THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January i, z8go. 
a miserable place where one lived from hand to mouth 
and simply grew enough provision to live upon. He 
said that from bis knowledge of Yucatan, having lived 
for some years close by, he dared say they could get a 
machine. The Indian Government had offered a prize 
of £5,000— (Mr. Devenish : So has the British Govern- 
ment). There were a great many machines exhibited 
at the New Orleans Exhibition. He (Mr. Fowler) sent 
tons and tons of fibre (from Honduras) for the purpose 
of being tried at that Exhibition, and there was one 
machine which was a great deal better than the rest, 
and could have been obtained for £20 ; but you could 
not get one machine to give every kind of fibre — each 
fibre must be dealt with by a machine suited to its 
peculiar constituents, and we were waiting for the 
engineers or mechanics to invent one that could be 
used for all fibres. They had planted the Ramie at 
the Convict Depot at Chaguanas, and had sent some 
fibre the other day to be tested. It was essential to 
move about the districts where there were fibre plants, 
to get the fibre and see what would be the result of the 
products we had got. The one essential thing was a 
constant stream of water. The Board would no doubt 
recommend that a machine should be obtained. It 
would be worked at Chaguanas by prisoners. 
Mr. Riddell was understood to say he had gone into 
the particulars with Engineers in London and Belfast, 
and had come to the conclusion that to manufacture 
fibre would be impracticable unless there was a plenti- 
ful supply of water. 
Mr. T. Warner said the lands at Arima just referred to 
had plenty of rivers running through them. 
Mr. Anderson, alluding to the nature of the land 
spoken of at Arima, said that fibre took such a large 
amount of nourishment from the soil that it would 
be found in a year or two that the plants would not 
yield anything unless they were manured. 
The Chairman : How do they grow at the Bocas ? 
Mr. Anderson : Because they have never been reaped, 
but the moment you go into cultivation the land will 
not yield; neither will the land at Aiima. It would 
be a dead loss of time and money to grow fibre on 
such land as that. 
The Chairman : I think I may undertake to say that 
there will be a field laid out at our Model Farm at 
Chaguanas. 
Mr. Anderson : But it is a great deal better than 
the land at Arima. That flat at the Depot is a great 
deal better. 
The Chairman : I propose to get plants from the 
Bocas and have four or five aores of land at the Depot 
planted, and see what the result will be. — Agricultural 
Record. 
MALDAH MANGOES, 
(From the Proceedings of the Agricultural and Horti- 
cultural ^Society of India.) 
Read the following letter from the Indian Agricul- 
turist of the 22nd June : " To the Editor, Sir, — I see in 
the report of the Agri-Horticultural Society that en- 
quiries have been made by Mr- Samuells about Malda 
mangoes. All the good Malda mangoes are described 
in Mr. Maries' work on mangoes. This work is now, 
we hear, in the hand of the Agri-Hortieultural 
Society to be published if funds are forthcoming. This 
ought not to be difficult, considering the number of 
Members in the Society, and the value of such a work, 
Malda' mangoes are known in Calcutta only as Fuzli, 
a big coarse fruit which I certainly class as 2nd rate 
fruit. The history of it was given some time ago by 
Mr. Reily of the Ohanchal Estate, Malda. Malda man- 
goes in Saharanpore, Lacknow, and other gardens in 
Upper India are the celebrated 8hah ' Pusund ' 
' (Shah's favourite), a big irregular shaped fruit, 
sometimes weighing 3 lb., and I think a better fruit 
then Fuzli to eat. This is aho common in Malda 
and Tirhoot. It is marked No. 18 io Mr. Maries 
list and rated 2nd class. The best Malda mangoe 
is Gopal IShoy, the food of the god Gopal. This is 
a dirty-looking small fruit, spotted and speckled over 
with black, often reddish peach on the top, and a 
whitish bloom ; it weighs about 6 to 8 oz. only. 
This equals the finest 'Afooz ' from Bombay. There 
are several varietiesj very much like this, but there are 
none to equal it. It is a shy bearer geuei ally and not 
known in the market. I obtained fruit from Chanchal. 
" Other Malrias are ' Berrua Malda,' ' Gowraya Malda, 
' Kirsapat,' Chipka Malda,' 'Kova Pahari,' 'Subza 
Malda,' Safada,' 'Mohun Bhoe,' or 'Ram Pershad,' 'Jballi 
Bandi,' ' Lamba Budaya,' Dilbbaz," the four last being 
very late fruits. I believe all the maugoes are well 
known uuder these names in Malda, and all were planted 
and many bore fruit in the model plantations lead 
out by Mr. Maries in Dorbhunga. By the way, writing 
about these plantations, it would be well if the 
Agri-Horticultural Society would procure giafts of 
all sorts of maugoes from these celebrated gardens. 
Such collections of fruits do not exist in any other 
place in India. Upwards of 150 sorts of mangoes, 
all good ones, are there collected from all parts of 
the country at enormous trouble by Mr. Maries. 
Most of the grafts made by him were from trees 
loaded with fruit, so that the names of the trees are 
correctly given." Afooz. 
An estimate of the cost of Mr. Maries' work on 
mangoes is being prepared ; it is proposed to invite 
subscribers to register their names for copies, and 
issue the book to them at special rates. 
Scale on Tea. 
Messrs. Mitchell Reid & Co. wrote, handing following 
extract of a letter from Mr. E. C. Cotes of the Indian 
Museum, and asking for a copy of the minutes 
referred to : — 
Extract. — " The blight is the same as what was 
recently discussed at a Meeting (the last ?) of the Agri- 
Horticultural Society of India where particulars of 
what is known of the pest were given in full. I have 
not a copy of the minutes of the meeting by me, so 
would suggest your applying to Mr. R. Blechynden 
for them. The blight, is a species of scale insect belong- 
ing to the genus Lecanium, and is closely allied to the 
scale insects * which have done so much towards ruin- 
ing the coffee industry of Ceylon and Southern India." 
A copy of the Proceedings for May last was sent to 
Messrs. Mitchell Reid & Co. who, in acknowledging 
receipt, promised to advise the society of the result 
of the applications therein recomended. 
Mulbebey Leaf as Foddeb. 
Mr. James Cleghorn, in a recent letter, referred 
to some remarkable results he had obtained from 
feeding milch cows on mulberry leaf. A cow he had 
for six months in milk, and which had, when he got 
her, a six months' calf at foot, continues to give 
milk, and the quantity has even slightly increased 
The effects of a feed of leaf night and morning 
2 lb. each time, was appearent even though the ani 
mals were eating quantities of other green food. Mr 
Cleghorn says : — " I stopped feeding one cow on rrml 
berry and the milk went down from 5^JOff? to 3 poms, but 
again feeding her for three days on a seer of leaf 
morning and evening she is now giving her 5pows again 
I have a good deal of leaf now, and during the past 
five days the cows are having good feeds of mulberry 
and the milk supply is giving up." 
Mr. Cleghorn has promised to communicate the 
result of further trials of this novel fodder. 
♦ 
GEMS IN CEYLON. 
Mm. Babbington Bbown and teh Gemming 
Enteepeise in Ceylon. 
We give Mr. Barrington Brown a cordial welcome 
to the island. A great deal depends on his visit 
at this time, and it is satisfactory to know 
that tried reputation, skill and long experience 
in connection with the matter which he is to 
investigate, prevent any question or doubt as to our 
visitor being the right man in the right place, to 
report on the gemmiferous oountrj and the prospect 
of establishing profitable Gemn ng and Mining 
industries in Ceylon. We need not repeat how the 
island has been famous for its precious stones any 
time during the last 2,000 years — how its fame 
Lecan um Nigrum and L ojfee. 
