586 



TtiU TMOPI.CAL AGHlCULTUmST. [Maucu i, 1887. 



better chance to those who must perforce continue 

 harvesting. I am too late for a resolution on he 

 subject for the coming meeting, but I hope he 

 matter may not be allowed to fall to the ground, 

 for apart from every other reason, it will be a 

 little ungracious to Government, to say nothing of 

 the Java Association, whom we asked to procure 

 information for us. — Yours faithfully, 



JAMES SINCLAIR. 

 [The conditions of cinchona cultivation are such 

 that only a very distant approximation can be ob- 

 tained and we believe the compiler of the Ceylon 

 Handbook will come as near the mark as is possible. 

 It would be to the interest of planters, no doubt, that 

 a low estimate should be given, but all who have 

 travelled and used their eyes must feel that there 

 is much cinchona culture still in Ceylon. — Ed.] 



PETROLEUM AS FUEL. 

 Colombo, Iron Works, 14th February 1887. 



Dear Sik, — The question of petroleum as a fuel 

 for use on tea estates is one which from time to 

 time has engaged the attention of your correspond- 

 ents. As the day cannot be very far off when 

 firewood will be at a premium in Ceylon, there 

 will be room for some other fuel and realizing 

 this fact we have for a considerable time been 

 collecting what reliable data we could get re- 

 garding petroleum fuel and the appliances for 

 using it. In August last year our Mr. Frank 

 Walker, accompanied by Mr. J. L. Shand, inspected 

 a boiler fitted with a patent liquid fuel apparatus 

 for the consumption of petroleum. It is claimed 

 for this fuel that a ton of crude petroleum will 

 get up as much steam as 2^ tons of coal 

 and there is no smoke dust or stoking. The 

 apparatus can readily be put into existing fur- 

 naces and taken out if the oil sh-iuld run out 

 of stock. There is no doubt about the working 

 and getting up steam, and so far as Ceylon is 

 concerned the whole question hinges on the price 

 of the unrefined oil in Colombo. 



Now this question of price is our difticulty 

 and we fear that for the present all thought 

 of using this liquid fuel in our tea factories 

 must be abandoned. 



The nearest oil wells are in Burmah and we 

 have for some time been in correspondence with 

 the proprietors of these wells regarding the im- 

 portation of the crude oil into Ceylon. 



The result of our enquiries is that we estimate 

 the cost of this oil at R1'20 per ton (say 6 

 casks of about iO gallons each to the ion) de- 

 livered in Colombo. Coal costs say R24 per ton 

 and '2k tons coal costing RGO are required to 

 develop" as much steam as one ton crude oil costing 

 E.120. That is to say, the oil is just double the 

 price of coal, The oil is cheap enough at Ran- 

 goon where it only costs 25 cts. per gallon. The 

 chafges to Coloinbg double the original cost, The 

 f.mkfi coHt Ri each fliul wo cannot get a freight 

 HUotation by Hleamer undei' IX'-^M pel' caak. 



WiUi regald (o the method of Using oil as 

 fuel tttld tlie resulta to be obtained from it as 

 compared with CD<il the following extracts from a 

 letter from the iiaMgeon Oil Company may be 

 of- interest to your readefri ',-'-- 



" We may say that we use steatti iiijeetoi-s and 

 we have also recently jiuade trial of a seller of 

 of troughs placed one above another in the fine 

 of the boiler. The oil runs first into the top 

 trough and overflows into the second and so on 

 according to the number of troughs used. This 

 latter plan has an advantage over the cteam 

 injector in as much as it is necessary to get up 

 steam on the boiler before the injector can be used. 

 With regard to results as compared with coal 

 there seei;is to be a great difereqce of opinion 



and probably very much depends upon the kind of 

 work which has to be done. We notice from the 

 report of a lecture delivered at Bombay by 

 a Mr. F. Wallace that the heat producing 

 power of a pound of coal compared with 

 a pound of petroleum is roughly as 12 

 to 19, but that experiments conducted on a 

 large scale have given results much more 

 favourable to petroleum. He adds that a good 

 ordinary boiler such as may be found in many 

 of the mills in Bombay will evaporate 6J pounds 

 of water per pound of coal burnt and taking this 

 as a basis of comparison, results have been ob- 

 tained from petroleum as follows : — 



By Richard at the Cotton Mills in TiHis, lb. 



Caucasus ... .. 10.83 



,, Nobel Bras at Baku . . . . 14. 



,, Government Exporters at Moscow 14. 



,, Karl Ludigat Baku .. ,. 16. 



,, Brandt on Locomotives, Baku .. 16. 



,, Hydon at Woolwich Arsenal 19.5 



He takes the average at 16 lb. or 146 per cent, 

 beyond the effect of coal." 



The patentee of the apparatus inspected by 

 Mr. J. L. Shand and Mr. F. Walker states that 

 "weight for weight or bulk for bulk, the liquid 

 fuel will do from twice to two and-a-half times 

 the work of coal." Any way we regret to say our 

 enquiries have 'satistied us that nothing can be 

 done at present in this colony with petroleum as 

 a substitute for firewood, but it is impossible to 

 say what changes may be brought about in the 

 course of a few years. The fuel is cheap enough 

 at the seat of its production, the mechanical ap- 

 pliances for using it are satisfactory and the only 

 question now remaining to be solved is how to 

 overcome the difficulty and cost of transport. — We 

 are, dear sir, yours faithfully, 



JOHN WALKER & Co. 



A Forage Plant. — The eastern districts of the 

 Cape are indebted to Jlr. J. B. Hellier, who brought 

 with him from Cape Town a plant of a recently-in- 

 troduced cactus from Mauritius, which is like the 

 ordi^Dary prickly pear in appearance, except for the 

 important difference that it has not a single thorn 

 or hair upon it. It is used in Mauritius as a forage 

 plant, and it is expected that it will prove a most 

 valuable boon to colonial farmers, as furnishing food 

 for their stock in the dry season without the hindrance 

 ot damaging the mouths of the cattle as the prickly 

 pear does. — Colonii-s and India. [Might be found 

 useful in the north and east of Ceylou i' — Ed.] 



The British Borneo Trading & Planting Co. (Ltd.) 

 is being circulated privately for subscription at the 

 present time. It has a capital of £100,000 in £1 shares. 

 Of these the present issue is £30,000. The Company 

 has been formed for the purpose of carrying on the 

 business of merchants, agents, and planters, in and 

 with British North Borneo, and of acquiring a con- 

 cession of 1^0,000 ftcre? of land granted b^ the Gov- 

 ernment of that territory, and conveniently Bitu= 

 ated in tha neighbourhood of Sdndakan. It is pro= 

 poned to carry on trading find planting, the profits of 

 the company being derived from the following soUrce8| 

 viz;-~Ths Bale of the timb^'r, forest and other produce 

 on its estates, and the cultivation and sale of agri- 

 cultural produce. Advances to natives or planters 

 for agricultural purposes, and purchase and sale of 

 the produce. The business of laud agents, acquiring 

 building land, advances on property, erecting houses, &Ci 

 From royalties on fibre ttl ichiues, for which the Com- 

 pany have made arrangements with Mr. Death for the 

 exclusive rights to use and let on royalty in the terri- 

 tory his patent fibre extracling machine. The payment 

 to be made for the concession and the rights over 

 Death's machine has been fixed at £3,500 in cash, £1,500 

 fully paid ordinary shares, and £10,000 in fully paid 

 deferred shares. '£]xQ (ioiipimmiaire is Mr. J. J. Duuo. 



