I004 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[June i, 1883. 



Obsei'vatiou 

 observation 

 observatiou 



June itith and 29tli 

 Dec. 21st. 



CriNGER-BEEB.— Dr. Oiiclaatje, of Ceylon, states that th* 

 bark of Valeria Iiidicri, or piney-tree, is constantly used by 

 the Cingalese to arrest the alcoholic fermentation of the 

 juice of the jaggery palm, which is a favourite beverage with 

 tliera. This property of arresting fermentation might, 

 derhaps, be used to Iceep ginger-beer sound, though more 

 definite information as to the mode of use is desirable.— Ms 

 Chemist and Drugyisf. 



The climate of S. Paulo, the captital of the Santos 

 coffee district, is thus summarized in the RioNiV's: — 

 a:sxual summary. 



Meteorological observations taken at Braz, in the city of S Paulo, 

 during 1SS2, by the Companhia Cantareira e Esgotos ;— 

 Lat. 23<leK. a2inin.58sec. S. . 



Lous. 40 dej{. 36 min. 46 sec. W. (Greenwich). 

 Hei.'bt of barometer, 2,393 ft. above mean sea-level. 



Du of rain-gauge, 2,378-5 ft. do do 

 Maxinumi pressure of barometer dunng hours of 



27-9Q1 inches on 10th June, 9 pm. 

 Minimum pressOTe of barometer during hours of 



27-40H inches on the 8th December, 9 am. 

 Maximum pressm-e of barometer during hours of 



con-f. led to 32 deg. F. at sea-level, 30-481 on 18th .Tidy, 9 pm. 

 Minimimi pressure of barometer during hours of observation 

 ■ corrected to 32 deg. F. at sea-level, 29 671 on 6th ,Tuly 9 a m. 

 Alaximum thermometer in shade 91 deg. 9 on>ovembcr 2ith. 

 Minimum do do 33 deg. on August 7th. 



Bo do on grass 26 deg. on August 5th. 



Total raiiifall during year 60-40 inches. 

 Greatest fall on one day 2'61 inches on January 4th. 

 It rained on 186 days. 



Fog on miirnings of 77 days and nights of 14. 

 Dew on mornings of 113 days and nights of 137. 

 Thunder and lightning on 40 days. 



Tliunder heard and lightuiug imperceptible ou 29 days. 

 Lightning seen and thunder not heard on 31 days. 

 Limar Corona observed on January 31st, Juo 



August 19th and December ISth. 

 Lunar Halo observed on May 30th, Nov. 21st and 

 Comet observed on 30th September. 

 Zodiacal light observed ou August 13th. 

 Frostoii 10 nights. „ ... . . 



The FuiLS of Indi.\ : Sun Heat. — In a series of 

 lectures at Bombay by Mr. Alfred N. Pearson, a 

 miuiug engineer, the following interesting statement 

 was made : — 



Under the heading of "Fuels," the coal fields of 

 India were touched upon, and it was stated that 

 India contained the thickest known coal seams of the 

 world, some being 100, 120 and 160 feet thick. On 

 tlie Ranigunge coal tield, which had a probable area 

 of l,l'00 .square miles, there were in 1872 uo le.ss than 

 44 mines at work. In 1879 this field yielded 523,000 

 tnus of coal, and gave employment to 389,000 men, 

 195,000 women, and 27,000 children. The expense of 

 carriage of coal over land was very considerable and 

 prevented the Indian coal fields irom meeting much 

 more than the local demand. Coal which in 1880 sold 

 at ih to 3 rupees at the pit's mouth on the Raniganj 

 coal'lieM cn-t 7 to 8 rupees in Calcutta and no less 

 than R50 in Lahore. Mr. Ball, in his little book on 

 the ' Diamonds, coal and gold of India,' stated that 

 the annual consumption of coal in India was upwards 

 of one and-a-half million tons, and that in round 

 figures two-thirds of this amount was raised in the 

 counti-y. As a sign of progress in the development 

 of Indian industries this statement was not unsatis- 

 factory ; but it was completely dwarfed when one 

 » tu'ned to the statistics of the English coal fields 

 where in 1872 not one and-a-half million, but 123J 

 millions of tons of coal were raised, 16 millions of 

 which were exported, and the rest consumed in the 

 country. Other fuels, such as wood, peat, lignite, and 

 Iietroleum were dealt with ; and before leaving the 

 subject of fuels the importance of the sun's heat as 

 a fuel was pointed out. However unequally wood 

 and coal were distributed over India, there was no 

 doubt tliat sunshine was given impartially enough. 

 Some etfurts to use it in a concentrated form had 

 been made in the drying of tea, but with only partial 

 success. For the most chemical processes and even 

 for brick-burning, the lecturer believed a determined 

 ell'rt to apply it would result in success. 



New Indu.stkies and Bonu.-jes. — The Colonial Secret- 

 ary of New Zealand has been instructed to offer 

 the following bonuses for the encouragement of new 

 local industries: — Fifty percent on the value realized 

 for the first £1,000 worth of cocoons or silkworms' 

 eggs produced in ihe Culony, to be paid on quan- 

 tities of not less than £50 worth, or more than £100 

 worth, reared by any one person ; £500 for the first 

 £2, .WO worth of native manganese and bronze ; £300 

 for the first £1,500 worth of native marble sold in a 

 foreign market for not lees than 93 per cubic foot : 

 i£500 for the first 250 tons of native antimony regulus 

 sold in a foreign country at a fair market value ; 

 and £1,000 for the pioduction, from native ores 

 by a direct process within the Colony, of 200 

 tons of 'iron blooms" «{ marketable quality. ^PwWiO 

 Opinion. 



The Emancipation Qi^fstion in Brazit. is thus 

 discussed by Mr. .1. W. Hammond, 'in a letter to 

 the Rio Neim : — 



All revolutions leave blood stains ; therefore the 

 milder they are the less apparent will these be. In 

 the Brazilian emancipation I, however, see so many 

 and such fearful rocks and breakers ahead, that I 

 1 should be truly glad if some one cnuld point out the safe 

 j "way. There are employed in the coffee plantations of 

 I Brazil about 500,000 slaves, of which, if freed, only 

 I about 150,000 would work, and these not so hard as 

 ' they do now. Here therefore we find a want of 

 350,000 laborers, which would have to be f"und some- 

 I where, lo carry on the great agriculture of the country 

 I To supply this need only about 10 to 15,000 free 

 \ people enter the plantations yearly, all other im- 

 migrants or free laborers finding the of a living in Brazil 

 ! so easy near the large cities, where there are some 

 ! diversions and pastimes, naturally prefer this, to the 

 comparatively hard life in the preparation of coff'ee 

 for the market. At this rate, it would take2il years 

 \ to supply the simple needs of the present plantations ; 

 ^ but during those 20 years what would become of the 

 Brazilian nation, as a nation, if it lost, say, only 

 half of its revenue from coff'ee, a sum greater than 

 ! £4,000,000 (four millions pounds sterling)? If it can 

 be proved that no thought need be given to this point 

 1 then will I join you, m calling out for immediate 

 ; emancipation. That there will be troublous times, 

 and grievous ones, if this question be not properly 

 1 worked out, yon yourself concur in, in saying that in 

 the United States "they" (the emancipated ones) 

 "went to work in part just as soon as the country 

 1 became settled and returned to productive pursuits." 

 { Now if there had been no time of non production, no 

 j time when the country became unsettled, hence re- 

 turned to weeds and rank growth, . there could not 

 then have been a time of returning. This is the time 

 ' I dread for Brazil, the days of non-production, of 

 anarchy, and of misery, which will come between the 

 I ab.indouing of, and the returning to cultivation. Surely 

 I the fact can not be contested, that the United 

 States sufl'ered horribly during the period, from the 

 j promulgation of forced emancipation in 1863 down 

 to 1866 — this was during the war and shortly after it, 

 1 and the war was the payment for the holding of slaves. 

 ! We must not hide the fact that great social upturn- 

 ' ini.'S bring tremendous social misTy in their wake. 

 The English paid hard cish, and the Americans slaught- 

 ered each other iuoider to lu-iug about emuncipatiun. 

 , Which of these would you have the Brazilians follow? 

 The first they c-iii not ; the second would be the 

 abandoning of the ills we know of, for those we 

 know not of. Brazil, must try other means, if she 

 would attain an early and satisfactory emancipation, 

 free from blnodshtd and bankruptcy, and one 

 which would bless the emancipated as well as the 

 emancipators. 



