344 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
[Nov. I, 1897 , 
Paba Eubbeb, Cocoa and Libeeian, says a Ceylon cor- 
respondent from Kandy to Planting Opinion ; — “ People 
are talking a lot about this para rubber, and I hear 
of home being planted. We have a hundred plants 
or BO doing very well. I also hear of Liberian coffee 
being cut out as a failure. The cocoa ground here 
looks good enough .for anything and carries a fair 
crop, but parts are being planted up in tea, which 
does not look like a paying concern.” 
Tea Machinery. — We ought to have directed 
the attention of planting readers to the criticism 
of Tea-preparing Machines and especially of 
Driers, by “Engineer” in a letter which we 
repioduced from the “Indian Planters’ Gazette.” 
\\e .should like to know what experienced 
Factory Managers in Ceylon have to say on 
the criticism therein offered. “Engineer” is 
severe on Assam withering houses and says : 
— “A properly equipped withering house should 
turn out the leaf at a given hour should it be 
wet or dry.” 
PROGRES.S AND AGRICULTURE IN ZANZIBAR.— 
We have received copies of a new Zanzibar jour- 
nal “ The Shamba,” to which we wish all sm ref s. 
It quotes the “Tropical Agriculturist” .-.bout 
iron ploughs introduced into Madras anil adds : — 
We in Zanzibar have not yet reached the wooden 
plough Btage, which is against us. There are now 
some iron ploughs and other iron implements on their 
way from Ev gland, which if successfully tried might 
help us to dispense with a period of probation with 
the wcoden article; though a wooden plough would 
be better than none at all. We feel sure that the 
question of agricultural implements should be taken 
up by Arab planters. 
It is interesting to learn about rainfall in Zan- 
zibar ; — 
The total rainfall for May was 12 21 in 9'04 in. of 
which fell on five consecutive days. May 19-2.3, when 
the Mwera Bridge was washed away. Though 
more than a month’s dry weather has elapsed, the 
small lakes of water which were then formed, have 
not yet disappeared, and mosquitoes are the con- 
sequence. The average rainfall for April and May 
for the 6 years 1880-4 was 10 24, and 10T2 in. re- 
spectively, according to the reports published by Sir 
John Kirk, making 20'36 in. for the two mashiha 
months. This year it was 15T2 in. for April, which 
with the 12'21 for May, makes 27'33 in for the maslnha, 
so we have had a wet time of it altogether. 
The average annual fall should be given. 
The clove crop is the most important : — 
Reports have come in which show show that the 
clove crop is not so promising in the north 
as in the middle of the island. The prospects in 
the neighbourhood of Kokotoni, and to the north of 
that, are not so good as they were last year. 
Cloves. — The stock of cloves in the London market 
on May 8 was 83,257 bales, the imports to date being 
12 223. This shows that 71,036 bales of last year’s 
crop have not yet been disposed of. The correspond- 
ing figures for each year since 1893 are : — 
Stocks in hand Imported to date (May 8 .) 
Bales. Bales.' 
1893 45,804 25,656 
1894 53,535 23,141 
1895 78,507 26,461 
1896 79,479 8,199 
1897 83,2.59 12,223 
Here is a useful reference 
As we shall frequently have occasion to refer to 
an acre of land and as many of our readers 
may not be familiar with its measurement, we give 
below a few figures. An acre of land measures: — 
220 yards long and 22 yards broad 
110 „ ,, 44 „ „ 
88 ,, »» 65 ,, ,, 
694 11 ” ” 
A yard is a good long stride : few men step a yard 
in their nalurui stride. There are two yards in a 
pima : one mile long and one mile broad is 640 acres. 
Cevlon Bamboos to Geeman East Africa. — 
The N.-D L. ss. “ Sachsen ” took away from 
Colombo, s, well-packed box containing several 
shoots of bamboos of various varieties to Aden, 
to be transhipped thence to German East Africa, 
The plants are despatched from the Peradeniya 
Botanical Garlens. We believe they are sent at 
the request of a German gentleman as an experi- 
mental measure to introduce the bamboos to African 
soil. For a new country the bamboos should prove 
not only an ornamental plant, but one of great use 
for many purposes. Several kinds of the wild bata 
and cane are included in the outgoing shipment and 
as our readers are aware, one of this kind is profitably 
used in the manufacture of tea-plucking baskets. 
Coco-Palji.s and Locusts.— Miulalyar Dassa- 
nayake brought to us recently part of a leaf of a 
coconut palm nearly all eaten away and a 
bottle of large brigiit-coloured creatures, pro- 
nounced at once to be huge grasshoppers or 
locusts — though the natives say they never 
saw such before. In Hapitigain Korale, the 
Mudaliyar said, palm branches were literally 
covered and riddled by these enemies. Mr. 
Staiiiforth Green kindly reports as follows : — 
“ Locusts — These usually appear in large num- 
bers. They are of a most destructive species." 
The visitation is a most unusual one, and we 
trust the locusts may as suddenly disappear as they 
have come Have they been seen in other districts ? 
Mr. Nathan Sharpe, an interview with the 
Inventor of the “ Simplex ” tea machinery is 
reported in Indan Planters’ Gazette of July 17th, 
accompanied by a portrait. The information 
given is very much wliat we had before in Ceylon ; 
hut we may quote the following : — 
Mr. Sharpe hopes to get some oxidisers at work on 
the Darjeeliug gardens later on, and to lessen the 
time now taken up by the process of fermentation 
in those parts, and at the same time improve the 
standard of quality. Mr. Sharpe has received orders 
from the three largest estates in Ceylon for his 
machines, viz., Mr. Lipton’s Lemastotte Factory^ 
Dambatenne Group, the Diyagama estate and the 
Bandarpolla estate, and has promises of a good 
amount of orders f®r next season from Indian estates. 
The machines are all manufactured by the well 
known engineering firm, Messrs. Richard Moreland 
& Son, Aldersirate, London. 
The Coffee Outlook. — In the coffee market the 
influence of that bogey, the Brazil crop, is paramount. 
Speculation in “futures,” which is supposed to rule 
the coffee market in the main, is still of a sorry 
character, and the downward tendency in prices 
goes on unchecked, says the Grocer. “Sagging,” to 
use a familiar term, has been the order of the day 
with operators in coffee for several months past, and 
the decline in quotations for inferior and common 
qualities since the begining of the year has been a 
very serious matter for holders- The prodigiousness 
of the Brazil crops for the 1896-97 season — which we 
have before pointed out — has been the sole cause of 
the prevailing depression, and until their full extent 
is known or realised, and the bulk of the coffee has 
been delivered, no solid improvement can be expected. 
With the 30th ult. the old season ended, and 
recent cables give the total receipts of Rio and 
Santos at the Brazilian ports, since July 1, 
1896, as 8,680,000 baes, in comparison with 
5,489,000 bags in 1895-96, al'co 6,699,000 bags in 1894-95, 
and 4,,307,000 bags in 1893-94. Here we have a crop 
representing about twice the amount grown and 
gathered four years ago, and likewise materially 
heavier than what was then — in 1891-92 — regarded 
as the largest yield ever recorded, viz., 7,386,000 bags, 
consisting of Rio and Santos in nearly equal pro- 
portions. Nov/, however, the excess is composed 
chiefly of Santos, which description has yielded over 
5,000,000 bags of coffee, as contrasted with 3,100,000 
bags in the previous season, and only 1,750,000 begs. 
