^lARCil 1, i3S7.] i'HE TROPICAL AORICULTURISI^. 



6oft 



HOW TO MAKE POTASH. 



Baron Ferd. Von Mueller, k. c. m.c, of Victoria, 

 writes as follows how to make potash : — The wood, 

 bark, branches, and foliage are burnt in pits sunk 3 

 feet or 4 feet in the ground ; the incineration is con- 

 tinued until the pit is almost filled with ashes. Young 

 branches and leaves are usually much richer in potash 

 than the stem-wood, hence they should not be rejected. 

 The ashes thus obtained are placed in tubs or casks 

 on straw over a false bottom. Cold water, in moderate 

 quantities, is poured over the ashes, and the first 

 strong potash liquid removed for evaporation in flat 

 iron vessels, while the weaker fluid is used for the 

 lixiviation of fresh ashes. While the evaporation pro- 

 ceeds, fresh portions of strong liquid are added 

 until the concentrated boiling fluid assumes a rather 

 thick consistence. At last, with mild heat and final 

 constant stirring, the whole is evaporated to dryness. 

 This dried mass represents crude potash, more or less 

 impure, according to the nature of the wood em- 

 ployed. A final heating in rough furnaces is needed 

 to expel sulphur combinations, water, and empyreu- 

 matic substances; also, to decompose colouring prin- 

 ciples. Thus pearlash is obtained. Pure carbonate of 

 potassa in crude potash varies from 40 to 80 per 

 cent. Experiments, so far as they were instituted in 

 the laboratory, have given the following approximate 

 result with respect to the contents of potash m some 

 of our most common trees : — The woods of the casuarinas, 

 or she-oaks, as well as that of the black or silver 

 wattle, are somewhat richer than the wood of the 

 British oak, but far richer than the ordinary pine 

 woods. The stems of the Victorian blue gum and 

 the so-called swamp tea-tree {Melaleuca ericifolia) 

 yield about as much potash as European beech. The 

 foliage of the blue gum proved particularly rich in 

 this alkali, and as it is heavy and easily collected 

 at the sawmills, it might be turned there to auxiliary 

 profitable account, and, indeed, in many other spots 

 of the ranges. In the Queensland coast country the 

 mangrove could be made to yield potash in immense 

 quantities, as it is richer in this alkali than almost 

 any other native tree or shrub ; and even if the man- 

 grove were not used for the manufacture of potash, 

 the ash being rich in this valuable fertilizer, could 

 be easily and economically applied for manurial 

 purposes. Of course, British woodmen are aware 

 that it is hopeless to compete with the exteiisive 

 mineral deposits in Germany whence most of the 

 potash of commerce is now made. — Journal of Forestry. 



THE NATIVES OF INDIA AND WILD BEASTS. 



The Jounial of Forestry contains an interesting article 

 on the Indian Forest Survey, from which wc take an ex- 

 tract : — The wild animals which inhabit the Indian forest 

 afford excellent sport for those who have the time to en- 

 gage in it, which the surveyors have not, for the 

 outturn of good work of this sort is in direct pro- 

 portion to the time spent on it, and arrears of survey- 

 ing and mapping cannot be brought up by a stroke 

 of genius; but to the unarmed native surveyor the 

 presence of dangerous wild beasts in the forest in 

 which he is called upon to work affords no attrac- 

 tloii, and cases have occurred in which they have caused 

 the most serious inconvenience. On one occasion a 

 native surveyor, having seen a wild elephant, de- 

 Camped and could not be persuaded to re-enter that 

 part of the forest, while his accounts of the terrors 

 of the locality spread among the other men, and for 

 a long time the ground could not be surveyed. On 

 another occasion three native surveyors having seen 

 a tiger, climbed a rock and remained there all night. 

 In the morning they managed to convey an appeal 

 to the oflactr in charge to come to their relief, which 

 he did, but without seeing anything of the tiger. 

 This place was also in disfavour for some time after- 

 wards. But a much worse case was that of the 

 itarhwal man-eater; this tiger had killed a very large 

 number, some 300 or 400 it was said, of woodcutters 

 within thg area which had to be surveyed, The 

 76 



superintendent was aware that if he lost one of hi 

 men he would probably be obliged to abandon the 

 work, and he took all means in his power to ac- 

 complish its destruction; but although the trail was 

 twice followed, and the bodies of men who had 

 been carried off were discovered, the tiger was not 

 bagged. At last, as none of the survey party were 

 touched, an idea gained ground among the men that 

 the tiger bore them no ill-will, and they considered 

 themselves perfectly safe if they could satisfy him 

 of their identity, which they were content to do by 

 carrying aloft in a cleft bamboo an old envelope from 

 the superintendent's wastepaper basket ! The natives 

 present a strange mixture of bravery and cowardice ; 

 they do not hesitate to express fear when they feel 

 it, and do not seem to think that to be afraid is 

 anything to be ashamed of, but at the .same time 

 they freiiueiitly perform acts that appear recklessly 

 brave. An old man of seventy, armed with a tulwar, 

 has been seen hunting about in the tall grass for a 

 wounded tiger which was lying concealed close by 

 him, and he had ultimately to be forced into a 

 position of safety on the back of an elephant. On 

 another occasion a bear had taken up his quarters iii 

 a dense part of the forest, and had killed several 

 bamboo-cutters who had unwittingly invaded his re- 

 treat; a man who had just been mauled by him in- 

 sisted in joining a passing Englishman who sent in 

 search of the bear, and could not be persuaded to 

 keep behind the rifle, but advanced boldly into the 

 beast's lair, anxious to take a leading part in the re- 

 tribution which shortly overtook him. The servant of 

 a noted sportsman in the North- Western Provinces 

 once proposed to his master that he should walk 

 past a dense piece of cover in which a wounded tiger 

 was lying, in order that the animal might be induced 

 to spring out into the open and thus afford a good 

 shot ! 



THE TIMBER TREES OF CEYLON. 



Under the title " TimJier Trees of Ceylon, by 

 Mudaliyar Mendis, with Notes on them by W. 

 Ferguson, F.L.S.," a pamphlet of twenty-three pages 

 has been issued from the Ceyloii Ohserver press in 

 Colombo. This little book is valuable as throwing 

 some light not only on the botanical source of the 

 trees, but on the character of the woods and the 

 uses to which they are put in Ceylon. The timber 

 trees of Ceylon are interesting in consequence of 

 the general hardness of their woods and the fine 

 colour of figure of many of them ; but notwith.stand- 

 ing this, Ceylon woods, with the exception of a few 

 such as ebony and calamander, [Surely satin wood 

 ought to be added as far as Europe is concerned, 



: while palmyra, halinilila, and several other Ceylon tim- 

 bers are valued in India. — Ed.] are scarcely known 



I out of their own country. Many of the species, 

 however, are common to various parts of India. It 

 is a fact that though most of the dependencies of 

 the British Crown have at some time made a dis- 

 play of their timber resources by exhibiting large 

 and striking slabs at some of the Interntitioaal ex- 



I hibitions, the exhibits of Ceylon have always been 

 of a more diminutive character. An excellent col> 



I lection of Ceylon woods, however, was .shown at the 



; International Exhibition at South Kensington in 1S62, 



i It consisted of about IGO specimens each about 21 

 inches long, 3 inches wide, and 1 inch thick, They 



! were all well seasoned and polished ; but though 

 well selected, aud many of them finely-figured pieces, 

 they were too narrow to give a good general idea 

 of what the woods would be like in bulk. And 

 here we may perhaps say a few words upon selecting 

 and preparing woods for exhibition purposes. Dead 

 wood should in all cases be rejected, and a fair 

 average sample taken from properly-felled timber : 

 the section should be cut in the case of large 

 slabs through the centre of the tree, so as to show 

 the sapwood as well as the heart-wood, so that the 

 proportion of each may be seen at a glance ; thr 

 bark showid al?o be left on the edge's. For sm^U 



