45S 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



fjAN. 1, 1887. 



[The Ceylon " stink-tree " is thus described in 

 Ceyh'ii Timber Trees : — 



" Celtis dysodoxylon," Thwaites Eu. p. 267. 

 Gooi-diula, 8. Moon's Cat. p. p. 26 and 32, Nos. 418 

 and WM pt. 2. Vrfine, S. ex Ainslie 2 p. 317 Pooda- 

 carapan J'litta;/ (its bark,) Tamil. Pan dc /nerdn, and 

 Pini sii/o, Port. A middle-sized tree in the Central 

 Province up to .5,000 feet. This is a notorious tree 

 from the fact that I believe its freshly cut wood 

 has the most abominable and disgusting odour of 

 all plants in the vegetable kingdom. Hermann wrote 

 about it upwards of 2O0 years ago, but mixed it up 

 with the Wal-lmonmda, S. (" Clerodendron inerme,") 

 and misled Ijinnieus and Burmann by so doing. His 

 explanation of the Sinhalese name, and other remarks 

 I give m his own words, as no doubt applying to 

 this tree: — "Ghu stercus humauum uotat. lihanda 

 fastorem stercoris. Est et alia species arborescens. 

 Alias Phaiida notat proprie lignum sublato cortice 

 c-eterisque." Mus. zeyl. p. 23. Thunberg when in 

 Colombo in 1777, gave the following account of it: — 



" The stinktree was called by the Dutch Strnn- 

 hout, and by the Sinhalese rreiute, on account of its 

 disgusting odour, wliich resides especially iu the 

 thick stem and the larger branches. The smell of 

 it so perfectly resembles that of human ordure, 

 that one cannot perceive the smallest difference be- 

 tween them. When the tree is rasped, and the 

 raspings are sp;inkled with water, the stench is 

 quite intolerable. It is nevertheless taken intern- 

 ally by the Sinhales, as an efficacious remedy. "When 

 scraped fine and mixed with lemon-juice, it is taken 

 internally, as a purifier of the blcod in the itch, 

 and other cutaneous eruptions, the body being at 

 the same time anointed with it externally. 1 was 

 at great pains to procure some blossoms of this tree, 

 in order to ascertain its genus, but was constantly 

 disappointed. Of the Sinhalese, whom I sent out for 

 that purpose far up the country into the woods, I 

 could only obtain some branches without any blos- 

 som ; from which, however, I could perceive, that 

 the tree was neither tlie Au'ii/i/i-is futida- nor the 

 Sterciilia fufida. I had likewise set some live, but 

 small, plants of this tree in boxes, and carried them 

 with me alive quite to the English channel, where 

 they were totally destroyed, together with several 

 other scarce trees and plants, by cold and storms. 

 Of the wood, I carried with me some pieces to my 

 native country, which, however afterwards lost their 

 scent to that degree, that now not the smallest trace 

 of it can be perceived. "—Travels 4 p. p. 234—5. 

 "What this tree absolutely is, becomes a subject 

 for future research. Ain 2 p 318. For Thwaites, 

 therefore, remained the privilege of naming this tree 

 Botanically.] 



TEA HAIR.— No. I. 



Sir, — This is nothing more than the " fluff '' 

 from the pubescent tips of the tea buds, the 

 hair.-5 from the fine pekoe or orange pekoe. It is 

 a provision of Nature for the protection of the 

 young leaf when in embryo. All plants are pro- 

 vided with a protection to the young or embryo 

 leaf or fruit bud. With coffee a resin or gum, 

 coals the blossom and many think when the 

 blossom buds or " spike," as we call it, is burnt 

 it is simply the resin or gum exuded from the plant: 

 a wise provision of nature to protect it from the 

 hot sun. The first fall of rain or genial shower 

 at once dissolves the gum, the burnt blossom bud 

 opens and the snowy white of a beautiful plant 

 in full bloom replaces the burnt spike. All plants 

 have some protection and in many cases the leaves, 

 as with several varieties of cardamoms, retain their 

 pubescence, but the tea shrub throws it off as the 

 , leaves develope. This fluff has been shipped from 

 Coylon as " bloom," it is practically worthless and 

 has never found a market ; let the curious try it 

 in the cup. One thing is certain, however, this 

 pubescent fluff' is so line that it will permeate the 

 wliule (if a tea factory and lodge oa every beam 



and corner and it is not only easily ignited by a 

 match or light carelessly thrown down, but like 

 " punk " or German tinder, once lighted it will 

 smoulder for days and when least expected will 

 break out in a red glowing mass, never flame, but 

 quite sufficient to burn down the factory. The smell 

 of the burning fluff, however, is so pungent that 

 it is readily detected. A few drops of coconut or 

 kerosene oil dropped on the tea hair will or may 

 create spontaneous combustion, like cotton waste 

 it might be in a few hours ; therefore, keep your 

 tea factories and especially your machinery and 

 sifters, where there is both oil and fluff, thoroughly 

 clean and free from red dust and the risk of fire 

 will be greatly reduced. 



If you have to pluck " banje " you will have 

 proportionately more hair, fluff, pubescence, red dust 

 or bloom, because the "banje" tip the effect of 

 a cold wind or other cause is so tightly wrapped 

 up in its warm pubescent covering, that it is nearly 

 all fluff" and only genial showers and a rush of 

 warm sap will set free the imprisoned bud. 



J. IRVINE. 



P. S.~l may add the tea hair is both interesting 

 and very beautiful under the microscope. 



No. II. 



December 3rd 1886. 



Dear Sir, — Your article on above subject in paper 

 of 30th is very interesting. 



I sometime ago tasted tea hair but did net 

 repeat the experiment. Liquor was very thin in 

 appearance and had no strength, whilst flavour 

 was awful and nose of outturn almost did for 

 me— it was just exactly like something I never 

 heard or thought of before. I tasted it with a 

 view to ascertaining whether or not it could in any 

 way add to strength or flavour of tea, and I came 

 to the conclusion that it did neither. In my 

 opinion it spoils the appearance of finer teas and I 

 have in consequence, ever since trying above 

 experiment, carefully extracted it from my teas and 

 — thrown it away. But if there be a market for 

 it at home, the sooner our Colombo brokers take 

 it up the better. Just fancy having a " tea hair 

 sale"! Of course it's hard rolling that brings out 

 the hair and I have seen so much of it that the sifting 

 cooly was glad to put his head out at window to 

 get a mouthful of fresh air. And I may say in 

 conclusion that if "tea hair" manipulation is to 

 be successfully gone about. Barber's Rollers will 

 yet cut a way for themselves like— Yours truly, 



OLD HA(IE)RY. 



COCONUT DUST. 



Colombo, 8th Dee. 1886. 



De.\r Sir, —Referring to your remarks on Mr. 

 Hurley's letter on the question of utilizing coco- 

 nut fibre dust for scientific purposes, I may men- 

 tion that about three years ago I made some ex- 

 periments to ascertain its fertilizing value. I got 

 some from Horrekelly and put it into forty cement 

 barrels. I mixed the coir with liquid manure in 

 varying quantities and allowed the barrels to stand 

 for a year until the coir decomposed. After the expir- 

 ation of that time I planted vegetables in the 

 barrels, they grew pretty well, but not altogether 

 satisfactorily. I therefore turned out the contents 

 of one of them, and found it full of large white 

 grub. I then turned out all the others and I 

 should say there was a hundred in each barrel. 

 The crows had a jolly feast of them. 



This facility for breeding grubs appears to me to 

 be a great objection to the use of coir in bulk 

 as a fertiliser, when it is formed into one. It can, 

 however, no doubt, bo used very advantageously 



