THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May 2, 1892 
8 I 3 
A CITY OF PALMS. 
Georgetown, the cnpitel of British Guisnii, may 
elaim, with more right than auv West Indian town, 
to bo osllcd a “ Oity of Palms.’' Here, indeed, more 
than in any other place I have ever visited, do they, 
from their abnndanco and vigorous development, ex- 
hibit that majesty and grandeur, the story of which 
must have first won for the Order the title, ** Princess 
of the Vegetable Kingdom.” Whatever part we stroll, 
on every baud they appear, forming majestic avenues, 
rising at entrance gates in pairs with stately pillar-like 
oolumns, or scattered singly or in groups, in gardens 
or by road-sidee, their pluming heads, tossing in the 
wind often a hundred feet aloft. West Indian towns, 
generally, abound with plants, and lie, us seen from 
some elevated point embosomed in vegetation, but taking 
a general birds eye view of this oity, nothing strikes 
the observer but the forest like abundance of palms. As 
seen from any of the elevated towers the view is ex- 
oeedinglv beautiful. To the back lies the Demerara 
river, which before the trade became monopolised by 
steamers, was crowded beyond any of our West Indian 
ports with shipping, and on the left the sea; while 
beneath ami amund, far stretching, are seen the white 
w’oll kept, stores snd bouses over-shailowed and shel- 
tered by the canopy of palm foliage. Booked at in this 
way some parts of the city that are fully built over and 
occupied seem to be pure unbroken coconut planta- 
tions, the streets and beuses being hidden beneath the 
trees. Most of the trie stems are naked but others 
are clothed from ground to crown with the small repent 
fig, or with bright flowered free.grnwing creepers. It is 
surprising that this richly tropical effect is produced by 
only two species , — Cocoa nucifara, the coconut, aud 
Orcodoxa olerocca^ the well known cabbage palm of 
the West Indies. A few other kinds of introduced 
palms are found grown up in the town, but, excluding 
the public gardens, in numbers so few that they may 
bo counted on the fiegors of one’s hands. The coco- 
nut tree is grown only for the sake of its valuable nuts, 
and is never planted to form an ornamental feature. 
The cabbage palm on the other band, though of in- 
comparably lest utility, is planted ouiy for decorative 
effect, being ono of the most stately snd beautiful plants 
in the order. It is spontaneons hero as everywhere 
that It once obtains a footing, and its prevaleare is 
probably as much duo to its generative energy and 
f ODstitutional vigour as to any particnlar tsste on the 
part of colonists for its cultivstiou . — Demerara 
A rejoay. 
IN PRAISE OP CEYLON TEA. 
Messrs. Gnw, Wilson & Stanton write to us, 
under date 23rd Fob. : — 
“ The chief object of this letter is to forward the 
enclosed document wliich is somewhat unique, and 
the chief importance of which consists in its emanat- 
ing from ono of the largest retail tradesmen in 
London. Whiteley'a shop, as you probably know, has 
an enormous patronage amongst well-to-do classes 
in England and, therefore, tlie circulation of this 
document may perhaps Ijecome very wide. Should 
this be the case, it may tend to still further increase 
the popularity and the sales of Ceylon Tea, and we 
therefore bring it to your notice as a step which may 
eventually prove of some benefit to the Ceylon Tea 
Trade.” 
The enolofurs is as follows : — 
AFTERNOON TEA AT WHITELEY’S. 
1 8 92. 
■'Jlnfilial Tluklial" Teacup and Spooul 
(I ! the glad sound on a cold afternoon ; 
Befroshlng aroma waits all round me, , 
While eippiug at Wnitoley's his “ I’ure Ceylon Tea ! ’ 
Out on the pavement la nothing but suow, 
Here within Wliitrley’s I feel a warm glow: 
Dainties aro brought mo, I ait at my ease. 
Partaking at Whiteley’a of "Pure Ceylon Teas I” 
All should come early, who wish to bo served 
Hera without waiting, no tables “ reserved 
In comfort you sit as long as yon please, 
Kojoying at Whitolcy’s Ids “ Pure Ceylon Teas! ” 
How the wind blusters, and 0 ! how it blows 1 
Keen too it cuts through the thickest of clothes 
I feel impervious to any cold breeze, 
Hofreahed so at Whiteley'a by ” Pure Ceylon Teas I” 
" Jinglls I Tinklia !” Toaonp and Spoon I 
0 I the glad sound on a cold afternoon I 
Nothing can equal, O I do believe mo 1 
The llavour of Wbiteloy’s own ” Pure Ceylon Tea I” 
, L. F. 8. 
Wo only hope that Whiteloy's lea ia pure 
Ceylon. 

It may not be generally known that a good 
substitute for tea can bo obtained in the Australian 
bush. It is a glabrous climbing plant, with stem 
and branch covered with prickles. Many persons 
call it Botany Bay tea, and others sweet, tea. 
It baa good medioinal properties, besides furn'ebing 
a tasty andrefreshing drink . — Indian AgricuUuri at, 
Feb. 27tb. 
Thr Mabkbt 'fob China Tea ia not so strong, 
but the prospects are no worse, in fact, at low 
prioi 8 chances are in favour of a large spring ship- 
ping demand. In reference to next season's business 
the position is becoming clearer, for it seems to be 
unreservedly admitted that importing must ba 
carried on very differently. A general improvement 
in quality may also be looked for, and that would 
undoubtedly go a great way to reinstate the China 
article to public favour. The great weight of in- 
ferior Indian and Ceylon Tea just now offering on 
the market is prejudicially afleoting values, and it 
is a question whether such leaf would not be mots 
advantageously prepared as brick tea. There is a 
largely increasing trade opening up via Tientsin in 
the north and north west of Asia. Ceylon could 
spare 16,000,000 to 20,000.0001b. of ile inoreaeing 
produotion to the benelU of all oonoerned. — L. and 
G, Expreaa, Feb. 26lh. 
The Wattle Inddsiuy. — Moesrs. Angus, of Now 
Hanover, are going in extensively for wattle 
cultivation. Their enterprise may be said to in- 
augurate a new era in the industry, the application of 
scientltio methods to tbs preparation for commercial 
purposes. It marks, in fact, a new departure in the 
industry, nothing of the kind having been tried 
before in South Africa or Auslralia. The buildings 
include a drying room, oapablo of drying some four 
tons of bark in some eight or ten hours, a blast of 
hot air being continually driven through the room by 
moans of furnaces and a large fan. In other sheds 
arc iho steam engine and ohopping machine for cut- 
ting up the dried bark together with packing and 
storing rooms, tanka, A'o., the whole arrangements 
being so complete that the preparalicu of the mate- 
rial will doubtless go on in wet or dry weather with 
the regularity of a manufactory. — WUneta. 
Corn!* AT THE Stbaits. — It is satisfactory to 
know that at least one class of the community 
has benefited by tlie heat which moat of us 
have found so trying during the past few weeks. 
We are informed that the blossoms on the coffee 
have surpassed anything ihat has been seen in 
these parts before ; and that the exports of 
coffee fur 1892-93 may be expioted to beat the 
record. Prices also continue firm, and are likely 
to do so ; the unsettled slate of almost the 
whole of the South American continent making 
it impossible to obtain reliable information as to 
the probable output of that quarter of the globe. 
The tendency of belief ut the same time being 
that the prevalent uneaeinoes there will tend to 
disorganise labour, a eonsrquent diminution of 
produotion may bo looked for. We feel therefore 
that we may oonfidontly congratulate our Eastern 
coffee planters on the future before them.— S. F- 
Praaa, March 5th, 
