204 Ti;3DIIXC'KS GtiXERAL VIEW OP THE DUTCH! 
The teas which Java now furnishes yearly to the markets of the m<> 
ther country may be stated at from 200 to 300 thousand lbs. Ne¬ 
vertheless we learn that Government intends to abandon this culture 
to the industry of private persons, under the guarantee of equitable 
contracts. 
Mr. Jacobson inspector of tea culture in Java, has published at 
Batavia a work in three volumes, upon the mode of cultivating this 
plant, upon the choice of grounds, and the best processes for the pre¬ 
paration and manipulation of the leaves. This book, the fruit of ma¬ 
ny years of experience and care given to this object, is welcomed 
with a lively interest by the cultivators who devote themselves to this 
branch of industry. If, by means of care, and at the end of many ex¬ 
periments the Government succeed in conferring on the island of Java 
this important branch of commerce, she may hope to obtain brilliant 
results, above all at a time when the victories gained by England 
over the Chinese, may be looked upon as the forerunners of political 
and mercantile changes which it is impossible to pre-judge, but from 
wliich the Island of Java may perhaps be called to draw a large har¬ 
vest, and which, at all events, open to this country a new source of 
prosperity and riches. 
When Arabia enjoyed the exclusive monopoly of coffee it could 
not be foreseen, that one day the island of Java would furnish 
to the consumption of this article, from 125 to 130 millions of lbs 
per annum. If the culture of tea succeeds in Java, according to the 
expectation which may be formed, the tax in cash which our trade 
brings yearly to China will then flow for the greatest part towards 
the possessions of the state. 
The rearing of silk worms in Java dates from the beginning of the 
18tli century. After having furnished satisfactory results this branch 
of industry has latterly been neglected ; it has been tried to revive it 
from its depression, but the experiment has not answered to the hope 
conceived. Some trials having failed, the Government seems to in¬ 
tend to abandon this undertaking, which offers better chance ef suc¬ 
cess in the hands of private persons. 
Two kinds of cotton grow in Java. That which is produced by the 
lofty tree Bomb ax pentanclrum, called in Malay Kapok is coarse 
and cannot be employed in manufacturing cloth. The cotton shrub 
Gossipyiuin hcrbaceum or the Kapas of the Malay is a light and fine 
down which is used in the arts, and which has been long cultivated 
by Europeans in Java. This last culture has experienced improve¬ 
ment, and the export of it is very considerable. 
