January i, 1890.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURISTS". 
619 
Coffee. — There was some talk ahout a wonder- 
ful substitute for coffee, a product of the islaud 
of Reunion. Mr. St. John, the British Consul at 
Reunion, has furnished a report upon these Gtertnera 
seeds, for the plant was found to be not a new 
species of Mussasnda, but a member of the natural 
order Loganiaccce, named Gcertnera vaginata. Mr. 
St. John states that they yield a pleasant beverage 
when roasted like ooffee-berries— a beverage possess- 
ing some of the flavour of coffee, but much less 
fragrant. Mr. St. John further points out that 
the shrub is by no means plentiful upon the island, 
and is not so fruitful as the coffee plant. He 
believes that it could not be placed upon the 
market at a price that would either compete or 
compare with that of genuine coffee. — & C. Mail. 
Tea Planting in the Caucasus. — Consider- 
able confidence is expressed by some of the Russian 
newspapers in the prospects of tea planting in the 
Caucasus. The Novosti states that the plantations 
on the Black Sea ooast between Batoum and Sukhum 
Kaleh are assuming the appearance of regular tea 
gardens. However, tea-growing is no new thing in 
the Caucasus, as half a oentury has elapsed since 
the first tea shrub was planted there in the public 
garden of Sukhum Kaleh. Prince Kr'stow exhib- 
ited at the recent exhibition at Tiflis a tree 4s 
years old, and Colonel Solovtsow exhibited other- 
five years old. All these were in the most flourishing 
oondition, and, moreover, provided seeds sufficient 
to plant a considerable area. One of the ohief 
drawbacks to the industry has been the necessity 
of importing all seeds from China, and this now 
promises to be obviated by the supply procurable 
from the publio gardens and great estates of the 
Caucasus. French and German naturalists have 
declared that there is no region more suitable to the 
cultivation of tea than the shores of the Black 
Sea between Batoum and Sukhum, where the climate 
is warm, moist, and equal. — London Times. [With 
referenoe to this paragraph, following a succession of 
similar notices, we may remind our Russian friends 
that they oan obtain any quantity of the seeds of a 
better species of tea than the China from India 
or Ceylon. We doubt, however, if the climate is 
so suitable as it is represented ; while on the Black 
Sea shores as in the United States, the abundance 
and cost of labour will settle the question.— 
Ed.] 
Coconut Buttek,. — What is known in your land 
of ooconuts about oooonut butter ? The mention 
of it in the following extract is novel to me : — 
Coconut Butter. — The United States Consul at 
Mannheim, in his last report, refers to a discovery 
by German chemists in the cooonut of a fatty sub- 
stitute for butter. Immedialely after the discovery a 
firm was established in Mannheim for the purpose of 
manufacturing the new article, to which it has given 
the name of coconut butter. Although in existence 
only a year, it is unablo to meet the constant de- 
mands made on it. It employs 25 men, has a 40-horse 
power engine, and produces daily 3.000 kilos, of butter, 
which it retails at from 6jd to 7 Jd per lb. The nuts 
oome mainly from the South Sea Islands. The new 
butter is of a clear, whitish colour, and is said to be 
better adapted for cookiDg than table purposes. It is 
neither disagreeable to the taste nor smell. At pre- 
sent it is chiefly used in hospitals and other State 
institutions, but it ia rapidly finding its way into 
houses where the people are too poor to buy butter. 
The working classes are rapidly adopting it in place 
of oleo-margarines. It is said to bo siuyularly free 
from acids, and to be therefore much easier of diges- 
tion. In Germany there are about 50 factories en- 
gaged in producing margarines and other artificial 
butters. 
Sand and Grit in Indian Tobacco. — The 
Indian Government, in sanctioning the further 
engagement of Mr. Caine, the tobacco expert, by 
the Madras Government, instructed the Under 
Secretary to write : — 
I am to take this opportunity of suggesting for 
the consideration of His Excellency the Governor 
in Council, that in the coming year careful experi- 
ments be tried by Mr. Caine with a view of as cer- 
taining whether sand or grit, &c , are or are not 
taken in by the leaf while drying, this being the 
one fault which ha? stood in the way of tobacco 
exported from Northern India. 
Cacao and Tobacco in Kurunegala Distbiot. 
— I have been in Kandy, where I spent a 
delightful day amongst the Peradeniya Palms. From 
Kandy I walked 25 miles to Kurunegala in 3 
stages, stopping en route to see what loas once the 
glory of cacao cultivators, viz. the estates round 
Galagedara, but which, alas, are now but shadows 
of their former selves. After that, I was late to see 
Herr Schappie and his tobacco enterprize (as it was 
all over for this season), but I heard that he wag 
well content with the result of the crop and when 
a planter is content, one knows that he has been 
something more than successful ! — Cor., Jan. 3rd. 
CEYLON EXPORTS AND DISTRIBUTION 1889-90 
.73 /oo^j 
3 \ 
8 l*S 
oa CO V3 fc* '£1 - 
o o o 
; O -f< o 7; to • 
I »h r> — t : 
■iTt -D O a 31 
OiOCOO 
5a 
3jS 
O 
o © 
O © 
- OO Ifl 
03 £ 
) © © O o o ooo 
5 © © o o © © n © 
S CO ifl> © • O ; 00 ; iO © © 
u oo >ro © : io : t- 
00 rH rH 
2 e 
^3 
co a 3 
8 rt i 
■ Id © I— © CO tC © © © © rjl — I -H ?1 
--OiifSOO O — < >C CO OS — I 
3 CD B © r— 
1 © X- CO CD 
p 
o © "x> co 
© CO rH TO 
-t* CO CO 
m cnj .o © 
00 oo © si 
co 61 •>} 
t— iO Ci •— I 
co oo as © 
i-> QO ITS CI 
eO © © to 
CO 
/. oo 
00 CO 
» ■ j uw au ou 
O OS rH rH rH 
<3c£ 
m S3 " 
— t oo c 
