252 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [September t, 1881. 
CALISAYA LEDGERIANA ON ANNFIELD. 
Annfield, Dikoya, '26th July 1881. 
Dear Sir, — The enclosed is Dr. Trimen's reply to 
my letter sending him specimens of one variety of 
the Annfield Calisayas — Calisaya Ledgeriana. — Yours 
truly, T. C. ANDERSON. 
Peradeniya, 25th July 1881. 
Dear Sik, — I think you are correct in calling this 
chinchona C. Ledgeriana. You will see that the form 
of the buds is quite that of the true plant. — In haste, 
yours faithfully, (Signed) Henry Trimen. 
T. C. Anderson, Esq. 
A Winged Seed. — A correspondent writes from Le- 
mastota : — "I send you a seed with ' wing' attached. 
The wing measures five inches across, and the length 
of each thread is rather more than 2J inches. The 
threads, are what the silk trade would know as six- 
deniers and in color and quality and fineness it sur- 
passes white novi silk, which is worth 35s per lb. 
If you bold it in the sunlight the brilliancy of the 
wing is surprising. Throw it up, and you will see 
it may have come from far. The coolies say it does 
not exist near here. What is it? Any use as anew 
product?" "W. F." reports on this as follows: — 
" (he single fruit with its pappus-like appendage is 
no doubt one out of a follicle of one of the Dogbanes 
(Apocynacese) and is likely from the Gaerandi-dool Sin. 
— Anodendron paniculatum A.D.O. or a member of that 
order, or of the Asclepiads, from the latter of which 
the floss of the Gcdatropis gigantea ha9 been collected 
but it has no staple to enable it to be mixed with 
cotton, &c. I do not think your correspondent could 
collect a lb. of this stuff in a district, and if he did 
it would be of no value that I know of." 
The Absorption and Scattering of Heat by 
Leaves. — In order to rightly understand the role of 
heat in the growth of plants, it is important to know 
what part of the heat rays which strike the leaves 
is absorbed by them, what part is thrown back and 
scattered, and what part passes through them to lower 
organs. An inquiry of this nature has been recently 
made by M. Maquenne. Of his method we will 
merely say that he used, as constant heat-source, a 
Bourbouze lamp (in which a platinum wire is kept 
glowing by a regulated mixture of coal gas and 
air) ; and for some experiments with low temperatures 
he employed Leslie's cubes. The results of the 
research are briefly as follows: — 1. All leaves scatter 
a part of the heat they receive vertically to their 
surface ; with the Bourbouze lamp this diffusion is. 
about 0.55 of the whole heat, with a Leslie cube a 
small percentage. 2. Generally the under side 
scatters more than the upper, but the reverse some- 
times occurs. 3. Leaves absorb a good deal of the 
heat from the Bourbouze lamp, the absorption being 
due to the presence of absorbing substances, especi- 
ally chlorophyll and water, in the tissue, and to the 
diffusion taking place internally at the surface of 
each cell ; it is generally greater at the upper side 
than at the lower. 4. Thick leaves absoib more than 
thin leaves. 6. The absoprtive power of leaves for 
the heat of boiling water is very nearly equal to 
that of lamp-black. 6. Leaves let heat pass through 
better the thinner or younger they are. 7. The radi- 
ating power of leaves with a great excess of tem- 
perature is pretty near that of lamp-black; it de- 
creases a little when the inclination increases. 8. The 
absorptive power of chlorophyll is, on an average, 
equal to that of water for rays of the Bourbouze 
lamp, and increases proportionately to withdrawal 
in one direction or the other, from the heat maxim- 
um. — London Times. 
CEYLON EXPORTS OF TEA AND CINCHONA. 
We have been asked by a merchant to afford 
some idea of the probable exports of cinchona bark 
and tea from Ceylon during the next four or five 
years. It is not an easy matter making such an 
estimate, and we have need rather to sit at the 
feet of visiting agents and merchants than to 
place before them our opinions on the subject with- 
out previous consultation. However, if our figures 
only provoke criticism and correction, their publica- 
tion will do good rather than harm, and for this 
reason we venture to give the following: — 
In respect of tea, the Customs returns shew that 
last year (1880) Ceylon exported 162,000 lb., and 
we find that already this year the export has 
exceeded this quantity : for the seven months prob- 
ably 170,000 lb. have been shipped. The total 
exports for 1881, therefore, ought to be between 
250,000 and 300,000 lb., but, even if the latter 
6gures be reached, the quantity is comparatively a 
mere trifle. It is only when Ceylon can send several 
millions of pounds per annum that Indian planters 
and home tea-dealers will care to take much notice 
of her as a tea-producing country. Our estimate is 
that in 1885 Ceylon should ship about 3,500,000 lb. 
of tea, and for the five calendar years ending with 
1886 our total exports may approximate to 11 
millions of lb. 
As regards cinchona bark, it is far more difficult 
to estimate the future exports. Last year we sent 
away 1,162,000 lb., and during the Beven months of 
1881 about 900,000 lb. have been shipped. It is 
impossible to keep up this rate of increase steadily, 
we believe; but so much depends on the state of 
the home market, the financial difficulties of plant- 
ers, and the extent to which the new system of 
shaving may be adopted, that nothing but the 
merest guess can be given of our exports during 
the next three or four years. We have in our 
Handbook ventured to anticipate that after 1884 
Ceylon should be able to send away every year be- 
tween 3J- and 4| million lb. of bark, and, under due 
encouragenent, to keep up this rate of export steadily 
for an indefinite period. Let us suppose that 1881 will 
close with a total export of 1,350,000 lb., and we can 
scarcely hope to see the million lb. much exceeded 
either in 1882 or 1883, but 1884 should probably 
see it nearly doubled, while during the following 
year a still large quantity of bark should be fit for 
stripping or cutting if the proprietors so required 
or desired, and the estimate of 3^ million lb. might 
then be attained. 
New Commercial Plants and Drugs, No. 4.— By 
Thomas Christy. London : Christy & Co. 1881. 
Among the commercial plants described by Mr. Christy 
are the Ceara, the Mangabeira, and the Apoeynaceous 
rubbers, Landolphias, from Western Africa, and Chinese 
and Japanese peppermint plants. Chaulmngra oil, as a 
subtitute for cod liver oil, varieties of bark, caroba 
leaves, Chian turpentine, and some plants already 
noticed in this Journal, are included under the head 
of new drugs. The descriptions of eleven new drugs 
from Japan, used for rheumatism, congestion, and 
many other diseases, conclude this part. One of them 
— mahng dah-rah-gay {Datura alba) is used by the 
natives of India for poisoning, and professional poisoners 
are often called dhatureas, on account of the use made 
of this drug. — J oruncil of the Society of Arts. 
