September 2, 1889.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
i73 
while 
the 
Cev- 
with 
tons 
having to be placed on the dock f"r repairs 
ready to be loaded with oil at one of 
Ceylon ports. The next vessels due with 
Ion oil are the " Marquis of Lorne 
700 tons, " Countess of Aix " having 55 
and the "Harvard" with 100 tons and 40 tons Cochin 
oil A large portion of the stocks afloat has left 
first hands, and part is intended for direct consump- 
tion The delav of these vessels would erobarass the 
trade, as the entire stock of Ceylon oil iu dealers 
hands on spot is closely estimated at 250 tons, the 
remainder in store being held for consumers 1 be 
amount of Oocbin oil on spot is placed at 75 tons, 
and the only supplies afloat are the 40 tons on the 
« Harvard " which were sold last week in two lots 
at an advanced price. Additional stock is expected to 
arrive in September if no unforseen circumstance hap- 
pens to prevent. , 
The better statistical position of both articles caused 
renewed interest to be manifested in the market dur- 
iug the past few days, and some unusual transac- 
tions resulted aggregating 150 tons of Cochin oil on 
spot at six cents and a fraction above ; also 40 tons 
afloat at six and a quarter cents, and 200 tons Oey- 
lon oil in store at five and three-eighths to one-holt 
cents. The improvement has every appearance ot 
stability during the summer months at least. Cuban 
oil continues to have a small outlet at five and a quar- 
ter cents, but it is not considered an element in the 
market on account of limited available supplies.— 
Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter, June 12th. 
STEAM BOILERS AND PLANTERS. 
If planters would pav as much attention to the in- 
terior of their boi'ers as they do their own insides, they 
would save time, fuel, money and wear and tear of 
boiler plates. In order to assist them in doing so, Mr 
Bertie Short has established an pppncy for the Most 
Perfect Boiler In ru^'i-r TV v • live that has ever 
been discovered, viz.. The Downie Eucalyptus fluid. 
It is the only thing that will successfully remove all 
scale from steam boilers, prevent its formation, and at 
the same time preserve the iron entirely from pitting 
and corrosion. It is purely vegetable and will not 
cause foaming and priming, but will tend to prevent it 
in water containing alkalies. It will extend the du- 
ra tion of boilers 150 per cent, and effect a great saving 
in fuel, as scale is a non-conductor of heat. No matter 
to what extent old scale exists it undermines and loosens 
it thus saving the necessity for all chipping and ham- 
mering inBide boilers. Objection might be urged to 
its use in steam boiling indiiro, but it does not im- 
pregnate the steam and is in fact used in washing 
bottles for aerated waters and beer. It is in general 
use in the American Navy and the Pacific Coast 
Steamship and numerous other companies. Thousands 
of testimonials testify to its efficacy, but perhaps the 
one which will have most weight with planters in 
these districts is the following from Mr. J. Orofts, 
when he was Chief-Engineer of the United States 
man-of-war "Newport." " A little over two years ago 
I began using the scale preventive and remover. The 
scale was slowly removed and for two years there 
has never been a scaling hammer in the boilers, and 
no repairing of any sort has been necessary. The boilers 
are entirely clean and free from scale and rust. The 
preparation has entirely prevented rusting and pitting." 
All orders for this invaluable specific should be sent 
at once to the hub of Bengal— Jainpore, Tirhoot. Bertie 
drank a pint of it himself and in one act it drove 
all the gout out of his system. — Indian Planters' 
Gazette, July 2nd. 
Indies, the ordinary cotton fields of America, 
Australia, and various other places has ended in 
much disappointment owing to the rapid deterio- 
ration in the quality of the cotton. The 1st year's 
growth is of good quality, small in quantity; the 2nd 
year's much worse, but more in quantity : the 3rd 
and succeeding years inferior, almost trash, so that 
planters have abandoned the attempt, except in 
Fiji where the cotton keeps of fine quality but 
small in quantity. 
" The rapid falling-off in the quality of cotton is 
through the process of cross-fertilisation with the 
native cotton caused by bees and other insects. 
" The only way to grow cotton successfully on 
places where the plant is indigenous is to take 
the seed from the best pods longest-stapled year 
after year until you get a greatlv improved growth. 
This plan has been most successfully carried out in 
America notably by Mr. Peel and Mr. Allen, the 
best of whose growths are worth ljdto 2d over the 
price of middling American. The same system has 
also been successfully carried out in Egypt by 
Mr. Ralli, who now gets quite fancy prices 
for his cotton. The cotton must be ginned in 
Ceylon, and I would recommend your sending out 
the hand gins made by Platts of Oldham, as thev 
do not injure the seed which is worth about £7 
per ton; for crushing. Cotton sells better in Liver- 
pool than London." 
Our planting correspondent adds : — 
" The defects in cotton to be avoided are : — broken 
fibre from bad ginning ; loss of strength from damp ; 
discoloration from dirt, sand, moisture, broken 
seeds, etc." 
We are glad to learn that the Cotton Weaving 
and Spinning Company are getting out two of 
Piatt's hand gins. As to the seed used for the 
new — or revival of an old— enterprise in Ceylon, 
we learn that the Company have now distributed 
from 6,000 to 7,000 lb. of the best kinds in differ- 
ent districts, equivalent —even at'21b. an sere — to over 
3,000 acres in cultivation of cotton ! Not bad this 
for a beginning. Nevertheless, the Company are not 
going to depend on a local supply of cotton to 
begin with. The Secretaries, we understand, have 
arranged to get their supply from Tutioorin for 
the first few months — counting on full response in 
local crops from the beginning of 1890. It must be 
remembered that when once the Mills are started 
— as the energetic Manager hopes they may before 
many weeks pass away now — there must be no 
stoppage even for a day, if possible. We have 
heard the loss from a day's stoppage of the 
engin°s and machinery put at £100. Certainly, 
a sufficient supply of raw material as of firewood 
(now advertized for) and other requisites must 
be laid up in stock. 
A correspondent the other day stated in our 
columns that " cotton seed " was hard to get and 
time was being lost in consequence ; but on inquiry 
we learn that although so much has been dis- 
tributed, the seed lately advertized by the Com- 
pany's Secretaries is by no means exhausted, 
so that our correspondent can have as much as 
he requires on application. 
HOW TO GROW COTTON SUCCESSFULLY ; 
AND THE REQUIREMENTS OP THE 
NEW MILLS. 
We are indebted to a Kelehokkn planter for 
permission to republish information which he has 
received from one of the first authorities on 
ootton in Mtncrnster. This firm writes as 
follows :— : , , 
"The introduction of Sea Island seod and the seed 
other superior growths into Egypt, the West 
TEA IN DARJEELING. 
We are having almost continuous rain here with 
cold nights for the time of year. Not by any means 
the kind of wea'her suitable for tea. During the lust 
few days sunshine even for a few minutes may be 
very well expressed by the algebraic sig'i, "and 
the natural result is that withering the leaf brought 
into the tea factories is a very slow process indeed, 
and the quality of the tea made is inferior as a 
general rule so far as strength in cup goes. So, I 
think, taken altogether, my forecast of the tea season 
has not been very far stray in any respect. The rain- 
fall up to the 27th had been 39 - 15 inches, and dur- 
