722 



THE TROPIC#L AGRICULTURIST. 



[March i, 1883. 



Crotok Oil Seeds Industry. — A Ceylon planter 

 writes :— "The London broker reports that the sample I 

 sent iu husk, that is without the capsule but with tlie 

 parchment covering, was worth 50s iJer cwt. and was in 

 the state in which it is usually imported. Tliis !« a com- 

 furt, as it can be cured and packed ready for shipment 

 direct from the estate. Crotons so tar as I understand 

 can be sent lo the London market in bags ; the whole 

 of the curing necessary can be done on the eatats, at 

 little cost." 



A New Indu.stry. — An important agricultural and 

 manufacturing industry is about to be developed in 

 the Western States of' America, which, it is believed, 

 will not only add millions to the wealth of the people, 

 but save mdlious which are now spent f broad. The 

 industry is that of cultivating flax and utilizing the 

 fibre. The area planted with flux in the Western States 

 in 18S1 was 1,127,300 acres, divided as follows:— 

 Iowa, 287,400 ; Indiana, 193,400 ; Kansa-s, 160.900 ; 

 Illinois, 160,300 ; Minnesota, yS.'-iOO ; Ohio, 80,600 ; 

 Missouri, 55,000; .Nebraska, 50,U00 ; and Wisconsin, 

 44,.500. Yet upon all this area no merchantable flax 

 fibre was produced, the flax being burued or allowed 

 to rot. The yield of seed was about 8.000,000 bushels, 

 valued at about eight millions of dollars. The total 

 acreage of flax in Europe, where the fibre is utilized, 

 amounted in 1880 to 3,334,329, and the value of the 

 fibre produced to 108,408,000 dollars. The average 

 monev yield per acre in flax-seed, therefore, in the 

 Western States was only about seven dollars, as 

 against an average yield in Europe for tibrs alone of 

 thirty-two dollars. Belgium, on an area one-eighth 

 as great as that given to flax in the Western American 

 States, annually produces 1,000,000 dollars more; and 

 France, with one seventh of the are'), produces annu- 

 ally 3,000,000 dollars more.— Public Opinion. 



The Cultivation of Sugar-cane in Hawaii is now 

 bein<» carried on with capital; and large tracts of land 

 are being made I'ertile by means of irrigation, the water 

 being brought by wooden aqueducts Crora great dis- 

 tances (thirty miles in one case)— a most expensive 

 process, but with most successful results. Tne quan- 

 tity of sugar exported to 8an Francisco has lately been 

 increasing yearly by great bounds. — Academy. Tnhiti 

 is unmixed nature ; Honolulu is the triumph ot man over 

 nature, for the very existence of the lovely trees and 

 flowers which give it its charm is due to incessant irriga- 

 tion. The island of Oahu as a whole consists naturally of 

 " hot, uninviting, red and yellow volcanic hills, 

 without any apparent herbage." The »wful desolation 

 of the barren coast recalled the shore idjout Aden, only 

 Aden was " infinitely more picturesque," and its mount- 

 ains "far more shapely." On the othei band, the 

 colours n£ Oahu are wonderful ; distinct m,..'ses of black 

 and bright red, of purple and brown volcanic matter 

 are thro«'n about in wild confusion, while peaks of dark 

 basalt rise precipitously from smooth beds of scarlet 

 lava. From tiiis bare nud dreary condition the valley 

 of Honolulu has been rescued by the construction of 

 largo reservoirs and the sinking of artesian wells. 

 Movable fouutiins, fed by india^ubber tuljing, play 

 ceaselessly in the corner of every lawn or garden and 

 keep alive clumps of waving bamboo or feathery masses 

 ot tamarind and ulaaroba. This may be the tropics, it 

 is true ; bat it must be iinich more like the tropics as 

 seen at. Kew or Monte Carlo than as seen among the 

 mountain ;;lens of Ceylon or Jamaica. Even in the 

 oasis itself you never forget the volcanic origin of the 

 place, for just} above the town towers a conical hill of 

 fiery red scoriaj. euclosiug a large crater, called with 

 Anglo-Saxon irreverence the Pimohbow). Oahu is one 

 great cluster of such craters, scarred with lava streams 

 and volcanic crags, supporting a dry, parched, native 

 vegitatiou of euphorbiis or other thirsty weeds, and 

 grimly forbidding in aspect. A sort of despair, she 

 thinks, has paralyzed the energies of the people ; they 



plant no more orange trees or breadfruits for the alien 

 and the stranger to gather ; they hardly even seem to 

 care for the few children whom they still bring forth 

 in ever scantier numbers. The Portuguese and the 

 Chinaman are taking their places ; and now the Indian 

 coolie is invited to help the planters out of the ubiquit- 

 ous labour difficulty. — Athenaum, in a review of Miss 

 (iordon Cumming's book on "Hawaii.." 



Cheap Aluminium. — The rumours as to the dis- 

 covery of a method of obtaining aluminium have 

 not taken a very definite form, beyond the statement 

 that a ton can be produced in a week at a cost of 

 £100, instead of in nine months at a cost of ten times 

 that sum. The method consists, it is understood, in 

 first calcining ground alumina and pitch, and treat- 

 ing the product in vertical retorts through which 

 steam and air are forced. Should the rumours prove 

 to be true, cheap aluminium will be found to be 

 very useful in many branches of industry. — Enrjlish 

 Mechanic. 



Science Notes. — The canal of the Isthmus of Corinth, 

 which was commenced on May 2, 1882, with 800 men, 

 mostly Italians, and which is to be finished in five years, 

 will be like the Suez Canal about 73 feet broad and 27 

 feet deep. For ships from the Adriatic 1 franc per ton 

 will be charged ; for ships from the Eastern Mediter- 

 ranean 50 centimes per ton, for passengers 1 franc each. 

 — The projected tunnel under the St. Lawrance, at 

 Montreal, is to be 16,000 feet long or almost exactly 

 three times the length of the Hudson river tunnel, and 

 thirteen and one-third times that of the Thames tunnel. 

 The greatest depth will be 166 feet below the entrances. 

 The grades are not as steep as those of the Hudson river 

 tunnel. The contract requires completion of the work 

 (by Mr. Romiilard) in three years. — PuhUc Opinion. 



Indiarubber Oil. — Dr. Beckert, of Spandau, has 

 patented iu Germany an indiarubber oil, which is 

 intended to serve as a protective against rust. Accord- 

 ing to the description published in the German techni- 

 cal press, the rough oils obtained in the dry distillation 

 of browu coal, peat, or other bituminous substances are 

 subjected to a further distillation. Thinly-rolled iudia- 

 rublier, cut into small stiips, is saturated with a four- 

 fold quantity of this oil, and is let stand for eight days. 

 This mass thus composed is subjected to the action of 

 vulcan oil or a similar liquid until a homogeneous, clear 

 substance is formed. If this substance is applied iu as 

 thin a layer as possible on a metal surface, it forms, 

 after slow drying, a kind of skin which insures an 

 absolute protection against atmospheric influences. 

 The durability of this covering is said to be most satis- 

 factory. Indiarubber oil is also said to be effective in 

 the removal of rust which has already been formed, 

 thougli we do do not see in what way it can operate to 

 do this. — Public Opinion. 



Indigo Substitutes — About a twelvemonth ago, 

 indigo planters in India were dismayed by the iutel- 

 ligeuce that a new method of making artificial indigo 

 had been discovered. After the " first flush of passion" 

 had subsided, the scientific papers announced that there 

 was no need to be excited, after all; as the cost of pre- 

 paring the artificial indigo would be prohibitive. It now 

 appears, however, that a further discovery has been 

 made, which will enable manufacturers to reduce this 

 cost very considerably. The Aluminium Crown Metal 

 Works Company, Birmingham, profess to have invented 

 a process by which the metal aluminium cau be cheaply 

 manufactured. The cost of producing a ton of aluminium, 

 by ordinary methods, is £1,000; the new iuvention 

 would reduce tlie cost to £100. The importance of the 

 invention to India is that the bye-products of the new 

 process are to be used for making a blue dye, which can 

 be s dd, it is reckoned, for 6s a pound. Messrs, Mac- 

 taggart, the leading indigo merchants iu London, have 

 arranged to take all these bye-products from the Crown 

 Metal Works. — Pioneer. 



