368 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, i88z. 



cbmiilain of, while it would deliver the defenceless 

 public over to the uiistraiDnd mercies of the adulter- 

 ators — Produce iliirkds' Revino. 



Cinchona. — Shaving cinchona bark has been adoited 

 as the iijode of harvesting in Darjeeling, having been 

 intro'iuced there by Dr. Kin^ after the Java f.ishion. 

 Thf trees are said to belookiiig very well after the oper- 

 ation, and renewal is progressing apace. — South of 

 India Observer. 



The Total Area of Scotland is about 20,000,000 

 acre.^, hardly one quarter of which may be reckoned 

 ae arable forest f<ir pasture land, the remainder being 

 occupii-'d bj the lakes, rivers, peat-mosses, moorlands, 

 bare rocks, ami mountaiu-i. It is surprising then to 

 find that agaihst such a vast area of uncultivited ground 

 only 734,490 ncres, according to the official returns of 

 1872, are classed as woodlands. — Indian A'jrkultnrist, 



Travelling in " New Ceylon. " — Our readers will 

 peruse with interst Mr. von Donop's account of Ms 

 exploration of North Borneo. The " waste land " re- 

 Bom'ces of the countiy are abundant, and the soil of 

 the higher ranges seems to he especially good. The one 

 gi-eat want is population, and this Sir Walter Medhurst 

 is doing his best to supply from China. There are 

 other difficulties to overcome, but we cannot doubt that 

 there is a gi-eat and prosperous future for this latest 

 of British settlements in the East. 



Anew Company, called " The Titagbur Paper Mills 

 Company, Limited " with a capital of K600.0UO, iu sharos 

 of K 100 each, has been quietly formed "ud successfully 

 floated in Calcutta iu a few days, the whob' of the shares 

 being taken up by substantial investors. The Company 

 starts under good pruspeots of success. It has secured 

 a good site ou the river bank at Titaghur at a cheap 

 rate, the machinery has been selected with a view to 

 introducing all the most modern improvements, and the 

 management is in f;ood liands. After completing the 

 necessary buildings it is expected that ihe Company will 

 be able to commence work after about twelve months. — 

 Piomer, 



Cotton Seed Oil and Meal. — "Amongst the latest 

 introductions into the Canadian market," says the 

 Montreal Gazette, "are cottonseed oil and meal. The 

 oil ij extensively used in the southern and south- 

 western states for culinary purposes, having largely 

 superseded lard and butter. Cotton Beed oil is ship- 

 ped iu considerable quantities to Italy and the south 

 of France trnm whence it is re-shipped to different 

 pai-ts of the world as best table oil The other article 

 above referred to as cotton seed meal, is widel> used 

 in I lie United States, and also in England and Scot- 

 land, for feeding buif cattle and milch cows. Over 

 ten thousand tons of tiiis meal were sold last year 

 iu the New England Stales alone, and wherever it has 

 been introduced it has given great satisfaction."— 

 Bio News. 



The BbST Fiber yet used by Mr. Edison for the 

 carl'ouized arch of his ineandeaeent light is one found 

 by Mr. J"hn C. Branner iu Biazil. The plant fur- 

 nisliing this fiber is to be found all through the 

 Amazon valley, and the fiber itself is of exceptiouaL 

 purity, length and toughness. Mr. Edison is de- 

 lighted witb it, and is nat.urally desirous of securing 

 a permanent supply of it. The difficulty of securing 

 trustworthy laborers for gathering it, the local restric- 

 tions, and the certainty that a heavy exjjort duty 

 will at once be imposed upon it, has led to some 

 hesitation in the mat er of sending for it. A bamboo 

 fiber was found in Japan which, though inferior to 

 the Brazilian fiber, is easily procured, and is now 

 being used, and will continue to be used until the 

 question of expense in securing the Amazon fiber is 

 fettled, Mr, Branner is now engaged iu preparing a 

 report of iiis year's exploration in Bvazil,—Sio A^em, 



Coffee Culture. — Not long since a friend of mine 

 suggested sowing and forking in green the common 

 Crotalaria,, and " Ci. W." hmg, hmg ago advocated 

 the growth and digging in iif the "Lupine," as practisid 

 in Soutliern Italyr— W. F. Ley. 



AoKicDLTURAL ScHoOL IN BRAZIL. — The Minister 

 of Agricuture has recommended an approi»riation of 

 480,0UU milreis for Ihe founding of six agricultural 

 schools. This, it seems to us, is a very important 

 step, and likely, if the proposal obtains the necessary 

 legislative sanction, to produce valuable results as 

 aS'ecting the material progress of the Empire. —.Vo»</j 

 American Joiinal. 



The Ooconut a Eejiedt for Tape-worm- — In the -An- 

 tilles the coconut is the popular remedy for tape-worm, 

 and its efficacy has been conclusively demonstrated by 

 mechcal men iu Senegal. A coconut is opened, and the 

 almond extracted and scraped. Three hours after its ad- 

 ministration a dose of castor oil is given. The worm 

 is expelled in two hours afterwards. In nine cases in 

 which tills remedy was tried by a surgeon in Senegal 

 the result was complete. — Natal Mercury. 



A Russian Tea-dealer at Moscow advertises iu 

 the Kussian papers as one of his specialities Indian 

 tea. It is described as a " Rose Tea," and the price 

 in English money comes to within a fraction of 5s 4d 

 a pound. As he alludes prominently to the article 

 and recommends the people of Moscow to give a trial 

 to this "new tea," we may conclude that ludiaii tea 

 is not familiar to the Moscow palate. The name of this 

 euterprizing merchant, it may interest some of our read- 

 ers to know, is Korestchenko, and his address, Pont 

 des Marechause, Maison Terletsky, Moscow. —Pioneer. 



The Gum Tuee Disease. — With regard to this afl'ection 

 oui' readers will share oiu' relief at seeing the latest 

 account just received from Abbostford : — " The gum disease 

 seems to be getting better : some red-gums, roses, and 

 tea have quite recovered and are putting on new wood, 

 and altogether, since the failing up of the weather, the 

 disease seems at a standstill. Last Simday I saw some 



Emilina calisaya ou very badly eft'ected, and in some 



instances quite dead from apparently the same disease, 

 but these plants were on the jungle edge, ami at least an 

 eighth of a mile from any blue-g-ums. There is a small 

 stunted red-gum near them, but it has only a few of 

 its leaves at all bad. I think the wet weather had a 

 great deal to do with the diesease, as all plants (of 

 any description) which did not get too much of it sre 

 now thiowing out new leaves and buds.-" The cUseaso 

 may not, therefore, always originate with the gums, 

 although it attacks them with peculiar vu-uleuce, that 

 vu'ideuce being contagious. We shoidd like to know 

 if the spots have been seen on chichonas far removed 

 from the possibility of mfection from gums. 



AETiFici.iL Dyes. — The editor of the Im/tjo Ptnnters' 

 Gazette, after quoting notices of various substitutes for 

 indigo, seems inclined to thi'ow up the sponge, writing 

 as follows : — " The energy here displayed by chemists points 

 to H determination ou then- part to drive the real dye from 

 the market. So long, however, as the prices of these pro- 

 ducts are not appreciably lower than that of indigo, the 

 latter as a blue, will command the market. Mention has 

 already been made of the requu'ements which we must 

 fultil, if we wish to maintaiu the title of superiority for 

 the natural dye, and to enable us to meet the fluctua- 

 tions in price of artilicial products. The fuUilmeut of 

 these requu'ements, however, will be no guarantee against 

 the power and rcsoiu-ces of the chemist, who has suc- 

 cessively overthrown the madder aud cochineal industries. 

 It was said after the introduction of tlie napthalin dyes, 

 when they were in a state of imperfect development, 

 that they never would be able to throw cochineal and 

 its products out of the market. This opinion has now 

 been changed, for with the better qualities of uapthaliue 

 colom', the sliades can not only be produced just as 

 bright, but even surpassing them. The use of cochineal 

 has therefore decreased considerably." 



