September i, 1887.! THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
have noticed the death during the period under review 
of the pioneer in the British rule of this enterprize 
and other enterprizes in Oeylon, Mr. George "Winter. 
He and his descendants managed to make sugar 
cultivation pay on a small scale on the banks of 
the Gindura river, at Baddegama near Galle. So 
long as the great mail companies made the latter 
port their headquarters, there was always a steady 
and fairly profitable demand for raw sugar for the 
supply of the ships which brought coal for the 
steamers. In the course of a discussion a few years 
ago on the question of reviving sugar culture in 
Ceylon, on a large scale, Mr. Curtis, who, as the 
husband of a grand-daughter of Mr. "Winter, is in 
charge of the Baddegama estate, confirmed the 
correctness of my estimate that against as much 
as 11 per cent saccharine matter which I had 
seen tested in Northern Queensland, Ceylon canes 
could not bo expected to give more at the utmost 
than 8 per cent. Unlike Mr. Winter, another old 
friend, Mr. Robert Craig, lost his money and 
1 may add his life, from embarking in sugar culture. 
He worked up a coffee estate in the Kadugannawa 
district in the early days of 10 cwt. an acre until 
he was able to sell out for £12,000. To him 
and to his family this was comparative wealth, 
but he was unfortunately induced to spend the 
prico received for his coffee estate in opening a 
sugar plantation near Matara. The enterprize was 
a failure, poor Craig had lost his all and he died 
like so many others from heart disease, the result, 
doubtless, of anxiety and depression. In all worldly 
pursuits, there must bo vicissitudes such as I have 
noticed, and the natural mistake we all make is 
to concentrate our attention too exclusively on our 
own success or the reverse as individuals, as if 
the universe revolved around us, to the exclusion 
of wider views of the gradual progress, after frequent 
temporary retrogression it may be, of the body 
politic of which we are merely component parts. — 
Of Ceylon wo can still say what Galileo Baid of 
our globe : " It moves, nevertheless," and the move- 
ment is after all, and in the face of all retarding 
iulluonces, onwards. 
It may be well while thus noticing enterprizes in 
agricultural products on an extensive scale by 
Europeans in Ceylon, to state that cotton, in the 
porioa referred to, equally with sugar, received 
extensive trials and with equal want of success: in 
the Jaffna peninsula by the brothers Whitehouse 
and Messrs. Clarke and Hardy, and in the neighbour- 
hood of Negombo, by the agents of Baron Delmar, 
to whom, by the way the onco well-known planter, 
Mr. Criiwell, had acted as Privato Secretary. One of 
the great difficulties about tho culture of cotton in 
this island is that the holes or pods in which the 
wool which encircles tho seed is contained, ripen and 
burst when our monsoon rains are heaviest. The 
produce is thus damaged if not destroyed. 
CAOUTC110UC-Y11SLDING PLANTS. 
I should hko to say a few words on Mr. Bruce 
"Warren's letter on ''Caoutchouc yielding plants," on 
page Villi of tho Journal for June 17th,* because somo 
of tin' statements contained therein require explanation. 
In iln first place, Mr. Warren does not soern to bo 
aware that lor many years past a considerable amount 
of attention has been given to the cultivation and 
acclimatisation oi useful plants in the hotaiiir.il gardens 
of our Colonies and in India. The whole thing has 
been taken up so thoroughly, especially of late years, 
and fostered at lvew, with which all the botauic 
gardens are in communication, that it has been 
reduced to a system. These are facts so well known 
that I need not dwell upon them; indeed it is for the 
purpose of answering some of Mr. Bruce Warren's 
questions, and setting some of his Statements in a 
clearer light, that 1 now write, 
Mr. Warren asks if the M&ngifara iudica "is botanic- 
ally allied to tho Mnugabeira (Jlancornia speciosa), 
winch yields Peruarnbuco and Cear.i rubber.' 1 In an. 
ftWOI to this, allow mo to say that the Mawjijt.ru in. 
• See p. 100 l. .L—Ld. 
dica is the mango tree of India, chiefly valued for its 
fruit, aud belonging to the natural order Anacardiaceie, 
while the Hancorhia speeiostv, the common »ame of 
which is Mangabeira, is a native of Peruambuco, and 
though the fruits are edible, the chief value of the 
tree is for the rubber which it yields, known as Per- 
uambuco, and not Ceara rubber, which is furnished by 
a totally different plant, namely, Manitiot y/aziovii, a 
euphorbiaceous tree. Jlancornia specios'a belougs to 
the Apocynaceie, an order well known for the elastic 
juice found in the stems of many of its species, which 
fact Mr. Warren seems to be aware of when he says 
that West African rubber is principally obtained from 
plants of this order. These plants are, however, natives 
of the East aud West Coasts of Africa, as Landulphia 
ftorida, L. Omaricnsi.i, L. Kirhii, L. Fetersiana, kc, and 
not of Madagascar, as stated by Mr. Warren. 
In confirmation of Mr. Warren's statement that 
" there are instances of plants which are herbaceous, 
having arborescent representatives in warm climates," 
I need but mention the common castor-oil plant (Ricinus 
communis), which is an annual 4 ft. to 5 ft. high in 
this couutry, while in Spain aud Sicily it is a bush or 
small tree, and in tropical countries it becomes a tree 
40 ft. high. This plant belongs to the Euphorbiaceas, 
and shows the great variation we sometimes find in 
the same species, without the necessity of comparing 
two such totally distinct plants as the Para-rubber 
(Haven Irnasiliensis), which is naturally a large tree, 
and the " caper plant," or caper spurge (Euphorbia 
Lathyris). It is one of the characteristic properties r»f 
the Euphorbiacem to yield milk or elastic juices. Mi . 
Warren refers to the lactescent character of plants 
belonging to the tribe Oichoracese of the natural order 
Composite. This milky juice, which is found iu the 
dandelion and allied plants, dries and becomes hard on 
exposure to the air, and is not elastic. In its closaelly, 
the lettuce, it is narootic, and is known as lettuce opium 
Regarding the Sapotaceas, though they do not yiald 
caoutchouc pure aud simple, they yield au analogous 
substance, namely gutta percha, the principal source 
of this being a sapotaceous tree (bichomix yutta). 
Many of the species, principally belonging to the 
genus BafsiOi, as JJ. latifolia, />'. lonr/ifo/ia, li. bittyracea, 
all Indian trees, and BasSia Parkii of Western Africa, 
yield a quantity of fat from their seeds, L'euerally 
known as vegetable butter. The character, therefore, 
of the Sapotaceie is to give a solid fat from their seeds 
and an elastic juice or gutta from the stems. — Jonx 
R. Jackson, Museum, Royal-gardens, Kew, June 21, 1887. 
— Journal of the Soviet// of Arts. 
«. — — 
VEGETABLES. 
(UY A FAMILY DOCTOK.) 
The tomato should bo a greater favourite with us. 
It contains a cooliug acid, a volatile oil, sonw mineral 
matter and salts, as well as fragrant resinous matter. 
It is used in soups, ketchups, sauces, aud pickle*. 
But inasmuch as the volatile oil — which words I 
purposely italicise in the last sentence— is dissipated 
by heat, the ripe tomato should, in my opinion, be 
consumed raw if it is considered palatable — i. 8., if 
it suits the individual taste. N. B. — No attempt 
should be made by anyone to acquire particular tastes, 
whether for tobacco, strange vegetables, olives, or 
caviare; to do so is simply to turn one's idiosyncrasy 
" tapsalteerie, " to use a most expressive Scotch 
ward. Let, therefore, whosoever is fond of any part- 
icular vegetable eat freely thereof ; it is a food 
natural to him, a food that suits his system and 
cannot injure him; what he does not like he ought 
to avoid; there is no craving in the system l,.r it. 
no want iu his organism which it can supply. I 
have often observed that p 'ople of the nervous or 
nerve -sanguineous temperament an- morn partial to 
Solanaeeous vegetables — potatoes, for instance — than 
those of the lymphatic are. As au article of diet, 
polatoes suit sucu people, for iu addition to their 
nutrient qualities, they contain a certain amount of 
a property that is singularly soothing to tho nerves. 
JluiturU is a good stomachic; the ground ceid> 
am (Lei, or tho tender (aaveij u» balads. Bea:uv£ 
