474 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[December i, 1882. 



Does the native of India know anything about its cultiva- 

 tion ? No doubt I am no authority, but I should^ say 

 he knows simply nothing about it ; and your position 

 certaiuly reminds me of burning the caudle at both cuds, 

 but happily it cau be remedied. What I mean is just 

 this ; that when the subject of sugar cultivation is urged 

 for India, it strikes me that all yoiu- skilled labor is in 

 other lands — Mauritius, Demerara, and elsewhere. Emi- 

 ir','ion v.?" a ■ raclful outlet, but why should there not 

 be a fair exchange '/ New blood is required at every 

 labor market. 1 have rather a sad answer to make, and 

 certainly a correct oue. It is because there is not sufficient 

 protection of the returned emigrant against the fiend 

 caste prejudice. I have had ample opportunity for ascertain- 

 ing the cause from returned emigrants. They enjoy a 

 temporary quiet as loug as their hard-earned savings hold 

 out, and then caste shows it.self, aud so they return to 

 seek what they can't find in theur native coautry, com- 

 parative ease. And how is this V Well, in this manner ; 

 the emigrant comes out unmarried or rirtually so ; he 

 marries (as the indignant old lady would say) goodness 

 knows who ; he necessarily has a family of nondescripts, 

 and there is no doubt about their reception by Ms caste 

 brotherhood in India, It would certainly need a bad man 

 to adandon his flesh aud blood ; aud he is not the man 

 you requu-e, though I very much question whether such 

 is not the ouly stamp of man you receive back ; and 

 the mass retiu-n exiled for life, for one lesson with its 

 attendant expenditure is enough. But the question is far 

 from a hopeless one — very far from it, thank Heaven ; to 

 my simple mind it seems rather hopeful. I mentioned 

 that capitalists should take up sugar cultivation as a basis 

 to the system, and why ?— because, I imagine, they will 

 necessarily require a skilled labor market ; in other 

 words, they will, nolnis vo/eii.t, form the basis of a 

 protective system by amassing a small colony of retm-ned 

 emigrants who will virtually be independent of caste 

 prejudice in their brethren without, aud so will earn a 

 comparative rest and prove useful to both countries. I 

 will clearly impress you with the fact that I mean both 

 countries, as an outlet is mgently required for the time 

 expired immigrant here. A village system is m course of 

 operation here, but at what cost ? We have a limited 

 area, and the Indian population is already in excess. The 

 result of the village system must ultimately mean a with- 

 drawal from necessary estate labour ; fresh ship-loads of 

 coolies from India ; a very large surplus population ; and 

 in fine, collapse of the labor system, aud necessarily a 

 decrease of revenue. Such is my opinion, and. humble 

 as it may be, I think it would be well to have it ventilated ; 

 at any rate, skilled labor is available, new blood is in 

 requisition, why cannot an exchange be effected ? India 

 wouM certainly gain by the transaction. 



Tlie common kinds of canes grown in Mauritius are the 

 following ; — 



Bois rouge — Branche blanche ; iochego. 

 Bamboo. — Lousier ; Riband cane. 



Scambine. — Naz. uj- ■ i 



There are many others, and they can all be obtained 

 from the Botanical Gardens, ramplemou.sses, Mauritius. 

 I must apologise for taking up so ranch space, but the 

 subject can hardly be confined iuto a small compas.s 

 Should YOU require information on certain points, 1 shall 

 be glad to be of use ; aud on yom: mentionmg the heads 

 upon which mformation is required, I shal do my best 

 to supply it. " Vanilla " cultivation I should like to have 

 entered upon, but space and time wiU not permit 

 However, on another occasion I may enter upon it^ should 

 you care to find space for it. 



Ohdx. 



"Peael Teee."— We are glad to get this name, but 

 have forgotten where we saw it, for one of our prime 

 favorites in the way of ornamental shrubs, one for which 

 wc before only bad Exochor,h, .p a, id, flora which docs not 

 translate into anything intelligible. Our shrub, "ow tweWe 

 years or more old, is over 10 feet high, ^^^J^ t>^?,« ^^« 

 habit, and is in spring a mass of white. The English 

 iournkls have been discussing its hardiness at various places 

 in that country. As we have had the thermometer at lo 

 (^„^, ..yo i,p1ow zero, and not a twig injured, we regara 

 it as hardy in this country a.\so.— American Agnculiurist. 



POULTRY HOUSE OONVENIENOES. 



The raising of poultry year by year is receiving more 

 attention, aud anything that will add to the ease in 

 management is gladly welcomed by the admirers of the 

 feathered tribe. The practice among farmers of letting 

 their poultry roost about the farm buildings, upon harrows, 

 plows wagons, and farm machinery is growing less each 

 year, as many of them are building suitable poultry houses. 

 In the engraving is shown a neat and handy arrangemeHt 

 in perches, of which ;', r, r, are scantling, eight feet in 

 length, two inches thick, and three inches wide, made of 

 some tough light wood. The upper ends are hinged to 

 the side of the building, four feet apart, and are connected 

 with roosts or perches one inch in diameter, or what is 

 better nail octagon strips fast to the supports. Perches 

 should be placed about one foot apart. At any time when 

 it is desired to gather up the droppings, the end of the 

 frame-work is raised sufticiently to engage with the hook 

 on the support n, the whole arrangement being up out 

 of the way, for thorough cleaning. At the corner of the 

 building, opposite the roost, is placed a box, j), containing 

 ashes, road dust, etc., that the fowls m.ay dust themselves. 

 The box should be two feet square and about one foot 

 in height, aud should be kept half filled with du.sting 

 material, more particidarly during winter. In the corner 

 is placed a box, c, aud should contain a supply of gravel 

 and broken oyster or clam shells. The foregoing con- 

 veniences cost but little and will prove valuable additions 

 to any poultry house. L. D. S. 



— American Agriculturist. 



♦ 



OAFFEIO ACID FROM CUPREA BARK.* 



BY G. BOHNEB. 



The raw material upon which the author experimented 

 was supplied to him by the Lombardy Manufactory of 

 Chemical Products, and was distinguished from other quali- 

 tiesof cinchona bark by giving a reddish-violet colour when 

 a solution of potassic hydrate was added to its aqueous 

 extract. The most important fact discovered by the author 

 while pursuing his researches was that during the manufact- 

 ure of sulphate of quinine from this bark there is formed 

 a notable quantity of caffeic acid, which is evidently pro- 

 duced by the breaking up of a complex substance existing 

 in the balk in company with the alkaloid. The caffeic 

 acid is found in the mother-liquors as caffeate of qumine. 

 This salt is obtained by repeated evaporation and fractional 

 crystallization in slightly coloured mammilar crystals, which 

 on being treated with dilute sulphuric acid and exhausted 

 with ether sometimes give caifeic acid, but at others an 

 acid which is obtained in such small qnantities that it 

 has not yet been studied. The mother-liquors turn brown 

 when in contact with the air and deposit on the sides 

 of the vessel containing them a dark powder, resembling 

 in this respect solutions of caffeic acid and protocatechuic 

 aldehyde. They also often give off an odour closely re- 

 sembling that of vanilla. 



In order to avoid any doubt ou the matter the author 

 prepared from the cuprea hark acid some biniethylcaffeic 

 acid and its methylic ether, which both gave precisely 

 the same characteristics as the corresponding compounds 

 prepared from the caffeic acid of Hlasiwetz. 



The fact of having produced caffeic acid from the Ciiiclwiui 

 cuprea as a product of the splitting up of a complex 

 substance contained in it, that acid only having Iiitherto 

 been obtained by a similar splitting up of calfeotauuic 

 acid from coffee, furnishes an additional proof of the 

 relationship which exists between the coffee and cinchona- 

 ceous plants, Zwengcr having ah-eady obtained quiuic acid 

 from the former. U^ith several extracts of other species 

 of cinchona bark the author could not succeed in obtaining 

 this a.cit\.^Pharmaceiftical Journal. 



ON THE LOSS OF NITROGEN IN PURCHASED 

 MANURES WHEN APPLIED TO CROPS. 



BY J. n. l.AWES, LT.,n., F.B.?. 



There is one great advantage that writers on the subject 

 of Agricultm-e in the United States possess over the same 

 class in Great Britain ; they are s ure to obtain an impartial 



*From the Annati di Ckimica for Jime, 



