634 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January 2, 1882. 
necessity of discrimination in the qualities of the coffee, 
which should be exported with the brands of the pro- 
ducers. Nothing will give an easier victory to our 
competitors than their finding our product badly quoted, 
discredited and charged not only with its real faults but 
also with underserved ones. 
To conclude, Sr. Salvador de Mendonca dwelt upon 
the diminution of the consumption of our coffee in the 
United States during the last few years. 
He attributed this diminution to three causes, fort- 
unately transitory ones. 
Firstly, to the augmentation of our production and 
the unexpected abundance of our crops, always difficult 
to foresee and creating embarrassment to the distributor 
of the product ; secondly, to the failure of important 
firms which imported the article, a fact which pro- 
duced a certain caution and restriction amongst the other 
importers ; and, finally, to the removal of population from 
the principal consuming centre. 
To this latter reason Sr. Salvador de Mendonca attaches 
move importance than is generally done when he sees 
that, whereas the consumption in the United States of 
coffee in general has increased, only that of our coffee 
has diminished. It is because our coffee, of strong 
qualities, is chiefly consumed in the Mississippi valley ; 
and as the agricultural population of that valley, from 
New Orleans to St. Paul in Minnesota, is gradually 
moving to the Far West, to open up new plantations, 
and those who take then- place and prefer, though at a 
higher cost, the lands already cultivated, are the new 
European emigrants, principally Irish, who drink little 
coffee as is demonstrated by the table of consumption 
per capita, there does not at present exist an equal 
demand for the article in that valley. The former con- 
sumers, who have moved away, have not yet at their 
disposal the same facilities of transport which they had 
before, and, besides, they are occupied in opening new 
industries and without complete relations with the 
markets whence they formerly supplied themselves. The 
new ones require yet to be acclimatized before using the 
same aliment. But as the climate of the Mississippi 
valley does not .change and the population of the United 
States is increasing in prodigious progression, it is to be 
believed that the consumption of coffee of the strong 
qualities will, within a very few years, increase instead 
of diminishing. 
Dried Bananas from Jamaica. — An attempt is being- 
made to find a market for this product, and there is 
no doubt, from a sample submitted to us' through the 
courtesy of Sir J. D. Hooker, that they will form an 
acceptable addition to the dessert-table, as they have 
the sweetness of the dried fig without the inconvenience 
of the numerous seed-like fruits. We have no doubt 
also that they have a considerable nutritive value. — 
Gardeners' Chronicle. [Since the days of Mr. Thurstan, , 
no one in Ceylon seems to have taken up the work of 
preparing dried plantains, which, packed in tins, were very 
acceptable to friends at " Home," and especially to 
Ceylon children sent to England for education. — Ed. 2'. A.] 
Exterminating Cockroaches. — I put 2 quarts of beer 
into a large vessel, and in one night I caught 500 full 
grown cockroaches, and bow many young ones I cannot 
tell. If I could have gone on for a few weeks in that 
fashion, I should soon have lessened their number, but 
after a few nights I could only catch about half a dozen, 
although the stokehole and plant-stove is swarming with 
them. I have often killed numbers of these pests when 
the floor lias been nearly black with them in the even- 
in '. but in the morning there has been very little sign 
of those t killed left, so I conclude they eat each other. 
I shall be glad if scone one can tell how to get rid of 
them wholesale. — 0. Orpbt, Cirencester. — Gardeners' 
Chronicle. 
The Bed Pinano Palm. — We extract the following 
from the Siraitx Times of August 25th: — "We leam 
that upon Mr. Murton's recently paying a visit to the 
habitat, in the Sirangoon district, of the Red Pinang 
Palm, described by him in the Gardener*' ChronicAe for 
December 18 last, he found that nearly all the finest 
specimens had been cut down by, as he was informed, 
the Parsee Theatrical Company. Mr. Murton has very 
properly called the attention of Government to this 
piece of Vandalism, and we are informed that steps will 
be at once taken for the preservation of this rare and 
beautiful palm. During his recent exploration of the 
Sirangoon district, Mr. Murton, we further learn, dis- 
covered another undeseribed species of Wdlughbeia, which 
affords a firstrate quality of indiarubber, and specimens 
are being prepared for transmission to Kew and the 
museum of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain." — 
Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Effects of Light ox Vegetation. — Herr Stebler has 
been making experiments lately on this subject, and finds 
that the germination of certain agricultural grasses, such 
as meadow grass (poa) is much more favoured by light 
than by heat. An experiment made with two groups, 
of 400 seeds each, of Poa nemoralis, showed that there 
germinated 62 per cent hi light, and 3 per cent in dark- 
ness. Similar results were made with Poa pratensis, 
showing 59 per cent germinating in fight, and 7 per cent 
in darkness. Sun light being a very variable force, ex- 
periments were further made with gas light, and with 
the same result — viz., that light favours the germination 
of certain seeds, especially grass, and that these germ- 
inate either not at all, or very scantily, in darkness. 
The fact was verified by Herr Stebler in a whole series 
of seeds, such as Festuca, Cynosurus, Alopeeurus, &c. 
In the case of seeds that germinate quickly and early, such 
as clover, beans, or peas, Heir Stebler thinks that light is 
probably not advantageous. — Journal of the Society of ArU. 
Sawdust as Manure. — Iu your answer to correspond- 
ents, you say, " Decomposed sawdust is a good manure, 
but useless when in a green state." I hsve a small 
farm in my own hands, and this does not agree with 
my experience. The sawdust of fine fir or any resinous 
wood is not only useless, it is positively injurious. 
Some years ago a fresh gardener came to a place near 
here. He found an old sawpit in the wood, where there 
were tons and tons of sawdust lying, and had been 
for more than fifty years ; everything looked thoroughly 
rotten. He thought it was a grand find for the garden, 
and said nothing to anyone (probably afraid of being 
forestalled), or he wouid have been told it was worse 
than useless ; but had a lot driven down, and dressed 
some plots in the garden. He utterly ruined these plots 
for a time." It was years and years before he could 
get rid of the sawdust and bring back the ground to its 
former fertility. This was the sawdust of fir ; the 
actual fibres of the wood had decomposed and gone 
into something like mould, leaving only the resin and 
the turpen tine. (Would you like a sack of it?) I won't 
condemn the sawdust of hard wood, because I know 
nothing about it, but I should doubt of its being of 
any value. Referring to the gardener and his find, do 
you think the canny Scotch farmers woidd have left 
the decayed sawdust lying in the wood if it had been 
worth the cartage? There is a good deal of sawdust 
now used instead of straw for bedding horses and'pigs;_ 
it is mostly fir sawdust. I would not put such stuff 
on my land, though I could get it for nothing. No 
doubt the sawdust is saturated with sewage and ammo- 
nia, but, when that is evaporated, it only leaves | 
resinous fibre behind. It is just like a dram of whisky 
to the land — gives it a start for a moment, but leaves 
it in a worse condition. Under the proposed new bill 
for unexhausted manures, no doubt some oue would be 
found to put a value on it, but I don't think it would be 
the gardener. — J. Dunbar Brander (Pitgavcnv, Elgin, 
-N.B.). — Field. 
