56o 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [February i, 1889. 
Securing Wood xo Concrete. — Herr Ludolff, 
a German Engineer, has patented the following 
method of securing wood flooring to concrete :— 
Two or three days after the cement has been laid 
down, and whilst it is still damp, thick sheets of 
jute are nailed to the floor with wrought-iron 
nails, 2 inches long and 4 inches apart. After 
the floor has completely dried, the parquetting or 
herring-bone parquetry is fastened down by means 
of the well-known paste of cheese and lime. — Indian 
Engineer, Jan. 2nd. 
The First Consignment op Cinchona Bark shipped 
to Europe for sale from the Nilgiris, and con- 
sequently from South India, was despatched from 
the Neddiwuttum plantations in July 1871 when 
3,188i lb. were shipped. In January 1872, 4,146 
lb. more were shipped for home ; but the first 
consignment of large bulk placed in the Home 
Market from the Nilgiris was in 1873, when 25,000 
lb. of bark were despatched to England. These 
shipments realised for old mossed Succirubra bark 
2s. 3d. per lb. for pharmaceutical preparations 
and 2s. 7d. per lb. for extract of quinine ; for small 
mossed bark 2s. 6d. and for unmossed bark 2s. lOd. 
per lb. — South of India Observer, Jan. 5th. [Prices 
about three times as high were obtained for some 
of the first consignments of bark from Ceylon.— Ed.] 
A Proposed Tea Trust. — The mania for forming 
monopolies is evidently not at an end, for we under- 
stand, according to the Calcutta Capital, that several 
gentlemen of means and standing are endeavouring 
to form a large tea trust. The stocks of the various 
tea companies at present quoted on the Exchange 
are always considered unsatisfactory as regards 
variations of price, and yet there are many concerns 
offering excellent returns to investors who, if they 
could feel that there was a fair chance of getting 
their money back should they desire to realise, 
would doubtless embark money in such ; but a 
study of the recorded transactions shows that many 
stocks have not been operated in for years, if at 
all. A tea trust, by spreading its money judiciously 
over a number of concerns, would get a very good 
return on the capital invested, and, if the Company 
floats, a substantial rise in several low-priced 
dividend-paying concerns may be expected, although 
it is to be hoped that we may not be flooded with 
monopolies, all of which tend to place a heavier 
burden on the consumer. — Public Opinion. 
Coca. — At the meeting of the Linnean Society, 
December 20th, a paper was read by Mr. D. Morris 
on the characteristics of plants included under 
Eryihroxylon coca, Lamarck, with a description of a 
new variety, which he proposed to name from its 
origin E. novo-granatense. He pointed out that the 
well-known coca plant had been noticed by botanists 
and travellers for the last three hundred years, and 
that although Clusius was generally regarded as the 
earliest writer on it, he had been anticipated by 
Nicholas Monardes in his ' Historia Medicinal,' 
published at Seville in 1580, and translated by 
Clusius, who printed it in a condensed form in his 
' Exoticorum Libri Decern ' in 1605. The plant was 
first described as a species by Lamarck, in the 
' Encyclopedic Methodique ' in 1786, from specimens 
brought by De Jussieu from Peru. Until lately the 
leaves had been used merely as a nervous stimulant, 
like opium in China and betel in the East Indies, 
but had latterly come into prominence as the source 
of cocaine, a valuable alkaloid possessing ancesthetic 
properties in contact with the mucous membrane. 
There were several climatic forms more or less dis- 
tinct, and after describing the typical plant Mr. 
Morris pointed out the characters by which K. novo- 
granatense might be distinguished. — The paper was 
ably criticised by Messrs. J. G. Baker, Koli'e, and 
T. Christy.— Athemwm. 
Artificial Coffee Beans are on the market. 
They consist of the roasted meal of various cereals 
massed with dextrin or some such substance. Two 
factories are said to exist in Cologne which offer 
the machinery and plant with formula; for 108Z, ; 
the apparatus turns out from 10 cwt. to 12 cwt. of 
coffee per day at about 11. a cwt. The factitious 
"berry" can only be recognised with great difficulty 
if the artificial coffee is mixed with genuine its 
detection is believed to be almost impossible. — 
Chemist and Druggist, Jan. 5th. 
A Eemaekable French Patent has been issued for 
preserving seeds and plants from the action" of 
parasites. The same application is believed to 
hasten the germination of the seeds. To protect 
the latter when placed in the ground they are 
steeped in antiseptic and fertilising liquids. Young 
plants may advantageously be watered by the same. 
The best liquid is stated to be composed as follows : 
— Acetate of aluminium, 15 parts ; acetate of lead, 
70 parts ; carbonate of lime, 15 parts. These are 
dissolved and mixed in water, and then used as 
stated above. — Dr. Taylor in Australasian. 
The Storing of Oxygen. — One of the industries 
now followed in London is that of separating and 
storing oxygen from the atmosphere. The curious 
industry has an application in the maturing 
of spirits and the improvement of beer. This is far 
from being the only application of pure oxygen, for 
which the price is good, but it is notable, and no 
doubt distillers and bonders will give heed to the 
discovery. It is said that the oxygen, in contact 
with spirits, accomplishes in a few days what is 
done by from three to five years by nature. The 
oxygen gets rid of the fusel oil quickly, and as 
this is the most injurious property of spirits, the 
consumer has an interest in the matter as well as 
the producer. A maturing effect is also produced 
on beer by admixture with oxygen, and obviously 
this gas is of high value for the whole tribe of 
effervescing mineral waters. — Court Journal. [This 
may be of use in Ceylon, by-and-bye. — Ed.] 
Pepper Cultivation. — Mr. Prior Palmer's letter 
(page 529) is interesting as showing that trees of the 
variety of Erythrina indica, which the Dutch called 
dadap, are used in the Eastern Archipelago as 
supports for pepper vines, a use for which we 
should take them to be better suited than as shade 
trees for coffee. The madre de cacao tree, how- 
ever, which Mr. Fraser of VVariapola obtained from 
Trinidad and cultivates as shade for his. cacao, 
is a far superior tree in beauty of stem and branches 
and luxuriance of foliage to the shabby dadap 
trees we saw in Java. Adverting to Mr. Martin's 
letter anent the Malabar pepper cultivated by him, 
we quote the report by Mr. W. O. Wambeek, of 
Eilandhu estate, Henaratgoda, on the specimens 
which Mr. Martin sent us : — 
" The pepper cuttings from Eden estate you sent 
were received this morning. The case contained about 
half-a-dozen cuttings with fruit, and I think they were 
more meant as specimens of the variety than for plant- 
f ing out. Although they are slightly dried up, I will 
put them out in a nice shady place close to my bun- 
galow, and will give tbem my personal attention. By 
the leaves I conclude they are the Malabar of a better 
variety than what I previously procured. I have beds 
ready with water close by, which could be utilized if 
you order any cuttings of this variety, and if they were 
planted out now in beds, carefully watered and 
shaded, they would be fit for transplanting for the 
S.-W. rains, and would come up better than putting 
out simple cuttings at that time as they would then 
be with root and throwing out new shoots. The largest 
leaf in the case is 9" x 6"." 
A thousand cuttings have been consequently or- 
dered, which we trust may turn out well and yield 
thousands of cuttings in their turn. 
