234 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1881, 
P.S. — As regards the idle reference in " Every- 
body's Column," 'go it Maria, &c.,' you know I have 
always made public my style of ■work &c. As 
regards crop, I have only 110 acres in bearing — 
yes, 6 cwt. per acre, and have already picked 400 
bushels parchment. Seeing is believing : let any sceptic 
come and see. 
CARDAMOMS FROM SEED. 
July 22nd, 1881. 
Dear Sir, — As I have heard doubts expressed as 
to whether cardamom bulbs raised from seed grown 
in Ceylon will fruit or not, I shall be much obliged 
if you, or any of your readers, will inform me on 
the subject.— Yours faithfully, PLANTER.. 
CORRECTIONS : PHORMIUM TENAX. 
Maturata, 22nd July 1831. 
Dear Sir, — In my last letter on the above subject 
there are one or two small errors which I write 
to correct. One sentenc9 reads: "The Maori name 
of the clean fibre is juto." Kindly read " feeto" 
instead. Again: for "The Lokomariro and Sairiri 
plains in the Middle Island" read "Tokomairiro and 
Tieari." I have no doubt the fault is mine, as my reputa- 
tion as a distinct writer is not a good one. — Yours truly, 
PHORMIUM TENAX. 
CEARA RUBBER SEEDS. 
Rangala, 23rd July 1881. 
Dear Sir, — For the information of "W. S." writing 
in your paper of Thursday last, I have just weighed 
an ounce of Ceara rubber seeds, which number 48. 
I am much pleased with the Tropical Agriculturist 
and enclose an order for it. L. B. 
RECEIPT FOR GUM FOR TEA PACKETS. 
{Indian Tea Gazette.) 
Dear Sir, — The following is a recipe for what we 
use to gum our Tea packets and labels with. A tea 
cup full of rice, the coarser the better, two tea cups 
of water. Bring the water to a boil, add the rice, 
keep stirring till the rice is thoroughly dissolved and 
fornix a pouring but thick substance: strain this through 
coarse cloth to make it smooth, apply it to your 
labels, &c, and put them in the sun to dry, or by 
the fire. It holds in damp weather, and has no odour, 
agreeable or otherwise. I hope "Griff" may find it 
useful.— Yours, ' "PLANTER." 
COCONUT CULTIVATION. 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE "MADRAS STANDARD." 
Dear Sir, — In one of your late issues you strongly 
advocate ' ' coconut cultivation" in Madras, as it 
would be a source of great revenue not only to the 
proprietors of the trees but also to Government. 
Admitting that the juice of the coconut tree is 
useful, yet, the fruit of the trees grown in the 
town cannot be used for curries or sweets, or in 
making oil as the coconuts grown on the Western 
Coast or in Ceylon. The fruit of the coconut tree 
cultivated in Madras is never used, and a reference 
to our cooks will verify my statement. The tender 
coconuts are extensively eaten by Hindus and others 
during the hot weather, and these are sold on the 
roadways and purchased by weary travellers, to 
whom they are welcome. I am glad that you have 
mooted the subject of coconut cultivation, and hope 
it will not end here, but that some persons who 
have funds at their command would carry out the 
suggestions contained in your article. Had I the 
m'ians, I would readily take the hint, rather than 
i Q vest in gold mining and bite my fingers in the 
end. T. 
CONSUMPTION AND MANUFACTURE OF 
QUININE. 
We publish on next page extracts relating to the con- 
sumption of quinine in the United States, and the 
manufacture of the drug in Italy. It will be seen 
that in 1879 there were imported into the United 
States 46,700 bales of cinchona bark and 228,348 oz. 
of quinine. Congress having in June of that year 
abolished the duty on the manufactured article, in 
1880 the figures were : — 416,998 oz. of quinine and 
only 32,800 bales of bark. That the action of Con- 
gress did not benefit the population much, however, 
is seen from the fact that the price of quinine re- 
mained at the same average, §2'66 per oz. : this was 
due to the fact of the duty being retained on the 
bark, and to the manufacture of the drug remaining 
in the hands of speculators. We hope Congress will 
remove the duty from the raw article as well, for, 
as we recently pointed out, the population of the 
States dwell for the most part at a low level above 
the sea, where febrifuges are more needed. As to 
nthomanufacture of quinine in Italy, it will be 
e ticed that not less than two-thirds of the English 
supply is derived from the Milan factory, Holland 
also getting half her supply from the same source. 
This is remarkable, considering what large growers 
of cinchona these two countries are. There is no- 
thing new to our readers in the report of Mr. van 
Eetvelde on the culture and manufacture in India. 
Germany it seems has five quinine mmuf ictories, the 
roost important being the Zimmer one at Frankfort, 
which has large estates in Java. 
ADULTERATED TEA. 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE "AGE." 
Sir, — The name of this firm having during the last 
few days been prominently brought before the public 
by Mr. Bowman, M.L.A., in connection with certain 
teas recently imported by the " S. S. Glamis " Castle, 
and as his statement, together with others which have 
appeared in public prints, are calculated to place ns 
in a false position, we are desirous of making a state- 
ment of the actual facts of the case, so far at least 
as they concern us individually. A consignment of 
teas per s.s. Brisbane was made to us by a Hong Kong 
firm of the highest repute, for sale on their account, 
and was brought on here from Sydney by the steamer 
"Glamis Castle." On its arrival, and acting in accord- 
ance with our instructions, we offered this parcel to 
the trade at auction, through Messrs. Fraser and Co., 
and cleared out the whole without reserve. The teas 
no doubt were of inferior quality, and realised cor- 
respondingly low prices, but which, we are not pre- 
pared to admit, represented the full intrinsic value 
of the consignment. After this, and observing the 
action taken by Mr. Bowman, and before endeavoring 
to deliver a single package, we took three general 
samples, numbered 1, 2, and 3 and submitted them to 
Mr. Kruse for analysis. His report, which is 
given herewith, shows the teas so far as re- 
presented by the samples to be free from adul- 
teration and certainly not unwholesome, no deleterious 
substance or mineral ingredients having been found 
to be present. At the same time, we also handed 
Mr. Kruse a sample (marked No. 4 in the report) 
of a parrel of 130 quarter-chests of gunpowder tea 
imported by another firm, and purchased by Mr. 
Bowman, M. L.A., on the 26th ult. From the ana- 
lysis of this compound it will be seen that it contained 
no less than 16 5 per cent of mineral substances, 
consisting of clay, turmeric and Prussian blue, and 
therefore highly detrimental to health. The purchase 
of this parcel, Mr. Bowman stated in the House, he 
passed on to another party : but whether this be the 
case or not, it does not materially alter the fact that 
