302 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1884. 



I expect? In regard to* the first I consider 3 cwt. 

 an acre a very full quantity ; in fact, since leaf-disease 

 came I have not done that on an average and I am 

 satisfied that most of my neighbours are not one bit 

 better off. Next as to price, the point <>u which there 

 will be the mostdiffcrei ce, as men will hope against what 

 is as near a certainty as any thing under this sun can he, 

 and that is that we are likely to have for some years 

 to come a low level of pi ices. This fall m price 

 has been evident to all who have » atched-wbat has been 

 passing. Brazil and other coffee-producing countries 

 have had railways laid on, opening the country out, 

 permitting their coffee not only to be brought down 

 at a less cost, but in better condition ; and all their 

 expenditure has been favourably affected, while we 

 in Wynaad have not secured grace in the eyes of our 

 masters, and have had our communications neglected 

 until they became impassable and a scandal, and all 

 aid in punishing defaulting maistries refused. So if 

 my brother-planters will accept my views, that IJ2'2 

 is the highest net price on the trees that a prudent 

 man can calculate on, and 3 cwt. an acre— really more 

 than fact — we come to a return per acre of Ro6. My 

 estate cost me a shade over K300 per acre, and by 

 the kindness of relatives iu England I was able to 

 borrow at 5 per cent., a rate below that most men 

 cau secure mmey ; so I have an annual interest of 

 R15 per acre to pay plus that on current expenditure, 

 which for purposes of account we will call Kl — it is 

 really much more. So I came to a deduction of Rib' 

 for interest, leaving me R50 to cultivate the estate 

 and keep myself. K50 will not do it. I see myself 

 steadily falling into debt, not only to the detriment 

 of myself but my relatives, and my feeliug is to throw 

 up the sponge, abandon my estate, — for I can find 

 no one so foolish as to buy, — and bid farewell to 

 the Wynaad, where I have spent so many happy years, 

 and try pastures new. But before doing so I would 

 thank my brother-planters who would show me how 

 to hold on at a profit. Do not let them hark at me 

 with cinchona ; have I not seen them planted over 

 va6t areas leaving scarcely a vestige of their existence 

 behind. Cinchona, like other useful thirgs, has serred 

 its purpose; it staved off from many a poor planter, 

 the day when his coast agents would advance no 

 longer. That day has uow come, and cinchona extracts 

 no longer money from them. One last word in con- 

 clusion as to the coast agents, a body much abused 

 my many a borrower ; but to my mind they have 

 always conveyed the idea of much philanthropy ; they 

 have supported over many years many well deserving 

 men who, under much more favorahle circumstances, 

 could never have succeeded, and every Coast agent 

 must be a poorer if not a witer and sadder man. 

 As far as I can see, the absolute extinctio of the 

 Wynaad planter and those dependent on Kim, such 

 as curers and such like, is within nitasurable distance ; 

 and although a planter, 1 think I may safely fay that 

 our loss would be a real loss to others than ourselves. — 

 V. R. — Madras Mail. [N"t a word about tea. — Ki>.] 



PEPPER ADULTERATIONS. 



With the advancing market for all grades of pepper' 

 the subject of adulteration is more prominently brought 

 to the attention of those interested in this article. We 

 were the past week shown the price list of a prominent 

 grocery house in this city in which brown pepper was 

 quoted from thirteen to twenty cents per pound, the latter 

 presumably pure, hut what could be the composition 

 of the stuff offered three cents below the jobbing price of the 

 crude article? Pepper dust, pepper shells and mustard 

 hulls have long been used as adulterants, but the quantity 

 of these obtainable is not sufficient to meet the demand, 

 and recourse has latterly been had to other aud more 

 objectionable substances. We know of an instance where 

 twenty-five tons of pepper dust and sweepings were pur- 

 chased by one concern which pretends to sell nothing 

 but pure ground pepper. This stuff has a market value 

 of five cents per pound, and is little better than the 

 ordinary dirt swept up from the floors of a spice mill. 

 Cocoanut shells are also ground up and mixed with pep- 

 per, and it is asserted that ground segar boxes, which 

 were used in Germany a few years since, and there pro- 

 hibited by special legislation, has recently been used here 

 as an adulterant. The law here prohibits the refilling of 

 empty segar boxes, aud these cau be secured at a nom- 

 inal price and are said to be more satisfactory to the 

 adulterators by reason of the difficulty of detecting the 

 adulteration and the pungency of the material. Segar 

 boxes are acceptable articles when they coutain flue flavored 

 Havauas, but ground up and mixed with pepper to be 

 eateu is repugnant to a sensitive stomach. We would 

 suggest the propriety of au investigation of the quality of 

 the mixtures offered for sale as pepper to the authorities 

 acting under our recently enacted drug and food adulter- 

 ation law. Coloring coffee to make it look better and sell 

 more readily may be objectionable and should be prohibited, 

 but while the Boards of Health and other authorities are 

 directing their attention to this comparatively harmless 

 deception and publishing their efforts in this direction with 

 a great flourish, they are paying no attention to the 

 greater and rapidly spreading evil of the adulteration of 

 pepper. 



Let the State analysts secure samples of ground pep- 

 per advertised to be sold at prices at or below the market 

 value of the crude berry, and analyze the same, and we 

 have no doubt they will find much more to condemn than 

 they have yet discovered in the practice of coloring coffees 

 or teas. We would further suggest that the names of 

 the parties who adulterate pepper, as well as the sub- 

 stances used, be given to the public, that they may be 

 held up to the just execration of a deceived people. In 

 this way the practice of adulterating articles of food and 

 of drugs can be checked much more effectively than by 



j simply notifying the guilty parties or imposing a nominal 

 fine. It is important that this matter of pepper adulter- 

 ation receive prompt attention as it is a growing evil, and 

 since the advance of the pure article, the practice has 



i received a fresh impetus, and promises to grow to propor- 

 tions not. reached during the high war prices of twenty 



| years ago, unless checked by exposure and proper punish- 

 ment. — Independent Journal. 



Singapore Vegetable Tallow. — According to a cor- 

 respondent, the above tallow is a white, firm brittle mass. 

 which becomes soft on being kneaded between the fingers, 

 is pasty between 81 deg. and 140 deg. Fahr., and melts 

 at 116 deg. Fahr.; it is soluble iu cold ether, but less so 

 in cold acetic ether ami pyro-aeetic spirit. It is, however, 

 easily dissolved in these liquids when they are warmed; 

 it is soluble in half its own weight of cold chloroform, 

 and in one-third its own weight of heated chloroform, 

 while sulphuret of carbon in either condition readily dis- 

 solves it. This tallow is produced from the seeds of a 

 tree which in India is called Minyaktatigkawand. This tal- 

 low is said to be superior to olive oil for the lubricating 

 of machinery, and it is also used in Manilla for making can- 

 dles ; it yields glycerine, and about 95 per cent of sebacic 

 acids capable of being saponified. — Independent Journal. 



FOREST CTILTfKK, 



[Continued from p. 686, Vol. III.) 



The heart of a full-grown djati-tree is proof against 

 white ants, the rest of the wood not ; though it be gener- 

 ally eschewed by these troublesome invaders whenever 



I they can get possession' of any other wood, less bitter and 

 more to their liking. Nor does the djati otter but a partial 

 resistance to the so-called ■path' -worm. (P'erslag en Jf.de- 

 deel. ran Aon. Al.nd \ia ll'elcns. Jfd. Xotuurk. IX. L'5). 

 Most other attacks and injurious iuiluenees remain power- 

 less upon the djati, yet it must not be dissembled, that 



i the former more limited felling, when the selection of 

 fully matured, vigorous and really fit timber was eaiefolly 

 attended to, furnished generally better timber, and the 

 traditiou of the djati wonds's exemption from dry-rot, 

 etc. handed down to us from the time of the former 



