February i, 1890.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
5$i 
Ceylon, in British Guiana, Jamaica, in St. 
Lucia, and in various parts of India, with results 
which are not unsatisfactory in themselves; but 
for commercial purposes south America holds the 
field, since it is able, as the Bulletin points out, 
without further extension of cultivation, to produce 
such enormous quantities of coca leaves, that the 
one-eightieth part would be sufficient to swamp 
the cocaine markets of the whole world." On an- 
other page we find a note concerning " Hardy 
Species of Eucalyptus." Whatever the medicinal 
and sanitary properties of this native of the anti- 
podes may be. there can be no doubt that its 
naturalization in this country would be welcome for 
ornamental purposes. But the eucalyptus globulus, 
or ordinary blue gum tree, is only " sparingly 
hardy," in sheltered localities, in England. Kew, 
however, has lately received seeds of this speoies, 
collected from trees growing in Tasmania at high 
altitudes and exposed to severe frosts. Seeds of 
another variety, eucalyptus cocci f era, have also been 
obtained from trees whioh were coated with icicles 
a foot long, and there seems, therefore, to be 
nothing very hazardous in the conjeoture of the 
Bulletin, that plants raised from seed of suoh hardy 
forms would be likely to bear with impunity the 
rigours of an English winter. Another subject to 
whioh the Bulletin devotes considerable attention, 
though not more than it deserves, is the cultiva- 
tion of a variety of useful fibres. The important 
subjeot of ramie or rhea was fully discussed in 
the Bulletin of last year, and this year we have 
a Report of great interest by Mr. Morris, the 
Assistant-Director of Kew, on the competitive trials, 
made at the Paris Exhibition, of a variety of 
machines for the decortication of the fibre. " In- 
terest in ramie," says the Bulletin, "is becoming 
more and more general, and, judging by the corre- 
spondence addressed to this establishment, the 
subject is followed with keen interest at home as 
well as in India and the colonies." That it is fol- 
lowed with equal interest on the Continent is shown 
by the active competition of inventors in the pro- 
duction of machines of great ingenuity for dealing 
economically with the refractory, but very valuable, 
product. Another fibre of importance is that known 
as the Bahia piassava, which furnishes the strong, 
ooarse, bristle-like stems which are used in scaven- 
gers' brushes and brooms, and for a variety of 
similar purposes, while the nut of the palm which 
produces it is well known as the coquilla nut, 
largely used in turnery. Familiar as this product 
is in both its forms in this country, no detailed 
account of the palm from whioh it comes, or of 
the processes of manufacture, has hitherto been 
published in an accessible form. The October 
number of the Bulletin now supplies this deficiency 
in the literature of economical botany. 
Our extraots from the Bulletin have been made 
almost at random, and mainly with the purposes of 
exhibiting the range and variety of its contents. 
We might enlarge the selection almost indefinitely, 
if it were possible to condense the oontents of the 
volume into the space at our command ; but we 
must content ourselves with mentioning two other 
topics only. One of these is gambier, a substance 
of which few of our readers are likely to have 
heard, unless they are familiar with the details of 
the tanning trade. Yet gambier is an artiole, as 
we learn from the Bulletin, •' which every tanner 
in the kingdom uses more or less ; it used to cost 
£10 per ton and now costs £45." The rise in price 
is due to the increase of the demand in America, 
coupled with improvidence and want of intelligence 
in the cultivation of the plant from which the 
produce is obtained. This is the wncaria gambier, 
a shrubbyJolimber,|uativo of the Malay States, which. 
is largely cultivated at Singapore. The gambier, or 
catechu pallidum of the British pharmacopoeia, is an 
astringent gum or paste, rich in tannin of a peculiar 
character, and is obtained by boiling the leaves of the 
plant. There seems to be no reason why the plant 
should not be freely cultivated in those tropical 
climates where such plants as cacao, vanilla, ginger 
and bananas are found to thrive, so that there is a 
very promising opening for British colonies which 
possess these climates, in the cultivation of a 
commodity which has risen in price from £10 to 
£45 a ton, mainly because the coolies at Singapore 
who are chiefly engaged in the cultivation, lack the 
enterprise or the intelligence to grow it in an 
economical fashion, " carrying on their operations 
on a system calculated to impoverish the' soil, and 
producing an article of uncertain quality and often 
quite useless for commercial purposes." The last 
topic we can mention is that of the phy- 
loxera, whioh appears several times in the 
Bulletin, mainly in connexion with the occurrence, 
actual or alleged, of that destructive pest in different 
parts of the world. The most important paper is 
that whioh describes the modes of oombating the 
pest adopted in the Gironde. In 1881 the present 
Director of Kew attended an International Congress 
on the subject, held at Bordeaux, as the representative 
of the Governments of New South Wales, South 
Australia and Victoria. A summary of the con. 
elusions he then arrived at is reproduced in the 
September number of the Bulletin. Broadly 
speaking, Mr. Thiselton Dyer holds that, although 
many palliatives and preventives may be, and have 
been, more or less successfully employed, " the 
use of American vines, at any rate as stocks, 
affords the only chance of maintaining vine culti. 
vation in the future in Western Europe." This 
conclusion is based on the consideration " that the 
phylloxera and the American vines have grown up 
together in the New World, and, as the latter have 
not been exterminated, it follows that they have 
arrived at a mutual adjustment," It is true that 
the American grape itself does not appear to yield 
a flavour in the wine so delicate as that for which 
the produce of the Gironde has long been famous. 
But, by grafting French vines on American stocks, 
the flavour of the wines is preserved, while the 
ravages of the phylloxera are checked. These con- 
clusions are further corroborated by a recent report 
of the British Consul at Bordeaux, who records the 
progressive increase of fresh plantations of vines, 
the new plantations consisting almost exclusively 
of American vines grafted with French plants of 
the best kind. Lovers of claret may, thereiore, take 
heart of grace. The harsh American vine has come 
to the rescue of its delicate European sister and 
regenerated the vineyards of the Gironde, with the 
assured promise of renowned vintages and unimpaired 
flavours. —London Times. 
THE WEIGHING OF THE TEA. 
The Made Leaf. 
(Sequel to "The Weighing in of the Tea," in the House 
hold Register, Deo. 6th, 1889.) 
The fresh young leaf that from the field is brought— 
The issue it of constant, hopeful toil, 
That calls forth plenty from the answering soil, — 
Is weighed for test of faithful labour wrought. 
Yet is the making with more labour fraught 
Before the end is reached ; and watchful skill 
Must wither, roll, ferment, and fire ; and ill 
Betides, if care and knowledge are not sought : 
Attention sees the manufacture grow 
To merited success that corneth sure 
Though waiting oft is long : the tea is weighed 
The measure of the maker's gain to show : 
Life's promise must be proved, and must endure 
The stress of fashioning force— or, 't is not made. 
Dikoya, Alfred , Nicholas. 
