572 
THE TROPICAL AtTRlCOLTURIST. [February i, 1890. 
new material has been offered at one cent per pound 
less than gambler, and New Jersey tanners imagine 
that they had been put in possession of a valuable 
addition to their raw materials until the trials deraon- 
soral-d that gdi-'-oi -r could not Oe substituted^ °-s*iy 
The importation 0: the peculiar bean| has practically 
ceased in oonsequence, and South American houses 
have been requested to pursue their investigations 
further in the hope of obtaining some new product 
which would be of value in this line, as there are 
times when it is desired to prevent the fluctuations 
in gambier by pushing an article to take its place. 
Some attention is being directed to the canaigre root, 
which was described in The Reporter of September 
4th, but great difficulty has been experienced in ob- 
taining supplies from Mexico. The inquiries come from 
tanners, but thus far they have not been satisfied, 
and it is questionable if a oheaper article than gambier 
can be found to meet the same requirements. 
* 
GEMMING IN EAKWANA. 
(FROM OUR MINING COEEESPONDENT.) 
Jan. 81st. 
EUROPEAN EXPERTS AT WORK — NATURE HAS DONE FOE 
GEMS WHAT SCIENCE CANNOT DO — THE CAUSE OF 
FAILURES — GOOD AND BAD " ILLAN" — ANCIENT GEM- 
MING BY INDIAN PRINCES AT RATNAPURA — GOVERN- 
MENT INDIFFERENCE TO THE INDUSTRY. 
Mr. Harding has arrived at Ratnapura and has been 
joined by Mr. tiarriugton Brown, who came from Rak- 
wanati meet 1 im. They have been engaged forborne 
days past examiuiug the strata of gem gravel ou the 
dirfi-r nt lands secured by the Syndicate, and intend 
to proceed to Pelmadulla and Balangoda in the course 
of a day or two. 
There is no doubt nature has done for gems what 
science cannot, viz. decomposed tbe matrix and allowed 
them to find their level in the a luvial deposit of val- 
leys and river beds, where they have been lying for 
centuries, some worn by long travel and others almost 
in the same shape and form of crystals as they 
were formed, and left their ori inal rock matrix. 
One of your contemporaries says that gemming has 
been ca r ried on so many \ ears under the eyes of Euro- 
peans of great sagaci'y, and even on tht ir own pro- 
perties, in the most favourite localities, and hud they 
succeeJed, local o mpanies would have bren started, 
a's) that they hive invested largely in the Burma 
R iby Mi uing Company, &j. &o. Now who are those 
Europ ans, I would like to know? I think jour morn- 
ing contempt) rary (who admit 0 that he knows nothing 
about gemming) had better stick to the Grain Tax, Na- 
tional Associa tion or something else, iustead of start- 
ing upon gemming at this late hour, after the subjeot 
has been so thoroughly thrashed out in your columns. 
Europeans have been satisfied with their agricultural 
interests, and superintendents were debarred by pro- 
prietors of estates from gemming on their own ae- 
couut in Rikwana and Balangoda districts, audit is 
only lately (since coffee and other products have 
failed) that vay European has thought of gemming. 
Now about local companies. I can assure your read- 
ers that they have been at work for centuries and 
are still at the present day. Whenever a good gem has 
been fouud on any rich illan discovered, a native com- 
pany is form ed, and the place is worked till every inch 
of the ground is turned over and in many instances 
large, fortunes have been made. 
Everybody of course does not know good ''illan" 
when they see it, and it requires the practical miner 
to find itout. Thui who, pray, are the Europeans who 
know anything about; cood or bud illan? Natives 
who have seen t he results from good and bad ilian 
anl have made a specal study of gemming can tell 
it, but the. e is not, to my knowledge, any European 
in the coun y wlo knows good illan from bad, and 
th -y would be ju fc ad illing to' work a buren 
illan, as a rich ono, which perhaps has been tli 
came o:' t!:o failure of otio or two Europeans wh 
h ive tried their luo k on a small scale in Rakwa 
Htely. In the Ratnapura district there never have 
been resident Europeans, except Government 
servants, who are prohibited from speculation, but 
native companies have been at work about Rat- 
napura, snje the r'jjnc to gem was conceded to 
them after the king of Randy was captured, Lefore 
which tbe kings used rajakanya labour. Indian princes 
came to Ratnapura for gem digging with Tamil 
labiur hundreds of years ago, ana in the illan about 
Ratnapura we sometimes find ancient Tamil jtweliery 
and pottery, which signifies that Tamils were at w^rk 
ages ago I believe brought over from the Coast for 
the purpose of gemming. The natives never know good 
gem land till it has been tested, and do not txercise 
the same precautions as a practical, judicious miner 
would, in selecting land ; such as studying the 
flood outlets, the bars on the hillside, the old and 
present course of the streams, the nature of the rocks 
above where the gems have come from which doubt, 
less accounts for so many unsuccessful prospecting 
pits. It takes a very careful intelligent European 
12 months' study to know good land from bad, 
even with the aid of geological knowledge. 
The experts now at work have too sound a reputa- 
tion at stake to dream of forming an opinion on 
anything but facts based upon actual results of 
prospecting openly; and the British public who may 
speculate in gemming in Ceylon may feel confident 
that they are not being misled or deceived in the 
slightest degree by the scientific practical men they 
have confided in ; who are sparing no time or trouble, 
and leaving no st >ne unturned, to ascertain the main 
point at issu-, viz. — will it pay ? 
Messrs. Armitage and Fahevaro at Rakwana prospect- 
ing and Mr. B ddeiey is sitll at Balangoda. Not one 
acre of land has been taken over from Government, 
and it is not likely to I e, although many hundreds 
of acres — yes thousands— are offered, and are being 
leased from natives. A Government official was heard 
to say the other day to the representative of a 
company : — " We don't want a lot of nauvies in our 
newly inaugurated Sabaragamuwa Province." I would 
very much like to know who the Ceylon men were who 
bid for the lease of the Burma ruby mines re 
"Independent." It has been discovered new that rubies 
cannot be got out of the limestone matrix without crack- 
ing and otherwise damaging them. Nature has done 
for us what dynamite, fire and chemicals cannot. 
* 
VITICULTURE AND WINE-MAKING IN THE 
SOUTHEKN DISTRICTS OF QUEENSLAND. 
(From the Annual Report of the Department of 
Agriculture for 1889.) 
Mr. Searle's Vineyard,— I visited this vineyard 
and went carefully over it in company with the 
proprietor. 
The township of Mitchell is situated on the western 
bank of the Maranoa River; the surface is flat, of a 
siliceous formation, and the soil in Mr. Searle's vine- 
yard is a fair sample of the .surrounding district. 
Although, as Mr. Searle admits, he is but an amateur 
viticulturist, he appears to be possessed of a goo.i deal 
of commonsense, and is quite aware that it is not 
sufficient for the growth of vines to dig a hole and 
stick a vine into i-, or to plough the laud shallow and 
then lay out the vineyard and plant the cuttings. All 
the ground in this vineyard is trenched to a fud depth 
of 2 feet, the soil well turned up to the weather, and 
by these means a good crop of fruit has been seoured 
even in dry weather. At the time of my visit bis 
vines looked remarkably healthy, and were heavily 
laden with fruit. The vines are planted Weil apart, 
affording plenty of space for light and air. 
In training the viue for frui'ing purposes, different 
growers have adopted different systems, without regard 
to the nature of the plant. S irae adop f the " trellis " 
system, others again pimply tying to stakes ; while at 
one vuj( yir 1 at R una the owner, Mr. Twine, has, with 
some of his vines, adopted what is called the "goblet 
system," which is accomplished by taking a long fruit 
vine, bending it round iu arch form, and tying it back 
