bc¥. 2, 1893.] TtiE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
2?3 
Our "Tropical Agriculturist" Gallery. — 
A planter expresses his great Batiafaotion with the 
portrait which aooompanies the September issue 
of our T.A. It is in the Btyle in which we hope 
all future portraits are to appear, though the 
execution must depend to some extent on the 
faichtulness and clearness of the photograph placed 
at our disposal. The collotype of Mr. R. B. 
Tytler which goes with this issue is one of 
the best portraits of this " father of Ceylon 
planters" we have ever seen, and dees him full 
justice — showing Mr. Tytler as he was in his 
prime and at his best, in the Colony. — Another 
planting correspondent expresses great satisfaction 
with the notice given of our deceased senior which 
accompanies the portrait in the September issue. 
Quinine and the People of India.— The 
Indian Government are certainly not failing in 
their duty to the people in respect of the cheap 
and free distribution of quinine. Not only is all 
the bark harvested in the Sikhim Government 
Gardens and a great deal of that at the Nilgiris 
manufactured into a febrifuge for local use ; but 
the importation of quinine within the last few 
years has nearly doubled. Thus in 1889-90, the 
total imports for India was 15,119 lb. while in 
1892-3 it was 32,158 lb. (and over 30,000 '-n -nch 
o! the two preceding years). This means 5t4,528 
oz.,— an appreciable quantity when added to Mr. 
Gammie's manufactured article ; but still, what 
is the total of both for a year among 300 millions 
of people. The United States— mainly in the 
Southern States -for one-filth the population con- 
sumes five times as much quinine I 
" Kbw Bulletin."— Three numbers are before 
us— those for April, May, June and July. The 
articles on Economic Botany and Tropical Horii- 
oulture are very serviceable to experts, but the 
general reader will feel greater interest in the 
miscellaneous notes which give an idea of the 
current work at Kew, The descriptions of new 
plants. Orchids, &o., render the Bulletin indispene- 
able to the systematic botanist. It is interesting 
to learn that the first head gardener at the famous 
garden of Buitsnzorg was trained at Kew. His 
narne was James Hooper, who on the recommenda- 
tion of Sir Joseph Baks joined the Embassy to 
China under Lord Amherst, and was appointed to 
Buitenzorg in 1817, and remained there as head 
gardener till 1830, when he left Java for his 
health, but died before reaching Europe. — 
Oardeners' Chronicle. 
Interehting Facts About Siuoccos.— The first sbip- 
tDBDt to Mauritius: It may inters st our readers (0 
know that Mr- Hartip, the local rt presenla'.ive of 
Meesra. Davidson & Co., ia about to ship by tbe 
next B. I. steamer a 4-tray sirocco to Mauritius to 
the order ol Mr. A. J. Oarson, the Superintendent of 
the GoveroCQeut Gardens, formerly ou OaunavareUa, 
BaJuUo, and Wfll-known to many old residents in 
that district. It would appear from this tbat the 
"experimental garden" of the Government of Mauritius 
must be much larger than wo had any idea of. There 
can be do doubt, we take it, tbat Maaritius c^u 
grow tea, for it bas s very forcing climate and a 
fertile soil ; but whether labour can be obtained cheap 
enough to make the enterprise a f-uecess ia another 
matter. Questioned ou the subject of siroccos today, 
Mr. Harris said : — "How many siroccos h»ve we iu 
work in variom parts of the world ? Wcli, it would 
be diffionlt for me to give the exact figures, but, 
roughly speaking, there are 650 now at wirk ia Oeylon, 
•nd there are, I think, just about '2,200 of vaiious 
kinds of siroccos in India, 30 that taking .Java into 
consideration tliere cannot be far short ot 3,000 alto- 
gether— not a bad record i'" 
So 
1 Tea Seed Oil, — It is well-known, ot course, 
I that the tea eeed is very juicy and oleaginous and 
a likely product to yield a useful oil frrely ; but 
wo can find no reference in any ot the books at 
hand, to the manutaolure or use ot, or even 
experiments with, tea seed oil. We are obliged to 
our correspondent " Inquirer " for sending ua the 
firbt phial specimen we have seen cf this oil and 
an expert to whom we have shown it, writes :— 
" I am glad to see a sample ot tea seed oil, I 
don't remember if this oil has any special qualities 
to give it a price in the market, over and above 
the level of about £20 per ton. This is about 
the price any simple, non-medicinal oil, would 
be sure to command in the London market. Here 
we know nothing ot the uses to 'which oils are 
applied, and there would be no local market for this 
oil until London declared what it would give for it." 
Who can tell us anything further about tea seed 
oil? Has any one had it tried in England? The 
specimen phial can be seen at our office. 
FiBBE-EXTBACTiNG MACHINE. — It would re- 
quire a much more definite report thon that 
which Mr. D. Morris was enabled to give on 
" Weiclier's Fibre Extracting Machine " before 
we should feel confidence in its practical euccesa. 
We have so often hopsd for a great success and 
been so often diseppointed. The Lieutenant 
Governor in ordering the report to be repro. 
duced from the " Kew Bulletin" for June in tbe 
Government Gazette has caused an account of the 
wel'-known Sanseviera Zeylanica to be reproduced 
from the " Oeylon Almanac " for 1853 1 This 
is going back a long way. Our file of the Tropical 
Agriculturist h&B much later information, including 
an account of a series of Colombo experiments 
made in the time of coffee depression, with a 
number of Ceylon-grown fibrous plants S. zeylanica, 
among the rrst. In summing up the chapter 
on "Fibre Plants" in the Agricultural Review 
for our '■ Handbook," we have just been wiiting 
after noticing the great Mexican industry and 
trade in "Sisal Hemp," that "when tea becomes 
less profitable, attention will be given to fibres 
and other new products," Dr. Trimen has told 
us nothing abcut his Peradeniya plants of " Sisal" 
(Agave rigida var, sisalana) sicce his Report of 
I 1890— are they still thriving ? 
Tea in Ceylon : Quantity and High Prices. 
— Mr. George Beck is the fortunate owner of two 
first-class tea plantations in Dimbula in the crop- 
ping and working of which the best mode of 
combining good heavy crops with high prices in 
the London market, has been exceptionally well 
illustrated. Mail after mail for a long time back 
I Henfold has stood in the select list ot high averages 
in tiie Ljndon Brokers' reports, while the quan- 
tity of tea mads per acre as we learn from the 
proprietor, is so abundant as to be equal to, if 
not above the ave rage for plantations of the came 
i altitude. Mr. Beok, we find, attributes some impor- 
I tance to his system of regular pruning every six months 
I or so ot oue-third his acreage; but wa suspect even 
! more is due to tbe fir.e soil on Henfold and St. 
I Regulus and still more to the exceptionally good 
j jilt ot the tea. Indeed the seed of a good deal of 
I the latter was speoiiilly imported as only one 
I remove from " indigenous," and therefore we 
j may take it that in addition to good management 
i and c ireful preparation, HenfcM with its good 
j soil owes its pre-eminence very much to the 
fine jat of its tea, not only in yielding heavy 
crops per acre, but also a superior quality of 
tea— a quality which as Lane experts declare, 
combines strength and fiavour to an exoeplionai 
degree, 
