660 
ME TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April 2, 1888. 
leaves, and recommend their regular use. Marco 
Polo in the thirteenth century not only alludes to 
their use for mastication, but also brings into notice 
their favourable influence on health. The Nether- 
lands Indian Government profited by this experience 
Of centuries, in the direction of serving out betel 
leaves to invalids and even convicts. Betel leaves 
have a favourable effect, especially in affections of 
the throat and windpipe. British, German, and Dutch 
physicians have taken note of this in the East. Bri- 
tish medical literature confirms this experience, so 
far as India is concerned. It must hence arouse 
surprise that betel leaves which are grown from the 
Himalaya to New Guinea and are highly valued 
among the inhabitants of the intervening countries, 
have to this moment, not been turned more to ac- 
count in Europe. The same was also the case un- 
til very lately with the coca leaf, which yields the 
medicine styled cocaine, now coming into such ex- 
tensive use. Yet, betel in the Far East lays claim 
to greater importance than coca in South America. 
The reason why in Europe, no use has hitherto 
been made of the betel leaf, probably is that it 
does not keep long. Leaves only a few days old 
are not used by the natives, but are thrown away 
ai worthless. When dried, they lose wholly their 
aromatic, spicy, and stimulating odour, which arises 
from a volatile oil to be found in the leaves. This 
volatile oil has now for the first time been fixed 
by an apothecary in Java: It is readily separated 
from the leaves. He drew the inference that the 
healing powers of betel leaves depended on the 
quantity of the oil they contained. This has been 
amply confirmed by physicians of notice in Java and 
Germany. These facts bring into prominence an 
article of Straits Produce hitherto neglected, but 
which may yet figure conspicuously in our export 
lists. — Straits Times. 
THE TOBACCO LAND OF THE FUTURE. 
At last a serious effort is to be made to bring 
into cultivation a portion of the vast dominions which 
the Dutch hold in Borneo, the third largest island in 
the world, New Guinea being probably a little more ex- 
tensive than the father-land of the orang-outang, as far 
as geographers know. The Dutch have had so muoh 
on their hands elsewhere in the East Indian Archipelago 
that Borneo has been long neglected. They hold the 
southern, a portion of tho western, and the greater 
part of the eastern coasts, but their authority does 
not extend very far into the interior, which is little 
more than an impenetrable wilderness. When the 
British North Borneo Company was formed, with the. 
aid of an imperial charter and important concessoins 
from native sultans, there was some soreness in the 
circles of Dutch officialdom at this new " British ag- 
gression." Count Van Bylandt, the Netherlands 
Minister in London, received instructions to protest 
against what was regarded at the Hague as a violation 
of both the letter and the spirit of the treaty of 1824, 
which was supposed to define the sphere of activity of 
Britain and Holland in the Malay Archipelago. Lord 
Granville would not admit that the granting of a 
charter to a private company constituted a breach of 
the convention, as Britain did not assume sovereign 
powers in North Borneo- So the British North Borneo 
Company proceeded on their mission of progress and 
civilisation. The Dutch colonists then commenced to 
see the advantages they could reap from the efforts 
of the newcomer. They had established extensive to- 
bacco plantations at Deli in Sumatra, where many of 
them amassed large fortunes from the kindliness of a 
soil which only wanted "tickling" to surrender its 
riches. Gradually, however, land and labour became 
dearer at Deli. Then these shrewd planters set sail 
for North Borneo, where they discovered that the soil 
was at least as " obliging " for tobacco as Sumatra. The 
first crop, necessasily very small, fetched high prices 
iu Amsterdam, and the Deli people immediately after- 
wards secured all the cheap lauds they could get 
from the company. Several Dutch-Indian tobacco 
growers are now hard at work in North Borneo, and 
Mr. Alfred Dent firmly believes that they will be 
some of the best customers of the New Bank of North 
Borneo, which he proposes te 6tart in a short time. 
Meanwhile his company, as announced by Sir Ruther- 
ford Alcock at the last meeting of shareholders will 
not sell any more lands at purely nominal prices, nor 
dispose of large tracks as hitherto. Some disappointed 
Dutch tobacco planters, who came too late for business, 
have now turned their attention to Dutch Borneo, 
where millions of acres of fertile soil are waiting for 
tillers and scientific growers, as was pointed out quite 
recently by Dr. Guillemard, in his interesting book, 
the " Cruise of the ' Marchesa.' " A small company is 
to be formed tentatively to acquire vast tracts of land 
on the banks of the Kuti River, in Eastern Borneo, 
where tobacco growing will be commenced immediate- 
ly by virtue of a concession obtained from the D utch- 
Indian Government. There has hitherto been so little 
demand for these wastelands in Borneo that Govern- 
ment regulations are not yet in existence, but they 
must soon follow, if it be true that the Kuti experiment 
is to be followed by others on a larger scale. This 
is probably enough. The soil and the climate of North 
and Bast Borneo do not differ materially from those 
of Deli, and there is no reason to suppose that Kuti 
tobacco will be less prized than Sandakan or Sumatra. 
It is a singular thing that the Dutch in Malaya should 
have been taught by British "aggressors" in North 
Borneo the value of their own colony ; but history, 
whioh repeats itself, is full of those economic contradic- 
tions — Financial News- 
THE MOSS LITTER, CHARCOAL AND 
MANURE COMPANY, LIMITED. 
We have heard of late years a great deal about 
Peat Moss Litter or bedding for horses and cattle, 
and all who have tried it are and should be grate- 
ful to the above-named company for having introduced 
it to this country. The Managing-Superintendent of 
the company, Mr. R. J. Wells, for some years worked 
the business alone, but the merits of the article which 
he had brought into use became so widely and rapidly 
recognised that a limited company was ultimately 
formed, by which the business has been greatly de- 
veloped to the advantage of farmers, stock-raisers, 
railway, tramway, and omnibus companies and others 
all over the country. 
The admirable qualities of the Peat Moss Litter 
make its popularity no matter of astonishment. To 
begin with, it has been proved beyond doubt to be 
the best and most economical bedding for horses, 
hounds, cattle and stock of all kinds. One ton of 
Litter will do the work of two tons of straw at less 
than half the cost, and produces a manure very much 
more valuable. It absorbs all the ammonia from the 
urine, and being a perfect deodoriser, drains are un 
necessary ; without them, stables, kennels and cattle- 
sheds are kept sweet and clean. It makes a soft and 
elastic bed, and its oooling and antiseptic power upon 
the feet of tramway and other horses after running 
all day upon the hard sets is simply wonderful, the 
animals' feet and knees, it is affirmed, keeping sound 
double the time they do when bedded on straw. 
Moreover, it quiokly restores a rough and unhealthy 
coat to a bright, clean, and healthy condition, and as 
a plant-food or manure, is worth about double that 
of wheat-straw. Upon this last point we may quote 
the following extract from the Engineer of September 
24, 1880, from a letter by G. A. Vassard, Esq., Ex- 
pert Chemist to the Board of Trade : — 
" Farmers spend annually large sums of money in 
Artificial Manures, such as Guano, Phosphates, Nitrate 
of Soda, &c. and yet not one of them contains so 
many of the necessary constituents of plant-food as 
Peat does. A very large quantity of Humus is 
annually removed from the soil by all plants, and 
must be replaced in order to keep it fertile. Peat is 
of immense value as a Humus producing material, 
and in Humus there is found all the ingredients 
necessary for the formation of the plant, and in such 
a condition that the plant can absorb and untilise 
them. " 
