4So 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January i, 1886. 



OAMPnoE IN OniNA. — Reporting on tlie trade fo 

 Tamsin, China, tlie Commissioner of Customs says 

 that the trade iu camphor is represented in the 

 returns liy such an insignificant figure, tliat there is 

 great fear of its total extinction iu the near future. 

 The immediate cause of its rapid collapse may Ije 

 traced to the eagerness of the Chinese to acquire, 

 by all possible means, as much territory as possible. 

 During the last three years, liills thickly wooded 

 with camphor trei'S have been burned over by the 

 Chinese, in order to compel the savages to withtlraw. 

 Destruction on so large a scale naturally tells on the 

 camphor trade. Forests of camphor ti-ees do still 

 e.vist further inland, but the absence of all beaten 

 track.s across the mountains render them difficult of 

 access. — Journal of the Societi/ oj ArU, 



Orchid Puunino. — A good deal of information is 

 likfdy to be gained incidentatly by the discussion of 

 this scdijei-t. Some people ask whether the old 

 psinidobulbs are of any use; because, if not, they 

 might be cut away. At Mr. Lee's the other day we 

 saw the use to which they, or some of them, are 

 put in that establishment, where the requirements 

 and peculiarities of Orchids are so thoroughly met 

 and understood. The bulbs of Deudrobiura uobile 

 nobilius are tied down horizontally to a board just 

 as babies are in some countries still, and hung up 

 near the gl.ass, kept in suitable temperature, and with 

 sufficient moisture, when, after a little, buds present 

 themselves at the nodes, by which the plant may be 

 propagated. It is clear, then, that the reserve food 

 and growing power of the old bulbs are not exhausted. 

 — fjfti'deiierti^ Chronicle, 



Thk Hmali.-leaved Lime. — Where a neat, some- 

 what low-growing .shade tree is required, Tilia cordata 

 is preferable to either T. platyphyllos or T. vulgaris. 

 At Metz, and elsewhere in western Germany, and 

 also iu eastern France, &c., where the tliree species 

 were often growing in close proximity, the contrast 

 bi^tween the bright, cheerful, fresh appearance of 

 the first-named and the parched-up, almost leafless 

 state of the two latter was very marked last month. 

 In some towns the street avenues, and the trees 

 planted thickly in the squares for shade purposes, 

 were almost all T. corclata, which seems rarely 

 planted in Britain. It may be as well to remark 

 that T. cordata is the correct name of the species 

 gi'Ui'r.dly mentioned in works on British botany as 

 T. parvifolia. T. platyphyllos and T. vulgaris are 

 both included under the old name, T. europrea; 

 th<! two species are, however, thoroughly distinct, 

 and iu nu)st cases can be. readily recognizml by the 

 leave's alone. The first has soft leaves, mrjre or less 

 ha-iry on both surfaces, and flowers earlier than T. 

 vulgaris, which has leaves glabrous except in the 

 axils of the principal veins. — GanUners^ Chronicle. 



NoTRs nv TiiK Way. — .Tust at a time when coflee 

 planters and importers have their cups full if one 

 may use such a figure of speech, som(^ ingenious 

 bid,aniKt has discovered a substitute for coffee. At 

 the ( 'omniercial Exchange. Cape Town, there were 

 exhibied recently some spifcimcns of a root, t'mpitnt/iftu, 

 which has much in common with chcuu-y. The 

 t'olliiwing letter from Mr. Hampdexn-Willis, Tinder 

 Colcmial .Secretary, accompanied the exhibits: —" With 

 referi'nco to a letter from the Civil (Jommissioner 

 of Peildie, under date 14lh ult., I am directed to 

 forward, per scjiarate 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 largidy 

 used by farmers and others, who make a beverage 

 from it resembling eolfee iu flavnur, but sweetish. 

 The process employed in preparing it is to pass 

 it through a mineing nmehiue, roast, ami grind it. 

 Soini' fanners also make a syrup from it, by cut- 

 ting up the root"., boiling and .skimming it. This 

 resembles giilib'Ti syrup, with a slight ei-mamon flavour. 

 It is thought that with proper machinery this root 

 could be utilized as a sulistitutfl for eiiffee as an 

 article of commerce." — Home ami Colonial Mail. 



Wynaad, Nov. 11th.— The weather with us of late 

 has been most unusual. October we generally expect 

 to be showery, but not a succession of storms and heavy 

 rams. November, as a rule, is dry, with land winds. We 

 are now havini; heavy .showers almost every afternoon 

 the rest of the day being still and hot. It is "fine 

 gi-mving weather " at any rate, and the cinchonas, both 

 Ledf/erifD.aund Succirnbra, show their appreciation of it 

 by looking most luxuriant, our eofli'ee crop is pretty 

 fairly on taking the estates " en bloc," the crops appe.ar 

 : tfl be very irregular— good in some places, and sadly in- 

 1 ddlerent in other. Today a meeting is being held for 

 the especial consideration of the great question of the 

 day, i. «., the discoloration of coffee, its causes and poss- 

 ible prevention. It is a subject of very particular inter- 

 est to us, as Indian coffee appeared to be so seriou.sly 

 depreciated last season on this account. Of course 

 opinions diff'er considerably in the matter ; but we must 

 hope that a satisfactory discussion m.ay be arrived at in 

 today's council, on the principle of many heads being 

 better than one, where so vexed a question is under con- 

 sideration. In my next, therefore, I hope to be able to 

 write niore fully upon this (to planters) most interest- 

 ing topic. I hear that those concerned are still very 

 .sangmue as to the results of the experiments iu fibre 

 cultivation which are being carried on at Devala under 

 the direction of IMr. Miuchiu. Those also who have gone 

 ill for cardamoms seem very hopeful of their future. 

 Tea, the little we have of it in the district, looks well' 

 and has cropped very satisfactorily ; so that, taking a' 

 1 view of Wynaad affairs, I think I am safe iu say- 



general 



ing that a more hopeful spirit is rising amongst us. It 

 will, however, be many a long year before we can wludly 

 recover from the terrible depression of the hard times 



with which we have of late been so .sadly acquainted 



Madras Mail. 



Pbotecting Rivee Banks from Cavino. — A novel 

 .system of protecting river banks against the consum- 

 ing action of an ever-flowing current is being applied 

 near Memphis, Tennessee, along the Mississippi, where 

 a caving bank rises straight up from the water's 

 edge from 10 to 50 feet. There is an incessant 

 lapping and chaling by which the bank is slowly 

 worn away and undermined, and, as a conserpicnce, 

 it breaks ilowu piece by piece, and is dissolveil and 

 carried away by the river. To clieck this steady 

 but flow disintegration is the problem which I'nited 

 •States engineers are trying to solve fatisfactorily. 

 The idea of a blanket placed along the slope of 

 the bank from high-water mark to the bed of the 

 river naturally suggested itself, and the contrivance 

 adopted, a willow and pole mattress, represents the 

 bl.iuket theory. The woven webs are some 50 feet 

 wide and from I'UO to 1,000 feet in length, with 

 flexible willows worked iu for woof and pules and 

 wire for warp. These are made on boats having a 

 length equal to the width of thct mattress, and as 

 the mattresses are completed thi^y slide away into 

 the water. The sunken mattresses, it is said, prevent 

 underiuiuing below the low-water line, and thi- grad- 

 ing down of the overhanging bank stops the under- 

 nuning above that line. The space between the 

 upper edge of the mattressis and the tup of the 

 bank is protected with willows and stone. All this 

 mattress-grading and stone-covering is embraced in 

 the term revetment. The work already ,lnne l.v the 

 American engineers and the st:iff of woikmeu iinder 

 them is described as being of the most substantial 

 character. The appropriation of 21)0.(100 ,l„l.s. secured 

 from the last Congress for this work will, it is estimated, 

 be suHicieut to place maltr<s>es along the river 

 front from AVolf River to the foot of Beal or Linden 

 Streets. The work will probuhly be completed be- 

 fore the next rise of the river. It remains to be 

 seen whether it will hold the bank aid prevent it from 

 further caving. Next .spring, when the flou.ls turn 

 the Missis.sippi into an inlaml sea. the practicnl test 

 will be made, and, if the mattresses hold the 

 banks successfully against thi^ impinging and under- 

 mining current, the mattress-revetment theory will 

 be sustained,— /coi! quoted in Public Opinion. 



