544 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [February i, 1889. 
trict with his rifle; the said estate has not one-half of 
the hands it requires even in this season when hands 
are most plentiful, so it may be imagined how wel- 
come the traveller was to the coolies ! It is to be 
hoped that Lord Connemara will give a willing ear to 
the " suggestion" alluded to, as I fear from all I hear 
that if this is looked at through the coloured medium 
which some officials will try to insinuate, the " sug- 
gestion " might as well be left alone." 
A planter writes : — " I don't think you Ootyites 
are aware of the ravages leaf disease is making in 
many of the coffee districts. Orops are on the trees 
no doubt, but are they to ripen? Perhaps a taste may 
grow among the lovers of chicory for the diseased 
coffee beans. If so I think Wynaad will be able this 
year to meet the demand. Wynaad does not seem to 
be singular however in having floods, Crops damaged 
by blight and too much rain, cattle epidemics (foot 
and mouth) are prevalent ou the Nilambur side just 
now. And this when the greater part of India is suffer- 
ing from a drought which may be serious. 
It is strange that we have heard of no practical results 
from the cultivation of rubber trees by planters of this 
district and Nilambur, where several flourishing planta- 
tions exist. It is stated that the belt of land around 
the globe, five hundred miles south of the equator, 
abounds in trees producing the gum of the India rubber 
They can be tapped for twenty successive seasons 
without injury, and the trees stand so close that one man 
can gather the sap of eighty in a day, each tree yielding 
on an average three tablespoonfuls a day. Forty-three 
thousand of these trees have been counted in a tract of 
country a mile long by eight wide. There are in 
America and Europe more than one hundred and fifty 
manufactories of India rubber articles, employing some 
five hundred operatives each, and CDnsuming more than 
10,000,000 pounds of gum a year, and the business is 
considered to be still in its infancy. 
" W " writes : — " Eain at the end of November gener- 
ally causes a great many of the ripe berries to split 
and after a short time to fall or at any rate dry so 
much as to be very difficult to pulp. This year, how- 
ever, we have very little coffee ripe at present in South 
Wynaad : on many places there will not be very much 
at any time in this season ! Leaf disease is still go- 
ing on, but it is not doing the trees nearly as much 
harm as it did last year. What a pity it is some of your 
correspondents don't give us their ideas as to the best 
course to pursue with the trees when they are affected 
— as it seems useless to hope for any prevention. 
To me it seems neither pruning, nor manuring, nor that 
leaving alone, make much difference. With regard to the 
first, perhaps the trees prune themselves enough, 
and only require handling, at any rate, I should he 
loth to cut off the little green wood and few leaves 
they have left after a bad attack, in the hope of 
stimulating. As to the second, I never knew a 
a basket of good cattle manure do any harm- 
Labour generally speaking, is very abundant as is 
usual in bad seasons. A great deal of work is being 
done on the roads, and some bad hills are being cut 
down, which will make cart traffic easier. There is 
rather an unusual amount of sickness about, and we 
hear strange and dreadful rumours of dengue having 
reappeared at Calicut. If the garbling people get it, 
how shall we get our crops cured and shipped." 
THE DRUG MARKET IN 1888. 
{From a Revieio hy Messrs. Reynolds Sellers, 
Minciny Lane, E.G.) 
Cascariixa Bark. — Although the high prices ruling 
last year have not been maintained, the supplies have 
not been at all excessive, and generally met a good mar- 
ket. Fine silvery quill has brought up to 41s., whilst 
good has found buyers at 'Yin (id. to 34; holders 
late ly have been asking more money. Within the 
last few days fresh arrivals of over 200 packages 
have come to hand, which will be probably offered 
early in tho now year. 
Qumim. — Salon and re-Bales throughout the year 
have been ou a larger magnitude than ever before 
recorded, the principal reason being that the article 
is now under the canopy of speculators. It would 
be superfluous to estimate the quantity which has 
changed hands ; continual sales reported ranging from 
1,000 to 200,000 oz. The opening price of 2s advanced 
within the first few days of Jannary to 2s ljd which 
was the topmost figure of the year. In September 
10,000 oz. " Auerbach " offered in public sale only 
realized Is 3d to Is 4d althougk Id to lid advance 
on these prices was paid soon afterwards. Even a 
letter to daily paper calling the attention of those 
interested in diamond, gold, silver, copper, and other 
mines to the favourable position of this article had 
not the desired effect, and the downward movement 
so far has not been arrested, the recent sales being 
about as low as any throughout the year. 
LONDON DKUG STATISTICS. 
The following figures refer to the stocks of drugs, 
&c, in the London docks and warehouses on Decem- 
ber 31st, 1888, and to the deliveries and imports 
into London during the year 1888 as compared with 
1887 :— 
Stocks Imported Delivered 
Article 1883 1887 1888 1887 1888 1887 
Aloes cs&pkgs 6,989 5,218 7,375 5,070 6,108 4,960 
Aloes gourds 2,048 4,079 814 1,651 4,444 903 
Cinchona Bark, 
„ case C s k 3,332 } n > 333 25 > 744 30 > 043 23 > 295 26 > 572 
„ bis. &c. 53,320 48,286 43,726 40,948 48,463 47,132 
Cardamoms 
chts 576 
Cubebs bgs 124 
Gum — 
Ammoniac pkg 125 
727 
113 
236 
2,656 
572 
13 
3,479 
467 
128 
2,837 
561 
118 
3,482 
446 
177 
Animi & Copal 
pkg 4,885 
Arabic „ 19,617 
Asafostida ,, 349 
Gamboge ,, 93 
4,426 8,502 8,106 
11,245 34,459 20,110 
450 452 72 
65 197 217 
7,982 
25,997 
553 
210 
8,619 
23,959 
399 
355 
Ipecac, casks 
&bags 10 
Jalap bis 87 
158 
146 
512 
182 
613 
114 
724 
246 
561 
122 
Oils- 
Castor cks 365 
846 
440 
1,391 
751 
1,141 
Coconut 
Cutch 
cs 7,218 7,515 12,147 11,539 12,654 10,463 
tns 1,490 1,823 4,866 4,936 5,191 4,416 
„ 3,018 945 5,734 2,486 3,670 2,88 1 
Old Boots and Shoes are now being gathered 
together. Hitherto they have literally littered the 
land. But it is found that the leather can be boiled 
down, or, failing that, ground down. The latter 
makes capital manure, being rich in nitrogen. So 
lam saving up my old boots now instead of giving 
them away — sometimes with a foot inside. — Dr. 
Taylor in Australasian. 
A New Fibre from the Cotton Plant. — A manu- 
facturing firm in New York has sent to the Depart- 
ment of Agrioulture specimens of a new fibre they are 
making from the stalk of the cotton plant. The samples 
received strongly resemble hemp, and seem to be 
adapted to all the uses that hemp is put to. A few 
fibres of it twisted together in the hand show remarkable 
tensile strength, although no exact comparative tests 
with other fibres have yet been made. A collection of 
the fibres of hemp, flax, jute, ramne, etc., from all 
parts of the world is being made by the Department 
and a new instrument has been invented by which it 
is expected that the tensile strength of each will be 
ascertained with great accuracy. If the cottou plant 
turns out to furnish as valuable a fibre as now seems 
possible, an important new source of profit will be afford- 
ed the cotton planters of the Southern States upon their 
crops.— Science. 
