Aug, 2, 1886J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



141 



The Cultivation of Rice will Boon become one 

 of the leading occupations of the Northern set- 

 lers in Australia. Rice grows there so easily, 

 says the Queeiislander, and yields such heavy 

 crops of good quality, that it wants no prophet 

 to say that the farmers will soon turn to it as 

 a substitute for maize. — M. Mail.. 



FuENiTURE Polish. — 



Yellow wax . . , . . . 1 J oz. 



Common soap . . . . . , 6 „ 



Carbonate of potash . . . . - » 



Water .. .. .. .. 10 „ 



Heat and stir all together until a milky mixture is 

 formed, then tiansfer to a stoue bottle and add 



Turpentine . . . . . , 1.5 oz. 



by small portions, shaking well all the time. Continue 

 to shake occasionally until cold, then add 1 oz. of 

 solution of ammonia. — Choitist und Druggist. 



"Pink Ivory." — Amongst the specimens of woods 

 in the Natal Court, one is thus described: — 

 The specimens of native woods are very in- 

 teresting, many of them taking a fine polish and 

 showing a beautiful grain. One used by the natives 

 in making ornamental assegais and sticks, and 

 called by them wn<i>noi, is exceedingly pretty, and 

 the most unique as regards colour. It is as pink 

 as the old-fashioned cabbage rose, is very close 

 grained, and, when polished, looks like what the 

 Natal colonists call it, "pink ivory." A piece of 

 it can be seen in the lid of a box made of several 

 native woods. This box contains sixty different 

 native medicines, and is in itself a great curiosity. 

 — Exhihition Supplement to the Coloniei and India. 



The Export of Copra from Fiji is thus given 

 by the Fiji Tinits : — 



The proper figures of actual local export as given 

 by the Receiver- General are a« follows :-~ 



I87r, .. 2,.397 tons 



70 .. i,6o;{ 



77 .. 4,404 



78 .. r,,.H72 „ 



79 .. '2,772 



80 .. 5,242 „ 



81 .. 4,779 



82 . . -''),480 

 83' . . 4,892 



84 . . 4,978 



85 .. 4,888 



The Receiver- General gives all the above figures, as 

 those of the export of copra raised in Fiji, except the 

 last. This can be checked by taking the nut export, 

 reckoning 90 nuts in a bag, according to the new 

 practice adopted since '83, and calculating 6,500 nuts 

 iis equivalent to one ton of copra. It will be found 

 that the result adds on 175 tons, which is purely 

 European produce, as natives do not export nuts. 



Pearl Shells andPearls m the Western Australia 

 Court are thus described in the Exhibition 

 Supplement to the Colonies and India :— We 

 see the crown and glory of the West Austra- 

 lian section, the trophy of giant mother-o'- 

 pearl shells, a S. Simeon Stylites of nacre, glisten- 

 ing and glinting in silvery sheen, no less than one 

 thousand shells being used in its construction. 

 Would you see them separately, here they are 

 ranged against the wall, the contribution of Messrs. 

 McRae & Harper, twenty-three shells weighing 2 

 cwt. These are the bodyguard of the treasure of 

 the show, the " Southern Cross Pearl," a perfect 

 cross formed of nine pearls together into one solid 

 mass — no freak, rather a faierie fancy, of nature. 

 This was found at Roebourne, W. A., in 1884, by 

 Shiner Kelly, of the schooner " Ethel," and opened 

 by a lad named Clarke, in the presence of his 

 father. This hums natiiin', which has been inspected 

 by Her Majesty, the Prince and Princess, and all 

 the Royalties who have visited the Colinderies, is 

 valued at 10,000L — a present to give a wife or a 

 Bweetheart — " a lass and a lac," the toast of Clive's 

 chaplain. Half, and only half . of the story of the 





pearl fishing industry is told in the cabinet repre- 

 senting the depths of the sea, with pearlshells 

 and curious formations of coral. The black fellows 

 need no diving dress, but go under water , as do 

 the sponge fishers in the Mediterranean when they 

 dive from their speronares. The pearl industry 

 owes much to the enterprise of Mr. E. W. Streeter 

 whose son was the plucky diamonder of Kimberley 

 Cape Mines — ^the eminent jeweller, who has an 

 establishment at Cossack, and a fine display of 

 pearls has been set on view. 



A Veterinary Class in connection with the 

 Medical College in Colombo is suggested by an 

 Uva correspondent with reference to the prevalence 

 of cattle murrain, and the suggestion is one deserv- 

 ing of the special attention of the Government. 

 There is nothing, next to seasonable weather and 

 water supply, of so much importance to the native 

 agricultural class in Ceylon— and this virtually means 

 the mass of the people, both Sinhalese and Tamil — as 

 the preservation of the health of their cattle. And 

 we cannot conceive of anything more practically 

 important than the spread of a sound knowledge 

 of the proper treatment of cattle among the headmen 

 and intelligent leaders of the people. If the sons 

 of village headmen, after the completion of their 

 ordinary education, were induced to pass a year 

 or two in attendance on a Veterinary Class under 

 proper guidance, a great deal would soon be done 

 for th(' inculcation of proper treatment of cattle 

 throughout the villages and rural districts. The 

 Government by some little mark of distinction to 

 such as secure a certificate of attendance and attain- 

 ment of a certain amount of knowledge, would very 

 speedily secure ample attendance, and still more if 

 it were understood that in the selection of minor 

 headmen, such certificate-bearers, other things being 

 equal, would have preference. But the first point 

 is to get the special Veterinary Class established, 

 and this Sir Arthur Gordon in conjunction with hia 

 Principal Medical Officer can easily manage if he 

 sets about it in earnest. It might be possible, too, 

 for the Director of Public Instruction to allow 

 some of his rural teachers to attend the class, so 

 as to enable them to help the poor people with 

 advice during a season of murrain or other trouble 

 with their cattle. 



Large and Moderate breaks of tea are thus 

 noticed by The Produce Markets' Review : — As the Tea 

 trade increased, and with it the necessity for dispos- 

 ing of a large portion of the imports by public sale, 

 it was found a few years back that the system of 

 offering parcels in lots of six or nine packages made 

 the auctions insufferably long. It was therefore sug- 

 gested that the lots should be materially increased 

 in size — say to the extent of 36 or 50 packages in 

 each. Some of the leading importers and buyers were 

 desirous of trying an even more sweeping change, 

 and began to offer entire parcels in single lots. This 

 uo doubt, materially sliortened the sales, but it was 

 found in other respects very injurious, because it led 

 to greatly diminished competition. The smaller buyers 

 were often prevented from buying, first, by the size 

 of the lots, and next, by the fact that, in order to 

 purchase, they had to bid an advance of id. per lb., 

 which often rendered the Tea too dear. The leading 

 China importers, therefore decided to try the plan of 

 offering their Teas in lots of 36 half-chests, and the re- 

 sult was quite satisfactory. Competition was much in- 

 creased, of course, in itself, tended to maintain price* 

 while buyers could often afford to give an extra farth- 

 ing for. 36 half.chpsts when they could not do so for 

 200 half-chrsts. There has been some discussion on 

 tliis subject, though arising out of another matter, 

 at the China sales this week, at which the system of 

 offering tea in lots of 36 half-chests was generally 

 approve'!, and it is understood that the example of 

 the leading importers is likely to be followed in this 

 matter in the China sales, 



