October i, 1884.] 



THF. TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



281 



The delivered quantities were so great that at Pontianak 



thu available ship's storage was insufficient to convey them 

 to Singapore. 



In .July the price suddenly fell, and a pica! of paddi 

 could not fetch here more than $2*35 ; by degrees, however, 

 it has risen again to $3. The cause of this sudden fall is, 

 according to tin- Chinese dealers, owing to the product 

 being disappointing, attacked by boekoek, partly rotten, and 

 on being worked less rich in tallow than had been expected. 

 This result connot surprise us, considering what has been 

 said above, and was actually foreseen by some, for which 

 reason the intelligence of the sudden fall in price could 

 be accepted as true. 



That the paddi tengkawang prepared after the wet process 

 is better than the other, seems also to he already known 

 lu tin- trade. At least the Chinese traders say that at 

 Singapore the former is worth $20 per koyang.of 40 piculs 

 more than the latter. 



Whether the long continued action of the water does 

 really increase the proportion of tallow, is a point that 

 well deserves further investigation. But be this as it may, 

 the first mentioned sort has this advantage, that it is only 

 after a considerable time that it is attacked by the boeboek, 

 a circumstance of great importance in sending the product 

 over sea. 



The traders have suffered pretty considerable losses this 

 year. Only a few have any knowledge about tengkawang; 

 they will have to be more careful in future in their 

 purchases. It is rather difficult, but for people well 

 acquainted with the article, it is not at all impossible to 

 distinguish the duly prepared paddi tengkawang from the 

 inferior sorts. 



If the advantage of the wet process lie acknowledged, 

 it would besides be worth consideration, where the natives 

 follow the dry system, to point it out to them, and 

 persuade them to abandon that method. 



The profits which the tengkawang yields to the native 

 population are so great, that it is well worth while to 

 encourage further planting and a proper working of the 

 product. The first, indeed, is not necessary in the Afdeeling 

 Sanggau and Sekadau, for the population there do plant 

 of their own accord; but, as has already appeared, their 

 way of planting and their maintenance of the plantations, 

 leave room for improvement. On the other hand, now the 

 people have once departed from the good old way of work- 

 ing, it will perhaps cost some trouble to get them to 

 return to it again. 



To judge of the profits derived from the tengkawang by 

 the population, we give the following figures. From the 

 Afdeeliny Sanggau and Sekadau a quantity of more than 

 23,000 piculs of paddi tengkawang has been already ex- 

 ported, for the purchase of which, according to a fair 

 calculation, a sum of $75,000 was required. Besides this 

 some traders have a large store, and the population have 

 also used a part for preparing tallow, so that the crop 

 of this year in these parts may he safely stated as represent- 

 ing a value of more or less s 100,000.* 



The tengkawang crop is, then, for many Natives an ample 

 source of revenue, and is becoming of more and more im- 

 portance for them, as getahs and ratans are becoming 

 scarcer. 



Before concluding this article, I wish for the sake of 

 completeness, to add a few words about a couple of other 

 fruits occurring here, that also contain fat, namely: — 

 The belaban or melaban 

 The kelakki and 

 The tengkatak or malih 



The belaban and kelakki trees grown in marshy ground, 

 especially along the hanks of smaller rivers. They are 

 rather big, and the belaban wood especially may be reckoned 



* According to an official writing of the Resident pro tern. 

 of the Western Afdeeling of Borneo, 10,550 piculs were 

 exported thence in 1856, and according to a later account 

 of Prof, de Vriese the export from Pontianak alone, amount- 

 ed, from the middle of 1858 to the middle of 1859, to no 

 l«-ss than 9,953 piculs, representing on the spot a value of 

 f232J5b6. " If you add to this" says the learned gentleman, 

 "the exports from Singkawang, Sambas, Bandjermassing, 

 an important annual total is obtained that slips from the 

 Dutch trade to the great profit of the Singapore trade." 

 Bisschop Grevelink, Plan ten van N. -Indie, bldz. 45V. 

 36 



among the good sorts. This wood makes the best short 

 oars, the kelakki long oars. 



The fruit of the kelakki have the size of a nutmeg; 

 the outer shell loosens of itself and discovers then 1. 2 

 or 3 small fruit, enveloped in two more skins. The outer 

 of these skins, when dried, is loosened by slightly pound- 

 ing; the interior will only loosen by boiling; then there 

 remains oblong white kernels or pips', from which fat can 

 be extracted. 



The belaban fruit are of the size of a coffee bean. In 

 the shell are a few small kernels from which fat can be 

 procured. These two fruits are never steeped in water. 

 but simply dried. 



The trees are not planted. 



As with the madjau and terindak, the fruit fall for a 



part into the water, whei they are taken out bv the 



natives. If the belaban fruit fall to the ''round, it is not 

 considered worth while to pick them up. 



The proportion of fat in these two sorts is much below 

 thai of the tengkawang proper; the tallow of the belaban 

 is moreover bad and soft, and only fife for burning The 

 minjak kelakki is fluid in all temperatures prevailing here, 

 and when it is prepared with care, clear, of a sweet taste, 

 so much so that it is even preferred for culinary purposed 

 to tengkawang tallow. If. however, the fruit are allowed 

 to germinate, the interior skin is apt no1 to disengage itself, 

 and the oil becomes turbid or bitter. 



Tins.- two fats are only made for private use and are 

 not exported. 



Of the tengkalak or nialih a description is found in 

 Van GorkonVs work "de Indische Cultures,*' Vol. II., 

 p. (523 s. q. q, 



I therefore only wish to observe that the tree does not 

 occur herein a wild state, but always cultivated; also that 

 no tallow is ever prepared from the kernels, or very seldom, 

 and that the wood is quite worthless here. 



Tin's last circumstance is probably owing to there being 

 plenty of good wood in these parts, while the reason for 

 not extracting the tallow is that the number of trpes is 

 too insignificant, and the proportion of fat in the kernels 

 less than the other fat-producing fruits. — Indian Mercury, 



Oravce Shortcake. — Slice sweet oranges thin and sugar 

 down about an hour before dinner. Prepare cakes as for 

 strawberry shortcake, and place sliced orange between, pour- 

 ing juice over each layer. Eat with or without cream, as 

 preferred. — Rural Qalifornian. 



Warm Water for Plaxts. — This is indispensable for 

 successful fruit forcing and plant growing, but which is 

 uot to be had in mauy gardens in quantity commensurate 

 with the requirements. For plant watering, when such are 

 in pots, enough may be drawn from the heating apparatus, 

 or maybe there is a tank heated by a coil of pipes from 

 the boiler available, but such supplies are perfectly inade- 

 quate when a Vine border 40 feet by IS feet requires its 

 2^ — 3 feet of depth to he thoroughly soaked. Something 

 more than tepid water is wanted to warm efficiently the 

 cold manure-water, or other water, that must then be given, 

 and the quantity altogether ought to be, at the lowest 

 calculation, one gallon to the superficial square foot, which 

 makes a total of 720 gallons, for a house of the size taken 

 for exemplification; I would rather say 1,000 gallons, of 

 which at least 500 would be manure-water when such would 

 be given, the other 500 would require, for mixing purposes, 

 to be brought up nearly to' the boiling point, so that to 

 keep the pot boiling in a way that would cause no cessa- 

 tion of the work, a boiler containing 100 gallons should 

 be made us"e of, and this, if once got hot, would suffice 

 by repeatedly filling it up. Such a useful thing could be 

 placed in any shed or outbuilding, and would be found 

 exceediugly handy for a variety of purposes. It has been 

 discovered that warm water has a very renovating effect 

 on soils that have been long in use in pots and borders — 

 it also seems to be a means for purifying soured and 

 almost infertile soils; this may be the reason that old 

 window plants, such as Myrtles, are kept in such an enviable 

 state of health, by the ladies who indulge these favourites 

 v> ith warm tea and coffee at times — the good results spring- 

 ing fnun the warm water its* 1 f , ralher than from the 

 theine or caffeine contained therein. — M. — Gurdt to r$' Cft) i I ■- 

 icle. 



