August i, i88z.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



Cinchona. — At a receut small auction of a mixed as- 

 sortment of bark, held by Jlr. John, prices generally went 

 lower than at the previous sale. Some useful " succi- 

 rubra" quill sold at K105. Twigs averaged from 17 to 

 25 cents. — " C. Times." 



A GOOD Gall Soap is obtained, according lo the 

 Seifenfabrkant, by the following method: 151b. gallnuts 

 are mixed with 2501b. molten coconut oil, and the oil 

 is then soaped cold with 125 lb. soda lye (38° B. ). 

 The soap is colored with SJ lb. ultramarine, and per- 

 fumed with 12 oz. lavender oil and 12 oz. Uiinmiel oil. 

 — Uil and Drug News. 



Harvesting of Cinchona. — Mr. Frater of the firm of 

 Walker & Greig here has invented the simplest and 

 cheapest cinchona barking machine, that I have seen 

 yet. It is simply two iron bars, set in a square iron 

 frame, the bars revolving on their axis. The cinchona 

 twigs or branches are pushed between the bars, and 

 are crushed, which enables the bark to be easily 

 removed. Cost of machine K15 only. — Badulla Cor. 



The Curriculum of the Agricultural Educ- 

 ation course (under Mr. Robertson of the Madras Go- 

 vernment Farm) embraces scientific and practical agri- 

 culture, chemistry, veterinary medicine and surgery, 

 botany, geology, land-surveying and m^usuration, book 

 keeping and arithmetic. The course of training extends 

 over three years. Besides attending lectures on the sub- 

 jects just mentioned, the students undergo practical 

 training out-of-doors iu surveying, practical training 

 in the laboratory in analysis, in the veterinary hospital 

 in the treatment of cattle-disease, in the botanical gard- 

 ens in horticultural pursuitB ; , while, on the farm, 

 they are taught to perform the various operations of 

 husbandry. Kach student keeps a farm book, or a 

 cultivation book, in which he enters the daily work 

 of the farm, the cost of cultivation, the yiild and value 

 of.the crops, &c. Every student must pass the plough- 

 ing examinations, of which there are three standards, 

 increasing in difficulty with the progress of the train- 

 ing. We have, at present, forty-two names on the 

 roll.of the College. Of these students, twenty-two come 

 from Bombay, Bengal, Central India, Mysore and Cey- 

 lon. Looking back over a period of now nearly four- 

 teen years engaged in active eiforts for improving hus- 

 bandry in this part of India, I am of the opinion 

 that the re3ults of the last three or four years' efforts 

 have been incomparably more encouraging than those 

 obtained in the first ten years of the jjeriod, which 

 I must attribute entirely to tl.e influences set in oper- 

 ation by the wirk done iu the School of Agriculture. 

 The institution being the first of the kind established 

 in India, and indeed the first ever eetablished where 

 ciste prejudices had to be encountered, we had no 

 choice but to begin on lines of a somewhat experi- 

 mental character, though these were based on what 

 has been established by long experience in Germany, 

 France, the United States and other countries, where 

 the State has long engaged largely in efforts for pro- 

 moting agricultural education. We must, therefore, 

 expect that the organization of the instituliou will need 

 to be modified considerably as our experience iu work- 

 ing it shows this to be necessary. One iniporlant 

 modification now being introduced is iu the direction 

 of connecUng the institution more immediately with 

 the land adminislration of the Presidency, Government 

 having just approved of a scheme, tliebnsisof which 

 is that tlie institution shall be utilized for educating 

 and training m scientific agriculture a number of sub- 

 ordinate land revenue officials. When it is remem- 

 bered that the Government of this Presidency employs 

 many hundredB of subordinate officials in land admin- 

 istrative duties, uot one cf whom has hitherto had 

 any meane of undergoing a suitable training for his 

 duties, the impontauce of the step just taken will be 

 duly appreciated. — Madras) Mail. 



Ceylon Tea. — An English editor writes :—" I have 

 tried your Ceylon tea. The sample you sent me had 

 a jierfectlj- unique flavour, which at first taste is not 

 unlike huy tea, and I found most persons objected to 

 it. But for myself I liked it very much, as a good, 

 sound body, and it improved on acquaintance." 



SpoAii Emate Companies in Mauritius are paying 

 2S'17 per cent profit!— and yet we travelled home 

 in 187S with a leading M.auritius estate proprietor 

 who declared that the sugar prospect iu that island 

 ■were well-nigh hopeless, and that it was next to im- 

 possible for the Ceylon Company Limited to realize 

 their property. 



Cinchona Cultivation in Nokthep^ Au.stralia. — 

 A planter writes: — "You make no comments on 

 th.at part of Poett's prospectus relating to cinchona, 

 though you criticize fairly enough some other portions 

 of the document: — 'At the end of the fourth year the 

 cinchona trees, of which there would be many thous- 

 ands, would be ready for barking, yielding from 2 lb. 

 to 3 1b. of bark, per annum and of the value in the 

 first year of four shillings a pound.' It occurs to 

 the writer that Poett has sloleu a march on us, and 

 h.is the famous 'Verde' growing in those nurseries 

 of hia in that 'Eumjungle' (what 'sin a name?) plant- 

 atiou. It is just po.ssible, however, that it may be 

 the shareholders who are verde." 



Yatiyantota, 17th June. — The weather since Sunday 

 the mil has teen very favorable for planting, although 

 there have been strong gale,s, and I am nowplanting 

 out tea ae quiclily as I can, and I hope to have finished 

 the new clearings ere 1st of July, Tea and Liberian 

 coffee look as well as ever, and the Governor, when 

 coming to tl:e new and rising district, should visit 

 Dunediu and Mipitiakande, on his way to Yatiyantota, 

 and see in them botli in .splendid condition, tea and 

 Liberian coifee — tea at Dunedin and tea and Liberian at 

 Mipitiakande. He might take choice samples from 

 here now of Liberinn parchment, finest tea and cocoas, 

 all from trees planted late in 1S80! The chief surveyor 

 is up here. I hope this portends more land being cut 

 out and more estates. No floods this year y(t, and the 

 district very healthy and coolies in fair supply. 



Kaikfall and EoAns in San Paulo Brazil.— The 

 South American Missionary Magazine contains inform- 

 ation which ehews that if railway a are going ahead 

 in the great coffee district of w hich Santos is the port, 

 the /-oads in rainy weather (a rainfall about equal to that 

 of Nawalapitiya, characterizing the mountain up which 

 the railway ti ains are drawn) are next to impassable : — 



From San Paulo the Kev. T. J. Scott gives a 

 pleasing description of the kindness and hospitality 

 of the people of that province, and, speaking of the 

 weather, he says : — The weather here is quite cool, 

 thermometer for last two months averaging about 72 

 deg. It is true we have had a gi-eat deal of raiu. 

 The weather generally is aw-fnl at this time of the year 

 — rain, rain, rain ; and not such rain as we have in 

 England, but sheets of water ! The rainfall at the 

 sierra (top of the mountain up which the train is drawn) 

 was last year 169 inches. When you consider that the 

 rainfall in England is somewhere about SOinches, you will 

 be able to appreciate the difference. The raui here not 

 only keeps the au- cool, but cleans the dirty streets, which 

 is much needed. There has not been any fever this 

 year at Santos ; Rio also has been healthy this year. 

 The rains made the roads and streets impassable ; the 

 roads at any time are dreadful, even worse than they 

 are in Spain. I went out for a ride last Saturday 

 in an ordinary lane, and I nearly got "bogged." The 

 horse sank down to about the middle of his body, 

 and I got my legs in up to between the knee and 

 ankle. I was just going to spring ott' aud try to pull 

 the horse out by the bridle, when he made a gi'eat 

 plunge, aud got on to terra Jirma again. 



