04^ 



*rM fmPtCAL AdlnCtJtTXSm^f. [April i, 1887. 



Ion there is no absolute cessation of growth and 

 consequently no intermission of work. Only twice 

 a year, in most years, will there be less to do — in 

 the dryNorth-East and the wet Bouth-West months,- — 

 and tlie question may be raised, whether both planters 

 and plants might not be benefited were " flush " 

 allowed to pass into " bangy leaf " during one 

 month of each monsoon. 



In a future issue we shall compare Ceylon figures 

 with Indian, on this interesting subject. 



— — -^ 



WONDERFUL DISCOVERIES : INDIARUBBER 



IN WOUNDS. 



The medical journals for the past ten years have 

 given accounts of wonderful discoveries in surgical 

 science, and of their application in practice — the 

 filling of large, deep wounds with sponge, and the 

 organization and assimilation of the latter ; skin- 

 grafting, bone-grafting, and the successful adjust- 

 ment and regrowth of fingers. Recently two other 

 wonderful discoveries have been reported. One is 

 the organization of rubber within the animal 

 tissues ; the other, the organization of blood-clots, 

 their formation into new tissue, and the application of 

 them to the surer and better healing of surgical wounds. 

 As to the first, it appears that Professor Vanlair, 

 of France, had, in a certain case, inserted a drain- 

 age-tube, of ordinary gray vulcanized rubber, one' 

 and one-fourth inches in length and one-fifth in 

 diameter, and that this, at the end of seven months, 

 seemed to have undergone partial absorption. But, 

 on examining it with a microscope, it was 

 found that the substance of the rubber had become 

 truly organized ; that the lower end of the tube had 

 become fully assimilated to the surrounding tissue, 

 and had wholly lost its original form ; that the part 

 of the tube next above this had lost its original 

 shapeless appearance, and had acquired a complex 

 structure, showing fine connecting tissue fibres with 

 eel's of various forms between them, and very 

 numerous capillary blood-ve.ssels. 



Says the Medical Eecord : — " That Indiarubber 

 can thus become organized is the moi'e remarkable 

 when we consider that it is a pure vegetable exud- 

 ation, devoid of all structure, and seemingly more 

 oalculated to act as a foreign body and so prevent 

 the union of the wounded surfaces, than to under, 

 go organization to and become thus and integral 

 part of the animal tissue." — Companion. 



COFIEE IN THE STRAITS. 

 A French newspaper, the Uniz'ers Commercial, 

 thus sets forth the advantages of Johore and 

 Singapore, for coffee gr.^wing :— Judging from the 

 latest and most trustworthy advices in cofi'ee 

 estates in all lands where the article is grown, 

 fhere prevails a disease which, according to many 

 is nothing more or less than the blight which seizes 

 upon the vine plant, It bears the name of IJemileia 

 i'emtatri.r, Ceylon, where formerly coffee was largely 

 cultivated, grows now but little. The plantations 

 In British India are in danger of going the same way. 

 Those in Java are alst imperiled, and the Brazilian 

 ones fare no better. We must draw attention to the 

 circumstance that it is only the Arabian varifty 

 which becomes stricken in this fashion. But an- 

 other kind, called Liberian, brought from the 

 west coast of Africa, which, in the fertile soil of 

 Brazil, reaches sometimes the height of forty feet, 

 does withstand the disease, at least so it is re- 

 ported. Mr. Tj. E. Chassereau one of the most 

 experienced planters in the East Indies writes 

 as follows regarding this subject : Now that 

 coflee growing has in general fallen oH in con- 

 fpquence Of this disease, which has gained 9 



firm foothold in all lands producing that article, 

 it would be worth while to set up a company 

 for starting large plantations of Liberian Coffee 

 in the island of Singapore and in the State 

 of .Tohore. These plantations are expected to 

 take up 3,000 hectares (about 7, ">00 acres.) An under- 

 taking like this may be successfully set on foot in 

 the abovementioned countries where coolie labour 

 never falls short of the demand. The climate of 

 Singapore and that of the whole Malay Peninsula, 

 as well as the composition of the soil, are admir- 

 ably adapted to the coffee tree. In time of drought 

 Arabian coffee trees lie under a serious disadvantage 

 owing to their roots not going down deep enough. 

 The roots of the Liberian variety, on the contrary, 

 strike out so vigorously that they easily find their 

 way to a great depth in search of the moisture 

 they need. A plantation taking in 1,000 hectares 

 would require a capital of about 900,000 

 francs. It is undoubtedly pretty well known 

 that the production of coffee which begins 

 when the tree attains its third year of 

 of growth, reaches its utmost limit in the sixth 

 year. But, so says Mr. L. E. Chasseriau, a planta- 

 tion of the above mentioned acreage at that period 

 represents a value amounting to a couple of mil- 

 lions of francs. The island of Singapore is one 

 of the healthiest spots on the globe. The larger 

 of the plantations could be utilised as a nursery 

 of young planters who, in two or three years, would 

 lay in a stock of experience and knowledge suffici- 

 ent to admit of their setting up for themselves 

 in this difficult line of business. These young 

 planters would do well in that case to betake them- 

 selves to Cochin China, Cambodia, Annam, and 

 Tonquin. In these countries both climate and 

 temperature are highly suitable for the coffee plant. 

 France, which has extensive colonies in that quarter 

 of the world, might materially profit by this advice 

 from Mr. L. E. Chasseriau. In Tonquin and the 

 other countries named, cofi'ee might flourish free 

 from leaf disease. 



Tka in Fiji.— The reports for tea from the 

 plantations still continue very encouraging, and the 

 reports of exports upon the product could not 

 well be more favourable. One sample of flowery 

 orange pekoe is marked as worth from 7s to 8s 

 per lb. in London,— Cor., Sydney Morning Herald, 

 Jan, ith. 



J. K. Aemsbv ox Coffee. — The following 

 characteristic paragraph is from the American 

 Grocer : Mr, J. K, Armsby has been looking into 

 the coffee question. This is what he finds : — 



Coffees are just humping themselves; you could 

 not keep them down with a pile-driver. Arbuckle, 

 who has been on the bear aide and has been 

 trying to sit on our boys who have been on the 

 other side, has paid for his mistake and has con- 

 fessed his sins, and is now singing just as high notes 

 in the coffee chorus as anybody. They think that 

 the market 's going up because the crop is short, 

 but while the stock is short now, yet the crop was 

 reported a large one, and that is what fooled Arbuc- 

 kle. He couldn't tell what had become of the coffee, 

 but the writer has found out. Al.AVhyJaud knew all 

 the time, but he kept the thing quiet, but last week 

 he sent a can of his Momaja coffee, and the secret 

 was out. The blarraed stuff is so good that every- 

 body takes three cups instead of one, and are drink- 

 ing it three times a day. Nobody wants tea — every- 

 body wants Moiuaja. Look at the tea market, and 

 then .Tt colfee 1 What makes the difference ".' Momaja. 

 Oh, Whyland is a twister I If he has a customer 

 come in that is a little hard bitted he gives him a 

 dose of iS'atrolithic Water to take the old brown 

 taste out of his month and then gives him a cup of 

 Momaja, and the fellow wants to buyj everything iij 

 sight. 



