?SS 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[November i, 1884. 



so difficult to obtain. To connoisseurs of something really 

 choice this is specially recommended, being quite free from 

 any admixture of Indian or other teas. 4s pound. 



TkAS. — Notwithstanding the Franco-Chinese war, and con- 

 sequent rise in the Tea Market, we yet sell sound Congou 

 at Is per lb. ; strong flavonry kinds, Is 3d, Is 6d, Is 9d, 2s. 

 This system of advertising is thus criticized in John Bull 

 and hi* Isle : — 



" Every grocer — I might say without exception — displays 

 the following announcement, in his shop : 'When you have 

 once tasted our tea, you will drink no other.' One of the 

 largest tea-houses is not ashamed to publish the following 

 advertisement in all the public, thoroughfares and railway 

 stations of England : ' We sell at three shillings a pound 

 the same tea as we supply to dukes, marquises, earls, 

 Barons, and the gentry of the country.' The poor vis- 

 counts are left out: it is a regrettable oversight." 



Perhaps the candour of the man who tells the public 

 that he sells China tea unmixed with " Indian or other 

 teas " at 4s per pound is preferable to the duplicity cf the 

 dealer who professes to sell Indian but gives a cheap blend 

 of China tea. — Home and Colonial Mail. 



BRAZILIAN, OR MATE TEA. 

 Some effort is now being made to familiarize the British 

 public with this Mate tea. At the Health Exhibition will 

 be found many examples of Brazilian tea, the produce of 

 the Brazilian holly (Ilex Paraguayensis). They may be re- 

 cognized by their dull yellowish colour, and by their being 

 in small Hat fragments of broken leaf, not curled or rolled 

 as is the case with China tea. This Brazilian or Paraguay 

 tea is used by millions of people in the New World, as the 

 ( 'hina tea is used by millions in the Old World. The holly 

 from which it is derived is a free-growing, handsome shrub, 

 • with opposite ovate leaves, stout in texture, of a rich green 

 colour, and bearing green colour, and bearing greenish 

 Howers, which are four-parted. Although now to be met 

 with in botanic gardens everywhere, there is a 

 certain degree of interest attaching to the figure of 

 it in B. M. 3992 (1843), although that was by no means 

 the first figure published, for Lambert, Sprengel, and 

 ■Sir W. Hooker had previously figured it. As a garden 

 plant it requires warm greenhouse cultivation, but is in 

 no way peculiar, so that whoever can secure a healthy 

 plant may easily keep it. If grown in the same house 

 with Thea Bohea it is quite at home, and has perhaps 

 more interest for the observer than if grown apart from 

 the tea plant of the Old World. The one point of 

 interest for us here is as to the " table quality " of 

 this tea plant. It offers us some peculiar ad vantages when 

 regarded from the domestic economy point of view. It 

 contains very little tannin, and therefore docs not dam- 

 age the digestivo organs as China tea is likely to do. 

 Moreover, this comparative absence of tannin allows of 

 the Brazilian teapot being kept "on tho hob" for any 

 length of time without detriment to the tea, and in 

 fact proves beneficial, for this tea is the bettor for a 

 long browing. And, again, this tea not only soothes and 

 refreshes the frame and clears the mind, but it contains 

 what may be called positive nutrition in the form of 

 mucilage, winch is only brought out by long standing 

 — Home ami Colonial Mail. 



COYERNMENT CENTRAL MUSEUM, MADRAS' 

 The following extracts are tikt-n from Dr. Bidie's 

 long and able report on the working of the Govern- 

 ment Central Museum for LSS3-84 : — 

 Current WORK. 

 'I he following are some of tnauy subjects regarding 

 which correspondence took place during the year. In 

 fact, the public seem to regard the museum as a reserve 

 depot of universal knowledge, and if the staff cannot 

 always furnish the answers required, they try to put 

 the enquirer on the track of the needed information : — 

 Cinchona Analyses. — As mentioned in last year's 

 report a complete series of specimens of our species 

 of cinchona, collected by me on the Government 

 Plantations, was sent to the Pharmaceutical Society. 

 During the year under review, Dr. B. Paul published 



analyses of the whole of these in the Journal of the 

 Pharmaceutical S iciety, and his article was sub- 

 sequently reproduced in G. 0. Revenue Department, No, 

 407 of 1st April 1S84. In May 1SS3, I had the 

 pleasure of accompanying Dr. Trimen over the 

 cinchona plantations, and his interesting and valu- 

 able report on the species cultivated in Nil- 

 giris and suggestions regarding the industry have 

 since been communicated to departments. 



Cochineal. — The correspondence referred to last year 

 resulted in the importation of cochineal insects from 

 Algeria, which were hauded to Mr. Grimes, the Super- 

 intendent of the Central Jail, Coimbatore. This 

 gentleniau devoted much care and ingenuity to the ex- 

 periment, but unfortunately the whole of the insects 

 died. It was suggested that the failure of this trial 

 was possibly due to the insects having been weakened 

 by their importation in the hot months, Government, 

 therefore, resolved to give the experiment a further 

 trial in the coming cold season, Mr. Grimes in the 

 interval preparing a garden of the cactus plant on which 

 the insects may feed. 



Caoutchouc. — The Forest Departmeut were directed 

 to send further ' specimens for analysis of the elastic 

 gum yielded by Carissa macropliylla, but noue reached 

 the Museum during the year. 



Landolphia. — A plant put out at the foot of a 

 Morinda tree in the Museum grouuds has run up to 

 near the top, but the stem is very slender, and does 

 not appear as if it would yield much milk. 



Fish Parasites. — In the earlier months of the year 

 there was a sort of pauic regarding fish, a rumour 

 having got abroad that the sea fish sold in the bazaars 

 were infested with parasites which rendered them 

 dangerous as articles of food. On examination of a 

 variety of species it was found that they did not con- 

 tain any more parasites than healthy fish usually do, 

 and that there was no risk attending the consumption 

 of fish. To allay the public excitement, however, it 

 was deemed advisable to submit specimens of the 

 parasites to the authorities of the British Museum, 

 and they confirmed the views as to their innocuous 

 character. The parasites were all tape worms in the 

 cystic stage, and of the eight species represented, two 

 proved new to science. 



Honey Bees of Southern India. — A large collection 

 of these from the various districts was forwarded to 

 the British Museum, where, through the kind inter- 

 vention of Dr. Giiuther, they were identified by Mr. 

 Kirby. From his notes it appears that the whole of 

 the Madras honey bees belong to 4 species, and 

 3 varieties of the genus Apis. viz. : — 



Apis Indica, Fabr. Apis dorsata, Fabr. 



Do floralis, Fabr. do do var. testacea, Smith 



Do nigrocincta, Smith do do zonata, Giur. 

 Do nigrocincta, Var (?) 

 Apis indica is, perhaps, the bee that is best known 

 and most widely distributed, and its honey is good 

 and wholesome. 



A pis dorsata and its varieties are the rock bees so 

 formidable on account of their irritable temper and 

 dangerous sting. Their nests contain large quantities 

 of very tine honey, which is collected by the jungle 

 people. The pretty little " Mosquito bee" is Apis 

 nigrocincta var. 



Pearl Fisheries. — Owing to tho failure of these 

 valuable sources of revenue, Government resolved to 

 submit the subject to scientific examiuation, and the 

 Museum was directed to advise the officer deputed, 

 as a preparatory step, to collect the necessary facts 

 concerning the points to which his- attention should 

 be chit fly directed, Dr. Kelaart in IS57, and Mr. 

 Holdsworth, in 1866-67, made a oareful experimental 

 enquiry into the whole question. Both these were 

 Well known and highly-trained naturalists, and it 

 is understood that they made numerous important 



