September t, 1887.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
149 
pany's operations in Java produce have been moder- 
ate, and, considering the advance of prices, some 
regret is expressed that more extensive engagements 
were not entered upon. The directors, however, make 
no contracts for the consignment of produce without 
stipulating that the produce shall be delivered in the 
same year in which the advances are made, and 
they reserve the right of cancelling any arrangement 
of this naturo from year to yenr. Desiriug to parti- 
cipate in the favourable results which are constantly 
being attained by the cultivation of tobacco in 
Sumatra, the directors have combined, with other 
mercantile establishments, in opening an establish- 
ment at Siak, by way of experiment, and on such 
terms that in case of total failure the company's 
loss cannot be serious, while, should the experiment 
be successful, the undertaking may prove a fruitful 
source of revenue. The reports concerning this at- 
tempt have so far been satisfactory ; but everything 
depends on the quality of the produce, and it will be 
some months before there can be any certainty on this 
point. During the current year the unsubscribed balance 
of the original issue l,500,000fl. (say £125,000) debent- 
ure stock, amounting to 474,00011. (say £39,500), has 
been disposed of at a price equivalent to a trifle over 
74 per cent of the par price. From the details it ap- 
pears that the directors pre chiefly anxious respecting 
an amount owing by one of the sagar factories in Java. 
If the prices of sugar do not permanently improve the 
company runs the risk of losing 300,000fl. (£25,000), 
and it is mainly on this account that the directors have 
not proposed auy division of profits. Petroleum has 
lately yielded little profit, in consequence of severe 
competition and continually low prices. Last year, it 
is stated, the company only exceptionally discounted 
in Java, and the rate of exchange was on the whole 
not unfavourable for remitting to Europe. As re- 
gards goods sent out, prices have lately improved 
somewhat in Java; the stock has been very con- 
siderably lessened, and the prospect altogether is said 
to have become more encouraging. The news respect- 
ing the current year's transactions up to June 1 may 
be considered satisfactory. — H. $■ C. Mail, J uly 15th. 
♦ 
MALACCA. 
Mr. E. V. Boswell, Acting Superintendent of 
Works and Surveys, some time ago succeeded in 
extracting spirit from tapioca refuse, and recently 
he has been making experiments with the Glam 
tree. He has been successful in making a per- 
fume and a medicinal decoction, useful as a diar- 
rhoea mixture, from the leaves and a lifebelt from 
the bark. The specimens have been forwarded to 
Singapore for the information of His Excellency 
the Governor, with a paper from which the fol- 
lowing information has been taken. 
The Gelarn tree is of the Myrtacete family, and 
attains a height of about 45 feet and a girth of 
5 to 0 feet at the base. It has a few upright and 
contorted branches, innumerable twigs with a liberal 
diffusion of dark green almond shaped leaves, the 
latter when bruised in the hand emit a strong 
aromatic odour not unlike cajeput oil. The treo 
is indigenous to Malacca and as far as can be as- 
certained it cannot be found in the other settle- 
ments, but a few hundred young plants were intro- 
duced into Singapore from Malacca last year for 
roadside planting, for which purpose they are very 
suitable. They make splendid avenues when planted 
alongside roads crossing freshwater swamps or 
paddy-liolds. The water becomes discoloured by 
tannin from tho fallen leaves. The natives make 
B decoction from tho leaves which is very astringent 
and assumes the colour of strong tea. It is said 
to bo a specific administered in casos of diurrluea 
and dysentery. The bark is extremely light, buoyant, 
soft and pithlike, about 8/8th of nn inch thick, 
overlying the wood in thin white and light brown 
layers of the tliioknosa of tissuo papor intorjardod 
with woody fibre and white powder. Like the 
Quercus Suber or cork tree it regularly sheds its 
bark and acquires a fresh coat. The natives use 
it instead of oakum for caulking the seams of their 
boats. The wood is used as poles and putlogs for 
scaffolding, the construction of fishing stakes and 
for fuel. The tree thrives and abounds in Malacoa 
in the inland marshes and outlying lands, and as 
fast as they are felled seedlings spring up to take 
their place, 
We congratulate Mr. Boswell upon the result of 
his researches, and we hope further success may 
attend his efforts. — Singapore Free Press, July 26th. 
[If we have not got this tree in Ceylon already, 
we should think Dr. Trimen will lose no time 
in supplying the deficiency.— Ed,] 
♦ 
A Large Tea Leaf. — We have received a 
very fine tea leaf gathered on Kirkoswald estate, 
Bogawantalawa. It is exactly 11 inches long and 
rather more than 3| inches wide. The bush from 
which the leaf was taken is rising 3 years old, 
the elevation of the estate being 4,300 feet. The 
tea leaf is not supposed to be from indigenous 
seed. — It is the largest we have seen, except a 
leaf of indigenous, grown on Somerset estate, 
Dolesbage, which was exactly 1 foot in length. 
Good hybrid bushes, when young, yield leaves 
which can scarcely be distinguished from indi- 
genous. 
How Many Cups of Average Tea Can be 
Obtained from a Pound of the Leaf ? — The an- 
swer to this statement can be deduced from the 
figures given for the number of cups drunk at the 
great Exhibition and the number of pounds of leaf 
from which they were brewed. The figures are 
730,780 cups from 12,183 pounds. It follows, 
therefore, that a pound of good Indian or Ceylon 
tea leaf will yield as closely as possible 60 cups 
of the beverage, — average-sized cups, of course. 
At this rate an ounce would yield 3J cups. How 
does this accord with results obtained in house- 
hold use? Of the quantity of tea sold in packages 
at the Exhibition, the proportions for India 
(23,606 lb.) and Ceylon (23,086 lb.) were nearly 
equal, the figures for Natal being 547 lb. But in 
the quantities infused Ceylon took the lead with 
6,055 lb. yielding 363,300 cups, Indian tea being 
given at 5,784 lb. and 347,040 cups ; while 344 lb. 
of Natal tea yielded 20,640 cups. Tea was exhibited 
from a larger number of Ceylon than of Indian 
gardens, — 167 Ceylon to 150 Indian, but the 
samples from India were somewhat in excess, 684 
against 624 from Ceylon. As yet India and Ceylon 
are the only British possessions which produce 
appreciable quantities of tea. But others, not so 
favoured in regard to labour supplies, are following 
in our wake and it looks as if Natal and Fiji would 
come rather respectably to the front. The one 
would tind a fair market in South Africa, while the 
other is near at hand to supply Australia and New 
Zealand. Now that Indian labour is allowed to bo 
imported to the Straits, other portions of the Malay 
Peninsula besides Johore will grow tea. The labour 
difficulty will, we suspect, keep Jamaica back. When 
Upper Burma is pacified and commences tho pro- 
cess of receiving population from Madras, such as 
has advanced lower Burmah so rapidly, wc may 
have another very formidable competitor. The 
danger looming in the future is over-production 
and alow level of prices. Meantime, the addition? 
to Indian and Ceylon toa at tho Exhibition wero 
Natal with 37 samples from 6 estates; Fiji 16 
from 2; Johore 9 from 1, and Jamaica 4 from I. 
In all 1,371 samples of tea from 327 gardens. Tho 
numbers who had a chance of seeing or tasting 
Ihoso teas was 5,550,715. 
