8 5 2 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [June i, 1889. 
the Central Province for the operations of the local 
British Company is as great as it proved in the 
experience of the German Syndicate. A olearing 
intended to be opened near Matale after further 
inspection has been given up. The land offered by 
Mr.H. Fraser, by Mr. T. C. Owen, by Mr. Christie and 
others is all reported to be condemned as not up 
to the "tobacco" standard. It is very evident 
therefore that whatever may be done with the 
coarser kinds by natives, Ceylon is not to become 
a prominent tobacco grower under European 
auspices. Mr. Dickson's London Company, how- 
ever, in place of looking to the Central Province, 
are reported to be in treaty with Government for 
a grant of lowcountry land. This may lead to 
more extended business if only a suitable location 
is taken up. Meantime in Dumbara, the gentleman 
who first gave the present start to the product 
oontinues to cultivate 40 to 50 acres of tobaoco 
year by year with success. 
Another product pointed out this week as onoe 
more worthy of attention at this time is our 
old friend " Liberian Coffee " ! Alas how many 
planted it and after, what they deemed a full trial, 
gave it up ; and yet, were they not premature, may 
now be asked? For undoubtedly there are cases 
where Liberian coffee in the lowcountry is doing 
fairly well for its owners in the present season. 
Coorg coffee under shade after Mysore fashion is 
likely to have more than one trial in Ceylon ; but 
we regret to learn that ooffee in and out of shade 
in Dumbara is not doing so well as usual this year. 
Nutmegs too are being experimented with by 
several European planters, and it is claimed that 
remarkable success has attended their cultivation 
with manure added to the soil at an early date. 
Pepper must shortly come to the front in our 
exports : one parcel from a Ceylon plantation 
figured in a recent Mincing Lane sale. 
Fuel Combustion. — The following statement 
by a " bachelor of science " in an Australian 
contemporary is of practioal interest to a large 
number of teamakers : — 
In connection with the notorious waste of energy 
in even our best engines it is interesting to watch 
the strenuous efforts of scientific engineers to at least 
stop up every outlet within their power. Much 
attention is being given to the perfect combustion of 
fuel. The idea of using pulverized fuel is an old one, 
but till recently it has never been successfully carried 
out on a practical scale; but now Mr. McAuley, in 
the United States, has got into satisfactory working 
order a method by which powdered fuel can be per- 
fectly burnt. The coal, coke, or anthracite is ground 
in the new and interesting cyclone pulverizer, which 
consists essentially of a small 6trong chamber in which 
two very strong screws revolve in opposite directions 
opposite one another. By their revolution they pro- 
duce a terrific miniature cyclone in the space between. 
Any solid bodies dropped in are whirled about in 
such a fashion that they grind one another to the 
finest powder. The powdered fuel is fed in automatic, 
ally to the furnace, into which only just the right 
amount of air to burn the fuel is admitted, thus no heat 
is wasted in heating useleis air. The whole combustion 
of course is beautifully under control — a matter of im- 
portance to the m tailurgist. A very large saving of 
fuel is said to have been effected in some American 
ironworks where tba process has been applied. It is 
possible that before long we shall see all large consumers 
of fuel using coal sent out in the form of fine powder 
in bags. The idea of using powdered coal is only the 
logical outcome of the success than has attended the 
introduction of the two gaseous fuel producers, gas 
and water gas, and also the use of refuse petroleum 
oils. In some of the most recent oil-burning boilers 
steam for a four-horsepower engine can be got up in 
sixteen minutes. 
The Cultivation of Tobacco in Aberdeenshire.— 
Among the experiments conducted during the past 
year by Mr. Thomas Jamieson, Lecturer on Agri- 
culture in Aberdeen University, on the experimental 
farm at Glasterberry, Cults, by Aberdeen, has been 
that of Tobacco culture. From the results of the 
experiments it has been proved that the soil of Aber- 
deenshire will produce Tobacco of a quality which when 
manufactured meets with the appreciation of smokers. 
From the results obtained Professor Jamieson con- 
cludes that Tobacco might be easily grown, ripened, 
and cured in this country, and that with the skill 
that comes by experience, even the finer varieties might 
be successfully made. Plants were grown upon an ex- 
perimental plot, and on a larger scale in the field; 
they were late in being planted, yet the produce is 
described as being heavy, and though not thoroughly 
matured, it was manufactured into three forms of to- 
bacco and "smoked with appreciation." The trouble 
entailed to the grower and the Inland Revenue officers, 
however, by the frequent inspection of the crop, has' 
led to the abandonment of the experiments. W. K. 
— Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Plum Culture in Bosnia.— The most important 
product of Bosnia is Plums, and the food in a dried 
state is the principal article of export. The poorest 
peasant fsays Mr. Consul B. B. Freeman, of Serajevo) 
has a few Plum trees by his hovel, wealthy landowners 
never think of planting any other kind of tree by 
their country houses, and on the result of the Plum 
crop, more than any other, depends the well-being of 
the agricultural population. Accurate statistics of the 
crop are not available, but in a good season about 
40,000 tons of dried fruits are exported, representing 
a money value exceeding £200,000. The fruit is not 
only grown for dessert, however ; a large quantity is 
consumed in the making of a spirit commonly drunk 
in the country, and known as Slibovitz. The Bosnians, 
moreover, are great makers of jam, and they prepare 
from the Plum a large quantity, which is manufactured 
without sugar. The export of dried fruit is almost 
entirely to Austria and Hungary; it does not appear 
that any of it comes to this country. Possibly, how- 
ever, a market may hereafter be found for it in Eng- 
land ; for the product is increasing, and the local 
Government has turned its attention to the establish- 
ment of drying ovens of a superior description to 
those hitherto in use. A large proportion of the crop 
of 1887 is said to have been lost, owing to the pri- 
mitive and inefficient way in which the fruit was 
dried. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Dbug Sales. — In the Mincing Lane reports during 
the past fortnight some interesting facts connected 
with vegetable products appear. Thus it is stated 
that six bales of Deer's-tongue leaves (Liatris odora- 
tissima) were offered for sale at 3d. per pound. Some 
time ago it is said they were becoming popular as a 
substitute for Tonquin Beans. In America the plant 
is known as Wild Yanilla and is used for scenting 
cigars and Tobacco. If the plant is trodden upon the 
aroma is abundantly given off. This aroma is due to 
the same crystallizable odorous principle which is 
found in the Tonquin Bean and the sweet-soented 
Vernal-grass. It is stated that in America, irnny of 
the flavouring fruit essences and vegetable perfumes 
are obtained from the Liatris leaves. Under rhe head 
of Gum asafoetida, which our readers are aware is a 
foetid gum obtained from two or more speoits of Ferula 
from Kashmir and Per ia, we reaa the following start- 
ling announcement : — "It is said that a peculiar adultera- 
tion of this article has recently been observed in Ham- 
burg, where wholesale drug firms offered to their Swedish 
customers a gum from trees which was composed of 
crystallised gypsum coated with true asafoetida, the 
amount of adulteration varying from 20 to 80 per 
cent." Of Strophanthus seeds, it is reported that large 
quantities have recently been imported and that good 
greenish seeds have realised 4s per pound. A good 
deal of uncertainty prevails as to the botanical identity 
of the species yielding the Strophanthus seeds of 
commerce, some kinds being more pointed than others 
or of different tints, or smooth or hairy. — Gardeners' 
Chronicle. 
