56 
of the soil necessary for turmeric is similar to that for ginger, 
but lands intended for the former need not be worked so fine 
as for the latter. Indeed, in some parts of India, notably in 
Mysore, turmeric is found growing wild. Another species of 
Curcuma, C. augustifolia, or narrow-leaved turmeric, is largely 
cultivated in India as a source of arrow-root, especially on the 
West Coast, and it also grows wild over a large area. Accord- 
ing to an old report of the Saidapet Farm a plot a quarter of 
an acre in extent was planted with this crop at the end of 1879. 
The crop was taken up at the end of January, 1881, and yield- 
ed 986 lbs. of tubers, or at the rate of 3,944 lbs. per acre, which 
would represent about 493 lbs. of flour per acre. Another plot 
yielded tubers at the rate of 7,500 lbs. per acre. The flour, it is 
said, sells at 4 as. per lb. 
KOOLAU RUBBER CO. 
At a recent meeting of the Koolau Rubber Co. it was reported 
that the plantation now owns 287 acres of Ceara rubber trees, 
half of which will be ready for tapping in about a year's time. 
The affairs of the company are said to be in the best of condi- 
tion, and its trees are all growing well. 
TUBER RUBBER. 
In response to a request by a s;ibi>criber, we publish the fol- 
lowing information from The Agricultural News Barbados: 
"A plant has been discovered in Portuguese East Africa, 
possessing a fleshy, tuberous, turnip-shaped root, the entire sub- 
stance of which is permeated with laticiferous ducts, that yield a 
supply of rubber latex. The plant belongs to the natural order 
Asclepiadacese. Rubber has been obtained from the tubers by 
slicing them, applying pressure, and coagulating with alcohol. 
Tubers two years old attained a weight of nearly i]/ 2 pounds, 
and a rubber yield of a half of 1 per cent, of the total weight. 
Professor Geraldes of Lisbon, who reports on the plant, regards 
as possible the production of over 180 pounds of rubber per 
acre at the end of two years. 
"It may be mentioned that the term 'potato rubber' formerly 
sometimes used in the trade, did not, as some suppose, relate to 
rubber obtained from a tuber, but merely to the appearance of 
the small balls in which certain rubbers came to market." 
