250 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[September i, 1882. 



Tobacco. — The/ai!ai?of7eof theSrd June calls attention 

 to the great falling-ofif in tobacco cultivation in Java, 

 formerly so flourishing there, as evidenced by the fact 

 that lately, in the eastern portion o£ that island, three 

 estates were sold collectively for the trifling sum of 

 5,700 guilders, while only three years ago a brick to- 

 bacco shed on one of thera coat 400,000 guilders. 

 The decline in cultivation is ascribed to the low prices 

 of tobacco in Europe. — Singapore Times. 



New Remedies. — Mr. B. Walker, of Derby, in writing 

 to the Lancet (February IS, p. 296), speaks very 

 highly of the value of calcium sulphide in boils and 

 skin diseases, and remarks: — "It is destined to play 

 a most important part as the great germicidal remedy. 

 It is thus invaluable iu croup and diphtheria. Dr. 

 A. Fontaine, of Bar-sur-Seine, who has treated four 

 hundred of these cases, finds the mortality reduced 

 from 16 to about 6 per cent. This substance is very 

 difficult of administration and does not keep well. 

 He recommends, therefore, the tasteless gi'auules con- 

 taining J of a grain. One of these is given every 

 half-hoiir or hour until the vapour of sulphuretted 

 hydrogen is given otf from the skin and lungs and 

 then every thi'ee hours only." A statement of Dr. 

 W. H. Lambert, in the same journal, that he had 

 cured a case of that frightfully infectious and fatal 

 disease, puerperal fever, by four minim doses of tinct- 

 ure of aconite, shows that an antidote to the poison 

 which accompanies germs may be quite as effectual 

 as one that merely destroys bacteria. The revival of 

 the use of another ancient medicine shows tliat Isaiah's 

 remedy for H«zekiah's boil deserves more attention 

 than it has recei\'ed in modern days. Professor Bill- 

 roth has found that in a case of cancer of the breast, 

 which was so excessively foul smelling that all his 

 deodorizers failed, the application of a poultice made 

 of dried figs entirely freed it fronr odour. Professor 

 Bouchut also finds, as the result of his experiments, 

 that the milky juice of the fig tree possesses a digest- 

 ive power. — Pliarmuceutical Journal, 



Tea : Advice as to Cultivation. — A correspondent 

 sends the following to the Darjeeling News : — Let all 

 the bushes be many stemmed ; a great many are so 

 now. Let the single stemmed bushes be converted 

 into many stemmed by sowing a few seeds under such 

 bushes. Many stemmed bushes admit of sundry of 

 the stems being cut down to the ground year by 

 year, from which new shoots arise, and this thinning 

 out of the bush can be done without reducing its 

 yield, while permitting of its being entirely renewed 

 in four or five years by which time the bush will 

 be far larger and healthier than when first tiaken in 

 hand. All the jirunings should be collected n heaps 

 and reduced to ashes. It is anticipated thate by the 

 numbers of the pest " red spider" being thus greatly 

 reduced and by the increased energy of th plant 

 enabling it to overcome the attacks of its enemies 

 whether spider, "blister blight" or lichen, and fungi 

 on the stems, gradually all these enemies to the wel- 

 fare of the plant and planter may be exterminated. 

 The writer also states that in another part, of India, 

 ■where '< red spider" is, fortunately, unknown, he has 

 during the past six years, by gradual renewing ten 

 years old, neglected, stunted, scrubby bushes, raised 

 the yield from three maunds tea to eight maunds 

 maximum and six mauuds minimum per acre. Most 

 planters bury the pruuiugs round the roots. We 

 well recollect suggesting to a very old and experienced 

 planter, (with some diflidence) that burning might be 

 the safest, and that probably there would not be 

 much loss in manure value. But .he (juite ridiculed 

 the idea. [In recommending many-stemmed bushes, 

 the correspondent must have the Chinese plant in 

 view. The objections to burning twigs whether on 

 tea or cofl'ee estates are first the expense, second 

 the danger of conflagration,— Kd.] 



Good Prices for Cooeo Coffee. — A gentleman 

 writing from Amutty, Coorg, on the 22nd instant, 

 says :— I do not know if it is of any interest to your 

 paper to hear of good prices realized in these de- 

 pressed times of coffee from here, but I can send 

 you an account sale of this estate's last season's crop 

 averaging 95a 2d for 23 tons including triage, all sound. 



Ghee. — A short time ago the attention of the Agri- 

 cultural Department of the Government of India was 

 directed to the manufacture of ghee in Australia for 

 shipment to ports in India. It was then stated that 

 the quantity of butter available in parts of the colony 

 was so great that ghee could be manufactured and 

 laid down at any Indian port at a very low price. 

 We hear that the subject has been s\ibmitted for the 

 opinion of the Board of Revenue and that the views 

 of the different collectors have been called for. Ghee 

 is manufactured in very large quantities in the interior 

 of the districts and supplies are continually shipped 

 to Calcutta and Ceylon. Last month about R3,000 

 worth ghee were shipped at Madras for Calcutta and 

 Colombo. — Madras Standard, 



The Preservation of Wood.— A new wood-pre- 

 serving process has been invented in France by M. 

 Jacques. He first impregnates the timber thoroughly 

 with a simple eolutiou of soap, mixed with an acid — 

 preferably phenic acid. This causes the fermentation, 

 in a few days, within the wood, of a fatty acid, 

 which is insoluble in water, and impregnates the re- 

 motest fibres. The reaction of the acid on the soap 

 does not take place until a portion of the water has 

 evaporated. It is claimed that more perfect impregna- 

 tion can be had in this way than with creosote, 

 and there is no danger of the washing out of the 

 preservative from the exposed surfaces, as when sulph- 

 ate of copper is used. The Government Commission 

 on technical railroad operation in France is said to favour 

 thia process. — Metal Worker. 



West Indian Fruit— Glut of Red Bananas. — The 

 schooner "Mary F. Pike," Capt. Good, arrived here from 

 Baracoa this week with a large cargo of red ban- 

 anas and several thousand coconuts. Last week with- 

 in 24 hours, thirteen cargoes of red bananas, in all 

 34,000 bunches arrived in New York. It is expected 

 that the total import between March and the end 

 of July will be 150 cargoes. The cold weather has 

 prevented the fruit from ripening rapidly and it can- 

 not consequently be disposed of as fast as it comes. 

 This of course tends to depress prices, which range 

 %\ to SI '50 per bunch of 60 bananas. They are sold 

 direct from the vessel to be sent all over the 

 country. The damaged and over-ripe fruit is set- 

 aside for the Italian venders in this city. Every sail- 

 ing vessel arriving now from Baracoa brings from 

 2,000 to 4,000 bunches of red bananas, and from 

 20,000 to 100,000 coconuts. The supply this year 

 will be over one-third larger than it was last year. 

 The yellow bananas coming from Jamaica, Aspiu- 

 wall, and Honduras, by steamships, in large quant- 

 ities, are more in demand than the red kind. How- 

 ever a Bariiooa planter who is in town says the 

 flavour of the red is better than that of the yellow. 

 He said the j'ellow were more in dem.and because 

 dealers could make more money from them. They 

 sell for from gl to $2 per bunch according to size, 

 and the bunches contiiin about 150 bananas wliile 

 there are only about (JO in a bunch of red ones. Coco- 

 nuts are selling for $34 and §35 per thousand and 

 find a ready market at present. Pineapples are 

 just beginning to come and are ont likely to be 

 plentiful. The manjjoes now on sale from Baracoa 

 are not worth importing as two-thirds are rotten 

 and have to be thrown away. Judging by late reports 

 here an abundant crop of the delicious Jamaica 

 oranges are expected. Every barrel of them shipped 

 here finds a ready sale. — Gall's Mews Letter, 



