June I, i88S.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



845 



above. Mr. D.nrwin, theruforc, concludes that the 

 accumulation of .stomata acconipaniei; that of " bloom, ' 

 anil that it is functionally protective against undue 

 wetting by rain, &c. 



Spcalcing of " bloom" reminds me of a mo.^t import- 

 ant aud valu.ible pateut which has just been granted in 

 the I'nited Kingdom to Messrs. Teacoclcof Melbourm-, 

 for " Improvements in the rresirvation of Fniit." The 

 invention was suggested to the patentees by the dia 

 covery of Pasteur that the "bloom "on fruit was the 

 cause of its fermentation,and that if it were removed the 

 fruit could be easily preserved. By permeating fruit 

 with sulphurous acid the "bloom" is removed, and ripe 

 fruit can In- kept any length of time, or sent to any 

 dist.'ince for use in jam manufacture. Both the taste 

 and smell of the sulphurous acid employed are encirely 

 removed by heat. Mr. Peacock's patent will enable 

 Australia to send us fruit as wi-11 as mutton. 



It has been discovered, from experiments on float- 

 ing or submerged leaves, that the gases exhaled by 

 the same plant differ to a marked extent according 

 to whether the sky is cloudy or tlie leaves exposed to 

 bright sunshine. Those of Pntamai/etan lurtns gave 

 36 per cent, in the former case, and 69 per cent, of 

 oxygen in the latter case. 



A tJerman botanist has recently shown that where 

 the interstices between the finer veins on the upper 

 surfaces of leaves are strongly convex the leaf offers 

 much greater resistance to the tearing force of heavy 

 rain or hail than the lower surface does. ^N'hen how- 

 ever, the upper surface is quite flat the resisting power 

 of the two surfaces of the leaf is nearly the same. — 

 Aiutrnlasian. 



♦ 



MADRAS GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE 



WITH THE CINCHONA TRADE. 



The number of trees which were growing in 

 the " permanent plantations " on the 3l3t March 

 1S84 and 188.5 :— 

 So. of 



>*ame of trees No. of No. of No. of No.of trees 



Ptantatioo. yist March trees up- trees trees ;Ust Marcli 



l.sgl. rooteti. cojipiced. plauteii. 18H.',. 



Do>labetta 48H.(05 20U 6618 IMUm) l)3:««r 



Niiiluvaltam 2WW10 .iCi-' 18;)7 140870 132091 



Hooker .•»»8ol 2(J8.7 ... iZtiiOO .1.>iltjt) 



llDL'rW Tf«; 7IS.1 ■5i:«70 16ao74i 



The total amount of bark taken from the trees 

 on the estates during 1881-H.'> was Ils,017 lb. 

 Besides this there remained over on 31st March 

 IKHl, '.)2,.V2C) lb. making a total of '210,.ii:i lb. Of 

 this (juantity HJ.K80 lb. were disposed of during the 

 year, leaving a balance in stock at its close of 

 ri."), l)(i;) lb. The receipts on account of the plant- 

 ations for l8M:i.81 and 1884-85 were :— 



Particulars. 188.S-H4. 1881-85 



R. K. . 



Value of bark sent Home 18,142 



Do sold locally .55,896 82,3(4 



Do suppliel to Bombay Medical 



Department 1.710 1 ,W7 



Do supplied to >la>lras - 



Sale-proieeds of seed and plants 4,3.i2 l,o;w 



Miscellaneous 30(* .jlu 



R»0,3as 84,894 



The total expenditure by the Madras Government 

 In the cinchona enterprise since it was fifst undoT- 

 taken, in the year 18110-01, including establishment, 

 supervision, buildings, working charges and inter- 

 est, amounted to R2r),0.5,Ht;o, and the total revenue 

 has been R:il,.57,t)03: so the net result is a sur- 

 plus of R.5..")l,713. Conseiiuently the Government 

 has not only recovered the '• cost of introduction 

 and experimental cultivation," but now owns a 

 property worth a very large sum of money — 

 possibly ">0 lakhs. Can it be for a moment pre- 

 tended that it is necessary for the (ioverninent to 

 possess upwards of a million and a half of trees 

 in order to conduct " scientific investigations " in 

 view to the production of a " cheap febrifuge ?" 



Mr. Mclver reminded the Under Secretary to n 

 purpose that the Duke of Argyle had stated, in 

 the dispatch referred to, that " the principal in- 

 tention of Her Majesty's Government in sanc- 

 tioning this measure is to act as a pioneer in 

 establishing the reputation of the Indian-grown 

 barks, and not to injure the prospects of the 

 private planters, whose success would give the 

 Government great satisfaction. Mr. Grant Duff 

 was the Tinder-Secretary for India, and he may 

 have dratted the dispatch to the Madras Gov- 

 ernment which condemns the activity of his 

 own Government in extending the plantations, to 

 the great injury of private planters, long after the 

 reputation of Indian-grown cinchona has been 

 established. — Madras 3Iiii!. 



PROGRESS OF THE BRITISH POSSESSIONS 

 IN THE LAST (JUARTER OF A CENTURY. 



IIV p. I,. SIMMONDS. 



In 18()1, we possessed '2,1:13 steam vessels, of 

 .50(1, 30H tons; in 188H, (),'241 -r3,7'2.5,2'29 tons. It 

 will thus be seen that we have trebled the num- 

 ber, whilst the tonnage has increased sevenfold. 



In 18111, our imports from India and the Colo- 

 nies were to the value of i:,">2,t>7(),010. 



In 1881, we received from India and the Colo- 

 nies produce and specie to the value of over 

 ,t'.)2,r)00,000. 



The tonnage entered and cleaiod with cargoes 

 from British possessions in 188.5 was '.),TM\,i!>(y. 



If we look at what has been done in ocean and 

 land Telci/raphs, we shall be suprised at the won- 

 derful progress that has been made in the means 

 of rapid communication with our distant Posses- 

 sions, all of which are brought now within an 

 hour or two of transmission and reply. Ocean tele- 

 graphs have been laid across the Atlantic to our 

 North American colonies, in the Mediterranean 

 from Gibraltar to Malta and Cyprus, from Aden 

 to India, across the Bay of Bengal to Singapore 

 and Hong Kong and Borneo, to North Australia, 

 across Bass's Straits to Tasmania, and we can now 

 communicate hourly even with New Zealand. 



The land wires are even more important. India, 

 which in iHtU had only about 1,000 miles of wire, 

 has now upwards of 23,000 miles of telegraph, and 

 the Eastern colonies about 1,.')00 miles more. Aus- 

 tralasia has more than 33,000 miles, Canada 17,000, 

 and South Africa about 8,000, besides small extents 

 in the West Indian colonies. 



If we pass on to Hailira;/, which have done bo 

 much to open up unsettled districts, and to afford 

 cheap communication with the seaboard, we find 

 even more startling progress has been made in the 

 quarter of a century : and this has been money well 

 laid out, both in giving employment to labour and 

 manufacturers, and in the result of the remunera- 

 tive traffic obtained. 



In 18(il, India had little over 1,000 miles of rail- 

 I way, Victoria 2")0, South Australia .5(1, New South 

 ' Wales 73. 



In 18(10, the first lines of railway wore com 

 mcnced in Mauritius. Aline of 71J miles, between 

 Kandy and Colombo, Ceylon, was opened in 1867. 

 What do we lind in operation now, independent of 

 the many miles of lines in coUr.se of construction ? 

 The oflicial returns for 1881 show that India had 

 over 12,000 miles of railway, and Ceylon and 

 Mauritius 270; the .Australasian cslonics 7, .500, the 

 Dominion of Canada (l.dOO, South Africa 1,7.50, and 

 the West Indian colonies 130. 



The Gold produced in the Australasian Colonies 

 since the tiret discovery io Itfdl to 16)84 has been 



