Februart I, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



553 



ruptured, containing tannic, gallic, and other proximate 

 principles, and the presence of these no doubt initiate and 

 accelerate oxidation. In opening bottles of milky juices, 

 a tm-bidity and effervescence is often noticed, caving to the 

 formation of a brownish liquid, the colour of which is 

 probably due to the presence of gallic acid, and galUc 

 acid has been found to exist naturally in parenchymal cells 

 and milk-ducts. In blocks of gutta-percha which have not 

 been properly prepared, these foreign substances induce 

 the presence of a brown, fermented, and putrid liquid, 

 which decomposes the internal mass. Now, most of these 

 foreign substances are soluble in water, and in these process 

 of boiling the gutta would be eliminated. 



These considerations seem to prove that some, at least, 

 of these pseudo-guttas are worthy of, and indeed require, 

 fresh trials before their utility can be certified, or other- 

 wise. 



To those who have the opportunity. I would recommend 

 that samples should be collected in the manner I have 

 already pointed out in the Journal of this Society.* 



These samples and results, if submitted to competent 

 authorities, would enable the question of these substances 

 being utili.'^able as substitutes, or rather as supplementary 

 sources of supply, to be set at rest. — Journal of the Society 

 of Arts. 



MIOA. 



Large quantities of mica are being discovered in many 

 parts of the country, much of it unfitted for the purpose 

 for which it is ciiicfly used. Nature very seldom creates 

 ■A supply without making somewhere a demand that shall 

 utilize and develop the treasm-ed resources. It is, there- 

 fore, evident that some new uses will .sometime in the 

 near future be discovered for this mineral, made up of 

 80 many valuable elements. 



Two new uses for mica have recently been patented. 

 One is a compound of ground mica, flour and cement, 

 which are mixed, pressed into .shape, and baked for jourpal 

 boxes. The other is for use as a mixer in starch gloss, 

 and oily compositions, the mica being reduced to an 

 impalpable powder. Chemistry reveals the fact that mica 

 is composed of silica, alumina and potash. Silica is one 

 of the hardest substances in nature, represented in its 

 purest form as rock crystal. 



Alumina is also an exceedingly hard substance in it« 

 impure form known as emery or corundum, so extensively 

 used in polishing operations; and in its best estate, it is 

 shown in the ruby and the sapphire. 



Potash, the other jjrincipal ingredient of mica, is well- 

 known in the arts, the supply being chiefly from the ashes 

 of vegetable life, which has been absorbed "from the supply 

 furnished by the granite rocks. It will be seen that science 

 will yet find a wide field in which mica will be used 

 extensively. — .Uin iuy Review. 



JAVA COFFEE-GEOAVING. 



TO TnE EDITOR OF THE "QUEENSL-INDEB." 



SiK,— In your i.ssue of the 7th, in the article on coffee 

 planting iu ,Tava, I notice an error which requires correction. 

 The writer, in describing the West Indian curing process, 

 states as follows: — "The coffee is allowed to remain iu 

 the reservoir from thirty to thirty-Six hom-s, to allow of 

 fermentation setting in. This process is necessary for the 

 purpose of remo\ing the inner silver skin, and if well carrieil 

 out the object is perfectly achieved; but, with careless 

 fermentation, the silver skin adheres to the berry, and 

 cannot afterwards be removed." I will try in a few words 

 to show that the curing of the coffee in the cisterns is 

 not for the above-stated reason. 



■When ripe, the coffee is red, and is called cherry; we 

 talk of so many baskets of cherry. The cherry is passeil 

 through (he pulper (your diagram shows what we style 

 the old rattle-trap), and the pulp, or skin, is pulled off, 

 leaving the parchment bean all covered with siicch.arine 

 matter, so much so that it is impossible to grasp a hand- 



» Vide '■ Africa," &c. Letter by James Collins, Journal of 

 the Sorietii of Arts, April 25th, 1879, p. 467. See also " Report 

 on the Caoutchouc of Commerce," to Her Majesty's Secretary 

 of State for India, p. 46, iv., 1872. 

 11 



ful of it and retain it all. It is to remove this thas 

 fermentation is allowed. After fermentation the coffee it 

 washed; it then presents the appearance of a bean covered 

 with a strong white skin, or husk, called parchment. This 

 is exposed for several days to a strong sun, and when 

 dry enough is packed off, say to Colombo; here it is again 

 dried for two to three days, and then husked by being 

 put into a circular trough, over whioh roll four or two 

 enormous wheels, weighing generally a ton each. These 

 remove the husk without injuring the bean, and now the 

 bean presents a changed appearance ; it is closely fitted 

 with a thin skin of silver called the silverskin. This is 

 winnowed off, and the coffee packed off for sale. Should 

 the coffee be allowed to ferment too long it will give the 

 husk a black appearance in place of the snowy white 

 one it shoidd have, and, although this does not injure the 

 inner contents, the brokers, &c., will depreciate its value. 

 — I am, sir, &c. Old Planteb. 



VEGETABLE TALLOW FROM SINGAPORE. 



BY W. T. THISELTO.N DVEH, C. M. G., M. A., F. L. S. 



The very interesting note on the above substance, by 

 Mr. Holmes, in a late number of the riiarmaceutical Journal 

 (November 24, 1883, p. 401), requires a word of comment. 

 We have not, as far as I know, received a specimen of 

 the vegetable tallow known as "Minjak Tankawang." But 

 Madame de Vries de Vries, who was lately on a visit to 

 England, brought to Kew, on behalf of Professor Van 

 Eeden, of Haarlem, a specimen of a jilant of which he 

 informed .Sir Joseph Hooker, in a letter (November 11, 

 1883), the " Indian name is Minjak Tankawang, and it 

 yields a fat," I have little doubt, therefore, that this is 

 the plant which yields the vegetable tallow about which 

 Mr. Holmes has written. Madame de ^"riesde Vries added 

 that Professor Van Eeden " had shown his plant to Mens. 

 Pierre, from Charenton, author of a Flore forestiere de 

 Oochinchine, whom perhaps you know. Mods. Pierre thought 

 it likely the plant is no Hofea, but belongs to the 

 Sapotactp. 



This opinion is certainly correct. The plant is no Hopea, 

 but, undoubtedly, 'S'd/jo^r^'eous. The cm, ous point, however, 

 is that my colleague. Professor Oliver, informs me that he 

 is unable to refer it to any known j^f-nus of the order. 

 For the present then, till more compbte material is ob- 

 tained, it must remain undescribed. !\[adame de Vries <Ie 



Vries adds in a susequent letter that "the plant 



came from Bandjermas.sing, Isle of Borneo." 



The name, Blinjak Tankawang, has been apphed to many 

 llinterocarpeif, especially Hopeas, and "W . H. de Vriese pui - 

 lislied in 1801, at Leyden, a folio tract under this name, 

 containing a number of descriptions of new species. It 

 is a priori unlikely, however, that any species of Jfiptero- 

 carpcie would yield a vegetable tallow from the seeds, 

 because the members of the family are characterized by 

 the presence of oleo-resins in the tissues and not of fatty 

 bodies. On the other hand, the seeds of b'apotacetp are 

 rich in the latter class of substances. ^.^., argan oil from 

 Argitniii Sideroxyloyi, mee oil from Jj"ssia lont/ifolia, shea 

 butter from Butijro^permum Farkii. 



I suspect that Mr. Holmes's specimens will prove identical 

 with a substance which has long been known and which 

 in the Kew Museum is referred doul t fully to a species 

 of i?a,wi'a. We possess specimens of " Tankawang oil " 

 and the decorticated seeds which yit M it, which came 

 to us from the India I\luseura. They ai l- labelled "Borneo, 

 lins^ia sp." We also have an old Ke\\' specimen labelled 

 " Concrete oil from a species of £a.<.<ia ; S:ikarran ; Sir James 

 Brooke." which is probably the same thing. 



We may fairly. I think, hope that row the origin of 

 this interesting substance has attracted the attention of 

 Mr. Holmes and Professor Van Eeden, the doubts attend- 

 ing it will be cleared up. As a contribution to this end I 

 have written this brief note. — rharmacei'licul Journal. 



I EIOE PLANTING IN THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS. 



Consul Studer, of Singapore, says that the chief agricult- 

 ural implement used by planters in the Straits Settlements 

 is the hoe, termed in the Malay language "chankoli," and 

 the system of planting by Europeans and natives is a 

 i very primitive one, namely, a number of coolies furnished 



