2 74 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1882 



III Maiiufacture, i$-c. — Sample No. 1, when washed and 

 dried, gives a loss of 8 per cent. This loss is much less 

 than is met with in Ceara-rubber of the finest quality, 

 and may probably be accounted for by the .sm.all bulk, 

 ami the facilities offered by time, mode of packing and 

 transit, to the escape of the natural moisture of the pro- 

 duct. AVatcr removes a considerable quantity of mucil- 

 aginous and fecculeut matter and salt.s — the natural im- 

 purities of the rubber — and leaves it quite white and 

 almost pure. Alcohol extracts but a slight amount of 

 resinous and oxidation products. On inciueiation it yields 

 4'13 per cent mineral ash, which agrees, in its chemical 

 compo.'iition, very closely with the ash obtained from Ceara- 

 rubber, the ash from which amounts to 4 or 5 per cent. 

 This .sample (No. 1) vulcanizes perfectly when mixed with 

 the suitable proportion of sulphiu- and heated. 



Sample No. 3, when washed and dried, gives a loss of 

 62 (sixty-tivo) per cent. The sand remlers it i^xtremely 

 difficult to wash, unless w.arm water is used, which increases 

 its stickine-'.s on drying. Water removes much less mucil- 

 aginous matter than from No. 1. Alcohol removes, even 

 on long digestion, only a slight quantity of soluble matter. 

 On digestion in alcohol it does not become harder or less 

 .sticky. This .shows that its stickiness is not due to an 

 osridized state of the rubber, nor to the presence of resins, 

 and would create an opinion that some other product has 

 been added The chemical analys; is of the mineral ash in 

 such cases is of great assistance the quantity of foreign 

 mineral matter in sample No. 2 renders the analysis of 

 the ash in the present case quite unreliable. It yields 

 27v;i per cent ash before washing, and 6'42 per cent ash 

 when washed and dried. Sample No. 1, when washed and 

 dried, yielils 2'9 per cent ash, insoluble .salts contained in 

 the juice of the plant. AVhen mixed with the suitable 

 quantity of sulphur and heated, sample No. 2 vulcanizes, 

 although not .so .satisfactorily as No. 1.— Thus. T. P. Bkuce 

 AYiKHEN, Analytical Chemist to the Indiarubber, Outta- 

 jiercha and Telegraph Company. 



Sil\ertown, 29th June 1882. 



CINCHONA BARK IN LONDON. 



(From a CorrcupoHitenl . ) 

 The great variety of cinchona bark from Ceylon 

 was the chief characteristic of the public auction on 

 18th July. Cinchona of every class of preparation, 

 of succirubra, hybrid, and officinalis, was offered for 

 sale, which gave valuers from appearance every op- 

 portunity of increasing their knowledge. .Some classes 

 were in more demand than others, perhaps owing to 

 a great scarcity of cinchonidme prevailing. For any- 

 thing in the shape of red quill, no matter whether 

 uneven, unassorted, mixed, oi' thinnish, the prices 

 gi\'eu were higher than usual. Renew'ed red and re- 

 newed cro\\n shavings sold very well ; some of the 

 latter from Upper Cranley realized as much as 6s lOd 

 per lb. It would be interesting to know the details 

 of that lot, such as age of trees, age of renewed 

 bark and whether the bark was procured from a 

 seconil or a third shaving. 5s Id per lb. was paid 

 for renewed red shavings (well gnarled) from one of 

 the Messrs. Campbell's Lindula estates. .Some shav- 

 ings from two year old officinalis trees sold for 2s 

 per U-i. Other features in the sale were hybrid shav- 

 ings (the first offered perhaps) realizing from 2s 3J 

 to 3s per lb., succirubra stump and root 2s, officinalis 

 stump and root 3s Sd. Some 3 foot quill from New 

 Brimswick brought 4s oil per lb. There were as 

 many as nine sales, and in all but one Ceylon bark 

 was offered. There is a fall in the value both of 

 good succirubra spoke-shavings and stem chips to 

 2s 6d. According to yesterday's sales detailed values 

 are as follows approximately : — 



Officriialu. Siircinihra. 



Twigs ... Os 9d to Is 7d Twigs ... Os 5d to Is 4d 

 Chips ... is Od to 4s Id Chips 

 Root ... 2s Od to 6s 7d Root 



Stump ... 



Spoke .. 

 shavings 



Quill 2n(l 

 (piality 

 ,, 1st ,, 



Renewed 



Dust 



Bits (a)... 



Pieces (b) 



— ■ 3s 8d Stump... 

 Spoke . . 

 1 Od to 3s lOd shavings Is 



2s Sd to 3s 

 3s 8d to 6s 

 4s 3d to (is 

 Os lid to Is 

 Os Od to Is 

 1., 6d to 2s 

 Hybrid quill 

 Hybrid stem chijis.. 

 Hybrid shavings . 



Od 

 Od 

 lOd 

 7d 

 Oil 

 Oci 



tid to 2s 

 Quill 2nd 



ouality Is lOd to 2s 

 ., 1st ,. 2s lOd to "is 

 Renewed 2s Oil to .Is 

 Dust ... 

 Bits 

 Pieces ... h 



^s 



Is 10.1 



2s 3d t 



Is 



I. 



ea 



Sd 

 Od 



Id 



-td 

 rid 



KM 



3s. 



.1. n. 



2s Od to 2s 6d 

 Is 2d to 2s 4d 



CONVERSION oi'' niti:o(;en i.\ 'I'hI'; son. 



INTO Ni'J'RATES AND THE LOSS 01 

 nitrates and DfiAlNAOE. 

 As the editor of the Firlil said in answer to his 

 correspondent ' Agricola," the loss of nitrates now is 

 not greater than it was befoi-e Lawes experimented 

 and Warington lectured, but we suppose a good 

 many of our readers will share the feelings with 

 which the revelations made have inspired us and 

 others ; especially our correspondent " X.," from 

 whom a second communication appears today. What 

 with Mr. Hughes' tremendous calculations of ourlo. s 

 of soil by wash, and now the statements as to the 

 tendency of nitrogen to assume the fonn of nitrates, 

 merely to be in large proportion lost in drainage, 

 the case of agriculturists, tropical agriculturists es- 

 pecially, seems a hard one. We were led to believe 

 that earth was the great filter and disinfectant pro- 

 vided by nature, with the power of assimilating all 

 offensive substances, rendering them not merely harm- 

 less but beneficent, only letting the pure thud flow 

 away. But now we are told that the earth teems 

 with hactfria. the most fornudable agents of disease. 

 Those low forms of organisms are also, Mr. War- 

 ington tells us, the agents which change nitrogen into 

 nitrates, by a species of action which, for our com- 

 fort, we are told, is analogous to the action of the 

 vinegar plant. If the process ■ of nitrillcation takes 

 place at a low temperature, but is wonderfully ac- 

 celerated by summer heat, in England, how much 

 more rapid must the process be under our tropical 

 sun and how much gi'eater the waste from our tro])ic 

 rains 't ! Even in England, accordir.g to Mr. War- 

 ington, in growing a crop of wheat, the loss of 

 nitrates in drainage was eiiuivaleut to that used in 

 the production of the crop. The Oidy comfort is that 

 in certain subsoils the nitrates go far down and can, 

 of course be again found, say in Ceylon by the deep 

 roots of the tea plant. Our old idea of the retentive 

 powers of the soil holds good it seems for super- 

 phosphate, but nitrate of soda is at the mercy of 

 the weather ! The value of bale fallowing, it appears, 

 depends on the seasons. If these are mild, nitrates 

 become superabui.dant : if the weather is wet, as has 

 for years now betu the case in England, the nitrates 

 are washed away. Economical farmuig. it is laid 

 dowii, very much depends on the economizing of the 

 nitrates, and ir. wet seasons th.; only sulHcicut 

 means of preserving the nitrates is to put in a 

 crop which v.ill absoib them. That is easily 

 enough done iu Englaml but what are v,a to 

 do on our coffvc, cocoa tea ami cinchona plant- 

 ations, close to tlie eipiator ': If aijrmtiiiii or 

 ' wliite weed " vas not possessed of such an inveter- 

 ate tendency to tding when scarcely above ground, 

 we might be able to kill two birds with one stuue 



{■A) Ijctter than twigs. 



(b) Not so good .as stem chips. 



