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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[June i, 1886. 



Tka Detekiokation. — I am at present inclined to 

 think coarse plucking and insufficient supervision 

 are tlie chief cuases. Tea making; can't be done 

 by coolies the same as coffee curing was : it must 

 be personally supervised. — Planter. 



I'oTATOKS. — The market is (juict stocked with potatoes. 

 They are from Bombay and cannot be kept long. I wish 

 some enterprising person would think of gcttfng pota- 

 toes from Nuwara Elija. Even at a little ixira cost the 

 mealy fresh potatoe is better than the leather-like stuff 

 which our cooks serve a table as English potatoes. — Cor. 

 " Ceylon Patriot." 



Dii. FopsTEit, of Amsterdam, contributes an article 

 on " How shall Physicians Cleanse their Hands," 

 to the Centrul fiir Klin. Mcdicin, and has, after a 

 series of careful experiments, come to a conclusion 

 that a solution of carbolic acid of the strength of 

 two and a-half per cent, was not capable of 

 " sterilising " the fingers after visiting infectious 

 patients, but that a solution of corrosive sublimate 

 of the strength c one in two thousand formed a 

 reliable antiseptic ivasli. — Biirrjoijiie Bnrlihlrjes, Feb. 

 18a0 Price List. 



CiNCHOK.A CcLTivATioN IN Cevlon. — Perhaps 

 the most successful piece of Cinchona cultivation 

 in Ceylon of its age and extent is found in a well- 

 known plantation in the neighbourhood of Nuwara 

 Eliya, and some particulars we have learned of the 

 same may be of iliterest. The area under cinchona 

 is about 90 acres, trees 5 to 7 years of age about 

 3,000 trees to the acre. Since 1h7h there has been 

 gathered about 10.''),000 lb. of good bark and 72,000 lb. 

 of branch and dust. The total outlay is probably 

 not over 70,000 rupees, so witli much of the good 

 bark selling up to 'is. a lb. and the branch and in- 

 ferior for a good few cents locally, it may be judged 

 that the investment is a very luolitahle one, more 

 particularly since the estate still looks with perhapi 

 250,000 trees, as it it had never been cropped, and 

 it cannot be worth less as it stands than .tlO,000 

 sterling. The great success of this plantation is, 

 however, specially exceptional, standing out in bold 

 relief to many disappointments. 



Casioi! Oil.^A correspondent writes' — -'Per 

 today's post I forward to your address a small 

 bottle of castor oil made by myself on this estate. 

 I shall feel it kind if you would inform me at 

 your convenience as to its qualities and if there 

 would be a market for it." The packet reached 

 us before the letter, the bottle broken as it was 

 packed only in a paper box. We could not make 

 out what the clear odourless oil was until we 

 read the letter. Much oil would be valuable 

 as a medicine ; the cake is one of the best manures ; 

 and in India castor oil is the great lighting material, 

 the railways in Northern India having factories 

 of their own. Castor oil and castor poonac will 

 always find a market, but oil-yielding seeds try a 

 soil very much, and we fear Ceylon could not com- 

 pete with India in the cultivation of the castor oil 

 plant. Our correspondent might send a specimen 

 of the oil, properly packed in a wooden box to one 

 of the Colombo Chemists, in order to ascertain the 

 ocal value. 



Dete:uouation oi-' Omi Teas. — We fear there can 

 not be nnich further doubt as to the recent falling- 

 oft" in our teas, in face of the contiiuied com- 

 plaints of the London brokers— and it is now a 

 question of finding out the real cause of the mis- 

 chief, and a remedy for its removal. A well known 

 tea planter in the course of a private letter to us, 

 says : — " 'Tis all humbug about old soil being worn 

 out. I have tea in its twelfth year giving more per 

 acre than c\'cr it did, and tea of a better quality. 

 All tkrongh this season I have had better prices for 

 niy teas than last year, but when a Broken Pckuc, 

 .^hich is finer than laet year at the same time, 



fetches only Is 2d as against Is lid, what can be 

 done— put it down to falling off in manufactme ? If 

 the broker values these lower than what they sold 

 at, it shows he goes by the ntlltnf rates ; if he \ alues 

 near w^hat they sold at, then he will f'ttir/i/ give 

 an opinion, and it will show that such a price 

 can be got even at the present time. I have a doubt 

 as to wliethcr the tea-taster is in the habit of giving 

 an unbiassed opinion, and not merely judging a tea 

 by what it is selling for at home. That is, suppos- 

 ing Is 2d to Is Hd be the price being paid for 

 Pekoes in London and he gets a tea worth Is ."^d 

 whether he will judge it worth that or only go Jd 

 to Id on what is being paid at home ? I sec a man 

 now writes to say that the assistant is sent to look after 

 the plucking, hence the falling-off. As tea is pruned 

 from .July to November on some gardens, the teas, 

 being made between September and December, in 

 fact until the end of January, will always drop down 

 in price, iuilr.-i..i the rslutr /.s a small our aufl thr pruu- 

 i/iij drutr in a iimiith. Now, it takes me from July 

 till December to prune my estate, so I must always 

 keep throwing a poor tea on the market for some 

 months, mixed with the stronger tea off u^runcd 

 bushes."— Local " Times." 



CiriioN. — In recent considar reports appear interest- 

 ing accounts of this well-known ingredient of phira 

 puddings and wedding cakes. Leghorn citron is what 

 it is usually termed, but little or none of the article is 

 grown there, Sicily and Corsica furuishiug the supply 

 of the new fruit. The citron tree is of the citrus variety, 

 and is as near like lemon as it can well be. It is 

 propagated principally from cuttings, and flourishes near 

 the sea in sheltered positions and in warm and sandy 

 soil. The tree resembles somewhat an overgrown busli, 

 and as the citrons often weigh from six to eight pounds 

 each, the branches of the tree must be supported by 

 props. The trees are subject to peculiar constitutional 

 diseases which kill without mercy. As the profit of 

 the grower depends largely upon his favorable situ- 

 ation, etc., it is hard to make even a rough estimate 

 of the business. Supposing the trees to be planted 

 three yards apart, and allowiug fourteen citrons to 

 each shrub, the average weight of the fruit per acre 

 would be 0,3tG pounds. The price of this fruit in 

 Leghorn is abouv six cents per pound, but from this 

 must be dcilucte 1 cost of casks in which fruit is ship- 

 ped, >? ; cost of cutting and packing the fruit, ~2 per 

 cask; general expenses of citron farm eslimated at 

 ^6.s per acre. The Corsican or Sicilian grower packs 

 the fruit cut in halves, in casks with brine and .ships 

 to Leghorn, where are nine factories for candying 

 citron, employing three hundred men. On arrival there 

 in the.se casks the fruit looks like huge lemons with 

 tremendously thick riuds and little substance inside. 

 They remain in pickle some thirty days, and are tough 

 and hitter, 'i'hcy are then boileil in fresh water till 

 soft, cut into quarters, and all seeds carefully removed. 

 They are then pl.aced in jars with hot syrup, and for 

 about three weeks the proportion of syrup is constantly 

 increased until no more sugar can be absorbed. The 

 proportion is .'^0 per cent of sugar to 100 per cent of 

 fruit. The i|uarlers are then jilaced on wire netting to 

 drj', and when ready are ]iacked in the small wooden 

 boxes so familiar to us. Citron in short> may be de- 

 scribed roughly as the thick peel of a si>eries of lemon, 

 pickled to extract its hitter flavor and absorb the oil, 

 boiled to make it tender, and saturated with sugar to 

 make it palatable. As with other articles of commerce, 

 so it is claimed that the prii'es of citron arc largely 

 regulated by speculation, varying from nineteen cents 

 to twelve cents per pound at Leghorn. A curious fact 

 is that more citron is imported into Italy than exported 

 from it, the proportion for the last three years being 

 as ten to one. The soil of Cuba is eminently adapted 

 for the citron shrub, but few trees are, however, 

 grown there, everything being abandoncil for the 

 staj.tle crop — sugar cane. It seems so hard for coranum- 

 ities to learn the lesson of diversified crops; all 

 sugar cane, all cotton, or all wheat apparently must 

 be expected. Cub.i, Mexico and ( '.alifornia offer advant- 

 ages in the culture of citrus fruits, and are only 

 awaiting enterprise to develop these profitable pursuits. 

 —Grocer XnttrienJl. 



