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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May I, 1884. 



as a substitute for coffee has uot yet died out, and we are 

 ofteu asked about it. There is uo substitute for coffee. It 

 is either coffee or uo coffee. Still, for a wariu, colored drink, 

 Chick-pea is just as good as roasted rye, brown-bread 

 crumbs, or parched Indian corn — and no better. Any starchy 

 grain, when roasted, will give a colored infusion, but it is 

 not coffee. As the Chick-pea belongs to a warm country, 

 and its yield is small, it is not likely to gain a prominent 

 place among our crops for '•■ coffee" or other purpose. — 

 Amej'ican Agriculturist. 



OLD COKK>S UTILIZED. 



That old bottles are used again and again is well known, 

 and the gathering, cleaning, and selling of them gives em- 

 ployment to a good many })eople in the lai'ge cities both 

 in this country and abroad. It is a less familiar fact, and 

 ar curious one withal, that old corks are made to do service 

 a second time. The Miiieral-Wuter Traih ivtiw>«' gives the 

 following account of tliis branch of trade in New York : — 



In a low wooden building in Mulberry Street old corks 

 are made as "good as new.'' This is the only place in 

 New York where they are dealt in. The dealer buys the 

 corks by the barrel, and pays from one dollar to three dol- 

 lars. His trade is mostly in champagne-corks. The best 

 and cleanest of these he sorts, and sells to American cham- 

 pagne-makers. The bottom of the cork, where the first 

 bottler's brand appears is shaved off, and the name of the 

 second stamped on them. These corks were cut expressly 

 for champagne-bottles, aud, as they can be bought much 

 more cheaply than any new ones, the bottlers purchase 

 them. The old-cork dealer obtains twenty -five cents a dozen 

 for thejg, and makes a handsome profit. The broken and 

 dirty corks go through a peculiar process. They are first 

 bubjected to a sort of Turkish bath to clean them, and 

 after they have dried are cut down. They are put in a 

 machine and turned, while a .sharp kuife runs across them, 

 and takes off a portion of them. They can be cut to any 

 size, and, with the soiled surface removed, look as bright 

 as when new. The corks cut do^vn are purchased by root- 

 beer aud soda-water makers, who use smaller bottles. They 

 can save a considerable amount by purchasing old corks, 

 which, as it is easy to see, will do as well as new ones. 

 The '' old-cork man" is rushed with business. The cham- 

 pagne aud root-beer and soda-water bottlers take all the 

 corks he can furnish. He gets his supply at the hotels 

 and elsewhere. — Popular Scituce Xtv:s. 



THE S"\7EET GUM TKEE. 



TVe trust that the recently awakened interest in forestry — 

 the planting of trees to grow timber — will also call attention 

 to the value of our native trees for ornamental purposes. 

 If one who wishes to plant them to beautify his gromuls 

 consults a nursery catalogue, he finds that the greater share 

 of the trees now offered are of foreign origin, while our 

 most ornamental native trees are difficult to procure. Among 

 the most desirable trees for ornamental pm-poses, is the 

 Sweet Gum {Liqindamhar st///-acijU(a), and in New York 

 and New Jersey, is often called Eilsted. This tree is found 

 westward to Illinois, aud southward to Texas aud Mexico. 

 It forms a large tree, sixty feet or more high, and two or 

 three feet in diameter. The old trees have a deeply fur- 

 rowed bark similar to that of some oaks. Its young branches 

 arb winged with wide longitudinal ridges of a corky growth. 

 The leaves arc rounded in their general outline, but deeply 

 divided into tiveand sometimes seven pointed lobes, whicb 

 give them a striking, star-like appearance; they ore of a 

 dark-green color and a firm texture. In autumn tliey assume 

 a deep purplish red, and are so showy, that the tree is 

 worth planting for the beauty of its autumn foliage. Tlu- 

 flowers of the Sweet Gum are of two kinds, both very small. 

 The staminate or male flowers are in small conical clusters 

 which soon fall. The pistillate, or fertile flowers, are in 

 globular clusters, which ripen into a spherical iuad, made 

 up of beaked capsules which open to let out the small seeds. 

 Both its generic name, LiQidJauilui,., and its specific name. 

 stpracijiua^ have refereuct; to a (juality only manifested in 

 warm countries. In Louisiana a:id in Mexico it hsis exuded, 

 wltf n wounded, a sort of balsnm like fStyrax, which is de- 

 fieieiit in the tree gi-owu in the Northern States. As a 

 timber tree, the Sweet Gum does uot hold a liii^li rank. 



Its wood is compact and fine-grained, it has a pleasing' 

 reddish color, and takes a fine polish. It is only of value 

 for inside work, as it is very perishable when exposed. The 

 tree cannot be recommended for economical planting, as 

 we have so many better kinds, but as an ornamental tree, 

 it is one of the finest, aud in making a select collection of 

 trees, this should not be overlooked. — American Agriculturist. 



CUKKY-POWDER. 



"We beUeve that a really good cru-ry-powder (Uke Crosse 

 and Elackwell's, for instance) is uot only piquant and ap- 

 petizing, but a wholesome aid to digestion. Of coiu-se it is 

 eas3^ to make a cheap imitation of the genuine condiment, 

 which is '* hot i' the mouth," but has no other merit. The 

 fine flavor and aroma that a comioisseur recognizes in a 

 good article depend upon a proper selection of materials, and 

 the care with which they have been dried before being pow- 

 dered. The famous curry-powder of good old Dr. Kitcheuer 

 (whose name seems to have been prophetic of his cuUnary 

 renown) is undoubtedly the best that has been made outside 

 of India. A London exchange says of it : — 



The flavor of this powder approximates to the Indian 

 j)Owder so exactly, that the best judges have i^rouounced it 

 a perfect copy of the original curri/ stv^'. The following 

 remark was sent to the doctor by an East-Indian friend, "The 

 ingredients which you have selected to form the curry-powder 

 are the same as used in India, with this difference only, that 

 some of them are in a raw green state, and ai-e mashed 

 together, and afterward dried, powdered, and .sifted." The 

 common fault of curry-powder is the too great proportion 

 of coi/cnne to the milder aromatics (from which its agree- 

 able flavor is derived), preventing a sufficient quantity of 

 the curry-powder being used. Coriander-seed powder, 3 

 ounces ; turmeric, 3 ounces ; black pepper, 1 oimce ; mustard, 

 1 ounce ; ginger, 1 ounce ; aUspice,^ ounce; lesser-cardamoms 

 powder, § ounce ; cumin-seed powder, ^ ounce; to be thorough- 

 ly mixed together, and kept in a well-stoppered bottle. 

 Those wiio prefer a hot curry will find the following give 

 satisfactory results: coriander-seed powder, Impounds ; cumin- 

 seed powder, h pound; turmeric, 1 pound; ginger-powder, 2 

 ounces ; mustard, 1 ounce ; fenugreek-powder, 1 ounce ; 

 cayenne, H ounces ; mis well, and keep in closeil bottles. 



Curry-powder is uot only useful in the regular " ciu-ried " 

 dishes that are duly catalogued in the cook-books, but it ^vill 

 be found a grateful addition to macaroni, whether plain or 

 prepared with cheese. It is, perhaps, better to add it at 

 table, rather than in cooking the dish, as it may not suit 

 all tastes, and some persons like more of it than others do. 



Macaroni, by the by, is a cheap and nutritious food that is 

 not so generally known aud appreciated as it should be, at 

 least in many parts of New England ; and the curry-powder 

 will make it more acceptable to those who complain that 

 it is comparatively flat aud insipid. — Foindar Science JS'eivs. 



CINCHONA, kc, IN INDIA. 



From an official Statement of the Trade of British India 

 that has just been issued it appears that the export trade in 

 drugs of this dependency has doubled during the last five 

 years, amoimtingin the year ending March 30, 1SS3, to about 

 £130,000. As might be expected, the increase is due to the 

 development in the trade in cinchoua bark, which now re- 

 presents about two-thirds of the total exjjorts. During the 

 last year the quantity of bark exported reached 6-11,608 lb., 

 whilst seven years previously it only amounted to 72,452 lb. 

 Madras contributed most largely to swell the exports, the 

 cultivation of cinchoua in that presidency being more ex- 

 tensively carried on in private estates than in Bengal, where 

 the principal cinchoua estates are theproperty of the Govern- 

 ment, which reserves a large proportion of the bark produced 

 for loc^l alkaloid manufacture. Most of the bark hitherto 

 exported has come to London, but the demand from Italy 

 for Indian bark is increasiug. The total outturn of cinchoua 

 bark from the Government plantations iu India diu-iug the 

 year lb82-3 was 527,199 lb. In Sikkim these plantations 

 cover 2,294 acres and contain upwards uf five million plants. 

 The Nilgiri plantations cover 847 aci-esaud contain about 

 a million plants. The private plantations in Sikkim are es- 

 timated to extend over 331 acres and posscs!?over six hundred! 

 thousanil plants. In the Nilgiris cinchona is cultivated in 

 combination with coffee on private estates, but no returns exist 



