and coffee plants have in their youth 
enemies. The boar from the forest brings a following 
into the plantation. His tribe have a sweet tooth 
tor the young coconut, but are too wily to be trap- 
ped, so night has to be made hideous by tum- 
tumming to make believe that high festival is being 
kept, and Mr. Piggy had better come another time. 
Then there come the pests to worry— beetles that 
have to be caught, and “ bug ” that has to be 
sketched. But in spite of all these and more, the 
coconut and coffee grow luxuriantly in the favoured 
clime of Perak. So much for the agricultural in- 
dustry. — Inverness Courier, June 18. D.M. 
The Uimbula Valley Tea Company.— It L 
no wonder the shares of this Company have 
sprung up, after the glowing account of its posi- 
tion and pro.spects given in the “ Limited Liability 
Review.” There can be no doubt the Directors 
have behaved well by tbe shareholders in paying 
them quarterly dividend.? and if they can com- 
plete the 10 per cent and .show earnings equal 
to 15 for their first year,— they will deserve 
all that is said of their success and good ma- 
nagement. 
THE AMSTERDAM CINCHONA MARKET. 
Our Amsterdam correspondent gives the following 
particulars with regard to last Thursday’s sale, of 
which the result was announced shortly in our tele- 
gram last week : The cinchona auctions were very 
quiet all through, contrary to the general expecta- 
tion. It is quite evident that the combined manu- 
facturers were determined to keep down the price 
and to abstain from buying rather than raise the 
unit. The consequence of this was that the laigesfc 
buyer, who generally has speculative orders in addi- 
tion to those for his factories, was able to obtain 
one-third of the quantity offered without advancing 
the unit above 4 20c., against 4T0c. at the last sales. 
The unsold parcels are held for 4'50c. per unit. 
There is some idea that the quinine-makers’ attitude 
is meant to frighten second-hand holders here (who 
hold about 18,000 packages) into accepting the small 
profit that the present unit would yield most of 
them, but it is not likely that any will be tempted. 
The richest parcel of bark in the sale was one of 
20 bales of crushed Ledgeriami, analysing 8'51 per 
cent. This realised 36c. per half-kilo. Druggists' 
bark were in good demand at higher prices. This 
applies especially to broken quills and 8uecirut/ra 
chips and dust, which realised a unit of about 7c. 
Fine quills also found ready buyers, but medium 
varieties are quiet. We understand that, since tbe 
sales, bids have been refused on the basis of the 
sale-prices for several lots bought in at the auctions, 
— Chemist and Druggist, June 19. 
THE DIAMOND JUBILEE OF INDIAN lEA. 
As it is customary to recall just now the important 
events of the reign, it should be remembered that 
the Indian tea industry has nourished about as long 
as the Queen has reigned. The year 1837 witnessed, 
we believe, the first exrerimental efforts at tea 
growing in Assam, and it is needless to point out the 
developments which have followed. Tea has been 
cultivated in China for 2,000 years, in India but 60, 
and in Ceylon Imt 20 or so ; and in the latest report 
by our Consul at Kiukiang he tells us ‘‘ China teas 
are undoubtedly giving way more and more to teas 
from India and Ceylon.” As for the consumption of 
tea, the increase during the Queen’s reign has been 
extraordinary. Until three years before Queen 
Victoria came to the throne the tea trade was mono- 
polised by the Dutch East India Company, and 
although we had tea in England as long ago as 1610 
we were comparatively small tea drinkers before the 
present reign. Not the least significant feature of 
the Victorian era is this, that during it we have 
become the largest consumers of tea in the world. 
The United Kingdom itself consumes in the aggregate 
nearly as much tea as all other civilised countries 
combined. — II. & C. Mail, .June 18. 
-.5 — -- 
EXTRACTION AND PREPARATION OF 
TALC. 
Talc is extracted on a large scale from the granite 
mountain of St. Barthelemy, in the French Depart- 
ment of Arriege, about 32 kilometres (20 miles) from 
the main chain of the Pyrenees. The principal quarry, 
at Tremouin, is w’orked open-cast in three banks or 
terraces, each about 15 metres (49 feet) high. The 
best rock is of a bright white tint, and feels greasy 
to the touch when reduced to fine powder. The 
quarried rook is brought by a tramway to the end of 
tba quarry in the Axiat Valley, and then by w'.-igons 
for a distance of 19 kilometres (11 miles) to Luzenac, 
where 90-horse water-power is taken from tbe Arriege 
river. The mechanical preparation consists of drying 
in a rotary oven, breaking up small, grinding and 
sifting, the grinding being effected in mills with steel 
balls. The larger portion of the product, observes 
an Ingeuieur des Arts et Manufactures, who baa 
communicated these particulars to the Chronigitc 
