and Magazine of the OeyLon Agricultural Society. 



397 



Germany, in stacks 40 ft. by 12 ft. by 

 6 ft. on the ground level, and obtained a 25 per 

 cent, output from the timber burned ; he made 

 it in quantities of from three to five tons, ac- 

 cording to the size of his stalk, and at a cost of 

 Rll a ton. 



Mr Farbridge said in the Salem District of 

 South India Government made this article, 

 and they got 30 per cent, of excellent charcoal 

 from the wood burned; the work is 

 done on up-to-date lines. Mr Farbridge is 

 thoroughly convinced that the charcoal 

 method of drying tea is an assured success. 

 He has been asked by more than one firm to 

 supply a list of the estates using Ghula driers, 

 so that they can purchase the tea coming from 

 these estates, the object being a good keeping 

 quality of tea. There is one Company in Ceylon 

 which is opening a 1,000 acre tea-clearing, and 

 all the newly-felled jungle is to be converted 

 into charcoal and not allowed to decay — newly 

 felled jungle making the very best charcoal, 

 and giving as much as 30 per cent, of carbon, 

 if it is not allowed to dry. 



Mr Farbridge gives the following figures with 

 regard to labour-saving on one large estate in 

 Ceylon, over the past two years : "Estate crop 

 500,0001b. tea per annum. Previous to drying by 

 Chula about 30 coolies per day were used in 

 cutting and transporting firewood. Since adopt- 

 ing Chula drying no coolies are used on fire- 

 wood account, charcoal being delivered at the 

 factory by a Sinhalese villager at Rl5 per ton 

 in any quantity. The labour-saving question 

 is a very big one and varies, of course, accord- 

 ing to the situation of the estates for fuel 

 supplies. However, assuming that the estate I 

 refer to had to use its Tamil labour for making 

 charcoal, then about one-fifth of the coolies 

 only would be employed at the work, or say 6 

 coolies a day, against 30 with firewood, to dry 

 the same quantity of tea." 



A TRAP FOR CATCHING MOSQUITOES 



Has been devised by Mr. Maxwell Lefroy which 

 is simpleand effective. It consists of a small box, 

 about 12 in. square and 9 in. wide, with a hinged 

 lid which has a small orifice with a sliding cover. 

 The box is lined with dark-green baize, and has 

 a tin floor. The trap is placed in a shady 

 corner of the room and the mosquitoes, when 

 they enter the house in the morning, seclude 

 themselves in it to escape the sunlight. The lid 

 is then shut and a teaspoonful of benzine in- 

 jected into the box. Mr. Lefroy found that in 

 a short time the mosquitoes succumbed, and by 

 continuing this process for a month caught and 

 killed over 2,300. — Madras C. C. Magazine, Sept. 



RUBBER TO DATE IN THE GONGO. 



" I am indebted to a correspondent who 

 is intimately acquainted de visu with the 

 actual prospects of the rubber plantations in 

 the Congo," says the London correspondent 

 of the Manchester Guardian, in a recent issue 

 of that paper, " for information which is in 

 marked contrast with the optimistic utterances 

 recently made in the Belgian Chamber by M 

 Schollaert, who declared that the State and 



the Concessionnaire Companies had planted 

 13,000,000 vines and trees, that the planta- 

 tions were ' beginning to yield,' and that in 

 a few years the Congo would see a great in- 

 dustry in cultivated rubber grow up to replace 

 the export of wild rubber upon which the so- 

 called prosperity of the Congo State now de- 

 pends. My informant declares that these esti- 

 mates are ' absolute nonsense.' " — H. and C. 

 Mail, Aug. 21. 



RUBBER FROM PENANG RUBBER 

 VINES. 



GfilAH GeKU' i'HOM PULAU JjSKAJAH. 



During last year Dr Mugliston, Senior Medical 

 Officer, Penang, reported to the Resident Coun- 

 cillor there that he had prepared samples of a 

 rubber obtained from rubber-vines growing on 

 Pulau Jerajah, the leper Island, near Penang and 

 that some Penang buyers regarded the samples 

 as rubber of the first quality. By direction of the 

 Resident Councillor I visited the Island and was 

 shewn a vine then in liower which proved to be 

 WiUouqhbeia Jirma, the well-known 'getahgerip,' 

 From the several incisions I obtained a small 

 buantity of latex but this failed to coagulate 

 with the only agent I had with me viz., acetic 

 acid. I understood Dr Mugliston coagulated 

 his samples by raising the temperature of the 

 latex. The latex exuded much quicker from the 

 blow of a large heavy knife than from an ordinary 

 tapping instrument, and runs off fairly clean, 

 leaving very little latex to coagulate on the bark 

 (practically nil). I was told there were several 

 vines on this little Island. What I saw did not 

 exceed 3h inches in diameter and I was not fortu- 

 nate enough to find any seedlings which it was 

 suggested might be abundant. But it is inter- 

 esting to record an isolated place where the 

 plants are not likely to be exploited. Dr Muglis- 

 ton's samples were prepared in biscuits, cups, 

 and lumps. These were exhibited at the Kuala 

 Kangsar show last year without success, in the 

 class for Jungle Rubbers. Subsequently through 

 the kindness of the Director of the Royal Gardens, 

 Kew, the following report was obtained from 

 Messrs Lewis & Peat: — 



6, Mincing Lane, Lundon, B. C, June 17, 1908. 

 " To the Director, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew." 



Dear Sir, -We have carefully examined the sample o 

 rubber you handed us this afternoon. 



The biscuits are very dark and rough, but fairly strong and 

 in good condition) worth about 3s per lb. 



The Nuggets are clean and in good condition, but cut w el 

 and very spongy, value about Is 9d — is lOd per lb. 



The scrap is ordinary black ill-shapen lumps, also cutting 

 spongy and wet and shewing a few pieces of bark and grit, 

 worth about is 6d, Is 8dper lb. 



The best form to send this rubber in would be as Biscuits, 

 but a little more care Should be taken in the preparation. 



In the sample they are very uneven, and evidently not 

 properly rolled ; we think they have probably been exposed 

 to the air and sunlight, causing discoloration, 



(Signed) Lewis & Peat. 



Note. — The rubber, except when at the Kuala 

 Kangsar show was not exposed to the light. It 

 is obvious, from the wet and spongy condition 

 spoken of, such rubbers should be thoroughly 

 smoked, and if prepared in biscuit form would 

 very likely command a higher price, as native col- 

 lected getah gerip is usually exported in large 

 balls which are impossible to smoke efficiently. 



R. Djskry. 

 Straits Agricultural Bulletin for Sept, 



