February i, 1889I THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
559 
told itie that if they should use buffalo curds, butter 
and ghee in the Wanni, they are sure to get boils, sores 
and other cutaneous eruptions. Although buffalo curds, 
&e., is a kiranti food, the u«e of it in healthy loca- 
lities will not be attended with the same consequences 
ar> in theWanny. 
TIRUNELVKLI N. V. CINNATTAMBI. 
[Our correspondent is much mistaken in suppos- 
ing that Europeans havo not appreciated gingelly 
and the fine emollient oil yielded by the seeds. Of 
the latter enormous quantities aro exported from 
India to Europe, and the oil expressed from them 
is largely used as a substitute for, or an adulterant 
of, olive oil. Gingelly poonao is largely imported 
from India into Ceylon as cattle food. Like most 
oil-yielding plants, gingelly rapidly exhausts the 
soil in whioh it is grown. — What our correspondent 
calls " uluntu or blue gram" we have always known 
as " Oolondoo" or green gram. It is a small pea, 
the soup of which is reckoned by the natives a cure 
for fovor. The idea that foods partaken of in some 
localities produce bad effects, while similar foods 
can be eaten with not only impunity but benefit 
in other places, is curious, and ought to be tested. 
We have all read of the " date boils" of Bagdad, 
and we have heard of " mango boils" in Ceylon, 
the climate and particular season probably and not 
the fruits being at fault. — Ed.] 
PESSIMISTIC UTTERANCES ABOUT TEA. 
Jan. 21st, 1889. 
Dhak Sir, — The note of warning which you 
sounded in your issuo of the 17th instant, " That 
tea may not be brought to the disaster which 
has overtaken cinchona, by excessive production," 
ooraos, it is to be feared, too late ; too late, 
even indeed, could it have been ever hoped more 
effectual than if addressed to the man in the moon. 
In the full face of lessons from the past and 
in the face of prices falling steadily, year by year, 
month by month, and week by week, prodigious 
extensions continue in the north, in the south, 
in the east, in the west, in good land, in mana 
grass, upon the topmost hills and at the edges 
of the paddy-fields, down in the depths ; — until 
at last tho shrub is being contemptuously com- 
pared with LA.NTANA. 
It is not happy to contemplate tho possible 
or probable— probable or possible — result of this 
kind of thing, before two years have elapsed. 
The " shutting up" of China is entirely pro- 
blematical ; but even were she shut up, is it to 
be imagined for ono moment that the great con- 
sumers, tho " masses," will not decline, in these 
days of over-population and poverty, to pay more 
for their tea, whencesoever it comes, than they 
have done in the past, because, forsooth, there 
will always be buyers of fancy Ceylon teas up to 
about 15,000,000 lb.? 
Ceylon is now playing hor last card, and that 
too, with a hoavy nooklace of debt for railways j 
hence, should disaster be brought about by the 
thoughtless, the remedy will havo to be heroic — 
such as in tho case of plague — no humbugging 
half measure will suffice. 
At all costs (no matter tho result) the com- 
jmUory (Ul true Lion by axo and lire of many acres 
will beoomo imperative ; mero abandonment would 
not do. Coffco when abandoned died ; but tea 
lives and thrives as comfortably as a ohonabush, and 
with rising prices the abandoned stuff would onoo 
again bo rushod to the utter destruction onco moro 
of the hitler. BE WARNED. 
[Tho wry quotation made from our columns by 
this writer shows that wo aro by no moans iusuusi- 
blo to tho dangi r of over-production causing eup- 
ply to exceed demand with the inevitable result 
of lowered prices. Prices indeed have gone down 
year by year as our crops have increased, until, 
instead of an average of Is 3d per lb. which pre- 
vailed for Ceylon tea a few years ago, it looks as 
if 1889 would see the descent to lOd or even 9d. 
This is certainly not the time to discourage the efforts 
made by our local and home Committees to extend 
consumption of our staple product. But there is 
a difference between caution and despair such a3 our 
correspondent expresses. In the case of coffee there 
were constant rebounds from low prices to high, as 
the result of the increased consumption produced by 
low prices. Similar results may he expected in 
tho case of Ceylon tea. If prices go down below 
the remunerative level, of course much of the poor- 
yielding places will be abandoned, but we cannot 
ask, we certainly cannot compel, people to cut down 
and burn their bushes as our correspondent sug- 
gests. There is the warning, and let it have its 
due effect, as well as the belief, well founded, we 
believe, that if peace can be preserved, the con- 
sumption of tea is destined to a very large increase 
amongst tho nations of the world. — Ed. J 
Tea. — Elaborate arrangements have been made 
for bringing tea to the notice of ivisitors at the 
French International Exhibition this year. An 
" Oriental Palace" designed by Mr. Purdon Clarke, 
is in oourse of construction in the exhibition 
grounds, for the display of Indian articles of 
manufacture and consumption, and the exclusive 
right of sale of Indian tea in the building is to 
be granted to the Indian Tea Districts Association. 
For this purpose a verandah about 140 feet long 
by 12 feet wide, and all the central portions of 
the building, except what is required for officers, 
will be absolutely at the disposal of the Association. 
The ' palace' will be an attractive feature of the 
Exhibition. — Indian Agriculturist, Jan. 5th. 
For Indiarudber Planters. — When calling on 
Messrs. Thomas Christy & Go. lately I saw a 
number of cases fitted with specially prepared cans 
for carrying about in the forests for collecting the 
milk of certain trees and plants. Some of the 
samples have been lately experimented upon for 
rubber purposes, and were found to produce some 
remarkable results, and to exhibit highly valuable 
properties. Further details will shortly be given 
in this Journal. Messrs. Christy are also receiving 
large orders for their " Fibrite " cans and buckets, 
which are answoring admirably for various pur- 
poses, as they resist the action of acids, oils, 
spirits, &o. I understand that they are shortly 
to be made in tho form of bowls with handles. — 
Indiarubber Journal. 
The Formation of Petroleum. — The theory is 
held by Professor Mendeleef that petroleum is 
produced by water, which penetrates the earth's 
crust, and comes in contact with glowing carbides 
of metals, especially those of iron. Tho water is 
decomposed into its constituent gases, the oxygen 
uniting with the iron, whilo the hydrogen takes 
up the carbon, and ascends to a higher region, 
where part of it is condensed into mineral oil, 
and part remains as natural gas, to escape wher- 
ever and whenever it can find an outlet. If this 
assumption is correct, and a sufficient store of 
metallio oarbidos is contained in tho earth's in- 
terior, petroleum may continue to be formed almost 
indefinitely and yield a supply of fuel long aftor 
coal has become exhausted. Professor Meudeleef 
supports his views by producing artificial M trolouin 
in a manner similar to that by whioh he behoves Uio 
uatu.ru! product is made— Indian £nntiitcr,J*u. Jud. 
