SEi»fEfrfBEk i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
CONSULS' REPORTS. 
Madagascar. 
Copal.— The copal produced in the northern shores of 
Madagascar is of a quality inferior by over 10 per cent 
to that of Zanzibar ; as Zanzibar copal is found both 
in its fossil, and also iu its recent gum state, and 
Madagascar copal only in its recent gum state. There 
is, however, a considerable trade in this article. 
Orchilla. — Orchilla is largely collected on the west 
coast of the island, for yielding the well-known valu- 
able dye. St. Augustine's Bay is the chief emporium 
of this trade. 
In lutrnhbcr. — There is abundance of indiarubber vines 
in all the forests; but owing to the rude method of 
collecting the sap, many are destroyed. The vines 
could be cultivated with suecess, and it is much to be 
regretted that the Malagasy Government have not 
only protected this valuable plant, but have also not 
organised a system of re-planting in the forest. The 
indiarubber is of good quality, and trade iu this article 
i.-i mpabale of much further development. 
Spices- — Cloves and cinnamon can also be cultivated 
with success, but as they are of very slow growth, their 
cultivation is discouraging to foreign planters, and 
the natives have not the means to plant extensively. — 
Chemist and Druggist. 
CARBOLIC SOAP AS AN INSECTICIDE. 
No doubt there are many of your readers who 
are pestered with earwigs, caterpillars, blight, &c, 
on their plants and trees, and to all of whom an 
efficacious remedy would be a hoon ; permit me, 
therefore, to state my experience with substances 
that seem to me to be a sovereign remedy against 
all such destructive garden pests. The plants are 
singularly free from blight and insects in my garden, 
excepting earwigs and caterpillars, both of which 
abound, but a friend of mine has had his wall fruit 
trees annually attacked by the American blight, and 
his Currant bushes with the aphides that cause the 
leaves to curl and cockle up. as a remedy for the 
blight I tried last year petroleum in water, but it 
was tedious work, and moreover, this year some of 
the trees attacked have completely decayed ; there- 
fore this year I determined to try the effect of 
carbolic soap, knowing full well that that body is 
a powerful antiseptic and destroyer of all germs 
and insect life. I therefore dissolved a quarter 
of a pound of carbolic soap in a gallon of water, 
and then with a common paint brush washed all 
the stems, branches, and exils wherever the Ameri- 
can blight appeared. It was very thick I rubbed 
the brush on a piece of the soap held in my other 
hand. I was surprised to see with what readiness 
the blight was brushed off the trees. All the white 
woolly portiwn and the gummy red bodies were 
washed off completely. I next tried the eflect of 
the soap solution on the Ourrant bushes, brushing 
the liquid into the axils ami under the leaves wher- 
ever they were curled up with the insects. The 
fluid acted marvellously, and since I washed them, 
a week ago, the shoots have started fresh growth, 
whereas before the growth was checked by the presence 
of these aphides. 
I next tried the effect of the soap in my own 
garden, for the earwigs and caterpillars have made a 
wretched appearance of the Sunflowers and Dahlias I 
have in bloom. I first tried the effect of painting 
Hcveral inches of the flower stems with the soapy 
water, but I found that had no effect, for both earwigs 
and caterpillars crawled over it. This was not en- 
couraging, but finding that the fluid did destroy them 
I placed a few caterpillars and insects in a saucer 
with a little (if the soap solution, and in ten seconds 
tho caterpillars wero dead, and in twenty seconds 
tho earwigs wero du»d, I tried the elfect ot dropping 
■ >me of tho liquid into the flowers round the base of 
the petals where the earwigs si'cni to seen to them- 
hoIvoh most. The effects of this was to preserve the 
flowers, for uoithor yesterday uor to-day do tho flowers 
show iuy signs of hoaviug been gnawed, and moreover, 
215 
today I picked out a few dead earwigs from the base 
of the petals, plainly showing that the soap solution 
I had placed there had killed them. Erom these facts 
I shall try the effect of the soapy liquid on more 
delicate flower buds, using a toy squirt to deposit the 
fluid in the flower buds. The flowers themselves seem 
apparently not affected by the liquid. Perhaps some 
of your numerous readers will try this carbolic fluid 
— of course a solution of carbolic crystals would be 
stronger than one made from the soap — and report 
their experience. Erom the few facts I have gathered 
it seems to me to be a most effectual eradicator of 
garden pests. — H. 0. Standage. — Journal of Horti- 
culture. 
«- 
A Great Export of Eggs from India To Eurjia 
is thus noticed by the Pioneer : — The partiality of 
Burmans and the Burma Chinese for eggs has of 
recent years developed a large and increasing ex- 
port trade from Chittagong to Bangoon. Most of 
the eggs exported from Chittagong to Burma are 
ducks' eggs, large numbers of ducks as well 
as fowls being kept by natives in the neighbour- 
hood of Chittagong. The eggs are packed in large 
jars, each containing about 1,500 eggs, and are 
thus shipped by the weekly British India steamers 
proceeding from Chittagong along the Arakan coast 
to Bangoon. It occasionaly happens that one of 
these steamers, with a number of these jars on 
board, encounters bad weather, and then the smash 
up of the eggs therein involves considerable loss to 
the exporters ; whilst the mixture of broken eggs 
and lime soon develope an odour which could 
hold its own with that of the dreaded " dorian " 
fruit, equally appreciated by Burmans. A propor- 
tion of about 50 per cent, perhaps out of the 
75,000 to 100,000 eggs cent from Chittagong to 
Bangoon weekly, reach the palates of their con- 
sumers fresh ; but a large number of the remainder 
degenerate into what grocers at home sell as 
"pudding" eggs. Burmans prefer fresh eggs, but 
Chinamen are not particular in this respect, and, 
if anything, have aliking for a full flavoured 
article. Chinamen, however, as is tolerably well 
known, are specially gifted by nature in the matter 
of palates and digestions. Besides Chittagong, Viza- 
gapatam (known by many natives as Moorghi-patam) 
and Bimlipatam on the north Coromadel coast 
export hundreds of fowls' eggs to Burma 
annually. 
♦ 
DISTRIBUTION OF CEYLON EXPORTS. 
(From 1st Oct. 1886 to 1st Sept. 1887.) 
Countries. 
Coffee 
C'chona 
Branch 
St Trunk 
Tea. 
C'coa 
Carda- 
moms. 
cwt. 
lb. 
lb. 
cwt. 
lb. 
To United Kingdom 
127810 
121 18026 
10-180321 
14390 
218503 
, , Marseilles 
1086 
4607 
571 
,, Genoa 
131 
757911 
116 
SO 
i, Venice 
3225 
213213 
820 
„ Trieste 
170(17 
472 
,, Hamburg 
1111 
38688 
"4&1 
4275 
„ Antwerp 
193810 
,, Bremen 
107 
2 1 >;.'m 
"i020 
"62 
"l789 
,, Havre 
•1013 
15502 
151 
„ Rottervlum 
368 
33.1511 
"304 
,, Africa 
2628 ... 
,, Mauritius 
215 
7620 ... 
,, India & Eutwud 
5720 
99912 
u» 
10937 
Auntruliu 
HS12I 
67 
73 
,, America 
1581 
681003 
16727 
634 
1771 
Total Kxport.i from Oct.l. 
1886 to S-pt. 1, 
1887 1733M 1.1547050 
M857737 
18427 
30664.S 
1)0 1^*6 do 
i*hh 21:12 >n 1 i5;;sm 
l.KHG 
983567 
Do 1884 do 
3340199 
6568 
l.io.SJ.1 
Do Itisj do 
lswyoi.siuoar&twj 
1 'litUli! 
63740 
