THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
Sf 6 
[Feb. t, 1898 . 
BHIIISH NORTH BORNEO. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
(Herald, January 1 .) 
It will be news to most people that Ceara rubber 
trees are indigenous to Sandalsan. A tree in laige 
bearing of seeds is to be seen any day on the Ceme- 
tery Road. As however the yield in Comparison 
with Hevca is so small it has not yet attracted the 
attention of intending rubber planters. 
We have received a communication from a London 
firm stating that a specimen of pineapple fibre ex- 
tracted locally is pronounced to be of very good 
quality and likely to meet with a large demand if 
shipped in sufficient quantities. 
Mr. H. N. Ridley left Sandakan for Singapore on 
the 2 1st December. During his stay here he was 
able to make some interesting observations botanical 
and ( therwise. 
Corrlinned wet weather has much interfered with 
cutting hemp and rhea which, of course, require to 
be dried before packing. Decorticators and baling 
presses are being shipped from home for the Suan 
Lambah Plantation. 
KUDAT NOTES. 
The visits of the Hon. C. H. Strutt, M.P., and 
Count Geloes d'Elsloo bring us again in connection 
with Europe. Both these gentlemen are looking 
very well and appear well satisfied with the present 
tobacco crop of the New London Borneo Tobacco 
Company, Limited. 
Coffee prospects in Marudu Bay are excellent, and 
a large crop is airticipated. 
The tobacco crop in 1898 will be large, and of 
very good quality. The Dusuns, this season, have 
been earning up to bO cents per diem, at picking and 
tringiug ripe leaves. 
IVORY AND RUBBER IN THE CONGO 
STATE. 
Writing from St. Paul de Loanda, British Consul 
W. Clayton Pickersgill says there are only two pro- 
ducts of the Upper Congo, as far as its resources 
are known at present, which are valuable enough 
to pay the cost of transport. These are ivory and 
india-rubber, both of them, unfortunately, limited in 
quantity and slow of growth. It is a mistake, 
however, to regard the exhaustion of either as in- 
evitable. Of the forty tons, more or less, of ivory 
now being shipped from the Congou monthly, very 
little is fresh. Comparatively tew elephants are 
being killed, and it lies within the power of the 
commissaries of districts to declare hunting illegal 
whenever they have reason to believe that the 
animals are in danger of being exterminated. No 
law of course, can entirely control the native in 
the ’wilds, but the State is feared enough to make 
prohibition serve the purpose desired, and tusks 
may some day become an article of regulated sup- 
ply"^ like Kimberley diamonds. In the meantime, 
there is sufficient indiarnbber in the forest of the 
Haut Congo to yield rich harvests for many a year, 
even at a much greater rate of exportation than 
the preserrt, which has attained an average of 100 
tons a month. And nothing could possibly repay 
cultivation better. Ivory may be imitated, but 
caoutchouc remains indispensable, the one tropical 
commodity of which the consumption is ever on the 
increase, while the sources of supply are diminish- 
ing The preservation of the climbing plants from 
which the elastic juice is obtained, and the introduc- 
tion of trees containing it in greater quantities, is, 
- therefore, a labour of forethought to which too 
much attention cannot possibly be given. Already 
something has been done in this direction by a few 
officers of superior intelligence, but others have 
caused wide stretches of forest to be stripped of 
wealth with little regard for the needs of the future. 
—Chamber of Commerce Journal. 
('F.YT.ON Tea and Exchange in 1897.— We 
direct .attention to Messrs. Gow, Wilson & Stan- 
ton’.s Tea Sliare Report reproduced elsewhere. 
Wiitten on the last day of the year, it takes 
the form of a review and we learn that the 
average for Ceylon teas .sold in London in 1897 
was 7 '7 Id against 8"21d in 1896 ; while the average 
of exchange last year was Is .3 15-32d .against 
Is 2 13-.32d in 1896 — or l]-16d adverse to last 
year. Both facts tell greatly .against jirofits. Let 
us hope 1898 may do better in prices if not in 
exch.ange. 
The Zanzibar Ceove-crop. — Advices from Zanzibar 
state that all plantation-owners in Pemba report a 
very poor crop of cloves this year. Pemba will pro- 
bably never again equal the big crops of former years. 
Many of the trees are getting old and woody, and 
only have a little foliage at the top, although, if 
they had been properly pruned, they might now 
have been in their prime. As it is, some of the 
shambas present the aspect of forests rather than 
plantations, and the trees are being used for timber. 
A very fine sample of Penang cloves recently re- 
ceived from London has been the subject of much 
interest both in Zanzibar and Pemba. This sample 
was specially selected to show what good cloves should 
be like when properly prepared for market. Several 
experiments have since been made with the object 
of ascertaining whether it is possible to obt.ain such 
good results in Zanzibar. Apparently it is not enough 
to bestow attention upon the drying only. It is 
necessary that the buds when they ripen should be 
picked singly, not in bunches, as is usual in Zanzi- 
bar . — Chemist and Druqgist. 
Indian and Ceylon Tea Companies.— F rom 
a review in the Financial Times of 4tli Jan. we 
quote as follows 
The total output of tea for the period is estimated 
for India at 151 million pounds, as against 149 mil- 
lions in the previous season, while the Ceylon out- 
put is caculated at 117 million pounds, as against 
108 millions, the advance in both cases being com- 
paratively small, but (specially in that of India. 
As regards quality, that of the Indian crop, speak- 
ing generally, was only fair, in some districts the 
quality being not quite up to that of the 1896 
season, while the Ceylon product was about equal to the 
average. A most encouraging feature of the year is 
the large increase in consumption, which has more 
than kept pace with the growth of the output, so 
that there can be no immediate fear of over-produc- 
tion. The efforts made by planters to extend the 
consumption of tea, for which purpose they subs- 
cribe some T1 8,000 annually, have met with great 
success. Continued progress has been made in North 
America, which bids fair to become soon one of the 
most important markets. Australia continues to 
increase its consumption, and the market in Russia 
and Continental Europe generally is steadily 
improving. The amalgamation of small concerns 
into one undertaking made further progress last year. 
Fifteen new Ceylon companies were formed chiefly 
for this purpose, and there were several reconstruc- 
tions with the same object, as well as further issues 
of captital for extension by one or two of the older 
companies. It may be noted here that there is a 
general tendency on the part of private owners to 
amalgamate gardens into groups, and then to form 
these groups into limited companies, and there can 
be no question that the result generally is economy 
in working. With reference to the probable result 
to the Indian Companies of last year’s working, it 
may be doubted whether on the whole it will be 
quite so satisfactory as in the two previous period.s. 
Rise or Percentage of 
Fall Rise or Fall 
Name of Company. in 1897. per £100 
Stock in 1897, 
Ceylon Tea Plant. Ord. — 1 
„ Bref. pis. i 
— 10 
pis. 
