Apru. 1, iSo^l the tropical 
yellow tea=. 13 Roubles gold per Poud ■. (b) On brick 
teas Roubles 2'50c gold per Poud ; (c) On teas m blabs 
accomptnied by Consuls certificates -as to then’ being 
prepared in Russia and with the names ot iujSaian 
fabricau'.s on each slab 10 Roubles, gold per Poud. 
HATES OF DUTY ON TEAS, 
European frontiers Roubles ’21 gold, per Poud or 
illO lOi'Sd per c\vt.=ls lOJd per lb. Euglisb. 
Siberian Roubles 13 gold, per Pond or Xli 3s 4d pier 
cwt.— Is 2d per lb. English. 
KOLA IN THE ERENCH SOUDAxN, 
Great quantities of kola-nuts are imported in'o 
the French Soudan. In French territory it is only 
found at Kissi, and as it is the most common article 
of exchange in the country, it is brought thither 
from other parts. The value of this import m ISfO 
\vasl,350,000f., or about 21,500,000 nuts, the price vary- 
ing from’ 2’5'Jf. to 15f. the hundred nuts, according 
to the origin, and also according to their size and 
colour, the pink nuts bdng more highly esteemed 
than the yellowish-white ones. The kola nut is 
much appreciated for its medicinal property as a 
tonic, but it is also in great request m certain native 
ceremonies, such as betrothals, marriages, Ac, 
Chemist and Drugcjisf, Feb. 26. 
— 
VAN ILL A. 
At the meeting of the New York College of P.iar. 
macy held on January 18 five papers were lead^ on 
vanilla. Professor Rushy treated of the cultivation, 
&c. of vanilla. He said that there are thirty three 
species of vanilla now recognised. The pjrocess of 
ciiring vanill-pods and preparing them for pack- 
ini^ was described as he liad seen it ^ done in 
So’uth America. Yanilla-p.rckers, he mentioned, are 
aubiected to poisoning, resulting from handling the 
beans the symptoms being much like those resulting 
from ’p''isonivy, due, he thought, to penetration of 
the skin of the hand by oxalate-of-c aoium crystals. 
Dr. S. E. Jeliiffe treated of the miciosoopy of the 
B .'bicc't, and said unscrnpnlons lealers often used 
benzoic acid to make a false appearance of vanilliu 
on the beans. The miorcscope revealed the fraud 
reidily, benzoic-acid crystals being flattened and 
rhomboidal, vanillin acicular and standing out at 
right angles from the surface of the fruit. Professor 
Y. Coblentz treated of the chemistry of venilliii, ai.d 
said it was frequently adulterated with aoetanilid. 
Mr A Henningls paper was on Ihe oommsrei. 1 
varieties of vanilla. He said that that from the 
Seychelles Islands, an inferior kind, was the s.it 
chiefly used in England. The Maxican vandha grown 
at Papantla had the mo = t exquisite odour, and was 
the kind used in the United States. The pharmacy 
of vanilla was considered by Mr. O. Kalisli, who re- 
commended an extract made from 'a formula contain- 
ing 8 oz. of vanilla in a vallon of finished product. 
He said that vanillin conld never displace vanilla as 
a fl wouring-extract, as it lacks tliB delicate ll ivour cf 
the natural hea.i\— Chemist and ])riifffiist, Feb. 26. 
TEA IN AMERICA. 
Nf.w York, Feb. 16. 
Quotations on invoices unchanged. The tone of 
the market con'inues firm on greens. Low-grade 
Japan and other sorts steady. 
Recently a tiip through New Yoik StatG demons- 
trated that thj tonspicuojs sign in the grocers' 
windows is of some sort of Ceylon or Indii tea. 
They are growing in favor, and it looks a-i if the 
prophecy of an old veteran in the trade would soon 
come true, viz, : Ceylon and Indian tea are to he 
the tea of the luture.” 
Helow will he found additional and amendatory 
regulations in regard to the importation and iuspeo- 
AGRICULTURIST, 1^5 
tiou of tea under the act approved March 2, 1897. 
This circular has been sent out by Lyman J. Gage, 
Secretarv of the Treasury, under date of February 
7, to crlFeotors and other'oifioers of the customs. It 
is as follows : 
“The follovving standards for imported teas are 
substituted for tliose prescribed by Cironlara No 09, 
of xVpiil 21, 1897 (Synopsis 17,995i, and No. ISG, of 
November 6, 1897 (Synopsis 13,55-1): 
“First. — No. 1, Formosa Oblong; No. 2. Foochow' 
Oolong; No. 3, Amoy Oolong; No. 4, Nortii China 
congou; No. 5, South China congou; No. 6, India 
tea; No. 7, Ceylon tea ; No. 8, Pingsuey green tea; 
No. 9, ((/), country green tea (Young Hyeon) No. 10 
(//), country green tea, (Hyson) ; No. 11, Japan tea, 
paii-fired ; No. 12, Japan tea, sun-dried; No. 13, 
Jipan tea, basket-fired; No. 14, Japan tea, dust or 
fanniiigs ; No. 15, scented orange pekoe; No. 16, 
capers; No. 17, Canton Oolong; No. 18, scented 
Canton. 
“ Second —In order to promote uniformity in the 
methods- of eximination of teas, they include the fol- 
lowing rules, recommended by the Board of Tea 
Expel ts. are prescribed. 
“Testing for dust.- The dust and fannings in all 
P'ormosa, Fooshow, and Amoy Oolongs, Canton teas, 
congons, Indias, and Ceylon s must he restricted to 
10 per cent when sifted through a sieve of No. 16 
mesh made of brass wire. In order that the needle 
leaf and pekee tips may not be confounded with dust, 
they must be returned with the du^st to the sieve for 
a second and third sifting until separated. 
“In the case of Ceylon and Indian te.-is, the needle 
leaf and pekoe tins shall ha separated by passing them 
together with tho dust through a No. 26 sieve of 
brass wire, after the tea has been first sifted lliroiigh 
a No. 16 sieve . — American Orocer" 
COFFEE AT LANDSBOROUGfl, 
QUEENSLAND. 
'Fit is interesting to Ceylon planters to see how 
‘‘pioneering’’ with coffee is canied out in Queens- 
laud. — E d. 7'..1 ] ' 
The sncccess which has attended the oiiltivation of 
coffee the Bnderini Mountain has at different times 
reduced selectors on the Blackall Range to start 
the industry iu .a small wa.y, and these experiments 
liave sh.own that the soil and climate in certain 
localises in the district are eminently suitable to the 
coffee plant. Two or three years ago a company was 
formed in Brisbane for the purpose of growing coffee 
oil a large scale about twelve ra.les from Laiids- 
horongh, on the North Coast line, and some 40,000 
coffeo plants were raised, and a few acres were 
planted out. 'The method adopted by the manager, 
Mr. Waldegrave Thonipson, who had gained his 
experience in Ceylon, was to brush the sciiib, burn- 
ing off all undergrowth up to six inches in diameter, 
and leaving the large trees standing to serve as 
shade. 
Tlifc experiment for various reasons proved a failure 
and when the plantation was purchased twelve months, 
ago by W. Mr. Bartlett the whole of the plants had 
died off owing to the neglect. 
I\Ir. Barlett set to work energetically to reform tho 
plantation and the nurseries. He found the mirsery 
established on a that beneath a ridge, subject to tho 
washing-d'.'Wn of soil during heavy rains. He aban- 
doned .his spit, and located tho seed beds and 
nurseries sixty feet higher up the hank, and close-p-aled 
it all round, surmounting the posts with a barbed- 
wire. fence. He obtained some 500 plants of good varie- 
t e .3 of coffee from the Department of Agriculture, 
and set them out in a nursery 80 feet long aii'i 
50 feet wide. He next planted out some 2O0 of the 
laJgjst of these trees 9 feet apart, and they are now 
glowing vigoreiisly. Two thousand five hundred 
plants raised from seed li.avc been pl.uUed in the 
mirsery at a distance of 6 incites by 3 inches, and 
these will be ready to be transferred to the perma- 
uent plantation next season. In addition to these 
