Feb. I, 1887.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



567 



neath, with little nearly black legs, almost hidden 

 under the body. The whole insect is covered over 

 with a thick cottouy excretion. It adheres to the 

 younger branches and twigs, from which it sucks the 

 juice- I think that from this rough description any- 

 one else who should happen to meet with the prst 

 may be able to recognise it. "With regard to Mr. 

 Dunn's suggestion that a short bill should be intro- 

 duced for dealing with the in'roduction of noxious 

 insects, were a Government entomolngist appoiuted, 

 as suggested in the articles on " E ■onumic Entomology " 

 which you published, it cjuld ha his duty to attend 

 to the inspection of all plants and seeds passed through 

 the Custom-house. Bat any action in this direction 

 on the part of Victoria would be of little use unless 

 there were united action by all the colonies. The 

 matter is undoubtedly one of great importance. 



A TRIP TO OHILA^^^ 

 The bank pongol holidays with two other additional 

 days, enabled me last month to visit Chilaw where I 

 have some precious possessions. We left by the morn- 

 ing coach to Negombo, a road in which there is nothing 

 particular to note, save a coconut tree in bearing, the 

 trunk of which has grown in the shape of the letter O, 

 and a double-headed arecanut tree, both on the road- 

 side near about the town. An engraving of this extra- 

 ordinary coconut tree appeared in the "Ceylon Miscel- 

 lany," ' which has ceased to exist, not for want of suppor- 

 ters but for want of contributors. Such has been the fate 

 of every ephemeral production in Ceylon that depended 

 upon unpaid help from the public.* 



The road to Chilaw is lined by teak and Banyan 

 trees, and is kept in good order ; we skirted the canal 

 as far as Madampe. 



All rouad the town of Ohilaw, tjbacco was being 

 transplanted from nurseries into gardens. This plant is 

 cultivated, first by heavily manuring the ground, and 

 then watering it twice a day during the dry months 

 of the year. It is harvested about April and when 

 cured becomes a valuable commodity, 50 leaves of the 

 first quality being worth from R4 to E5. The leaf is 

 exceedingly brittle when green and cracks on a slight 

 touch, which is, therefore, carefully guarded agaiust 

 and the roots are so sensitive that if they encounter a 

 stone or a stump, the whole tree withers and die. 



The cattle here are miserably lean, there being no 

 pasturage; but the cocouuD trees in this districc are 

 par excelttncf the best iu the island, both from their 

 size as well as their tertiiity, although I was told that 

 some years ago thousands of treea were killed by 

 drought. 



The friiiud who accompanied me is a coconut plan- 

 ter of the Colombo district, who grew quite enthusias- 

 tic on tlie subject, comparing the worst Chilaw tree 

 with the best in his plantation. 



There is plenty of water communication inland, and 

 splendid opportunities for boating and sniliog &c. 

 An adventurous proctor was about to order an English 

 boat from Colombo for his own use. 



Nephthvtis Ubeeica. — At present this rare Aroid is 

 somewuat attractive in the Aroid-tiouse at Kew. The 

 heads of bright yellow frui s — each ot whioU is about 

 the sizrf and shape of a small Ootfee berry — are uorne 

 on erect scapes nearly as loag as the peiioies of tLie 

 triangularly sagittate green leaves. Ttie species was 

 introduced from Liberia halt-a-dozen yenrs ago, — 

 Gardener^i' Chronicle. 



The " Pio.SEER " ox the Ceylo.\ Tea Industry. — 

 Returns for I836 published iu last mail's Economist 

 show that tea is rapidly taking the place of cotfee as 

 the main expert staple of Ceyiou. Since the appear- 

 ance of the leaf fungus the cultivation of coffee has 

 steadily dechned, and last year the exports fell by 

 over 90,000 cwts. On the other band tUe exports of 



* Yes, but where were our corrcispou.leat's eyt-s wlieu 

 he failed to admire tlie many bsau.itul reaches on 

 the road to Negombo, with coconut pa.ms aud other 

 trees meeting overhead. Tliere are also ciunamon 

 gardens, rivers, pretty native cottages, fee, — Ed. 



tea rose last year by over three million pounds, or 

 more than 50 per cent., and an equal nroportionate 

 increase is estimated for the current commercial year. 

 These facts are of cou-siderable interest to Indian tea- 

 growers. The Oeylun exports are, of course, at pre- 

 sent a mere fraction of the ainouut shipped annually 

 from Calcutta ; but when we remember that the Ceylon 

 tra ie is in its infancy compared with the Indian, 

 that the former's annual advanc° is at the rate of 

 50 per cent while for yea's the latter has been creep- 

 ing ou with 7 or S per cent, and that the natural ad- 

 vantages of Ceyiou enable it to produce tea of a stated 

 quality more cheaply than can be done on the Indian 

 plantations, there is abundant reason for believing that 

 in ten years or so Ceylon will prove a serious com- 

 petitor to India in the European market. 



Wattle and Tannin. — Some few months ago we 

 mentioned the discovery, by Messrs. Borrow and 

 Haycraft, of South Australia, of a method of extract- 

 ing the tannin x^rinciple not alone from the wattle- 

 tree bark, but also from the leaves, twigs, aud small 

 branches of 2 in. diameter. The cultivation of the 

 wattle is now a recognised industry iu that colony, 

 aud also in Victoria, fully 10,000 tons of the dried 

 bark being annually exported from Adelaide to Europe. 

 In another column we give au account of the process 

 of manufacture, as reported in the Eegister. It ie 

 interesting for the success of the process is so complete 

 that there is no doubt it will ultimately develop 

 an extensive export trade of a purely Australian 

 product. Of the two sorts of wattle commonly used 

 for tanning purposes, the Acacia pycnaatha will grow 

 on the poorest soil, sandy or stony land, that is fit for 

 nothing else, but the black wattle {A. decurrens) 

 requires a deep rich soil. This latter species contains 

 30 per cent to 40 per cent of tanage in the dried bark, 

 and l^lb. of this bark is equal to tanning 1 lb. of 

 leather, whilst it requires but 1 lb. pound of bark oak 

 for the same purpose. One ton of black wattle bark 

 will tan from twenty-five to thirty hides, and it has 

 been found best suited for tanning sole leather and 

 Ojher heavy goods. The disadvantage of this bark ia 

 that it gives a red colour to the leather, which is not 

 the case with leather made by the use of oak bark' 

 myrabolans, valonia, and sumach, &c. The leather i.s 

 quite as good and durable as when oak bark is used. 

 The mature bark of our golden wattle yields about 

 30 per cent of catechu (taunic principal), about one- 

 half of which is mimosa-tannic acid. The fresh leases 

 contain only 5 per cent of tanage, and when well dried 

 give from 10 per cent to fifteen per cent. It has 

 been estimated that the waste in stripping a wattle 

 forest amounts to four times the quantity obtained, for 

 in stripping as now practised the bark is only taken 

 from the trunk and a few of the main branches. The 

 Register calculates that at this rate this waste if con- 

 verted into " tanage " would represent some 5000 to 

 6000 tons, worth five or six times the same weight of 

 wattle-bark. " Tanage " is the name given by the 

 raanufacturers to their new product, so as to distinguish 

 it from similar products known to tanners as "cutch" 

 catechu, kc- Being a new industry, it is necessary 

 first of all to find an outlet for the product, and the 

 makers have discovered that in the tanners' business 

 theie is as much conservatism as in other trades. In 

 the colonies the tauuers are used to wattle-bark,aud 

 it. is within the mn,rk to say that it wdl be exceed- 

 ingly difficult CO iu<iuce them to give up their prejudices 

 and a'lopt the extract. In Earope, however, the tanners 

 are acquainted with a hundred or so of materials for 

 tanning leather, and tht?re will be no diflBculty in 

 inducing them to adopt another — especially since the 

 imports of oakbark, hemlock-spruce, &c., are decreas- 

 ing, and those of garabir, terra japouica, sumach, cutch, 

 &n., do not inc-ease, widlst the detuand has more 

 than d iubled with the past few years. In 1823 a fluid 

 extract of black wattle (Acacia decurrens) was sent 

 to England, and was 3 )ld at £50 per ton. — Queendander. 

 Alcohol from Sweet Potatoes. — Frr>uch chemists 

 have bi^en at wo'k in the F-euch Antilles m.ikiUrf a 

 3 -ries of successful experiments, showin,,' that the sweet 

 potato can he made to yield nearly four gallons of al- 

 cohol to 22.7 pounds of sweet potatoes. — Oil, Paint aixd 

 Druy Reporter. 



