THE TFOPICAI. 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[June i, 1898 . 
year. I have seen an egg taken from a speci- 
men at Gallein March, young captured at Wack- 
wella in Iseptember, and known tliat nestlings 
have been seen in May at Udagamina. In tiie 
Colombo district eggs have been procured in 
April, and young found by Mr. MacVicar in 
February. Mr. Holdsworth mentions the fact of 
a wounded bird laying an egg in a basket in 
whicli it was contined on the .31st December ; 
but at tliis time of the year 1 have killed birds 
in the North of Ceylon which showed no signs 
of breeding. Layard states that tiie .season of 
nidillcation i.s from May till July ; but this ob- 
servation is perhaps based upon a single occur- 
rence. I myself shot a female that had evidently 
risen from the nest, in July, in the Hambantota 
district.” * * “The number of eggs laid in 
Ceylon seems usually to be four.” 
MAURITIUS; 
Port Louis, April 28, 1898. 
Vanilla. — The market is iu the same situation. We 
have to record the sale of a few small lot good quality 
at 1137 to 38 per kilo. We maintain our last valuation 
as regards the outturn of ^e crop v;hich will not ex- 
oeod 5,500 kilos. AVe quote 
nominally : — 
1 st quality.. 
R37 to R38 per kilo. 
2 nd do. .. 
R34 to E35 
do. 
Good to middling 
E32 to R33 
do. 
Vauillons.. 
R27 to E28 
do. 
Aloe Fibres. — The market is Firm. We have to 
quote the sale of 175 bales 1st quality at El 95 to E200 
per ton and 65 bales 2ud quality at E185 to E190 per 
ton of 1,000 kilos. 
CoFFEK. — Both qualities are well supplied aud worth 
B50 to E55 for gojd quality and R18 to R25 for mixed 
Triage per 50 kilos . — Planters and Commercial Gazette, 
April 29. 
IPECACUANHA. 
The .source of supply is the rather limited area 
of the plateau of Matto Grosso, west of the Para- 
guay river, near the western border of Brazil, and 
in the e.xtreine N.W’^.W. of Rio de Janeiro. Al- 
though the ipecacuanha plant is said to grow over 
“a very wide e.ttent of territory ” in Brazil, the 
collection is confined to the small patch. 'I'he de- 
mand for iudiarubher is drawing off tiie labour 
from ipecacuanha-gathering. The cost of the drug 
to the merciiant in Cuiaha is by no means trivial, 
for lie must spend at least 3i jier lb. before lie 
gets the supply into his yard and ready for des- 
patch to the coast. A return to' cheap prices — 
say, 6 s per lb. in Mincing Lane— seems very re- 
mote . — Chemist and Dniqgist, April 30. 
THE OLDEST FIELD OF TEA CEYLON: 
30 YEARS OLD AND AS VIGOROUS 
AS EVER. 
On each occasion that we have comi>iled a 
new edition of our “Handbook and Directory” 
witliin the tea era, we have applied to the Manager 
of Looleccmdera estate for a few words of re- 
])ort on the state of the first field of tea planted by 
Mr. James 'J'aylor in 1867, and Mr. G. F. Deane 
has on several occasions now veiy courteously 
responded as lie docs on the pre.seiit occasion : — 
“ Reii'ying to your letler of 17tli the oldest Held 
of tea" on Loolecmid ra is still looking remark- 
ably well and contiiiues to give yields varying 
from 4 o(i to 50) lb. made tea per acre per annum. 
Last moiitb (.April) I got 65 lb. made Lea per acre 
from it, Imt that is one of my best months ; 
the wind when the S -W. monsoon is on, usually 
checks it severely. It last year received a heavier 
pruning and cutting down than it ever had 
before and looks all the better for it. Tiie 
ground is a network of roots and the stems of 
ilie bushes are very lliick. This tea is noiv some 
30 years old and is very wind-swept in .S.-AV. 
monsoon and has I believe never been manured. 
The Ciiina tea planted along roadsides in 1866, 
shews no sign of decay; and 84 acres of tea 
jdanted in 1874 5 is looking well and gave 413 lb. 
made tea per acre last season.” All iliis is very 
interesting and also encouraging as to the lasting 
eliaracter of onr tea-lields in Ceylon. 
CHINA TEAS AND ADULTERATION. 
Report of the Sub-Corn niitte:- of the Shanghai 
Chamber of Commerce on measures that are 
necessary to prevent the adutteraiion of Tea. 
Sliangliai. 6 th Ainil, 1898. 
Sir,— I n reply to your letter of 12tli ult., enclos- 
ing a despatcli from the Tliatai and a decree from 
H. E. Liu K’uii-yi, Superintendent of Trade for 
the Naiiyang ports, re measure.s to be adopted 
to prevent the adulteration of Tea, we have now 
the pleasure to report upon the same iu aocoid- 
ance with your request. 
As there appears to be a good deal of uiicer- 
tainity in the minds of the writers of the decree 
as to the requirements of the new law passed by 
the United States Government for the exclusion 
of spurious tea, we think, Derliajis, the best way 
to put tilings in a clear light before them would 
he to give the results of this past season’s work- 
ing at the various ports of the United States as 
far as we can gather from our own experience, 
and from what has come to our knowledge. 
Tkenicai and Moyunk Teas. -AVe have not 
heard of a single package of tea from these dis- 
tricts having been rejected by the Customs Ins- 
pectors in the United States, and from this it 
may be inferred tliiit the pre.seiit mode of pre- 
paration satislies the requirements of the Act. 
Complaints are occasionally made of colouring, 
etc., but the manufacturers in these districts 
have always shown a very cminnendable honesty 
in keeijuig their teas pure and free from any 
admixture of willow or other leaf. Care, how- 
ever, will have to be take in the coining season 
to prepare teas with less colouring matter, as, 
judged hy the standard selected for this season’s 
guidance, a good many of last year’s low grades, 
or lines, would not pass the Inspector. Buyers 
who remeiuher the teas of twentyfive to thirty 
years ago see a great falling oil in the beauty 
of make, etc., but the carelessness in this res- 
pect is chiefly the eonsequenoe of the reduced 
prices obtainable in Sliangliai. A few ■ chops re- 
tain a high reputation for quality and are eagerly 
sought after. If all Green Teas were as pure 
and as good as those produced in the Teenkai 
and Moyune districts no law for rejection would 
be necessary, but we might add, by way of a 
word of advice, that 'J'eeiikai teas would keep 
better if more biglily fired. 
Fvcnow.S. — These teas are inferior toMoj-unes 
ami Teenkai teas, a,nd Lhi.s is owing in a great 
measure to want of care in preparation, and to 
the use of wood instead of charcoal for liring, 
whicli imparts a smoky, undesirable flavour to 
the tea. Tlie early picked teas are of fair quality 
and were all admitted into tlie United States, 
bat the second and third packs are generally 
coarse, dark liquoring, poor teas, and some of 
these have been rejected by the Inspector at New 
York and Chicago. The quality of second and 
