174 The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



THE MANUFACTURE AND USE OFl 

 CHARCOAL. 



A correspondent writes : — The proper and 

 economical production of charcoal is a subject 

 of considerable interest to many who are situated 

 within easy reach of forests What has per- 

 haps not been generally realised is that as fuel 

 a given quantity of charcoal to produce a given 

 result goes much further than the timber which 

 is represented by the area cleared to produce 

 that charcoal, that is to say, the forest produce 

 is economised by conversion into charcoal. 



FOE SUCH AN OBJECT AS THE DRYING OF TEA 



where the heated gases are taken direct through 

 the tea, instead of heating the air by means of 

 wood fuel and a multitubular heater, the eco- 

 nomy is most marked. Again for power pur- 

 poses, charcoal is a most excellent and econo- 

 mical fuel for use in suction gas engines; it 

 being absolutely free from tar, gum, etc., no 

 trouble is experienced from these properties 

 in clogging the valves and where a gas engine 

 is thus employed, in comparison with a wood 

 burning furnace attached to boilers, the saving 

 is considerable. For irrigation purposes when 

 fuel has to be conveyed often over consider- 

 able distances, the advantages of the use of 

 charcoal are self evident. Again the gas from 

 charcoal may be used direct for pumping pur- 

 poses in the new invention of Mr. Humphries, 

 this pump being named after him, in which 

 the explosion of a charge of gas and air occurs 

 in a confined space and propels a column of 

 water along a pipe, there being no other 

 motive power.— Pioneer, July 4. 



(To the Editor, the "Pioneer.") 

 Sir, — Your correspondent in the note pub- 

 lished in the Pioneer of the 4th July has omitted 

 to mention one of the great advantages of con- 

 verting wood into charcoal before burning, and 

 that is that valuable by-products can be ob- 

 tained. It is true that the carbonisation of 

 wood is still carried out in India by the same 

 primitive and wasteful process, which has been 



Eractised for so many thousands of years, and 

 as now been superseded even in the most back- 

 ward countries of Europe and America. But 

 there is no good reason why methods, which 

 have been found remunerative in the wilds of 

 Russia, Hungary and the United States, should 

 not be practised in Indian forests situated near 

 thickly populated districts. 



The two important by-products of charcoal 

 manufacture are acetate of lime and wood 

 naphtha. For both there is a very large and 

 growing demand, and the world is dependent 

 for its supplies on the rapidly dwindling forests 

 of Europe and America. For acetate of lime a 

 large market could be found in India itself, as it 

 is used for the manufacture of acetate, an in- 

 gredient of cordite. Its pvesent price is £10 per 

 ton. Wood naphtha is still more valuable; it is 

 worth 2s Qd per gallon. It is used very exten- 

 sively for making varnishes and many other pur- 

 poses in the chemical industries. 



An up-to-date charcoal kiln is not very expen- 

 sive, but of course it costs more than the primi- 

 tive appliances now used. The method adopted 



in Europe is to erect numerous comparatively 

 small kilns with recovery plant not too far from 

 the forests and the markets for charcoal. For it 

 costs too much to transport wood and charcoal 

 over great distances. The crude wood naphtha 

 and acetate of lime on the other hand are of 

 high value and can be sent hundreds or even 

 thousands of miles to be worked up and refined. 

 They are therefore collected from numerous 

 kilns at a central factory, where they can be 

 treated under adequate scientific supervision. 

 With the great advance that has taken place 

 both in wealth and education in India, it 

 should be possible for the country to develop 

 an industry for which the conditions are pecu- 

 liarly favourable. 



A. Marshall. 



— Pioneer, July 13. 



STUM ROT IN TEA. 



On some ot the Nilgiri Tea estates there grows 

 a small tree which invariably produces Stump 

 Rot when it dies. Nurseries must be most care- 

 fully cleaned of all stumps of this tree. Speci- 

 mens have recently been collected, and sent to 

 Ooimbatore, where Dr Barber, the Madras 

 Government Botanist, identified the tree as 

 Symplocos spicata, Roxb. The Genus Symplocos 

 is represented by a large number of Indian 

 species, one of which, S. racemosa, is mentioned 

 in Watt's 'Commercial Products of India' as 

 supplying a bark used in dyeing, and Hindu 

 medicine. S. spicata is described in Brandis' 

 'Indian Trees.' It is a middle-sized tree, with 

 smooth, leathery leaves, about 7 inches long. 

 The margins of these are slightly notched, and 

 they terminate in a sharp point. The leaf stalks 

 are about ^-inch long. The flowers are white, 

 and appear, from Dec. to Jan. as a rule, in little 

 branched bunches in the axils of the leaves. 

 The fruit is a small round berry about J-inch in 

 diameter. It is a fairly common tree in the 

 Nilgiri and Shevaroy Hills, and is known 

 locally as ' Pithacottai,' while the Budagas call 

 it ' Boothagani.' This description may help tea 

 planters, who do not know the tree, to recognise 

 it, and take the necessary precautions against 

 Stump Rot when it dies, or is killed. A tea 

 planter writing to me about it says: " It is the 

 worst tree for Root Rot up here (near Coonoor) 

 I know, and I dig it out wherever I find it. It 

 is luckily not deep rooted, so comes out fairly 

 easily.'' Another planter, writing about this 

 tree, says : — "The roots of this tree I find most 

 deadly in causing Stump Rot in young clearings, 

 generally after the second year from planting. 

 I have found digging out all the roots of S. 

 spicata effective, and where any bushes are 

 attacked, the digging of them up, and then a 

 thorough turning over of the soil, and the 

 application of Lime. This treatment was advo- 

 cated by Dr Butler wfi6n he visited these hills 

 in 1903 or 1904. So far S. spicata is the only 

 tree at this elevation, 5,500 to 6,300 feet, that 

 I have found causing Stump Rot and attacked 

 by it itself. It is an extremely soft wood, and 

 every tree has some parasite or scale on it." — 

 Rudolph D. Anstead, D. P. A. S. I., Planting 

 Expert.— Planters' Chronicle, July 16. 



