July 2, 1888.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
07 
enjoy with the southern part of the Hyderabad State 
the possession of diamondiforous soil, and a Com- 
pany has been started in London to work a pro- 
mising piece of ground at Wadjra Karur, the 
"Village of Diamonds," in the latter district, Wadjra 
Karur has the great advantage of being within 
nine miles of the Gundakul Junction railway station. 
Attention was drawn to this place by a curious 
incident. It chanced about five years ago that a 
gentleman entered an office in Madras and inter- 
viewing the occupant of it whispered in stagolikc 
accents that he had heard of there being a won- 
derful diamond in the rough in Black Town which 
could be bought for a mere "song." He named, 
however, a large sum, and produced a model in lead 
of the pebble, but the person interviewed, thanked 
him for his courtesy, and said that he did not 
trade in diamonds, nor could he pretend to know 
one in the rough. The interviewer loiked pained: 
and- gravely affirmed that "You'll live to repent 
it!" You'll live to repent it!' He was again 
thanked, and he went away more in sorrow than 
in anger. Two or three clays afterwards the 
stone passed into the hands of Messrs. P. Orr and 
Sons. In 1881 that firm exhibited a model of it 
al the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, 
and last year they sent to the Museum a beautiful 
model of the stone as cut. In the rough it weighed 
6,738 carats, but when cut and polished its weight 
was reduced to 2-17-16 carats. For purity of 
lustre, and for brilliancy it is said to be unsurpassed 
by any stone in existence Its estimated value is 
about 15.000J. Mr. Gordon Orr, the head partner of 
Messrs. P. Orr and Sons, had acted as sponsor for 
this gem, and conferred upon it the appropriate and 
ingenious name of " Gor-do-Norr." It it now 
in the market in London. Its birth place is 
Wadjra Karur, and Mr. Orr has obtained other 
diamonds from the same locality. The Company 
that is being floated proposes to acquire about 250 
aores, with perpetual mining rights near that 
village, and 204 acres with similar rights in another 
part of the Anantapur District, The former 
place was examined by Mr. John Brukowsky, an 
experienced diamond expert of London and Zurich, 
be hud but recently visited the Diamond 
Fields in Kimborley and at Jagersfontein. He 
has certified that "the configuration of the place 
indicates the basin formation, as well as the pipo, 
so well-known to South African miners, and if it is 
opened up according to modern scientific diamond 
mining, 1 have the most profound conviction that 
the results will equal those of Bultfontein and 
Jagersfontein in quantity, while, in quality, stones 
of infinitely sui trior lustre and value may be ex- 
pected." The Kohinoor, weighing when cut 102J 
(amis, the Regent 1361 carats, the Great Tabic 
242-5-16th carats, tho Great Mogul 271) 7-16th carats, 
and thn Nizam (in the rough) 310 carats are a 
few of the historical diamonds of India that favour 
the belief that more diamonds are to be found in 
tin places from whence they came. The proposed 
capital of tho Company is ill 1)0,000 in £5 shares. 
The price paid to the vendors will be £160,000 in 
fully-paid shares, and the first issue of shares in 
London has been allotted. There is a good pros- 
pect, therefore, of tho diamond resources of India 
being now toa'ed in a scientific and workmanlike 
mannor.— Pioneer, May 14th. 
TEA IN INDIA. 
It cannot bo Maid that the prosont tea soasiiu can 
bu looked on an by any means being exceptionally 
o»rly • on tho contrary it is lato in somo parts, n3 for 
•Xftinple the Torai and Dooar«. Hod spider blight is 
very bad indeed on norao hill gardens, and has cvou 
made itself felt in mauy estates both in the Terai and 
■Western Dooars. According to the Uafjeding News 
the cry for rain is again almost universal. The water- 
supply of the town has dwindled down to its minimum, 
and though still sufficient for domestic purposes, it is 
unable to provide for the flushing of drains. What is 
quite as bad, tea is also suffering for want of moisture ; 
and blight has already fastened itself on some gardens. 
A good deal of tea, however, has been made, some 
gardens being even ahead of last year but the tea 
wants body. — Indian lea Gazette. 
GUATEMALA : ITS PLANTING PRODUCTS.* 
Mr, Brigham believes that the time will come 
when tha fertile plains of Central America will bu 
the garden and orchard of the United States, not 
necessarily by annexation, but by commercial in- 
tercourse. Sugar, coffee, chocolate, and india-rub- 
ber can be raised there cheaper and better than 
in any other country, to say nothing of oranges, 
bananas, pineapples, and other tropical fruits so 
largely in demand in the United States. Yet 
of the present imports, the United States contri- 
butes less than a third part of what England sends, 
our share amounting to more than that received 
from all other countries put together. It is satis- 
factory to our pride to find that Mr. Brigham at- 
tributes this to the fact that Great Britain pro- 
tects the interests of her subjects, wherever in- 
vested. Mr. Brigham notes for the benefit of his 
countrymen in the United States, one way in which 
English manufacturers have secured a market in 
Guatafinala, — namely, by packing their goods in 
small cases, suitable for carriage on mule-back. 
In many places, no systematic cultivation is 
either known or needed, the crops growing very 
much as they did in the Garden of Eden. No plough 
ever furrows the ground; the hoe is all-sufficient for the 
planter's needs. It is very remarkable that the country 
i3 as yet free from foreign weeds, which in so many 
new countries have upset the balance of Nature. 
On the coast, bread is very generally made of cassava. 
The tuberous roots of the manioc are grated into 
a coarse pulp, the poisonous juice from which is 
expressed by placing it in a long sack of basket- 
work, appropriately called a scrpicnte ; this is slung 
by one end to a beam, while on a lever pressed 
through the loop at the other, the children of the 
family sit in turn, or together if they are small. 
On the uplands, maize, ground on a metatle, is 
slapped into tortillas ; and the usual drink is 
pulque, extracted from the aloe, just as in Mexico. 
Indigo and cochineal, which formerly ranked high 
among Guatemalan exports, have been so com- 
pletely superseded by other dyes, the product of the 
laboratory, that they are now scarcely cultivated ; 
and the cochineal insect, unfed and uncared for, 
is fast disappearing. In addition to the products 
already mentioned, sarsaparilla, vanilla, rice, coco- 
nuts, pita or silk-grass, and Sisal hemp, are ex- 
ported in considerable quantities, as also are log- 
wood, and rosewood, ps well as mahogany. Mr. 
Brigham describes the business of mahogany- 
cutting, the primitive process of extracting sugar, 
the methods of preparing chocolate from tho cacao- 
bean, and of coagulating rubber from the milk 
tapped from the Castitloa rubber-tree. — Spectator. 
♦ 
An Ingenious Sleepino-dao which is in use by 
some mountain climbers consists of a mackintosh 
sack, one longitudinal half of which can be inflated, 
so that the camper can have the luxury of sleeping 
on an air mattress. — American paper, 
* Wuntenitiia, tho Laud ot the Quetzal: a Skoun." 
By Willing T. Brigham, A. M. London i T. FiflhSw 
Uuwin. lbS7. 
