336 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [November i, 1889. 
Trinidad. — Mr. J. H. Hart, in the Bulletin of the 
Botanic Gardens, urges ihe planters to plant the Gros 
Michel Banana, as well as oranges and other fruits. 
The Coffee grown on the Island is also highly spoken 
of, and is likely to form an important article of com- 
merce . — Gardeners Chronicle. 
The Future of Cinnamon. — The Produce Markets 
Bevieiv, in quoting Mr. Jardine's letter from the 
Tropical Agriculturist, advocating the need of stop- 
ping the export of chips, has the following remarks : — 
In reprinting the following letter, we would ask 
why should not steps be taken to promote the use of 
Cinnamon in England ? It is a delicious spice, and 
is not nearly so much used in England as on the 
Continent; because the British cook seems to consider 
flavouring spices to be confined to Nutmegs and Cloves. 
A Javan Fungus at Sunningdale. — Last year a 
very extraordinary fungus was discovered in my 
nursery — Mutinus bambusinus — a native of Java, and, 
1 believe, never before found in Europe. How it 
obtained a footing here, and how it should have done 
so during the wet and cold summer of 1888, is a 
mystery, which has never been explained, and today 
(June 17) two specimens have matured, and two otheis 
are now in the egg-form, bursting through the ground. 
This curious species is figured and described in Grevillea, 
plate 173. — Charles Noble. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
The Oyster Fishery at Bentota. — Mr. A. Haly, 
the curator of the Colombo Museum, has just come 
back after a trip to Bentota, whither he went to 
inspect the oyster-fishery, and his investigations, the 
result of which he told our reporter this morning, 
were of an interesting character. He said that the 
fishery is one of perfect simplicity, and at present 
of a very small extent, though it may be increased 
indefinitely by very simple means. The oyster, he 
pointed out, will live in brackish water ; but it re- 
quires a clean vertical surface of gneiss, protected 
from the force of the waves. A very gond instance 
of this is to be found in the large number of the 
edible oysters that are to be seen now clinging to 
the breakwater in Colombo harbor. The oysters grow 
very rapidly, and when six months old are fit for 
the table. So much for the habits of the mollusc. 
The Bentota fishery, he says, is one of small extent, 
oysters not being found for more than two miles up 
the river. It is only on the boulders of the river 
that they grow, and there are not many of these. 
The best bed is the bridge itself. He does not think 
the present export can possibly exceed 3,000 oysters 
a week. The greatest enemies of the oyster are 
the floods, and the use of dynamite for killing the 
river fish, and unless this latter practice is put a 
stop to, he says, it will be soon all up with the 
fishery. The demand is largely increasing, and 
whereas ten years ago there were only two or three 
divers employed, there are now nine or ten. When 
the railway line has been carried as far as Bentota 
he thinks that it is not unfair to estimate that there 
will be a demand of at least a thousand dozens a 
week, that is, putting it down that a thousand people 
would want oysters, and that they would eat one 
dozen each — by no means an exaggerated estimate of 
the number who would require oysters or of the 
number of oysters they could consume. But if this 
demand did cotne about and it were met, the river 
would be exhausted in a very short time. The 
question then is one of how the fishery can be ex- 
tended, and he thinks that the number of oysters 
there can be indefinitely extended by building some 
narrow stone causeways into the river from either 
bank. As stated above, the oyster clings to any 
vertical piece of rock, and these stone erections, he 
thinks, would answer better than piles or nny of 
the other numerous methods employed by the French 
and Chinese. The outlay would be small and Go- 
vernment haviDg built the causeways could either 
make the affair a Government monopoly or lease 
the causeways to private individuals, Mr. Hidy will 
send in to Government a report to this effect, we 
believe, very shortly, and his suggestions seem to us 
so reasonable that we think Government are prettj 
certain to adopt them,— Local "Times " 
Specialists in Mica are taking great interest in 
the statement that mica has been discovered in 
several places in Australia, notably in South Australia 
at Champion Bay in Western Australia, and in New 
South Wales. Mr. Bichard Baker, of 6 Cross Lane, 
London, who has been interested in mica since 1858, 
is notably interesting himself in the matter. The 
more, of course, electricity comes into use, the more 
mica will be in demand. It is found, and exported 
already, from Siberia, India, and Canada, but these 
countries do not nearly supply the deamand. — Euro- 
pean Mail. 
Agricultural Products in the United States. — 
According to the official returns of the American 
Minister of Agriculture, the following was the value 
of the products raised in the Republic in the financial 
year ending June, 18S7 : — Potatos, 78,441,940 dols., 
of which were exported to the value of 2'>8,694 dols. ; 
Sweet Potatos (the Batatas edulis), 20,400,000 <'oK; 
Peas and Beans, 13,800,000 dols., of which were ex- 
ported 450,000 dols. ; other vegetables, 68,000,000 dols., 
of which were exported 250,518 dols. ; fruits 175,000,000 
dols., of which were exported 1,601,979 dols. gra-s seeds, 
15,000,000 dols., of which were exported 638.329 dols. 
Wine production, 10,000,000 dols. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
A New Variety of Mangosteen. — Our readers 
will remember a description by Mr. Meston of 
fruils which he brought down from the North after 
his first ascent of Bellenden Ker. On the recent 
Scientific Expedition Mr. F. M. Bailey, Colonial 
Botanist, saw both the tree and the fruit of the 
largest species, and brought down specimens for 
examination. Mr. Bailey has made the interesting 
discovery that this splendid fruit is entirely new, 
that it belongs to the Garcinias, the same family 
as the famous Mangosteen, and is the first of the 
genus ever discovered in Australia. Mr. Bailey has 
decided to name it Garcinia Mestoni, or " Meston's 
mangosteen." A full description of this new fruit 
will doubtless appear in the account of the expedi- 
tion.— Queenslander, Sept. 14th. 
Intercommunication in Ceylon Plantations : 
Wire Rope Bridges, &c. — A little time back 
you published some remarks with reference 
to the desirability of increasing the facilities 
for intercommunication upon estates. I 
was chatting with Mr. John Brown recently about 
these, which seemed specially to have attracted 
his notice, and he was telling me of measures he 
had himself adopted on some of the properties 
in which he is interested to give furtherance to 
the suggestion put forward by yourselves. He told 
me that he had erected several light bridges of 
wire rope which had proved of material aid in 
enabling work to be carried on on his estates. 
Eour wire ropes are strongly strained across the 
streams intersecting his properties, and on these 
are laid cross bearers, upon which again the 
flooring planks are nailed in the direction of the 
line of the bridge. This system of planking gives 
considerable stiffness, staying the tendency to 
" sway " to which such rope bridges must neces- 
sarily be liable. It was suggested by me that 
this tendency might be still further controlled 
were the ropes separated by pieces of wood arranged 
on what is known as the " herring-bone " method, 
and every two ropes at certain portions of their 
length thereby strained in opposite directions. Mr. 
Brown admitted that such a system might be use- 
fully adopted, but he told me that even as 
he had constructed those he had put up they 
were quite stiff enough to bear crossing on horse- 
back. The expense of these bridges up to 30 or 
even 40 feet span is quite inconsiderable, and it 
will readily be realized by those well acquainted 
with the formation of your hill estates what 
valuable aids they must prove to be to intercom- 
munication upon them. — London Cor. 
