August i, 1893.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
lOI 
VAEIOUS AGRICULTURAL NOTES. 
The Oeangbs, of which no less than 156 025 cwt. 
were exported last year, are of two kinds the 
" mandarin " or loose ekinned, and the '• coolie," 
or tight skinned. The former oommanrfs better 
price than the latter, but iba average value of the 
two kinds ia about 0 41,, or a little under ^d. per 
lb. Thpse oranges like the fresh vegetables, and 
indeed the foodstuffs generally, are for the most 
part shipped to Hong Kong and the Straits Settle- 
ments. — Swatow Circular Report for 189^. 
Sawdust Building Bricks. — The sawdust is dried 
and screened, to remove the coarser particles, and 
is then mixed with cement, lime and sand in the 
following proportions ; One part cement, two 
parts lime, five parts sharp pand and two parts 
sawdust. The sawdust is first mixed dry with the 
cement and sand. The final mixture is pressed 
into blocks, which are said to be cheap and use- 
ful There ia as much lime and more than 
twice as much sand as sawdust in them. — Scientific 
American. 
TudSER Silk. — Some stimulus is likely to be 
given to the cultivation of tusser silk in the 
Central Provinces by the recent orders of the Chief 
Commiesioner, under which the feeding of the 
silk worms is to be accepted, with certain res- 
trictions, as a legitimate undertaking in Govern- 
ment forests. The industry, it seems, has hitherto 
been somewhat discouraged by the Forest Depart- 
ment, owing to the damage done by the insects 
to the trees, but Mr. C. E. Cleveland has shown 
that the pollarded saje trees required lor tusser 
cultivation can be worked for forest purposes upon 
a system of rotation, and that there is no reason 
why the silkworma should not be regularly cul- 
tivated upon areas marked out for the purpose. — 
Pioneer, June 18, 
" Chinese for Brazil"— Such is the head- 
ing of a rather startling announcement respect- 
ing the miasioa of Mr. Carlisle of Bio, who 
is on his way to China to engage 100,000 
Chinamen to work on the cofiee plantations 
in Brazil. There is nothing improbable in the 
whole story; for, we have no doubt the Brazil 
planters have had much trouble since Emancipation 
took tffect and we can quite believe that a million 
sacks of cofiee were lost last season for want of 
labour to gather the cherry and prepare the beans. 
The Chinese would revel in so hot a country as 
Brazil, and if 100,000 of them got settled through 
Mr. ( Brlifle, we suspect it would prove the begin- 
ning of a great change aflccling the whole South 
American continent with its vast unoccupied areas. 
The yellow man would probably prove during the 
nex*- century to be master of the situation. 
Wonders or ihe Cotton Plant. — The cotton 
plant, which has for so many centuries fuiniehed 
a large part of the population of the globe with 
olothing, Befms to be almost without limit in its 
nsefulnesB. From the seed a valuable oil is expressed, 
while the huskB form an article of food for cattle in 
the shape of cakes. From ihe lint which clings lo 
the seed after it has passed through the " gin" 
felt is made, while the oil extracted from the 
seed is applied to quite a large number of pur- 
poses. But, according to the British Consul, Mr. 
Portal, of Zanzibar, cotton seed is also capable 
of yielding sugar. A process has been discovered 
for extracting sugar from cotton-seed meal, and 
though the details of this process have not been 
discloHed, it is said that the product obtained is 
of very superior grade, being fifteen times sweeter 
than ouno sugar, and twenty times more so thin 
sugar made from beet. This indicates that swett- 
neas is not due to cune sugar, but to some chemical, 
— Public Opinion, 
Kew Boyal Gaiidens. — We have to acknowledge 
with thanks, the receipt from Government, of two 
numbers of Kew Bulletin :— (1) for February and 
March containing Paim weevil in British Honduras 
with two plates; New Orchids; Miscellaneous 
Notes ; (2) Appendix II, 1893, New Garden Plants 
of the year 1892." 
The Japan Tea Season is in full swing, says 
the Japan Weekly Mail of May 6th, the first two 
shipments to America having been made by the 
Ust two outgoinjz maiis, The Tea trade is in- 
creasing in volume, and purchases of new leaf 
are proceeding apace, but rates rule high. The 
Boyeld gives the following statistics of the volume 
and prices ruling in the tea trade of Yokohama 
for the past five years: — 
Arrivals. Sales. Prices. 
(Before 1st 
(Boxes.) (Kin.) shipment.) (After.) 
1892.. 266,611 .. 23,086,900 §40 to 43 $34 to 36 
1891.. 289,617 .. 24,195,000 37 to 40 31 to 33 
1890.. 257,940 .. 21,752,000 41 to 45 .So to 38 
1889.. 18,625,000 .. 14,481,500 45 to 47 — 
1888. . 18,175,000 fe'ii . . 17,998,000 43 to 45 — 
The Orange : its Medicinal Value. — A writer, 
in the Horticultural Times treating of " Toe Orange 
from a Dietetic and Commercial Point of View" 
has the following: — 
The orange ia rightly considered a most healthy 
fruit; the juice is slightly acid, refreshing, stomachic, 
aperient, antiputrid, and antiscorbutic. It may be 
given moderately to persons with fever or subject 
to biliousness, when the patient does not cough and 
has the bowels free from irritation. The orange is 
particularly wholesome when eaten fasting, but after 
meals it checks digestion frequently, especially when 
not ripe nor sweet. Delicate persons, then, should 
abstain from this fruit after meals. 
The custom in England and Crylon (?) is usually 
to eat fruit, inoluJing oranges, at the end of morning 
tea, or other meal: in America and on the Con- 
tinent of Europe, fruit and especially oranges form, 
more us-ually, a first course. 
Thb Coco Palm Weevil. — A Jaffna correspondent 
writes in a letter dated the 19th inst.: — " About here, 
coconut trees in full bearing, and generally ihe best 
bearing trees are nttacked by the red veevil. The pre- 
aer ce of the lurvs! is detected by s black spot from 
which there flows a n ddish liquid, sap or otherwise. 
1 am told (bat the larvee are killed Knd the trees saved 
by cutting a little iuto the tree at that spot, and apply- 
ing fire. I have also read that driving na la into the 
trees will have the same effect. The alkali t'f the rust 
flows with the sap and kills the worms without hurting 
the trees." It is commonly assiriedthat a coconut 
tree attacked by the red weevil can be saved by cutting 
a boll' in it, exTacting all the weevil trrubs that can be 
found, and fumitret ng the hole with the smoke of 
burned chillis to kill any trub? that may remain in the 
tree ; but we do not think there is any experienced 
coconut planter who believes in this remedy. We 
have tried it witliont success ; and we have also 
tried injecting turpentine into the tree with a 
fyringe, but this also did no good. Of the alleged 
remedy of driving nails into the tree we have net 
previously beard, and it would not be safe to try it 
without being sure of its efiicacy, becHuse if it should 
fail the larvae would mature into beetles and the 
beetles would in turn breed prceny to destroy more 
trees. As we have said before, wo believe the beat 
thing to he done with a tree attacked by the red 
weevil is to chop it in pieces, feed the fowls with all 
the grubs that can be found, and burn the remain-f 
of the tree eo a^ to destroy any weevils nr weevil 
grubs that may be concea'ed in the picoea. Our opi- 
nion if. that a tree attuckel !>> the red weevil is 
doomed any ^»ay, and that all that c»n be done is 
to prevent more trees from being dei-trnjed bj the 
progeny of the weevil and weevil grnbs which it con- 
tains. — "Catholio Me.'seuger." 
