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THE tROfTCAL AGRICULTURIST. [April i, $887. 



Coffee-crop PKOsrEcis — We hear that in con- 

 sequence of the showers we mentioned a fortnight 

 ago iv. the Ouchterlouy Valley and Gudalur. there 

 is now a fine display of vigorous blossom which, 

 with a continuation of a favourable weather, should 

 lesu in large crops. — .S. 1. Ob.<t-ri-,T. 



Brazilian Evisiser Expokts— during ISSO (ac- 

 cording to the American OroccrJ were *-'8,157,2i);t 

 pounds, of which IT.lll.tUVi pounds were to the 

 United States and ll,01."),t)37 pounds to Europe. 

 The stock in Brazil, Jan. Isi 1SS6, was •2.:13">,100 

 pounds, and at the close of the year, Dec. ;>lst 

 1886, 1,541,375 pounds. 



TuK Eecexx " Peitkrktte " disclosures, which 

 prove that a great deal of what is commonly culled 

 pepper is really ground olive stones, will not sur- 

 prise people acquainted with the tasteless powder 

 usually to be found in restaurant pepper-casters. 

 The only way to defend oneself against the adul- 

 teration of coffee is to grind it oneself, and the 

 same applies to pepper. — Globe. 



Tea : Bonded Goods. — The monthly account of 

 the quantities of bonded goods remaining in the 

 Customs and Excise warehouses of the United 

 Kingdoiu on January 31st as publislied in the B. 

 Bill of Entry, shows a stock of tea amounting to 

 100, 38(5. 3751b., against 108,151,0011b. in 1880 and 

 llt>,310,t)77lb. in 1885 ; cocoa. S,931.9i181b., against 

 (5,1(54, 3031b. in 1886 and 0,875.895 in 1885 ; coffee, 

 283.327 cwt., against 3r_',735cwt. and 372,523cwt. 

 respectively. 



Gold in Borneo. — We have been shewn by Hadji 

 Braliim a sample of coarse gold from the Bole 

 river got a short distance above its junction with 

 the Segama river, one piece is half quartz, and 

 evidently not traveled from the matrix. In the 

 opinion of the diggers in Sandakan the quartz reefs 

 containing the gold are not far to seek. The dry wea- 

 ther and the search of experienced miners will 

 doubtless bring them to light. — BritUh North Borneo 

 Merald. 



Vanilla Ccltivation. — Mr. W. H. Wright's 

 culture of Vanilla — an orchid be it remembered-^ 

 is likely to be most successful. On his two 

 brickwork circles of trellis work at Wilhelmsruhe, 

 Mr. Wright has up to date artilicially fertilised 

 no less than 3,000 tlowers. He is also' trying ex- 

 periments with gum arable and with ants in modes 

 of fructification. It must be remembered that to 

 Mr. Wright — in the old Peradeniya days of 30 

 years ago — belongs the credit of being perhaps 

 the lirst in Ceylon to cultivate Vanilla for the 

 European market. Some pods sent by Mr. Wright 

 to an Exhibition in Sir Henry Ward's time were 

 valued at 5 guinea! the pound. A portion of the same 

 Vanilla was sold at that rate in London through 

 Messrs. Baring Brothers." On .that occasion the 

 Committee, (.Messrs. Kawdon-Power, Layard. Ac.) 

 red-tape-like, decided that Mr. Wright's small 

 assortment could not be sent on. So also 

 said other big-wig officials when applied to. Mr. 

 Wright asked to see the Governor. Mr. 

 John Bailey and others in attendance said : 

 " Impossible — Sir Henry is deeply engaged 

 with the mail." But " Mr. Wright persisted 

 and finally got an interview, with the result 

 that like the heai-ty. manly English gentle- 

 man he was. Sir Henry entered into the Pera- 

 deniya Assistant's experiment with the greatest 

 interest. " Stop the mail'" was the Governor's 

 cry ;— but it was too late. " Well then prepare a 

 runner express at once " was the order and all 

 this for Mr. Wright's Vanilla ! No wonder though 

 Sir Henry Ward endeared himself at every turn 

 in his Government of Ceylon. — Mr. Wright's ex- 

 periment at Wilhelmsruhe is merely preliminary 

 to cultivation at Mirigame where about 10 acres 



are being devoted to Vanilla— Dr. Triuien has 

 pronounced Mr. Wright's garden Vanilla the finest 

 he has ever seen. 



CoiKEE AND Caffeine. — Some interesting ex- 

 pcriiueuts have recently been made by Dr. B. H. Paul 

 and Mr. A. J. Cowuley on coffee berrie.s iu the un- 

 roasted state, and the results as published by them have 

 revealed several important facts hitherto imperfectly 

 understood or erroneously recorded in chemical liter- 

 ature. Many varieties of raw colfee, it is well-known, 

 come into our markets, and their value varies so greatly 

 that it is natural to suppose that their quality, eo far 

 as caffeine content is concerned, may vary proportion- 

 ately, and a semblance of reality is given to th's sup- 

 po>iitiou by the published data,* which put down the 

 percentage of caftVine in raw coffee as from a fraction 

 of 1 per cent, to as much as 3-64 per cent. Dr. Paul 

 and his coadjutor have examined altogether about a 

 dozen different kinds of cotfee, r.nd find that, instead 

 of the percentage of alkaloid being variable, it is won- 

 derfully constant; for example, Oeorp coffee beans 

 yielded M per cent, (the minimum), while the maxi- 

 mum. 1-3S per cent., was shown by Liberian coffee, 

 the variety which has been found to withstand climatic 

 iutluences under which all others succumb. Continued 

 experiments corroborate the first results, and it is fairly 

 established that pure coffee may be judged by the 

 amount of c:iffeiue which it contaius, about 1-3 per cent. 

 being taken as the standard for roasted coffee. Con- 

 sequently, the fraudulent sale ot mixtures of coffee 

 with chicory or other less valuable substances is now 

 rendered ea^y of detection by Paul and Oowuley's dis- 

 covery, and they have rendered important service to 

 chemical analyses by it. Another statement which they 

 .sppear to liave disproved is that caffeine is volatilised 

 from coffee beans during the roasting process, for they 

 find that the roasted beaus contain proportionately 

 the same amount of alkaloid as the raw beans. — 

 Chemist and ftruritji.it. 



Coffee in Africa. — A planter writes : - 

 •' Have you seen the annexed from the ' Free 

 Church of Scotland Monthly Eecord' for January 

 re coffee planting in Central Africa. I remem- 

 ber going in company with the late Professor 

 Balfour of Edinburgh, through the . Edinburgh 

 Botanic Ciardens, and if I mistake not seeing the 

 very coffee trees from which the seed sent out 

 was derived, and at that time they had a quantity 

 of white bug, the common white coffee bug of 

 Ceylon, on them. No attempt had been made to 

 take off" the bug, though I daresay there being only 

 one or two trees, it might easily Iiave been done :^ 

 ' 2. African Missionary Coffee : — We have re- 

 ceived from Mr. Ewring, Secretary of the African 

 Lake Company, a sample of coffee dra.vn from the 

 Company's tirst shipment of African coffee. Its 

 history is noteworthy. Of three plants sent out to 

 Shire Hills from the Edinburgh Botanic (i.ardeus 

 one survived. That plant has, in eight years, by 

 the careful culture of the Messrs. Moir,' (sons of 

 the well known Dr. Moir of Edinburgh) 'and their 

 assistants, produced seventy bags of many hundred- 

 vveiuhts, of the finest coff'ee. The culture is a coui- 

 miiviil success, and should result iu time in the 

 covering of all the hills and plateaus around the 

 lakes with the best foe of the slave trade and 

 substitute for fast disappearing ivory.' Note. — I 

 fear, however, tbey are reckoning without another 

 foe viz. leaf disease. It will, indeed, be strange if 

 this coffee should be without it.'' i Africa is. of 

 course, the home of coffee : and in Abyssinia on the 

 east, as in Liberia on the west, and no doubt in 

 other parts, the shrub or trees can be found growing 

 wild. But to get over the difficulties of securing 

 steady labour, tra>ti>port d'c, will take many years, 

 and it will be long before an appreciable effect is 

 made on the exports and world's supply. Taking 

 coffee plants from Edinburgh to Africa seems like 

 taking coals to Newcastle. — Ed,] 



