September i, 1882.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



235 



Tjsa cultivation in the Andaman islands is a great 

 success'. On the 14 acre.^ of tea wliich were under 

 cultivation last season tlie out-turn has been 411 lb. 

 to the acre, for the twelve months. Forty-seven acres 

 more laud have lately been planted out, and a fui-ther 

 exteneidu up to "200 acres is contemplated. — Madras 

 Alail. 



Cinchona. — To the planters of cinchona who have 

 suffered so severely from the recent gales and flood?, 

 from the number of trees blown down, and the heavy 

 wash of surface soil, the figures we givther from the 

 trade returns will be some comfort. While the quant- 

 ity of cinchona bark exported from Indi'i has greatly 

 decreased in 1852, the quuitity of quinine imported 

 has enormously iut-'reased. Tlius : — 



Cinchona Eximrted. Quinine Imparted. 



lb. K. lb. E. 



1880... 4,85,484 6,87,526 1879;.. 5,940 6,60,005 

 1881... 6,99,258 7,24,705 1880... 7,409 8,60,072 

 1882... 4,28,497 4,58,340 1S81... 3,964 4,29,515 

 1882... 10,65 9,98,631 

 The falling off in the exports of cinchona bark can- 

 not be accounted for by want of confidence in the 

 undertaking on the part of cinchona planters, for 

 a number of new estates have recently been opened, 

 and many plantations have been much extended. It 

 would appear to be due in a great measure to the 

 large qnautity of bark retained in the north, for the 

 purpo.se of making the new febrifuge, and to the 

 smaller quantity of bark taken from the Government 

 plantations on the Neilgiris. The price of quinine 

 having been much lower in 1882 may have induced 

 larger imports; and the stock on hand from the pre- 

 vious year, during which the imports were compara- 

 tively small, may have necessitated the greater demand 

 tor present and fuiure consumption. — M. Mail. 



On thk Uselessness of Some of Our Ordtnaet Dis- 

 infectants. — In an official volume just published by Dr. 

 E. Struck, Chief of the Sanitary Department of Germany, 

 Dr. E. Koch has pubHshed the results of his studies upon 

 disinfectants. He used, in order to test the value of a 

 disinfectant, the micro-organisms of splenic fever wliich 

 exist in the form of minute, round spores or micrococci, 

 afterward developing under favorable conditions into 

 .slightly larger, rod-shaped bodies or bacilli. It was found, 

 thmigh this indeed was already known, that the sijores 

 had a much greater vital resistance than the bacilli. Two 

 per cent, solutions of carbolic acid, after three days' con- 

 tact, only hindered the development of the spores, but 

 even five per cent, solutions did not kill them. On the 

 other hand, one per cent, solutions killed the bacilli within 

 a few minutes. Furthermore, one part of carbolic acid in 

 1,000 parts of beef broth prevented the fiu-ther develop- 

 ment of bacilli. These are important facts, since they 

 show a som'ce of error in former experiments. It has 

 been stated by Eudemaun, Sternherger, and others that 

 carbolic acid solutions of about two per cent, strength de- 

 stroy the activity of low organism. But this, if Koch's ex- 

 periments are correct, evidently cannot apply to all organisms, 

 or to every life-form of the same organism. Koch tested the 

 power of sulphuric acid, chloride of zinc, borax, white vitriol, 

 and other substances. He found them absolutely incap.able. 

 in any ordiniry solution, of killing the spores. Such 

 B-ibstances as arsenic, quinine, and perchloride of iron would, 

 in one or two per cent, solution, kill the organisms in the 

 course of six or ten tlays, but were, on the whole, quite 

 feeble disinfectants. On the other hand, a few substances 

 only were found to be very active. Thus, two per cent, 

 solutions of bromine, iodine, and chlorine, and of corrosive 

 sublimate (the last being the best) killed the .spores within 

 a d.ay. The power of these latter substances to prevent 

 the actinty and development of the bacilli was found to l>r 

 very remarkable. Thus, one part of sublimate in 500,1)00 

 of water would completely check the acti\'ity of the or- 

 ganisms. Certain volatile oils, such as thymol and tere- 

 binthene, were also efficient in dilutions of 1 to 80,000 

 and 1 to 70,000. As the result of his experiments Koch 

 came to the conclusion that only bromine, chlorine, iodine 

 sublimate, and few oils of the class rcfcwed to were of 

 value as disinfecting agents. — Medical Record. 



Ansell's Tea Siftek.— We hear this machine is 

 thought more and more highly of. One correspond- 

 ent, wi-iting from the Dooars, says : — " Ansell's Tea 

 Sifter is par excdUnce the Tea Sifter of Tea Sifters. 

 I have seen several tea sifters working, but none can 

 hold a candle to Ansell's. — Indian Tea Ga-xtle. 



Upper As.sam, '2nd .July. — We are getting a fair 

 amount of rain just now, and there seems every 

 prospect of a good season. In some gardens it has 

 been found necessary to stop all cultivation, for the 

 time, to take advantage of the hea%-y flush appearing 

 there, while on other estates tliere has been almost 

 a dearth of leaf. A great deal of new machmery has 

 been called into use this year, — a pretty good sign, 

 we think, that last year's workings were fairly pro- 

 fitable. — Indian Tea Gazette. 



Indian Tea. — Practice and experience in drying 

 and packing have taught the growers how to avoid 

 the faults which at first detracted from the value 

 of their produce, and in consequence Indian tea is 

 becoming more appreciated by English consumers. 

 The imports have reached the value of three mil- 

 lions a year, and are growing rapidly and steadily. 

 The first consignment of the season of Darjeeliug 

 tea, which has just been sold, fetched the very 

 fair average price of Is. Gd. per lb. —a far higher 

 figure than the most sanguine Indian tea- planters 

 ever expected their produce to realise. One great 

 advantage possessed by the Indian over the Chinese 

 tea-grower is that Assam teas can be placed in the 

 London market when the China teas are only just 

 leaving Woosung or Shanghai. — Public Opinion. 



Test fop. Gold. — I have asked permission of Mr. 

 Haly for you to publish the enclosed, — Cor. 



Colombo Museum, 15th July 1882. — Small parts are 

 chipped from all the sides of a mass of rock, amounting 

 in all to about a quarter of an ounce. This is finely powdered 

 in a steel mortar and well mixed. About half of it is 

 placed in a capacious test tube, and then partly filled 

 with a solutiou made by dissolving twenty grains of iodine 

 and thirty grains of iodide of potassium in abont an 

 ounce and a half of water. The mixture thus formed is 

 thoroughly agitated by shaking and warming, and then, 

 after all particles have subsided, dip a piece of piu-e white 

 filter paper in it, allow it to remain for a moment, then 

 let it drain, and dry it over the spirit lamp. It is then 

 placed upon a piece of platina foil held iu a pincers and 

 this heated to redness over the flame, the paper is speedily 

 consumed; and after heating further to buru off. carbon, 

 it is allowed to cool and then examined. If at all purple 

 gold is present in the ore, and the relative amount ap- 

 proximately deduced, as much, fair, little or none. This 

 method takes but little, time and is very trustworthy. — 

 (Signed) A. Haly, Director, Colombo JIuseum. 



Mr. Storck'.s Cure for IjE^vp Diseash — A corres- 

 pondent from Fiji writes to the Calcutta Enylisk- 

 man on Mr. .Storck's cure as follows: — " Perhaps a word 

 in conclusion as to a recent discovery of a cure for Hemi- 

 leia vastntrix may not be uninteresting. I have seen 

 the remedy in operation here, and from what I have 

 seen I believe it to be a genuine thing. The inventor, 

 Mr. Jacob Storck, has already been iu cummunicatioQ 

 with the Tropical AgrieuUm-ist in the matter, and it is 

 probable he will proceed to Ceylon iu October to 

 dtmoustrate the value of his invention. Hia plautition, 

 together with many others, was dcstioyed by the 

 Government, on the appearance of Hemihia two years 

 ago, no recompense being made save in one case, where 

 Mr. Filliugham Parr recently got a verdict of i2,000 

 damages. Mr. Storck, being victimised, set promptly to 

 w iirk to devise a cure, and, after 12 months' continuous 

 experimentalizing succeeded, at any rate to his own 

 satisfaction, as not a plant now growing on his estates 

 is infected. I saw the cure at work on a partially 

 infected tree, which he assured me was at one time 

 shewing the disease in its worst type. The cure is by 

 vaporization, and the cost is stated at £'i per acre for 

 purifying a plantation. " 



