336 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1882^ 



Sulphur. — The value of the yearly production of 

 sulphur in Italy is now estimated at something like 

 five million dollars. This country is the greatest im- 

 porter, the next in order heing France, Great Britain 

 and Germany. The exporting ports are, Gurgenti, 

 Licata, Terranova, and Catania. Fifty per cent of the 

 material is lost in burning and meltintr, and the whole 

 process in use is very primitive. — Oil and Dru<j News. 



AuTiFloiAT, Quinine. — There have been rumours for 

 some time that artificial quiniue could be madf, and 

 wa.s indeed being largely manufactured. J'he process 

 w.as apparently one of childlike simplici'y, and con- 

 sisted only in bringing together dihydrolepidin, diliydro- 

 ethylpyridin, and the chloranhydride of chloropro- 

 phinio acid. A substance obtained in this, or some 

 similar way, and called ohinolin tartrate or artificial 

 qianine, has been used by Dr. Schapringer in the 

 Jewish Hospital, Philadelphia. It was found to have 

 slight antiperiodic properties, but to be far inferior to 

 quinine — Record. 



A Strong and Handy Cement. — One of tlie strong- 

 est cements, and very readily made, is obtained when 

 equal quantities of gutta percha and shellac are melted 

 together and well siirred This is best done in an 

 iron capsule placed on a sand hatli, and heated either 

 over a gas furnace or ou the top of a s'ove. It is 

 a combination possessing both lianluess and toughness — 

 qualities that make it particularly desirable in mending 

 crockery. When this cement is us^d the articles to be 

 mended should be warmed to about the melting point 

 of the mixture, and then retained in proper position until 

 cool, when they are ready for use. — OH and Drug News. 



Our Forests and Vegetation. — We call attention 

 to Mr. Vincent's paper on ' ' Ceylon Forests, " 

 wliich we take over from the Indian Quarlrrly 

 Maqazinc of Forestry and to tlie summary and trans- 

 lation of Professor kaeckel s enthusiastic description 

 of vihaX he saw and experienced in Ceylon. There 

 is more of the latter to follow. It will be observed 

 ihat Mr. Vincent expressly states that chena cultivation 

 has perhaps done more harm to the forests in Cevlon 

 thau in any other part of the East, and more especially 

 has the mischief been done during the p:>.9t fifty years 



a severe reflection on the way in which the Agents 



and Assistant Agents of Government have looked 

 after their districts. 



Our Hills. — We read in the Indian World : — 

 " Some of the Darjeeling people are complaining about 

 "continuous rain" up there. But continuous rain 

 is the normal condition of things at Darjeeling. 

 People who are not prepared to live in a mackintosh 

 suit, should stay in the plains. " The truth in this 

 case is two-sided. A Ceylon planter visited Dar- 

 jeeling and experienced incessant rain. Our experience 

 was incessant drought which liad lasted for seven 

 month.s, nnd the view of Kinchinjunga was hidden from 

 us, not by mist but by the .imoke of a country a 

 large portion of which had been fired by the joomers, 

 or we should call them in Ceylon the chenaers. 



A New Article of Trade. — Of late an export 

 trade has sprung up in tamarind, and large supplies 

 are sent by almost every P. & O. steamer to Suez 

 and London. Supplies of tamaiind obtained from the 

 districts were hitherto retained for local consumption, 

 and with a demand from almost all the towns on 

 the coast, and especially in the southern districtsand 

 Ceylon, the trade in this comoiodity «as a purely 

 Indian one. Now, however, with shipments steadily 

 going forward, we may have to record the fact that 

 the price of tamarind has risen, and that the trade 

 in it has never been so brisk as it is present. The 

 ate'im>-r "Nepal," ou the 2l3t ultimo, took away 422 

 bundles from this port, and large supplies we^ e ship- 

 ped on, board the " Lombardy " yesterd.ay. — Madras 

 Standard. 



Perak. — Mr. A. Schutze, proprietor of the coffee 

 plantation m Perak so much a dmired the other day 

 tiy His Excellency Governor Weld is at present on a 

 short visit to Ceylon, and he will be glad, during his stay 

 at the Queen's Hotel, Kandy, till Monday next, and 

 after that at the Grand Oriental Hotel, Colombo, till 

 Thursday or Friday, to give information about this 

 new planting territory, to any intending investors. 

 Mr. Schutze brought over with him some 24 bushels 

 of his maiden coffee crop in parchment. This on 

 being cured in Colombo, has given the fair outturn of 5 

 cwt. , and although the bean had been lying too long in 

 the parchment skin, the samples (of Nos. 1, and P.B.) 

 given to us by Mr. Schutze, are very favourable and | 

 of good colour. These can be seen at the Observer \ 

 Office. I 



Coffee Adulteration. — We see from a paragi'aph in i 

 a home paper by this maO that Mr. Magniao, M.P., 

 induced the Government to provide for other admixtures 

 with coffee, in the same way as has been done with chicory, 

 thus: — " Vegetable Matter." — Mr. Magniao has succeed- 

 ed in considerably improving the new law as to the sale j 

 of substitutes for coffee by the insertion of a clause I 

 providing that all packets purporting to contain coffee ' 

 with a mixture of other articles should bear on the i 

 outside a plainly-printed statement of the nature of 

 the admixture. The amendment was accepted by the 

 Government, who, however, most inconsistently re- 

 fused to accept another amendment proposed by Mr. 

 Cavendish Bentinck, that the percentage of coffee to \ 

 other ingredients should also be stated. The label I 

 will nui no doubt: "This is a mixture of coffee and 



." But, imtil the proportions are specified, i 



such label will afford little or no cheek on the I 

 retailers. ' 



Cinchona Cultivation under Shade ; Coffee • 

 Crops, Forest Denudation and Change op Seasons. 1 

 — A planter writes: — "I should be glad to see a para- 1 

 graph from some one who has had practical experience I 

 of cinchona cultivated under the shade of forest trees, 

 but I should not consider a small patch of standing : 

 jungle, on a ridge, for instance, planted with cinchonas, I 

 any argument for or against shade. Could you get 

 ' W. D. B. ' to give us his opinion ou this important 

 subject?. I feel sure it would be of value. The sum- 

 ming up of Ills letter of the 15th on abnormal seasons i 

 I believe to be as true as any judge ever summed ' 

 up a case for the consideration of a jury. If we can I 

 agree that abnormal seasons as understood by ' W. ! 

 D. B.' is tlie cause of short crops, and if there be 

 any truth iu the theory that the wholesale de- 

 struction of our mountain forest is the cause of the I 

 change of climate, then, in addition to the means re- 

 commended by 'W. D. B. ' so as to modify the evil i 

 effects of the seasons I would suggest that Govern- I 

 meut be asked to appoint two or more competent i 

 foresters from India to supervise the establishing of ' 

 nurseries of suitable forest trees for the purpose of j 

 jjlanting up tlie whole of the available crown patanas. 

 Blue gxims and other quick-growing trees would soon ' 

 repay the trouble and expense. Our Forestry Depart- , 

 ment, I see, is composed of six foresters, but report 

 hath it that their duties are more in the way of ' 

 marking trees for the axe tlian for planting purposes.' 

 Our correspondent may make liis mind easy about' . 

 forest denudation in Ceylon affecting the rainfall I 

 and seasons. We think " W." 's admirable letter in \ 

 Friday's Observer (which probably our correspondent 

 had not read when he wrote) should once and for j 

 ever dispose of the croaking about forest denud- ' 

 atiou in Ceylon. Of course "W. " does not attempt | 

 to defend indiscriminate felling of forests. Timber is ' 

 one of man's wants, and forests have there role. I 

 However, so far as the matter bears on oiir case, it I 

 is clear we may leave it to theorists. j 



