April i, i886.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



671 



keloptttis and " thrips" are worst are always those 

 seasons when things are out of joint. 



On the principle that troubles never come singly, 

 these entomological trials invariably follow in the 

 wake of a parchhig season. When tlie trees can 

 least stand it then they visit them in Hordes, and 

 drive the planter almost to despair. As he looks 

 upon his leafless trees the thoughtful cultivator 

 may perchance discover — after a weary (juestioning 

 of " Why ? ' and" Wherefore ?"— that there (s some 

 hidden reason in it after all. For the sake of the 

 puzzled I would humbly put forward one reason 

 which has occurred to me, and which at least con- 

 tains some truth. It is, that these plagues may 

 have been sent for a refining purpose — to refine 

 the dross, and purge away the " tin." No one will 

 dispute their ability to do the latter, whatever else 

 they may think. 



Shade, which has been so much sought after for 

 cacao, and for want of which much of the evil 

 effects more truly traceable to drought was 

 attributed, does not seem after all to be iiuitc 

 universally accepted as the one thing needful. 

 Xo doubt the general idea is that without it 

 you can do nothing, but stiU there are men 

 of experience who object and say th-.it even 

 with it you mil not do much better. Heavy 

 crops are not to be had under shade, they maintain, 

 and if you want to get this you must risk cultiv- 

 ating in the open. But I begin to fear that heavy 

 crops in connection with cacao are, like many 

 other things in Ceylon, a kind of delusion. Still 

 a moderate crop of cacao pays well. I heard of 

 one place which last year gave a cwt. and a half 

 all round, and which, small as it may seem, never- 

 theless left a decent profit. We have a lot to 

 learn yet about the cultivation of cacao. Mean 

 while the numerous experiments which are being 

 so generally made in regard to the tree most 

 suitable for shade cannot but result in benefit of 

 some kind. 



The need of opening new markets for Ceylon 

 teas has stimulated almost everyone who has any- 

 thing to do with it to an effort of some kind or 

 another. Those who in a humble way have tried 

 to develop among their friends and aci|uaintances 

 a taste for the pure unadulterated article have had 

 pretty much the one experience. They have been 

 told that it is just the thing for mixing with 

 about three-ijuarters China, but unmixed the flavour 

 somehow does not take at first. A friend of 

 mine who had ac(iuired the taste for the genuine 

 article while staying in Ceylon has been amusing 

 himself since his return to London in testing 

 the stuff which is sold retail as pure Ceylon tea. 

 A sorry cempound it turns out in many cases, 

 and no wonder when you can get pekoe for eighteen- 

 pence a pound! He has been speculating as to 

 how it is done, and when he remembers that it is 

 not a very high-class tea which can be bought 

 retail here for a rupee a pound, he concludes that 

 the drawing cjualities which rendered the teas 

 which he tasted regular nerve-setters must be got 

 from mixing largely with cinchona twig I If it is 

 not this it is something else more foreign to Ceylon. 

 I hear that an effort is about to be made to get 

 an opening in the Bussiau markets for our teas, 

 by means of the Black Sea ports. If it can be 

 inanaged it will be well, for we all know how the 

 " samovar " and the boiling cup of tea is a universal 

 institution throughout all Russian territory. 

 Bussia used to be a good market for some of the 

 produce of the Indian tea gardens, but of late the 

 trade has been throttled through Moscovite 

 jealousy and prohibitive duties. Whether 

 Bussia iu Kurope will act in the same 



way toward our teas, as Russia in Asia has done 

 towards the Indian, remains to be seen ; but any- 

 how the offer of the Ceylon article is to be made, 

 and under favourable auspices. 



It is a universal belief among the planters of 

 Ceylon that the storekeeper can always manage to 

 hold his own. Merchant houses come to grief ; 

 banks stop payment ; planters work hard, bury 

 their coin in the hojie of a glorious resurrection, 

 are disappointed, and get gazetted ; but the store- 

 keeper is hke the brook and goes on for ever. The 

 exceptions to the rule are uot worth mentioning and 

 do not disturb anyone, least of all his successful 

 brother. It is with pride therefore that I heard 

 the other day of a planter who has developed iu an 

 eminent degree the trader's talent of holding his 

 own. It seems he bought a pulper six or seven 

 years ago, and during the last crop one of the 

 bolts gave way which cost him R4-50 to replace. 

 The bill for this he sends down to the maker of 

 the pulper with the request that his account should 

 be credited with the amount, as it is evident the 

 bolt cau't have been a good one at the first! To 

 be able to found a claim upon so little, and hold 

 on to it, deserves a reward, and although I beUeve 

 he was unsuccessful in his application still hin 

 extraordinary talent for trying it on has so im- 

 pressed his trading friends that they were think- 

 ing of offering him a partnership right off. They 

 are sure hej would be able to "run" a store with 

 the best of them. Peppekcoen. 



Nkw Zealand Flax. — Atteutiou is directed in the 

 Thenipeutir (jaieUc (May, p. 321) to the vulnerary 

 properties of the New /Cealaod flax, Phormium Unax. 

 It is used ui the form of a strong decoction of the 

 root.s and bases of the leaves. The liquid is syringed 

 into wounds and thou applied on liut. The decoction 

 requires to be made fresh every day. — Vharmaccntical 

 Journal. 



FiiTEEN Samfliss OF BRAZILIAN OoFEEE, from the 

 International Horticultural Exhibition held iu fit. 

 Petersburg last year, analysed by different students 

 iu the I'hariiiaceutische Institut, at Dor|)at, working 

 under the superintendence of Professor Dragendorff, 

 appear to have yielded results varying withiu narrow 

 limits. (I'harM. Xeit. f. Russ!., xxiv., lUi). The 

 caffeine ranged from 0'99 to 1'22 per cent; tauuiu, 

 5"-46 to 7'H per cfut; albuminoids, 19*^^6 to 24" 78 per 

 cent; fixed oil, i:S'5 to 16'48 per cent; and ash, 2 92 

 to 424 per cent, in whicli the phosphoric acid varied 

 from 0280 to oiott per cent. Professor Drageudorff 

 considers that these results show that as food material 

 Brazilian coffees do not fall behind other kinds; but 

 there aeems to be some doubt as to the aroma. The 

 volatile oil observed was in too minute quautities to 

 allow of investigation ; but iu some instances, and 

 especially in the case of the inferior samples, it had 

 an odour peculiar to BraziUan coffee. — Fharmacculical 

 Joui'Udl. 



Kola. — M. Heckel whose researches ou the alkaloids of 

 the kola nut are so well known, has recently called 

 the attention of the Academy of Sciences of Paris 

 (Comptes ReniLu», c, p. 12;iS) to the importance of 

 the Shea butter tree (Butyiosper'hUin Parkii) as a 

 source of guttapercha. The milky juice of the trunk 

 when solidified has, he states, all the appearance and 

 properties of guttn])ercha. If this statement be 

 correct, it must differ considerably from the '* gutta 

 shea" separated by English chemists from the Shea 

 butter, this lit'iug friable and wanting in tenacity. A 

 further communication is promised, giving the phys- 

 ical properties and chemical comiiositiou of this gutta. 

 M. Heckel states that the tree can be tapped when 

 four years old and that it grows readily in argillaceo- 

 .siliceous aud ferruginous soils, and is found over a 

 large extent of country. He also suggests that the 

 Ba.'Mi, trees of India should be examined with respect 

 to the character of the milky juice they contain.— 

 rharmwxutkal JourimU 



