$36 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Feb, i, 1886. 



taking only 1,000 tons from Burma in that year. No 

 Burman rice is exported to either Australia or New 

 Zealand, possibly due to the unique import duty of 

 3(/. per pound levied with the object of stopping 

 Chinese immigration. It is satisfactory to learn that 

 although the export duty of 4^ii per maund is eijual 

 to lO^s. per ton, add 6J per cent to the price of 

 milled cargo-rice, still the rice merchants of Burma 

 are not pressing for the abolition of the duty. The 

 average yield of rice in the husk (paddy) is com- 

 puted at 32- baskets (1,000 lb.) per acre; and as the 

 selling price of paddy in the villages last season 

 averaged about 7s. per hundred baskets, while the 

 Government demand for land-revenue wa.s under 4s. 

 per acre, the difference goes to show a rather hand- 

 some margin of profit to the cultivator. Hence, the 

 people of Burma are, as a rule, much better oft 

 than those of India. The extent of these transactions 

 in the chief staple of the Province coupled mth 

 the obvious di.sadvantages of having different rice 

 measures in use, makes it desirable that the vexed 

 question of the Burmese rice-basket should be dis- 

 posed of at once and for all. — Indian Ayricultural 

 Gazette. 



♦ 



Sweet Potato Floub. — The Americans assert that 

 the flour made from sweet potatoes is sure to come 

 largely into use, as it is most economical, requiring 

 hardly any sugar to be mixed with it. — Indian Ai/ri- 

 cultunil Gazette. 



The Rice Trade of Bassein is expanding consider- 

 ably. The exports for the current year already 

 reach 170,000 tons, and are expected to reach 200,000 

 as paddy is still coming in large quantities. The 

 season has been the best ever known there. — Inrlian 

 Atirimihnral Gazette. 



The Government iron works near Eaiakur appear 

 to have done a large trade in the year 1884-85, as 

 the sales of iron rose from 122,000 to 408,000 tons. 

 Both coal and iron »re are plentiful near the works, 

 and a good supply of limestone has now been secured 

 by paying a royalty to the owner of the land. On 

 the other hand, the coal trade fell off considerably 

 the exports from Raniganj being only 035,921 tons 

 as compared with 706 937 tons in the previous year 

 Mes.srs. Burn and Company's pottery works at 

 Raniganj continue to flourish, and they give employ- 

 ment to 700 men a day, whilst the value of the 

 last year's outturn is estimated at R215,00(). — Jmlitin 

 Ayriciilttiful Gazette. [Who will start superior pottery 

 works in Ceylon? We have fine chiys in great abund- 

 ance. — Ed.] 



Indi.an Cattle .^nd Sheep.— Messrs. Higginbotham 

 & Co. of Madras send us a copy of the second 

 edition of " A Manual of Indian Cattle and Sheep, 

 their Breeds, Management, and Diseases," by Dr. 

 John Shortt. The first edition of this work is so 

 well-known that we need only quote the preface of 

 this new edition to show what are its special 

 features : — 



A second edition of the Cattle Manual of India has 

 been found necessary to follow the first edition which 

 was publislied several years ago, and worked its way 

 slowly but surely to public favour. Its success will 

 I hope, with its faults, be more nniversally and rapidly 

 extended to the present volume. As space forbids 

 an exhaustive treatment of the subjects brought to 

 notice in the work, it has been my endeavour to be 

 not only accurate and useful, but as brief as possible, 

 and to make it a trustworthy companion on the subject 

 of which it trtiats. The whole work has been care- 

 fully revised, with a few statements here and there 

 struck out, and some forty pages of fresh matter have 

 been added. I have stated nothing that my own 

 personal experience has not verified during a long 

 series of years of cattle-practice in India. 

 At the end of the book are a list of English and Tamil 

 names of cattle diseases and a memo on fodder 

 grasses, giving the Latin, English and Tamil names, 

 and remarks on them. All owners of cattle in 

 Ceylon ahould have a copy of this excellent work. 



Atlas of Plant Diseases. — Dr. O. E. Zimmermann 

 is publishing under the title of AtJiis der Ffinnzen- 

 krankheiteii, a series of photographic illustrations 

 •representing the microscopic appearances of the fungi 

 affecting plants. An explanatory text accompanies 

 the ])Iates. The photographs are direct from the 

 microscope, and are mostly very clear. It would be 

 a convenience if the divisions of the micrometer 

 scale were in future photographed with the objects. 

 The work may be had of Messrs. Williams & 

 Norgate. — Gardeners^ Chronicle. 



Oevlon Cinnamon. — Herr Hilger reports {Archiv, 

 Now. l,p. 82(3) that having received from Holland a 

 large number of commercial varieties of Ceylon cinna- 

 muu, derived from different districts with different soils, 

 he has had some of them estimated as to ash. Five 

 samples of entire quills gave the following results : 

 (1) 4'5 per cent of a.sh, of which 53 per cent was 

 soluble; (2.) 4 8 per cent, with 72*3 per cent soluble ; 

 (3) 39 per cent, with 881 per cent soluble; (4) 

 4'3 per cent with 61*7 per cent soluble; (5) 3*4 per 

 cent of ash. — Pharnmcevtical Journal. 



Linnean Society, Dec. 3rd. — A paper was read 

 " On Costilloa elasticn, Cerv., and some Allied 

 Plants," by Sir .J. D. Hooker. The author states 

 that under the name Castillon elastira probably 

 more than one species exist. The true plant first 

 described by Cervantes has flowered and fruited in 

 Ceylon ; it is now fully described and rigured with 

 remarks on allied plants also yielding Panama 

 india-rubber. Seeds collected by Mr. Cross in 1875 

 failed to germinate, but cuttings were also intro- 

 duced, and from them plants were flistributed to 

 various colonics. Some difheulty is found in pro- 

 pagating by cuttings, as the side branches which 

 are deciduous will not strike root, but seedlings 

 have now been raised at Peradeniya, and the culture 

 is, therefore, assured. An account of the introduc- 

 tion of the plant is appended. — Athenieiim. 



More Cinchona Biiyees on the Colombo Market. — 

 The small number of buyers of cinchona bark on the 

 local m»rket has often been a matter for regret 

 amougst sellers. We are therefore glad to inform our 

 rea<lers, most of whom are interested as planters of 

 cinchona bark, that Mr. Christian Biebringer, who 

 recently arrived from Europe, has taken up his re- 

 siiliMice in Colombo, and will commence buying cinchona 

 bark for direct dispatch to two or three quinine 

 factories in America. This should help to strengthen 

 the local market, and in any case is pretty sure to 

 increase competition. Mr. Christian Btchringer is, we 

 believe, a younger brother of ]\Ir. Alexander Birh- 

 ringer, the bead »'f the Milan factory, and the prime 

 mover in the once -powerful quinine Syndicate. On 

 the failure of the Milau factory, both Messrs Alex, 

 and Christian Biehriuger, whose experiences of the 

 iutri'-acies of the cinchona bark markt.'t and the actual 

 manufacture of quinine is not surpassed by that of 

 anyone else, left for America and have since, it ia 

 believed, become connected with certain houses there 

 glad to avail thamselves of their services. The pro- 

 prietors of the Matmlieim factory in Baden, Messrs, 

 Bcohringer & Co., are, we believe, cou.sins of Messi-s. 

 Alex, and Christian Bcohringer, whilst the firm in 

 Stuttgart are also relations. The name is redolent of 

 quinine, and we hope that the advent of Mr. Bub- 

 ringer in our midst and his purchases for the American 

 market will he satisfactory alike to himself and to 

 sellers of bark on the spot. We believe this is not 

 his first visit to Ceylon. He wa» here some three 

 years ago on behalf of the Milan firm, but made uo 

 stay. Ou(* result of Ids purchases will be that all 

 hark purchased by him will most probably be sbippeil 

 direct to America, relieving the ho»ne market by 

 that amount. Last shipping season, from the 1st 

 October 1SS4, to the 30th September, 18S5, only 

 102,000 lb. were sent from this direct to America. We 

 expect this will he much increased during the cur- 

 rent .season with mutual benefit to buyers and plant- 

 ers. — Local " Times," 



