Feb. r, 1887.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



551^ 



Spider Silk. — Mr, Dutliie, SuperiuUndant of the 

 Saharunpur Botauic Gardeu, repuns that he cau.sed 

 to be collected spider's web to be used for weaving 

 purposes. The total weight collected in the se ison 

 was ouly 10 1b., aud the cost of collectiou will pro- 

 bab y prove too great to render the material of any 

 coiULutrcial importance. — Gardenera' Chronicle. 



The German Potash Trade. — The production of 

 chloride of potash for 1886 is announced at 1.923,9!i4 

 centners, to which stocks at the beginning of the yi-ar 

 must be added, viz., 103,737 CfUtners, in order to get 

 at the quantity open for tale, viz.. 2,027,731 centmrs. 

 The saies amounted to 2,041,849 centners up to 

 November 30 (though, of courNe all had not been 

 dflivered) so that thu sales of 1885 will be c< n-iderably 

 exceetied this year. The improved condition of the 

 river Elbe has been of great service to the chloride of 

 putafih trade lately. Orders for about 300,000 centners 

 of goods of high percentage have arrived from 

 America this month, and a large spring demand may 

 be counted on f r( m that country. The industry is at 

 present in a very gratifying position. --C/ifwu'a? ^Dntgyist. 

 The NiLGiEi Nettle. - From recent advices troin 

 Madras we learn that there ha.s been formed at 

 Ootacamund a society for furthering the acquirement 

 of more intimate knowledge of the botany, geology, 

 and ornithology of the district. The society hits been 

 named the Nilgiri Natural History Society. Mr. 

 Lawson is the first president, and Mr. David Hooper, 

 the Government quinolojiist, acts as Secretary. At 

 present, meetings are held fortnightly and excursions 

 are also made. It is contemplated to form a museum 

 of the specimens which are collected on these excur- 

 sions. .At the last meetings of the society Mr. Hooper 

 read a note on the sting of the Nilgiri nett e {iHrardinia 

 ralmata). This nettle yields a useful fibre, but from 

 the number of stings that clothe all parts it is very 

 difficult to collect it. The stings, or glandular hairs, 

 resemble in shape those of the common nettle (Urtica 

 dioica). They leave no abrasure of the skin or 

 dangerous symptoms the next day. The re.sult of Mr. 

 Hooper's examination of the secreting flaid of the 

 sting is that he has found it to contain formic acid, 

 thebody to which is due the irritating effects of the 

 sting of such insects as red ants, bees, and mosquitoes 

 As the nature of the sting of nettles has been a point of 

 uncertainty, Mr. Hooper's observation is of considerable 

 interest. — Chemist and Dmgyiet. 



SotTB PoMKLLOK. — A notice appeared in a recent 

 number of the Society's Proceedirgs under the ab(>ve 

 heading and in reference to it, Mr. B irtlett writes as 

 follows: — " I observe in your published Report of Pro- 

 ceedings for the month of October, that mention is matle 

 of a iS'OHr P«mel/oe. Dr. Boiiavia writing about this lime 

 expresses a wish to know the history of its introduction 

 into Calcutta, and you add that no information is 

 traceable in the records of the Society on the subject. 

 I am giad to be able to throw some light on the 

 matter. Some 40 years ago a relative of mine, who 

 was then residing at Augurtollah, in Independent 

 Tipperah, found the lime in qu- stion growing wild at 

 that place, and he sent me a plsn', which he des gnated, 

 in default of a better name as the ''Family Lime," 

 probably in allusion to the circumstance of the fruit 

 yielding an abnorinal quautity of juice; but.un'ortu- 

 nately he did not give me the native name of the plant. 

 On its fruiting in my garden, several of my friends 

 asked me for grafts, and I obtained a large number and 

 distributed them tij the ex'ent I was able ; at the s.iuie 

 time I sent one to the late Secretary for the Society's 

 garden, which no doubt is the identicul lime you speak 

 of. It is a free cropper, bearing from 50 to 60 fruit every 

 season. From each of 'he larger fruits I have obt»ined 

 a quart of juice. I always found seeds in the fruit. 

 No ill effects were produced from the use of the juice, 

 though intensely acid, and more stiarp than that found 

 in any of the others of the family that I know. I also 

 found the rind, with the thick coating of pi h attached, 

 excellent candied. No doubt Dr. li onavia must b ve 

 seen the fruit in the Lucknow gardens, to which pluce 

 I sent a plant some years back, as a M mber of the 

 Eumsian Association of Mysore met wiht it at that 

 gardeu, and, learn'Dg from whence it was obtained, 

 wrote to me for s^ads, with tv vi«w to the introductioa 



of the plant in the farms they were then establishing, 

 accoriliiigly I forward ed about one hundred seeds. 

 — From th Proceedings of the Agriculttiral and Horti- 

 cultural Socii^ti/ of India. 



(JocoNUTS.— Veyangoda, 21st January. — Yesterday's 

 fall gauged 25 of an inch, and more seems in store 

 for us. The result of the raio is that coconuts are 

 droppintf freely. This, I suppose, is owing to a process 

 of fermentaliou or heating of the sap being induced 

 by its being partially cooled by a small shower of rain. 

 Observation shows tint a good heavy plump of rain 

 after a rainless period is not followed by such disast-rous 

 effects as a slight shower is, when the effect is almost 

 immediate. Re coconut Oil, what if analysis should 

 prove that our Oil is poorer ttian Cochin oil in stearine, 

 aud a ch"mi8t sugi^est remedies ? How many pro jrie- 

 tors will adopt improved or rational cultivation ? 

 Unlike Coffee, Tea, and other products in the hands of 

 Europeans, the bu k of our Copperah is produced by 

 small peasant-properietors. If improved methods of 

 cultivation be adopted by enlighreaed Proprietors 

 resulting in an increase of stearine in the Copperah 

 aud therefore oil — apart from its whiteness, the value 

 of each lot of Copperah will have to be tested by an- 

 alysis, as in the case of Cinchona. This will hardly pay 

 unless the test be easy and inexpeniive. — " Examiner ". 

 Puddling Clay. — It is stated in the Aberdeen Fret 

 Press that Mr. Thomas Praser of King Street, 

 Aberdeen, has discovered a new method of preparing 

 clay for preventing leakage in reservoirs, water tanks, 

 &c. an I has taken the necessary steps to have his 

 invention patented. Hitherto it has been the general 

 practice, wheu clay has been used in conne 'tiou with 

 the construction of waterworks, and for other simi- 

 lar purposes, to apply it in a thoroughly wet and 

 plastic condition. From a series of scientifically- 

 conducted experiments, Mr. Fraser has come to the 

 conclusion that far better results can be obtained by 

 drying the clay, and reducing it to a fine powder, before 

 applying it to the bed of a reservoir or to anything 

 which it is desired to render watertight. A long con- 

 nection with the brick and tile busiiiesa led him to 

 study closely the properties of clay, especially when 

 used as a preparation, out of which a variety of articles ' 

 had to be manufactured. He learned from observ- 

 ation that in a wet state, clay had reached its extreme 

 point of expansion, and that water would then filter 

 through it. Having ascertained this fact, he concluded 

 that if clay were used for puddling in a dry com-, 

 pressed state, it would absorb a certain percentage of 

 water, expansion naturally following and rendering 

 the layer water tight. The greater the pressure of 

 water, the more satisfactory the results are said to 

 be. Mr. Fraser began hia experiments by selecting 

 hia clay from a special bed, out of which be cut a 

 square. The specimen was carefully measured and 

 weighed. After it was thoroughly dried, its dimen- 

 sions aud weight were again taken, when it was found 

 that the clay had lost 25 percent in weight, whil« 

 the shrinkage was 10 per ceMt. Clay in this dry state 

 is extremely hard aud compact, and if put into water 

 and not allowed to expand, it woald require a lon^ 

 time before water would penetrate to the centre of 

 a Bin. tube. Another specimen of clay, from the same 

 bed as the former one, was dried, and reduceil to a 

 fine powder- In this loose condition it absorbed about 

 75 per cent of the water, which filtered through it. 

 Wheu the clay was prevented from expanding, it was 

 found to absorb 50 per cent of water, which filtered 

 a little. Powdered clay to the depth of 6 in. waa 

 pressed into a tube 8 ft. long by 3 in. in diameter, and 

 having 2 in. of perforated zinc at the bottom. Th« 

 tube was then fill«d with water, with the result that 

 the clay absorbed 35 p«r cent., but there were no 

 traces of filtration. Mr. Fraser is confident that the 

 method he has hit upon, besides being more efficient 

 ia also more economical in every way than the man- 

 ner of using pu Idled clay now iu vogue. He ia 

 aanguiue that it could be beneficially applied iu 

 covering arches, in preparing a perfect bed for street 

 cause-wayiiig, or, in fact, for the prevention of 

 leakage in any description of work that has to be 

 made waterproof from interuAl or extornal preianrs. 

 — Indian Eng%n»«r. 



