SEPtEMBER I, 1883,3 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



219 



ot which varies from Ol? to 0-45 per cent. On the other 

 hanfl. the amount of silica or sand in the ash of chicory 

 varies from 10-69 to 35-85 per cent. ; barley, from 17-3 to 

 32-7; oats, from 37-82 to 50-28; and rye, from 0-60 to 

 14-6. Thus it is sometimes practicable to obtain valuable 

 information -without making a formal analysis of the ash, 

 by simply digesting it in hydrocholoric acid, and observing 

 the character and quantity of what remains insoluble. 

 The presence of one per cent or upwards ot siUca in the 

 ash of a sample is sufficient to raise a suspicion of adult- 

 eration. It is not often that an analysis of the ash of 

 a suspected sample is resorted to in practice ; it is a tedi- 

 ous operation, and would only be performed with the 

 view of confirming the results obtained by some of the 

 other methods of examination to which reference has been 

 mide. 



The relative solubility in ether of coffee and a vanety 

 of vegetable substances used to adulterate it, may, in some 

 cases, be found useful as a confirmatory test for indicat- 

 ing the character and the proportion in which the adulter- 

 ating substance is present. Colfee yields much more 

 soluble matter to ether than do sweet roots, cereals, and 

 leguminous seeds generally. Thus roasted coffee, when 

 agitated four times successively in ten tunes its weight 

 of either, gives from 14-79 to 1510 per cent of oil and 

 resin, including a small proportion of caffeine. Roasted 

 chicory when similarly treated, gives 7-72 per cent of ex- 

 tract. Roasted maize gives 4-30 per cent., and roasted 

 beans 1-57 per cent. The deficiency of fat in the sweet 

 roots and other vegetable substances is frequently made 

 up in the roasting by the addition of American or Austr- 

 alian tallow to prevent burning, and in applying the ether 

 test it is therefore necessary to guard againgst being mis- 

 led by the presence of a small proportion of foreign fat. 

 It is very rare, as already stated, that any mineral 

 matter such as ojiide of iron is now employed to give 

 colour or weight to coffee. The oxide is usually in such a fine 

 state of division that it cannot be seen by the naked eye, 

 o r be detected and identified by the microscope. ^Vhen 

 the presence of such a compound is suspected it is ne- 

 cessai-y to biu-n a given weight of the coffee and observe 

 whether the ash is of a deep red or yellowish-brown colour, 

 and if so it is probable that oxide of iron ha« been added, 

 and it w-iU be necessary to determine the amount of iron 

 in the ash and compare the result with the quantity found 

 in genuine coffee, or the proportiou that may be present 

 in mixtures of chicory and coffee. 



Tlt'riit Si'(iar. — When a sample of coffee which is free 

 from roots and other foreign vegetable substances, imparts 

 to water a deep and rapid colouration, there is reason to 

 suspe'it that burnt sugar has been added. The black shin- 

 ing particles of the caramel can usually be distinguished 

 by the naked eye from the dull light brown fragments of 

 coffee, and be removed for examination. The solution of 

 the separate particles in -water, and the high colour they 

 impart to it, are indicative of burnt sugar. — India Jhiritn/. 



JlAHOi-iANT: IN" HoxnniA.s. — A recent report from Hon- 

 duras says that the cutting aud shipping of mahogany 

 is entirely carried on by British capital. Last year a 

 little over 2,500 tons n-ere shipped in British and Norwe- 

 gian vessels, all direct to Loudon There was an unpre- 

 cedeutedly long spell of dry weather, which was favour- 

 able for the trucking operations of the wood, and it was 

 expected that the exports this year would greatly exceed 

 those of last, flreen fruit and Cocoa-nuts suffered very 

 much from the dry weather. Cocoa-nuts have been in 

 great demand in the New York aud I'hiladelphia mark- 

 ets, and prices ruled higher throughout the year than 

 h-is ever been known before, 37 dols. per thousand being 

 frjely given. They were also scarce, ca\iscd principally 

 I)/ a grub having attacked the. trees, and in many instances 

 caising their death. It is to be regretted that no re- 

 medy has as yet been found to eradicate the evil. — 

 Ganlciien' Chronicle. 



Saxdal Wood in China.— According to the Imperial 

 Maritime Customs Reports of China, the importation ot 

 Sandal-wood into Ningpo during 1881 amounted to 1,066 

 piculs, which was more than double that of the preceding 

 year-. "This article,'" it is stated, "was in nuich demand, 

 owuig to unusually extensive repairs in the temples during 

 last year, which period was considered an especially pro- 

 pitious one for building operations. Much Sandal-wood 

 was also required and consumed in joss-sticks, for the 

 worshii:) of the freshly gilded idols. Nevertheless, owing 

 to its higher value, the demand for Saudal-wood is not so 

 large as it was formerly. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Dakjeeling, 13th August 1SS3. — ^The "rain it raineth 

 every daj' " In this part of India, even in the hills, and 

 probably nowhere else in gi-eater force than in DarjeeUng, 

 when Jupiter Pluvius wills it — and he does will it for at 

 least three months of the year with a vengeance. Anything 

 from 3 to 5 inches in twenty-four hours will not take the 

 wind out of the sails of an average DarjeeUngite dm-ing the 

 last half of June and the whole ot July ; but the last three 

 weeks of June astonished the acchmatised nerves of even one 

 ot the oldest inhabitants, by bringing sevei-al tons of earth on 

 to one of the out-offices attached to his house, and killing 

 a pony — nearly besides making a raw pancake of the 

 kutchtt edifice. This accident occurred to the adjoining 

 building occupied by Blr. .Tustice Cumiingham last year ; 

 when the houoral>le gentleman was obliged to take refuge 

 in the " Eden Sanitarium," aud w-as one of its first inmates. 

 However, according to the meteorological report, the rain- 

 fall up to last Saturday is 8 inches below the correspond- 

 ing date of last year. We have had a good deal of cholera 

 in the (Ustrict during the last two mouths, and at one time 

 the disease came unpleasantly near Darjeeling;butlam happy 

 to .say that, except one or two very doubtful cases amongst 

 coolies not a single case occm-red in the station. How- 

 ever, the cUsease was not going to leave us ^vithout carry- 

 ing off at least one European victim in the person of .Mr. 

 C. Christisou, a promising young feUow not long out from 

 home, aud employed as an assistant on one ot the Lebong 

 Company's gardens. He was carried off in about ten 

 hours : poor fellow ! It is a strange coincidence that 

 his father "lied of the same disease a tew years since. The 

 heavy rain has now thoroughly flushed the ^lifhy johras 

 from whence the coolies as a rule derive then* drinking water, 

 and the result is, that no cases of cholera have been reported 

 of late. It is a fact proved to demonstration that where the 

 lines are kept clean aud the coolies looked after a bit, the 

 gardens always escape infection. That precautious of this 

 kind will pay is proved by the fact that on one estate in this 

 district at the beginning of the epidemic no less than 75 

 deaths occurred in one week ; the result, aud the natural 

 result, being that the remainder of the coolies bolted, and 

 the garden was practically shut up for over a mouth ; con- 

 sequently it was impossible either to pick off the leaf or to 

 keep the place clear of jungle. The result being a very heavy 

 money loss to the proprietors. It has always been a proverb 

 amongst planters, that "a cholera year is generally a good 

 one for tea." The proverb has held good in this district this 

 season. Owing to drought .it the begiuning of the year the 

 "first flush" did not come out so fast and in such quantity as 

 to preclude its being taken off the bushes before it became 

 hard, and the result has been, that the quality of tea 

 manufactured in the district during March, April and May 

 has been much superior m every way conii)ared with that 

 of the corresponding months of the last three previous 

 years. I may say with confidence, that the same su))erior 

 quality has been raaintamed throughout. It is now certain 

 that the outturn of tea from the hill gardens this year 

 will be a long way behind that ot last. You hear of many 

 gardens being up to date mauuds and mamids behind last year 

 and behind several previous years, aud as there are only some 

 six or seven weeks now before manufacture will be almost 

 nominal, it is quite impossible that the total estimate for 

 the district framcil at the beginning ot the year can be 

 even approximately reached. — Indif/o FUaiier's Gazette. 



GORGED LIVERS, 



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