June 2, 1890.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST* 
Java Comtek Cbop.— Prom a reliable source the 
report has been received that the Government's 
crop of coffee in Passaroean (Java), was estimated 
on February 1st at about 62,000 piculs, against 
237,170 piouls on February 1st 1889. According to 
the estimates of the crop in the Eastern quarter 
of Java the production will be only 20 to 25 per 
cent of the quantity harvested in 1889. 
Mining Leases. — A contemporary is informed that 
the oommittee appointed by the Government of 
India to draw up rules for prospecting and mining 
leases held its final sitting on Monday, and that 
Mr. John Harris, the well-known mining engineer 
who has for some years travelled in India and 
other Eastern countries on prospecting business for 
Messrs, Nobel of Glasgow, attended the meeting. 
The committee, having had the advantage of advioe 
from the delegates appointed by the Chamber of 
Commeroe as well as from Mr. Harris, will now be 
able to issue rules more acceptable to the public 
than any which exist. — Pioneer. 
The first arrival of the new crop of Sumatra 
Tobacco have taken place during the last few weeks, 
and a sale of 2,331 bales was effected on March 21st. 
The quality was considered very favourable, being 
light coloured, and of ripe growth. The leaf could 
be better and less spotted,, but notwithstanding this 
the prices obtained for the two best parcels were 
o. 222 and o. 208 respectively. Among these parcels 
there was a good quantity of light fancy colours, 
and if the proportion of these colours will be larger 
in the present crop, it is questionable whether the 
high prices will be maintained, whioh, however, 
may lead to an advance of the present low prices 
for dark tobacco. There is still much agitation in 
certain circles in America to get a higher import 
duty on Sumatra tobacco. It is to be hoped that 
these efforts will not succeed. The Minister for 
Foreign Affairs in reply to a letter of a commercial 
firm in this city, dated March 26th, states that 
the intended increase of the import duty on Sumatra 
tobacco in the United States has been a matter 
of careful consideration of his Majesty's Minister 
at Washington, who does all in his power to promote 
he interest of the Dutch tobacco export trade. The 
Minister adds that this important matter will have 
the continual attention of the Government. — L. and 
C. Express. 
Cinnamon in Days of Old and the New Deve- 
lopment — The following is the deliverance of St. 
James's Budget on Cinnamon as fatal to the typhoid 
microbe : — 
The merchant-adventurerB of the Renaissance who 
sailed from the Netherlandish ports to the distant 
places of the earth hankered after many things. Pearls 
from tbe ocean and gems from the mine were rarely 
out of their thoughts ; the rich fabrics of the East 
were ever before their eyes ; but there was nothing 
they coveted so ardently and bo constantly as spices. 
Such commodities fetched high prices ; and your fat 
skipper from Antwerp or from Amsterdam was " death 
on the main chance." And of all the spices which 
were to be found in far-away corners of the world none 
was higher in favour than cinnamon. The Dutoh and 
Flemish housewives needed it for many purposes ; their 
husbands thought that their mulled wiue was undrink- 
alile without it. There was somewhat of the same 
taste in England ; and now those doctors in Paris who 
are so shamefully clever have just found out wby all this 
was thus. It was not because the Dutchman and his 
British cousin wore so particularly fond of cinnamon ; 
but because it is fatal to the typhoid microbe which Dr. 
Chunb rland, tho ingenious discoverer of these things, 
believes must exist in the Netherlandish water-ways in 
rich profusion. The discovery is a useful one, if it may 
be depended upon ; but the Dutchman of old was not 
the kind ot man to worry himself about microbes. £[o 
swallowed them and said nothing. 
85S 

Our Exports. — Very nearly I 1 6 million 
lb. of tea, 161,000 lb. cinchona bark, nearly 
14,000 cwt. plumbago, 4,138 cwt. of coconut oil, 
some coir, cinnamon and coffee sum up the week's 
shipping business in Ceylon products. 
Fish Culture.— Upwards of one million Ameri- 
can whitefish have been propagated from ova by Mr. 
John Burgess at the Midland Counties Fish Culture 
establishment, Malvern Wells, the ova having been 
sent by the United States Fish Commissioners with 
the object of assisting Mr. Burgess in his efforts 
to establish this valuable food fish. The ova were 
hatched out with a very low mortality, and the 
young fish, which have just been turned out of the 
hatcheries into rearing ponds, are doing well. The 
landlocked salmon of America is also being accli- 
matized by Mr. Burgess with successful results, 
together with the rainbow trout of California.— 
London Times. [All the fishes named might be tried 
in Ceylor ?— Ed T. A.~] 
A Handbook of Precious Stones. By M. D. Roths- 
child. New York and London : G- i\ Putnam and Sons. 
1890, — The author defines a precious stone as a mineral, 
which "must be adaptable for jewellery or ornamental 
purposes, aud must possess beauty, hardness, and 
rarity," aud he refuses to draw a line between stones 
that deserve the title of precious and those to be 
placed in a semi-precious or lower category. He writes 
" All precious minerals used for ornamental purposes s 
from the diamond to quartz or chalcedony, may pro- 
perly be termed precious stones." The various stones 
are dealt with separately, and full information res- 
pecting the composition, properties, and specific gravity 
of each is given. The physical characters and optical 
properties of precious stones are discussed at the be- 
ginning of this little book, and at the end is a table of 
hardness and specific gravity. — Journal of the Society 
of Arts. 
Orange Cultivation on the Nilgieis.— Besides the 
paper on Viticulture noticed by us, the other day, says 
the Ooty paper, Mr. Lawford has contributed one on 
the cultivation of the orange and other citrus trees in 
California. It is superfluous for us to dwell on the 
subject iu detail, as the cultivation of oranges and 
lime on the Nilgiris, is carried on with marked success. 
Not an estate but grows scores of trees of this family, 
some of the very best varieties. They are planted 
either in avenues or scattered among the tea and 
coffee. Little of the fruit, however, benefits the pro- 
prietor as it is stolen and consumed by the coolies;, 
On some estates orchards are formed and enclosed, 
excluding orange trees marvellously prolific. As an 
example, we may instance that at Billicul. The soil 
here is gravelly, but by years of preparation it has 
become rich and productive. The trees are umbrageous 
and healthy, sufficiently close to yield a dense shade, 
and when in blossom, the air is redolent with perfume 
and cool even during the hottest part of the day! 
The fruiting season extends from November to 
February when the grove is a fine sight, every tree 
laden with thousands of the golden fruit, some "of the 
branches so abundantly as to need propping up. The 
fruit at Billicul is mixed but mostly of the thick-skinned 
variety, juicy aud _ sweet, but alas ! the demand for it 
has always been insignificant, and basketfuls every year 
that could find no purchasers, were buried as manure! 
Kotagherry aud Coonoor have always enjoyed a repul 
tation for growing good oranges, the former celebrated 
for a mammoth thick-skinned or " loose jacket " kind 
which caunot be surpassed if it can be equalled any- 
where. The Oockburu family, old settlers at that 
station, have the credit of having introduced and 
acclimatised this splendid variety. It is now, however 
met with in many other places on tho Nilgiris. The' 
hno orange trees which a lew years back made Ooouoor 
famous for the fruit, have gone out by reason of old 
age, but houseowners there were wise in planting a 
youuger generation and so supplies of the fine fruit 
are kept up iu that station. The Coonoor Ghaut estates 
are dotted with orange aud citrus trees making a fine 
show whuu iu bearing.— Indian JLynculturist. 
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