December i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
423 
PEARLS OF JASMINUM SAMBAO. 
Dr. Riodel tolls us in Nature of September 15 (p. 461), 
that ho possesses in his collection two melati pearls 
of Jasmiimni Sambac. I bog to Bay that, as in the 
case of tabasheer (see Nature, vol. xxxvi. p. 30), and 
in that of coco-nut pearls {ibid. p. 158), Rumphius, 
in tho almost inexhaustible treasuro of his " Her- 
barium Amboinense," has already mentioned tho poarls 
found also in the flowers of Jatsininum Sambac. 
He gives in his fifth volume, in tho 30th table, a 
good picture of that plant, and says in tho descrip- 
tion that a " dendrites " found in its flower in 1672 
was sent to him two years after. It had the shape 
of a bud of the same vegetable, and was whito- 
eoloured and hard like silica or alabaster ; moreover, 
it must havo been without doubt a carbonate of cal- 
cium or some other alkaline oarth, for Rumphius re- 
marks that whon tho pearl was imprudently mois- 
tened with citric acid part of it was consumed by 
the acid. Ho also tolls us that tho common name 
given to all stoue-concrotious in fruits, wood, and 
animals by the Malayan peoplo is "mestica," 
which corresponds well with Dr. lliedel's name of 
" mustica.'' [" In Oelebe, ac prsesertim in Macassara 
in cunctis soopo fructibus dendrites qusodam rcperiuntur, 
nbi iuter alia in hoc quoquo frutico (Jasminum Sambac) 
talis detecta fnit, quajloco lloris inventa fuit anno 1672 
in horto quodam Gerinani ibi habitantis, quioque mihi 
biennium post transmissa fuit. Formam habebat capi- 
tuli, seu,in8tar veri lloris BongaManoor, uondnm aperti, 
eratqno alba ot duru iustar silicis sou alabastri ; inventa 
autoni fnit in tubo veri floris atque patiolnm habe- 
bat ex ligno ot lapide sensim compositum ; quique 
hanc invenerat, imprudenter in mensa deposuerat, 
limouum succocommaculata, qui subito eius portionem 
consumsorai;."] Frankfurt a. Oder. E. Hum. 
•^Nature, Oct. 20th. 
♦ 
LETTERS FROM JAMAICA :— NO. XX. 
WEATHER AMD CROP— REMEDIES FOR BUG AND LEAF 
DISEASE — PROPOSED RAILWAY IN JAMAICA. 
Blue Mountain District,' 4th Sept. 1887. 
When I last wrote you, I stated that tine weather 
was needed to make tho coffee trees on the higher 
Blue Mountain estates produce tine blossoms and 
good crops. I regret to state that our hopes have 
not been fulfilled, for August has proved an un- 
usually wet month. Thank God we have so far 
escaped floods and hurricanes, but thero have 
been but few clays without some rain more or less. 
This far moro conduces to tho making of leaf than 
of llowcr, yet tho trees are in excellent heart, and 
if wc but have somo favourable weather during 
September without much wind, we may yet have 
good crops in the upper fields in 1887-88. As to 
prices, on 22nd July at Liverpool the tip-top 
figure of lllis per cwt. was realized for a parcel 
of " Newton " colfee, and 136s for some from 
" Cold Spring " estate. The pity is that crops 
havo boon so small, and that coffee planters 
should never seem to have everything ceuleur de 
ton for tho crops turned out even shorter 
than was oxpected ; estates which gavo 20 to 
30 tierces last year only yielded 1 to 5 tierces, 
and another only gave 10 as against 50 tho 
previous crop. This forcibly proves how dis- 
astrous were those awful cyclonic storms of June 
and August 1881), followed by a terriblo Norther 
in January last. It does aoein as if wc had really 
entered upon a eyrie of wot yearn, as compared 
to IbciM of from 1880 to 1885 which were un- 
nreoedently dry nnd droughty j yet at homo in 
England tho year 1887 has been unusually dry, 
and water at famine, prices at many of tho sea- 
sido watering places. Tho nativo settlors havo 
however no reason to complain, for those con- 
stant showers utu most bcnilioial for low-lying 
1'lacvs, und they uic likely to reap another good 
harvest, as prices are likely to hold up at least 
till tho end of the year, when somo authentic 
news may be ascertained as to tho probable out- 
turn of tho Brazil 1888 crop, and the prospects 
for 1889. I was sorry to learn from tho Ceylon 
papers that though the " leaf disease" was less 
virulent, tho attacks of " green bug" had in no 
way abated. I was reading about cures in tho 
Tropical Agriculturist, and see that a mixture 
namod " phenyle" had been successfully (so far) 
applied to a tree by young Mr. Green of Eton, in 
that while it was free of disease, all the others 
round it were as bad as ever : this mixture being 
an extract of coal tar will, I believe, prove a suc- 
cess. I note that mana grass was said to be 
a failure. I am surprised at this, for I well re- 
member having two acres of very bad bug at the 
top of East Delta where it bounds with Whyddon. 
There was a field of mana grass close at hand. I caused 
it to be cut, and thatched the soil of tho two acres 
therewith very thickly. Not only did the bug dis- 
appear, but the field subsequently yielded two 
very heavy crops. So with coal tar. There was a 
piece at Blue Fields, also very badly black-bugged ; 
to this a small quantity of coal tar was applied to 
the roots well mixed with earth : certainly it cured 
tho bug, and I should not he surprised that if 
applied in the same way for green bug it would 
be efficacious, as it seems to be somewhat akin 
in species to black bug, and if coal tar can be 
more cheaply and expeditiously applied to the trees 
in the form of " phenyle " the sooner coffee planters 
set about it the better, as present high pricos 
and good prospects of a paying market in the 
future fully justify them in making the experi- 
ment on a large scale, and undertaking the neoes- 
sary expense. 
As to Jamaica news proper, things have 
been very dull since the occasion of the 
Jubilee. The heat in Kingston has been very op- 
pressive, and all who could get away have sought 
refuge in tho hills. It is strange how little rain 
Kingston seems to get. At the foot of the adjacent 
hills, within 3 or 4 miles as the crow flies, there 
is generally abundance ; and this is what would 
make Kingston such a suitable place for the pre- 
paration of coffee for shipment. 
As regards the railway, the two proposed ex- 
tensions are being surveyed, and, besides, two 
gentlemen of experience have been selected by the 
Governor to travel into the districts through which 
the new line will pass, and take evidence as to probable 
traffic and other items it would bo useful to know 
before finally committing the colony to the work: 
not but that in my belief a railway in Jamaica must, 
as in other countries, bring suocess along with it ; in- 
deed Jamaica is now sadly suffering from want of 
means to bring produce cheaply and expeditiously 
to market. 
P. S.— Sept. 13th, 1887.— Since writing the above 
wc have had a week of line wcathor. On some days 
the heat was very oppressive. We arc still looking 
for a good blossom from the top fields. W. S. 
SIYANE KORALE. 
AORICDLTCRE IN EUROPE AND TADDY CULTIVATION IN 
CEYLON— SOIL AND MANURING. 
1 1th November L887. 
Tho lottor on Continental Apriculturo m your 
issue of tho Hth inst. has an intimate anil inter, .t 
iug bearing on a subject that exorcised the public 
mind not very long ago. I refer to tho Toppnr 
experiment in rieo cultivation by the means of plants, 
and tho eminently satisfactory results it yielded. 
People's beads were completely turned by the return 
of lUS-fold which followed the DM of tbu iron plough 
