&SWEMBES x, 1884.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



2-19 



tinning, aud tbe gum as an astringent. It is a vfry 

 handsome tree, having long pendulous racemes of 

 blight yellow flowers, and along, straight, cylindrical, 

 indehiscent pod, often one and two fret long. It is 

 often cultivated for ornament." This "Indiau laburnum," 

 with bongainvillea climbing up its stem, ought to be 

 in every garden in Colombo and other towns.— 

 Ed.] 



AN ENEMY OF TEA. 

 Preston, Agrapatana, August 14th 1S84. 



Dear Sir, — I have ju3t recently planted some 36 

 acres of t"a in a clearing with coffee, and cinchona, 

 and tbe young plants are being attacked by n small 

 "spider" insect; its color is black with white snots 

 on the back. It perforates tie leaves us wt 11 as 

 eating them. I should feel much obliged by your 

 giving inn any information or remedy. — Yours faith- 

 fully, CHARLES A SETON. 



[We regret that we caunot identify the insect from 

 the above description. We .'hall be glad fo receive a 

 specimen. — En.] 



Nawalapitiya, 12th August 18S4. 

 Dear Sir, — If you require further information, I can 

 let you or any other person have it. I am eony that 

 you ratlin- throw cold water on the call v >' on of 

 arrowroot, but I only hope some person wiil make 

 a trial of both it and ginger. This estimate is expressed 

 in $ n>t \\. as the last letter of m w. — Yours f.i.th- 



fully, 



W. M. 1'. 



PRESERVING FRUITS, VEGETABLES, ETC. 



Office of World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial 

 Exposition. Commissioners for Florida. 



Bhonson, Fla.. May 31st, 1884. — I am in receipt of iu- 

 qtiiries by letter from parties desiring to prepare ripe and 

 unripe fruits and vegetables for the New Orleans World's 

 Exposition, and 1 hand you the receipt, used by Hon. A. 

 J. McWhirter, of Tennessee, and Prof. Dabney, of North 

 Carolina. They tell me that fruits put up in this way 

 will keep for years and look perfectly natural. Please 

 publish it, and I hope your readers will preserve the 

 receipt, so tiny will have it at hand to guide them in 

 the preparation of their exhibits for the World's Expos- 

 ition, to be held in New Orleans next December, 1834 1 



BKCEIPT. 



1. For preserving stra' rii raspbi blackberries, 



currant- plums and chen 1 n thoroughly 



ripe, use proof alcohol. 

 32 



2. For peaches, apples, pears, plums, currants and 

 gooseberries, when not thoroughly ripe, use one part water 

 and two parts proof alcohol. 



3. After the fruit stands in the alcohol three or four 

 days, pour off and add fresh alcohol, as above directed, 

 until all the coloring matter has been extracted ; then 

 put the specimens for permanent use in one part alcohol 

 and one part water (pure, clear water.) 



4. The proportions for peaches, apples and pears will 

 answer for all kinds of vegetables. 



5. Alcohol once used and discolored can be filtered and 

 used on other fruits or vegetables, or for permanent speci- 

 mens. — Florida Despatch. 



LONDON TEA LETTER. 

 (From the Indigo and Tea Planters' Gazette.) 

 At the Health Exhibition there is a plant (a seedling 

 about 18 inches high) of the Mate' or Paraguay tea. I 

 was much struck with the perfect resemblance of this 

 specimen to a good Assam jat tea plant, and I would 

 challenge any planter to pick it out of 50 such plants. 

 The size, shape, colour, serrated edges, gloss of the 

 leaves are identical to all appearances, the wood and 

 bark are also undistinguishable at a glance from that of 

 a pure Assam plant. Yet the Mate is called a holly ! 

 Ilex Paraguayensis, or Brazilian holly, growing in Para- 

 guay aud Brazil. Its active ingredient, Pmvti/uaine, 

 formerly supposed to be a distinct principle, has, from 

 further researches into its composition, been discovered 

 to be identical with theine ami caffeine— the alkaloids of 

 tea and coffee. Unless the appearance of this " holly" 

 changes very much as it grows older, it is difficult 

 to understand how it can have earned that name. 

 Can chemists have made, a mistake, in calling I'ani- 

 guaine a distinct priuciple from theine ? and is this 

 holly a sister of the indigenous Assam plant 

 after all? The Mate, as prepared by the Paraguay- 

 ans, judging; from the samples shown' at tic Health 

 Exhibition, is simply a pounded mixture of sun-dried leaves 

 and twigs of a light green colour in which the portions 

 of twigs are clearly distinguishable. Other samples of 

 Mate I have seen have consisted simply of shiny, angular, 

 flat hard fractions of leaves alone, free of all stalk. The 

 Mate is usually soaked in a gourd from which it is im- 

 bibed, and samples of these gourds are also shown, and 

 I believe are for sale. There has been no withering, roll- 

 ing, fermenting or firing in the preparation of Mate, as 

 is evident at, a glance. It would be very interesting, if 

 not profitable, to obtaiu sufficient leaves to make a hand- 

 ful of tea, as we know it, from Mate plants ; but I doubt 

 if there are sufficient plants in this country to admit of 

 the experiment being tried. I mean to make enquiries. 



Peripatetic Planter. 



Manufacture 01 Date Sugar in Bengal. — Tbe supply 

 of coarse brown sugar or molasses in Bengal is mainly derived 

 not from the cane, but from the date tree, and the date 

 plantations have, during the last fifty or sixty years, enorm- 

 ously increased over several well-known districts — Jessore, 

 Burdwan, Baraset, and Nuddea. Tbe trees are planted iu 

 rows or clumps, and are not grown for fruit, as in Arabia or 

 Beluchistan ; but the tree becomes profitable after seven 

 years' growth, and may continue to yield a return for thirty 

 or forty. In the month of October the ryots are seen ascend- 

 ing their date trees, and making incisions on alternate sides, 

 in alternate years, on the lowest branch of the feathery tuft 

 at the top. An earthen pot is placed under each incision, 

 and when the cold nights begin, the liquid Hows slowly into 

 tbe pot beneath, whence it is removed in ihe morning. The' 

 colder and stiller be the weather the greater the flow of juice. 

 Rainy weather, such as now and then interrupts tbe 

 enjoyable climate of the cold season, stops the tlow of juice 

 for a time, but tbe process goes on, with few intervals, be- 

 tween November aud March. The juice is boiled down and 

 clarified by means of a coarse weed that grows iu almost 

 every tank, and the whole cultivation is highly remunerative 

 The spaces between the trees in a date plantation are turned 

 to account otherwise, for early rice and for the second crop 

 of mustard. Many substantial ryots own -100 to 500, am 

 even 1,000 of these trees, and the traffic in goor or treacb 

 adds life and animation to tbe interior of Bengal.— .1/. 



