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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Dec. i, 1885 



Thb New Bit.— The Iiiclian Plaiitfrs' (hizi'tte 

 writes that the attention called to Die ijeii'ection 

 of the American indiariibber trotting liit let! to such 

 a ran on them that all Calcutta saddlers are sold out. 

 Indents have, however, been telegraphed, but the bits 

 as are only procurable from the patentees in New York, 

 some time must elapse before their arrival. — Pioneer. 

 Red Bark. — Messrs. Pati-y & Pasteur have the 

 followiiig par.'if^rajih in their market report of 21 ;h 

 Sept. : — We are happy to be able to inform gi-owers of 

 red bark that the steriiiig qualities of Succinibra have 

 been recognized in tbe new British rhariuacopieia, the 

 legal standard for the manufacture of all ilruggists' 

 preparat'ons. In the new edition just issued, the 

 cinchona decoctions will in future be made from Red 

 B.irk instead of as hitherto from the Yellow Bark or 

 Oalisaya flava of South America; this will probably 

 cause an enhanced demand for the Ked Ceylon and East 

 India barks. 



Coconut Pi..<ntations : How to Destroy Beetles. 

 Have you or your valuable contributors on coconuts 

 never heard the latest contrivance to destroy beetles 

 in young coconut plantations which are so destruct- 

 ive as yon know ? I heard this from a well-known 

 Kurnnegala plumbago-dealer who is proprietor of 

 extensive coconut plantations, and, as I have no reason 

 to doubt what was told me, repeat it here for the bene- 

 fit of your readers. It appears that he and some 

 of his neighbours fix a hogshead in, say, a 10-acre 

 block of his property, which hogshead is Ijrimful 

 packed with "kekima leaves" over which water is 

 filled, some tender twigs and branches are also 

 thrown in. Within a fortnight a strong smell, I 

 would say stink, arises from this cask , which attracts 

 all the beetles in its vicinity and lures them into 

 the cask. In the evening a couple of boys are told 

 off with a guimy bag, to" go round the property and 

 pick off the cask all the beetles that have dropped 

 in : as many as :iO or 40 beetles it appears arc some- 

 times picked off one cask alone. In a short time, the 

 beetles gradually disappear. Of course all the beetles 

 gathered are daily destroyed over a special bon- 

 fire. As I said before, I have never heard of this 

 cheap method of curtailing the ravages of one of the 

 enemies of coconut plantations, and will be glad to 

 hear if any of your readers have ever heard of it or 

 given this system a trial. — Cor. 



K\ju (tiim. — We translate the following from the | 

 Indisrld' ilerritiir of 3rd Oct. : — Mr. J. H. Ferguson, 

 the Netherlands Minister in China, has made an 

 interesting ccnnmunication to the Council of Manage- 

 ment of the Colonial Museum at Haarlem regard- 

 ing kaju gum from the West Indies, which variety of 

 gum is eminently suited to take the place of gum 

 arable, which is becoming dearer and dearer. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. fi'erguson, the kaju trees are found, not 

 only on the island of Aruba, but also in exceptionally 

 large i|uantity on the island of St. Martin, where 

 they thrive well in the moist sandy soil between 

 the mountains and the sea, being nourished by 

 the rain-water which springs up from the 

 mountains through the sand. This variety of gum 

 is found in such quantity in Ht. ftfartin that it 

 is used in the whitewashing of houses, to give the 

 lime-watei- suflicienl colesion, on which account it 

 is used for the painting of woodwork. Boors, window- 

 blinds and also outer woodwork are painted 

 with the lime-water thus ]n-epared with kaju gum, 

 to wliich any coloring material is then added. Con- 

 sidering the great value, from a commercial i)oint 

 of view, of kaju gum, the cultivation of the kaju 

 tree {Aniicardiiim oa-iileiitale) in the East and West 

 Indies is recommended by thu Colonial Museum. 

 In the West Indies these trees grow wild, and in 

 the East Indies they thrive very well. The well- 

 known ' Achin nuts ' .ai'e derived from these trees. 

 The fruit is railed in Malay jiunhn mom/et. I''ine 

 specimens of kaju gum are to be seen in the 

 'Museum. .The attention of tiovernment will also 

 be drawn to this subject by the Committee. 



PflEsEHViNO Plants, &c.-Mr. P. Henuings states 

 tb.at durmg the last three years certain fruits, flowers 

 and other portions of plants liave been preserved in thd 

 botanical museum of tbe Berlin Uuiversi'v by means 

 .solution eonsistiug of -1 parts of water and 1 part 

 ol alcohol, saturated with alicylic acid. 



of 



^ The Bone Industry of the United States is an 

 important one. The four feet of an ordinary ox 

 wiU make a pint of neatsfoot oil. Not a bone of 

 any animal is thrown away. Many cattle shin bones 

 are shipped to Europe for the making of knife 

 handles, where they bring »40 per ton. The thigh 

 bones are the most valuable, being worth $80 per 

 ton for cutting into tooth brush handles. The 

 foreleg bones are worth »H0 per ton, and are made 

 into collar buttons, parasol handles, and jewelrv 

 though sheep's legs are the staple for parasol handle's' 

 The water in which the bones are boiled is re- 

 duced to glue, the dust which comes from sawing 

 the bones is fed to cattle and poultrv, and all the 

 bones that cannot be used as noted", or for hone 

 black, used in refining the sugar we eat, are turned 

 into fertilizers and made to help to enrich the 

 soil. As regai-ds waste, it is the storv of the pio 

 Nothing is lost except the squenL—Fxrhaiuie. 



A Substitute for Coffee.— At the Commercial 

 Exchange, Cape Town, there were recently exhib- 

 ited some specimens of a root, umpimvisa, which 

 had much in common with chicory. The follow- 

 ing letter from Mr. Hampden-Willis, Und<r 

 Colonial Secretary, accompanied the exhibits :— 

 " With reference to a letter from tbe Civil Com- 

 missioner of Peddie, I am directed to forward, per 

 separate parcels, some specimens of a root known by 

 the name of " umpimyisa," viz., a piece cut off 

 the root, some pieces roasted after being passed 

 through a mincing machine, and two packets of the 

 ground material. The root is largely used by 

 farmers and others, who make a beverage from it 

 resembling coffee in flavour, but sweetish. The 

 process employed in preparing it is to pass it 

 through a mincing machine, roast, and grind it. 

 Some Cape farmers also make a syrup from it, by 

 cutting up the root, boiling, and skimming it. This 

 resembles golden syrup, with a slight cinnamon 

 flavour. It is thought that, with proper machinery, 

 this root could be utilised as a substitute for coffee 

 as an artiale of commerce." — Colonies and India. 



Successful Potato-growing near Nuwari Eliya. 



22nd Oct.— I have just taken up a crop of potatoes 

 which I think will show that they can still be 

 grown in this locality very protitablv. On the 8rd 

 of August I planted 3G sets which weighed .5 lb., 

 and I have today— 11 weeks and 3 davs from the 

 time of planting— taken up ;i.5li sound 'marketable 

 tubers weighing 50 lb. They were planted in a 

 single line on ground that had been trenched 18 

 inches deep last year and a good dressing of m.anure 

 was applied to the ground then. The sets, which 

 were whole tubers, were planted about 1 foot apart 

 and i inches deep. No fresh manure was used 

 but a little lime and wood-ashes was sprinkled 

 round each set at the time of planting and they 

 received i doses of liipiid manure during the dry 

 weather when tliey were in active growth. Tliey 

 were also earthed up after each watering. It is 

 only fair to mention that two plants were de- 

 stroyed by grubs and 1 died before any tubers were 

 formed, so that the 150 lb. were taken from 33 

 roots. We had heavy rain yesterday from the E. 

 It began at 1 p. m. and by 3 o'clock 1-83 inch 

 had fallen ; from then light rain continued to fall, 

 and this morning the total for the il hours was 

 2-43. There was scarcely any wind with it and 

 the total horizontal movement of the air for the 

 24 liours was only (il'SO miles.— Cor. 



