462 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Jan. I, 1898. 
OUR RICE TRADE. 
Mr. James Ryan writes : — 
“Re your article ‘Our Rice Trade’ (4-12-97), 
Mr. Janies Gibson does not botlier whether 
Coast Rice arrives in bajjs of one size or another ; 
but this matter is one which intending ]iurchasers 
from the Coast must take particular note of. 
The consolidated rate of the South Indian Railway 
is the same for a large bag or a small one, 
provided the weight does not exceed 190 lb. 
gross, and it is this concession that enables the 
purchaser to land Rice at Bandarawella JJi 
cents per bushel cheaper than Mr. Gibson’s sea- 
borne Rice.” 
The experiment of getting rice from Tanjore 
in the way pointed out is certainly one well 
worth trying; although we cannot 'think that 
the supply will continue available at the low 
rate while famine prevails in anotlier division 
of the same Presidency.— Mr. Frank .Adam, just 
come from Burmah, conlirms today the report 
of a large rice crop, and says when be left Ran- 
goon “ paddy ” Avas being shippetl, he understood, 
to Tuticorin or Colombo. 
CEYLON TEA IN AMERI A. 
Writing from New York, 5th November, the Tea 
Commissioner sends us the following extract 
from a Metropolitan Journal; — 
A DIRECT LINE TO INDIA. 
A Regular Service to be Commenced this Month. — 
A regular direct steamship service between this port 
and India has just been arranged for, the first sail- 
ing being set for November 27th, by the “ Sahara,” 
a vessel of 4,089 tons, going via the Suez Canal and 
taking freight for Aden, Persian Gulf, Bombay, Ma- 
labar Coast, Ceylon, Madras and Calcutta. She will 
be followed by monthly steamers. The new service 
is of especial interest, inasmuch as it is the first direct 
regular line to India from New York. Most India 
business has heretofore been handled via Great Bri- 
tain and Mediterranean pens, with occasional sailings 
by tramp vessels. The new line is established with 
the definite purpose of developing trade, the agents 
and managers believing that present trade conditions 
were ripe for the enterprise, and also feeling confident 
that with regular facilities the trade will increase. 
The advantages will be especially felt by American 
manufacturers, who can thus sell on samples, and 
conduct their business with greater convenience. The 
outward cargoes will naturally be of a more or less 
general character, but steel rails and railroad material 
will figure as one of the most prominent items. 
Bucknall Bros, of London are the managers of the 
new line and Norton & Son, the New York agents. 
He adds : — “ Thi.s cutting fiom the Journal of 
Commerce here, will interest your reader.s. It 
should also benefit the Colombo market, as 
our kith and kin here dearly love direct trading, and 
hate everything that look.s like supporting London 
trade. The recent rise in the tea mai'ketin Colombo 
and London, has made importers here very 
angiy. They were beginning to think Ceylons 
were permanently down to the level of common 
Chinas. It is the large quantity of insipid 
pointless teas made in Apii! and May, that 
depresses the market, ard gives cause to men 
to sneer at Ceylon quality. Why do planters 
make so niucli at that season ? Better prune 
more in March, as quite half the April and May 
teas showed no ]>rolit this year. ” 
But is it not evident that cheap teas in America 
may benefit our ])lanters in the end by 
enabling a wide dissemination and when once the 
“ taste” is got, we may expect the enquiry to be 
for Ceylons 2 
PRODUCE AND PLANTING. 
British Grow'n v. Foreign Produce. — This ques- 
tion of British grown versus foreign produce is of 
interest to tea as well as sugar planters, because it has 
often been stated that the consumer of produce de- 
sires to give his own countrymen the preference when 
he can, and that this has been a factor in the develop- 
ment of the Indian and Ceylon tea industry. 
We fear that in the case of sugar the facts do not 
point in this direction. The St. Jaines’s Gazttte 
recently instituted some inquiries as to Ihe part the 
consumer played in the matter of cane sugar and 
beet. As a result the special commissioner who 
made inquiries says : “ In the first place the average 
purchaser rarely knows what she is buying. This 
applies to pretty nearly everything. When English- 
women go shopping they place themselves almost 
entirely at the mercy of the shopkeeper. They do not 
know' the quality or the origin of the goods they 
buy, and w'heu they take the trouble to ask, which is 
seldom, the shopkeeper, who is often equally ignor- 
ant, may tell the truth or not as he pleases. What 
they care about is not quality or origin, but cheap- 
ness a I d appearance ; and of the two the upper 
classes are more taken by the cheap, the lower by 
the pretty . If they care about any other considera- 
tion it is the name attached to a thing, either 
because it has traditional value or because it is 
much advertised.— Zf. and C. Mail, Nov. 19. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Fiji and the New Hebrides.— Mr. R. B. 
Heinekey, of Colombo, has, says the local 
“ Times,” recently returned from Fiji travelling 
via New Caledonia and the New Hebrides. In 
New' Caledonia ISlr. Heinekey found the P'rench 
Government encourages the growth of coffee, 
giving free grants to new .arrivals of good 
character. In the New Hebrides coffee is as 
yet only in its infancy : and the coconut 
plantations are not good. I^ith regard to Fiji 
w’e are told it “ has ahvays been a sink for 
money. Many men have taken money into 
the country, but it is not on record, any one 
has ever taken money out of it by plant- 
ing.” Coffee is a failure, but sugar (under 
an Australian Company) is doing w'ell, while 
copra is a large industry. Messrs. Lever, 
Bros., of Sunlight Soap fame, who have a mill 
at Sydney, crush 10,000 tons a year. Poonac 
realises £4 10s a ton in Australia. The condi- 
tons for tea in Fiji are favourable, but Icbour 
is very costly. 
A Pamphlet on “Bermuda Lily Disease” 
has reached us. A friend wh® has seen it, writes : 
— “This disease is also very troublesome in English 
gardens. Various remedial measures have from 
time to time been tried though none, of course, 
w'ith permanent success, the disease being a 
durable form of fungus. Its evil effects can, 
however, be combated to a great extent by soak* 
ing the bulbs before planting, in strong solu. 
tion of Condy’s fluid. But it is the minute 
‘mite’ insect that gives most trouble; such 
applications as soft soap and sulphur, qua.ssia 
solution, and carbolic acid solution, have fre* 
quently to be resorted to diminish its numbers. 
In Bermuda, wheie lily bulb-faiming is a consi- 
derable industry, the disea.‘e seems to have made 
itself rather seveiely felt. But we need hardly 
fear its depredations in Ceylon, for, outside of 
the Botanic Gardens the lily is seldom, if indeed 
at all, seen. Even at our higher elevations the 
climate is sucli as makes the cultivation of this 
beautiful (and profitable, when grown for market 
class of plants almost impossible.” 
