378 



THE TROPiCAL AGRICULTURIST. [Dec. i, 1S85. 



TALIPOT PALM LABELS. 



Since my arrival in England, in May last, from 

 Cey on! my friend, Mr. E. M. Holmes knx ly drew 

 „,7att;ntion to a pargraph in the G"'-''-^'>; ^^'™",-, 

 Icic of March 28 last on "Palm Leaf Labels 

 and I have through your courtesy been able to read 

 the paragraph, so as to be able to give such additional 

 infonnation about the labels referred to as may be 

 of some interest to your readers. 



The labels are made from the unexpanded frond 

 or leaf of the Talipot palm (Coryiilia umbraculifeia). 

 The leaf is fan-shaped about 30 feet '« -f ^ fsionT 

 when full grown, and divided mto 113 divisions, 

 he tip of each division being emarginate and green 

 Eacl division is split into two, made into small 

 roUs' and boiled in water for a few hours. Aftei 

 boiling he strips are dried in the shade soaked 

 n water for a few minutes, and both sides 

 moothed with an iron. .The smoothing iised^o 

 be performed in a primitive manner by lubbmg 

 the strips on a polished cylindrical piece of wood 

 t ed between two stumps or trees. After smooth- 

 fZ it snecessary to roll up the strips of leaves 

 quick y, to prevent curling, each roll con aining 

 50 to 100 or more strips. When «ie surface is 

 nolished it is easy to write on it. The use of the 

 Sh ng iron facilitates the process greatey, especi^ 

 ally "d en the strips are spread on a table covered 

 'v^^th a piece of blanket^ the manner - "^^ ^ ^ 

 have frequently performed the "f*;!-^ ;°"/ ,?^^;" ge 

 when thus prepared are called " Olas By ine 

 Natives, and used for writing upon with a style, 

 as is well known in the East. 



It is a fact that Palm-leaf books have been 

 preserved for more than .WO years. It may be 

 rtle'lthat the durability of the leaf is owmg o 

 its being covered with a silicious cuticle, which is 

 one of the most beautiful polarising objects of the 

 vegetable kingdom, displaying the colours mdigo, 

 blue violet, red, orange, yellow and green. 



oAe of tire Buddhist priests of Ceylon informed 

 me that the Talipot leaf was used tor writing 

 Buddhist doctrines in "i^, B|"^'|ll"«\ "'% f p^:, "' 

 before A.n. 510. An Oriental scholar, also of Ceylon, 

 ^fo opinion that the leaf was used in this way 

 nrore than a thousand years ago. The exact time 

 however, cannot be ascertamd. In India theie is 

 i^ason io believe that the leaf has been m use 

 for the last two thousand years or more. 



To return from this digression to the subject of 

 making the labels, I may slate that the " Olas 

 o strips of the leaf, are laid on a piece of smooth 

 board The labels are cut out by means o a 

 Tinp, which is hammered with a wooden mallet 

 mid twelve or more labels can be cut at one 

 B amp ng The dimensions of the strips for making 

 the labels niav be briefly stated as follows :- 



U.iiglh of longest «trip 'aMncU"''^'"' 



Krcadth of broadest part ji, mcnes. 



" narrowest part ' '""?•. , 



r,enpth of -bortest striii ... .... 4 feet 9 inches 



Jirradth, the came as l(inge.'it strip, 



One KtrilMnnkes on >in average f9''t.V;"'"« ''jbel'. 



Of ordinary si/.e. One hundred strips give 4,000 labels. 



As egardH the ciuoslion of the mode <.l wntin 



iiuon these iabelB, I can only endorse your sug- 



Su, viz,., of scratching the leaf and applymg 



fhe colouring matter. The common mode ol willing 



J s prntiscd in the East is by means of a style, 



nd Indian ink, charcoal, or other colouring niatlei, 



s ubbed upon the scratched writing. A specime 



of a label written on with a style 1 send herewith 



1. vou inspection. The mode of wntmg witli a 



Btvle is no doubt foreign to Europeans and inaj 



til hi .0 e»«lj' aecoiuyUshecl as kj- the natives 



of the East ; but some pointed instrument may be 

 devised for writing on the Palm-leaf. 



I have used these labels extensively attached to 

 animal and vegetjible specimens immersed in spirit, 

 and found them in good preservation for a long 

 time The parchment labels attached to stone 

 corals which I took with me to Ceylon turned 

 into a pulpy mass in some months. Talipot labels 

 attached to plants exposed to the tropical sun 

 and rain were uninjured tor a long time. Accord- 

 in.^ to Mr. Holmes' suggestion, I had .some labels 

 written on with strong sulphuric acid, and held 

 to the lire in order to develope the writing. The 

 acid was used with a quill pen. 



The cost of 1000 labels, without brass eyes, is 

 2.S 6rf I shall be glad to supply any one with a few 

 labels for trial.-W. C. Ondavt.te F L. S. (retired 

 Colonial Surgeon, Ceylon), 85, Finborough Road, 

 S. W., Sept. 3. — Gardeners' ChnmU-Ie. 



COFFEE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION: 



THE ENOKMOnS DEVELOPMENT OF BB.\ZIL AND ■I'.U-LXNG- 

 OFF OF CEYLON— BBAZIL COFFEE lUE llEST BY ANALYSIS 

 IN THE WORLD. 



Under date " London, Sept. 23rd,"' our esteemed 

 correspondent " W. M. L." sends us the following 

 interesting report on what the Brazilians are doing 

 about their staple :— , ^, , ,i,„ 



I lately sent you some remarks, taken irom tne 

 New York Chamber of Commerce, on the consumption 

 of coffee in the United States. 



I have since chanced to come across a pamphlet 

 dated this year and entitled "The Empii-e of 

 Brazil at the World's Industrial and Cotton 

 Centennial Exposition of New Orleans, the 

 special object of which is to make known the over- 

 1 powering supremacy of Brazil as^ a colfee-pro- 

 ducing country and to promote the fm;ther de- 

 velopment of its resources in that direction. 

 The information collected seems to be not quite 

 of so recent a date as that given by the New lork 

 Chamber of Commerce ; for whereas in the latter 

 the per capita consumption of coffee in the Unitert 

 States is stated to be nearly 10 lb., in the pamphlet 

 now in question the United States is placed fourth 

 among the nations of the world as a cottce-cou- 

 suming country with a consumption of .-^'27 lb. 

 pei head. Holland comes first witli 17-00 lb. per 

 head, Belgium second with 9-13, and Norway third 

 with 8-73. The pamphlet goes on as follows:— 

 " Taking the whole population of the 1 nited States 

 into account, Mr. Joseph Nimmo jr., the chief of the 

 Bureau of Statistics at Washington, rightly places the 

 United States in the fifth place as having a per capita 

 consumption of 7-42 lb. next to Cape Colony with 

 7-72 But if, leaving aside the general rate per capita, 

 we consider the real quota of consumptiou ot the 

 different groups of States, we shall fand three- 

 fourths of the consumptiou belong to the countiy 

 from New Orleans to Chicago and that the con. 

 sumption per capita is 15 lb for the inhabitant, 

 of that region, which would place it in thfc 

 gLond rank, next to Holland with 17-00 and 

 above Brazil with 10 lb„ which t<>o countries 

 probably, on account of the extensive use ol 

 this beverage, are considered as the most telnperato 



in the worUl." , , , i • ^ ,; i '.... 



And then, with tlie combined object of maliiiig 

 the Yankees sober and increasing the consumption 

 of Brai-il coffee, direct communication is advocated 

 bet vxccthc Brazilian ports and New Orleans, so 

 that the coffee in place of reaching the great 

 consuming districts by New \ork and thence by 

 rail should have the advantage of water carnage 

 up the Mississipjn. 



