272 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1885, 



SuoAB Making. — The following extract from 

 the "American Cultivator" describes a new process 

 which, if successful, ought to revolut onize sugar 

 production : — " The new process of siiyar making 

 brought forward in Berlin by Trobach is purely 

 chemical differing matfrially from the mechaniol 

 process now in use, and, in the opinion of author- 

 ities on the subject, w^ll. if it shall prove to be 

 all it is claimed to b?, elt'ect a revolution in sugar 

 manufacture and cheapen the article still more. 

 This method dispenses with crushing and pressing 

 altogether. The cane is cut into slices by means 

 of machinery, and the water extracted from it 

 by alcohol vapor, which, haviug an affinity for 

 the water, absorbs it, but leaves the saccharine 

 in the desiccated cane ; this is then treated with 

 liquid alcohol, wich extracts the sugar, and after- 

 wards the sugar is extracted from the alofhol, or 

 the alcohol from the sugar, by filtering through 

 lime and chalk. There is by this method no 

 difficulty in extracting all or nearly all the 

 saccharine from the cane." 



OSTBICH Farming.— I paid a flying visit to the flourish- 

 ing and picturesque little town of Gawler, during my 

 st.ay in South Australia, and visited the ostrich farm 

 about four miles away. This particular farm, I under- 

 stand, pays remarkably well ; and there is no reason 

 why more of them should not exist in Australia. The 

 farm includes about 170 acres. The inteihgent manager 

 of the farm, Mr. Kankiue, was very ready to give one 

 all the information required. There are about 100 adult 

 ostriches, which are enclosed in '2G paddocks formed of 

 wire fencing. The ground is left in its natural and 

 uncleared state of bush. One male and one female bird 

 are usually enclosed in each paddock, for although 

 ostriches are not monoganiic, yet if two females are 

 placed in the same paddock with the male, the latter 

 usually selects one as a favorite, to the neglect of the 

 other. The eggs take about six weeks to hatch. For- 

 merly the hatching was arificially performed by incub- 

 ators, but it was subsequently found that the birds would 

 sit and hatch the eggs themselves. In this task the 

 male assists the female bu'd, so that the old story about 

 the ostrich burying its eggs in the sand and leaving 

 them for the sun to hatch is a zoological libel. All the 

 birds were in a most healthy condition, as was evidenced 

 by the bright colour of the legs and mandibles. They 

 are fed twice a day on lucerne and cabbages, with au 

 alternative diet of maize and turnips, aud of course 

 the birds get the necessary pebbles and stoues for 

 gizzard trituration for themselves out of the ground. I 

 was much amused as 1 drove round the farm by the 

 humorous old manager, a genuuie Scotchman, addressing 

 the long-legged, long-necked birds — which frequently 

 came much too near to be pleasant — by antique Scottish 

 patriotic names. One is "Roderick Dhu,'' others "Bruce" 

 and " Wallace," &c. The breeding birds for this farm 

 (which was only started four years ago) cost £100 each. 

 lu some of the paddocks were docks of six and eight 

 young ostriches — pretty little objects, with peculiar 

 stripped markings. They are altogether of a different 

 colour to the parents, aud in the Zoological Gardens 

 I was very much struck with the striking resemblance 

 the young of the emu bear to those of the ostrich — 

 illustrating the zoological truth that the young of the 

 species of the same or nearly allied genus approach e.ach 

 other much more nejirly than do the adidts. It is not 

 until the youug male is a year old that be begins to 

 assume his chrtracteristic black coat. When the young 

 birds are only eight mouths old some of their feathers 

 may be taken. As they get older the feathers are 

 plucked every four mouths, and as many as weigh one 

 pound and three-quarters are not unfrfMpii'iitly taken 

 from a single bird. There is a feather storeroom at the 

 farm, where we saw the h:n'vcst. I was pleased to hear 

 that the Ciawler Ostrich Farm was a success, inasmuch 

 as it is only "ue out of nuim.ous similar euterprizfS 

 which the clirnnt'' of Australia will profitably enable its 

 inhabitants to undertake. —^lK.s(r<iJii.<i«H. 



Jip.iN Tea. — It is said that the Yamashiro districts 

 produce nearly one-third of all the tea grown in 

 Japan, and that very little more than half the tea- 

 plants will be saved from destruction in those dis- 

 tricts in consequence of being so long submerged by 

 the recent floods. — Japan WceMij Mail. 



A Wash to Kill Scale. — Kerosene, three gallons 

 whale oil soap, half pound ; water, one gallon. Dissolve 

 the soap in hot watf^r and add boiling hot to the oil, 

 Ohurn the mixture at least live or ten minutes, if possible 

 through the spray nozzle of a good force pump. The 

 emulsion is a thick cream which should adhere to the 

 surface of glass and show no oiliuess. For use dissolve 

 one part of emulsion with ten parts of water. The above 

 formula is for thirty gallonsjof wash. — Gardeners^ Jfoitihij/, 



Sugar, Cacao &c. in Trinidad. — Says the Dom- 

 inica Dial of 20th June : — The Port of Spain Gazette 

 " understands " that Mr. L. Agostini has formulated 

 a scheme for loans by the Government to the Trini- 

 dad sugar planters, on the security of their annual 

 crops. The cash is to be advanced by the Colonial 

 Bank on the guarantee of the local authorities, the 

 Bank waiving all claim to crops. The Trinidad 

 Agricultural Society have passed resolutions with 

 the view of "preserving birds and cultivating 

 fibre." Much apprehension has been awakened in 

 Trinidad in respect of the locusts, a " swarm of 

 young creepers " having been found destroying cacao 

 leaves. 



Tobacco. — I send you a sample of Deli tobacco 

 grown at Kudat by a peripatetic Australian. It is 

 only partly fermented, but is declared by Mr. Lind, 

 Manager of the German Tobacco Company's Estate 

 at Bauguey, to be a really good sample of tobacco 

 of fine fallow colour. This sample is from a small 

 trial planting produced on Success Hill Estate with 

 a vitjw of testing the soil and to obtain acclimatised 

 seed for next year s operation. There are thousands 

 of acres of land equally suitable for the production 

 of tobacco without going far away. If the Company 

 will only give reasonable encouragement to euter- 

 prizing Europeans this industry can be made a 

 source of substantial wealth to the North Borneo 

 Company. — airails Times. 



Coffee Flourishing in Assam: What next? — 

 Fifteen degrees north and south of the equator have 

 always been given as the outside limit for the 

 successful growth of our old staple; but we learn of 

 a cofl'ee clearing in Assam extending over lUO acres 

 being in a most flourishing condition with no sign 

 of leaf. disease and with the portion in bearing 

 yielding at the rate of IJ lb. of a line sample of 

 beans per tree. The history of the experimeut is 

 that Mr. T. C. Audersou, of Dikoya, when passing 

 through Calcutta on a visit to his brother, an Assam 

 tea-plantei', took with him some coffee stumps from 

 the Calcutta Botanic Gardens which so succeeded 

 in growth that it was determined to give coffee 

 a full trial. Mr. Anderson accordingly sent a stip- 

 ply of carefully selected and sulphured .'^eed from 

 Ceylon, and he also sent up some coolies to do the 

 nursery and planting — th". said coolies being also 

 sulphured to get rid of any of the fungus germs ! 

 The result is a clearing of 100 acres of as tine coifee 

 as could be desired ; it was reported on very favour- 

 ably not long ago by a Ceylon planter, hi^ only 

 doubt being if the berries would ripen up properly. 

 But the latest news is that the crop is coming in 

 most satisfactorily. It will bo a curious circum- 

 stance, if coincidently Ceylon planters should give 

 their .\s-iam brethren a uew and pr.ilit ilile pr.iduot 

 in coffee, just as they are beginning to compete with 

 them seriously in tea. 



