October i, 1888.I THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
m wn i m i i 1 " 1 r ."J— ■ — a ^ -- - '-La— 
MaeGregor, Miuing Engineer, was of opinion could | 
bo conveyed to Colombo at a cost of R5 per ton. 
The establishment of a cotton mill at Colombo 
will givo new emphasis to a fuel dilliculty. Wo 
cannot help feoling that India, so near at hand, 
will be able, ultimately, to help us besides supplying 
her own wants from coal doposits, which are 
constantly being discovered, of varying quality, 
but generally improving as greater depths from 
the surface are attained. The use of paraffin or 
kerosene oils is advancing and bound to advanco 
at an accelerated rate, but the sources of this 
fuel are distant from us, an J the odour, unless 
it oan be dispelled, would be fatal to the use of 
this substance in tea factories. — Our corre- 
spondent exaggerates our " leading" powers, as 
much as ho seoms to undcr-rato tho ability 
of Government railway engineers to discriminate 
betwoan an engino and the animal which old 
George Stephenson called a "coo." Engineers 
are professional men, entitled to put a money 
value on their opinions. So, for that matter, 
aro " senior " planters, many of whom are specially 
employed to give advice as visiting agents. 
Neither class would be likely to respond to an 
invitation to form themselves into a socioty for 
giving advice gratis, although both have shown 
a oreditable readiness to disouss economical 
questions of public interest. Mr. Rutherford, for 
instance, has published the results of his ex- 
perience, in his dual capacity of planter and 
engineer. We can trust him and others, in the 
future as in the past, voluntarily to give their 
opinions on subjects ot public interest, We need 
soarcely say that we should gladly see tramways 
at work in Colombo, but if animal traction is 
to be resorted wo should think good, strong 
Indian bullocks would bo preferable to mules, on 
the score of expense. Mules have never been an 
institution of any consequence in Ceylon, while 
tho planting and farming literature of the West 
Indies is full of these hybrid animals. We 
suppose their large employment was due to the 
proximity of the westorn British colonies to 
South and Central America, where horses and 
asses aro so plentiful and tho breeding of mules 
ia reduced to a system. Hero tho Indian bullock 
holds tho placo of tho mule, and we suppose oxen 
will bo leas likely to injure themselves by violent 
pulls at ouch successive start than horses or mules. 
From tho extracts marked by our correspondent 
wo quote aB follows: — 
Petroleum Fuel for Locomotives. — Experiments have 
been made, both in India and the United States, 
with petroleum "3 fuel for locomotives. In the former 
country tbo experiments were made ou the North 
Western Railway, two engines being run ou tbo main 
line between Sukkurand Kadham, a distance of seventy- 
pine milos. The results were most satisfactory. It 
was found that the 1 cost per 100 miles, worked for 
various kinds of fuel, was as follows: — Patent fuel, 
5l.'2.'Irs. ; coal, 51.1 1 to 57. -Irs. ; petroleum, 36.8rs. ; 
wood, 15.8 to Mrs. The average evaporative power 
of petroloum was found to bo |!>82 lb. of water per 
lb. of fuel, as compared with — Patent fuel, 7'71 lb. ; 
coal, rt-nl lb. Petroleum is, therefore, cbonper thau 
BOtJ or patent fuel, but more costly than wood. The 
Mil of wood fuel, however, i- increasing yearly, owing 
to its scarcity. On the Sind-I'islim section, where 
wood fuel is uot obtainable, petroleum would be in- 
valuable.. Tho average* consumption of petroleum, 
according to the experiments made, was 'JS lb. per 
train mile, one gall, n of oil weighing S', lb. nearly, 
'l i e oil is very thick iu its crude state, and con- 
tains earth, water, and sulphuric acid, so much so 
that, in order to got it to burn, it was found neces- 
»*ry to .strain it to get rid of tho earth, and to boil 
it in the tauk of the engine tender to clear it of 
tho sulpburio acid and water. Although the fuel 
was a novelty to the drivors, the engines were worked 
without a hitch. The experiments in America we re 
imde ou the elevated roadsof New York with petro- 
leum refuse. This fuel is said to have proved a success , 
and engines can be run with it cheaper than with coal. 
But it is in Kussia, naturally enough, the substance 
being so abundant, that the chief and most success- 
ful experiments have been made with mineral 
oil as a motive power, A very elaborate paper on 
Petroleum as exported from the United States 
and Kussia respectively, from the Oil Trade. 
Review, is of too great length and too much 
technicality for our daily issue, but we are reprint- 
ing it in our monthly periodical (Tropical Aijri- 
culturist) and it ought to be read by all interested 
aud who is not ? — in the future of a material 
which is daily growing iu importance for its light- 
yielding and fuel properties. 
THE MELBOURNE EXHIBITION. 
(From an ex-Ceylon Planter.) 
Tho Exhibition, to celebrato the Centenary of the 
occupation of Australia by the white man, was opened 
in Melbourne on the 1st August with great pomp 
aud ceremony ; a hugo procession, comprising all tho 
military, navy, and trades unions of Victoria, march- 
ing through the main street, Collins Street, which 
is a mile long, accompanied by numerous bauds, 
together with representatives of all the Benofit So- 
cieties, mayors by the dozen, and town councillors 
innumerable, processed to the building in the early 
morning, where the " upper crust " of all the colo- 
nies, together with the public who cared to pay a 
guinea for the privilege of being present to witness 
the ceromony, assembled waiting the arrival of the 
viceregal party which reached the building about 12 
o'clock. This consisted probably of the largest uumber 
of H. M.'s representatives ever met together to assist 
in any ceremony, there being no less than six Go- 
vernors present, each with his suite : these were es- 
sorted through tho streets by a business-looking 
squadron of Victorian mounted rifles, the streets being 
lined by a vast crowd, the numbers of which it is 
simply impossible to estimate. The crowd though 
made up of all casses of society was well. dressed 
and orderly, but no signs of their patronizing vice- 
royalty were apparent with tbo exception o the 
faintest choor at very long distances apart, and per- 
haps about one individual in 1,000 taking the trouble 
to doff his hat. [The Australians, as a rule, will not 
appreciate the value of a home representative amongst 
them, until they get a foreign fleet thundering at 
their gates, when they will anxiously look out for the 
fleet of tho mother country, and until something of 
that kind occurs all ideas of imperial federation 
may be dropped; however this by the way.] 
The ceremony, with the usual concomitants iu such 
grand functions, passed off with success, a telegram — 
advising the same — beingldespatched from the building 
to tho Queen, which reached London in 30 minutes: 
an tanswer appearing iu all tho Molbournc papors tho 
next morning. 
Tho attendance at the Exibibition so far has been 
disappointiug: this is probably caused by the weather, 
which is very cold, the building itself being ex- 
ceedingly cold and drafty; however the almond trees 
being in full blossom show summer to be near at haud, 
when u larger attendance may be expected. 
CEYLON TEA AT HOME. 
I was amused at a shop close to us; to see a tin with 
label 
" Spring Blossom 
*' Ceylon Tea. 
(" Being the choicest spring pickings of Ceylon, Indian, 
and China toas.") It is called "The Spring Blossom 
Brand," aud the label gives this quotation from the Ua\ly 
Telegraph of Juue 2Hb, 1636:— »' The CeyloutoaU uot 
