744 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [May «. 1889. 
of India have been found, or are believed to be, 
almost without exception, allied to American ones 
— in some cases being almost identical with them ; 
so that there is every reason to presume that insecti- 
cides that have been found valuable in America 
will be also applicable in India. The castor oil plan- 
tations in one of the districts of this Presidency were 
found infested with certain " caterpillars," specimens 
of which were furnished to the Madras Central Museum 
for identification, where, in consultation with the In- 
dian Museum, Calcutta, they were identified as the 
pupa and larva of a moth achaea melicerta, which, 
being a leaf-feeder, it is believed, will be probably des- 
troyed easily by spraying on an insecticide, such at 
" London Purple," a refuse obtained in the manu- 
facture of aniline dyes, and consisting of lime, arse- 
nious acid, and carbonaceous matter, a compound com- 
bining cheapness with efficacy. The Agricultural De- 
partment havo received, through the Agency of the 
Central Museum, a supply of the " London Purple " 
and an American Force Pump for applying it, and we 
shall watch with interest the results of the experiments 
that the Department may carry out with these appli- 
aaces,-^- Madras Times, March 26th. 
MAURITIUS. 
(From the Commercial Gazette, llth March.) 
Port Louis, 9th March. 
Vanilla. — The market is firm and the demand very 
brisk for best qualities. We have to quote the sale 
of 300 kilos fine quality above 6 inches at R22 per 
kilo. A lot of 400 kilos from Seychelles, was offered 
for sale this week and sold at R20 per kilo. The 
heavy rains, we have experienced since last month 
were very unfavourable to the plantations. As we 
mention in our last the outturn of the coming crop 
will be inferior in quality to that of last year. 
Oofpee. — Only 10 bags from Colombo have arrived 
since our last. Good quality continues to sell at R50 
to R52 per 50 kilos, and mixed "triage" qualities 
are worth R30 to E40 per 50 kilos, accordiug to quality. 
Tobacco. — No arrival of Coringhy leaf to report and 
this description is selling according to quality from 
R120 to R130 per 50 kilos. Calcutta continues to 
fetch R105 to R106 per 50 kilos, according to quality. 
Cavendish " Kohinoor " has somewhat advanced and 
is worth today R200 to R204 and other descriptions 
are selling at from R180 to R192 per 50 kilos accord- 
ing to quality. Imports are 180 bales from Calcutta, 
10 cases from Marseilles and 46 cases and 10 bales 
from Reunion. - 
+ 
Paper from Sugarcane. — The Revue Seientifique 
states that it has long been known that the stalk 
of the sugar cane might be used in the produc- 
tion of a paper of the best quality. It is there- 
fore surprising that with the constant decline in 
the value of sugar owing to over-production, and 
the steadily increasing use of paper, it has never 
occurred to sugar planters to embark in the 
manufacture of paper as a supplement to sugar 
producing. The fibres of the cane give an ex- 
ce'lent pnper, and the necessary mechanical pro- 
cesses are easily carried out. A correspondent of 
the French National Acclimatisation Society re- 
ports that Mr. Walter Forbes, of New Orleans, has 
lately exhibited there a dozen samples of white 
paper made from the sugar-cane which were 
pronounced very good. The first quality costs 21 
fra. ppr 100 kilogrammes ; 500,000 kilos of the 
stalk would produce 10,000 kilos of paper worth 
2,100 frs. The Revue Seientifique concludes by re- 
commending the planters in the French sugar- 
producing oolonies to introduce paper-making.— 
O. Mail, Feb. 22nd, 
Aloes and the Castor Oil Plant are two 
plants of which much more might be made in 
Ceylon for commercial purposes. Gardens and 
fields of the castor-oil shrub are very common in 
India and it grows like a weed over large districts 
in Ceylon yielding seed full of oil, in abundance. 
So again with aloes : look at the latest report 
from Mauritius : — 
Aloe Fibre. — This product continues to draw great 
*ttention, and the manufacture is pushed to the ex- 
treme. The last sales made for good qualities were at 
R390 to 400 and for inferior qualities from RS50 to 
374 per ton. 
Coconut Oil. — It is not generally known amongst 
pharmacists that Liverpool presses and refines the 
greater part of the fine coconut oil used in England 
and on the Continent. Dried coconuts arrived here 
in cargoes of 600 or 700 tons from the South Sea 
Islands, and more recently from Java and Singapore, 
and are taken mostly by oue firm. Smith's coconut 
oil is quoted as the standard for quality and price 
in the Liverpool, London and Continental markets. 
The pressed cake is ground into meal, and is sold as a 
nutritious cattle-food— Chemist and Druggist, March 16th. 
Ceylon Tea and Coffee in Philadelphia. — 
We read in the Philadelphia, Times of 
February 26th : — Huyler's cocoa has a show ad- 
joining, and then comes a great array of Rae's 
olive oil from Leghorn. Just across is an array 
of Dutoh cocoa, and adjoining it a pyramid of salt 
bags from Alex. Kerr, Bros. & Co. The Favorite 
Cooking Extracts, including all the flavors ever 
heard of, make a handsome exhibit, and hundreds 
of bottles were given away. At the end of the 
aisle the Ceylon Pure Tea and Coffee exhibit is 
very attractive, and cups of the beverages are 
handed around. 
The Cinchona Plantations. — -When it was urged 
by the Chamber of Commerce two years aeo, that 
the Government should divest themselves of then 
cinchona plantations, in order that they might not 
be open to the charge of interference with private 
enterprise, one of the side issues of the question 
was, whether anybody could be found with capital 
sufficient to pay for the plantations at their full 
value in the present depressed state of the cinchona 
market. This difficulty was removed when a Syndi- 
cate at Madras offered recently to take all the estates 
off the hands of Government at a fair valuation. 
Government, however, declined the offer on the 
ground so often put forward before, viz., that there 
are many problems in cinchona cultivation still 
unsolved, and that it would be premature therefore 
to part with the estates which offer such excellent 
opportunities and facilities for experiment. — S. I. 
Observer. 
Rubies and Rascality. — The Pioneer states : — 
In the discussion which followed the reading of 
Mr. Streeter's paper on the Burma Ruby Mines 
at the Society of Arts recently, Sir Charles Bernard 
told a curious story of the way the mines of India 
are sometimes " oooked." Before Mr. 8treeter 
visited the mines at Mogok, he had met with a 
Shan trader who had come to London to dispose 
of some rubies. The rubies were Bold, and Mr. 
Streeter, ourious to know what the Sban did with 
his money in England, had his movements watched. 
The first thing he did was to go to Birmingham and 
lay out a considerable share in glass stoneB to 
take out to Siam and Burma for the purpose of 
" salting " the mines. When Mr. Streeter visited 
the Ruby Valley he found some of these identical 
stones being offered to British soldiers and officers 
as the genuine article. The trust of Thomas in 
human nature must have sustained a rude shock 
when he discovered that the gems got in so out- 
landish a spot as Mogok were nothing more than 
Birmingham glass. 
