ioi6 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[June i, 1882. 
bureau sh ill be the same aa that p iid to the Commissi- 
oner of Indian Affairs. 
"Sec. 5. All laws and parts of laws relating to the 
Department of Agriculture now in existence, as far aa 
the same are applicable and not in conflict with this 
Act, and only to far, are continued in lull force and 
effect." — Madras Mail, April 12> h. 
A New Carbolic Powder.— A good formula of 
producing a new cat bolic powder is given by a Berlin 
journal. Sixty parts of rosin and fifteen of stearine 
are melted together, aud when the mixture has cooled 
somewhat, but still liquid, twenty five part? of caib- 
olic acid are added. Eight hundred parts of pre- 
cipitated carbonate of lime are incorporated with the 
mixture, and reduced to a pulverulent condition. This 
powder is intended f of use in surgical cases, and may 
be applied with a sprinkler, and forms a good disin- 
fectant for general purposes. — Cil and Drug News. 
The Divi-Divi. — The Superintendent of the Go- 
vernment Farm, Kniandeiah, recently shipped a con- 
signment of Divi-Divi to the London market Divi- 
Divi is the fruit of a tree which has some resemblance 
to the tamarind. It is used for tanning purposes, 
and meets with a ready sale. The consignment con- 
sisted of 14 cwts., and realized £10 7-1, or close upon 
£15 the ton. From this sum, however, must be de- 
ducted t e charge for freight insurance, brokerage, &c , 
a deduction which br.ougnt down the balance to 
£6 17 7 ; which, at the rae of exchange at the time 
of the transaction, was equal to R83-1-1. The ex- 
penses of production in India had amounted to R29-7 ; 
accordingly the superintendent cleared a balance of 
E53-10-1. At these rates, for every ton of Divi-Divi 
sold in London the exporter might cnunt upon a 
profit of R80. The advantages of the cultiva ion of 
the Divi-Divi tree are that it" will grow in soil which 
is sandy and "contains little nourishment and is thus 
useless for average agricultural purposes, aud that 
consequently, as may be imagined, the tree needs 
little attention and care. The demand in England 
can be reckoned upon as a fixed element. — Englishman. 
Agricultural Exhibitions. — The ' Presidency of 
Madras took the lead in India in the mat er of 
Agricultural exhi itions. Opinions differ somewhat as 
to how far they were successful. Betweeu 1S55 and 
1S60, several exh bitions were held in the distric s ; 
Mr. Robertson, Superintendent of the Government 
Farms, thinks "they appeared tohaveproved>on the whole 
as satisfactory as could reasonably have beeu expected." 
Mr. Pennington, refering to exhibitions in Tinnevelly, 
said "the result (especially of the last) waB far from 
encouraging." Periodical JShows used to be held at 
Addanki in the Nellore district ; and the Revenue 
Board remark that "in the marked improvement in 
cattle resulting from these shows, exceptions are to 
be found to the general failure of such efforts in this 
country." Mr. Robertson presents Governmeut w ; th 
a comprehensive S'-heme for balding five district 
Exhibitions a year, till all the districts in the Madras 
Presidency shall have had th ir turn, and then holding 
a large exhibition in the capital. On these it is 
proposed to spend R15,000 a year, R. 3,000 for | 
each district. Tne Board propose oue large north- 
ern exhibition, and one l:irg southern exhibition 
to be held annually at a cost of R.8.0K) eich ; the 
site or scene of the exhibitions to be somewhere 
near the line of rail, and central. They offer to send 
further details of their scheme, if required. Perhaps 
a combination of the two schemes would be best. 
Let there be, in every year, an exhibition, the 
expenses of which are to be paid out of local funds 
and private subscriptions : and let only such exhibits 
an have gained prizes at these be permitted, and sen' at 
the expense of the Exhibition Fund, to compete at the 
groat Northern & Southern exhibitions. — Madras Times. 
The Latest Consignment of Government cinchona 
bark from the Nil.iii plantations sent to Eugland lor 
the purpose of be'ng manufactured into quinine, and 
i not for sale in the open, has been valued by the 
brokers at Is. 6d. a pound. This is a considerable 
falling off, compared with prices prevailing a short 
time ago.— South of liidi'i Observer. 
Quinine. — Considerable discussion has taken place 
of late in the United States, upon the question of 
the advisability of re-imposing a customs duty of ten 
per cent ou the salts of cinchona. From present appear- 
ances, it is extremely doubtful if this can be accom- 
plished. It would b j only fair, however, to remove 
the duty on imported materials used in their manu- 
facture, and efforts in this direction should receive 
the encouragement of all physicians and pharmacists. 
In this connection we may mention that popular 
journals have lately published numerous complaints 
that the benefit to the consumer, which was expected 
to follow a reduction in the price of quinine, con- 
sequent upon removal of import duty, hae not been 
exprienced as ye< ; that while the cost of quinine in 
bulk has greatly diminished, the price per grain, as 
paid by the consumer, has hardly varied from what 
it was when the price in bulk was nearly three 
times more than it is now. One result of this popular 
compliant has been the habit of buying quinine by 
the ounce f>r "family use" It is very likely that 
hirmful effects will sometimes follow the indiscrim- 
inate use of sulphate of quiuine as a household 
panacea, and it is equally true that a very general 
adoption of this custom would correspondingly dimin- 
ish the profits of the pharmacist. That this fact 
is appreciated may be inferred from the announce- 
ments published by some pharmcists in this neigh- 
bourhood of the price per grain for which they will 
■furnish the article, whether in powder, mixture, or 
pill. — New Remedies. 
Manure for Tea Estates in the Dun. — The Manager 
of the Dehra Dun lea Co 's estates has a very inter- 
esting paragraph in his last report on this subject, 
worthy the attention of those who possess tea proper- 
ties in that district. Mr. Nelson writes : — 
M anure. — This is becoming year by year a more 
seriou- question. 50 cartloads are required to manure 
an acre ; therefore to manure annuaUy one-third of 
the entire area under plant (or about 298 acres) 
14,900 cartloads are necessary. The Co 's cattlesbeds 
supply about 4,000. the Zemindary villages about 
f 2,000 and I cannot now purchase more than about 
2,000 loads from surrounding villages. M ny young 
gardens have sprung up in the Dun since 1876, and 
this has not only enhanced the value of manure, 
but made it much more difficult to obtain. The 
only way I can see out of this difficulty, is to throw 
nearly the whole of the Z j mindary into grazing lands, 
buy a large number of cattle, (all counted we have 
now only 182), build large cattle sheds, and keep a 
number of carts cartir.g in rough grass into the same, 
at all seasons of the year when such is procurable 
Unless some arrangement of this kind can be 
| made, it would be folly to go on increasing the 
area of the gardens. It may be objected to this 
that the Iosb in rents would not be compensated by 
the increase in the quantity of manure. To this I 
am not ai present able to give a satisfactory answer, 
but to me it is plain that either the tea must be 
sacrificed to the Z mindary or the Zemindary to the 
tea, as without manure the present results cannot be 
kept up. — Indian Tea Onzet'e. 
So it is even on the rich volcanic soil of Java, tea 
must be manured. As cattle are expensive to keep on 
the higher estates in Ceylon, artificial manures must be 
used and the railway by cheapening transit will render 
this possible, 
