18(5 



Tlie Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



Note. — World's visible supply on July 1st, 1909, 

 shows a dccroase of 1,502 tons against 

 July 1st, 1908. 

 Stock in U.S.A. on July 1st, 1909, shows 

 an increase of 280 tons against July 

 1st, 1908. 



Stock in England on July 1st, 1909, 



shows a decrease of 1,352 tons against 



July 1st, 1908. 

 Stock in Para on July 1st, 1909, shows a 



decrease of 160 tons against July 1st, 



1908. 



Crop Statistics, 30th June, 

 June, 19U9. 



190^-9 19! 



Para Receipts 38,090 36, 



„ Shipments to Europe 19,200 21, 



„ ,, America 19 050 14, 



England Landings Net 13,932 1ft, 



Deliveries Net 15,284 14, 



America Landings Net 20,520 14, 



Deliveries Net 20,215 14 



Continental Imports Net 3,660 4 



,, Deliveries Net 3.8S0 4 



1908, TO 30th 



.7-8 1906-7 



650 38,"00 



740 19,300 



670 18,730 



731 12,622 



928 12,295 



560 1 8,420 



600 18,400 



615 4,915 



535 5,305 



1905-6 

 34,490 

 20,1' ft 

 14,295 

 13,528 

 13,049 

 13,600 

 13,860 

 5,0-10 

 5,160 



Statistics of all Grades^- 



-ForJune, 1909. 



Total Stock. 



London. 



Imported. Delivered. 1909. 1908. 

 Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. 



East Indian, Borneo, 

 &c. 



Plantation (Ceylon, 



Malaya, &c.) 

 Mozambique 

 Madagascar 

 South American and 



West Indian 

 African & other kinds 



79 



265 

 i 

 4 



62 



301 

 28 



4 



164 



183 



32 

 6 



88 

 26 



178 

 67 

 •69 



1907. 

 Tons. 



326 



153 

 58 

 174 







422 



428 



499 863 



969 



Liverpool, 

 Para 



Other Grades 



542 

 943 



823 

 834 



311 

 1,235 



1,250 

 2,064 



942 

 1,322 





1,486 



1,657 



1,549 



5,284 



2,264 



Total England 



1,907 



2,085 



2,048 



4,147 



3,233 



Wm. Jas. & Hy. Thompson, 

 38, Mincing Lane, London, E.C. 



TREATMENT OF BAMBOO PULP. 



being absorbed by the sulphurous acid, and the 

 lighter gases, not. held in solution, released and ex- 

 pelled. We now run both solutions together into the 

 mixing vat or reservoir presently to be described, and 

 in the resultant yellow solution we steep the bam 

 boo or other pulp for a suitable period, that is, 

 until the whole mass becomes of a bright lemon colour. 

 The mass should be of a light yellow and not of an orange 

 colour. In the resulting yellow solution nascent, oxygen is 

 produced, and upon this the acti"n referred to depends. 

 The yellow solution is now drained off, and the pulp is re- 

 moved and thoroughly washed. No sediment or solid mat 

 ter is given off at this stage. Both solutions and washed 

 pulp remain of a bright yellow colour. 



" What probably forms, when sulphuric and certain other 

 acids are added to solutions of chlorides containing oxygen 

 in solution, isan oxy-acid of chlarine which again liberates, 

 in contact with the fibre nascent oxygen which combines 

 with the coloured film or pellicle that is sought to be re- 

 moved without free chlorine being produced. 



" We now prepare a weak alkaline bath of limewater or 

 caustic soda, or a mixture of carbonate ot soda and borax, 

 or other suitable alkali, and in this bath we steep the pulp 

 (already steeped and washed as before described) for a sui- 

 table period or until the whole mass becomes of a dark 

 brown colour. The pulp is now removed and again thor- 

 oughly washed, and this time the whole of the objection- 

 able film, which has now changed its chemical composition 

 and lost its power of adhesion, is runoff along with the 

 dark coloured liquor, and a well-cleaned cellulose, free 

 from encrusting matter, remains. 



"The pulp can now be hleached in any suitable manner, 

 for example, in a much-diluted solution of the yellow solu- 

 tion obtained as above referred to. Or it can be bleached 

 in a 2 per cent solution of ordinary bleaching powder, which 

 now causes no injury to the fibre. No other fibre at present 

 in use for paper making can be bleached with such a weak 

 and therefore inexpensive solution ; most require say an 8 

 per cent or 12 per cent solution." 



The apparatus preferably employed Is described and illus- 

 trated ; consisting of a divided trough in which the elec- 

 trolytic action is carried out and a vat having a stepped 

 cone for further freeing the gaseous particles not freed by 

 the corrugations of the electrodes in the trough. 



The method, the treatment, and the apparatus are 

 claimed. 



Thirteen claims : three sheets of drawings.— Gazette. 



Messrs. James Scott Turner and Arthur 

 Wellesley Maxwell havo applied for a patent 

 for improvements in or relating to the treatment 

 of bamboo pulp and other similar materials : — 



This invention relates to the treatment of bamboo fibre 

 so as to render it tit and ready for commercial processes 

 of bleaching. It is not intended chat this treatment should 

 constitute a method of bleaching ; but it is claimed that 

 ordinary matured bamboo hitherto commercially unreach- 

 able is rendered bleachable thereby. 



According to this invention the method of preparing 

 bamboo and the like for bleaching consists in steeping 

 bamboo pulp in sea water or other suitable salt solution 

 containing oxygen in solution, sulphuric acid or other acid 

 being added, washing the pulp and then steeping it in a 

 weak alkaline solution. 



" We take a solution of brine, preferably made by adding 

 salt to sea wa ter, and pass it through the apparatus here- 

 inafter described, whereby it is electrolyzed by a current 

 of adjusted voltage, part of the water is decomposed, the 

 lighter gases are released and expelled, and oxygen is 

 absorbed by the brine and the various chlorides present. 

 We also take a solution of water and sulphur dioxide and 

 pass it through another but similar apparatus, where 

 it is treated in the same way, the nascent oxygen 



THE COCONUT CROP INCREASE: 

 AND RISE IN OIL. 



Marawila, July 25th. 



Dear Sir, — I do not agree with the conclusions 

 you drew recently in your review of the coconut 

 industry, as to the causes ot the. increase of 

 nuts. 1 have not your article before me ; but I 

 believe you wrote that the drought, instead of 

 being detrimental, was beneficial to coconut 

 cultivation.* That the very severe drought in 

 the North-Western littoral has reduced crops 

 and affected the quality of the nuts is 

 an undoubted fact. The increase in crops 

 is due to the thousands of acres that 

 are annually coming into bearing. I quoted 

 recently from the letter of a V.A., who, in a 

 motor drive along the high road to Puttalam, 

 saw thousands of acres of young coconut plan- 

 tations. Inland, there are very many more. 



A correspondent in your columns recently 

 said that the rise in the price of copra was 

 due to the rise in the price of oil. Why not 

 the other way ? Oil is extracted out of copra. 

 If the price of copra rises, the price of oil must 

 of necessity rise with it. — Yours faithfully, 



B. 



[* What we wrote was that while short rain- 

 fall caused falling off in quality of kernel, there 

 was little if any decrease in number of nuts; 

 a somewhat different statement, — Ed. CO.] 



