October i, 1888/] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
259 
Antipybine. — This sea-sickness remedy has been 
ropeatedly referred to in our columns, and has 
moreover been made the subject of repeated, inquiry 
by correspondents in different parts of the country. 
Tho remedy, so highly spoken of by Dr. Ossian 
Jionnct and many others, is the new artificial alka- 
loid, called antypirinc. It was discovered by Knorr, 
of Erlangen, four or five years ago. It is really a 
coal-tar product, far being tin: source of it as well 
as of the aniline colours. — Chemical Trade Joii/rnal, 
Auc. I fli. lWo should like to know what cannot 
be got from tar ! — Ei>.l 
Tea in Japan. — Wo mentioned recently the scarcity 
in Kobe of coolie labourers required for tea-firing 
godowns. The wages of this class have risen fully 
50 per cent,, and tho scarcity of men is attri- 
buted to the fact that railway construction has 
absorbed the greater number of those fitted for 
the work. A broker of Kobe was recently arrested 
for having sold a quantity of adulterated tea, and 
will receive his deserts according to the regulations 
in force to meet the case. But the broker had 
an accomplice, a Chinaman, who being also laid 
by the heels — literally— was not kept long in sus- 
pense, for his Consul ordered 50 blows with the 
bamboo, which wi re duly administered at one dose 
and without delay. — To/pan Weekly Mail. 
Tea Seeds.— The Collector of the Nilgiris has 
furnished a report to the Agricultural Department 
of the Board of Revenue upon the experimental 
cultivation of Tu-erh tea seeds obtained with great 
difficult; by the Board through the intervention of 
the British Besident Consular Officer, Ching Ching, 
10 tolas of the seed were received, and were 
equally distributed among some planters on the 
Nilgiris and Wynaad. The reports received state 
that not a single seed has germinated, which is 
accounted for by tho seeds being damaged, most 
being grub-oaten, and very light in weight. Major 
General H. It. Morgan, to whom some were sent, 
states in addition that "tho Chinese are accused 
of boiling their seeds before parting with them in 
order to prevent germination." The tea is in high 
repute for its fragrant aroma and strength of 
liquor, it would, prove very profitable to Indian 
planters should they he able to introduce its 
cultivation successfully in tho country. — Mad/fas 
Mail, Sept. 5th. 
An Excellent Fish.— Tho following is from a 
Bombay puper : — Havo any of our readers who may 
have visited the Continent of Australia ever come 
across, or even heard of, a fish called tho Mtdlaway, 
or "Batter-fish," If what is said of it by a cor- 
respondent, who writes from Port Victor in South 
Australia, bo true, wo should be very glad if some 
of our enterprising citizens would endeavour to in- 
troduce it into Indian rivers. It is said to be a large 
Bflh weighing from 15 lb. to HO lb., in shape and 
size very like a salmon, and so delicate in flavour 
as to be preferred by many gourmets to the salmon 
itself. This unquestionably is very high praise for 
any member of the tinny tribe ; but wo havo not 
exhausted tho noteworthy peculiarities of this re. 
niarkiible tish. It is stated to carry two pearls in 
its head which are said to bo worn as earrings and 
other ornaments by tho natives dwelling along tho 
Murray or Coorong River, and inland sea which 
extends along the coast. When the fish is properly 
smoked it is, says the correspondent abovo referred 
to, most delicious ; and if it were canned it would 
make an excellent articlo of preserved food. This 
statement naturnlly suggests tho question, " If 
that bo ho, why don't tho Walers can it, and send 
a few tons of it to this and other cities, where tho 
Butter-fish ' would, no doubt, bo highly apprc- 
IsiUd ? "—JHmitT. 
Tea-Drinkers Beware 1 — Says the British 
Weekly: — "ft will no doubt be extremely interest- 
ing to our readers to know that something has been 
discovered in tea, a new and well-defined base, 
CjHkN^O.,, ' which, since it is isomeric with 
theobromin, is presumably a dimethylxanthin.' 
There is a great deal more about the stuff which 
the mind may with difficulty grasp, none of it 
being expressed in words of less than five or six 
syllables, such as trimethylxanthin. Think of this, 
good people, and drink tea if you dare. At all 
events, there is plenty of chemistry in the cup." 
Russian v. American Kerosene Oil. — We 
believe it is generally admitted that the oil 
imported from the Russian coast of the Black Sea 
is much inferior to that got from America, as 
proved by the experience of the citizens of Colombo. 
According to the American "Oil Reporter," the 
saving in cost to the importers is very little : — 
Lato advices from flussia, briny particulars of the 
increasing exports of Muscovite illuminating oil to 
ports in the far East which were formerly exclu- 
sively supplied with the American product, and the 
iuroads on our trade being made iu the Oontiueutal 
and English markets, The difference in the price 
of the two oils has averaged about one half-penny 
per gallon, which appears to be sufficient inducement 
for the poorer consumers to use the inferior Rus- 
sian oil. A difference of one cent or even two cents 
per gallon is not regarded of sufficient importance in 
this country, the consumer preferring the best oil 
he can get, but in the countries of the Ofd World 
the conditions are different ; there, price is regarded 
before quality. It is useless to shut our eyes to tho 
encroachments made on our trade by Russia, and 
rather than pooh pooh at the possibility of the idea 
of losing tho bulk of our foreign trade, we should 
earnestly seek measures to counteract the encroach- 
ments being made before the foothold gaiued is so 
strong that dislodgment is impossible. This is a caes 
where ''a stitch in time, &c." is applicable. 
The Emigrating Indian Cooly and His 
Likes and Dislikes. — Our contemporary of the 
Pioneer puts the case aptly and cleverly in the 
following remarks : — 
As a general rule, tho multiplication of reports is 
unadvisablc, but there is ono which should bo trans- 
lated into the vernaculars and sown over tho country. 
Tho stay-at-home native has not yet learned to ap- 
preciate tho advantages of emigration, nor do the 
stories which he hears from friends returned from for- 
eign parts siilliciently appeal to his ambition. It is 
possible that the unite statistical eloquence of the 
Protector of Immigrants might movo him to try his 
luck in such far oil fields as Trinidad or Surinam. Last 
year, rather moro than five hundred men and women 
of enterprise remitted from tho former placo two 
thousanu pounds to their friends in India, while a ship- 
fal numbering 891 men with women and children 
returned to Calcutta, taking with them in bills more 
than twelve thousand pounds and jewellery to the 
extent of another thousand. Nor is this congregation 
of plutocrats tho only evidence of the prosperity that 
attends the bold. The Government savings banks of 
Port of Spain and .San Fernando bold deposits to tho 
oxtontof about thirty pounds per coolie-head — a truly 
enviablo stato of affairs brought about, tho tables 
show, not by stress of abnormal mortality and tbo 
consequent survival of the fittest, hut by more bard work. 
Tho most curious feature of tho emigration is tho 
return of tho coolio to the Tom Tiddler's ground 
whence ho came, in preference to dying ip L,j s 
own land among his own folk. Strange ns it 
may seem, the returned coolie Muds the climate of 
India too severo for him, and, when a>ked why lie 
comes back, is wont to answer:—" Because ludia is 
too unhealthy." But wo must remember that a native a 
objection to tho "air and water " of any particular 
place covers every conceivable dislike ; audit is very 
possible that a Montu Cristo in bis ancestral village m 
Bengal might find tho possosaiou of wealth attended 
with aerioua disadvantages. 
