i 04 



THE TROPICAL AGUicvtramsr. 



[AvG. 2, i8i^ 



MANURES FOR COCONUTS* 



1st July 188C. 



giK,_-Can any of your readers tell rne how to 

 apply' burnt coral (unslaked) to coconut plants 2 

 to 5 years old: how much might safely be put 

 to a plant, how applied, and how far from the 

 trunk of a tree might it safely be spread, rather 

 how near it ? 1 am not asking for suggestions 

 from any theorist, but a practical coconut planter 

 who has either used lime, or has seen it used 

 for coconut plants, and can therefore at least 

 speak from practical observation. The information 

 now asked fbr will be thankfully received by several 

 coconut estate proprietors and especially by, yours 

 faithfully, AGRICULTURIST. 



p. S._Salt too is, I believe, used by many as a 

 stimulant : the same information regarding it will 

 be welcome. 



[We have no doubt that our Ilapitigam Korale 

 correspondent will be able to answer these queries. 

 — Er..] 



Tea. The report of the directors of the Kangra 



Valley Tea Company shows that the outtnrn was 

 88 102 lb. which is considerably in excess of the three 

 previous years. The average price obtained was annas 

 lO-Oi. The expenditure averaged annas 9-0| per lb. 

 The Retail Dep6t at Prince's Hall, Piccadilly, has 

 paid expenses, and the quantity of tea sold there 

 considerably increased. The estimate for 1886 provides 

 for an outturn of 85,000 lb. fine tea at an expendi- 

 ture of E33.067. The gross receipts for the year were 

 R55,485, and the expenditure R49,842, leaving a profit 

 of R5,()43 which has been carried forward.— P^o/^eer. 



Tea Factokies.— Mr. J. Capper in a few re- 

 marks made after the readmg of Mr. Shand's 

 paper estimated that during the next six years, 

 for Tea Factories in India and Ceylon, as much 

 as one million sterling of home manufactures (iron, 

 glass, machinery, &c.,) would be required. This 

 is certainly a moderate estimate ; for in Ceylon 

 alone before six years are over, there will prob- 

 ably be 1,000 Tea Factories, big and little, and 

 considering that some of the Factories already 

 completed have run away with two or three thousand 

 pounds and mainly for imported material, the 

 million sterling, if prosperity favours the tea enter- 

 prise, will be a good deal exceeded, if India is 

 counted as well. 



Centigrade and Fahrenheit.— The Centigrade 

 thermometrical scale is now becoming so frequently 

 Used in English books that a short method of 

 turning incomprehensible Centigrade into intellig- 

 ible Fahrenheit will be a desideratum. The rule 

 is simple, and the operation, after a little practice, 

 may be performed mentally. All one has to do is 

 to double the Centigrade number, take a tenth 

 away from it, and add 32 to the number obtained. 

 Let us take 60 deg. Centigrade. Twice 00 is 120, 

 take one-tenth away, /. e. 12, and 108 remains, 

 which, added to 32, makes 140, which is the 

 answer. Taking a more difficult number, 32 Centi- 

 orade, we double and obtain 64, from which we 

 take 6-4, leaving 57-6, to which we add 32, the 

 total being 8d-(y.— Indian Gardener. 



IsL,vND Industries.— I stated in my tirst article 

 that for the present I should defer alluding to the 

 pearl shell and beche-de-mer industries beyond the 

 remark that they are a well-established, proritable 

 business. If, however, they are to continue so 

 permanently, some legislative enactments will be 

 necessary ; some precautions will have to be taken 

 to prevent these valuable marine productions of 

 Queensland from being utterly swept oil' the coast. 

 At present everyone appears to take everything be 



can get for fear of leaving it for somebody else, 

 and however prolific these marine creatures may 

 be, such inroads must bring them to an end at 

 last. The pearl shell oyster must at any rate be 

 amenable to scientific cultivation, and undoubtedly 

 some measures should be taken to assist them in 

 the propagation of their species, and to protect them 

 from the ravages of both their natural and un- 

 natural enemies. — TownsviUe (Queendmid) Herald. 



Tea Djrying. — Mr. Gibbs sums up the philosophy of 

 tea drying ill these three Sentences: — 



1. That the tea should be kept in gentle but effect- 

 ual movement, so as to separate every leaf from 

 every other leaf, and allow the dry air to get at both 

 sides. 



2. The application of as much air as can be in- 

 troduced without blowing the charge out of the 

 machine. 



3. The skilful adjustment of the temperature of tliat 

 air so as to obtain the highest drying power without 

 injure to the product. — SUgiri Express. 



The Yield and Condition of Mabiawatte. — The 

 following facts concerning this well-known estate, 

 which have been forwarded us, are well worth repro- 

 duction : — The original 100 acres of the estate has given 

 42Ulb. for the half-year just ended, 30 acres having 

 been pruned last October, and 70 acres in April-May 

 of this year. It is estimated that the estate will re- 

 peat its previous record, if not exceed it, which cer- 

 tainly shows that it has in no way suffered by reason 

 of the heavy and abundant yields of former years. 

 The 70 acres pruned this year were plucked continuously 

 for 18 months, and the April-May pruning has so far 

 proved successful, as the bushes are full of vigor, and 

 look fit for big flushes. Mariawatte, much lnuded as 

 it has undoubtedly been, is probably acre for acre the 

 most valuable and prolific estate of any in the world. 

 —Local "Times." 



Cou.ub Leaf. — Among the curiosities now shown 

 at the Colonial Exhibition is one specially inter- 

 esting to ladies in search of novelties. This 

 is the coral leaf which has been recom- 

 mended to attention by the English Consul at 

 the Bahamas as a valuable discovery for mil- 

 linery purposes. It is lighter than jet in weight 

 — a great desideratum in head-gear — it can be dyed 

 any shade or bleached the purest white, and, being 

 of a very pliable nature, is said to twist into the 

 most perfect and artistic specimens of hats and bon- 

 nets. Ingenuity has been sorely taxed to provide 

 a headdress that shall not outrage artistic feelings, 

 and at last there seems a hope that in the coral 

 leaf has been found a hygienic and tasteful solution 

 of this difficult problem. — Home Neius. 



Trade in Dried Fruits and Vegetaules in 

 Austria. — The immense importance of the trade 

 done in the above useful articles of food by the 

 Americans especially, and in a less degree by the 

 Germans, French and Swedes, has at last appealed 

 to the minds of the more apathetic Austrians. An 

 experimental station fer research into the best methods 

 of producing first-class marketable commodities has 

 been established by Graf H. Attem's at St. Peter's 

 near Gratz, and the results obtained arc so encouraging 

 that it may soon be looked upon as a certainty that 

 the home-manufactured articles will take the place of 

 the imported ones, and that considerable impetus will 

 be given in that country to the cultivation of the 

 various vegetables and fruits that can be dried with 

 the best results. The A'. A'. Oederreichischen Pomo' 

 logen I'erein has sent out a pamphlet recently, in 

 which the variou.s important uses to which the dried 

 goods can be put are succinctly pointed out, especial 

 emphasis being laid, owing to their extreme portability, 

 on their use by the army and navy, hotel keepers, 

 and dwellers in towns, who, by being far removed from 

 sources of supply, or by reason of their compar- 

 ative dearness, are debarred from the enjoyment of 

 these health-giving articles of consumption. — Gardeners' 

 Chronicle. 



