780 
THE TROPrOAL AQRI0ULTURI8T. 
[April i, 1892. 
benefit may aacrue to oolonial tea drinkers in 
the introduction ol a better article than that at 
present purohaseable here — Yours truly, 
It. W. OUBBOULT 
[Ceylon tea is rapidly making its way in the 
Australian eolonios in the ordinary oourcie of oom- 
merce, merobants shipping to iheir agents in the 
various ports. No necessity was, therefore, seen 
tor a spooial agent,— En. T. .4.1 
MOISTURE IN PREPARED TEA, 
Great Western, Talawakole. 
Drab Fir, — Could you kindly inform mo how 
much moisture per cent there is in an averaye 
dried sample of tea as usually shipped from 
Crylon. - Yours truly, OLIVE MEARES. 
[The average peroentagejis nbout U'BO. — iin. T, A ] 
THE NEW PAPER LINING FOR TEA CHESTS. 
Queen's Hotel, Kandy, Marob 12oh. 
Dear Sir,— F rom what I have heard from lime 
to time since my arrival in this Island it would 
appear that it is nut generally known what the 
saving in cost amounts to in using these linings 
as oompared with the lead. For the purposes of 
general information perhaps you will allow mo 
to state through your oolumns again the exact 
price at what these linings can be obtained from 
Messrs. Darley, Butler & Co., Colombo, viz. for 
ohests to,! contain 100 lb. nett d'l cents, half-cheats 
to oontain SO lb. nett -Id cents. A comparison of 
these prices with the cost of lining the same pack, 
ages with the ordinary lead linings will spesk for 
itself. 
The sales of this paper are ste.idily increasing. — 
Yours faithfully, 3. M. MAITLAND-KIRWAN. 
INP’OBMATION WANTED ABOUT PEBAK. 
Dolosbage West, March 19ih. 
Dear Sib, — Perhaps you will be good enough to 
give a constant reader a littio information about 
Perak — best roiito thither, whore laud is to bo had 
suitable for cofTeo and cacao, titles, price &o., 
and anything else you consider worth mention. 
—Yours &o , PLAYED OUT COFFEE ESTATE. 
[In our issue ol the Ithinst. wo reprinted from the 
Perak; Handbook some information which our 
oorrespondent will find of use. — Eo. T. A.] 
VEGETABLE PARASITES. 
Dear Sib,— Quite recently, the Government of 
the Straits Seuleujenta enacted a law in the in- 
terests ol the owners of oooonut tress, forbid- 
ding, under [penalty, the acoumulation of rubbish 
in heaps, in the vioinity ol coconut trees, rub- 
bish heaps being the breeding places ol the beetles 
which play " Old Harry" with the coconut trees 
in the Blrails. I mention this good move on 
the part of the psrternal Government at Singa- 
pore, with the object of calling llie attention of 
at least our somnolent Municipality to the in- 
oreasing spread of the growth ol the parasite 
on our trees a parasite, which, I beliave, is known 
to the botanist as the ‘‘ Loranthua ’’ ; by the 
natives as '■ Pele." 
Wherever you may go, about Colombo, you will 
notice luxuriant growths of this destructive parasite, 
especially on mangoo trees ; many of these look 
as if they wore being gradually starved to death, 
by the parasites [drawing away the sap for tinir 
own nourishment. 
Is it not time, in the interest of the general 
community, to require that owners of trees should 
keep their trees free from parasites. If they will 
not do HO themselves, do it for them, and recover 
the oost. 
Some so-called friends of the ‘‘ down-trod- 
den and oppressed natives ’’ who are anxious 
to obtain more leisure for those hard, working I 
folks to sit ou their bunkers and soratoh them- 
selves, may say, ‘‘Why should not the poor goyiyas 
have parasites on their trees, if they choose to ? 
So they may ; but at the same time no man has a 
right to keep up : to the injury of his neighbours, 
a centre, from which the birds will carry the 
seeds to the[ trees all around the neighbourhood 
Some years back the planters complained, and very 
rightly too, that the seeds of weeds from ncgleoted 
Btijoioiog estates w-jre blown on to their own 
estates to the increase ol tho cost in weeding. If 
I mistake not, a nui-ance of this kind would in 
England lead to an action lor dameges. 
Ucquiriiig landowners to keep tii'-ir trees, 
free irom paravites, would he only one of the 
duties attendant on the possession of land, and 
would give i niplojment to idle hands {especially 
those now more fnqaently engaged in stabbing 
and murdering ore and other) when not engaged 
in scratching their hides, or in gambling or drinking. 
During hia last visit to Nuwara Elija, I think, 
our lata good Governor, Sir W. Gregory, oallod 
attention to tlie damage done to some ornamental 
trees at that station, by tho uoohecked growth 
of paraaites. Where there ia a will, a way will soon 
be found, to save trees, both fruit and ornamental, 
from further disfigurement and deatruotion. — Yours 
faithfully, BBOGBESS. 
Tub gold industry in Demorera is rapidly 
developiog, and the last shipment sent home from 
Georgetown was Ilia largest on record. Tho total 
export lor tho year 1891 amounted to 101,297 cz , 
valued at over 81,800.001. The total of the gold 
ehipped from O.'orgotown in 1890 was 02,015 oz, 
so that the output increased in the twelve months 
by about 40,000 nz. This looks well, and, as the 
climate in the golden rrgiona does not appear to 
bo anything like so dargoroiia ns wss at first 
made out, there is no reason why the mining 
population on the fields should not increase rapidly. 
— mmifs and India, Feb. 27th. 
Tea in Foooiiow. —The Foocimw lieUo ol) 27th 
Feb. says : — Tho utmost tho Ghina merchant has 
done to preserve his trade has been to try to get 
the Export duty on t''n reduced. That was a eom- 
paratively long time ago now, and tho endeavour 
has since been aslnily abandoned. As far as it 
went, it was a strp ,in the right direetion ;*bnt what 
was iqually, if not more important, waa'the abso- 
lute necessity of adopting our rivals’ tactics in tho 
consuming markets, and this has been luglootcd 
altogoiher. Wa ought, and should have, if we had 
boon alive to our own interests, to have toreatalled 
them. We have boon far too conservative. The 
days of tho old merchant-prince are past, when the 
tea trade of the world was a monopoly of Obina, 
Wo oan no longer say, take our teas or leave them. 
Wa must move with tho times or we shall aar-uiedly 
ho left in the cold. According to tho views of the 
London ami China Hxiiress we liave now seen tho 
worst, and if it should be so we have to thonk the 
medical profession The mere thought ol an arrest 
of the downfall, after Him prolongril inpid di-olinc, 
ia of itself satisfactory, but the oonsiimption cannot 
remain permanently wbeie it is — it roust, in the 
long run, either he better or worse— and our nier- 
ohanta must determine which it is to bo. It seems 
to us that pomo conoorted action on the lines of 
that of our rivals, promptly set going at this oppor- 
tune moment, would be tho means of resuscitating 
the trade in a wonderfully, short , space of time< 
— N.-C. Herald, March 4th. 
