846 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[June i, 1898. 
The following prices were paid Ceylon Saccirubra, 
natural stem-onips and shavings, ordinary to fair, IJd 
to 2Jd ; renewed ditto, 2id ; renewed ftuil!,2fci, ofiioina- 
lis, renewed chips, 3d ; Ledgeriana root, 3g i ; and good 
stem-chips, 5Jd per lb. 
Annatto seed.— One broker sold fine bright at 4]d 
per lb. 
Coca-leaves.— Some Ceyinu lerivns, which contain no 
cocaine, were offered without reserve, end sold at l^d 
per lb. 
Croton Seeds. — Dearer. Medium to bold sound seed 
sold at prices ranging from 72i to 823 per cwd. 
Kola.— Poor and dark West India sold at IJd per lb. 
. — Ohemisi and Druggist. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
The Centr.\l Tr.waiccorf, A.ssociation lias 
had a full inesting with several Ceylon names 
among those present, Some useful business as 
to roads, coast shipnieut.s, legistraiion of 
carriers and telegraph arrangements, was trans- 
acted. 
Pushing Indian Teas in Nkw Markets,— It 
is satisfactory to see the Indian Tea Association 
doing its best once mo:e to rouse tea est<ate 
proprietors to a sense, of their duty in regard to 
the New Markets Fund. Hitherto all Imli.a 
has contributed less than half the amount 
assessed from little Ceylon; just because the 
latter is a Customs asses.sinent and the fornier 
collection is voluntary. The 'i ravancore districts 
have been among.st the most lEoeral contrilmtors. 
Now it is jiroposed to levy an assessment ou 
every lb. of tea sold in Calcutta and in this way 
to raise perliaps no less than 11300,000 or tliree 
times the present . contribution— a half-pie a lb. 
could secure this. Now that steamers leave 
direct from Calcutta to America, more interest is 
likely to he taken in [ndia, in “ tea in America.” 
Tii.E Fiurk Trade. — A further re.asan why 
attention should he given to “ fibres” at this junc- 
ture is brought before us in the letter of Mr. 
Arthur Silburn, “Fibre Drcs.ser ” to i\\a Natal 
Mercury, April 26th— We quote as follow.s 
I beg to offer the folio, ving faiut idea of the 
quantity of Manila hemp exported from the Philip- 
pine Islands during the three weeks ending January 
24, 1898, as taken fi’ora the Public Ledger, Loudon, 
of January 29, 1898 
Bales. 
12,1.00 
18,000 
6,000 
28,000 
30,000 
3d f.o.b., 
and to 
Shipped to the United Kingdom 
Shipped to the UuUecl States 
Shipped to other places 
Loading for United Kingdom 
Loading for United States ... 
The ruling price for the above was £16 12 
and the freight to London 5.os 6d per ton, .. 
Liverpool 55s per ton. For the last six years I have 
endeavouired to place this important industry on a 
commercial footing, but here in Natal gold and coal 
I’eign supreme. The prices for any and all classes of 
fibre are bound to go up, as Manila is the chief com- 
petitor in the hemp market all over the world, but 
the fibre sent by me from tho mills at Umgeui 
fetched a higher price in the Liverpool open market 
than even this f.ivonrite of the ropemaker, viz., £23 
15s per ton. It is only the want of moderate capital 
that compels me to keep idle tlie complete fibre- 
dressing machinery that is now lying at the above- 
mentioned works. I started sending plants to the 
Lower Umzimkulu farmers three years ago, but with 
the exception of Mr. Albers it has met with little 
response, but I am still in hopes of being able to 
turn out down there a fewhundiod tons of dry fibre, 
with the aid of my patent machiniiry, before long, 
to disprove the assertion that Natal ie a Colony of 
samples. 
Ml, Silburn ought to try Ceylon. 
TilE Gu.M-FIEr.DS )f Nortlieru New Zealnder ab- 
sent many fetatnres tiiat are unique. Tliey have 
one of the most remailvable poimlations the.se 
colonies can pre.sent. When a Nortliern New 
Zealander finds the world against him instead of 
retiring to the Domain, as in Sydney, he retires 
to the gum-fields. It is the last re'^ource of the 
broken remirtance man. There are to be found 
clergymen, lawyers, doctors, members of the 
British nobility who find it convenient to tem- 
)iorarily suppress their titles and their identity, 
the flotsam and jetsam of human wreckage. To 
many of these tlie gum-fields have proved salva- 
tion. To those incapable of moral reclamation 
they liave been the last .st.age on tlie road to luin. 
Side by side with this heterogeneous rna.ss of all 
nationalities and .all classes is a compact body of 
Austrian.s, working assiduously and systematically, 
sober, thrifty, and industrious. Tliey have come 
out from Austria direct to these fields, though 
they knew little or no English and little of English 
ways, t he gum lies .'spread over a good part of the 
North Island nortli of Auckland. It h, as been leflin 
the ground by the noble kauri pine trees, which have 
disappeared in ages past, and tlie diggers procure it 
by probing tlie ground with a gum spear or by 
digging ill likelyspots.— Ni/rfacy Mail, April 16. 
Tea in China and the Kevivai. of the Euro- 
REAN Trade. —The experiments being tried at Foo- 
chow and Hankow of making tea by machinery will be 
watched — says the Shanghai Herald of April 25 — with 
great interest, as the export to Europe is apparently 
doomed to gradual extinction unless something is done 
to revive tnis important trade. It may be doubted 
whether any efforts to compete wi h India and Ceylon 
v/ill prove successful so long as the Chinese Government 
persists in the suicidai policy of strangling the trade by 
excessive duties. The t.ixa'ion of tea amounts on an 
average to 30 per cent of the value, and until this 
crushing weight is lightened no improvements in the 
metl'.od of manufacture will enable it to compete with 
the uutaxed product of India. Ou the other hand, the 
closing of the Indian mints has forced the rupee up to an 
artifioi'il value and given China an immensB advantage 
in ex.:hange ; so that the present is an exceptionally 
favourable time for pushing on every endeavour to 
regain some of the lost ground. The cost < f tea on 
the Indian garden has been greatly reduced of late 
yea,rs. Small estates have been amalgamated, thus 
reducing the number of factories and consequently the 
amount of European supervision necessary. The 
introduction of machinery has reduced the hands 
required in the factory, and skilled labour is practically 
eliminated. In the huge estates in the plains, the 
enormous quantity of leaf available and the facility and 
cheapness with which it can be handled by machinery, 
have made it possible to place the tea on the Calcutta 
market for four annas a pound or even less. At the 
present rate of exchange between Hongkong and 
Calcutta, this is equivalent to $0.18. Before the 
closing of the Indian mints four annas were equal to 
less than $0.12, and the difference represents the 
advantage which the closing of the mints has brought 
to the Chinese exporter. Supposing China, by the use 
of machinery, can make tea for the Indian cost in silver, 
$0.12, a pound would be equal to $16 a picul. But since 
tea can be made in this country for a still lower price 
even by hand, it would seem certain that only those 
gardens in India where the cost of production is very 
low would have any chance of competing witli Chinese 
machine-made tea. High-class Chinese tea would 
easily compete in price with similar grades from India 
and Ceylon. There are, hewever, three things ab- 
solutely necessary to secure success. Tlie factories 
must be established where there is au abundant 
supply of leaf close at baud : experienced European 
tea-makers accustomed to the use of m,achinery must be 
engaged, and taxation must be lowered. Given these 
three essentials, the export of Chinese tea to Europe 
will increase rapidly. 
