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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [December i, 1887. 
Two New Vegetable Perfumes are said to 
have lately become articles of commerce. On of 
these is a kind of xylopia from the province of 
Chirigui in Costa Eica. The odour closely resembles 
that of Canada odorata, and the flowers are now 
used, like those of that plant, in the manufacture 
of ylang-ylang. The other is named ouco, and is 
the highly odoriferous blossom of a kind of acacia- 
tree which is found in Central Africa, and which 
Serpa Pinto was the first to describe. The ouco 
flowers are brought down the Cubadgin river for 
sale ; they cover the trees on which they grow with 
such profusion that they fill the atmosphere with 
the overpowering riohness of their scent. — Chemist 
and Druggist. 
Fkontier Tea | Trade. — From an official return 
it appears that the quantity of foreign tea exported 
aoross the Punjab frontier to central Asia in the 
year 1886-87 was very largely in excess of that of 
Indian tea exported. The respective figures were 
Indian tea, 11,352 maunds, valued at B4,41,696, and 
foreign tea 17,401 maunds, valued ac E13,70,920. 
Another fact worthy of notice is that, while the 
quantity of Indian tea exported in 1885-86 was 
only 6,070 maunds, its value was B4,73,535, 
while that of the larger quantity exported last 
year was only E4,41,696. — Pioneer, Oct. 26th. [It 
iB curious that while Indian tea is so rapidly super- 
seding China io. the British market China is still 
largely preferred to British in Central Asia. Habit 
and acquired taste are not easily changed, espe- 
cially amongst orientals.— Ed.J 
Cinchona Plantations in the Netherlands. — In 
its last issue the 0-, P., <# D. Reporter devotes a 
note to these remarkable plantations, the existence 
of which, we venture to say, will be a revelation 
to persons outside the O., P., db D. office. It seems 
that the plantations belong to the Dutch Govern- 
ment, and are shortly to be put up for sale. The 
0. P., & D. should give some particulars about the 
spot where the plantations are situated. Are they 
to be found on the highlands encircling the Zuider 
Zee, or, perhaps, on the Alpine ranges \vhich 
frown upon the city of Eotterdam ? We always 
imagined that cinchona would only grow at an 
altitude of several thousand feet; perhaps the 0,,P., 
& D. will point out where that elevation is to be 
found in the Netherlands. — Chemist and Druggist. 
[The Java plantations were of course meant. — 
Ed.] 
The Dutch Cocoa Industry. — There are about ten 
chocolate and cocoa manufacturers in Holland,, 
whose yearly requirements of cocoa beans may be 
estimated at 3,000 tons in round figures, principally 
of the Guayaquil, Caracas, and Domingo kinds. 
They mostly manufacture cocoa preparations, known 
by the name of soluble cocoa, cocoatine, and cocoa 
powder — viz., the roasted and powdered cocoa beans, 
deprived of most of their natural fat, and the 
cocoa butter, which is used as a valuable ingredient 
by manufacturers of chocolate, cocoa sweetmeats, 
and also for pharmaceutical purposes. The oldest 
of the Dutch cocoa works was founded on a small 
scale more than a century ago, and most of the 
other works have existed from forty to sixty years, 
but all of them remained insignificant until the 
before-named powdered preparations found their 
way to foreign countries, especially England and 
Germany, where certain Dutch brands of powdered 
cocoa have been very well received and enjoy a 
large sale. There are people who supposed that 
the superiority of Dutch cocoa powder is to be 
attributed to a peculiar mode of manufacture 
different from the methods followed in other countries. 
The idea to extract the fat from the roasted cocoa 
beans and to sell the powder is said to hare 
originated in the brain of a Dutch chocolate-maker 
about 1830. — Chemist and Druggist. 
The Teade of Formosa : Exports. — There are three 
disth.ct products exported in native and foreign 
bottoms under the name of hemp. Besides hemp 
proper, which grows on the plains, China grass is found 
in the hilly districts some three or four days ' journey 
from the port; but the preparation of it is too crude 
to suit foreign markets, to fit it for which the employ- 
ment on the spot of machinery would seem to be abso- 
lutely necessary. Large quantities are exported by junk 
to the mainland, and it is much used in the making of 
cordage. The leaves of the pineapple yield a very fine 
silky fibre, which is known as " pineapple thread," from 
which a kind of grass cloth is made. The price is 
beavy, from 18 dols. 24 cents per picul ; and the 
supply is at present small, but capable of increase. 
The pineapple grows in abundance on the low hills, 
about eight or ten miles from Takow ; and the 
thread is sent to the mainland for manufacture. A 
coarce kind of cloth is manufactured in the island 
from a grabs said to resemble rhea. It is not exported. 
Indigo was largely grown in the island, but for 
some years the export has been small. As the cultiv- 
ation of sugar increases that of indigo diminishes, 
and now barely sufficient for local use is produced. 
The indigo is so roughly prepared, and so mixed with 
mud and sand, that it is found useless to send it to 
foreign countries. — Overland Mail. 
Sylhet Oranges Grown in Ceylon. — It is 
a curious coincidence that just as we had taken 
notes for an article on a paper by Dr. Bonavia 
on the citron tribe, and the prospectus of an 
exhaustive illustrated monograph which he is about 
to publish, we should receive from Dr. Stork a 
basket of splendid fruit, described as " Sylhet 
oranges from imported grafts, grown at Comillah 
estate, Henaratgoda." The baggy -skinned Sylhet 
oranges are well-known in the Calcutta market, 
where their colour, like that of oranges everywhere 
except in Ceylon, is orange-yellow and not green 
as most of ours are. Dr. Bonavia, however, took 
some of our green oranges to India and kept them 
for several weeks until they became yellow, when 
they were pronounced excellent. The truth is that 
most of our oranges are pulled green to prevent 
their being stolen, although it is a fact, we believe, 
that insects sometimes attack oraDges allowed to 
grow yellow on the trees. Some of the beautiful 
fruits sent by Dr. Stork have the true orange 
colour, while others are green and green tinged 
with yellow. The fruit seems to us to be larger 
and more juicy than those we saw in Calcutta, 
with the skin more tightly fitting the pulp. In 
form, internal structure and taste, they closely re- 
semble what we, in Ceylon, call "mandarin" 
oranges, the jamanaran of the Sinhalese ; but the 
skin of the Ceylon-grown Sylhets does not possess 
the same amount of volatile, aromatic oil as our 
so-called " mandarin." The fruit looks beautiful, 
and the taste is delicious, and by this introduction 
and others Dr. Stork has conferred a benefit on 
Ceylon which ought to be duly appreciated. The 
Sylhet orange would, we should think, do well in 
our mountain regions. 
More Sylhet Oranges.— A correspondent writes : 
— " I read in the Observer about some oranges 
sent to you from Henaratgoda. Will you try 
the flavour of these oranges and mandarins. 
They are from trees planted by the late Sir 
Eichard Morgan round the bungalow at Moone- 
male estate, at Hanwella." The oranges, which are 
very fine, are precisely similar to those grown by 
Dr. Stork, and we have very little doubt the history 
of the Hanwella trees will be found to be that as 
grafted plants they were sent to Sir Eichard Morgan, 
by Dr. Stork, when the latter served in Bengal. 
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