August i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
'39 
Living birds released from the grip of the tree, always 
die within a couple of days. The importance of this 
information is manifest. The Batavia Nieuwsblad from 
which the forgoing particulars are taken, urges people 
who may happen to frequent the jungle in question 
to take strict note of the phenomenon, and secure for 
examination a branch with flowers of the bird-catch- 
ing ' ee. Such a botanical rarity calls for close in- 
vestigation. 
It is reported that the beer brewed at Batavia is 
of such a nature, as to fully establish the fact, that 
a brewery in Java is not only practicable but also 
remunerative. The quality of the brew has proved 
incontestably excellent, and compares favourably with 
that of beer imported from Holland. 
The Surabaya sugar planters' association has just 
published statistical returns regarding that branch of 
plantation enterprise there. The times are so hard 
in that quarter that out of 183 estates which gre.v 
sugar there last year, no less than 12 have suspended 
operations this year. The Java sugar yield in 1887 
is estimated at nearly five and a quarter millions of 
piculs against a total of over six millions in 1886. 
In parts of Java where tobacco growing used to 
flourish, that branch of industry is now in decadence. 
Several estates have proved so unremunerative as to 
be abandoned. 
♦ ■ 
Effects of Tea- tasting.— The abuse of alcohol, 
tobacco, opium and quinine seriously affects the 
sight, but tea has not been considered liable to 
have such influence. The greatest of Eussian tea 
merchants, M, Molchanoii, has, however, been 
seeking treatment in Paris for weakness of vision 
induced by the prolonged practice of tea-tasting. 
— A merican Cultivator. 
"Tub Tropical Agriculturist " is attracting 
the attention, we are glad to find, of enlightened 
administrators in the Southern Colonies. Last 
mail brought us an order sent by direction of the 
Minister of Public Instruction in New South Wales, 
for three complete sets of our six volumes of the 
T. A. for use in his Department. A large portion 
of New South Wales, it will be remembered, is 
sub-tropical, and some ex-Ceylon planters like 
Messrs. Bluett and John Gray are we believe 
among the cultivators of sugar and other tropical 
products on the Clarence river and other districts 
of that colony bordering on Queensland. 
Ploughing Matches, Exhibitions, &<•. — The Madras 
Director of Agriculture reports: — In this connection 
I must refer to a fact of great promise. A student 
of the School of Agriculture, by name Sami Aiyangar, 
the son of a well-to-do Brahman landholder in the 
Tinncvclly district, undertook to spend his school 
recess in the months of July and August 1K85, in hold- 
ing, in his native district, a series of ploughing demon- 
strations wherein he showed the advantages of using im- 
proved ploughs practically. A large number of ryots 
witnessed his demonstrations and showed much inter- 
est in them. A demand for tlio improved ploughs arose, 
which, it is understood, a local agricultural association 
has taken steps to meet by local manufacture. Govern- 
ment expressed their satisfaction with Sami Aiyanijar's 
efforts and directed his report to lie printed and laid 
on the Editors' table. His travelling expenses were 
paid and a further sum of lis. 200 was placed at his 
disposal to enable him to conduct similar demonstra- 
tions during his recess in July and August last. A 
sort of travelling ploughing show was then held by 
him, under the supervision of the Assistant Director, 
Mr. Benson, in the South A rent, T.mjnre, TrichinOpolyj 
Madura and Tinncvclly districts. The leading linns 
engaged in the manufacture and sale of agricultural 
implements furnished patterns for exhibition and made 
arrimgmcnts for carryng with the party a stock of im- 
plements in order that ryots might be supplied with 
such patterns as mot with the ir approval. 
The Garni Tea Tramp. — A correspondent 
writes from Shanghai, under date 8th July i 
—"It may iutorcst you to know thai nearly all tho 
chazees (tea tasters) from home this year for the 
Hankow market brought out samples of Ceylon 
and Indian teas, showing that they now realise 
the necessity of something being done to im- 
prove the manufacture of China teas. This I fear 
will be a difficult matter as far as the Hankow and 
Kuikiang market are concerned, as so long as the 
teamen (native) find buyers for their teas they 
won't improve the manufacture of them. 
The teamen in Canton are more alive to the fact 
that it will be more to their advantage to follow 
the advice which has been for some years brought 
before them by foreign buyers, namely that unless 
they look to the manufacture of their teas and 
improve it they will be at no distant time left out 
in the cold by Indian and Ceylon teas." 
Coffee Done for — Better Try Chicory! — 
Such is the heading put to the following extraot 
from the Norwich Argus by the correspondent 
who sends it to us, and who adds : — " Another 
rare opportunity for the sanguine to make a fortune 
— or experience: another prick ly-comfrey failure !" 
Chicory is a perennial plant seldom grown in 
England, but there is no reason why it should not 
be cultivated, the soil and climate being suitable. 
It has a root similar to a carrot, but smaller, glow- 
ing one to two feet in the ground. The plant is in 
the form of a lettuce, bearing after the first year 
blue flowers upon a rough leafy stem, which shoots 
up from one to six feet high. It has long been 
grown on the Continent as a herbage and pasturage 
plant, while the roots, as is well known, are largely 
used as a substitute for coffee. It was introduced 
into this country by Arthur Young in 1780, and was 
grown principally for sheep-feed ; it was at that 
time found very profitable, as it did well on almost 
any kind of land, and was considered to keep more 
sheep per acre during the early summer months 
than any other kind of herbage plant. Lucerne will 
not succeed on any soil not of the best quality, but 
chicory has been found profitable on poor sandy soils 
which are weak and require rest, as well as on richer 
soils. It will last for seven or eight years, and yield 
several cuttings each year, though a full crop 
is not obtained the first year. The mode of culture for 
a fodder of herbage crop in this country has been 
as follows : — Prepare the soil by thorough cleansing 
and pulverisation as early in the spring as the 
weather will permit; apply a good coat of partially- 
decayed farm-yard dung, and drill in the seed dur- 
ing- March, about four lb. per acre, with about nine 
inches between the rows. When the plants are 
about five inches high they should be carefully 
singled out, leaving them about six inches apart. 
Of course the land should be kept well clean, especi- 
ally in tho first season, and afterwards ordinary at- 
tention will suffice. The crop will continue luxuriant 
for five years at least, and frequently for eight or ten 
years; when the plants being to show signs of f ilnre, 
the land should be cleared of the roots, and another 
course of cropping pursued for a few year*. The 
crop is more useful to consume in hovel or yard 
than to graze. Although it will fatten a considerable 
number of sheep, they nip off the radical leaves 
shooting up close to tho ground, and the stalks do 
not afford them sufficient nutriment. When allowed 
to attain its full growth, but not permitting tho 
flower to appear, its full perfection is reached, and, 
being then cut off close to \he ground, is relished 
by all kinds of stock. It is a plant of speedy growth 
and whether the season is wet or dry, can he de- 
pended upon. The plant has also been grown in Englni d 
as a root-crop, being used when dried as a substit- 
ute for coffee, hut the profit attending this mode 
of growing it would seem to bo uncertain, the crop 
varying from eight to sixteen tons an acre, and the 
expenses being heavy. There seems , however, no 
reason why it should not be grown as herbage- 
plant for the use of cattle and sheep, rspi icin lly by 
small occupiers. At tlio present time it is scarcely 
heard of m England, but probubly it might aglliUI 
bo grown with advantage to ull concerned. 
