Jan. I, 1887.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



457 



$ovr^spornJ^nc50. 



To the Editor of the " Ceyloji Observer." 



COFFEE AND GEEEN BUG. 



Deak Sir, — If this bug is more to be feared than 

 leaf-disease, or any other previously known coffee- 

 pest, the different Planters' Associations would do 

 well to collect all the information available with 

 regard to its increase, decrease or stationary char- 

 acter, and publish the same periodically. Coffee 

 is now, or soon will be, so valuable that it is worth 

 even this attention yet. If it is retiring all along 

 the line, I should not be surprized to see a little 

 coffee planting started again in favorite localities 

 PROPBIETOB. 



COCONUT FIBBE DUST. 



Colombo, 2nd December 1886. 



Deak Sies, — Will any of your numerous corre- 

 spondents give their experiences with that curious 

 substance which we call coconut fibre dust, 

 which comes away from the dry husks of the 

 coconut in the proces of extracting the fibre. 



The absorbing properties of this substance are 

 well-known and it is for this reason that I i^re- 

 sume it is so extensively employed in gardening. 



It would, however, appear that it is applicable 

 to other, and probably more useful purposes, for 

 a young French Chemist, Mr. P. Germain, has 

 brought it to notice in connection with Primary 

 and Secondary Batteries. M. Andre Eeynier, the 

 Electrician to the Societe Generale des Telephones 

 has investigated its uses in connection with electricity. 



P'rom a report which has been written by M. 

 Eeynier for U Electricien, we gather that "sporique," 

 as its finer variety is termed, is prepared from 

 the husks of the coconut ; it has the colour and 

 aspect of coco powder. 



The extraordinary properties of this substance 

 arise from its extreme lightness, its specific 

 gravity being represented by the abnormally 

 low figure of 0*08. Under the simple pressure of 

 the hand its volume can easily be reduced to 

 one-third, and even then its density is only about 

 one -fourth that of good sponge. Its absoibing 

 power surpasses that of all other known materials. 

 A given volume of " sporique " can easily be made 

 to take up a volume of liquid equal to itself, 

 without any perceptible increase in the total volume ; 

 or, in other words, the volume occupied by 

 " sporique " in the combination is nenliiiihJc. 



A good sponge will absorb seven times its own 

 weight of water: "sporique" absorbs 12-5 times 

 its weight of water. The substance has hitherto 

 been found to be insoluble both in acids and in 

 alkalis and in solutions of salts. It is, therefore, 

 evident that it will thus readily lend itself for use 

 in primary or secondary batteries. M. Eeynier 

 states that the resistance of the battery is not per- 

 ceptibly increased by its presence, and it is sug- 

 gested that by saturating two slabs of the substance 

 it may be employed in two fluid batteries, thus 

 doing away with the porous cell. Not oaly are liquids 

 thus kept separated and preserved from accidental 

 spilling, but it is also found that the loss from 

 evaporation preceeds much more slowly. It would 

 appear that the substance is certainly worth a trial 

 for the purpose indicated, and I hope the day is 

 not far distant when the heaps of refuse coconut 

 fibre dust now looked upon as worthless may possess 

 a commercial value sufficient to make the export 

 remunerative. Whatever the results, I trust this 

 brief notice of a substance so well-known to us 

 enquiry. — Yours faithfully, 



Ed. B. HUELEY. 



TIMBEE FOR GUNSTOCKS. 



Haldummulla, Dec. 2nd 188(5. 



Dear Sir, — I enclose a cutting from the last 

 Field on the subject of wood for gunstocks. 

 Perhaps, your botanical correspondent may know 

 whether the tree in question (Oreo daphne bullata) 

 grows in this country. I have myself seen in the 

 Kegalle district trees which emit a sufficiently 

 villainous odour to merit the epithet applied to 

 Orcodaphne ; and whilst living in Badulla, I had 

 a gate made of a heavy white wood which always 

 smelt very unpleasantly after a shower of rain. 

 If the Orcodaphne is found in Ceylon it might 

 pay to export the timber for the purpose indicated 

 by the Field correspondent. — I am, yours faithfully, 



EDWAED F. HOPKINS, 



niaj stimulate 



STINKWOOD (orcodaphne BULLATA) FOR GUNSTOCKS, 



Sir, — The subject of this excellent wood being used 

 for ganstocks made in this country has recently been 

 mooted in the leading daily paper. As it is of con- 

 sequence to sportsmen in India, South Africa and 

 its interior, or other parts of the world where clim- 

 atic influence or rough wear may have to bear on the 

 guustoclc, to know the most serviceable, I ask your 

 permission to give in llie Field a few particulars re- 

 specting the Orcodaphne bullata, a wood that can- 

 not be too highly recommended. The orcodaphne is 

 of two shades of colour, a lighter (sometimes almost 

 approaching Ilungarian ash), and the darker, ordin- 

 arily selected for gunstocks. This has been com- 

 pared to mahogany, but perhaps it more reseinbles 

 something between rosewood and American walnut. 

 It is decidedly a handsome wood, and in grain is 

 firm, close and tough ; it is not given to warp when 

 seasoned, nor snap across the grip like walnut ; in 

 fact, it possesses every merit almost desirable, except 

 being heavier than walnut. In its seasoned state 

 it has not the slightest disagreeable odour. Botanic- 

 ally the tree has been thus described in Hooker's 

 "Botan. Mag." t. 393 1.:— 



Orcodaphne bullata, Nees ab E. (stinkhout, stink- 

 wood), much branched, branches divaricating, smooth; 

 leaves, alternate, leathery, elliptical, veiny, netted, 

 glabrous, attenuated into a chanelled stalk, and hav- 

 mg at the axils of the lower costals veuis, on the 

 underside, deep hollows, ciliated at their edges, and 

 showing on the upper surface corresponding bhster- 

 likc protuberances ; flowers, small, racemose ; race- 

 mes, lateral or exillary ; perianth, 6 parted ; lobes, 

 obtuse, deciduous ; corolla, none ; stamens, ; grands 

 of the outer stamens large, capitate ; style, tapeling ; 

 stigma, peltate ; berry surrounded at base by the 

 enlarged, thickened, cup-shaped tube of the perianth. 



Though this wood was the African oak of Barrow, 

 Dr. Pappehas stated, in his " SilvaCapensis "(Cape 

 Town, 1854), the real African oak of commerce is " Old- 

 fieldia africana." I would strongly recommend the 

 leading English gunmakers to have a supply in stock 

 of Orcodaphne bullata, and to suggest its adoption 

 by any customer about to proceed to a hot climate, 

 or requiring a gun or rifle stock for rough work ; 

 but it must be observed that the wood has become 

 scarcer, it appears, and is therefore probably dearer 

 than it used to be some years ago. 



In a memorandum on the Crown forests of the 

 Cape Colony, published in the 7'twfi% September S.'Sth 

 1885, it was stated : " The two kinds of timber moat 

 sought for in these forests are " stinkwood " (Orcoda- 

 phne bullata) at the Knysna, and " sneezwood " 

 (Pleroxylon utile) in the eastern districts, and these 

 two kinds have been fast disappearing." It is also 

 stated in that memorandum that the Orcodaphne 

 bullata, when cut, possesses the smgulav property 

 of throwing out from the stump shoots, which again 

 throw out roots descendmg (.svt) the old stump. 



FUKDERIC R. SURTEES. 



Boxley Abbey, Sandling, near Maidstone, Oct. 26th, 

 —Field. 



,58 



