quite ripe, they were wrapped in paper and put in the bo?i. 
The third dozen were also not quite ripe but were dipped in the 
hot wax before being put into their compartments, and finally the 
fourth dozen were ripe fruits but not coated, the fruits were made 
secure from bruising by being surrounded with dry saw dust. 
They were sent by Parcel Post and consigned to Mr. CURTIS at 
home who opened them immediately on arrival, and reported on 
their condition. I regret to add that the Report was “an absolute 
failure not one fruit arrived in an eatable condition, nor was there 
much difference between those coated with wax and those not 
coated, or between the fully ripe and those, not quite ripe.” 
> am bv no mean discouraged by this apparantly complete failure, 
and hope on a favourable opportunity to make further experiments 
in this direction, for I know by actual experience that Mangosteens 
can be taken in perfectly good condition as far as Aden without 
any special preparation, and it would seem that on this latter 
occasion if care had been exercised to prevent the fruits from get- 
ting bruised they might have been carried much further in good 
condition. 
As regards the cold storage system we know that certain fruits 
will travel well for long distances, there is however unfortunately 
in many cases a loss of flavour*, this was noticeable in some Pome- 
loes recently taken home in the refrigerating room of a mail 
steamer, the fruits were perfectly sound but the flavour was more 
or less lost, and the same remarks apply to Apples that one some- 
times gets in the Straits, sent here from Australia and California, 
and not only from these places but also from England, where well 
known varieties have arrived in good condition, but flavourless or 
nearly so. 
It would be interesting to experiment with different temperatures 
possibly a much higher one than the refrigerating room would be 
sufficient to preserve the fruits and possibly without destroying 
the flavour. 
THE WOTLLD’S TEA AND COEFEE 
CONSUMPTION. 
Nearly half a billion pounds of tea were consumed in the year 
1900 in countries other than the sources of production. The United 
Kingdom is the world's greatest importer, having taken for con- 
sumption during the year 1900, in round numbers, 250 million 
pounds of tea, as against Il6| millions imported for consumption 
by Russia, 83-3 millions by the United States, 7! millions by the 
Netherlands', about millions by Germany, and nearly 2 \ millions 
by France. A comparison of the tea consumption of the past year, 
with what of earlier periods, discloses the fact that tea is becoming 
more popular as a beverage in European countries, though little 
more than holding its own in the United States where coffee is the 
favourite beverage. The five European countries United States, 
