February i, 1882.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 689 
Indian Tea ^alks in Australia. — The Indian 
Daili/ Xcwh says:— "The Ca cut.ta Tea syndicate now 
Command a steady ti'ado of '2,0')' hdf-chests of tea 
per month, in addition to a not inconsid Table trade 
111 priva e bauds. Tea planters should try and 
maintain he good name of Indian teas in Australia, 
by shipments of good quality. There is no reason why 
the export s wild noo reach a limit of 20,000 half- 
chests a mo r h , if the same superiority over China 
tea, tliat now prevails, is allowed to continue." 
Barbadoes tab (says the Queemlander) rubbed on 
the nose, has been found in England to lie a com- 
plete cure for mange in dogs. A landowner near 
Manchester, t 
of cattle fron 
herd around him and 
ins;. The tar was s 
the cat'lo twice a w 
the quality it is he 
same means, preserved his herd 
id with, it might be 
able dogs and (rattle to 
hen m uige and pleuro- 
%sian. 4 
m Sand. — Under this 
i for July 1881 stales 
luetic separator which 
have a plentiful supply 
pneumonia are about. — . 
Magnetic Skparxtion 
ho mIim- tbe ScUidifia A 
that E 'ison has invent-, 
enables the valu ible ore in blacks aid (such as is common 
in Ceylon) to b; sepiated irom the valueless til anite 
iron. The siud fills from a height aid a magnet do- 
flec's the pure iron pirtieles. A m Chine which cost 
WOO is worked by a boy, and iron is obtained at 
a e is of §1 per ton, which s ills foe $6. The machine 
treats 100 tons of -aud per diem. The machine >s 
worked y a company at Long 1*1 md. Who will 
in'roluae and w nk a similar mchinsin ''eylon? 
A I'ltoiixBt.E Diminution in next Crip of San- 
tos Coffee is thin indicted in 1 he Rio New: — 
' "I'ln Pro"i>>cia rle Sd > Put oof the 2fith ultimo pub 
W lishes the op nion that the drouth and great heat 
| hat citised so m ich injury to the coffee orchards 
ft in bios torn that the next crop will b ; greatly diminishe I. 
And the folio « ing paragraph represents Rin as su tier- 
ing equdly from heat: — "'The Opin : do Liberal, of 
C imp nas, S. Pau'o, is informed by one of the most 
*i iuio irtaut planters in that vicinity that the next 
toffee crop nas ben greatly dam aged by the long- 
commm-d beat and dr >uth. The u-xt crop in that 
mun ci tali y. and n those adjoining, will be very light. 
Nearly all the first blossoms were killed, and if ihe 
dront ' continues, the la-t blossoming will suffer the 
lame disa-ler. Reports from the province of Rio de 
Janeno co nplain of the .-ame results. " 
K "T« :f.k Wars' Cofkek planting " is the title of 
Hft series of papers in the London O>ohn, the third of 
win. h appears in ihe issue for December 2nd. The 
writing, so t ir as we h ve seen is praetical aud prosiic 
enmiji and no ref-ren is in ido toauy p irtieular coll', e 
coiiniry. An exception is fou til in the paragragh intro- 
ducing 1 he third le'ter whieli we may quote as f Hows: — 
"The deep s' illness of the tropical jungles in the 
morn □ is very no iceable. They are full of a beauty 
ol their own which the exile never grows too f .miliar 
with or ce>s. s to admire as lie does many other 
Scene- in this far aw..y country. For a time after 
Uwn bite mist, hangs i.bmt in dense silvery veils, 
from which the higher clumps of trees stand nut 
Ike islands in some quiet anil-leas ocean, an 1 under 
this ca opy the dewdrops ban- thick and id'tt. ring 
0> all side*, Hemming the npnlers' webs with diamonds, 
am tii{ t which tn« K r ' a! red-bodied Bpidcr* show op 
like iubi-s whilst the white vapour circles about 
an. I il it- bi twoeu the tree steins id fanta tic shapes 
vitti every light breath of uir Under ituob ciroam- 
■tuiio s, and while the morning is still cold, the 
pUut r each dxy utirts for the soeuo of his labour." 
1119 
Leaf 1 'isra.se and Mb. Marshall Ward's Re- 
port : the Goon Effect of Heavy Continuous 
Rain. -It is a great pity planters do not more generally 
read Mr. Marshall Ward's report in txtemo. If they did, 
I think many statements which ; ppear in ) our paper 
would be modified For instance, in your issue of 
28th instant "the patriarch of Dimbula" is made to 
say that "Ward teils us that it is the rain which 
enables the enemy of colfee to spread." Quite true, 
but he also tells us that with rain spores should 
be produced within 3 weeks and m y coutinue lor 
5 or 6 wei'ks more If so, then, speaking only for 
my neighbourhood, I hold the worst to be over. We 
have had rainy weatner for over two months, and such 
leaves as have dropped during that time have ripen d 
very few spores. 30, if all the old spores have grown, 
as they ought to have done by now, and have no' pro- 
duced any great number (I speak compar .lively) to 
replace them, it may be presumed that not very 
many are now available for fresh growth. — li. H. 
Agricultural Education in Sweden : — A hint to 
Britain and to British Dependencies is found in the 
following from a review of Du Chaillu's new book in 
the in the Pioneer : — In one respect at least En- 
glishmen ' would do well in these times agricultural 
depression, to copy the example of Sweden. There 
are twenty-seven agricultural schools in that country, 
and they are considered to rank among her most useful 
institutions. They are said to have greatly encouraged 
the development and improvement of agriculture, and 
they are very popular with the farming i las-es. ' The 
students," says Du Chaillu, are required tor. main under 
instruction for two years ; the course of study compi 'Ze3 
the principles of agriculture and horticulture, the care 
of domestic animals, the improvement of breeds, draw- 
ing, surveying, drainage, carpenter aud smith's work 
c image- ma king, forestry, mathematics, agricultural 
chemistry, meteorology, vet< ri nary surg. ry, botany, a 
littl- of zoology and geology, butter aud cheese mak- 
ing, the art of building and of making fences and walls. 
Connected with some of the principal t-chools are dairy 
schools for women, where thev go through a year of 
butter and cheese-making. What would our tanners 
(and their landlords) give now to have enjoyed tho 
benelits of similar instruction in the day of theiryomh '! 
Ignorance has not proved to be their bl'ss, iuthe strug- 
gle against bad seasous and American competition. 
< 'arbon and Plumbago. — The London Magazine 
states: — "If we wish f r some substance which will 
catch fire from the smallest .-park, we rind that among 
■he thousands of bodies, simple aud compound, that 
exist in nature or are prod. iced by art, the most 
suitable for our purpose is puie carbon in tbe lorm 
of tinder. On the other hand, when we want a crucible 
that will bear without taking lire the tlame of the 
hottest furnace, we make it of- pure carbon in the 
form of plumbago. The wax mould of the electro- 
plater is a non-conductor of electricity, aud it is, there- 
fore, necessary to cover its surface with some good 
conducting material ; it is found that the best material 
is finely pulverized plumbago ; but this same element 
when crystallized, as iu the diamond, is the mott 
perfect of all uou conductors ! Carbon, in one state, 
is as soft as lamp black ; iu another it is the very 
hardest tubstance known ; in one it is brilliantly 
transparent, in another it is perfectly opaque ; in one 
it is the most costly ornament in the crowns of kings, 
in another it is shovelled tint ■■( the way U worthies? ' 
In all these ohangM iu the condition and properties 
of carbon Inw DO can be discovered, with the single 
I exception that the tempi ratuto at w hich the various 
kinds of charcoal will take tire aro iu lixod relation 
to the temperature at which the several kinds are 
prepared. this is of tho utmost importance to 
the manufacturers of gunpowder ; they have caused it 
to bo investigated with great e»ro. " 
