480 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[JaiI, I, * 898 . 
trust in the interest of decency and health that the 
following paragraph is not a square and solid fact. 
“ Yes,” said a man who was collecting tea leaves in 
the street the other day, “ I make a business of col- 
lecting used tea leaves. You wouldn’t think there was 
much to be got out of this work ; but as a matter of 
fact quite a good number of men in London make a 
good living out of it. In a few cases the used tea 
leaves collected from the better-class restaurants and 
hotels are sold to proprietors of third-rate restaurants 
and coffee-houses, who mix burnt sugar with them, 
and use them for tea-making a second time. The 
greater quantity of used tea leaves, however, are pur- 
chased by proprietors of very cheap groceries. The 
tea leaves are made ready for the market the second 
time by being spread upon hot iron plates. The 
result is that they curl up and present a very good- 
looking appearance ; in fact, tea when recurled in 
this way looks quite as good as first quality tea 
that has never been used. And when it is packed 
ih attractive-looking packets it has a ready sale.” 
Abyssinian Coffee. — In a report by Mr, Rennell 
Rodd, II M. Special Envoy to the Emperor of 
Abyssinia, recently published in the Board of Trade 
Journal for September last, it was stated that the 
indigenous coffee of Abyssinia is largely sent to Arabia 
for re-exportation as produce of Mocha. A question 
having arisen as to the above statement as regards 
Aden, a further report has been received at the 
Foreign Office from Mr. llodd, stating that in his 
report the words “ sent to Arabia ” were not used to 
specify or even to include Aden, and also that it 
should be borne in mind that, besides the trade 
which goes directly to Aden from Zeila and Berbera, 
a great deal is carried m native boats to the Arabian 
coast ; there is also, it is stated, a considerable move- 
ment of shows in the port of Gibouti. 
Vanilla Cultivation. — Cultivate vanilla wherever 
soil and circumstances permit is the advice to be 
gathered from the report of Mr. H. Cockhurn Stewart, 
Administrator of the Seychelles Islands, who, in for- 
warding his annual report, gives special prominence 
to the vanilla industry, which is experiencing quite 
a boom. The crop last year was the largest on re- 
cord — 63,000 lb. — and the prices obtained on the Lon- 
don and Paris markets were such as to delight the 
hearts of the cultivators. “ Nothing pays better 
than vanilla,” remarks the head of the Local Gov- 
ernment, and, when the islands are still further 
opened up by roads, he anticipates a large increase 
of the acreage under vanilla cultivation. 
Bowstring Hemp. — A plant at present found in 
great abundance in South Africa is likely, in the 
opinion of experts, to become an important article of 
commerce. This is “the Bowstring Hemp Plant.” 
With the aid of a machine, which has been recently 
invented, fibres have been prepared from its leaves, 
which have turned out to be the strongest fibres yet 
known. This strong quality of the fibre was first 
discovered by the scientific experts of the Challenger 
Expedition, who used it to make their deep-sea lines. 
Planting in British Central Africa. — The 
British Central African Gazette has collected reports 
Itom various firms and planters engaged in coffee- 
growing in British Central Africa which point to the 
continued prosperity of the industry. It is estimated 
that for this year the crop will yield about 450 tons, 
and as every year new plantations are being opened 
up, and areas planted in previous years are coming 
into bearing, there is every prospect of the supply 
of coffee from Central Africa assuming very large 
proportions. One of the largest planting firms reports 
that “ although nobody is yet able to lay down a 
single rule, we mean a hard-and-fast rule, much less 
any fixed laws about coffee-planting in this country, 
for the simple reason that the Industry is too young 
yet, and we are without sufficient data extending 
over a number of years to go on, still from the 
experieacQ of tho last three years we may 
safely say that coffee-planting in British Cen- 
tral Africa is, or can be made, a perfectlv safe, steady, 
and paying enterprise.” Experiments are being 
widely made as to the best kind of shade trees for 
coffee bushes. Very few new planters have come into 
the country during the past year, but ten new 
plantations have been opened up. 
Land in New Guinea. — According to Mr, T. H. 
Hatton Richards, who has been lecturing on the 
subject, cultivators of land who know their business 
may find British New Guinea a profitable field. As 
far as was practicable, every inducement was given 
by the Government to the bona fide settler? All 
that legislation could do had been and was being 
done ; but, so far, the attention to the country had 
been rather disappointing. Land might be found 
for almost every tropical product, but not in the 
vast areas that were dealt with in Australia, for 
instance. To the man with experience and a little 
capital, who chose a moderate quantity of land with 
care and prudence after personal inspection, good 
results should follow. He would find two great things 
in his favoui'. First, the country was never visited 
by cyclones. Secondly, with care and tact on his 
part he should always be able to obtain a plentiful 
supply of good labour at an extremely moderate 
rate. But the man who went to British New Guinea 
must be prepared to rough it in the truest sense of 
the word, be ready to put his hands to anything 
and wa.it patiently for the fruit of his labours. The’ 
chief difficulty to be encountered was the one of 
climate, and as to this he thought it might improve 
in time as the possession was opened up for settle- 
ment, and it became possible to use the hilly portions 
of the country for purposes of change. 
Honduras and its Produce.— Honduras, the land 
of frequent revolution, is very fertile in the produc- 
tion of; coffee, sugar, bananas, coconuts, and 
other fruit. Java can’t produce better coffee 
Sugar-cane grows as tall and as sound as a 
pine sapling. There are no vast plantations of 
bananas, but each and every adult raises several 
or more bunches tor shipment. Bananas are raised 
in patches in the shadow of the mountains, in small 
clearings surrounded by almost impenetrable giant 
and gorgeous vegetation, around the little H atched 
roof dwellings and in wells and holes in the -mand 
Ships, mostly from New Orleans, make .regular M>a 
for this popular fruit, and buy it jdelivered on the 
boat for 16 cents a bunch. Every bunch must average 
eight hand,” which, to be sure, is large enough 
and full grown. Oranges bear two crops a year 
Limes, lemons, guavas, and kindred products grow 
with little or no attention.—//, and C. Mail, Nov 36 
THE CHINA TEA TRADE, 
OLD AND NE'W METHODS OF PREPARATION. 
The exhortation of theTsung-li Yamen and the Vice 
royof the Liangkiang Provinces [see below] to Chinese 
tea planters is not calculated to produce any striking 
results. The exhortation has been issued at the 
instance of the Minister for the Netherlands, who 
says that no tea is superior to the Chinese tea in 
flavour and delicacy of taste and urges that the 
ancient methods of preparation should be continued 
instead of being changed for the more modern methods 
The Minister would appear to speak in the interests 
of a limited class ot connoisseurs, by whom the deli- 
cate flavour and aroma of superior Chinese tea is 
held in high appreciation, but the amount of leaf re- 
quired to supply the demand in that quarter can 
never be large. The great bulk of the consumers 
prefer the Indian and Ceylon tea and if China 
wishes to regain her place as the leading exporter 
she will have to adopt the methods of her competi- 
tors. Even in Hongkong, where one would expect 
China tea to hold its own if anywhere, we find Indian 
and Ceylon tea largely imported to supply the re- 
quirements of the European community, which is a 
plain indicatiou of the direction in which popular 
