566 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[January i, 1883. 



Coffee prospects in Devalah and its surroundings 

 are .»aid to be anything but encnuraging. Whole 

 estates are being abandoned ; not from any effect that 

 the gold has on the industry, but in coiisequeuce of 

 cnntiuiied failure, the result of impoverishing soil. Cin- 

 chona is being extensively planted out, and as an 

 agricultural pursuit, has entirely supplanted coffee at 

 any rate as far as this part o£ Wyuaad is concerned. 

 — Madras Mail. 



Sarsaparilla Gathering.— The Province of Ania- 

 zouas, Brazil, exported last year 199 tons of sarsa- 

 parilla. Tlje zarza vine grows in tlie swamps, in soil 

 that in Cauada is known as " black muck," and the 

 collectors often spend weeks in these marshy pools. 

 The roots are traced and raised with a sharp stick, 

 but the vine is uot disturbed, the roots being cut off 

 near the stock, which is covered up with a little 

 earth, so that fresh roots may grow, and, in time, a 

 fresh harvest be gathered.— Pu6iic Opinion. 



Ebonising. — How to make woods, such as cherry 

 mahogany, etc., look like ebuuy is often desirable, 

 and a correspondent of the Hub gives the following 

 directions : — To imitate black ebony, lirst wet the 

 wood with a solution of logwood and copperas, boiled 

 together, and laid on hot. For this purpose 2oz. of 

 logwood chips, with IJoz. of copperas, to a quarc of 

 water, will be required. When tlie work has become 

 dry, wet the surface again witli a mixture of vinegar 

 and steel filings. This mixture may be made by 

 dissolving 2oz. of steel tilings in one half-pint of 

 vinegar. When the work has bec.jme ilry again, 

 sandijaper down until quite smooth. Then oil and fill 

 in with powdered drop-black mixed in the filler. 

 Work to be ebonised should be smooth and free from 

 holes, etc. The work may receive a light coat of 

 quick-drying varnish, and then be rubbed with finely 

 pnlverised pumice stone and linseed oil until very 

 smooth. — Auitraiian paper. 



Planting IN Bokmah.— The report of Mr. Petley on 

 his experimental cultivation of potatoes, tea, coffee, and 

 cinchona, in the Karen Hill Tracts, during the year 

 1881-82, is interesting, remarks a contemporary, as 

 showiiiJ how much yet remains to be done towauls 

 developing the resources of our possessions in Burma. 

 Except in ihe wet season, the potato culture seems to 

 be an unprofitable speculation with imported seed, 

 owing to the distance the seed has to be sent, and the 

 unsatisfactory condition in which it arrives. But with 

 acclimatised seed, planted at the right seasou, good 

 results seem to be obtained ; some of the best kinds, 

 such as the "Scotch Champion" and "The Magnum 

 Bonum," yielding from (i^ to 7 fold. In the tea garden 

 there are 12,000 bushis producing first class tea. 

 The coffee-beaiing trees, just coming into full bearing, 

 were expected to give a crop of about 5,000 lb of clean 

 coffee. But coffee plants appear to have many enemies, 

 as we are told that the outturn last year would have 

 been larger, except for the ravages of civet cats, rats, 

 birds, and mole crickets." The cinchona plants do well, 

 but are not yet of sufEcieut age for the bark to be cut. 

 Mr. Pelley give-S it as his opinion from bis past expe- 

 rience that the Karen Hills "present a good field for 

 these productions to capitalists, who would go in with 

 the means to make provision for, and import cooly 

 labour from the surrounding states, i. e., the Shan 

 States and Karennee, from which parts men can be 

 hired to come by the year. There does not at present 

 appear to be sufficient dipendcnt local labour for a large 

 plantation. Coolies confess that they are better oft" and 

 healthier at the plantation than at their own villages. 

 This there can be very little doubt of; they are als'> dis- 

 covering the value of money, and are thereby induced, 

 more and more, to come to the work" — Pioneer. 

 [Who will send us a report on the cost of labour ; 

 ualnre of eugagemouts ; means of transport ; and an- 

 nual rainfall in the planting districts of Burmah ?— Ed. j 



'! HE Hop Crop. — The Scotch brewers uow in London 

 purchasing their supply of hops fi>r the coming year 

 are grumbling very much at the pi ice wliich the com: 

 parative failure of the crop is causing th'-ui to pay. 

 Hops which last year were got [or from £\2Q to £140 

 per ton cannot be inircbased just now under £450. 

 Such an enormous increase will almost of necessity 

 imply an advance in the price of beer. The Scotch 

 brewers at present in London have been talking over 

 the matter, but unless and until the magnates of 

 the trade in Burton mo\e nothing will be done. — 

 L. Standard 



The FINE.ST Tea Gbown in China. — In a notice in 

 the Home News of a paper read by Mr. Colquhoun 

 descriptive of his recent journey, is the following pass- 

 age; — "They learned that the finest tea known in China 

 came from a part of the Shan country only five marches 

 from the Yunnan frontier. So great, however, is the 

 cost of carriage that the price for which this tea is 

 delivered at Shanghai entirely shuts it out from any 

 European market. It miglit, however, thinks Mr. 

 Colquhoun, be brought before many years to Rangoon 

 for shipment to Europe and even to China by means 

 of roads and railways between British Burmah and 

 south-western Yunnan. No single rcaite could tap the 

 whole trade of a province so rich in unvvorketl resources 

 as southern Yunnan. [>ut of several routes mentioned 

 and considered by Mr. Colquhoun, the route from 

 Martaban through some part of British Buriuah and 

 the Shan country to the south-west of Yunnan at 

 Kiang Hung, on the Camboiiia, ia that which he 

 specially recommends. " 



The IIeport of the Darjeeling Cinchona Plant- 

 ations for 1881-82 indicates tiiat grafting Led- 

 uerianas on succirubras had failed and that propa- 

 gation by seed would be resorted to. Some very 

 young plants of the "hybrids" had been analyzed 

 and yielded from 0'97 up to 2 87 per cent of 

 crystallized sulphate of quinine, and 1-94 to 2'94 

 of cinchonidiue. They are, therefore, justly re- 

 gai-ded as valuable barks : The manufacture o£ 

 febrifuge continued to be successful, but Mr. Gam- 

 mie's experiments to obtain quiuine are reported a 

 failure. " A large proportion of alkaloid is extracted, 

 but the excess is lost in the course of precipitation." 

 No doubt the Howards and the other successful 

 cinchona chemists have secrets which are not open 

 to all. The Government of India are opposed to 

 sending bark into the London m.irket to compete 

 with private growers, but they are resolved to 

 work up the succirubra bark into febrifuge and 

 to sell the calisaya plantations to say one who 

 will guarantes settiug up a local manufacture of 

 quinine. 



Planii.'vG in the Wvnaad. — Messrs. A. Scott & Co., 

 of i;ang'>on, have been advertising Karen Hill tea 

 and coffee tor sale for some months. It is hoped 

 that both the tea and cofi'ee industries will shortly 

 make large strides in Burmah. The local Govern- 

 ment are endeavouring to get planters and capitalists 

 to take up the waste lands in the Tavoy district for 

 tea and coffee cultivation. Coffee seems to succeed 

 better than tea, although the Arakau tea is second 

 to none which comes from Assam. There is no 

 doubt that both in tea and coffee a very great 

 future lies before Buriuah, if the labour difficulty could 

 be satisfactorily got over. The rates demanded by ord- 

 inary coolies in this province being more than double the 

 pay fiveu for similar labour in liidia, naturally handi- 

 caps the cultivation of waste lauds heavily, when 

 compared with other placfs, where labour is cheap 

 and plentiful. But with lower prices for grain, the 

 Rangoon Gazette hopes tlie Burmese will see the ad- 

 v.iuLi^es of uot confining their agricultural operations 

 wlioUy to paddy. — Madras Mail. 



