flio 
THE TROPICAL AQRIOULTUR18T. 
[September i, 18911 
CACAO: JAVA GOT NO AHEAD? 
A oorrcppondsnt writes : — 
In o%«e you muy not havo «^on It I enrloso a 
Rpooial oaoao report, united for tho West Indian mtii), 
for youp ppruaal and return. You will notice how Ceylon 
kinds stand out in the prion list, but 1 hear from 
home that Javas are to run u« very close for both 
quality and cure.*’ 
From the report, which la dated August 4th, 
we quote rb follows: — 
liKwiB & Noteb* Bpkcial Cocoa Repobt fob thb 
Wbst Indibs Ac. 
London, 14, MineingLane, Aug. 4th, 1801. 
The oflielftl fi^jurea of the Unite<l Klnifdoiu and Vranco 
fop the flirt Bix mouthe of Ihe year ahew a ateaily pud 
satisfactory inoreaae in the couiumption of ihe article. 
Other Kuiopeau ooimtriai*. and the Vuitod States, althonsh 
official data are not availehlo. seem to he moving in the 
rlfvht direction, juJginK from the out*put of their manu- 
facturers. 
Bo far at Bupplies are ooncerned, advices point to 
satisfactory erot^ from TPiuidad, Orenrvia, ana other 
West India fdaods, although the shipmenls from the 
former pUoe are short for the first alx months of this 
year. Guayaquil will undoubtedly furiii«h less than laat 
year, that crop having hoeu exception lily heavy. Bahia 
promises a full crop. The quantity of African ahipped 
Is continually tnoreasing and owing to the fluauolal 
orUes in Portugnl, which has hitherto received the bulk 
of the crop, it will be largely diverted io thU country, 
The increase in the French stock Beems chiefly due to 
the quauflty of British West India sent there, whence 
having prevented orders coming to this market, to com* 
pete with our maciifoolurers, a large proportion is ulti- 
matoly sent here to be dirposoil of, this being the chief 
consuming country for West India kinds. We are of 
opinion thst were the whole of the Trinidad, Greuuda. 
dse. shipped to Europe, sout to this liort, instead of being 
divided as at present, a much higher range of prieoa 
would be obtained fur shippers account. The excep- 
tionally b gh inices x>aid for Oeylon Cocoa, which have qx> 
istod so loi g, are largely attributable to the fact that 
the crop ia almost euticely sent to this market where it 
creates keen competition from all oonauming couniHea ua 
well as our own maimfaQtureni. 
The stook In France notwithstanding the short ship- 
ments from Trinidad aud Guayaquil to date ia l,7o0 
tons larger tbao last year, the reduction of SOU tons in 
the United Ktogtiom atouks making the exceaa for the 
two oountrira 1,400 touN. The advance of ks to 3 h in 
prices during the early pari of the seanon in Trinidad, 
Grenada and similar kinds, was largely due to specu- 
lative buying, but the fact that atocUs shew no diminu- 
tion, and that future auppliea are uolikely to fall off, 
have had the (ffeot of causing the improvemats to be 
lost. With rejiard to prices of Guayaquil, the increased 
demand espocially for Arriba, and tbe shorter supply, 
Consumption In 
U. K. tirbt 
0 months 
Consumption in 
Frauce flrst 
6 months 
Stock in U. K. 301 
June 
Stock in France 
.3Uth Juno 
Comi>arative prices 
1831 1890 18-9 1888 1887 
perewt. perewt. per ewt, perewt. per cwt 
a. s. H. s. s. s. s. s. s. s. 
Trinidad 
Good Red 06 to 70 05 to 69 G5 to 70 70 tu 75 80 to 81 
Grenada 
Good 59 to 63 60 to 6.3 6d 59 to 64 60 to 66 69 to 73 
Ceylon Good 
Kod 119to 126 96to 105 86 to 96 90 t) 9,5 fOtolfO 
g0to976d 80 to 85 75 to SO 70 to 78 76 to 80 
above tho 
prices cf other desuriptione. 
1801 
1890 
1889 
1888 
1887 
Tons. 
Tons, 
Tons. 
Tous. 
Tons, 
6,370 
4.780 
4,340 
4,410 
3,900 
6.910 
:b 
6,710 
4,500 
6,900 
6,070 
6,380 
6.610 
6,860 
6.170 
4,970 
12,110 
10,410 
9,010 
9,780 
6,800 
PuuNixo Cacao.— T hen* is an article on this 
a bjeot in the Ti inidad Agrictt/tural Record which 
we hove marked for the Tropical Agrienlturiet. 
The concluding paragroph rune thus “ Good 
m xidia for the cultivator are— ‘prune little, but 
prune often ; prune carefully, but prune with do- 
oiaion. Frune for Iobyos bqU a orpp must oome.' 
LONDON TEA SALE PRICES AND 
THE RATE OF EXCHANGE. 
From the local “ Times *’ we quote the following: — 
At the request of a oorrespondeot, we have com- 
piled a table showing tbe weekly averages obtaintd 
tor Ceylon tea this year and last year, together with 
tbe raioB of oxebaoge ruling at each period. The 
table will bear very close and careful examifiatiou, as 
many carious facts cau be elucidated from it. For 
instfjuce, it is plain that the lower rate of exchange 
which has ruled this year baa almt at entirely com- 
pensated for the fall which has taken place in the 
tea average : — 
London Tka Salb Avkbors and ExonANOB. 
1890. 1891. 
.3rd 
10th 
17th 
2 ith 
31«t 
7th 
14th 
kist 
k6lh 
4 Iff 
January 
B. il. d. 
1 0 11 : 
112 n 
s. d. 
1 4 15-16 
I 6 1-8 
1 6 7-10 
1 6 6-16 
I 5 6-16 
1 6 3-39 
1 4 ia-l6 
I 4i 
1 6 
.=1 
to 
m 
i 
■sf 
4 
V V 
tJ ► 
o 
« M 
A 
Bt fl-t 
1“ 
W , 05 
January 
0th 
lU 
I 0 
16th 
iij 
l 6 
93rd 
113 
1 0 
I 6 
30th 
1 0 
1 0 
1 U 
7lh 
10 
9| 
1 6 3-.39 
Mth 
10 
io{ 
) 4 1.5-16 
2Ut 
10 
lot 
1 4 29-32 
28lh 
It'I 
lul 
1 4 31-32 
April 
4th 
104 
10* 
1 5 1-32 
llth 
_ 
18th 
lOi 
lOi 
1 52 
36th 
io| 
10* 
1 5 23-32 
May 
2nd 
10 
lOj 
1 6-8 
9th 
10 
1(J 
1 5 5-8 
16th 
104 
lol 
I 6 7-8 
aord 
104 
loj 
1 .5 15-16 
30th 
U’f 
10 
1 6 29-32 
June 
Gih 
lUi 
104 
1 6 
13th 
lu} 
loT 
1 6 6-16 
kOth 
11 
111 
1 5| 
27tb 
iu3 
11 
1 6 3-8 
4lh 
llth 
18th 
2&tb 
Ist 
8th 
15th 
kJnd 
1 66-16 
1 6 17-39 
I 7 3-16 
1 71-8 
1 7* 
1 7 0-16 
1 7 13-16 
1 8 13-16 
6lh 
13th 
30th 
‘J7ih 
6th 
13tli 
inth 
36th 
lOlh 
17th 
24th 
30th 
7th 
nth 
28 th 
4'li 
llth 
18th 
3Cth 
3Dd 
9th 
16th 
2.3r(l 
3eth 
7 th 
14th 
2lBt 
0* 1 
Oj 1 
February 
1 0 ^ 1 0 * 
1 oj I ol 
1 of I 0 1 
Iij 112 1 
March 
114 11 1 
lU n 1 
11 103 1 
102 lOi 1 
7-18 
7-10 
6-16 
6 78 
6 9-16 
I* 
August 
8} B 1 
9 0 1 
Si 9] 1 
5 6-16 
5 6-16 
5 3.:6 
tea topics. 
The report of the Committee of the London Whole- 
sale auadealers Afs)ciatiou, which will be found in 
another column, is, sccordiiif; to the Oroeer, of itn- 
porlauco t<i grocers, as a glance at the snhjeota dealt 
ninno Provc. In the first 
Fi h attempt made by the Customs autlxorities 
to bye tea weighed to the half-ponud, instead of the 
pound, was snooBssfully resisted by the prompt and 
ciiergetio action of the Committee, wlio must have 
experience 1 great trouble and given mueli labour in 
ceuucotiou with the various public meetings which 
were eouyeuod st the time the subject was uuder 
oousideration. If Ihe Customs had gained their 
poiut, it would have entailed a serious loss to grocote, 
for, taking chests, hnlf-chests, and boxes of tt*a 
as ftveiafiing 50 lb. each with a loss of h-ilf- 
pound on the gross, and a further loss on iho tare 
making a pound iu each package, ib would have 
amounted to « pep w>uoh our rcadero 
can ill afford to lose in these days of extreme ooinr 
pctiliQll. Auother important aubjeut is the impropc 
