February i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



61S 



layman, our opinion is, of course of little value ; but we 

 cannot help tliinkiuf;, if the almist infinite power of 

 sporting is abaudoneil, that the (.'. officinalis seeds and 

 plants which reached India and Ceylon from the Andes, 

 were from trees which had heeu hybridized in their 

 native forests, where xvinds, and birds and butter- 

 flies are as abundant and as potent as pollencaniers, as 

 they are in Ceylon. 



Since writing the above, our attention has been 

 attracted to a letter, the writer of which offers as a 

 solution of the change in the appearance and nature 

 of plants, their growth in close proximity to each 

 other, without actual hybridization taking place. The 

 insensible but real changes produced by proximity of 

 differing species short of hyljridization, were fully re- 

 cognized in Howard's " Ijulian Quinology " and were 

 accepted by us until recently as accounting for varieties 

 which Howard as well as other scientists now trrice 

 to absolute hybridization. 



♦ 



Cetlon Tea is being steadily brought into popular 

 notice in England. By way of attracting general at- 

 tention to the article, those interested have induced 

 well known establishments in London to give it pro- 

 minent adverti-ements in their windows, and a si all 

 was to be opened in the Soho Bazar specially devoted 

 to its sale. — Calcutta £')ijr/is/imaH. 



Shaving Coffee Trees. — A gentleman, who has 

 just returned from a rather extended trip through 

 the higher districts where he found the " slitting " of 

 hide-bound cinchona trees a common practice, asks 

 the question whether slitting, or better still, shaving, 

 coffee trees would not in many cases do good, by 

 iuducing an extra crop of blossom and fruit ? 



Tka-Manufactceing Appliance.s iiV Chittagono 

 are thus described in fae Iwliaii Ten Oazetle : — We 

 noticed one simple contrivance which we had not seen 

 before. The withering trays work on a bulance, and can 

 be titled up so as to empty the leal from the ch:ing in a 

 moment. We saw also at Chandporu double trays 

 fitting into grooves over the chnliis, thus ecouomiz ng 

 space, and making the moBt of the heat from the fire. 

 This really seems to be the principle, on a small scale, 

 of the Typhoon ; only that in the latter the heat is 

 entirely enclosed. 



Cetlon Tea.— .\ letter appeared some time since in the 

 London Times eipre-sive of great hope for the future of 

 Ceylon Tea. Althouudi atthe time it apjieared we could not 

 see our way to endorse the writer's opinir>u, we are only 

 too gl d to say today that he evidently knew what he 

 was writing about. As a fact, it was not so very long 

 since that the broker who had the temerity to put up 

 tliis staple for sale in Mincins Lane had to run the 

 gauntlet of much chaff while in the "pulpit;" but the 

 Oeylon planters can now s ly truthfully /ioks ajions change 

 tout cehi, bee luse Ceylon teas are touay as well prepared 

 and as food inall resPLCt3 a-=i are those of her big neighbour 

 and lival, India. The rise which has taken place in 

 Ceylon teas this season as compared with that of a year 

 ago is certainly remarkable, v lues being fully 50 per 

 cent, above those current during tlie corresponding period 

 of 1881. We ourselves, who are alwajs ghid to welcome 

 a nw and go d thing, aro happy to predict a v ry bright 

 future for the tea er.terprise of this productive httle 

 island; the more so liecause with leaf-disease, bad 

 seasons, and— worse still — low prices, her coffee has 

 had a very bad time indeed. To ihis partial failure of 

 colh'e, however, may be attributed tlie various new 

 products that are now being so succesfully cultivated in 

 Ceylon, such as Cinchona, Cocoa, Rubbers, Cardamoms, 

 and r^oTf. than all. Tea. We would adviso our readers 

 who like purp and wish for a reasonable tea to see for 

 themselves whether Ceylon Tea is good as we think ir. 

 "The Ceylon T''a Agency," havieg for its object the 

 sale of tea direct from the estates on the island, pure 

 and unblended, at 25 4d to 2s 8d a pound, has for some 

 time pa>t been doing bu-iness in Mansion House 

 Chambers. Their prices are certainly not higli, as we con- 

 Nder the Teas pura aud good. — Bailj/ Btcord of Commerce. 



Coral. — A crisis in the Italian coral trade is re- 

 ported imminent. This is due to the remarkable 

 productivity of the new coral banks discovered two 

 years ago at Sciaccia, on the north-west coast of Sici' v. 

 So great has been the output of a. .second-gr.ide 

 coral that last year one-half of the exports of Ma 

 pies, which were valued in all at about 7,500,000 

 dols., consisted of coral. Most of this was sent to 

 British Iidia, in epite of the fact tliat this market 

 was overstocked. Coral, both in Italy and India, 

 has therefore become a drug in the market, and will 

 not bring the holders cost price. — Knowledge. 



A Nkw Vegetahle Styptic. — During the French 

 expedition to Mexico, General Mar.troy was informed 

 by a native that a plant grew in his district which 

 was largely used in the domestic surgery of the Mexi- 

 cans, aud he advised the General to lay in a stock 

 of it for use in the French camp. .It, goes by the 

 name of " the blood-staunching weed " — the exact 

 native word has not been placed on record. This plant 

 has the property, when applied after being chewed 

 or crushed, of almost instantly arresting the flow of 

 blood from a wound. General Martroy broitgbt home 

 some specimens of this plant to France, aud culti- 

 vated it in his garden at Versailles, where it has 

 thriven excellently ever since, blossoms every year, 

 and produces a sort of fruit. Meanwhile its trans- 

 plantation to European soil has not robbed it of the 

 quality for which it was originally recommended to 

 its introducer. Its recognized botanic^) name is yrades. 

 cantia erec/a. Although it is quite the reverse of 

 an ornamental plant, and is not distinguished by any 

 beauty of shape or colour in its flowers, it fully de- 

 serves, if we may trust our informant, to be widely 

 cultivated on account of its rare medical value. The 

 practicabOity of its acclimatisation is now placed be- 

 yond all doubt. Its effect in staunching bleeding is 

 said to surpass all means hitherto applied to this pur- 

 pose, and it is in any case to be procured cheaply 

 and easily. Experiments have been made with it in 

 Vienna, and the Ncue Freie Presse of that city advises 

 its regular eultivation for medical use. — London Gfohe. 

 A FoBEST OP Rubber Trees.— Some interesting 

 geographical discoveries have recently been made by 

 an American explorer, Mr. E. K. Heath, who has 

 befn exploring the B«>ni River in Bolivia. -This river 

 he now flnds is navigable by large steamers from its 

 mouth to a point near Reyes— a distance of "SOO miles 

 aud 300 miles further for small craft. The adjacent 

 country is rich in products of commercial value, chief 

 among them being rubber. The supply, says Mr. 

 Heath, is practically inexhaustible. On thernrth side 

 of the river the rubber forests extend over 15 di g. of 

 latitude, each square league containing from 300 to 

 5,000 trees. Previous to Mr. Heath's discovery that 

 the river was navigable, only 185 men were employed 

 in C'dlecting rubber, so great were the difficulties of 

 transport. But more than six hundred men speedily 

 found employment, and the tide of commerce began to 

 seek the new route. All the commerce of Bolivia must, 

 he thinks, now pass to Europe by way of the Amazon 

 and Beni rivers. Mr. Health's voyage was made in 

 a cinoe propelled by eight Indians. At a email mis- 

 sion station, Cavinas, he encountered some Arauna 

 Indians, who are said to be canibals. One of them, 

 so he was told, on one occasion returning from a 

 hunting expedition empty-banded, deliberately killed 

 a:id cooked bis infant child, and be and his wife sat 

 down to the repast without any compunctions. The 

 explorer made a voyage up the Mamore River 326 

 miles, to Exaliacion, and crossed the plains again to 

 Reyes. From thence he ascended the Beni River by 

 rafts to within nienty miles of its source, covering 

 the remaining di.stance on foot. An account of his 

 researches is shortly to be published by the (Jeographioal 

 Society of Americo. — Pail MallGaze.tte,j!ioY. 20th. 



