384 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[November i, 1882. 



Liquid Furniture Polish. — Dissolve 4 ounops D. 0. 

 s\v llac in 2 pints alcohol, and add 2 pints of linseed 

 nil, and 1 piut spirits turpentine. When thoroughly 

 mixed, add 4 ounces sulphuric ether and 4 ounces 

 aqua ammonia. This requires to be shaken when used, 

 and is applied with a soft sponge. — Oil and Diiig News. 



The Uoffek Beruy. — With reference to an Occasional 

 Note in \ our issue of the 17th ultimo, wherein it is 

 stated that " another new product has just been per. 

 fected by Mr. da Bavay of the Ceylon Brewery in 

 the form of spirit which he distilled from fermented 

 coflfee berry, &c." allow me to state that there is nothing 

 new in this for in my Hand Book to coffee planting in 

 Southern India, published in 1864, at pages 1.36, '37 

 and '38, I have fully described the procfifs from actual 

 experiments, not only with the fresh coflfee pulp, but 

 also from the dried husks of the fruit in the manufacture 

 of spirits. John Shortt. — Madras Mail. 



Mr. DelisSA, the pioneer of the sugar planting enter- 

 prize, in tne Northern Territory, was, says the Daily 

 Press, a passenger from Port Darwin to North Borneo 

 by the E. & A. steamer "Tannadice," which landed 

 him at Sandakan. Mr. Delissa was the means of intro- 

 ducing the sugar-cane in the Palmerston district, and 

 Deli?saville plantation is now a very flourishing monu- 

 ment of his enterprize and skill. He resigned his post as 

 manager there because the Company working it placed 

 anollier gentleman unacquainted with the industry over 

 his head. Mr. Delliasa has gone to Sandakan to take 

 up laud there to commence sugar growing, in which 

 undertaking he is sure to aucmed..— Straits Times. 



Enemies or Cocoa. — A BaduUa planter writes: — 

 "1 fend you by this post a bo.x containing some 

 beetles, and should be obliged if you could inform 

 me of their species. They are very destructive to young 

 cocoa I rees, and devour the bark greedily, but do not 

 interfere much with the leaves. There are large num- 

 bers 01 them on a young cocoa clearing here, where they 

 Ijave done considerable damage." The insect is a weevil 

 belonging to the family of beetles named curculiouidie, 

 of oval shape, length 7-Uiths of an inch exclusiva 

 of rostrum. Thorax and winacases pale brown with 

 dark brown patches and buflf markings ; a bufi' band 

 fXteuds across the elytra in a bent form. Legs long 

 iind roburt, with large tarsi. The whole insect is 

 cloth d with small obloug scales, discernible under 

 a low iiiagnitying power. 



Coffee Exhibition in New York. — The members 

 of tlte Ci ffee Exchange yesterday afternoon marched 

 to the office of the Brazilian Consul, at No. 42 Broatl- 

 way, where an exhibition of Brazilian coffee was 

 opened under the auspices of the Associa^ao Centro 

 da Lavouraedo Commerci", which conducted the inter- 

 national c>;hibition of Rio de Jaufiro last fall, when 

 1,200 samples were exhibited. After the close of tbis 

 exhibition the samples were divided and sent to this 

 city, L'indoD, Paris, Vienna, and even to St. Peters- 

 burg, where it is hoped to awaken an interest in coffee 

 which, strange to say, is not consumed in Russia. 

 There were 200 samples in the lot exhit'ited in this 

 city. The members of the Exchange went from sam- 

 ple to sample, discussing the merits of each. A cup 

 of coffee was handed to each visitor. The exhibition 

 is under the immediate supervision of Senhor Salvador 

 de Meudontj-a consul general. Brazilian Charg6d'Af- 

 aires J. G. do Amaral Valeute was also present. The 

 chief objects of the exhibition are to give the New 

 York importers a better knowledge of the qualities 

 of coflfee produced by the diflferent states or provinces 

 of Brazil, and if possible to encourage direct dealings 

 between the planter and the American importer. The 

 Brazilian consul is now preparing an account of the 

 actual cost of producing coffee ou the plantations, the 

 oatiniate including the rental of the laud, value of 

 the slaves, labor, etc. — New York Commercial Bulletin, 

 June 14th- 



Jamaica Labour. — It is a remarkable fact that 

 whilst there is a consensus of opinion as to the nec- 

 essity for a well-organized scheme of coolie immigra- 

 tion for Jamaica, yet whenever the construction of 

 some great public work creates an urgent demand for 

 labour within a certain radius of the colony, attention 

 is immediately turned to its resources. This was not- 

 ably the case a few months ago, when M. de Iiesseps 

 began work in earnest on the Panama Canal, and. 

 thousands of .Jamaica negroes were drawn thither by 

 the promise of high wages. Just now a railway is to 

 be made in Sau Dominsjo under the auspices of some 

 Cuban capitalists, but the Government of Cuba will 

 not permit labourers to be engaged there for the pur- 

 pose, and hence ths contractors intend, it is said, to 

 send a vessel to Jamaica to enlist men. It certainly 

 seems parodoxical that enterprize in Jamaica should 

 in popular belief be languishing for want of sufficient 

 labour, and yet at the same time it should become a 

 source of labour-supply to its neighbours. The ex- 

 planation, of course, is that the men who go on rail- 

 May aud canal works do not take kindly to estate 

 work on the Blue Mountains — Plaiiters' Gazette. 



Blub Gum Oil a substitute for Carbolic Acid. — 

 A Planter writes : — "The enclosed is from a recent list 

 of new medicines bythe big London Chemists, Burgoyne 

 & Co. Can we not turn our gum trees in Ceylon into some 

 use. How should the oil be extracted and how should or 

 can an extract be made of the leaves ?" The extract is as 

 follows:— "Eucalyptus Globulus. — The oil of Eucalyptus 

 Globulus, as a substitute for carbolic acid, has been much 

 advocated of late. It is a most valuable antiseptic, and. 

 has obtained the happiest results in malarial fevers, 

 as well as in bronchial catarrh. Professor Lister is of 

 opinion that the Eucalyptus Globulus should supersede 

 carbolic acid as an antiseptic because of its harmless na- 

 ture. It contains — (1) Eucalyptio Acid ; (2) a volatile 

 oil: (3) a resin which has an acid reaction; (4) Eucalyptin, 

 a bitter crystalline substance soluble in ether and 

 alcohol; (5) a yellow resin of bitter taste; (G) a white 

 body crystallising iu needles called Eucalyptol. There 

 are other elements, but these are tlie most important. 

 Eucalyptus has been found by Mosler to have a 

 marked effect in reducing the volume of the spleen. 

 By u-ing an extract of Eucalyptus leaves the spleen 

 decreased in all its dimensions." 



The Need for a Coffee SvNnicATE in London 

 cannot be doubted, and we are pleased to see that 

 the Travaucore Planters' Association has taken up the 

 matter. One of the results — a most important one — 

 of the Calcutta Tea Syndicate has been the opeuiug 

 up of new markets for Indian tea, first iu Australia 

 and New Zealand, aud more recently iu America. 

 There is no reason why the cultivators of the fragr- 

 ant berry should not take united action to protect 

 their inteiests, as the tea planters and merchants have. 

 Had there been a coflfee Syndicate, with a represent- 

 ative committee in Lo"dou, there would in all piob- 

 ability have been much less delay in prevailing upon 

 the Home Governmeut to take steps to prevent such 

 shameful adulteration as existed befiire Messrs. Pasteur 

 and Dioksou took up the matter. They, by sheer force 

 of fact and argument, brought the Government to a 

 sense of the injustice which was being done to the 

 coffee enterprize ly the extensive aud unprincipled 

 system of adulteration of coffee by mixtures of roasted 

 dates, figs, beans, &c. The formation of a coffee syn- 

 dicate was sugt;estcfl to us by planters sometime ago, 

 but we believe the subject has never been taken up 

 seriously by any of the planters' associations till now. 

 We should think that the associations of India and 

 Ceylon will be ready to act with the Travaucore Planters' 

 Association in an cudeavour to form a Coffee Syndicate 

 "to watch, protect, and fuither the interests of the 

 coffee enterprize generally." — M. Mail. 



