JtmE 2, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



869 



their chemistry. The property of alkalis to he especially 

 borne in mind in connection with agriculture is their great 

 teadency to combine with acids, and form, by that com- 

 bination, what are called neutral salts. 



What are acids? Acids constitute a numerous class of 

 chemical bodies. They occur in all the kingdoms of nature. 

 Phosphoric acid, found" in bones, is of animal origin ; citric 

 (lemonj acid and oxalic (sorrel) acid are of vegetable 

 origin ; carbonic acid and sulphuric acid are very common 

 in mmeral bodies, and are produced by breathing, burning, 

 decomposition, &c. As the word acid is, in common langu- 

 age, almost synonymous with sour, it might be supposed 

 that the taste of a substance would determine whether it 

 was included among the acids. The term has, however, 

 been much extended by chemists beyond its original mean- 

 ing, and includes bodies which are nearly, or quite, devoid 

 of sourness, but are classed as acids because they agree 

 with them in some other qualities. The acids are generally 

 sour, but not universally. 'We have said that acids, as 

 well as being foiiud in the bodies of animals and plants, by 

 living processes, are produced by biurining, &c. Let us 

 illustrate their production by burning, because this will, 

 to a great extent, a,ssist the explanation of the other oper- 

 ations. Take a lucifer match, and ignite it by friction ; this 

 sets the sulphur burning. Now, the gas arismg from the 

 liurning consists of the sulphvur and phosphorus united to 

 the oxygen of the air. This comi>ound forms two acids, 

 sulphuric and phosphoric. Then the wood burns and its 

 carbon, uniting also with oxygen from the air, forms carb- 

 onic acid. Thus no less than three acids, of peculiar, dis- 

 tinct and important properties, are formed while burning 

 a lucifer match. The fact to be especially remembered 

 with regard to acids is the converse of that with regard to 

 .".Ikalis. All acids unite or combine with the alkalis and 

 rdkaline earths, forming neutral salts; and acids also com- 

 Huo with the metals. Thus they are actively and con- 

 stantly engaged in the vegetative processes, and possess 

 great powers of combination. — Leader. 



SUMATEA TOBACCO. 

 The Island of Sumatra is situated at the southern extreme 

 of the JIalaya Peninsula. Its productiveness, like most of 

 the islands consisting of what is generally known as the 

 " East Indies," is well known. However, its development as 

 a tobacco-producing island is of recent date, and when it was 

 first jirojccted it was little expected that it would be imported 

 into this country and enter successfully into competition 

 with the domestic product. But as these importations are 

 increasing a brief description of the mode of cultivation will 

 not be considered out of place. 



The principal owners of the plantations are Dutchmen, and 

 the labor employed is Chinese coolies, brought to the island 

 principally from the Malaya peninsula. Tlio crop, according 

 to one of these successful plautcrs, is scarcely ever reared 

 two years in succession on the same lands. The jungle is 

 lirst cleared, and then the seed planted. After the first crop 

 of tobacco is gathered, it is the next season used for rice, or 

 something else, and tobacco is not planted again until the 

 sixth or seventh year after the jungle is cleared. By adopt- 

 ing this method, a better result is obtained. 



The drying-house is thus described by a recent visitor to 

 the island: — - 



Tlic interior is very much like a rick-yard, with tobacco 

 stalks instead of hay-ricks, among which a perfect army 

 of half-clad Oliinese coolies, 400 strong, are hard at work 

 sorting, ranging and stowing. So over-poweringly strong is 

 the scent of the half-dried tobacco leaves that a smoker 

 would have nothing to do but to take in an empty pipe 

 with him and enjoy a good hard smoke gratis, merely by 

 inhaling the air through it. But the Chinamen, whether 

 habituated to it by long use, or fortified against it by 

 the superior power of opium, breathe this perfumed atmo- 

 sphere as easily as if it were the purest air of the sea. 

 " That is how we measure the heat, you see," says our 

 host calling our attention to the hollow bamboos thrust 

 through the heart of each stack, with a stick inside it, 

 which, when pulled out, is almost too hot to touch. " It 

 must never be above or below a certain point, you know. 

 Instead of stripping off the leaves at once, we hang up 

 the whole plant to dry, and do not strip it till it is quite 

 dried. The Sumatra tobacco, however, will not do for 

 cigars. It is only used for what vre call the ' deckblatt,' 



(cover leaf,) which covers the outside of the cigar."' The 

 coolies' quarters, which he a httle beyond the drying-shed, 

 is exactly a reproduction of the drying-shed in the exterior 

 of the building, but when we enter we might imagine 

 ourselves in the midst of a military encampment. The 

 tents are very fairly represented by two long lines of 

 mosquito curtains, some blue and some white, while the 

 avenue between them is straight and symmetrical enough 

 to have pleased the eye of Wellington himself. Insido 

 each curtain is, of coiu-se, the indispensible pipe, as well 

 as one of those queerly painted boxes which one sees in 

 every Chinese store from Penang to Shanghai. Eight in 

 the middle of the central avenue is a rude altar formed 

 of two old packmg-cases— such as I saw last winter in a 

 Dutch church far up the country in South Africa— decor- 

 ated with " joss-sticks," colored paper and crabbed Chinese 

 hieroglypics. But the most striking feature of the whole 

 place is its spotless cleanliness, suggestive rather of a 

 Dutch village in Zeeland or Overyssel than of a Dutch 

 plantation in Sumatra. After our recent experiences of 

 the "Chinese quarter" of Bankok and Singapore— not to 

 mention our passing glimpse of DeH itself — it is some- 

 what of a novelty to find any place which is inhabited 

 by several hundred Chinamen so clean that (as English 

 bousen-ives say) " you might eat your dinner off the floor." 

 " I am always specially careful about that," said the host, 

 " for you cannot expect men to be healthy if they don't 

 keep tl:emselves clean. It's one of my rules that this 

 place shall always be kept in good order, and I h.irdly 

 ever have any sickness among my men." — Amer ican Grocer 



Beet Root Suoab.— The profits in the manufacture of 

 beet root sugar have been enormous. But there appears 

 to be a change impending. According to Sugar Cane, a 

 Frankfort paper admits that there are old established works 

 which have been and are making their 100 per cent. Some 

 of the new houses, however, do not clear more than 2 per 

 cent, and things have a downward tendency at that. — Planter 

 and Farmer. 



IpSEA SPECIOSA.— A fine panful of this beautiful terres- 

 trial Ceylon orchid, which has been in bloom for more 

 than six weeks with Major Lendy, of Sunbury House. Sun- 

 bury-on-Thames, serves to remind us of its worth, and .also 

 to furuish us with the specimen from which our illustra- 

 tion was taken. The plant beai-s a dozen spikes of bright 

 yellow flowers, with orange lines on the labellum. In habit 

 it resembles a small Bletia. Many fail with this plant, 

 but Major Lendy finds it very easy to grow if potted in 

 about equal proportion of turfy loam and peat mixed with 

 sand. His plants are placed in a light, airy part of the 

 Oattleya-house, and are unsparingly watered while grow- 

 ing, and kept moist and cool while at rest. — Gardeners' 

 Chronicle. 



C'OFKKE Tree in Fbuit at Kew. — One of the most in- 

 teresting plants now in the Palm-hoase at Kew — one at 

 Igast which would probably attract a larger number of un- 

 travelleil EugUshmen than any other in that huge structure 

 — is a fine healthy tree of Colfea arabica bearing hundreds 

 of its largo Cherry-like fruits. The plant in question ia 

 growing in the corner of a bed in the central transept, 

 and the symmetrical habit, the dark glossy leaves, and the 

 scarlet berries form a combination which cannot fail to 

 please any one who has any perception of beauty in plants. 

 ^\^len in flower the rich aromatic fragrance exhaled by the 

 Jasmine-hkc flowers is very noticeable ; indeed all that 

 part of the Palm-house in which the plant is growing is 

 suffused with the delicate and pleasing perfume. Little 

 more than two centuries and a quarter have elapsed since 

 Coffee was first used in Britain, and ii has now become 

 one of the most important household articles in many 

 European countries. It is believi;d that Coffee was first 

 used in Arabia about 1450, and in a century its use had 

 spread to Egypt and other parts of the Turkish empire. 

 For two centuries from its introduction into Arabia the 

 use of Coffee seems to have been confined to the Mahom- 

 medan nations of Western Asia ; and, considering its rapid 

 spread and popularity among the European nations, it seems 

 remarkable that it has not, like Tobacco, extended to the 

 Hindus, the ITindu-Ohinese, the Japanese, or the tribes of 

 the ludi;iii AichipeI:igo, who no more use it than the Europ- 

 eans do the Betel preparation. — Gardeners' Chornicle. 



