March i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
S«7 
Mb. James Laboucheke, the chairman of the 
Tambrachorry Estates Company, Limited, says bark 
has been a great disappointment this year, and it 
is now selling at a prioe which no one contem- 
plated. There is no oortain indication of improve- 
ment in the next fow months, but at present the 
price pays no one to plant or grow. The quinine 
value of the cinchona sent home is grudually 
increasing ; the price of coiieo is " a great 
disappointment"; and "mining," the original 
purpose of the company, there is no prospect of 
renewing." — Times of India. 
Nkw USES fob Mexican FlBBE. — It is stated in 
tho October number of the Brkshmaker t that Mexican 
fibre, or lxtlc, (Agave heteracautba') , which has of 
hit-- been so largely used for scrubbing and nail- 
brushes, has, for many years pasts, been also used 
in tho manufacture of corsets, principally in Norfolk, 
Suffolk, and Essex, especially in the very large factory 
at Haverhill in Eases. It is also said to bo woven into 
cloth suitable for window-blinds, screens, &c., aud 
in hot climates, when it is used to keep the doors 
ami windows open at night, these blinds would bo 
very useful. Quite recently the fibre has found favour 
in unexpected quarters, as it is now being very 
largely used in the manufacture of artilical (lowers. 
Notwithstanding these uses, and others which may 
yet be found for it, tho great demand for it is still 
for hrushmakiug — a demand that is increasing both 
in this couutry and in every part of Europe. — (lar- 
dcners' Clivonivle. 
Thi PbODOCE OF Conic IN Spain. — The Cork trade 
in Spain seems to be in a flourishing state. The 
exportation to other parts of the Continent, as well 
as to Knglaud aud America, was greater last year 
than it lias beeu for several years past. It is stated 
that there has been the greatest demand for the 
superior kinds of corks, such as those for champagne 
hot I It s. tlorona is tbe most important centre in 
Spain for the production of cork, hundred of cork 
manufactories being scattered over tho province. In 
the town of Palatnos alone there are forty, and tho 
1 tportation thence is considerable. From Si- Felin 
uV Qutxols ("Cerona), it is reported that the Cork 
tree-, have been. suffering from the attacks of a pest 
which threatened to destroy them. A voracious 
caterpillar or worm has, it is reported, been attacking 
thl Cork forests in millions during the past year 
or two. In a very short space of time it stripped 
tho trees of all their leaves from the tips of the 
branches to the trunks. Those worms are now in 
their turn Haul to he attacked aud devoured "by 
IiTlOther insect, a speoien of beetle of a dark green 
colour, and armed with a horn, with which it cuts 
the worms up. Another insect, in the form of a 
orab U'aiiijrejo), pursues the worms, and destroys 
them ; aud thirdly, when the caterpillar has passed 
through its metamorphosis, aud tho butterflies have 
deposited their eggs, another iusect, until now un- 
known, attacks ami pierces the bags containing the 
new genus, and destroys thuui ; all of which will 
contribute, no doubt, to tbe oomplete extinction of 
these instructive caterpillars." — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Si- cm 1 sos or Sin. a it -i im ■ . The Sugar-cane has been 
cultivated lor so long a period that its native country 
is unknown. Benthsm statos that " we havo no 
Authentic record of any really wild statiou for the 
common Sug.irrnno.'' Further, according to tho Ac in 
/.'.'/'. tin for December, the Sugar-cane mo rarely 
pro luces ma luro sued* that no one appears to havo 
ever s. en them. In hot inical works the subjoct is 
often mentioned, hut. apparently only to restate tho 
fact that observers in all countries "havo never seou 
the semi of tho Sugar-cane." The authorities at 
kow hue heen working at this subject for several 
yenrs. It was lult that if a Siigar-cano producing 
ripe se.- Is could ho found, a most interesting and 
important lino of inquiry would he opened for im- 
proving the saccharine qualities of the Sugar-cane in 
the same way us that so succesil ully adopted with 
regard tg thy Hoot. t litliurt- • the Sugar-csne has 
been produced under cultivation solely by moans of 
buds and suckers. The improvement of the cane has 
therefore been restricted to chance variations occurr- 
ing at wide intervals, and probably escaping alto- 
gether the observation of the planter. Now all this 
is likely to bo changed. It appears that at Barbados 
seedlings of Sugar-canes have been successfully raised 
by Professor Harrison, and among these seedlings 
are several different kinds indicating hybridity of a 
definite sort, such as would be expected to arise 
from the crossing of different varieties. It is to be 
hoped this subjoct will be fully aud clearly followed 
up as a definite field of investigation. In any case 
the possibility of improving so important and valuable 
a plant as the Sugar-cane possess general interest.— 
(lardciiers' Clironicle. 
Wynaad Notes. — The New Year cannot be said 
to have opened particularly brightly for those whose 
interests are connected toith Coffee or Cinchona. On 
all sides the cry of " short crops " roaches us. The 
estimates have in almost every case been far above 
the results, although those estimates were pretty 
generally much below our usual average ; seven or 
eight tons perhaps off places which might fairly 
give twenty or thirty. But, as far as I can gather, 
we, in Wynaad, are really not worse off, if so badly, 
as some of our Planting brethren. Failure of crop 
is the rumour from the Hills, the Ouchteriony Valley, 
and from Ooorg, and, as if this disappointment were 
insufficient to damp our courage, "leaf" is break- 
ing out with disastrous vigor in almost every district. 
Our solo small spark of comfort rests on the present 
apparently steady tone of the coffee market, and the 
undoubtedly healthy appearance of the estates wher- 
ever the leaf disease has not cropped up. There is 
a really splendid show of wood, aud the spike, as 
far as we can at present judge, promises to be good ; 
of course, it all depends upon the blossoming showers, 
and we havo a most anxious heart-sickening time before 
us until our fate is decided. Tho low market for bark 
makes it hardly worth the harvesting, but, in spite 
of this discouragement, great quantities have been 
shipped from Wynaad this year, — a somewhat painful 
expedient with which to make up deficiency of coffee 
crop. Our next most severe trial has been a terrible 
epidemic amongst our cattle, which has fairly resisted 
our most strenuous efforts to treat it. It is diffioult 
to say what the disease actually is. But it seems 
to be a sort of complication of ills. It quite puzzled 
the Government Cattle Doctor, who took great 
interest in the matter, and even our own remedy, 
usually so elfoctive, i.e., liquid from the boiled-down 
meat of diseased animals, was quite useless. The 
symptons were those of riudorpest, and also of pleura 
pneumonia, but the action of the disease was ex- 
traordinarily rapid. Auimals, grazing comfortably in 
the morning, were dead before night, whilst those 
apparently well when penned at night would bo found 
lying dead in the morning. It is supposed that the iu- 
tection has beeu introduced from Mysore, principally 
by sheep. But it is, no doubt, mainly due to the 
niter carelessness of our cattle men, who for the 
smallest bribo will allow strange cattle to feed on the 
pasture with the herds in their own charge. The 
losses, in consequence, have been very severe, and we 
now hoar of cases iu which bullocks coming up for 
crop havo been seized, aud died on the road. Our 
coolies are being paid off on all sides much earlier 
than usual, as the crops are pretty nearly all finish- 
ed, and strict (economy is tho order of the day. 
I am delighted to hoar that sundry coffee thieves 
have been captured red handed ; If they have beeu 
i-onvi'lcd is quite anothor alTair. Probably not, the 
tender-heartodness of officials ovor these children of 
nature with a yearuiug for colfoo berries, is quite 
phenomenal, and a never-ceasing riddle to those from 
whom I lie coffee has heen stolen. Possibly there are 
two sides to the question, ami we, on account of our 
private •uin'orings, are prone to see forcibly but ouo 
of them. Any way it's a sort of comfort to known 
that the police on these oocisions have not laek«d 
in euargr. — U.i./r.n T< «<•-., Jan. -1st. 
