472 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



BRAN ADULTERATED WITH COFFEE 

 SKINS. 



Analytical Laboratory, 79, Mark Lane, 

 London, E.C., April 19th. 



Dear Sie, — The following aualysis represents 

 the composition of a sample of bran adulterated 

 with coffee silver skin or parchment husks 

 which in the old days of coffee was usually re- 

 moved from the coffee seed in Colombo after 

 being dried in the sun on barbecues. 



The sample was sent to the writer from Here- 

 fordshire for analysis and report under the pro- 

 visions of the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act. 



On making a careful examination fully 30 per 

 cent of the so-called bran was found to consist 

 of this parchment skin which being chiefly com- 

 posed of indigestible fibre cannot be regarded as 

 possessing any practical feeding value. 



For the purpose of comparison analysis of 

 ordinary bran of average quality is placed side 

 by side with the results of the adulterated 



sample : — 



Pure.Bran. Adulterated 

 Bran. 



Water (lost at 212-F) IVib 11-36 



Oil 4-30 3 33 



Albuminoids 15-37 10 06 



Starch and Digestible Fibre £8 - 58 41-29 



Indigestible Fibre 6-50 27 - 76 



Mineral Matters 3 - 80 3'20 



100-00 100-00 



It will be noticed that the adulterated bran 

 contains fully four times as much indigestible 

 fibre and contains only 10'06 albuminoids and 

 3-33 oil as compared with 15 - 37 and 4-30, 

 and only 44 29 starch and digestible matter 

 against 58\58. 



As official analyst for Herefordshire a case of 

 the adulteration of wheat sharps with 10 per 

 cent, of rice husks was discovered and fully 

 reported quite recently, though in hopes of 

 escaping detection the husks were ground so 

 finely that their presence could only be de- 

 tected by careful microscopical examination, 

 whereas the coffee parchment skins in this 

 sample of Bran are so large that they can be 

 easily picked out by hand. 



Though coffee has long ceased to be recorded 

 in the official list of exports from Ceylon, the 

 above remarks may be of practical interest to 

 many local readers of your paper. 



JOHN HUGHES. 



COCONUT FIBRE REFUSE. 



Its Value in Gardening. 



Every gardener knows the value of coconut 

 fibre refuse as a plunging material for a propa- 

 gating bed and a spring or summer mulch for 

 flower beds. It is the light brown sawdust-like 

 refuse from the husks of coconuts, the fibre 

 proper being used in the manufacture of ropes, 

 brushes, mats, &c. This fibre, known commer- 

 cially as coir, has become almost as valuable a 

 product of the coconut palm as the nut itself, 

 the average annual yield of fibre per tree being 

 6 lb. valued at about 8d. The best quality fibre 

 is obtained from the husks of unripenuts. In 



addition to the fibre there is what we call the 



refuse or the gardener's friend, and before the 

 makers of linoleum carpets discovered the value 

 of this refuse, which they grind and mix with oil 

 before turning it by pressure into floor covering, 

 it really was refuse, and gardeners could obtain 

 any quantity of it from the fibre works for the 

 mere cost of carting. Now, however, it has to 

 be paid for pretty dearly, the lowest price we 

 have seen for it this year being 25s per ton, a ton 

 containing a large percentage of water. The best 

 substitute for fibre, refuse that we have tried is 

 peat moss litter, which is cheaper than fibre re- 

 fuse, and for some reasons even better as a plun- 

 ging material. Against it is the acid it is apt to 

 contain, some samples being practically poison- 

 ous to plant roots on this account. Still, it need 

 not be used as a rooting medium. The fibre re- 

 fuse, on the other hand, is so clean and whole- 

 some to plants that gardeners are known to use 

 it for rooting ;cuttings of many kinds of soft- 

 wooded plants, and a heated bed of it is an ex- 

 cellent hospital for a plant whose roots have be- 

 come soil sick. The pity of it is this coconut 

 fibre refuse has become so expensive as to be 

 outside the limits of the garden bill. Sawdust 

 ought to be a good substitute for it, but it is 

 disliked by gardeners because it harbours fungi 

 and soon becomes waterlogged. — Field, April b. 



SHORTAGE OF FIREWOOD ON INDIAN 

 TEA GARDENS. 



A note of alarm is being sounded by some 

 gardens that ere long there will be a great scar- 

 city of firewood for their coolies, an absolutely 

 essential desideratum. In former years when 

 gardens were opening out, or new extensions 

 were being made, trees were ruthlessly cut 

 down, as it was considered that clearances 

 should be free of them. Where the land was 

 heavily timbered, it was a very troublesome as 

 well as expensive job to clear away the trunks 

 of the big trees, which certainly were very much 

 in the way when staking. No thought was given 

 to the future at the time, as the supply ap- 

 peared inexhaustible. But now those gardens 

 which have no reserve of forest land, find them- 

 selves in great straits, for it is hopeless to retain 

 coolies on such as cannot supply firewood for 

 cooking and warming purposes. Planters on 

 such gardens are therefore now seriously tack- 

 ling the problem and are planting quick-growing 

 trees, so that they may have some sort of a sup- 

 ply for their coolies. A new clearance in the 

 early days of tea planting no doubt looked well 

 denuded of all trees, save one or two here and 

 there ; but the policy was a mistaken one, and it 

 is only now that it is being made painfully ap- 

 parent. It certainly is a most serious matter, 

 the more so because it will take some years be- 

 fore the trees now being planted out will be 

 ready to cut down for firewood purposes. Those 

 gardens that have reserved forest lands will 

 doubtless carefully preserve the timber trees on 

 them, as they will be one of the most valuable 

 assets of the estates fortunate enough to possess 

 them. A good deal of land will be required by 

 those gardens forming new plantations of trees. 

 — Indian Planters' Gazette, May 4. 



