jAt^vARY 1, me.] THE TjROpjcal agriculturist. 



4% 



SUGAB PKODUCTION IK RUSSU. 



The recently issued report of the Kussioii Depart- 

 ment o£ Indirect Taxation for- 1553 contains some 

 useful statistics regarding the progress of the sugar 

 industry in tlie C!z::r"s dominions. For several years 

 past the volume of m<iiiufa' tured sugar turned out 

 of the Russian refineries has increased so rapidly 

 that the production iu 18S2-liSS3 was more than 

 double that of 1S72-|3, as may be seen from the 

 following table: — 



Y Number of Sugar produced 



^ '^■'"'' Factories. Poods. 



lH72-;3 23.1 8.479.1S7 



1873-74 2UI 9,133,380 



1874-75 249 8.060,853 



1875-7U 254 9,507,015 



1S76-77 2C0 12,0i'i9,594 



1877-73 245 I0,Go2,918 



1S7S-79 240 n,ioi,oi;3 



1879-SO 239 12,54-1,1)28 



ISSO-Sl 23ti I2.a99,837 



1881-82 235 15.9:«i,7I4 



1S82-S3 237 17,537,890 



These 6gmes have been compiled fr»m the manu- 

 facturers' returns, but it is believed a close investig- 

 tion wouhl show that the output for the last three 

 years has averaged aunually l^,(JO(i,000 poods. The 

 duty has, of coiursc, increased iu proportion. Since 

 1881 the duties upon sugar have been twice raised 

 w-ithout, however, any evil effect upon the production. 

 In I883-l''84 an additional area of 41,70(J dc.yoiinen 

 was devoted to the growing of beetroot, but the result 

 was not very satisfactory, though the twelve months' 

 production dirt not fall below that of 1882-18S3. In 

 the latter year the 20 refineries in Eussia — mainly 

 scittered about the Governments of Moscow, Kietf, 

 Charkoff, and St. Peter.sburg— turned out 9,150,701 

 poods. Since 1882 the (rovernments of Pultava, Kieff, 

 and one or two other provinces have grown sorghum. 

 The Department of Imperial Dominions has also tried 

 this experiment, and for the encouragement of sor- 

 ghum growing the duty has been remitted. — FinaMial 



OPEXIXG OF SILO IN SUJ.IAN NIWAS 

 GAKDEXS, OODETPOEE. 



Mr. Thomas H. Storey, formerly of Madras, and 

 now Superintendent of Sujjan Niwas Gardens, Oodey- 

 pore, writes to us as follows: — 



We had a splendid crop of Ilurialce grass (Dube) 

 which enabled me to carry out the experinu-nt. I 

 first intended packing the grass in pucka-built tank, 

 but owing to the uimsual heavy fall of rain, I was 

 unable to make it water-tight, and so gave it up, 

 and dug a pit on the side of a little hill, about 10 

 feet aliove water level. I dug the pit 32 feet long, 

 16 feet wide, and 8 feet deep. I had no idea the 

 quantity of grass a pit of this dimensions would 

 hold until I began to fill it. I had 217 men cutting for 

 two days, 16tU and 17tli of October, and ou the 

 18th carried the grass up, weighed one maund, and 

 put it in a box cart with both ends out. It held 

 a maund exactly, and X liieu bulked the remainder. 

 ■\Vhen the two days' cutting was packed in, it looked 

 very little when tramped down, so I covered the 

 grass with mits, and had to begin to cut again on 

 the 19th with 96 men, so the total number of hands 

 cutting was 313 for tliree days. The mats were 

 lifted and the gra.«s carried up on the 29th niorning, 

 and packed iu. I had the grass well shaken cfuite 

 even all over the place, from the very bottom, and 

 continued till filled, with as many men as conld 

 conveniently stand in the pit trampiug it, so that 

 they could not i)ress it any more. I sent up to 

 the palace for au elephant to give it a finishing 

 touch. The huge animal almost sunk a foot iu it 

 and kept w.dkirg round, anuising himself, by throw- 

 ing the grass at the men, till he conld not press it 

 any tighter. I had bamboo' mats placed on the top 

 of the grass ami put a l.iycr of perfectly dry soil, 

 $ift«d fine, ou the top to a depth of two feet, i 

 63 



have read of plastering the top with wet soil, which 

 I consider docs not answer the purpose so well as 

 the dry earth, for this season, that should a crack 

 open the dry soil would fill it up of its own accord 

 aud exclude air, whereas a plaster of wet soil is almost 

 suro to open and remain so. On the whole I out 

 fo\ir feet of soil and had it well beaten. I vi«ited 

 the pit daily for a month, but not a crack was to 

 be seen. I may mention that the grass wos cut 

 after the rains, and was packed quite green, contain- 

 ing all its own natural sap, and on the 21st it was 

 completely finished aiul sealed up. It remained so 

 fri 21st October till 21st of February, .so tlat it 

 v.'as sealed up for exactly four months. I opened 

 it in the ] rnce of Oolonel "\ralter, the British 

 Resilient, A. W'ingatQ, Esri., revenue settlement officer, 

 aud a few other gentlemeu who take an interest iu 

 silos. The grass had a very alcoholic smell, and 

 was very brown to the depth of an inch on the 

 top, but when shaken up to the sun and air for a 

 little, it soon lost most of its strong srnell. The 

 grass under was very Cue, and pronounced by all 

 the gentlemeu present to be one of the most success- 

 ful silos that they had heard ^f. I maj' mention 

 that our garden bullocks are. iu fine condition and 

 they eat the ensilage in preference to the jungle 

 grass they have been used to get. The quantity of 

 grass placed in the silo was 567 maunds. I am feed- 

 ing all our bullocks on the ensilage, exce;)t one 

 that is getting the usual jungle grass, giving each 

 animal six seers per diem; the reserved bullock is getting 

 seven seers every day, and I shall be able, in the 

 course of a month or so, to see which of the animals 

 are in best condition. — Jlladras Mail. 



MEXICAN SANDAL WOOD BAEK. 



BY H. SIIBI'.KN, M.D. 



In Mexico and some of the Central American 

 Republics, where it is indigenous, there is used, no 

 doubt from reasons of economy, for fumigating pur; 

 poses iu churches, in the place of frankincense, the 

 bark of a tree, particulars of which I have been unable 

 to obtain, but which I am strongly inclined to cou- 

 sid(T as some species of .TO/ro,fi//oii or Myrospermv.m, 

 leguminous plants. 



This bark occurs in irregidar, more or less smooth 

 or unevenly corrugated pieces, of a light whitish 

 cinnamon colour, with d;irk, liard epidermis, a?id of 

 an agreeable, custard-like smell, and aromatic, slightly 

 .acrid, balsamic bitterish taste. A small ipiantity, 

 coarsely powdered and sprinkled over burning coals, 

 emitted a balsamic, mixed aromatic odour, devoid of 

 the pungency of burned frankincense. 



A thin cross-section manifested, at about 75 di.a- 

 meters linear, in the miscroscope. oil cells interstriated 

 with apparently semi-vi«cid, resinous matter. 



Nine hundred and sixty grains of the bruised bark, 

 including about one-sixth its. weight of the dark- 

 coloured epidermis, were exhausted with aU^ohcl, aud 

 yielded, after removal of most of the alrohiil by .slow 

 distillation ou the water-bath and final spontaneous 

 evaporation to syrup-consistence, 9'o grams, e<p>al to 

 148'5 grains, or about 15'25 per cent of a clear, rich 

 brown, sweet-scented balsam-like substance, not dissim- 

 ilar to Peruvian balsam in appearance. In the 

 process of final condensalion of the alcoholic extract, 

 something like an ethereal oil partly separated to 

 the surface in oily drops, but afterwards reuniteil 

 with the denser parts, 



A sample of this alcoholic extract yielded, with 

 pota.ssium hydrate, crystalline, quri.draupular tablets 

 of a yellowish colour and of the flavour of- ccumariu, 

 which, distilled with water and a little a'cohol, g.';vc 

 a milky product of insi|id, indifferent taste and smell, 

 while the residue reaf-senitd, after a few day.s' standing 

 in the retort, the previous coumarin odour, indicating 

 no essential thai.ge by distillation. This rcfiduc, 

 treated with sulphuric acid to slight acidity, yielded 

 a viscid, brown mass, of the exact fmell of sto^nx, 

 while the liquid, which dtpositcda slight ameinit of 

 cinnamio acid, was of cinnamon odour. 'ri)«i alcohoM'' 

 extract is soluble iu caustic alkali, 



