t|02 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January i, i8 9 o. 
What I state and would draw to the notice of 
tea-planters is Bimply with a desire that they 
should hesitate before destroying what though on 
open etverny may be an indispensable friend in 
disguise. I would most earnestly draw the habits 
of this abused hornet to the notioe of planters. It 
would be very satisfactory to know from others 
whether the presence of hornets has resulted in an 
absence of caterpillars and vice versa. 
Let any aspirant for information plae° himself 
with a binocular within a reasonable distance of 
the nest and watch what the hornets are taking 
in about 9 a. m. I have found their busiest time. 
W. F. L. 
[This is a very interesting addition to the infor- 
mation we collected and published recently on the 
hornets following tea cultivation to higher altitudes, 
and we shall be glad to hear from observers of the 
hornets and their habits. — Ed.] 
THE BLACK MAN FAN IN TEA WITHERING. 
Holmwood, Agrapatana, Dec. 23rd. 
Dear Sir, — In the interesting account of the 
Blackman Fan Withering at Sitcoorie there seems 
to be some error. The width of the room is said 
to be 45 feet, and yet there ace only 4 rows of 
withering shelves each 2 feet wide. This would 
give 37 feet of waste space above and 14 feet 
waste in the annex. It also says a bamboo shield 
is placed beloiv each fan which would seem to 
imply the fan being on floor level with vertical 
shaft. Now as the opposite slit is on the floor this 
arrangement would only suck a current of air 
along the floor. Again if on the ground floor, 
only 100 X45, there are sufficient driers to work 
off, after withering and rolling, 4,000 lb. made 
tea all between 7 a. m. and 5 p. m., the heat 
would seem sufficient to wither anything. The 
firing could not begin before 11 a. m., which 
leaves 6 hours to fire 4000 lb. made tea. The lot 
of the " cha bungalow sahib" who works in 
that factory must give him a foretaste of his 
future state 1 R. W. W. 
[We quoted the account from the Indian Planters' 
Gazette. — Ed.] 
DR. ASHMORE OF CHINA ON THE " CEYLON 
HANDBOOK AND DIRECTORY "—AND 
ON THE EXTENDED USE OF 
QUININE IN CHINA. 
Dear Sir, — Thank you for the sheets of the 
" Handbook and Directory." They will assist 
greatly in the elucidation of the subjects of inquiry 
I have in hand. I have been in the habit of 
studying Directories and Handbooks the first thing 
in every place to which I have gone, but have 
never seen one that for fulness and variety 
of information comes quite up to this one which 
you have prepared. I have been surprised at the 
multitude of my questions which are answered at 
a glance. 
A single word on the one subject of Cinchona : 
Any great increase of the yield of the valuable 
medicine derived from this tree and consequent 
cheapening of the product mu8t prove an invaluable 
blessing to China. It is already in great demand 
among those who know its use. Hitherto its price 
has been so high that the poorer people could not 
purchase it ; with a loworing of this prioe must 
como a greatly increased call. In our tours among 
the Chinese the inquiry for it is constant ; we 
do not think of going out without a supply which 
we dispense only in specially needy and deserving 
cases. It is used extensively not only for fevers 
but also for a general tonic. The Chinese have 
nothing whatever in their whole pharmacopoeia 
which can take the place of it for those specific 
purposes. All that is needed to have it far more 
extensively used is to have it known.— Yours, under 
obligation, WILLIAM ASHMOR E. 
Coolies for Assail— The authority given - by 
the Madras Government to recruit for coolies in 
Ganjam and Vizagapatam for the Assam tea gardens 
is about to be taken advantage of in more than 
one direction by planters and their agents.— 
M. Mail. 
The Second Gejiming Syndicate which was 
noticed in our London Letter a few weeks ago— 
its registration being recorded — is mainly the work 
by a relative of Mr. Davis, partner in Messr?. Gow, 
Wilson & Stanton, a gentleman who has had ex- 
perience in connection with South African Mining 
Companies. The promoters are men of influence 
and include Messrs. Anderson Brothers of Philpot 
Lane, while Mr. Wm. Somerville of the wellknown 
Colombo Broking firm is down as Secretary. They 
will commence operations in our Gemming country 
very shortly we believe. 
Quinine. — Some time ago there was a very ani- 
mated discussion in your columns with reference to 
the bad method of administering quinine. The gener- 
al opioion seemed to be in favour of heroic does, but 
all were unanimous in the view that it should be 
administered as a stimulant. There was a good deal 
of writing on this subject afterwards in the Euro- 
pean medical journals, and no doubt the arguments 
put forth were widely read. As the consequence 
we find that quinine is being largely administered 
to the Russian soldiers both as a prophylactic and 
a cure in the case of the outbreak of influenza in 
that country. The quinine we read is always given 
to the troop3 in Vodka, a native brandy.— London 
Cor. 
Me. R. E. Piseo in America. — Mr. Pineo 
has been interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle 
and over a column is devoted to the result, the 
heading being " Tea from Ceylon." There is nothing 
of novelty to our readers, save one blunder of the 
reporter which makes Ceylon to give "900,000 
centals of coffee now against the million in 1869— 
deficiency 100,000." These figures should of course 
be reversed: 100,000 being above our export now. 
Mr. Pineo left for British Columbia soon after the 
interview. The correspondent who sends U3 the 
paper, lives in St. Louis, and adds that ordinary 
blaok Ceylon tea costs 75 cents (of the dollar) 
per lb. in St. Louis— that is 3s 6d per lb. (in 
silver) 1 He goes on "I bought one lb. of Cruden 
(Maskeliya) tea today and paid 75 cents for it." — 
This is very high, the duty on tea in America 
being so much less than in England. 
Coconut _ Butter. — Coconut oil has been used 
as a substitute for cod liver oil, and now, as the 
following paragraph from the American Cultivator 
shews, it is replacing butter. How the peculiar 
odour is dispelled is not said : — 
The United States consul at Mannheim, Germany, 
reports that German chemists have learned how to 
make butter from the oil cf the coconut. One factory 
already produces 600,000 pounds daily, which is sold 
at fifteen cents per pound. The nuts are produced 
from Africa, South America and other tropical coun. 
tries. Coconut butter contains seventy per cent of 
fat, and of the remainder, one-third is composed of 
albumen, which give it a greater nutritive value than 
cow butter possesses. The new butter is used largely 
in hospitals, and is finding its way, on account of its 
cheapness, to the tables of the poor, especially as a 
substitute for oleomargarine, to which it is certainly 
superior as usually made. 
