172 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[September i, 1883. 



Hot Wkatiier Beverage: — It may bf useful to somo gar- 

 deuex-s to know that a pleasaut and wliolesome beverage for 

 the hot weather can be readilymade by mixing a little fine oat- 

 meal m water, adding if desired a little sugar or a lemon. Lar- 

 ger quantities of this can be safely drmik than either of water 

 alone or beer, and in some public establishments around the 

 metropolis where a large uunil)er of men are employed a 

 considerable quantity is used. — Jourual of llurticvUvAX. 



Destroying Gituns. — With summer suns the flies come, 

 and after the flies follow caterpillars and grubs on boughs 

 and at the roots. In some districts a friend of the blue- 

 bottle provides for its voracious progeny by laying its egg.s 

 at the roots of the cabitage ti'ibe. Delicate in its taste 

 it is, for it very much prefers the delicate cauliflowers, 

 and thus they are frecjueutly destroyed. Happily its organ 

 of smell is also delicate, and a weak manuring of cow 

 urine not only starts the plants, but sends the blue-tailed 

 fly searching elsewhere. Applied stronger round the stems, 

 but not in quantities .suihcient to reach the roots — it would 

 when strong kill them — it also kiUs the grubs. Sal am- 

 moniac applied \\i water first, followed after by lime water, 

 is said also to destroy them utterly. The chemical re- 

 action liberates the ammonia, which poisons the maggots. 

 — N. B. — Journal of IlorticuJturc. 



A OuE.YP Fertilizer. — The following combination is re- 

 commended by the Boston Journal of Clicniislri/ as a cheap 

 and reliable substitute for commercial fertihzers, such as 

 superphosphates, &e, : Talce one barrel of pure, raw, finely 

 ground bones and one barrel of the best wood ashes ; mix 

 them on a floor, and add gradually three pailsf ul of water, 

 mixing thoroughly mth the hoe. Use in small quantities 

 in about the same manner as the superphosphates. If the 

 ashes cannot be i)rocured, dissolve twelve pounds of potash 

 in ten gallons of hot water, and with this solution .satur- 

 ate the bone flour thoroughly; a barrel of ch-y peat or good 

 loam, without stones, may be added. The mixture should 

 not be sticky, neither too moist nor too dry. In applying 

 it, avoid direct contact with the seed ; for instance, when 

 appUed in the hill, scatter a little earth over it before drop- 

 ping the seed. A very early visible efl^ect may not be an- 

 ticipated ; but the good results will manifest themselves 

 as the season advances, — Soutlwrn Plaattr. 



The Luckimpore Tea Company of Assam (Limited.) 

 —Capital £150,000 in 1.5,000 shares of £10 each, of which 

 10,190 shares have been issued ; area under cultivation, 

 921 acres. The directors much regret to have to announce 

 another unfavourable season, resulting in a loss of 

 £1,213 Is. lid. on the \vorkiug of the year. The causes 

 vphich have led to this disai^pointing result are to be found, 

 fu'stly, in the.large deflciency in crop, ■s'iz., 97,110 lbs. 

 under the estimate, combined with an expenditure excess- 

 ive in proportion to the quantity of tea made, and with 

 an abnormally short crop the general expentliture cannot 

 be reduced in the same ratio ; secondly, to the heavy fall 

 in value of Indian teas amounting to an average of 

 fronr 3d. to -Id. per 11). The last must be left to rectify 

 itself as our teas get more widely known and better ap- 

 l)reciated. The Mijica Jan crop was of excellent quality, 

 and realised the hi,gh average of Is. ojd. per pound, while 

 the condition of the garden, as shown in Mr. Magor's 

 report, reflects creditably on the careful management of 

 Mr. Swinley. Nothing but the ravages of blight, which 

 reduced the crop to 83,108 lb. against an estimate of 

 135,200 lb. and an actual outturn in 1880 — before blight 

 had attacked the buslies — of 150,700 lb. prevented last sea- 

 son being a suc.-essful one. We are glad to be .able to 

 report that up to the latest ad\ices very little blight had 

 appeared ; so that tliere is a fair pr-ospeet of a good crop, 

 and we liavo excellent reports on the new season's teas. 

 In this division the estunated local expenditure is put at 

 1134,300, being 119,160 under that of last year. The out- 

 tm'n for both divisions to the oOth ultimo is 50,955 lb. 

 but although tliis shows unfavourably in comparison with 

 last year, the Company is by no means alone in making 

 a bad start in this respect — the crop over all the pro- 

 vince having suftored from the protracted drought in the 

 spring. With favourable weather the decrease ought soon 

 to be made ui>. The estimates of outturn for 1S.S3 are — 

 Bdiallie Division ... ... 201,600 1b. 



Mijica Jan Division ... ;.. 101,000 lb. 



Shonlil, however, blight not ttjipear to any great extent, 

 the crop of Mijica Jan ought to be considerably in exce.^s 

 of t,h(> estimate." — llo>nr ami Ciiloiiial Mail, 



Jam Sales. — Tnilh .says : — Lord Sudeley is buidiug 

 a large jam manufactory on his estate at Todding- 

 ton, iu Gljuoestershire. T'wo vears ago he planted there 

 93,000 goo.scberry trees, 167,000 black-curr™t, 20,000 

 plum, 3,000 apple, 000 pear, 'J.OOO damson, 500 cherry, 

 10,000 red-currant, '25,000 raspberry, and 100 cobuut, 

 and 52 acres were planted with s'rawheriiL-s. At 

 the same lime 100 t-'cotch firs and 10,000 poplars 

 were planted for sheltering purposes. I wiali him 

 every success, for most of thej>ira now sold in shops 

 is horrid trash. It may not be pernicious, but it is 

 as different from the old -fashioned home-made jam as 

 chalk is from cheeee." 'Iliere is a good deal of truth 

 in this remark. Tliere can be little doubt that the 

 Auitraliiin jams which are being now imported into India 

 are far purer than the articles manufactured in 

 Euglaud. — A/ddran Mail, 



This Keelinb Islands. — Some few years .ago, a 

 visit was paid to thcni by a vessel bound from Ivlel- 

 bourne to JVl.adras with a freiglit of horses, and the 

 folio Aing information results from that visit. The 

 original setilemont of the Kcelings was formed un- 

 der Captain T. 0. Ross, four of whose sous are 

 now resident on the islands working the coooanuts. 

 The Messrs. Ross, sons of Captain R isi by a Ma- 

 layan wife, have been educated in Scotland, one of 

 tlieni bfirig an M. D , who has taken his degree 

 at a Scotch university. These four gentlemen own 

 the islands, and a cocoauut oil manufacture of con- 

 siderable importance is carried on by them at the 

 Keeliugs. There are about eight hundred Malays .and 

 nativt-s on the iilands in the Messrs. Koss's employ, 

 all engaged in collecting coeoaiints and concerting 

 them into oil, which is exp u-ted from the Keelings 

 to Jiatavia, a distance of about 700 miles, in a 

 sailing craft belonging to the r.oss's. This vesel aft- 

 er discharge and sale of her oil freight in Java, 

 returns to the Keelings with stores for the settlers. 

 The Ross's live in a stockade on one of the islands, 

 which they are capable of defending on occasion 

 ajainst any rising .amongst their Malayan proteges. 

 The four brothers exercise .absolute authority in the 

 islande, even tii the putting an end with a revolver 

 to the exi-tence of any obstrep >rous Malay who may 

 take it into his he.id to run amok. Money is quite 

 unknown to the Messrs. Ross's subjects, who are paid 

 for their la i our with the means of existence, necess- 

 aries and small luxuries in the shape of baccy, 

 lum, and so on, from the stores in the stockade. 

 The natives give little or no trouble to their em- 

 ployers, and live their isolated island-life con- 

 tentedly. The chief drawback to existence in the 

 Keelmgs, however, is want of fresh water ; there 

 are no springs, and rain water has to be carefully 

 collected and husbanded. Besides the cocoanut palms 

 which clothe the island^, there are some eight other 

 species of trees ; but as inenlioned in Boss's and 

 Imray's Seaman's Oaide, these form a very small 

 part of the verdure of the islands. The craft 

 owned by the Uoss's, which transports their, 

 coco.anuts and oil to Java, is sailed under the Dutch 

 ensign ; this is done to evadu the heavy duiics, 

 export and impoit dues, levied on other than Outoh 

 vessels at ports iu the Dutch Indies. But the Ross's 

 consider their settlement to be under the British 

 Hag ; and by w.ay of check to the designs of any 

 Russian cruisers that may be hovering around the 

 Inilian Ocean, the Keeling Isliinds have recently been 

 added to the Croivu culooy of Ceylon, and are thereby 

 recognised to the satisf.icion of tlie Ross's, .as an 

 integral it m in the British dominions. The beaches 

 of the islands abound with land-crabs, sea-birds, 

 and turtle. On some of tlie islands the cocoauut 

 trees grow so densidy crowded together that it is 

 a dilGcult m.atter to malie one's way through thoir 

 grovce." 



