September i, 1882.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



203 



Fibres. — Mr. Egerton calls attention to the fibre 

 known as " caraguatd ibera," a Bromelacia, which is 

 something liUe the pineapple plant, and which is very 

 abundant in Paraguay, the Misiones, and the Chaco. 

 It is very long and silky, has long been used by the 

 Indi ins, and much money has been spent in endeavours 

 to find some practical machine for the economical pre- 

 paring of the fibre. The desired result has at length, 

 after a long series of experiments, been attained by a 

 French machine, invented for the purpose, which hag 

 been set up not very far from Asuncion — the process 

 being a simple one, without previous maceration. 

 The fibre, Mr. Egerton adds, will become au extremely 

 important article of commerce, and should compete 

 with advantage against jute. — British Trade Journal. 



Mexican Coffee. — The Anglo- Brazilian Times refers 

 to a successful effort made by Meears. Steele, of Kio de 

 Janeiro, to grow the Mexican variety of the coffee 

 plant on their plantation in that province. These 

 gentlemen, we are informed, had exhibited on the Rio 

 exchange laden branches raised from Mexican seed, 

 and they are said to have attracted " much attention 

 from the regularity of the clusters ana ripening of 

 the berries," Our conti'mporary remarks: — "Messrs. 

 Steele are to be congratulated on the public spirit 

 which has led them to obtain the seed and grow it, 

 and to afford persons interested in the great industry 

 of this country an opportunity of examining in full 

 fruit and leaf a coffee of sucii precious qualities and 

 high estimation." — South American Journal, [It might 

 be worth while trying the seed of this Mexican 

 Tariety in Ceylon. — Ed.] 



Ceylon Tea. — We observe, our townsman, Mr. Mac- 

 laren, of Messrs, Willi:un Moran &Co. , has been laid 

 hold of on his waj- through Colombo, and induced 

 to look at a large number of Ceylon tea samples. 

 This is one of the penalties of greatness, and, as Mr. 

 Maclareu has made a name for himself in connection 

 with tea, he must not be surprized if he be interviewed 

 in this manner. He was able to give an encouraging 

 opinion of their produce, which must have been very 

 satisfactory to the island planters. We are told he 

 valued none of tlie samples under Is 2d, and some 

 as high as "Js 4d. If none were under Is 2d, we 

 imagine they could not have been a fair average assort- 

 ment of samples. They must have been only high- 

 class teas ; at any rate, as the rfsult of this examin- 

 ation, we shall expect Ceylon to take a higher rank 

 in Mincing L.ane this year than she has hitherto done. 

 We are afraid that the mistake made by Ceylon is in 

 planting out tea as an appanage to a coffee plant- 

 ation leaving its cultivation and manufacture to the 

 cotfee, manager and his establishment. This will not 

 dorh treatment of the two plants being so diverse, 

 in der to give the tea anything like fair play, it 

 must have its own trained establishment. The former 

 mode may be excusable, when only a few acres are 

 planted for experimental purposes, but, if Ceylon wishes 

 to take her place among tia producing districts, she 

 must grow and manufacture her crop on more in- 

 telligent principles. Mr. Maclaren complained of over 

 and under fermentation, and of over-firing. Ferment- 

 ation being one of the most important processes in 

 manufacturing would seem not to have received that 

 attention it deserves. These facts all go to prove 

 what we have said ; that the growing and manufactur- 

 ing of tea must be superintended by gentlemen who 

 have given attention to the subjects, and not by ooU'ee 

 planters whose e.xperience has been in another direc- 

 tion.— /Hi/ii/o Planters' Gazi'tte. [But there is nothing 

 in the world to prevent au intelligent coffee-planter 

 mastering the mysteries of tea manufacture. Many 

 have (jualified themselves and others are learning. 

 Unhappily, on a large number of coffee estates, thequ;ia- 

 tity of coffee recently produced has uoi been sucli as to 

 demand the exclusive attentionof superintendents, — Ed.] 



Rice. — According to the United State Censes o' 

 1880 the three states of South Carolina, Georgia and 

 Louisiana produced almost the entire rice crop of 1879, 

 their respective crops being, in round numbers, 52, 25, 

 and 23 million pounds. The average yield per acre wa.9 

 725 pounds in Georjjia, 664 pounds in South Carolina, 

 and 552 pounds in Louisiana. Some few single count- 

 ies in these states exhibited au average yield of 1,000 

 pounds per acre, but the areas of such au average 

 were small. — Rio News. 



The Ipecacitanha Plant. — Major J. C. Walker, 

 Conservator of Forests, reports that the two Ipecacu- 

 anha {Cephaelis Ipecacuanha) plants received in 1870 

 never attained sufficient growth to propagate from ; 

 they flowered, but failed to ripen fruit, and died in 

 1873. Some plants were subsequently sent by Mr. 

 Jamiesou for experiment at Nilambur with identical 

 results. The climate of Nilambur is evidently not 

 suitable. The Government look especially to the Con- 

 servator of Forests to take measures for the success- 

 ful cultivation of the Ipecacuanha plant, which in its 

 tiabitat is reported to grow in a damp atmosphere, 

 under the shade of woods, and exposed lo full tropical 

 heat. The Conservator is to make enquiries from all 

 his subordinates working on or under the western face 

 of the ghats, as to the places fulfilling the conditions 

 mentioned above. — M. Mail. 



Cocoa. — Mr. Morris, in the course of his lecture, al- 

 luded to what depreciates cocoa in the British mai-ket — 

 namely, the practice of washing and drying it in the 

 sun. That is just the way with us Jamaicans — gener- 

 ally overdoing things. What is it that sometimes 

 hinders our coffee from equalling the Mocha ? Just 

 that same washing (and pulpuig). We are, in fact, 

 too neat, where neatness is out of place,* and not 

 sufficiently so where neatness is in order — as in the 

 practice of packing oranges in old, flour and biscuit 

 barrels. The sensible Ai'abs dry their cofJ'ee in the 

 pulp, just as we have seen done by such of our 

 peasantry who grow a little cofi'ee for theii- own use. 

 This preserves the ai'oma of the berry, but the pro- 

 cess of pulping or "hulling," as the Yankees would 

 tenn it — is just a little more troublesome. Besiiles, 

 the adoption of the process of diying in the pulp 

 would necessitate the alteration of the "hulling" 

 machinery to meet the new conditions, and our cfiflee 

 planters as well as our sugar growers and manufactuiers, 

 are like the people of China, incurably conservative 

 in their methods and habits. — Gall's Neics Letter. 



The valuable American timber, belonging to the 

 family of the Asclepiades, and regarding which in- 

 formation was quoted on page 148, Vol. I , of the 

 Tropical Agriculturist, is thus noticed in the South 

 American Journal under the news from Buenos Ayres: — 



A large European steamer had ascended the rivers to 

 the Gran Chaco, with the object of loading quebracho 

 sleepers. The incident is one of a very suggestive 

 character. It should be known that the Argentine 

 wealth in timber in the Gran Chaco region is practically 

 inexhaustible, and that nowhere in the world is there 

 to be found better or more durable wood for railway 

 sleepers than grows in that part of the River Plate. 

 Indeed, the quebracho Colorado is snid to be "superior 

 to iron." The facts are thus stated by the Rosario 

 correspondent of the Buenox Ayres Standard : — 



" It is worthy of mention that the steamship 'Maria,' 

 of the Marseilles and Genoa line, of 1,200 tons, has 

 gone up to the Gran Chaco to loacl quebracho sleepers 

 for Europe. This is the largest merchant craft that has 

 up to the present time gone so far up the Parana. It is 

 impossible to doubt the importance of the object of this 

 expedition. It wonld appear that our quebracho wood, 



* What Mr. Morris condemned, however, was want 

 of neatness. — Ed. 



