March i, 1898 . 1 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
625 
Tea in North Borneo.— We read in the 
Herald Mr. Ballardie and Mr. H. Walker went 
on up river to Saponu;. Mr. Ballardie has come 
as the representative of an influential Company who 
are about to commence planting' tea neai Sapoii';'. 
“Plantain Flour.” — Who can tell ns if this 
article has been prepared in Ceylon, and whether 
any quantity can be got at this time? There 
is enquiry for it from abroad and we cannot 
see why an industry and trace should not be 
developed in plantain flour, in a country where 
plantains grow so freely. — See a letter and enquiry 
elsewhere. 
Coffee ErvALRY. — The report of the Government 
of India on coffee onltivation affords another instance 
of the way in which the fortunes of distant and discon- 
nected portions of the earth linked together, says the 
Globe. Take coffee. In the heart of India, a circum- 
scribed zone might be marked out, including the 
districts of Mysore and Coorg, Malabar and the Nil- 
giris, which would be practically the whole of the 
coffee-bearing region under the Indian Government, 
and if wo turn the terrestrial globe completely round, 
we shall find a similar coffee region on the other side 
of the world, in Brazil. In spite of geographical dis- 
tance, when the naked coolie of Mysore finds ^york 
scarce and wages low, he may safely attribute it to 
the fact that prosperity is smiling upon his antipodean 
counterpart. This fact is very clearly brought out in 
the report of the Government of India. From 1876 
to 1878 inclusive, Brazil was in political trouble, and 
the Indian coffee grower made such handsome profits 
that cultivation rapidly extended. Then came India’s 
trouble in the shape of the coffee-boring insect and 
leaf disease ; and Brazil ruled the market, while 
nnremunerative Indian coffee plantations began year 
by year to give place to tea-gardens. But in 1889 the pen- 
dulum swung the other way once more. Science had de- 
feated the coffee borer and rendered plants immune aga- 
inst the leaf disease in India: while American “corners’’ 
in Brazilian coffee and fresh political troubles grad- 
ually enabled the price of Indian coffee to rise in 
1893 to double the price that ruled in 1885. Brazil is 
still more or less troubled, and the coffee of India 
still rules high ; but assured peace and prosperity in 
Brazil would promptly send prices down again.—//. 
&. C. Mail, Jan 21. 
Ceylon Tea in North America.— In another 
column we publish a letter from our Tea Com- 
missioner, Mr. Wm. Mackenzie, in which he 
points out how the prices of low grade teas are 
being kept up through orders from Russia and 
America chiefly, and how the blending houses, 
not being able to get these teas at their own 
prices, give less bids for mediums. Shares of recently 
formed home Companies are stated to be rising 
and our Commissioner thinks it is almost time 
for a Growers’ Distribution Co. to be formed. 
With regard to the enclosures these include as 
the letter mentions the list of eighteen packet 
teas in Toronto, and instructions to Customs 
officers to forward to the department at Ottawa, 
for approval, samples of all tea imported into 
Canada from the United Kingdom and from 
the United States before delivery, unless the 
importer produces a certificate from the British 
or U.S. Customs that the tea has been duly 
approved for home consumption in their respec- 
tive countries ; and to exercise due care that 
tea which is unfit for use and such as is prohi- 
bited under the customs tariff shall not be entered 
for consumption in Canada where thus imported 
direct or in transit from foreign countries. In 
such cases if custom officers have reasonable 
grounds to suspect that a particular tea is not 
genuine, or that it is mixed with exhausted 
tea or other ingredients so as to injure its proper 
quality, a sample of the tea is to] be tested at 
the port of entry. 
Cotton Growing in Southern India.— We 
get very liad accounts of the prospects of cotton 
growers over the way in Tinnevelly: high exchange 
has so affected the prices offered by the mills 
and export traclers that there is no margin of 
profit left to the cultivators who, therefore, are 
not likeli/ to grow cotton in their fields next year, 
where they can manage otherwise. 
Conway Pearl Fishery.— Sir Walter Besant 
in The Queen has the following : — 
I have received more details concerning the Con- 
way pearl fishery. As regards the upper reaches of 
the river the fishery is extinct. It existed, however, 
continuously from Roman times to about thirty years 
ago. Probably, therefore, it may be resumed some 
time with profit. The causes of the decline are said 
to be partly the demand for eating mussels — to eat 
a mussel that, if left alone, would produce a pearl 
is surely akin to killing the goose with the golden 
eggs — and partly from too great a drain upon the 
beds, which reduced the size as well as the quantity 
of the pearls The time for fishing was between 
the month* of May and August exclusive ; during 
that time “ several pounds weight ’’ of pearls were 
found daily. Mounds from 10 to 16 feet high, con- 
sisting of mussel shells and sand, exist in the neigh- 
bourhood to show the magnitude of the operations. 
Last year the Mayor of Cor way was presented with 
a ring set with black pearls from the river. It seems 
a pity that so picturesque an industry should fall 
into decay. Meantime, it has interested me greatly 
to read these details, and to learn that there has 
been for so long a fishery for pearls in our own 
country. 
Good News for Cacao Planters.— The ex- 
traordinary activity in the cocoa market, and 
tlie .substantial rise in prices in face of a large 
siip]ily at the resumption of public sales last 
week, show — says the Grocers’ Journal — what a 
cliange has come over the scene in regard to this 
article of consumption, and what strides it is 
making in public favour. Although great quan- 
tities have been accumulating duiing the holidays 
and the catalogues were therefore exceptionally 
heavy, all grades were actively competed for 
and substantial advances were recorded in all 
departments. Grenada sorts showed the full 
effect of the improved position, prices being 8s to 
12s per cwt. above the value ruling at the last 
auctions in the old year, and while everything 
was cleared, the market closed strong. Our con- 
temporary goes on to remark ; — 
Never were the uses of bold advertisement better 
exemplified. That cocoa is an article of diet of great 
value has been known to the faculty for many years. 
But the heavy character of the usual decoction 
kept it back for years, and w'hen the essences and 
powders appeared, though they made a certain 
headway, they were unahle to dive straight to the 
stomachs of the people as tea has done. But of late 
there has come a remarkable change. Manufac- 
turers everywhere have been waking up to the fact 
that merit alone cannot get an article into con- 
sumption. It needs an adventitious aid. As our 
readers know cocoa has found it. One can see it 
everywhere. Grocers can testify to the increased 
demand, especially for certain brands, and the public 
are realising, now that it is being borne home to 
them, that — whatever the merits of rival cocoas may 
be— the genuine article, in any and every form, is of 
great value to them in their ordinary dietary. Manu- 
facturers may now be said to be fully employed in 
meeting the demand which has sprung up in re- 
sponse to the liberal appeals in the press of late. 
And we can at the more rejoice this and wish for its 
continuance when we reflect that it is unlikely to 
disturb the balance of trade in cognate goods, being 
in large measure, merely in addition thereto. 
