THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
February i, 1892.] 
S7S 
Ibo flouriehing condition of niAuy tlu; coffee gardens 
and the vtry promising uppearauce of tho n w tea fields 
should not bo forgotten. Tho terrible area of 
abnndoued coffee is mainly to be attributed to tho 
gold mania of tho paet decade. The companies that 
invtj'^ted in Wjnaad land for gold Tiining, lo<ked ou 
the cnltivatioa of the surface as a very minor oonsidor- 
ation. The coffee was vvorkeci on what wna called 
commercial principles, aud if for any reason the crop 
felt short of expeoiation?, tho expoudituro iu upke.'p 
was proportiouatoly reduced, and the uofortunate 
planter who was retainod in the. Gold Oompinieh’ 
service, to attend to the plantatioos, had no resource 
but to reduce the area worked in proportion to the 
allowancG given, and thus nearly i\\» whole gold country 
has reverted to its original jucgle Indeed, tho two 
could hardly be worked togrthor when the labour 
available was always reqaisitioned for the mining 
department whenever there was any scarcity of hands 
or press of work. But in private hards ihero are 
■till wcdl cultivated and paying coffee estates, and now 
With the high prices ruling, and a crop above the 
average, planters are doing well. 
. That King Coffee, ss they call it in Ceylon, is on 
Us Iasi legs jq Wynaad, is an exploded idea. Large 
uohls of coffee were planted in Wynaad this last 
^ason, and men of experience from the famous 
Bambeo District of Coorg are now opening extensively 
,Wynaad, and the beautiful young coffte, with 
jarious shade trees planted at the stme time, delight 
the eye with their flmrisbiug appearance, and recall 
hays of the past, wheu every coffee p’aut seemed 
*0 thrive in any locality. Cinchona cultivation is 
tiow at a terrible discount, the market price of berk 
? Poony per unit of quinine, 8’:opa all idea of bar- 
psting any but the richest bark, and the owner of a 
ciuchom estate can only hope that bis trees may 
outlive the enormous supplies from Java, and those 
fees that cm do th s will yet be a source of largo 
protit. 
^o'og well. The old seed bearing trees at 
andaiHi set at dtfhtnco the neglect of years, and 
burnt down by jungle fire, rue again liealthyas 
i ,r* ® 'be Phmnix, while the young plantations 
rtf ^ years show such growth, that n planter 
Trt niiatook a four-yoai*old Ledger field for 
AOa.. 1 suppose at soma li lle distance. With the 
pport on Ur. Punnett’a tea that you lately published 
to there must be a great impetos given 
'bis industry, as there is available in Wynaad a 
type of tea plant which appears to exactly 
' 'b® "oil and climate, and proJnoes a tea of roost 
epiional strength and flavour, which always coaa- 
«»nOB a high price.— J/arfras Times, 
the AMSTERDAM CINCHONA 
- AUCTIONS. 
At .■ Ambtebdam, Deo. 10. 
Bold at a paokagea Java cincboDi 
the lant .. in price, oe compared will 
or about 1 rjoJ® ““'toot exceodiuK ."ij centi 
week^T on a par w.Ih tbi. 
of Auctions. The following was the rang! 
and**pliir, ' "loou^ncturiiig barks in quills broken qnilli 
root 1 .? Vt° (.= li>l to I'id per lb.) ; ditfc. 
bark’s in (““'S'* 'o 8d. per lb.) Druggist. 
(—141 '"■'’•'on quills, and chips, 10 to 36 ceiiti 
to qlfi V° . P,?,'.***' *. ‘**“'' ’■oot, 12 to 19 cents (=2f 
BrippUk*® li ' principal buyers were Mr. Gustai 
Brnif.m’i A'*’®tordum quinine-works, and th( 
ruoswick quinme-worka.— C/imisf and Dmmof- 
THE DUTY ON TEA. 
“ SYDNEY MORNING HEBALD.” 
mnin’-. • ***'*^ Government have proved 
to i fsYOur iu tho ABsembly, I would lit 
dntv n untairuees of the propjsal to remit tb 
alroL? 1°* “? “ .“Otioc. The proposal he 
bnsinesa in this commodity to 
"tandsiill so (at ae the distribuliug trade ia oonoetnec 
Every grocer and storekeeper in New South Wales has 
cessed to buy, and will buy nothing before the let of 
March nextnuless he runs out of the article before 
that date: oonxequently the distribniing houses, who 
are holders of large stocks of duty-paid teas, will find 
themselves losers on the 1st of March next of 3d 
prr lb. on all their doty-paid stocks, besides the lose 
of three months’ trade, which in itself is a very serious 
matter. The retail trade is uot so hardly dealt with, 
as it will have three mouths to reduce atcoks ; bnt 
even amongst retailers there are numeroos holders of 
large stocks — men who buy 12 montha’ tupply on the 
arrival of tho new season’s teas, and have still six 
montha' snpply on band. I would suggest to the Troa> 
Barer, under those oircnrostances, that in fairness to 
the trade in general and the distributors in particular, 
he sbould alter the date for remitting the duty to the 
Ist of August next, as at this date traders in tea in 
tho ordinary course of business have their stocks worked 
doWD to minimum in view of the arrival of the new 
season’s crop, aud it would allow holders to get out 
witbootlosB, and the disorganisation of busioess which 
is inevitable if the let of March is the limit. Tbii 
would also be an advantage to the Treasurer, as it would 
add so much more revenue to bit aooounts for the 
fintneial year. Trusting you will And tpsoo for this im. 
portant matter, — I am, So., Distbibutob. 
December 11th. 
STATEMENT SHOWING THE EXPORTS 
OF INDIAN TEA FROM BOMBAY PKE. 
SIDENCY, APRIL TO NOV. 1891. 
{h'rom Watam, Sibthorp ^ Go.’a Report.) 
Lb. 
United Kingdom ... ... 17,822 
Anstria ... .- »• 2576 
Malta ... ■■■ — 36 
Bpain-Gibraltar ... ... 2,750 
Abyssinia ... ■■. 290 
E. 0. of Afrioa-Mozsrabique and Zanzibar 3,700 
Egypt ... ... ... 600 
United States ... ... ... 40 
Aden ... ... ... 1,733 
Arabia ... ... ... 26,502 
Persia ... ... ... 1,286,316 
Straits Settlements ... ... 50 
Turkey in Asia ... ... ... 164,431 
Australia ... ... ... 194 
Total... ld)06,628 
[The above export of over IJ million of pounds 
in 8 months ia desoribed as “ Indian tea," but 
query whether much of the Ceylon tea sent to 
Bombay is not included ? — Ed. T, .4.) 
THE SAl’l’niHES AND RUBIES OF SIAM. 
The report of the directors slates; — 
In tlio beginning of April Mr, Gibbons, the company’s 
chief agent in Siam, paid bis flrst visit to the mines, 
and selected an area of nine square miles, which 
ciubrnced all the mines of Navong and Clianak, in Iho 
province ot Krat. The negotiations with tbe Govern- 
ment in connection with the formal transfer of the 
properties to the company were somewhat protracted, 
but towsrda the end of June 51r. Gibbous reoeivetl pur- 
niissioii from tho Government to lake over Iho nine 
rqnare miles ho bad selected. He at once proceeded to 
Kta*, and a mouth later ha was able to report that he 
and bis party were in peaceful p< ssesaion of the mines. 
It then became neoewary to decide upon a system ot 
working the properties. The directors were opposed to 
any outlay being incurred (or machinery until the value 
of Hie compmy’a property had been proved, and Mr. 
Gibbons suggnjted as a temporary system that licenaen 
should bo issued to selected diggers on coudition that alt 
siours obtained by them were to beat once surrendered 
to the oompauy’s officers, their labour being rewarded 
,,iv rata with the value of the yield, euoh value to 
fixed by the company’s resident gem expert ; it b 
