70 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1886. 



Colour of Coffek. —There has been considerable dis- 

 cussion among the various Planters' Associations during 

 the past year on this subject, but we none of us hive 

 apparently arrived any nearer the solving of this 

 difficult problem. Shade drying was thought to be 

 able to set the colour better : but from all accounts 

 this is not the case, and coffee cured in this way has 

 realized considerably lower prices than that dried in 

 the open. It is probable that the seasons have more 

 to do with colour than anything else. — From Ik port 

 Coory Planters' Association. 



Coffee. — At the late meeting of the Acclimatisa- 

 tion Society, the Governor, 8ir Anthony Musgrave 

 insisted very strongly on the value of coffee as an 

 industry for Queensland. " The coffee grown here " 

 he said " would not probably be so good in (juality 

 as Jamaica coft'ee, but it would make up in quantity 

 for quality. It was a most important subject for 

 the Government of this colony to consider." Inter- 

 viewed subsequently he said that " the expenses 

 attendant upon the construction and maintenance of 

 proper mills was prohibitive upon small holders of 

 land, costing as they did from £t,000 to £5,0(J0 in 

 initial outlay alone, but by the establishment of a 

 large Central Mill, encouragement could be given to 

 cultivators large and small, who could dispose of their 

 produce much more profitably, than could be the 

 case with sugar growers." Sir Anthony Musgrave is 

 the owner of coffee plantations, and deserves to be 

 listened to with attention on this subject. — Mackay 

 Mercury. — [While Brazil swamps the world with coffee 

 as it now does, the Queensianders had better content 

 themselves with going merely for local requirements, 

 although we doubt if even that will pay. — Ed.] 



The Yield and Cost of Cocaine.— Dr Squibb 

 (Ephemerin, July, 1885) says the arrivals of coca leaves 

 have been abundant, and the quality generally good. 

 Assays of various samples gave proportions of alkaloid 

 varying from '38 to *55 per cent., equal to 266 to 38'5 

 grains per lb. The latter should theoretically yield 

 43*36 grains of hydrochlorate, " but, although such coca 

 has been worked, no such yield has been realised by the 

 writer, and it is rather discreditable to have to say that 

 not over 33 grains to the lb. has yet been reached, and 

 this not as a general average." The price of coca leaves 

 has been very uncertain for some time past, Ijut it may 

 be assumed " that good coca, giving an available yield of 

 33 grains to the lb., can now (June 29) be had at 50c. 

 per lb." Dr. Squibb's calculation is, therefore, in 

 English money: — 



1 lb. coca leaves 2.v. Id. 



Cost of extraction ... 5s. Qd. 



for 33 grains, or say 2kd, per grain. Vial, label, and 

 overweight inputting up brings this to 3(/. per grain, to 

 which he ailds 2(/. per grain for manufacturer's profit, 

 as " such articles ;.re not worth making unless the profit 

 upon them be liberal, especially until the losses in 

 acquiring a g^-^d process be ful'y compensated." — 

 Chemist and Druggist. 



Lemons Pke.ekve.i Eight Months. — The following 

 from the Sunfo ', F.a , Journal touches upon a matter of 

 importance to fruit-growers and shippers, and should 

 lead to experiments and tests iu the direction 

 named: — AV« hnve in our office a lemon, of common 

 variety, that was clipped From the tree that bore it, 

 with a number of nt lers, in July last. It was grown 

 by J. F. Prince on Dr. Gordon's place on Silver Lake, 

 and, with a quantity of others— perhaps a half-bushel 

 — was buried in the grove when clipped, as an ex- 

 periment. Mr. Prince had forgotten the circumstance 

 until a few days ago, when, while ploughing the 

 grove, several of the lemons were upturned by the 

 plough. Recalling the fact that he had placed them 

 there, his surprise and gratification upon finding all 

 of them in a state of perfect preservation can well 

 be imagined. These lemons were buried in ordinary 

 soil, and not under cover, and therefore have been 

 subjected to the vicissitudes of weather, heat, cold 

 and moi.sture. Query : If lemons will keep under 

 such circumstances, why should not oranges? And 

 if oranges can be kept thus, is not the question 

 of the protraction of our marketing period settled ? 

 To us the lesson taught by Mr. Prince's expcrimeut 



is a valuable one, if a lesaou at all. It is at least 

 a suggestion which producers should regard of sufficient 

 significance to prompt further experiment. — American 

 Grace /■.—[The inference seems to be that oranges 

 and lemons could be sent long distances packed in 

 earth. — Ed.] 



How Forest Tbees Spread. — It is a wise provision, 

 which insures the multiplication of our most valuable 

 forest trees, that their seeds are winged, and so blown 

 about or enclosed in nuts which are relished by squirrels 

 and birds, and thus carried to new places. That a 

 grove of beeches will almost always be succeeded 

 by maples is an old saying. — Southern Planter. 



TouACco IN Devon. — It may be of interest to our 

 readers, especially those residing in or near the coun- 

 ty of Devon, to learn that Mr. Samuel Eliott 

 (Lucombe, Pince & Co.) has been granted permission 

 by the Board of Inland Revenue to make experi- 

 ments in the growth and curing of Tobacco in that 

 county. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Value of the Olive Tree. — A gentleman, says the 

 Saw, Francisco Herald, has recently collected 12,000 

 cuttings of the olive tree for planting. The olive is 

 most successfully grown from cuttings, and the 12,000 

 will make a fine grove. When set in an orchard in the 

 usual form, they will cover 100 acres. An olive tree 

 when ten years old is estimated to be worth ten dollars, 

 and a grove of 100 acres, or 12,000 trees, will aggreg- 

 ate a value of 120,000 dollars. These are estimates 

 made upon the value and profits made upon Mr. 

 Cooper's olive trees, in Santa Barbara, and single trees 

 elsewhere. The olive grows well throughout this region, 

 and the demand for its fruit and oil is good and in- 

 creasing. — Buri/oyue's, >Sc., Monthly Export Price Current, 

 Waets on Horses. — These excrescences are often 

 very annoying to horses, and very unsightly, especially 

 when occurring about the eyes. Treatment-. — A wart 

 having a broad base should be thus treated. Take a 

 common suture needle and arm it with a double 

 ligature, each ligature to be composed of three threads 

 of saddler's twine, well waxed ; pass the needle right 

 through the centre of the wart close down to the base ; 

 tie each half separately with a surgeon's knot as tight 

 as possible, cut the ends off pretty close to the knot, 

 and in the course of a short time the whole will drop 

 off. A wart having a small circumscribed pedicle may 

 be removed by strangulation by tying a single ligature 

 round its base. If the exposed surfaces should not 

 heal readily moisten them occasionally with Friar's 

 balsam, and if they show a disposition to ulcerate, 

 sprinkle them with powdered charcoal and bloodroot, 

 equal parts mixed. — Ibid. 



China-csrass (Boshmeria Nivea). — The frequent re- 

 currence or re-introduction of China-grass or Rhea 

 fibre to the notice of commercial men is a fact well 

 known, and each time the plant is brought to notice 

 some novel mode of preparing the fibre is announced, 

 or some new machinery is invented. The latest of 

 these is a patent of Messrs. Raabe, Zimmermann & 

 Houchct, which cleans the fibre in a purely mechan- 

 ical manner without any assistance whatever from chemi- 

 cals. A handful of the stems of the Rhea is put into the 

 machine at one time; they are carried rapidly through 

 and delivered on the other side, when it is seen that 

 the whole of the woody portion of the stems is 

 broken and loosened, so that it is easily shaken out 

 by again passing the partially cleaned fibre through 

 a similar machine a second and third time ; the fibre 

 comes out quite cleaned of woody particles, and after 

 it has been hackled it is as fine as flax, and, like 

 tiax, is of a greenish colour; the fibre, however, is 

 iu a perfectly natural state, beinjj simply removed 

 from its position in the stem, and after being woven 

 it can of course bo bleached like an ordinary fla.x 

 fabric, or dyed if rc(juired. The inventors of this 

 machine claim for its advantages over other machines 

 for cleaning Rhea fibre because of its simplicity in 

 preparing the fibre for spinning purposes by simply 

 removing it from its position in the stem without 

 weakening it by the action chemicals or bleaching 

 compounds, besides which the fibre is removed from 

 the stem in its entire lenght, which is, of course, 

 great advantage in s\)ixm\ng.— Gardeners' Chronicle. 



