688 
THE TROPICAL AQmCULXURlST. 
[April i, 1890. 
of oxygen and ozone; (11) they may, under certain 
conditions, improve the healthiness of a country, and 
under others endanger it; (12) they increase the 
artistic beauty of a country. The importance of 
employing really competent men in the manage- 
ment of forest estates, whether belonging to the 
State or to private owners, had led to the establish- 
ment of forest schools in most European countries. 
There were nine such schools in Germany alone, some 
forming parts of Universities, others being attached 
to higher technical schools, and some being indepen- 
dent institutions. Most of these were first-class 
schools where instruction was given by a consider- 
able number of professors. In this country there 
were two places* where scientific forestry could be 
studied. One was at the University of Edinburgh 
under Dr. Somerville, and the other at Coopers-hill. 
The instruction in forestry at the latter institution 
was, up to the present date, given by the reader of 
the paper, and it was now contemplated to engage a 
second professor of forestry and to double the amount 
of instruction hitherto given. In addition to the in- 
struction given at the college practical instruction was 
given in the adjoining Windsor Forests, and visits to 
more distant forests in England and Scotland were 
also made. At the completion of the course at the 
college the students who had qualified in the various 
branches of study proceeded to the Continent, wbero 
they were taken charge of by Sir Dietrich Brandis, 
who, during a period of not less than three months, 
took them to a number of the most interesting forest 
districts in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, where 
they studied the management of forests which had 
been under systematic treatment for a long period. 
This brought their instruction to a close, and the 
young men then proceeded to India to take their 
places in the forest department of that country. Thus 
it would be seen that there was in England the nucleus 
of an institution which only awaited the full support 
of the colonies and of the mother country to develop 
into an institution worthy of the best forest schools 
of the Continent. 
In the discussion which followed the reading of 
the paper, Sir C. Bernard, Mr. Baden-Powell, Sir 
Josoph Fayrer and other gentlemen took part. 
The Chaikman said that no one who had visited 
the great forest regions of Germany, Austria and 
France could fail to be impressed with the visible 
effeots of good management, and wish they were 
more generally apparent in England and Scotland. 
There were signs, however, that the education and 
praotical training of foresters was becoming more 
thought of at the present time in England, and he 
ventured to predict that Dr. Schlich would shortly 
have a good many students under him who were 
destined for home employment and, not for India 
only. Personally he knew more about the value 
of forestry and the life of a forester in India hav- 
ing spent 7 or 8 of the happiest and perhaps the 
most useful years of his youth as a forest officer ; 
that was more than 40 years ago, before the time 
arrived for experts like Dr. Schlich and his distin- 
guished predecessor Sir Dietrich Brandis to come 
to the country. He could therefore tell any of 
Dr. Sichlioh's students who might be. present that 
the 1 fe of a forester in India was not only a 
career of importance, but that it was one full of inter- 
est and of real enjoyment. The formation of the de- 
partment in which they would sorve — and in which 
Dr.Schlich served so well and successfully — hadjustly 
been characterized by Sir Richard Temple as one of the 
greatest achievements effected in India during the reign 
of her Majesty the Queen. 
The proceedings terminated with votes of thanks to 
Dr. Schlich and the chairman. — London Times. 
* 
Mr. E. Thubston, the Superintendent of the 
Government Central Museum, leaves Madras in a 
few days for Ootacamund, to oolleot specimens of 
birds and insects to be met with on the Nilgiris. 
will be aooompanied by a Collector and a 
taxidermist.— M, Mail, Feb. 14th; 
Manufactures and Industries in Western 
India. — Eighty-on6 factories to which Act XV of 1881 
has been applied existed in the island of Bombay 
and were visited by the Inspector during the year 
1888-89. Children under twelve worked in six mills : 
the manager of one of which was prosecuted and 
punished for employing them as full time hands. 
The number of accidents reported during the year 
was 445, only six of which, however, had fatal 
results. The number of steam boilers examined 
under Act III of 1887 was 494 or 140 more than 
in the previous year. The receipts of the depart- 
ment exceeded the expenditure, and the deficit of 
the previous year was replaced by a fair surplus. 
— Indian Agriculturist, Feb. 8th. 
Leaf Disease and Coffee. — Mr. Turing Mac- 
kenzie writes sensibly and to the point, in his letter 
to a Singapore paper. Of course we all in Ceylon 
recognised the conversion of our hill country into 
one product of cultivation as the primary cause 
of the pest ; but once having appeared and 
that first in a remote, by no means crowded 
district, the fungus went everywhere, and in Tra- 
vanoore and Wynaad at least there were isolated 
estates devastated by it. In Ceylon too, it must 
be remembered, that the small and widely se- 
parated patches of coffee around native huts, 
growing amidst jak, coconut, areka and other trees, 
suffered equally with the widest expanses on 
estates. 
Coral ; Pumpking ; Shark Oil : — When at 
various points along the coast South of Colombo 
depots .are formed of coral to be burnt in lime- 
kilns and turned into chunam for building 
purposes, or to be sold to planters for manure. 
These supplies of coral are brought round from our 
southern shores— near Matara especially — by dhonies 
which aleo occasionally add to their oargo, vege- 
tables such as enormous pumpkins &c. The other 
morning near Dehiwala we found a large number of 
kerosine cases containing tins of oil being taken 
ashore from one of these dhonies as well as the 
usual coral cargo and big vegetables for the Colombo 
market. On enquiry and examination, it turned 
out that the tins contained not kerosine, but shark 
fish oil, prepared on the Matara coast and sent 
round to be disposed of at Colombo where there is 
a good demand it seems, for such purposes as 
cleaning leather, harness, &c: 
The Dehra Dun Tea Company Limited.— The 
general meeting will be held at Dehra on the 28th 
instant. For the year ending 31st December 1889 
the expenditure was B99.163, and it is stated that 
the items of expenditure taken separately, with 
the exception of interest and establishment, com- 
pare favourably with those of 1888. The interest 
account exceeds the estimate, due partly to the 
delay in disposing of the spring crop teas sent 
to America and Canada. The outturn of tea for 
1889 was 439,578 lb. or 9,578 lb. more than was 
estimated. Of the crop 46,000 lb. were sent to 
New York and Toronto. The company's teas 
did not obtain remunerative rates at New York, 
but at Toronto they seem to be in better demand. 
The divisible balance, after estimating the value 
of the tea unsold, is R40,197, out of which the 
directors recommend the payment of a dividend of 
4J per cent, which will absorb B39.510. As the 
shares are at present quoted at 45, the dividend 
of 4J per cent represents a very good rate of 
interest to anyone who buys into the company at 
current price. The Dehra Dun Tea Company has 
paid a steady dividend, varying from 4 to 5 per 
oent for some years past. The average dividend 
for the last five years is 4'6 per oent. so at the 
present price the shares seem worth the attention 
o{ investors.— Pioneer, Feb. ?5th. 
