October i, 1881.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
335 
between Jaffna and India, urgently calls for measures 
that will diminish the evils resulting from it. 
It is idle to suppose that any individual effort to 
check its destruction will be successful. Palmirah 
timber has considerably risen in value and there is a 
struggle to make the largest fortune out of it. We 
are uot in a position to state the quantity which is 
utilised for local purposes : but the export is steadily 
increasing. The average number of trees per year being 
•J/,r_'7. Palmirah timber is exported in the shape of 
rafters. Calculating at the rate of five rafters per 
tree, not less than 569,675 trees unit have been felled 
from IS.)9 to 1879, for export alone. Where were 
these trees felled ? How is the ground which they 
occupied now utilized? All the trees barn been felled 
ovince and the answer to the other 
in the Nortl 
question is 
lected. Ou 
find this ti 
grow it and 
notexpensiv 
while the 1 
have waste 
nuts and in 
than you cai 
Paper F 
of Forests, 
to the valu 
wild plants 
The stems 0 
same kind u 
because the' 
which can 
tree, and e 
mechanical 
and it bus b 
to complete 
ing about 1 
occupies "b( 
mately yieh 
area for dr\ 
found availa 
of moisture 
carried any 
of carriage t 
fibre too ex 
vented the 
grows g 
patches. 
6i 
it th 
Strettel, 
Division 
. about 
got 
the 
dh 
is in most cases left neg- 
y do not the people, who 
ible, take the trouble to 
ivation. Its cultivation is 
litigated folly to negleot it, 
appearing. To those who 
ice is — throw in palmirah 
icy will be more valuable 
-Ceylon Patriot. 
Deputy Conservator 
has drawn attention 
by the stem of the 
er-making material, 
f Bengal yield the 
•to not been utilized 
i cent of moisture ; 
rid of by opening out the 
layers to the sun, or by 
finer system has be'n tried, 
about a fortnight is required 
jccss. As one stem (yield- 
j fibre) when opened out, 
feet of ground, and ulti- 
of dry finre, a far larger 
3 than would ordinarily be 
loubtless pre- 
ntain which 
There can be i 
Strettell remarked, that b 
only can au absolutely dry 
tain stems within eight 
likewise a w 
out ; for wh 
dissipation o 
strength in th 
discoloured — 
value. The 
Mr. Strettell 
estimate of the profits to be madi 
such au enterprise (over three laks of rupi 
square of plantain jungle), altogether too high, con- 
firmed that gentle ail's report as to the enormous 
growth of wdd plantains in the forests of the Chitta- 
gon^ Hills ; and suggested that the opinion of the 
Superintendent of the Botanic Garden should be asked. 
Dr. King thinks tint the proposi.l has a good deal 
of promise about it, and thai it might bo well worth 
while for Qovernmi qi to spend a little money in sending 
a sufficiently largo Bhipment to the London market 
to be sold for what it will fetch in small lots, 80 
that the new material may beoome generally known to 
the paper making interest. Ho, howov. r, a, h i s with 
the l onservator in thinking Mr. SircttoU'-. estimates 
too favourable. He further points out, somewhat 
QnnoaeUsrily it would neem, tint the Indian plantain 
must not be confounded with the Manilla plantain, 
the tibru of w hich, usually called inanilla hemp, is one 
of the most valuable fibres known, and is worth iu 
London from £30 to £40 a ton. The utilization of 
this hemp for paper fibre has, however, lately heen 
pressed on the 'Government of India — a proposal which, 
as regards feasibility, would be on a par with a sug. 
gestim to use silk for the manufacture of grain sa'dis. 
Tne Government of Bengal thinks that there, cannot 
bo any reasonable doubt as to the suitability of the 
wild plantain fibre for paper-making. The local Go- 
vernment will be prepared to give all reasonable assist- 
ance to any mercantile firm or individual wishing to 
try the experiment in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, or 
elsewhere iu Bengal. It will supply fiild plautaia 
stems free of co.-t, on the spot, for a reasonable time 
at the outset, and will arrange for future supplies at 
reasonable rates. It will also give such other a-si.-tance 
as may be deemed necessary and proper — Pioneer. 
Experimental Prunino — In another column will 
be 
ape 
this subject by Mr. McL. Carter, 
He writes further : — Of course the old style of merely 
clipping off the top and outside stray shoots with 
shears will never be resorted to again by old hands, 
and therefore perhaps the comparison is not of much 
good at the present day ; but as I have never read 
or seen the results of similar trials in any paper, 
the resul s of my experiment may be of some service 
to the rising generation, and guard them from revert- 
ing to the old method again." — Indian 'Pea Oo.Z'/te. 
Fermentation.— We much regret that our "devils" 
made some important mistakes in the priniing of the 
letter on this .-ubject by ''Tea House" in our last 
issue, which we now hasten to correct. For about 4 
per cent of ordinary rolled leaf, read 40 per cent of 
ordinary rolled- la/'. Again, for half inch (nvrs) n'eve 
read half inch (mesh) sieve. A correspondent, anent 
the method advocated by 'Tea House" writes: "I 
find this method answers admirably, as the tips do 
not get over-fermented." — Indian Tea Gazette. 
The extraordinary Wastefulness op the Nativk 
Systems of Farming may be nv a-ured by the follow- 
ing comparison drawn by Mr. Caird. The produce 
of cotton per acre in India is not one- filth of that 
in Egypt and America, and the quality brings but 
half the price. An acre of cotton-land in Ei;ypt 
well watered yields 4001b. of cotton worth £14 an 
acre : in India the aver 'ge yield is 70 lb, and the 
value to tho grower not more than 20s. The main 
distinction between the two modes of management is 
that in Egypt the cotton-crop is treated as a wet 
crop at all stages of its growth, while in India, where 
the climate is hotter, it is never irrigate!. This, 
however, is only one instance of the rich" harvest 
winch additional skill and enterprise can reap iu 
India. A far greater promise of wealth is offered by 
the introduction of new staples, rather than by tho 
improvement of existing staples. Sir R. Temple notices 
that in tho short period of his own service ha 
witnessed tho cieation and development of a valuable 
trade in jute, tia, and coffee. The annual v. due of 
that trade already exceeds ten million pounds. The 
tea-trade has been unusually depressed of hue, but 
there is every hope that it will reeover aud even 
expand into far greater dimensions. Successful efforts 
are at this moment being made to introduce Indian 
tea into tho Australia market. Au expert was laioly 
sent to visit the priucipal trade centres in America, 
with a view to opening up a trade with the United 
States and Canada. Iu sugar, tobacco— which already 
competes vigorously with American tobacco in the Itali- 
au market— cinchona-bark — from which quinine is 
derived, leather, and various kinds of forest produce, 
tho material for enlarging or creating new trades exists. 
In every direction a strong impulse is setting in 
towards the promotion of new employments suited to tha 
various capacities of tho people. — (JuurUrly Review. 
