May i, M6.] 



tHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST? 



779 



.^^ agaii h kati 



Matcratta : Kadkaoalla, Uli April.— Glorious 

 weather up here. Tea now flusliing freely and 

 very fair blossoms out on the remaining patches 

 of good coffee but they are getting, as in other 

 districts, few and far between. There has been a 

 good deal of sickness about of late, chietly fever, 

 inliuenza, a few cases of measles and smallpox 

 which keep our energetic medico pretty well on 

 the move. Petty thefts, are, I hear, greatly on 

 the increase in the villages as they find having 

 no coffee to steal and not yet learned the art of 

 tea manufature they are keeping their hands in 

 by stealing fi'om each other. Bahatungoda post 

 office was opened on the 1st, which is doubtless a 

 boon to those over in that neighbourhood, but not 

 so to us as wc do not now get our Colombo and 

 Kandv letters till 10-30 instead of (i a.m. 



Native Enteki-kise.— The natives of the country 

 are not far back in following their Kuropean 

 brethren in planting new products and believing 

 in same. Mr. Lewis Mendis, the well-known 

 plumbago dealer of Kurunegala, has successfully 

 opened out as tine a tea estate as one could wish 

 to see at Balapitimodara within a mile or two 

 of properties belonging to Messrs. Wiggin and 

 Boustead. " Kirimettia," as it is called, consists 

 of 170 acres and has all but 40 acres opened 

 and fully planted out with tea, 25 acres are 

 being planted now and 40 acres will be tit for 

 plucking in June. The proprietor and manager, 

 Mr. Mendis, is just now in treaty for a Jackson's 

 KoUer and Venetian Drier, both of which he hopes 

 to remove to the spot ere many days are over. 

 Mr. Mends's example may well be followed by 

 others of hiis countrymen. — Cor. 



The V.iLrE of Homing Pic.eoss in Country 

 medical practice has lately been described by an 

 English doctor. He starts upon his daily rounds 

 with a basket of the birds. Upon leaving the house 

 of a patient who needed immediate attention, ho 

 would start off a pigeon with the rciiuired pres- 

 cription, and the assistant in the doctor's surgory 

 would forward the medicines to the patient long 

 before the doctor's arrival home. A case is lately 

 cited in which pigeons regularly carried a morn- 

 ing newspaper to their owner. 'The statement about 

 the letters may be correct, although pigeons some- 

 times delay entering the room in which the mess- 

 ages must be detached, not from the wing luit from 

 the leg. But a% even I oz. v,ould lie a licavy load 

 for a pigeon, the story about the carriage of a news- 

 paper is manifestly incorrect. Parts of a news- 

 paper printed on thin ])aper containing the des- 

 patches describing the fall of fiebastopol, were 

 brought by the Ohserrer pigeons from Cialle, but 

 as a rule the messages they carried wore written on 

 very thin tissue paper. — Ed.] 



Oil ANn Giiathite LcBiircAxxs. — The following 

 paragraph is interesting as the latest and most 

 conclusive testimony in favour of plumbago as a 

 lubricant. It will be noticed that the foliated form 

 of the mineral is mentioned : — 



Experiments lately made with graphite aud the 

 licBt sperm oil, respectively as lubricants, are re- 

 porteil, with all the results in f.ivour of graphite, 

 each test being stopped the moment the bearing 

 " .squeaked. " Kleven mihutes used up the sperm 

 oil, while the graphite lasted thirty-eight. The 

 be-irings lubricatcil with the best sperm oil 

 cut. while those with dry graphite or Kraphite oil 

 did not. The tests were on close bearingn, and 

 very high pressure. Oae-third the quautity ol ilry 

 graphite did nearly three timos the lubricating of the 

 best qualitv of sperm oil, and for a long time after 

 tbc j-perni uil was exbniisted— it squeaked at eleven 

 minites— the graphite oil cuntinued to lubricate with- 

 out a cut. Tbc average coefficient of friction wai, on 

 oi\ '05&5 : OD {oliated grapbite, mized nitb enough ot 



water to distribute it over the bearings, •059(5 ; and 

 on graphite cylinder oil, 0366. The use of plumbago 

 pure and simple is much safer than when rnixed with 

 otner suostances. — Michanical i'liqineer. 



The "Eain Tisee."— The Gardener's Magazine 

 contains an article by the Rev. L. J. Templin on 

 '■ interesting vegetable forms " from which we quoto 

 a specimen: — "A tree known as the Rain tree, 

 Pitliecolobinm Saiiian, is found in the dryer parts 

 of South America. This tree grows to the height 

 of sixty feet, and its leaves have the property of 

 condensing the moisture from the atmosphere. So 

 copious is this condensation that a continual shower 

 falls from the leaves and the branches, until the 

 surrounding soil is converted into a veritable 

 marsh. Places that would otherwise be barren 

 deserts, are by this means, covered with the most 

 luxurious forests. It is said that the British Gov- 

 ernment is introducing this tree into India, to 

 countei-act tlie aridity of portions of that couutry." 

 This tree is now pretty common in Ceylon. It 

 grows rapidly and makes a magniticent shade 

 tree. At night the leaves hang down, so that 

 condensed moisture, might if present, 'easily reach 

 the ground. But is there the slightest evidence 

 that the leaves actively condense moisture after 

 the fashion described, or to any appreciable extent'? 

 The rain tree and the electric tree may be classed 

 together. 



The Western New Guinea Cedak Company 

 with a capital of £2,250, in 45 shares of £50 each, 

 has not only been formed, but it would appear 

 from a recent newspaper paragraph that a couple of 

 millions of feet of timber had been already cut 1 

 The prospectus states that 



" This Company is being formed for the purpose 

 of working the Cedar Forests discovered by Mr. 

 Charles Stewart, Naturalist .and Geologist, during 

 his .recent explorations in British New Guinea. 

 Mr. Stewart reports that on the River Cossu he 

 found a practically inexhaustible supjjly of Cedar, 

 which on being examined by experts has been pro- 

 nounced by them to be of lirst-class (juality. The 

 river upon which the discovery wa.-! made is navig- 

 able for large vessels, which can be loaded from 

 the hunk alongside the timber. The local native 

 labor can be utilized at a very small cost in trade, 

 and has been found manageable. An order lui.s 

 been obtained by Mr. Stewart, from His Excellency 

 the High Commissioner for New Guinea, iirotecling 

 the discovery of Cedai- on this river to himself, 

 and practically granting him a monopoly of the trade 

 of the river. Mr. Stewait and his partners reserve 

 to them.selves thirteen fully paid-up shares in the 

 proposed Company to recoup them their outlay in 

 the preliminary expedition, and the whole proceeds 

 of the sale of the thirty-two shares offered to 

 the public will be used towards obtaining cargoes 

 of Cedar and forwarding to the Melbouine or other 

 Colonial Markets. The amount required will be 

 amply sutlicient to cover the whole cost of cutting 

 and shipping the hrst cargo, and henceforward there 

 will be not only no necessity for further contribu- 

 tions, but large dividends may be at once confidently 

 reckoned upon." 



The " Cedar " referred to is, no doubt, the ubi^ 

 (luitous and valuable red Toon, so well-known and 

 highly prized in India and Australia. A degree ot 

 local interest attaches to the enterprise from the 

 fact that the Company was formed by a gentle- 

 man formerly in Ceylon, Mr. H. W. KcUow, 

 cousin of Mr. Arthur Kellow of New Cornwall, 

 Nuwara Eliya. The latter suggests that New Guinea 

 cedar may be a possible source of supply of timber 

 for Ceylon tea chests, but we fear Red Cedar 

 jij too valuable to be used foi' Bucb a purpose. 



