5°° 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [December i, 1881 
Cinchona Culture in Madras. — Colonel Beddome's 
Report is the most elaborate and carefully complied, 
yet drawn up on the Madras Government Cinchona 
Gardens. He has since, as our readers know, visited 
Ceylon at the request of his Government, in order 
to note the condition and progress of our local Cin- 
chona enterprise and any improved methods of culture 
introduced. We fear Colonel Beddome was not greatly 
impressed by what he saw in Ceylon. We now learn 
that, before going on leave to England, Colonel Bed- 
dome has been ordered to complete his visits of in- 
spection by going to Darjeeling. We shall look wity 
interest for his reports on the Ceylon and Sikhim 
plantations. 
Jalap. — Not long ago samples of jalap, grown on 
the Nilgiris by Mr. Jamieson of the Government 
gardens there, were sent to some of the hospitals in 
Madras for trial, and the reports show that the jalap 
is likely to be largely used in the hospitals in this 
presidency, but that a little more care is necessary 
in the cultivation of the plant. Dr. Thompson, of 
the 1st district, says that the jalap administered to 
patients in his hospital had a pretty good effect 
upon them; Dr. Roberts of the 2nd district says that 
the jalap is in every way an active and efficient pur- 
gative. The Surgeon of the 4tb district says that the 
jalap was found to be efficient. The medical officers 
of the General Hospital and of the Penitentiary have 
not fully reported on the effects of the jalap, but 
there is no doubt th»t forthcoming reports will be as 
favorable as those sent in by the other officers. The 
Surgeon-General, with the Government of Madras, is 
of opinion that, if jalap can be grown on the Nil- 
giris at five or six annas per lb. , it will be an econo- 
mical measure for supplies to be sent to all the 
medical stores in India — the cost of jalap powder 
supplied from England is le 6d per lb. If jalap can 
be grown on the Nilgiris at 8 annas per lb. we see 
no reason why it should not be used in preference 
to English which, with exchange and other charges, 
ought to cost 14 annas per lb. — Madras Standard. 
Queensland Pine. — From a very interesting pamphlet 
by Mr. Walter Hill on the Queensland timber, we extract 
the subjoined note concerning Araucaria jBidiviUii, the 
Bunya Bunya Pine: — "A noble tree inhabiting the 
scrubs in the district between Brisbane and the Burnett 
rivers. In the 20th parallel it grows thickly over a 
portion of country in extent about thirty miles long 
and by twelve broad. The wood is not only very 
strong and good, but it is full of beautiful veins, 
and capable of being polished and worked with the 
greatest facility. The cones produced on the extreme 
upper branches, with their apex downwards, are large, 
measuring 9 to 12 inches in length, and 10 inches in 
diameter. On coming to maturity they readily shed 
their seeds, which are 2 to 2J inches long by 1 inch 
broad, sweet before being perfectly ripe, and after 
that resemble roasted chestnuts in taste. In accord- 
ance with regulations issued by the government, the 
tree is not allowed to be cut down by those who 
are licensed to fell timber on the Crown lands, the 
fruits being used as food by the aborigines. The trees 
produce some cones every year, but the principal 
harvest happens only every three years, when the 
blacks assemble from all quarters to feast on it. The 
food seems to have a fattening effect upon them, 
and they eat large quantities of it after roasting it 
at a fire. Contrary to their usual habits they some- 
times store up the Bunya nuts, hiding them in a water 
hole for a month or two. Here they germinate, and 
become offensive in taste to a white man's palate, 
but are considered by the blacks to have then 
acquired an improved flavour. The taste of the Bunya, 
when fresh, has been described as something between 
a chestnut and a raw potato." — Indian Forester. 
Tea Export to Australia from India and Cey- 
lon: — From the let to the 8th of the current month, 
Messrs. Watson and Co.'s Tea Report telle us that the 
quantity of tea, exported from Calcutta to Australia 
&nd New Zealand was 54,9001b., which, added to the 
378,4911b. exported from the 1st of May to the 30th 
September, gives a total of 433,391 lb. for this season. 
From the beginning of tbe year to the 27th Septem- 
ber, Ceylon has sent 103.9621b. to tbe Colonies, a 
much larger proportion relative to the amount of tea 
produced than was sent from India. — Englishman. 
The Cedars of Lebanon. — The Vienna PoliliscJie 
Correspondenz saye: — "The once famous cedar forest 
of Lebanon, formerly so extensive, has dwindled down 
to the dimensions of a mere thicket, numb-ring 
about 400 trees. To save it from complete des! ruc- 
tion and preserve it at least in its present extent, 
Rustem Pasha, the Governor-General of the Lebanon, 
has issued a special ordinance, containing a series of 
stringent regulations calculated to check, if not quite 
to put a stop to, the vandalism and carelessness of 
most travellers. It is expressly forbidden to put up 
tents or other kinds of shelter within the distric 
of the trees, or to light fires or to cook any pro 
visions in their vicinity. No one is allowed to' 
break off a bough or even a twig from the trees. 
It is forbidden to bring any beasts of burden, be 
they horses, mules, asses, or any kind of animal, 
within the district. Should oxen, sheep, goat, or 
other pasturage cattle bo found within the prescribed 
limits, they will be irredeemably confiscated."— Colonies 
and India. 
Tea Planting in America. — While our Indian Tea 
Planters are combining to force the products of their 
plantations into the American market, an individual 
planter " who has had fifteen years' experience in 
India," is trying to persuade the Americans th*t they 
can grow their own tea. Her Majesty's Secretary of 
Legation reports from Washington that the local 
Commissioner of Agriculture has, under the advice of 
a Mr. Jackson, the enterprising planter in question, 
selected a tract of land in Georgia for an experi- 
mental farm, on which the raising of tea on an 
extended scale will be carefully and thoroughly tried. 
Samples of the teas already produced by Mr. Jack- 
son have been sent to Thompson, Brothers, tea mer- 
chants, in Mincing Lane, London, to be examined; 
and the reply received is that "they represented teas 
of a high type, the flavour, though not strong, being 
remarkably fragrant. In appearance they resemble 
Indian tea, but the flavour is more like that of the 
finest Chinese black tea, or of the hill te^s of India." 
The importation of Virginian tobacco planters to 
Bengal is thus avenged. "Can we afford to pay our 
labourers four times as much as they do in the East- 
ern countries ?" is the pertinent question which Mr. 
Jackson puts to himself and his Americans. "Yes," 
replies the writer ; but it is doubtful whether his 
readers in India can agree with him. It is true that 
one coloured man or negro is said to do the work 
of two average coolies ; but even then labour is twice 
as expensive in Georgia as in Assam. Although, too, 
in some of the operations connected with tea plant- 
ing, such as hoeing and weeding, manual labour is 
said to be cheapened by the use of the plough (at 
which negroes are skilful) — a circumstance of which 
Indian planters might learn to take advantage — yet 
picking, which after all absorbs the greater part of 
the hand labour required in the various processes of 
tea production, cannot be completed by a fewer num- 
ber of hands in the one country than the other, for 
it is a process at which muscular strength does not 
tell. On the contrary, clever manipulation, which is 
the point of the Indian coolies, is what is wanted far 
more. — Pioneer. 
