February i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



68 1 



charitable fibre, but this is the first occasion on which 

 we have heard of a regular mercantile transaction 

 n it Mr. de Rinzj' tells us of a wild 

 variety, Abdmoschus mosc/iutus, which gives even 

 a better fibre than the cultivated plant and the 

 seeds of which are worth Kl per lb. in Bom- 

 bay for the scent they yield. Is this the 

 wild hibiscus of our jungles, with long, slender, 

 thorny steins and a beautiful yellow blossom with 

 purple centre ? [No, this is the Hibiscus Jiiiratiis. 

 — VV, F.] The blossoms of the two plants are 

 certainly wonderfully alike, and if the wild piant 

 could be gathered and treated, we should think it 

 would yield plenty of excellent fibre.* It is as Mr. 

 de Kinzy imagined, new to us to learn, that the wild 

 custard-apple tree, Anona i-Kticulafu, gives a strong, 

 useful fibre. We do not know that the plant grows 

 " wild " in Ceylon, and in any case, as the trees would 

 have to be destroyed in obtaining the fibre,t we cannot 

 attach much importance to this source of fibre, any 

 more than to Hibiscus tiliaccus. The latter however, 

 gi'ows generally on the borders of streams or swamps, 

 and would probably hear coppicing well. Mr. deUinzy 

 is quite enthusiastic about sunflower, regarding which 

 he has supplied the following notes : — 



" The sunflower, than which few plants yield so many 

 products, Ri-ow so easily and rapidly and yield such 

 profits. The seeds, from 8 oz. to 12 oz. per head, 

 give an excellent oil, and can be shipped home as they 

 are, being well known ; or crushed here the cake is 

 good cattle food. The leaves are eaten by cattle and 

 can be plucked from the glowing plant without detri- 

 ment. The stalk yields a splendid fibre, white and strong 

 and we could always take a large quantity at say 20 

 per cent below Calcutta jute rates. The stalks and roots 

 bm'ned and returned emich the soil with alkalis. If this 

 plant is sown in alternate ridges with tobacco or other 

 plants, it requii-es shade: a double crop can be had off 

 the same field." 



This is another plant, of the products of which we 

 have heard much and seen but little except the 

 flowers and the seeds. The latter, when crushed, are 

 said to be excellent food for poultry. We do ' not 

 suppose that in Ceylon shade would be required, and 

 we are not aware of the advantage of growing together 

 two such exhaustive crops as tobacco and sunflower. 

 Tobacco is a desolating crop. "Calcutta jute rates" 

 have fallen so exceedingly low, tliat we fear prices 20 

 per cent less would scarcely be an inducement to the 

 large culti\ation of sunflower ; but experiments can be 

 tried. Gro.wn merely for the sake of the fibre and 

 removed before the flowering period, of course the 

 plants would not exhaust the soil so much as if 

 allowed to ripen their seeds. Aniatto, grown 

 plentifully in Colombo gardens, as an ornamental 

 plant, with its pink apple-like blossoms and its red 

 capsules, the seeds of which are used to colour butter 

 and cheese and yield a pigment for other pur- 

 poses, is the subject of the following note by Mi-, 

 de Rinzy : — 



" Amatto, an easily reared plant and paymg well, hardy, 

 and a success in South Ma(h-as. We are always buyers 

 of this in the form of seed. This should not be shipped on 

 trial, as we have the only mill for preparing it into use- 

 ful foi-m." 



With regard to the return trade Mr. de Rinzy 

 writes : — 



"As for Australian products for Ceylon, we ship to 

 India largely potatoes, prepared meats and jams, and 

 matured wines, cheese &c., particulars of which can he 



* Not an uncommon wild plant iu Ceylon. — W. !«'. 

 t Not likely that this fibre is from the wild custard apple 

 or bullock's heart. — W. F. 



had of our agents Messrs. Darley, Butler & Co. The 

 line of \i. I. S. N. steamers proposed by us and 

 \yarmly taken up by the Agents, to meet the present 

 line at Brisbane going and returning via Sydney, Mel- 

 bourne, Colombo and Calcutta, w ill be of much assistance 

 to the Ceylon-Australian trade." 



This article has dealt with but a few of the products 

 which will ultimately be oljjects of interchange in the 

 great coming Indo Ceylon-Australian trade, of wliich 

 only the foundations are now being laid. Messrs. 

 Henty & Co. of Melbourne have done much for tea 

 and jute manufactures, and Messrs. Saunders k. Co. 

 are evidently determined to take an active part in 

 the enterprize which is uniting in the bonds of a 

 mutually beneficial commerce the colonies which are 

 not separated but united by the Indian Ocean and the 

 Pacific, now that steam and iron have covered the 

 seas with safe, capacious and sw-ift carriers of the 

 goods trade and passenger traffic of the world. 



CINCHONA BARK RENEWED AFTER 

 SHAVING. 



Our contemporary of the Ceylon "Times" pub. 

 lishe.^ the following : — 



"Without beiug i'ractioually accurate, the following 

 table f.-iirly represents a series of analyses made by 

 Dr. Paul for a gentleman in Udapussollawa : — 



18 months' old OflScinalis tree original s. d. 

 shavings, worth .... 14 



Renewed at 3 months .... i o 



do. 4 do 3 



do. 5 do. .... 46 



do, 0' do. .... 60 



In the 7th month there was a decline iu value. There 

 was a tall in value at 3 months, then a rapid rise till 

 the 7th, when the bark becomes more woody and 

 less valuable. The renewed in this case was under 

 moss." 



Figures like the above are instructive and calculated 

 to be very useful if pretty uniform results can be 

 obtained. So far as the present case goes, we may 

 infer that after spoke-shuving, the renewed bark 

 should be left untouched until the sixth momh when 

 the maximum of quinine alkaloid seems to be present. 

 At three months the bark is too young and at seven it 

 seems to be too old. For purposes of analysis we learn 

 that Mr. .Symons advises cutting down to near the 

 cambium instead of merely taking shavings. If the 

 tree will only retain vitality, this scraping process of 

 Mr. Moeus promises to be the most valuiible discovery 

 yet mada in coanectiou with the cultivation of the 

 fever trees. 



THE VALUE OF CEYLON INDIARUBBER. 



The Ceylon Government have sent us the following 

 for publication : — 



Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeuiya, 20th .Jan. 1S82. 

 The Hou. the Colonial Secretary, Colombo. 



SlE,— I have the honor to forward for your informa- 

 tion copy of a report from the Manager of the India 

 Rubber Works Co., Silvertowii, Essex, upon samples 

 of rubber obtained from trees of Hevea braziliensis, 

 and Castilloa elastica, growing iu the E.xperimenlal 

 Garden at Heuaratgoda iu October ISS2, and scut by 

 me to Kew for traiismissiou to Messrs. Silver & Co. 



2. The chemical details aud the consequent valua- 

 tion given in this I'eport musi be regarded as highly 

 satisfaclory. We may ijow feel assured that, as far as 

 quality is concerned, the caoutchouc produce iu Ceylon 

 by the three species of South American rubber trees 

 introduced by the Indian Uover mnent in 1876-7 is in 



