April i, 1882. 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
907 
But the authority fr 
emancipated 
Died 
lich I take these gives 
24,C")1 
60.996 
Absolute decrease ... 85,047 
The difference between relative and absolute decrease 
is shown thus : - 
Registered arrivals ... 80,274 
Registered departures ... 73,067 
Difference .. 13,207 
The relative annual decrease, counting ~)\ years, is 
only 2 per cent, aud the absolute annual decrease is 
2i per cent. 
Death emancipates marly three limes as many as 
the emaneipati u fund, bu( for all that the death-rale 
ia low, only 17 per thousand per annum. At the ub >ve 
rate the benetits of the emancipation fund can reach 
only 7 per thousand annually. 
A. SCO IT-B LACK LAW. 
LIBERIAN COFFEE IN NEW GALWAY. 
New Calway, Feb. 27th, 1882. 
Dear Sir,— With reference to your notice of the 
Liberian eofl'oo in this district aud request for fur- 
ther particulars, I may state that four of the six 
plants given by you to Mr. Cotton aic doing fairly 
well. One of them produced soveral blossoms about 
five mouths ago, but, of the resulting "pingee," only 
one bids fair to arrive at maturity, the rest having 
been knocked off, or probahly rotted, during the ab- 
normally wet weather we have had during the past 
five or six months. 
The four surviving plants all look well, but have 
not made very rapid growth, being now only about 
3 feet high, though, perhaps, the fact of their being 
suriounded by Arabian coffee may, in some measure, 
be accountable for their slowness of growth. They 
are in a comparatively sheltered hollow amongst the 
limestone rocks, which, as you are aware, are very 
plentiful in this locality, and get all the benefit of 
the morning tun. I cannot speak with certainty as 
to the elevation, but. judging from the Wilson's Bun- 
galow resthona ■, distant by the road about three miles, 
I should say it is fully 4,300 feet. Particulars as to 
temperature ana rainfall 1 regret being unable to 
furnish, as no record has been kept. 
1 tried several coc ua plants in the same vicinity, 
but none of them succeeded. Can you give me in- 
formation about the wax-yielding tree of Brazil, 
seed of which was lately advertized ? [S-e Observer 
of 27th Kebruary.— Eu. C. O.] I would suggest 
that Government be asked to open an experimental 
nursery in the low-lying land between Fort Mc- 
Donald and Wilson's Bungalow. A few acres under 
the supervision of the Hakgilla superintendent would 
auliiee ami need not cost much. This is the more 
desirable, as the elevation aud position of the present 
gardens render them unsuitable fur such experiments. 
—Your, faithfully, ARTHUR J. RELLOW. 
COCOA (CACAO) CURING FOR MARKET. 
Matale, Feb. 28th. 
Oi.ai; Slit, — The first stage of cocoa curing has 
already been fully described, (see papo 810, where 
the process described is that observed on Pallakelly 
estate, Pumbara,) and nil who have can icd out Mr 
Volliu 's instructions are, I believe, satisfied with the 
result. 
The second, and not legn important is the drying. 
In bright clear weather, that is, of course, a simple 
mat tor ; and I have adopted Mr. Voll.ir's recommend, 
ation of 1 J to 2 days' exposure to tin- sun, on mats 
immediately after washing, with success. 
But the bright sunny days, tako all the year round, 
are few, and the cocoa beans won't keep wet in the 
ciftern for days (?) like parchment coffee : or with 
only the water dried off in heaps turned over fre- 
quently in the store. And the certain consequence 
of failuie to dry thoroughly alter washing is MILDEW, 
which is simply fatal to the sample— if a paying price 
is looked for ! How is cocoa to be dried in wi t 
weather is the important question. 
Pallikelle has Betiled that by the alteration of a 
coffee store into a "elerihew" with heated air if 
requisite (and it probably is requisite w hen the air is 
surcharged with moisture) worked by the steam-engine 
already on the spot. Ochers can utilize the water- 
wheel used in olden days to pulp coffee. 
Yet the expense of a "clerihew" store: the air- 
tight chamber, fans, belts, stove aud water-wheel (or 
steam engine or turbine) is considerable, and would 
be needed on a new cocoa estate, i. e., one not form- 
ing part of an old coffee estate. And some of these 
items even on an old coffee estate, where the "cleri- 
hew " process was not employed, which it rarely was 
at the elevation at which cocoa can be grown. 
Is there any way to lessen this pretty heavy out- 
lay ? I am inclined to think that there is, and that 
a modification, if modification be needed, of the 
" Sirocco " tea drying stove, and trays, will 
give us exactly what we want. Perhaps, Mr. Shan I 
would be kind enough to cure a bag or two of cocoa 
pro bono publico, and give us the result ? 
With a "Sirocco," to be used only in damp weather 
as a substitute for I.J or 2 days sun drying, there 
is only the cost of the stove itself, say R800, and 
providing a supply of fuel, which could be secured 
during the interval between the crops. In fact, where 
a stenn engine is employed to drive a "clerihew" 
fan, the supply of fuel would be much larger, I believe, 
to say nottiiug of what was required for the cleri- 
hew stove. 
A lower temperature for a longer time would have to 
be substituted, in the case of cocoa, for the brisk 
heat to which the tea in its last stage must be sub- 
jected ; but that, I presume, having never ?een the 
■'Sirocco " at work, is an easily managed affair and a 
mere matter of supply of fuel and regulating the 
draft.— Your?, etc.. KAK AO. 
CINCHONA HYBRIDITY :-" PUBESCENS." 
NEW PRODUCTS : — Cera Rubber. 
Di'AR Sir,— I have been very much interested in the 
various subjects before the Ceylon planting public of 
late, more especially what has been recently yvruteu 
relating to Cinchona Pubkscens. The subject of hybridity 
amoug ciuchonas ia surely far too much a settled 
question among practical men to require any further 
doubts or comments upon the fact that it does hybridize. 
If any one bo a doubter still, it would be well for him 
to reserve his opinion until he has tried a very simple 
experiment. All that is nquisito is simply to personally 
gather some seed from succirubra trees out of a field 
where this variety grows alone, and to personally gather 
another quantity from a field where officinalis aud wo i- 
rubra are growing interspersed with each oilier. Fein 
one ho will obtain few or no hybrids; from ihe other 
a large number — indeed a very large percentage. I 
feel so confident of this conclusion, founded as it is 
on my own experiments and from my experience in 
many ways; aud, among other facts, I may say 1 have 
often been able to distinguish iroin planta growing 
from their external character the source from whence 
tho so d was obtained. I know of clearings of Sucei- 
rubra in Ceylon with few hybrids up n (hem, an I 
of others with a largo number, ami, opou tbiting Uie 
parent plants, I have found that iuvariab'y Ihe hyorida 
have result' d, or othoiwiso, ahvajs a i 
proximity ol officinalis to tho parent men 
