July i, 1891. 1 
THE TROPICAL AtyRlCTJLTURIST, 
49 
JAMAICA: THR EXHIBITION, itc. 
{Extract from a letter of Mr. W. Sabonadiere' t dated 
‘iUt April 1891.) 
The Exhibition hag in iteolf been a great 
Buooess, bat the attendance only about pays the 
current expenaee, and the guerantorj will have 
to pay up every penny for which they are liable. 
I wrote a letter in the Gleaner auggegfing the 
losa on the Exhibition ehould be made good 
oat of the BUrplas revenue, brought about by 
the Exhibition, but the Governor will not hear of 
it, and wants Jamaicans to be patriotic for the 
good of their country ; declares himaolf ready with 
hia £ '00, and bolievea he haa had full value for 
it. and so he thinks ahould every otlier guarantor. 
When the time cornea I guess he will find ha haa 
reckoned beyond hia post, end that this guarantee 
buaineas will turn out a sad fiasco. The Legislature 
ia still “en stance,” and immigration haa bean 
renewed. 600 coolies arrived lately, and as many 
more shortly expected. The Public Works Depart- 
ment has received aome very hard and very juati- 
fiablo knocks from our member Mr. Eapeut, who 
introduced the now hated mongoose, and whose 
wife is a daughter of Major Arm t, n. e,, formerly 
stationed at Kandy. Oar crops are very backward 
this year, our heavieat picking will not be on till 
May and June. We have had a dry spring which 
should be favorablo for good crops in 1891-92. I 
see Ceylon peaberry haa sold in London for Ml/fi. 
This beats Blue Mountain hollow even at Liver- 
pool. Our sizers unfortunately do not throw out 
peaberry and they don’t scorn to care for it at 
Liverpool. 
Dr. Caldor is interested in rice growing at the 
western end of the island whore there ia plenty 
of marshy and swampy land ; and he wants to 
get as muoh information as possible on the sub- 
ject: hence partly his present order for your 
Tropical Agriculturiet, 
♦ 
NEWS FROM "THE CITY.” 
(Front a correspondenl.) 
The following news by mail of 8th May may in- 
terest you :— 
“ Adamson, Bell & Oo., n firm largely interested 
in China tea, vbipping &c., have come to grief. The 
nnsi-onrod en-diiors wd! have rather a had time of 
it, the heaviest being the Yokohama Specie Bank 
(Japanese). Other Eastern banks supposed to bo 
well secured. 
“ The Ceylon tea export frightens importers as well 
as buyers; for if India and China send to England 
more than last seassou the market will be glutted 
in August and iduptember. Very high prices have 
been paid for the new Hankow teas by Russian 
buyers, and it ia feared that the Chinese may bo 
onconraged to prepare a largo third crop, most of which 
would come to Eugland. 
Ceylon Plantation Coffee steady for fair colory 
parcels. Ceylon Cocoa ll3s-12.‘li for brighter pale luls. 
“ Cinchona has advanced to Ij) id per unit 
Quinine has also recovered to lOJ to lid for German. 
~ ' » 
A OiNKAMON Eetate Lrasb Oase was tried before 
the Diatriot Court, Kaintara, on the 28lh May in which 
Mr. Jardine of Goluapokuna had to give evidence. 
The plaintiff was Mr. S. R. Fonseka, hia case 
being against the lessee of one of hio properties 
Who had out his cinnamon about after a very 
unplanterlike and injurious fashion. Mr. Jardine 
had no hesitation in testifying against the lessee. 
Judgment was reserved. 
7 
TOBACCO CULTIVATION IN SUMATRA 
AND IN CEYLON. 
From the Singapore papers we learn that the 
tobacco industry in Deli is in a very critical con- 
dition. For some time past matters have been 
going from bad to worse, until now the planters 
have to faoo a ssrioua problem. The causes of this 
state of things are three, — oompotition by Borneo, 
low prices, and exhaustion of the soil. As is 
well known, the tobacco plant is one that draws 
from the soil in a very short space of time all 
its nutritive consiituants, aud leaves it impoverished 
and unfitted for tlio cultivation of any product. 
Even guano, it is said, is unable to restore to 
the soil the phosphates needed to produce the 
plant at the desired level of quality ; and the 
only thing to be done is to lot the land lie fallow 
nntil nature has restored it to its pristine condition 
of fertility. But what are the unfortunate planters 
to do meonwhile? The remedy is said to be in 
the planting of tobaooo in other parts of Sumatra, 
such as Indragiri and Palembang, whore suitable 
land can be ha I on easy terms. It is possible there- 
fore that there may erelong bo a wholesale exodus 
of planters from Deli to the abovemsntioned dis- 
tricts. But then the question arises, will it pay? 
As we have said, prices m Europe are very low 
except for the finest qualities, and stocks are 
ample; so that, altogether, the lot of the 
tobaooo planter is not a happy one. The re- 
cent experiments with tobacco by Europeans in 
Caylon have also — with few exoaptioua — not 
been encouraging; and wa think that there 
can be no doubt that, in this island at least, 
tobaooo is more suited for native garden cultivation 
than to bo grown on a large scale by Europeans. 
At any rate, the experienoe of the Deli planters is 
not one to inspire confidence in the outorprise. 
• 
WANTED, A “WITHERING MACHINE”— 
MR, JACKSON? 
A “ proprietor’’ who has no connection with any 
Engineering business, writes from the Central 
Pfovinoe “ I have a letter from the manager of 
an estate who sends his loaf to a neighbouring 
factory to be manufactured : ‘ I have had to stop 
plucking ; not from the lack of loaf but because the 
factory is ohokeful of wet loaf which will not 
wither or cannot bo withered fast enough in this 
weather. 
“I wish Mr. Jackson would bringout his now wither- 
ing machine which will pay him bettor than 
spending money on those land sharks of lawyers in 
Colombo. I hoar his new drying machine, the 
Britannia' is a groat success.” 
OoLTivATiox OF Ohina Grass. — An attempt to 
cultivate Ohina grass is to be made on a large 
island, “ La Isla Manor,” on the shores of the 
Rivet Guadalquivir. If is intended to plant 6,000 
acres with the grass, and to erect a mill for ••*^8 
production of goods from the fibre. The scheme is 
to be oatried out with English capital, and 100 
acres are to be planted at first. A capital of 
£0,000 has been subscribed in order to make ex. 
periments,! one-halt of whioh has been furnished 
by the proprietor of the land, and the other half, 
by an English capitalist, who represents a syndicate. 
The sohf'me excites much interest in Seville, as 
that city would be greatly benefited by the aooom- 
plisbmont of the projects , — Public Opinion. 
