September i, iSgi.j 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
205 
raigratoJ in tlio night to the internal parts of tho 
])'ant. After a few hou-s of exposure to tho light 
tho leaf is plucht'd, tho foils removed witii warm 
wilder, till) chlorophyd <lisaolvcd out by boiling nioohol, 
oiul tho blea'hid feat stooped in tincture of iodiue. 
The iodine uniting with tho staruh develops tho 
le'ters or figures which have bom stencilled by 
the daj liglit. 
VICTORIA COUNTY, NATAL, TEA 
ESTATES. 
“ Speotemur Agendo " writes Having time to 
take a stroll round the country, 1 availed myself 
of the oft-repeated kind invitations of Mr; W. 
Hindeon to pay a visit to his tea plantations at 
Nonoti Peak and Oliflon, whieb adjoin, and are 
within easy ride from SCanger, After passing 
the Eearusey estate one soon arrives at the Konoti 
Peak estate, so called from being situated on the 
Nonoti River, under the shadow of a hill, the 
highest in this division, and lor this reason 
seleoted by the trigonometrical survey party as 
suitable tor dxiog a beacon thereon. One cannot 
help feeling the diflerenoe in atmosphere as one 
leaves the depressing air of Stanger — a most ill- 
obosen spot for a township— and approacha the 
salubrious olimata of Nonoti Peak, a well-selected 
spot, facing the sea, and deriving the full benefit 
of the soa breeze. Our old friend Tom Peachey, 
the former owner, knew what he was about 
when he pitched upon this spot to settle down 
upon. All tho surroundings bear evidence of the 
business-like and methodical manner in which 
the management of this estate is conducted ; and 
it tea planting does not succeed under it, the 
cause oi failure must be looked for elsewhere. 
Judging from what 1 saw on this estate and 
others in the district, I can see no reason why 
it should not turn out a success. Doubtless, the 
pioneers in this, as in all other industries, will 
meet with cheeks and drawbacks, and will find 
that methods which suit in other dimes may not 
exactly suit in Natal ; but so far things look very 
promising.— iVflfnl Mercury. 
The Tea Trade oe Macao is thus reported 
on by Mr. Consul Joly. It is ourious to hear of 
Chinese tea makers studying the taste of their 
own oountrymen for “ highly flavoured" tea : — 
Though the quality of the teas during tho 
past seasou was good — in fact, it ia said that they 
were even better than they have been for aome 
time — there baa been again a marked decline in what 
waa once an important staple of export. Hut what 
else oau be expected when other coantriea can export 
a good clean tea at a low coat and no duties ? It is, 
however, gratifying to hear that though small, com- 
paratively, has been tho export, tho teas of this 
district have fetched fairly remunerative prices. The 
total nnmber of oheata exported last year seema to 
have been 157,606, as against 17fi,220 chests of the 
pcevions season. The reduction is striking ; in faot, 
the Ohiuese .themselves find tea business with 
foreigners so much on the decrease that it salts 
their interests to make the tea of this district into 
Pao-sbaue, a highly-flavoured t-'a, which is in great 
demand wherever Chinese aollle, in lieu of Congou 
for foreign oountrics. Macao teas have, therefore 
taken their share in the general disaster ; but be the 
causes of the deterioration of the tea trade whatever 
they may be, it is evident that the reduction of 
duty at home has not given any impetus to the tea 
trade in Macao, exposed as tiiat trarfe is still to care- 
less production, faulty preparation, and last but not 
least, to tho levy of exorbitant duties and ItJcin ebarges. 
CEYLON C.ICAO. 
Ceylon Cacao has taken tho place proper to all 
tlie products in general of our planters iii tho Lon- 
don market. It roalizos tho higaest prices there and 
has distanced most of its rivals. When tiie first 
sliipnients of Ceylon csoao wont into Mincing iianc, 
and met with tlie favonmble reception which our 
readers will reiuomber, a West Indian Cacao planter 
happened to bo visiting tlio Island, and we bad tho 
pleasure of meeting him at a bungalow upconutry. 
Tlio conversation taming upon tho subject of cacao, 
and tho prices the Ceylon article was then obtain- 
ing, Uie stranger inquired, with a somewhat sar- 
donic tone, how long wo supposed that sort of thing 
would last. Failing entirely to understand what ho 
meant, wo hod to ask wliat sort of tiling he referred 
to. He, evidently supposing our question to bo eva- 
sive, said: “Well! to speak plainly. I want to know 
how long you can afford to ship picked samples and 
whnt you moan to do with the bulk of yonr cacao ^ " 
111 vam we endeavoured to satisfy him that the ship- 
ments were fair, and comprised all the merchantable 
cacao produced on the estate. Ho firmly believed and 
plainly said wo could not continue to obtain such 
prioes, and that Ceylon cacao, when fairly exported, 
would certainly come down to tho prices he and 
others in tho West ware realizing. AVe have reasod 
to believe tliat ho retained his scepticism to the eno 
of his short lisit. Hut, happily, Ceylon caca 
retains the chai'aoter and Yealizeei tho high prices in 
which be could not believe. 
The secret of the snocoss of the Ceylon product 
cannot, wo think, be altvlhulod to any specal virtue 
in tho soils or climatos of {the estastes, but to the 
care which our abundance of cheap labour enables 
the planters to observe in tlie gathering and curing 
of the beans. The superiority of Ceyloa coffee like- 
wise consists in the beantifnl hue of the bean, when 
cured with the skill and care bestowed iroon it in 
the processes of harvesting and oiiriiig. Colour, as 
an indication of the preservaton of the best iu- 
lieront qualities of tho Coffee, was always a special 
criterion of its market value, and justly 'so, as that 
chiuncteristio con only be retained by the most care- 
ful and skilful treatment in preparation. In like 
manner, the bright brick-rod colour of the cacao bean, 
we presniiie must liave been found in practice to 
indicate certain inherent qualities that have been 
carefnlly retained in tlio process of curing. It will 
bo remembered, liy some at least of our Ceylon ca- 
cao planters, that they wore taught by instructions from 
their ciders in tho West to impart that test colour 
artificially. The practice there, wo were told, is to 
give tlio colour by means of a kind of clay, but that 
sort of expedient was not approved by pliiiitcrs hero, 
and fortunately it has not been found necessary. Accord- 
ingto the letter we published yesterday, from a cacao 
planter wlio writes from London, the oolouv of tho beans 
IS still held as a criterion of the quantity of the article, 
and largely inflnonces its value. This being so, it is 
probable that tlie brightness of tho colour outside 
of the skin may indicate a richness of the chocolate 
colour and quality of the beans within. 
Tho cultivation of c >cao lias not progressed so ra- 
pidly hero as might liavo been expected of a now 
product, undertaken as it was, at a time when plan- 
ters were urgently in need of a substitute for the old 
staple, that had just shown unmistakuably that its 
docliuo was beyond redemption. Cacao hiid, almost 
at its outset, to contend against Ilolopeltis, which 
had a gained a destructive force before tlio cause of 
damage had been disoovored. Thtips also attacked 
tlio onterprizo, and it therefore made its debut in 
tho face of very inimical forces. Nevertheless, the 
cultivation is reviving, and will oontinno to extend 
wherever suitable soil and clliiiate favour its growth. 
AVe fully expect tliat it will acccniipony the now ou- 
torprizo' in Tobacco, wliicli requires soii of a charac- 
ter similar to that in which cacao tlirives best. To- 
bacco will not succeed on tho same ground, year 
after year, without some rest, or rotation, and it will 
thoretore need to have adjuncts such as cotton and 
cacao, which require similar conditions, and ai-e less 
exacting in (hg matter p£ sgil,— Local “Inde- 
peaaent." 
