THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [June i, 1881. 
cent on the paid up capital should be declared, making 
in all 100 per cent for the year. 
The surplus balance of R2, 176-6-4, we would pro- 
pose be carried forward. 
For further information we beg to refer you to the 
Manager's report annexed ; and, we may mention, that 
with the continued large consumption of bark, we 
think you may look forward to further satisfactory 
results. 
The estimates for the current season are — 
Expenditure R106.000 
Outturn of bark 300,000 lb. 
do tea 8,000 „ 
From the Manager's Eeport we have : — 
Cinchona Plantation.— From the 30th June, 301,6111b. 
of bark have been packed and despatched, which, 
with 51,051 lb. cut during the first-half of the year, 
gives a total of 352,6621b., and shews an increase of 
2,662 lb. over the revised estimate. At Naturing the 
new clearances of calisaya and hybrid plants are looking 
exceedingly well, and will, I have no doubt, turn 
out a success. In nurseries, there are 134,000 plants, 
of which 50,000 are calisaya : these will be ready to 
be planted out at the beginning of the next rains, 
and as they are at present looking very healthy, I 
think there is every chance of their doing well. In 
addition to these. 2-| seers of succirubra seed have 
been placed in frames : this should, under ordinary 
circumstances, yield a very large number of plants, 
which in time will be put out 4' x 4' on the land immedi- 
ately under the Gielle tea estate. 
Tea Plantation.— The quantity of tea made during the 
past season did not turn out so much as could have 
been desired. After the second flush, the bushes were 
badly blighted by green-fly, which very seriously 
affected the outturn: only 1,4151b. of tea were manu- 
factured, which however fetched good prices. About 
60 to 70 acres of extensions will be made this year, to 
the West and South-west of last'year's clearances, which 
will thus give a continuous block of 120 acres of new 
tea joining on to the 200 acres of tea that was planted 
three and four years ago. The seed is good hybrid, 
taken from well-known gardens in the Terai. 
Labor.— From tbe end of October, coolies began to 
come in, in large ncmbers from the hills. The two 
factories of Boomong and Nacnring, mustered between 
800 and 1,100 coolies daily, during December and 
January, which is about 250 more than we were able 
to obtain at this time last year. Many of these are 
however only cold-weather coolies, who begin leaving 
about the end of February or beginning of March ; 
I hope to be able to retain between 500 and 600 
coolies during the rains : this will still leave me rather 
short-handed, as the new clearances will require a 
very large amount of labor to keep them in anything 
like proper cultivation, in addition to which, barking 
has to be carried on during the whole of the rains. 
I shall do my utmost to keep as many coolies as 
possible. 
Salt as a Fertilizer. — My experience in the use 
of salt leads me to the following conclusions :— It 
keeps the land cool and moist. It neutralises drought. 
It exterminates all soil vermin. It prevents potato rot. 
It glazes and stiffens straw, preventing cliukling and 
rust. It keeps the ground in such condition that the 
berry of all kinds of grain fills plumply, however long- 
continued the hot and dry weather may be. — Country 
Paper. [In a circular, issued in 1871, and also one 
in September, 1879, we clearly shewed by most con- 
clusive experiments that salt prevented the potato 
disease. Why is it not used more extensively ? The 
Land laws, which empirics in the press, and wordy 
declaimera in chambers of agriculture denounce — do 
not clash with it. The true reason is— the cultivators 
are too lazy— indifferent. S. Downes&Co.] 
Sawdust.— The Building and Engineering Times point 
out that in America a very important use has been 
found for sawdust. By compression it is found to 
become sufficiently dense and compact to serve all the 
purposes for which the strongest wood is now required. 
It would seem impossible to obtain, even with the 
highest pressure, such cohesion as this ; but it is 
stated that the blocks of pressed sawdust are capable 
of standing a pressure of twenty-three tons to the 
square inch. This opens up quite a new market for 
sawdust, which has hitherto been a comparatively 
waste product. A more startling substitute still for 
planking has been manufactured from straw. It is 
asserted that the inventor can manufacture timber in 
any desired length from 12 feet and upward, and to 
32 inches in width, at a cost competing with the 
better grades of pine. — Overland Mail, April 1. 
White Ant Pest. — Various remedies have been 
suggested and tried from time to time to check the 
ravages caused by white ants on tea estates, but none 
have proved effectual. Constant hoeing, kerosine oil, 
lime, charcoal have all been tried without avail ; 
mustard cake is recommended in the Journal of the 
Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India as a 
remedy- We are told that. — " Many years ago these 
insects caused much depredation on plots of sugarcane 
of foreign kinds in the Society's garden. Various sup- 
posed remedies were ineffectually tried, but only one 
had any real effect, and that was mustard cake. This 
was applied in the first instance simply as a manure for 
the cane ; but it had quite unexpectedly the effect of 
introducing the red ant largely into the plantation, 
and these completely destroyed their white brethren, 
so much so indeed that we were not troubled again 
by the latter." — Indian Tea Gazette. 
Coca. — At a meeting of the Royal Botanic Society, 
Regent's Park, held last Saturday, Mr. G. J. Symons, 
F.R.S., in the chair, the candidates were balloted for 
and duly elected Fellows of the Society, and the names 
of nine others read for ballot at the next meeting. 
Upon the table was exhibited a fine flowering specimen 
of Erythoxylon coca, the "Coca" of South America, 
grown in the society's greenhouse. Professor Bentley 
said that, although in this country little was known of 
it, in South America its consumption was calculated 
at 40,000,0001b. per annum, and the natives considered 
it as much a necessity of life as tobacco in other coun- 
tries. Marvellous tales were told of the power of the 
coca leaf in allaying hunger and stimulating and sup- 
porting the body in extraordinary exertions, more e- 
specially in that of climbing heights and travelling over 
mountainous districts. — Home and Colonial Mail. 
Date Coffee. — A valued and reliable authority, who 
is always a long way in advance of the rest of the 
world, informs me that, as a set off to the Date 
Coffee Company, a firm of preserved fruit manufacturers 
intend to astonish us with something more delightful. 
Naturally, at the great marmalade works of this firm 
in Spain there are cartloads innumerable of orange 
pips, which have hitherto been a source of loss and 
vexation. It has, however, been suggested to these 
astute traders, by an equally astute Yankee, that they 
would make excellent ' ' coffee ! " The process is ex- 
tremely simple. The pips are first thoroughly washed 
in running water, they are then dried for several 
days beneath the rays of a Spanish sun, and then 
very carefully roasted. The great difficulty is in the 
washing, which must on no account be over done ; 
but if it be properly accomplished, my friend says, 
the result is a beverage of the most delightful 
aromatic flavour, rivalling even the best Assam tea. 
Out of compliment to the inventor, who very appro- 
priately is a vehement advocate of temperance, it will 
be called after him "Blank's Nectar." — Home and 
Colonial Mail. 
