December i, 1882.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



-195 



eutire nuts, the huska being utilized in the manu- 

 facture of fibers for upholstering. Mattresses made 

 with cocoanut fibers iueiead of horsehair and cotton 

 do not harbour vermin. They sold in former years 

 at a higher rate than horsehair mattresses, but since 

 large quantities of cocoannt libers have been produced 

 the prices have fallen. As no focoauut liber works 

 are as yet established in thu United States, very few 

 nuts (less than half a million) have been sent to New 

 York and Philadelphia, and all the shippers who have 

 sent entire nuts from here in ihe beginning of ihis 

 year have lost money. The husking of cocoauuts is 

 done here at from one dollar to $1:20 p.r thou.-aud, 

 whilst our exporters were charged in New York $10 

 per ihousaud. No eutire nuts wdl henceforth be sent 

 by Triuidad merchants to the United States. 



There are still thousands of cocoanuts rotting on 

 the east coast of Trinidad lor want of shipping. They sell 

 there at from eight to ten dollars per thousand. 

 Husking there costs $1.20, ao that the eutire cost to 

 the buyer does not exceed twelve dollars per thousand. 

 Captains of small schooners (say of 100 to 120 tons 

 register) could bring American provisions to Port of 

 Spain, and then start for the east coast, rill their 

 vessels with 150,000 or 200,000 peeled nuts, return to 

 Port of Spain, and clear out for the United States. 

 They could save the price of droghing (from si.x to 

 seven dollars per thousand), and the traushipnient from 

 the island droghers to ships in Port of Spain. Ves- 

 sels under every flag can load at any port of the 

 island for an outward port. Of late years several new 

 locals have been started in Trinidad. The trees are 

 planted in squares of from 25 to 33 feet. Experience 

 shows that the greater distance is preferable, and that 

 40 trees per acre yield as much as 60 trees planted 

 on the same space. To get a revenue from a local 

 takes at least twelve years from the time of planting. 

 Some trees begin to bear at seven years, when the ex- 

 penses of keeping the land clean diminish : from the 

 twelfth year the net income over expenses increases 

 up to ihe 25th year, then it remains about stationary 

 for 25 year», when the jield begins to diminish. The 

 average on a plantation or local (of from eight to 

 twenty thousand tiees) in full bearing can be stated 

 at eighty nuts per tree per annum. 



Cocoanut trees are liable to blight, and also to des- 

 truction by lightning. To keep up a plantation young 

 trees have to be supplied continually, but it can safely 

 be calculated that one half of the crop pays for all 

 expenses. In Port of Spain eutire coconuts sell at 

 from S18 to S20 per thousand delivered alongside vessels.* 

 In England prices vary from six to ten pounds sterl- 

 iug per thousand. In England entire nuts are pre- 

 ferred, although lately peeled nuts in bags have been 

 shij)ped there and realized good prices, as they enter 

 immediately in the retail trade. Vessels with asphalt 

 as ballast cargoes cany from 200,000 to 230,000 entire 

 nuts. These are generally sold on arrival to one specu- 

 lator, who supplies the retail trade with husked nuts 

 and sells the liusks to the cocoanut fiber mills. The 

 quantity of cocoanuts shipped from Trinidad from Eeb. 

 Ist to Aug. l-ith of this year numbered 4,850,118. 



Chicory : a new Source of Alcohol. — According 

 to Er/indumjen imd Erfahrungen the celebrated coffee 

 substitute, chicory, seems likely to become of importance 

 as a source of alcohol. The root contains an average 

 of 24 per cent, of substances easily convertible into 

 sugar, and the alcohol obtained by its saccharitication, 

 fermentation, and distillation is characterised by 

 u pleasant aromatic taste and great purity. — Cheminl 

 I Old Driujgist. 



* Surely this is an exaggeration ; in Ceylon the value is 

 not nearly so much per thousand ready for shipping at 

 Colombo, — Kd. 



Regakuino Indian Tea the Australian Trade He- 

 view tells us that " as to the quality of this season's 

 crop, examination confirms the reported inferiority in 

 water, the Darjcelings beijg especially riisappoiniiug; 

 while some of the Cachars are also very poor, com- 

 pared with last season's growth. — Pioneer. 



Coffee Corino. — In the early part of last year 

 Mr. D. Morris, director of Government plantations in 

 Jamaica strongly advised coffee growers there to adopt 

 the Ceylon method of preparation in central mills 

 at the port of shipment, but this opinion seems to 

 have been subsequently modified, for more receutly 

 we find him deprecating the method employed. He 

 says :— " The pulping and washing does not improve 

 the quality. The sensible Arabs dry their coffee in 

 the pulp, which preserves the aroina of ohe berry, 

 and is the secret of the value of the Mocha. If ilry 

 cherry is sent to the curers here, they at ouoe class 

 it as native cofi'ee, and its value is depreciated. Dry- 

 ing cofi'ee in the pulp will hardly find favoiir, bo- 

 cause the mode of preparation for the market must 

 be altered, and the machinery modified, but the 

 quality will be so greatly improved that the cost 

 of new appliances ought to be of secondary consider- 

 ation.'' — Planters' Gazette. 



A New Naecotic. — Dr. Schomburgk, the learned 

 director of the South Australian Botanic Gardens at 

 Adelaide, in hia annual report on the valuable in- 

 stitution which owes its existence to his unceasing 

 care describes a new narcotic, which the aborigines 

 of Australia indulge in very freely. The leaves of a 

 plant called the JJulioisia Pitari, which grows in the 

 interior of the island continent, from Cooper's Creek to 

 the Gulf of Carpentaria jjosses, whin dried and chewed 

 or smoked, properties akin to those of opium or to- 

 bacco, and probably about half way between these 

 two, so far as potency is concerned. The natives 

 who are fortunate enough — or unfortunate enough as 

 the anti-opium party would say— to find the plai,it 

 growing wild in their country, trade far and wide 

 with other tribes, who are only too anxious to possess 

 themselves of the means of indulging iu the delight- 

 ful dreamy sensation which the plant produces. The 

 active agent is a volatile alkaloid, similar to nicotine, 

 which has been called "pituiine." The "immorality" 

 of the drug will perhaps be somewhat redeemed whea 

 we add that this piturine has already been found to 

 be a potent remedy in ophthalmic practice in Europe. 

 — Colonies and India. 



EucALYPTU-s Oil. — The Mallee scrub is one of the 

 dwarf species of eucalyptus, covering many sijuare 

 miles of the Australian ranges. The volatile oil it 

 contains is an admirable solvent for kovvrie and other 

 varnish resins, and it is so abundant that Baron Mueller 

 gave the plant the name Eucalyptus oleosa. There is 

 a demand for all the oil that can be produced, and 

 some years ago Mr. Hosisto commenced its manufact- 

 ure on a large scale at Swan Hill. The cost of trans- 

 port, and the difhculty of obtaining water brought 

 the enterprize to an end. Tlie railway, which has 

 beeu laid out to Uiinboola, brought the matter up 

 again, and after inspecting the district Mr. Bosisto 

 purchased a homestead on the bank of a river which 

 provides an abundant, supply of excellent water. The 

 Mallee belt, two to five miles wide, runs close to the 

 east boundary of the land for a great distance. Mr. 

 Bosisto has erected the necessary buildings, with pump- 

 ing engine, four stills 10 feet in diameter, and 8 Or 

 lU feet high, with the necessary worm. The plant 

 will be equal to working off 2 acres of scrub a day. 

 The waste water from the stills will be used to irri- 

 gate small paddocks near the works, where attempts 

 will be made lo grow vmious medicinal herbs. On 

 the day of opening, some friends of Mr. Bosisto visited 

 the works, and the success of the enterprize was drunk 

 heartily. — Cltern'sl awl JJruyijist. 



