lS2 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1885,. 



but in Vol. III., page 887. an extract from the 

 Pharma-.euticnl Journal by Michael Conroy, F. c. .s., 

 says that immediately ou the juice being extracted 

 it is run into puncheons and sealed up ; again 

 another quotatiou from the same journal, page 748 

 of Vol. III., says by heating the juice to 150 Fahr. 

 and bottling at that heat, immediately sealing the 

 bottles, preserves the juice. 



Can anyone tell me, which of the above methods 

 is the best, or what the proper way is for preserv- 

 ing lime juice for the London market ? and, after 

 collecting and bottling it, cm the bottle be reopened 

 and the juice put into casks, and shipped to Eng- 

 land for sale ? or, if it ia exported in bottles, what 

 would be the cost, and what would it realize in the 

 London market. — Yours faithfully ? S. B. 



OACAO AND HELOPELTIS ANTONII. 



July 24th, 1885. 



Dear Sir,— I should be glad to know if any of 

 your readers who are engaged in the cultivation of 

 cacao have observed any diminution in the ravages 

 of the //. Aniotiii lately. 



I have remarked a great change in the last three 

 weeks. Trees, which were till now infested with 

 these insects, appear to be entirely free, both old 

 and young sending out fine healthy roots and 

 suckers, without a sign of the fatal black spots, 

 suckers having been hitherto especially subject to 

 their attacks. Many old trees, which appeared to 

 be dead, are showing signs of vitality once more, 

 and, most noticeable of all, I have failed to come 

 across a single specimen either of the young or 

 perfect insect during a careful search. It would 

 be interesting to know whether this has been re- 

 marked elsewhere, and whether it is only attribut- 

 able to the season, or that better times are in store 

 for this "distressful" industry.— Yours faithfully, 



ROBIN HOOD. 



" LOCAL QUININE MANUFACl'URE. 



Deab Sir,— Will you excuse me for again referring 

 to this subject, it being one in which a good many 

 people are interested ? 



There is nothing said in the Madras Report, either 

 by Dr. Oleaver or the Government, about " not getting 

 the chemicals to work properly," even in India; and 

 it would be interesting to know by whom this objection 

 was first started, or, say, experienced. Did Mr. 

 Bohrioger speak from his own knowledge and ex- 

 perience in Italy and America, or did he but repeat 

 the assertion of some other competent, or incompetent, 

 experimenter in India? It is well known that duiiog 

 the summer-months, both in Italy and in America, 

 the heat ia, both night and day, much greater than 

 the mean at Nuwara Eliya. Do the factories there 

 'stop work, or feel inconvenienced at such times? 



As regards the other objection," freight of chemicals 

 to Ceylon," that resolves itself into a mere question 

 of Ugures, which, when proper comparison is made, 

 1 think would vanish as a serious obstacle. Let us 

 take a lesson from the said Madras Report. Dr. 

 Cleaver ofl'ered to contract with the Madras Govern- 

 ment to manufacture for them at the rate of R18 

 pr>r lb. of febrifuge produced. It could probably be 

 done cheaper here, say for R15 per lb. Take local 

 values at 25 cents a lb. for bark, and the febrifuges 

 at R2 per. oz and suppose a planter has 2,000 lb. 

 of bark for disposal. Of this he sells 1,000 lb. at 

 25 cents and realizes R2511. But the other 1,000 lb. 

 he sends to a local factory, as he did hii coffee, to 

 be cured— or, in other words, to be converted into 

 alkaloids. On an analysis of about 4 per cent he 

 would receive 40 lb., or say 500 oz. of quinine 

 &o.,which at the value, already fixed, viz. K2 per oz., 

 be would sell for R1,000, or BTSOroore than for the b»rk, 



Out of this he would have to pay the factory for 40 lb. 

 of febrifuge at B15 or R6uO, leaving him a nett sum 

 of R400 as against K2o0 for that which he sold. 



Now it is evident that only a slight alteration of 

 any of these figures would bring out vastly difi'ei'ent 

 results. But I have no doubt that, in practice, it 

 would be found that these figures very much under- 

 rate the advantages that would accrue to the planters 

 from a local factory — for both \hranch and iwirj would 

 often give 4 per cent for alkaloids, and good barks often 

 double, so that I believe the planter would more often 

 double his income from his bark than make only the 

 above small profit by means of a local factory.— R, W. J . 



[We are very pleased to find our correspondent so 

 sanguine even in the face of the present low price of 

 quinine. Mr. Bohringer's opinion was expressed in 

 answer to our urging hira to establish a local 

 Factory as a branch of the Great Milan concern ; 

 but of course there was too much at stake in the 

 latter and therefore his opinion may have been that 

 of one predisposed to run down local manufacture. 

 We have had a letter today from the man, of all 

 others, best able from experience to give an opinion on 

 the questions raised, Mr. Gammie of Sikhim. He 

 reads the Tropical Agnculturlst regularly and as all 

 this correspondence will be reproduced there, we have 

 no doubt he will favour us with his views in answer 

 to our present appeal. — Ed.] 



COFFEE-LEAF-DISEASE : No. L 

 Dear Sir,— Your correspondent who writes: "Writers 

 ou this subject should always remember that all scienti- 

 fic authorities " (as a rule one leads and others follow) 

 " agree that hemileia on coffee is as independent of 

 insect cause as rust on wheat is," is a little dis- 

 appointing. Surely he does not expect the public to 

 surrender commonsense for what after all are but theories 

 of scientists.* I am quite open to conviction, and 

 will be satisfied if any scientist will explain how a 

 fungus acknowledged to be without power of locomotion, 

 can find its way from the upper to the lower surface 

 of the leaf, then travel to the stomata and burrow 

 through the tissues? It is but begging the question 

 to say it does this without demonstrating the " how." 

 Is it not more probable that the disease has its origin 

 where it developes, in the tissues of the leaf ? PUCK. 



No, II. 

 Dear Sir,— Will you kindly grant me the privilege 

 of contradicting a remark appearing in a letter of a 

 correspondent signed "Puck" in your Supplement of 

 the 15th instant, as it tends to convey a very erroneous 

 impression? He states that I am "bold enough to 

 come forward in support of a theory propounded by 

 General Braybrooke, that the origin of leaf-disease was 

 in the sap of the tree." Now, if my gentle "Puck" 

 had read my letter upon the subject a little more 

 carefully, he would have found that I said no such 

 thing. I neither support this theory nor any theory 

 whatever for which 1 have not got ocular de- 

 monstration. What I did say was, that, after careful 

 and patient investigation of the life history of the 

 insect described by me, I have been led to the con- 

 clusion that the evil effects of leaf-disease were due 

 to it more than to the so-called fundus, and I am 

 now more than ever confirmed in my opinion from 

 the fact that I have since been able to detect the 

 insects running through the intTnal tissues of the 

 leaf, and my own conviction is, whatever may be the 

 cause and effect of the yellow fungoid mruld which 

 accumulates on the under surface of cnffee leaves, that 

 j the primary cause of the epidemic is due in the first 



* Not theories, but conclusions from c.ireful observation 

 and experiment. The spores float ou the atmosphere, and 

 as soon as one reaches a etumate. it enters, — £o. 



