May i, 1882.} 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
973 
Riob. — The Bengal Government estimates the stocks 
of rice in and around Calcutta for the first week of 
March at 22,22,30$ maunds, of which eleven and a 
half, lakhs were available for"export. — Madras Times. 
The Shipments of Coffee from Venezuela to 
the United States in 1880 amounted bo 14,415,994 
pounds, against 2S,G7G,54l pounds in 1879— an in- 
crease of nearly 55 per cent. — Rio News. 
The Duties on Tea in the Australian Colonies 
vary from 3d per lb. in Victoria, New South Wales, 
and South Australia, to 4 1 in Western Australia aud 
New Zealand, and up toGdin Queensland and Tasmania. 
Conroy's Malt Coffee. — This preparation has been 
brought before the trade by Messrs. Evans, Sons & 
Co., of Liverpool, and the process of its manufacture 
has been devieed by I heir well-known chemist. Mr. 
M. Conroy, F.C.S. It contains no ingredients except 
malt and coffee, aud the former is certifierl by Mr. 
Edward Davies to contain malt diastase in an active 
form, that is we suppose, the malt has not been roasted 
with the cofl'ee. The combination appears to be a happy 
one, as cofl'ee is generally taken with starchy foods, 
the digestion of which, it may be expected, in this 
form, to aid. We can testify to the excellent flavour 
of coffee made from this compound, while the style in 
which it is put up for sale leaves nothing to be de- 
sired. — Chemist and Druggist. 
Oleum Ricini Insipidum. — Pharmacists in no way 
justify (heir existence in the community better than 
by improvements in the preparation of useful medicines, 
rendering them less nauseous or more convenient for 
administration. By producing a tasteless and odour- 
less castor oil Messrs. Allen & Hanburys may be con- 
gratulated on having achieved a really notable triumph 
of mind over matter. Their product certainly has no 
trace of odour, aud it is as free from taste as pure 
olive or almond oil. It is rather difficult to exactly 
appreciate this fact, and it is probable that the present 
generation will hardly fully understand what has been 
done for them. Castor oil has an evil reputation 
clinging to it, which it is impossible for any of us 
to forget as we approach it. It is only necessary, 
however, now to dismiss all prejudice from the mind 
and a dose of castor oil need no longer inspire the 
dread which clusters round its name in every house- 
hold. -Chemist ami Druggist. 
The " Glhrihkw " Process applied to Hay and 
Straw. — A Correspondent of the Loudon Times 
writes :— Two methods of artificially drying wet grass 
aud corn are now before the public. 15y years of labour 
and heavy expenditure of capital Mr. \V. A. Gibbs, 
of Gillwcll paik, Chingford, Essex, has perfectod his 
apparatus for instantaneously converting grass into hay, 
or as quickly drying grain in the straw, load by load, 
as fed into his hot-air machine, and finished in proper 
condition, open to inspection before being delivered 
upon the stack. And I believe that a Company of 
influential shareholders proposes to extend the use of 
these machine!* either by supplying them to hay and 
corn growers or by purchasing graes next summer and 
making it into first-quality hay undamaged by storms, 
which would be a profitable adventure in case of a 
rainy season. Lately, however, another system known 
as "stack-sucking "has beeu spoken of, in which the 
wet grass or corn is dealt with in bulk by its own 
fermentative heating in the stack, from n Inch tho ex- 
cess of heat and vapour is drawn out by an exhaust 
fan. The mechanical apparatus is of two kind*, port- 
able and fixed. The eucccss of Mr. Gibbs's plan ban 
been demonstrated on many forms, It remains to be 
shown on authoritative trial whether 1 he other in safe, 
economical, and satisfactory in the condition of the 
hay or corn treated by it, and if so, which of tho 
two systems may bo offered with the gTMfttt ( mod- 
cueo to fanners. 
Nils 
The Cost of conveying Machinery to the Gold 
PIA is thus noticed by tho 
iow of one case in which, 
in addition to draught cattle, two elephants were 
employed at the rate of a hundred rupees a day to tug 
up some heavy machinery. Tho draught cattle and 
supervision cost as much again, nnd this expenditure 
of two hundred rupees a day continued for no less 
than seven weeks, when the machinery arrived at its 
destination on the trunk road. Such expenses as these. 
id such difficulties, 
countered, and thos 
Mi 
and 
isses 
iper 
ting 
the Chief Commissioner 
specimens consisted of 144 
itisli Jiurma. The 
_ of the grass, weigh- 
ing 45 maunds, or 3,6901b. The grass had been col- 
lected by Mr. H. Buckle, Deputy Commissioner 
Maoobin. The upper half had been cut off and thrown 
away, and the lo'wer half crushed aud washed in 
water and dried, undergoing in the process a li ss in 
weight of G2 per cent. The dried grass, on receipt 
at the mills, was boiled in caustic soda at 20 per cent 
and bleached with bleaching powder at cent percent.' 
The paper made was pronounced a fair simple for a 
first trial, though the colour, it was said, did not 
"come up particularly good." The stuff is described 
as easy of treatment. The authorities of the mills 
suggest that better results might be obtained by greater 
care in the production of the fibre. — Pioneer. 
Wattles.— Someintcrestingfacts in connection with the 
wattle bark question .were elicited yesterday during the 
prosecution of the inquiries which are at present beintr 
instituted by the Tariff Commission relative to thf 
leather industries. Mr. hredenck Win. Reed, tanner 
endorsed the evidence given on the previous day 
relative to the rapidly- decreasing supply of the necessary 
article, and suggested as a remedy the imposition 0 f 
an export duty. Mr. Bosisto said that magnificent 
returns had been obtained on capital invested in 
wattle planting, and suggested that the tanners them- 
selves should embark in the cultivation of the trees. 
He further observed that the Government of the day 
had taken immediate action on the report of tho royal 
commission appointed to inquire into the question 
and acres of trees were planted along the railway 
lines. Subsequent Governments had ignored the com. 
mission's suggestions, and wattles were becoming scarce. 
In the Geelong district the trees planted would be 
ready for barking in three years' time, and would 
yield the Government 100 per cent, on their outlay.— 
Australasian. 
Improved FAHMINO at Madras.— A very interest- 
ing experiment has been attracting attention at Madras. 
Some land had been thrown out of cultivation in con- 
scquence of the famine. This land was taken up by 
Mr. Sabapathy Mudaliyar, who determined to try the 
effect of deep plonghirg, and manuring with Town 
Sewage, on the cotton and cholum orops, which are 
the ordinary staples of the district of Bellary, in which 
the experiment is being tried. Tho results vera to 
effective, that the neighbouring ryots hue been at once 
converted to Sabapathy Mndaliyar'a modo of cultivation, 
and they have gone to him with orders for .'100 ploughs' 
of the same description as that he himself had been 
using. This is a repetition of what wo have often found 
in Bengal, viz. that the ryot is wedded to his owu 
systems, only so long as he thmks those systems will 
give the best and most profitable results. Tho Indian 
cultivator is by no means blind to his own iuti rests 
and if he can bo convinced of tho valuo of a change' 
experience has shown, both in Bengal, Madras, nmi 
POOUO, tli.it he by no means slack to adopt that 
change.— Indian Daily f/ew$, 
