844 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



fAPRIL 2, 1883. 



the trade from her. Within the last two years the English 

 merchants seem to have turned the tables upon then- 

 American competitors, and have recaptured the trade. How 

 this occured it would be hard to say, as Rangoon rice 

 may be shipped in bond from American ports, 



There are many small rice plantations in Colombia, but 

 .such is the prejudice in favor of native rice that the latter 

 brings even a higher price than either the South Carolina 

 or Louisiana staple. Yet the native rice is much inferior 

 to the Rangoon, on account of the poor method of cleaning 

 in vogue, which is exceedingly primitive. The grain is flayed, 

 the consequence of which is that the majority of the rice 

 is either poorly hulled or is broken in many pieces, besides 

 being mixed with dii-t ami sand. 



The traffic in ruljber with the United States is constantly 

 increasing, while the Colombian product is estimated as 

 equal to that of Para. The banks of the Sinu, the Atrato, 

 the Magdaleua and other interior rivers are fringed with 

 vast forests of rubber trees, which afford an almost inex- 

 haustible supply of the precious article. 



The banks of the Smu, the Atrato and Magdalena rivers 

 are fringed with vast forests of cedar, mahogany, fustic, 

 logwood, rosewood, ebony, and other kinds of f lu-niture and 

 dye woods. Cartagena does a flourishing business in this trade. 



There were exported to the United States in 1879 over 

 1,000,000 cocoanuts, and this year but 40,000. Cause for 

 great decrease : The destructive and all-devoiu*ing locust. 

 The cocoa walks are augmenting, and this trade wiU, in 

 a short time, resume its normal condition. If would not 

 be well, however, for any of oiu- fruiters to send vessels 

 to Cartagena imtil the locust ceases its ravages. There 

 is not a sufficient quantity brought to market to supply 

 the home demand. The present prices here §40 to S50 

 per 1,000. Had not the locusts devoured the cocoa bud, 

 it is safe to estimate the exports this year to the United 

 States would have reached 2,000,000 of nuts. — Rio JV'Vic.-i. 



ARTIFICIAL HATCHING. 



SiK, — In reply to your correspondent ■' Hen, " in your 

 issue of the 10th instant, allow me to inform her that 

 the constant heat requu-ed for hatching hens' eggs should 

 range from 103 ° to 106 = F. A Hi/ilio Incuhtdor or Hen- wife, 

 such as I exhibited at the recent Agricultural Exhibition 

 at Madras, is the best tor the purpose. I had to work 

 ray apparatus out in the open under difficulties. Not- 

 withstanding, I succeeded in hatching seven chickens on 

 the fir.st, and five on the second day with the help of a 

 large empty packing case as a protection from the wind. 

 The President, Secretary, and .some Members of the com- 

 mittee and several ladies and others, besides a crowd of 

 natives, inspected the incubator. One lady carried away 

 two chickens, tliree died, and I had to give the rest away. 

 The incubator excited much interest among the natives, 

 who did not understand its operation, and said that I 

 rau.st be a " magician " to place an egg in a box and 

 ta;ke out a live chicken. I was surprised to see that the 

 Mail had not noticed the incubator. It was the fault of 

 the Committee in not allotting a proper place in the build- 

 ing itself, where the poultry and pigeons were exhibited. 

 Had this been done, the incubator would have attracted 

 considerably more attention than it did, although I ad- 

 vised the Committee that I intended exhibiting an in- 

 cubator in working or<ler. I would suggest that yom- cor- 

 respondent '* Hen " get a Hydro Incnhator, and the can then 

 hatch all her eggs ! It is a very simple apparatus, and can 

 be worked by a cooly if the principle is properlyexplained to 

 him. — John Shoktt. — Yercaud, 12th March. — Madras Mail. 



Sacchahate ofOoffee. — Carlo Paresi, in an Italian jom-ual, 

 describes a new method of concentrating and administering 

 the valuable and useful constituents of coffee as follows : — 



R — Roasted coffee (best) parts 1 



Refined sugar „ 2 



Warm water q. s. 



The coffee is exhausted in a convenient displacement 

 apparatus of all its soluble constituents, by means of the 

 warm water ; the clear brown percolate is mixed \vith the 

 sugar, and evaporated at a temperature not exceeding 50 ® 

 C, ,(122^ F.), in a suitable apparatus, to dr>niess. Finally, 

 it is reduced to powder, anil ke^it in weIl-clo.sed vessels. 

 The evaporating vessel should be shallow, so as to present a 

 large surface of liquid to the air ; or, better still, a vaoum- 



apparatus may be used. The product is a brownish 

 powder, of a cofliee odor, a sweet and shghtly bitter, very 

 agreeable taste, and very soluble in cold water. Dissolved iii 

 boiling water, it yields a very fine cup of coffee. If made 

 into a paste with tragacanth, it may be formed into tablets 

 or troches — a very convenient form of use. — Rio Ncks. 



Manilla Hemp Plant (Mhsu Tatilis) ant) the Common 

 Plantatn. — Of these Mr. Robertson of Maih'as reports :— 

 The plants have grown well under the same conditions as 

 the ordinary plantain. They will not thrive, unless planted 

 on a deep well-manured soil, under regular irrigation. 

 Hence, the cost of growing plants, imtil they reach the 

 stage fit for cutting is great; at Saidapet, this cost will, 

 amount to not less than 2 annas each. It costs about the. 

 same sum to brmg into bearing a plant of the ordinary 

 variety of plantam, but then, the bimch of fruit may be 

 worth 4 or 5 annas at the least, whereas, the fruit of the 

 Mii.ia te,vtilis is of no value. There seezns little or no prob- 

 ability of the Muaa textiliA becoming an estabhshed crop 

 on this side of India. On the "Western Coast, in some 

 localities where irrigation and manuring are less urgently 

 needed, the cost of producing the plants will be much 

 less; and there, some experiments should be tried. Ex- 

 periments might be tried in Ceylon, but the proportion of 

 fibre to stem, from '48 to '81 per cent is discom'agiusly low. 

 The report proceed : — Some of the plants were in flower, and 

 some bearing fruit, when they were cut. It ^vas, of course, 

 undesirable as regards the production of fibre, that the plants 

 shoule, be allowed to stand so long as to produce fi'uit, but the 

 intention had been to try to rear plants from the seeds, 

 which was frustrated by a cyclone prostrating the plants ; 

 they were therefore utiHzed as already shown. The m'dn 

 when engaged in separating the fibre were allowed to work 

 in their own way, in the manner adopted in extracting 

 the fibre of the common plantain. The process is extremely 

 clumsy, very slow, and very costly. With practice the men 

 might have done better, but they never would be able, by 

 their process, to ■ produce prepared fibre at a cost suffici- 

 ently low to admit of it being sold at a profit. Some 

 rough experiments were made in crushing longitudinal 

 sections of the stems of the common plantain through an 

 ordinary oat-crusher. In one experiment 20 lb. of plantain 

 stalk yielded 7i oz. of rough fibre, but even ui this case 

 the cost was about 2 annas per pound, much beyond the 

 value of the fibre and the cleaning was very imperfectly 

 done. For some pirrposes, it may be desirable to obtain 

 roughly-prepared strong fibre, at a moderate cost, rather 

 than a highly-prepared fibre, at a high cost. There is no 

 probability of really clean fibre being turned out by the 

 ordinary process, at a cost less than 6 annas per pound — a 

 cost far in excess of the value of the fibre. The experi- 

 ment with the corn-crusher therefore, suggests a direction 

 in which economy may be secured in the extracting pro- 

 cess. It was found that the iron rollers discolored the 

 fibre. A stem-crusher formed of a pair of wooden rollers, 

 has been consti-ucted. but it needs further improvement. 

 The experiments made with this machine will be noticed 

 in the next report. Samples of this fibre, and of that pre- 

 pared by the hand, in the usual way, have been sent to 

 England for valuation. It would appear, than in this part 

 of India, it would be better to give attention to the com- 

 mon plantain, in view to the production of fibre, or, a 

 paper material, rather than to spend money in endeavom*- 

 ing to introduce Mnsa textilis. The fibre of the common 

 plantain is utilized only to a very small extent ; the plant 

 is grown everywhere, where water can be commanded and 

 a suitable soil is available. The cultiu-e of the crop is well 

 imderstood, and in the price got for the fruit all expenses 

 are returned ; thus, the stems are obtained almost free of 

 cost. The following data, referring to an ordinary plantain, 

 the stem of which was crushed for fibre, may be of interest : — 



Date of experiment 17th Nov. 1880. 



Weight of stem 52 lb. 



Length of stem 7f ft. 



Circumference of the stem near the ground 2 ft. 



Yield of fibre ... 8 oz. 



Percentage of the stem ... 1'04 



It is evident, however, that the possession ofa suitable mill 

 for crushing the plant is an absolute necessity, to admit of 

 the fibre being produced at a sufficiently moderate price to 

 compete in the market. Several mills for extracting fibr^es, 

 are now advertisnl by different manufacturer in the United 

 States, and in that country inquiries wills be instituted. 



