July i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
23 
some samples of leaf rolled by this hand-machine, 
and it was all that could be desired, wiry and 
with a fine twist, One who has been using the 
roller for some time speaks very favourably of it. 
He say* :" One great advantage it basis its simplicity, 
and coolies soon understand it. If hard-rolling is 
wanted, any amount of pressure can be put on 
without any trouble — with power it ought to be 
perfection." As long as the cooly has to be depended 
on for tea rolling there is always a difficulty and 
will always be, whatever maybe the machine. To 
depend on Eamasami in this kind of thing is a 
constant worry : he does not like hard-rolling, and 
so you always find a sigh for power, to get rid of the 
constant driving which is wanted to keep him up 
to the mark. I fancy he finds it especially when 
the weights are put on to be "a horrid grind." 
Peppercokn. 
PETROLEUM AND ITS PRODUCTS. 
By Bovekton Kedwood, F.I.C., F.C.S. 
From a Cantor Lecture so entitled, we take a few 
interesting extracts: — 
Probably the earliest descriptive mention of petroleum 
was made by Herodotus who about, 450 n c, gave 
an account of the pitch lakes of the Island uf Zante, 
and referred to the use of bitumen which had been 
brought down by the waters of the Is into those 
of the Euphrates, in the building of the walls of Baby- 
lon. This writer describes a well at Arderrika, thirty- 
five miles from Susa, which produced asphalt, salt, 
and oil, the mixture being drawn from the well in 
half a wine skin, and poured into a receptacle, when 
the asphalt and salt became solid, and the oil, which 
was black and emitted a strong odour, separate J. 
A distinct reference to the use of petroleum occurs 
in the account of the building of the tower of Babel 
in the Book of Genesis, for the word "slime" in 
the Euglish version is asphaltos in the Septuagint and 
bitumen in the Vulgate, feir Lyon Play fair is of opinion 
that some form of petroleum is more than once 
referred to in the Old Testament, under the generic 
name of salt, and he hazards the conjecture that 
Lot's wife was converted into a pillar of asphalt, as 
this would constitute an enduring monument which 
might have beeu "seen by Josephus, and his contemp- 
orary, Clemen* of Rome, both of whom declared 
that they saw it, while a pillar of common salt would 
have been washed away by the first shower of rain. 
Travellers to Persia and India, before the discovery 
of the Uape of Good Hope route, speak of the pitch 
fountain of Oyuu Hit, on the Euphrates, and the 
people of the locality have a tradition that the bit- 
umen for the building of the tower of Babel was 
collected there. The use by the Egyptians, for em- 
balming, of the bitumen found in the valley of the 
Indus, is mentioned by Strabe and Diodorus of Sicily, 
and the former also relates how this substance rose 
to the surface of the Dead Sea during or after 
earthquakes. The existence of the petroleum de- 
osits of the Apsheron Peninsula has probably beeu 
nowu for at least 2,500 years, for it is believed 
that the Persian fire. worshippers frequented Surakbani 
from the time of Zoroaster, who lived not later than 
600 B.C. The so-called " eternal fires" at Surakhanl 
result from the burning of the natural gas which 
issues from the ground in considerable quantitj, and 
a temple still exists which, until recently, was fre- 
quented by fire-worshippers. 
There are at present about '20,000 more or less 
productive wells in the oil-fields of the United 
State*/ 
Then follow figures showing that the product!) n 
rose from 5.000 barrels in 1S5U to 31,000,000 in 1882, 
the oulmiuating year. In 1885 it went down to 
21.600,0 0. 
In 1885 the production of Ru-s ; nn crude petroleum 
at Baku was no less than 1 !7i ' < »00 Ions. 
IVheu I visited B»kuiu the autumn of lt-'SJ, there 
«ere about 400 drilled well* in the neighbourhood, 
but I was informed that only about 100 of these 
were, at the time of my visit, producing. Of the 
100 wells only some 20 were flowing wells. The 
producing territory on which all the wells supply- 
ing the requirements of the Baku refiners are 
situated is not more thau three and a half miles 
square. Some of the wells are, however, enormously 
productive. I saw one throwing up a stream of 
oil at the rate of more than one million gallons 
per twenty-four hours, and others have yielded at 
the rate of more thau double that quantity. * 
We shall presently see that this small tract of 
land bears a very small proportion to the total 
area of the petroleum lands of Southern Russia, 
and when we came to consider the geograpital 
aspect of our subject, we shall have to deal with 
other regions in this country, in which more or 
less oil has been obtained. —Journal of the Society of Arts. 
THE SUGAR CANE AND SUGAR INDUSTRY 
AT MAURITIUS. 
(Translated from the " Revue Agricole," Port-Louis, 
February IS87, for the " Tropical Agriculturist."} 
(Continued from page 791.) 
Chaptfb III. 
During a considerable time, the sugar industry of 
Mauritius had only to compete with other inter- 
tropical colonies, and found its If placed in such con- 
ditions of equality as permitted it to maintain this 
competition without disadvantage. In all cases, the 
climates in the competing countries were similar, the 
soil was of i qual fertility and the processes of cultiv- 
ation and manufacture were the same. The develop- 
ment which has taken place in Europe during the 
last fifteen years in the cultivation of beet root, and 
in the manufacture of sugar theiefrom, has changed 
this state of thiugs. Tne price of sugar has falleu 
to such an extent that the colonial sugar iudustry, 
taken iu the aggregate, has ceased to be remuner- 
ative, and the plauteis in the Colonies see themselves 
under the necessity of finding some means of pro- 
ducing the article at a cheaper rate. 
For the solution of this problem there are two 
conditions to be fulfilled : reduce the expenditure 
which has already beeu done, and increase the pro- 
duce which remains to be accomplished. 
The augmentation of production raises two problems 
of different orders. On one part the increase iu the 
agricultural produce, which is a question of agronomy. 
On the other hand, the increase in quantity obtaiued 
in the manufacture, which divides itself agaiu into 
two distinct sections, the extraction of the juice con- 
tained in the cane, which is a question iu mechanics 
and physics, and the extraction of sugar from the 
juice which comts under the domain of chemistry. 
As to what concerns the agricultural production, 
we have before us this fact, that whilst the 
mean produce on well cultivated laud does not exceed 
4,000 lb, an acre, it has frequently been established 
that in particular instances the production has been 
as mucti as 12,000 and even 15,000 lb. an acre; 
fiom which it is evident that the average ptoduction 
hardly reaches to oue-third of what it might be, 
Iu the face of such disproportion, it seems reason- 
able to assume that the mean production might bo 
considerably increased by more judicious methods of 
cultivation and a more suitable use of fertilizing 
agents. In localities sufficiently watered by the rui..- 
lad, it is not difficult to increase production by a more 
liberal application of manure and by moie m.uutu 
care iu ihe cultivation, but such a mode of operation 
o! necessity involves increase of expenditure which 
goes directly against the object iu view. The question 
is thus evaded, and to prevent useless outlay on 
in. i nu • wlncn iucreases the cost of production 
without any corresponding advautage, we have still 
to find out a certain sod being giveu, the relative 
* The Armstrong No, 2 wed, iu Butler Couuty, 
Pennsylvania, uue of the mo.-t pru.ific kuowu iu the 
United States, vitlded ouly 260,000 gallous per twtut>« 
four hour?. 
E 
