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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May i, 1885. 



A Mustard Plasteh.— In making a mustard plaster, no 

 water whatever should be used, but the mustard mixed 

 with the white of an egg; the result will be a plaster 

 which willl " draw " perfectly, but will not produce a blis- 

 ter even upon the skin of an infant, no matter how long it is 

 allowed to remain upon the part. — Farm rj- Fireside, 

 1st Feb. 



Vanilla. — We are at length able to announce a sale 

 of Vanilla in our market. It was not a very im- 

 portant lot, but the high rate of exchange has allowed 

 the art ; cle to go off at relatively high price. A lot 

 of K?7 kilos of 6 inches and upwards realized E18 

 per kilo ; a lot 10 kil is of fine frosted vanilla E20, 

 20 per kilo ; a lot of sorts and split obtained 8'00 

 per kilo. These were the only sales during the 

 month — there are a still a few small lota which will 

 doubtless be offered for sale in the coarse of the 

 month on account of the prices realized. 



Improvement of the Phickly-Pear. — Mr. W. Wilson, 

 Director of .Revenue Settlement and Agriculture, wrote to 

 the Secretary to Government Revenue Department, under 

 date Madras, 19th February 1885, submitting a file 

 of correspondence that had passed between his office and 

 certain gentlemen regarding the suggestion made for the 

 couversion of the prickly-pear of Southern India from 

 a noxious weed into a wholesome fruit-bearer by graft- 

 ing on it the edible cacti of Southern Europe in a 

 letter addressed to this Government by Dr. Bonavia, Civil 

 Surgeon of Etawah, North-Western Provinces. The opinions 

 (said Mr. Wilson) are diverse, but lean on the whole 

 to the desirability of introducing here the best varieties 

 of the edible cacti of Southern Europe. The general 

 opinion is that if the planets will grow here they will 

 thrive on their own roots, and that it would therefore be 

 necessary to graft them on the common prickly-pear at 

 all. That one variety at least of the edible cacti of Southern 

 Europe will thrive in this Presidency will appear from 

 the letters of Mr. J. F. Price, c.s., and Dr. Shortt. The 

 former gentleman has seen it near Karunguli in the Chin- 

 gleput district and also in parts of Salem. From what 

 he says of the specimens he saw, however, it would seem 

 that tho plauts were in a degenerate condition. Dr. 

 Shortt writes that the thornless cactus — Nopaul or Opontia 

 Vochifiellefers — which is the variety cultivated in the 

 gardens at Malta, is already thoroughly acclimatized in 

 Southern India, and is now growing in his own garden 

 at Yercaud on its own roots; while strongly advocating 

 its cultivation both as a fruit-bearer and as a fodder for 

 cattle, he thinks it necessary for these reasons to import or 

 to graft it. The Agricultural Reporter to Government 

 and Mr. H. S. Thomas, c. s., both deprecate its intro- 

 duction ; the former does not think the experiment worth 

 trying because it is more desirable to remove the prickly- 

 pear ou which it is proposed to graft the edible cacti than 

 to retain it. Mr. Thomas fears that, if introduced, it would 

 only increase the present evil of prickly-pear, as the seeds 

 passed by men and the lower animals would probaby result in 

 a growth of wild cactus which would be all the more extens- 

 ive, the more popular the fruit became. Mr. Price thinks 

 the experiment worth trying, but does not think that 

 the introduction of the edible cactus would lead to the 

 uprooting of prickly-pear, nor does he think that it 

 would be necessary to graft the plants on prcikly-pear. 

 Colonel. H. McLeod, r. a., and Professor M. A. Lawson 

 both warmly approve Dr. Bonavia's suggestion, and Colonel 

 McLeod who knows the edible cacti in their own country, 

 and says that lheir fruit forms a great part of the susten- 

 ance of the native population there while they are in season, 

 has very courteously addressed the Governor of Malta and 

 the Commissioner of Larcaua in view to the supply to 

 this department of specimens of the best fruited varieties 

 to be found in Malta and Cyprus. The results of the ex- 

 periments made with these, when they are received 

 will be reported in due course. The Government order 

 on the above, was as follows : — The Government will 

 wait the results of the experiments which should bo 

 made with the plants expected from Malta and Cyprus. 

 Mr. Wilson, who should consult Mr. Lawson upon the 

 matter, should see that those plants are put down in 

 suitable localities where the climate is sufficiently dry. 

 Colonel McLeod will be thanked for the trouble he has 

 1 } 1 1 in the matter. 



An Increased Export Duty on China Tea is very 

 probable in view of the warlike expenses of th c 

 Government ; but the fact is that between the 

 internal levy (see Mr. Colquhoun's book) and the sea- 

 going duty, the tax at present is nearer 2£d than Hd 

 per lb. So that the Chinese have not much margin 

 unless they would suppress the trade in their common 

 teas altogether. 



Indian Labour in South Afeica. — Whatever may be 

 said or thought now, a quarter of a century later, it is 

 beyond dispute, that in 1858 and 1859, all the hopes of 

 enterprize and of progress in this colony were held to 

 depend upon the introduction of the indentured labourers 

 from India. That the progress of the colony has been 

 quickened and its wealth enhanced by the labours of the 

 Indian no one can, we imagine, deny. The evils that are 

 complained of with so much justice have nothing to do 

 with the work of the coolie on the estates where he is 

 employed. They were evils never foreseen on his arrival. 

 They have been evolved by circumstances unrecked of at 

 that time. All that the advocates of Indian immigration 

 hoped for and fought for in the first instance was that 

 thc cultivation of the soil should not be impeded or pre- 

 vented by the want of labour. The native population had 

 utterly failed to afford relief, and it the resources of the 

 country were to be turned to account, labour must be 

 sought from some external source. To blame anyone for the 

 contingent ulterior effects of coolie immgration in the shape 

 of permanent colonization and commercial rivalry is as 

 rational as it would be to blame the inventors of the 

 steam engine for having ousted handieraftism pure and 

 simple. It will be well when dealing with this question, 

 as it must soon be dealt with, to bear this in mind. 

 The question before the country now is, not how best 

 Iudian immigration can be stimulated and conserved — it 

 needs no stimulation — but how best the evils to which it has 

 given rise can be controlled and rectified. — Natal Mercury. 



The Properties of Rhea Fibre are wellknown, and 

 machinery has now fairly overcome the difficulty of its 

 preparation. There are, however, certain objections to rhea 

 which are likely to prevent the fibre proper from ever 

 taking a position among textiles much higher than it at 

 present occupies. It is too good, too strong, too valuable 

 for ordinary purposes. A lady would have to live 100 years 

 before she could ever hope to wear a hole in a rhea-fibro 

 dress. It absorbs too much dye, it is too hard, it creases 

 so badly as to appear shabby the first day it is worn. 

 But for many minor purposes rhea will always be in de- 

 maud. It is therefore unfortunate as well as amusing to 

 find that, with all our fancied knowledge on the subject, 

 the plant itself is still a standing mystery. In 1875 Dr. 

 Forbes Watson wrote the first reliable account of the fibre. 

 He gave three plates of rhea or rhea allied plauts. One 

 was rhea proper, another the poi-rhea of Assam, and the 

 third the Nilghiri nettle plant. Unfortunately in giving 

 a drawing of the last named plant, he gave, by mistake, 

 Girardinia eylanica under the name of G. heterophylla, 

 and his account of the plant illustrated actually related 

 to the fibre of G. palmata. Thus three plants were hope- 

 lessly confused ; and an error of this kind dies hard. In 

 the American Agriculturist (January 1S85), Dr. Forbes 

 Watson's plate of the poi-fibre plant (Maoutia Poya) is 

 made to do duty as an illustration of the true rhea 

 (Bahmeria nivea), and is introduced in the course of a 

 lamentation over the depravity of botanical science. In 

 Baillon's " Natural History of Plants" an engraving is 

 given of what is called rhea (/>'. nivea), in which the plant 

 is shown to have opposite instead of alternate leaves. One 

 might multiply such evidences of carelessness, but enough 

 has been said to show how this valuable fibre has suffered 

 from waut of accurate investigation. There are some 18 

 species of Bahmeria in India, and, including all the allied 

 non-stinging nettles, there are no fewer than -15 plauts so 

 closely allied to rhea proper that they have been all mistaken 

 for the true rhea fibre plant. Including the stinging nettles, 

 there are 70 or 80 fibre yielding plauts which, with the 

 exception of four or five, have never been examined by 

 Europeans, although they all yield fibres used by the natives, 

 and are practically cousins of rhea fibre. "When may we 

 expect to have the properties of each of these 70 or 80 rhea- 

 like fibres made known 't— Calcutta Englishman. 



