36 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[JULV I, 1885. 



Salt vor Curing Fish. — On reoonsideration of the 

 subject, the Government of Madras is of opinion that it 

 would be better to forego all duty on salt used for curing 

 iish, having regard to the advantages to the public 

 which will accrue therefrom. The present system 

 of supply at coat price will be continued, and it will be 

 the object of the Department to suggest measures for 

 extending the benefits of the system, — Madras Mail. 



CATTiiE Brkeding, — As a step towards improving 

 the live stock of the country by the influence of 

 example, the Director of Kevenue Settlement and 

 Agriculture recently proposed to encourage laud 

 owners and Mofussil stock-traders by substituting 

 presentations of live and dead stock for the money 

 prizes which it is now the custom to distribute at 

 Agricultural Exhibitions. These proposals Iiad the 

 concurroiico of the Bnard of Revenue, and have now 

 received the entire approval of the Government. 

 — Maihas Mail, June 5th. 



A Panacea fob Alcoholism. — Dr. FleischI, of 

 V'ienna, declares that morphinism, alcoholism and 

 similar habits can now be cured rapidly and painlessly 

 by means of coeain chloride. The method is very 

 simple — a withdrawal, either gradual or abrupt and 

 complete, of the habitual intoxicant, and treatment of 

 the nervous and other symptoms which arise there- 

 from by means of hypodermic injections of the coeain. 

 He claims that in ten days a cure may be effected in 

 .any case. The dose of coeain chloride, hypodermically, 

 is from one-twelfth to one-fourth of a"grain, dissolved 

 in water, repeated as necessary. — Morning News. 



Blackstonk Tea up to 23 Sid with an average 

 for 35 packages of Is lOd per lb. is the 

 best report on Ceylon Teas by this mail, 

 and is another feather in the cap of the 

 spirited, careful and intelligent Ceyloneae proprietor 

 and manager of the estate. All honour to Mr. 

 Barber, gold medallist, and may his success lead 

 many of his countrymen to follow his example by 

 turning teai planters. A London Correspondent sends 

 us the following series of capital averages just re- 

 alized : — 



TEA. 



AvEKAOES. 



Blackstone 35 pkgs. averaged 1/10 



Qalleboddo IIG „ „ 1/7 



Kookwood 99 „ „ l/.-jJ 



Windsor Forest 158 „ „ 1/4| 



Lotcbeme 24 „ „ 1/3? 



KAW 112 „ „ 1/2J 



Ovoca IS „ „ 1/21 



Moss AND Lichens ok Tea Trees. — In the proceed- 

 ings of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of 

 India, we find the following under Communications : — 

 " From Messrs. Macnoil & Co., enquiring if any 

 preparation suitable for removing moss and lichens 

 from the stems of tea bushes can be recommended, 

 as one of the gardens in their agency is much 

 affected, and a remedy would be useful. Messrs. 

 Maoneil & Co. were informed that a saturated solution 

 of soft soap and common salt, applied with a painter's 

 brush, is used for removing moss from fruit trees, and 

 is also said to destroy eggs of insects ; lime, either 

 dusted on while the trees are wot or applied in the 

 form of whitewash, is also used. It would be interest- 

 ing to note the effects of these remedies on red 

 spider." Wo understand that iron- wire gloves are used 

 to remove moss from forest trees in Britain. Can any 

 reader who has seen such gloves used say if they 

 would be likely to answer for tea bushes ? We should 

 fear decortication unless tho wire were very fine. 

 But we suppose coir is as good as anything which 

 can be used ? Wo fancy the moss ought to be rubbed 

 off as a prelimiuary to any application, although, no 

 doubt, a liberal application of caustic lime would 

 kill the moss on the stems 



The Outwaed and Visible Signs of Tea 

 Jat are so uncertain, especially in the case of old 

 trees allowed to grow up in a state of neglect, that 

 the ' ' tea authority " alluded to by the author of 

 " gup " is not so much to blame as might be 

 imagined. Tea planters are familiar with the process 

 by wliich hybrids with leaves as large, bright-coloured 

 and serrated as those of pure indigenous, show 

 smaller and more sUnder leaves as they increase in 

 years, whether left as seed-bearers, or cultivated for 

 leaf. But if a shoot springs up from the root of 

 such a tree the leaves of such shoot revert to the 

 original fine type. In our own experience the best 

 flush-yieldors amongst hybrids arc those with long 

 but narrow leaves. We are speaking of tea at high 

 elevations, where even China bushes well cultivated 

 yield wonderful returns. 



Material for Paper Making. — It seems that at the 

 Luoknow paper mills a kind of Indian esparto is used, 

 which is thus noticed in the Madras Mail : — We 

 quote the passage because the plant may, possi- 

 bly exist in Ceylon :— The materials employed 

 for the production of paper in the Lucknow 

 Mills are rags of all sorts ; rope and gunny (jute) refuse 

 and vegetable substances, including rice-straw, 'moonj' 

 and ' bed or baid,' otherwise locally ' known as ' Khabar 

 or binkas. The scientific name is — Major Pitcher in- 

 forms me — PoUinia Ariopoda. It is found all along the 

 Himalayas. This last plant is a sort of esparto which 

 is collected in Shahjehanpur and Philibeet, through 

 the Forest Department, and locally purchased at from 

 El to IJ a maund. It is said to grow at the foot of, 

 or on the lower ranges of the hills, and as it is considered 

 the best known raw material for paper making im this 

 part of India I have sent Dr. Bidie a small bundle 

 for the Madras Central Museum, as I believe that it, 

 or something like it, is common in the Madras Presid- 

 ency. The proved good qualities of this grass makes 

 it desirable that it should be utilized on a muqh larger 

 scale than at present. Paddy straw is much the cheapest 

 material, and answers the purpose fairly well. All the 

 other substances used for the same purpose in the mill, 

 and already enumerated, cost about the same price as 

 beb. 



PnoDUCTSFOETHE NoETH OP Oetlon.— Wehavein Ceylon 

 a closely allied species i'.Dtonoi/^nKjH, which is common in the 

 hot dry districts, and called in Tamil " Tevadar.im." The 

 wood is slightly f r.igi-ant, and Dr. Ondaatjie has recorded the 

 preparation from it at Puttalam of a creasotio oil. The 

 leaves are strikingly like those of E. Coca, and it is interesting 

 to note that in South India, they were largely used as 

 food by the poor during one of the late famines, as re- 

 corded by Dr. IJidie. They may possibly contain cocaine. — 

 Dr. Tnmen .—There are, we ["Jaffna Catholic Guardian"] 

 believe, two kinds of trees going by the name of Tevadaram 

 in the Nortli. One is largely used in native medicine, 

 so much so, that trees of this kind, which no one 

 takes the trouble of cultivating, are getting very scarce 

 in J.alfna. They extract a kind of oil out of the wood, 

 or use it in the form of powder; the wood is of light 

 brown colour and fragrant. AVe think the gardens should 

 not be all contiaed to the limits of one or two provinces. 

 The North does not lack industry or soil ; all it wants 

 is means of turning these to account; we think that no- 

 where could a botanic garden prove more useful than in 

 Jaffna. To mention only one or two items: cotton, if 

 attended to, could very soon become an important pro- 

 duce, and tlia source of a no less imi>ortant industry in 

 Jaffna. It grows wild in our gardens ; but, as old wild plants, 

 is of poor quality, though it must not have always been 

 so, as the native names of Point Pedro (Parutti-turrai, 

 cotton-harbour) .shows that there was formerly a trade 

 fin that branch in the Peninsula. Jafi'na fruits are of 

 iuperior quality, and its grapes and plantains are famous 

 all over the island. 'What could not be achieved in this re- 

 spect with the care luul learning of a Dr. Trimon ? 

 We just mention this as a specimen of what could bo 

 done.—" Jaffna Catholic Guardian." 



