Nov. 2, 18S5.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



345 



To lilt Editor of >lie " Oet/loH Ohsevva:" 



TKOPIC.U. PltODUCTS : NEW PROCESS OF 



PKKPARIN(f KriiBER ; ■• MAN'dARKIHA " 



Rl I'.HKR ST'ITKD TO CEYLON ; ALS(^ 



Till': I'lASSAVA PALM. 



BvHiA. null AuKUst ISSn. 



(iKNTi.EMFN.— Wi> liuv.' pciuspd wiUi ii Ki'Piit (leal 

 ol pleasmt> voiu- valiiiihlf book on " Iiuliaiiibber," 

 anil seeing tlmt joii are imich interested in the 

 •■ article," we wisli to inform you that we are 

 the owners of a new process of preparing rubber 

 direct from the milk doiuK away entirely with the 

 tedious metliod of evaporatinf< or smoking. We 

 can at a trittiuK oost and in a few hours convert 

 into marketable rubber any amount of milk, i>ro- 

 ilucing a rubber eiinal, we say even superior, to 

 the finest I'arii, out of the '• Manj,'abeira " milk, 

 which is the rubber-tree we have here in abund- 

 ance, hut, uufortnnately, all tlie trees have been 

 so badly cut by the natives that they do not 

 yielil any milk at present, whilst, if properly bled, 

 they slioulil f;ive milk every montli. We enclose 

 a sample of Mitii<iiili,iiii niUlicr made by our pro- 

 cess. As you will notice, it is perfectly dry and 

 differs totally from the spongy Btull known as com- 

 mercial Mangabeira rubber. We came here a short 

 time afjo hopint; to t,'et larfje quantities of milk, 

 as we had been informed that there are here im- 

 mense tracts of trees, which is true, but we weie 

 not aware that they had been so badly damaged. 

 We shall therefore liave to move very far into 

 the interior where there are still thousands of 

 tree.-i intact, before we can apply our process on 

 a larfje scale. We had some thoughts of going 

 up the -Vmazon, but health considerations have de- 

 terred from doing so, one of us here lia\ ing already 

 being carried away by yellow fe\ er. We should 

 be very glad to make an arrangement with some 

 of your planters to sell them our process for 

 Ceylon ; if there is suliicient interest evinced, one 

 of us might go out to Colombo to demonstrate 

 by /i'i'(.'i the value of the invention. We should 

 state that samples have been submitted to manu- 

 facturers in Europe and America, and after trial 

 declared to be excellent and applicable to all the 

 different requirements of the rubber manufacture. 



Caniiiibeira. — .\s your book contains very little 

 information about this tree, it may interest you to 

 know that tlie plateau on which it grows is not 

 4,000 or 0,000 ft. above the level of the sea, but only 

 about oOO or tiOO ft. It grows o«/;/ in sandy soil, 

 and where it grows there are only one or two 

 other trees to be seen. 



I'iiinnuvu {Attulmi fiiiiifera). — We are interested 

 here also in the manufacture of oil from above 

 palm-tree, the nuts of which give from ."JO to (iO 

 per cent of a beautiful oil ; besides this same 

 tree supplies tlie piassava or Xlexicair fibre used 

 for making hawsers, ropes, brooms, brushes, etc. 

 The shell of the nut is expoi-ted to Europe, where 

 it is to be turned into buttons and other articles. 

 There arc huiulreds of square miles of these trees, 

 especially near the seashore, for it grows only on 

 a. sandy soil, or rather that is the soil best 

 adapted to it. It seems to us that this tree 

 could be planted with great advantage in Ceylon 

 and many other colonies, and we will be very glad 

 to give you any further information you or your 

 friends might reijuire. 



Cocoiiiits. — In return we should ftel much obliged 

 if you could f.ive us any information about the 

 planting and prowing of them, also on the manu- 

 44 



facturing of the oil and desiccation of the nut : 

 we understand that large quantities of desiccated 

 nuts are .shipped to Europe from the Eiji Ishuuls, 

 and, as coconuts are very abundant along the 

 coast, we should like to turn tlieni to account. 

 They can be had for :iO/ to 40/ per 1,000, delivered 

 at a sea-port. Would that be considered a low 

 price with you ? .\ny infonnatioji about coir would 

 also interest. If you can send us any book treat- 

 ing of these subjects, we sliall feel nuicli obliged 

 and remit cost to your agents in Loudon. 



Trusting that you will soon f.avonr ns with a 

 reply, we remain, yours verv trulv, 



MARVAL IRM.JiOS. 



I We are obligi'd to our correspondents for this 

 interesting letter. Ceylon is rather too young as 

 yet, as a rubber-jiroilucing country, to make much 

 of the patent process, althougli we shall be glad 

 to put any of our readers interested, in communic- 

 ation with the writers of the above. The sample 

 of rubber, \astly superior to anything as yet 

 gathered in Ceylon, can be seen at our office. 

 We should be glad certainly to see " Mangabeira" 

 rubber introduced, ami. if our correspondents send 

 us some seed, they will confer an obligation. The 

 I'iassava ought also to be a useful ijitroduction, 

 to judge by the following extract from tlie 't'ndxHrij 

 III' liiitiinfi :-- 



.1. /m«//>'/-(/, called by the Brazilians Piass.aba, yields 

 a tilnu of much value, derived from the decaying of 

 the cellular matter at the base of the leaf-stalks, 

 and the consequent lil)eration of the fibrous portiona. 

 This tibre is much used in Brazil for the purpose 

 of rope-making, and in this country is employed for 

 making brooms to sweep the streets. A fibre, having 

 the siiuie name, is also produced from another palm 

 called Liiiiiohlliiia I'tu.ssalja. The seeds of A . fiiiufna. 

 are known as Coquilla nuts ; they are three or four 

 inches long, oval, of a rich brown colour, very hard 

 in texture : hence they are mucli used in turnery for 

 making the handles of doors, umbrellas, etc. 

 We .shall send " .VU about Coconuts" to our cor- 

 respondents, which will give them the information 

 they require; but, meantime, we may say, that, 

 though Ceylon produced perliaps a thousand millions 

 of coconuts last year, we have never known the 

 )u-ice so low as .'iOs to 40s jier thousand — (lOs, or, 

 allowing for exchange, l.")S to .'iOs, is more like the 

 price here. Another correspondent however suggests, 

 .see below, that dollars may be meant.— En.] 



C0C0NT"1'S IN liKAZIL: DOLLARS AND 

 RUPEES. 



Dimbnla, 7tli Oct. 1SS.">. 



Diait Sill, — Allow me to suggest, that, in connection 

 with the very interesting letler that appeared in 

 your issue of yesterday from Messrs. Marval Brothers 

 of Bahia, a mistake must have occurred, by which 

 the price of coconuts is made to appear to range 

 between 30 and 40 shillings per thousand : for 

 sliillings, I am pretty sure, dollars would be the 

 ciu'rect reading, as accounts are kept in dollars in 

 Bahia and not in English money. — Yours trulv, 



TAINKAI. 



1 Very possibly our correspondent is correct, but, the 

 letter being in English, the sign use I was clearly that 

 applied to " sliillings." — En.j 



FLUID EXTRACT OF CINCHONA. 



London, E. C, 11th Sept. imr,. 

 Dv.m: Sill. — I send you a drug list by this mail 

 and beg to call your attention to ])age 14 No. IHIi 

 " Fluid Extract of Cinchona." This has been made 

 at inij suggestion by Messrs. Howards of Sti af- 

 ford (after considerable work) who have securerl a 

 good supply of the Cinchona Calisaya Verde which 

 yielils a lemarkaljly rich extract. There is no 



