304 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Nov. i, 1J93. 
Messrs. Newton & Co., of 3, Fleet Street, E.G., and 
thowe who would like to dive deeper into his fabciua- 
ting question of life in the BOil way consult with 
advantage the followin papera : — 
Winogradsky, in tha Amiak.i de VlMtitute Pwi- 
ic.iir, 1890, 
Munro, in the Journal of the llwjal Auricultural 
Soc 'telji of h'lif/land, December, 18:)2. 
Prankland (at Royal In.stitution) in yalare. 
.Tune i), 189i!. 
Watington, R., letter in Xalmr, vol. xliv., p. 190, 
on '■ Nitrification in the Soil." 
Those interested in economic bacteriology sever- 
ally might with advantage refer to — 
"Recent Contributions to the Chemistry and Bacte- 
riology of the Fermentation 1 ndu.stries," Cautor 
Lectwe.i, 1892, Society of Arts, London (price 1* ) ; 
or, Oiir Nitrrct. Fiiendu and Fofi, tj.l'.O.K., 18'ja, 
price 2.V. fid. 
In conclusion, I should like to say that the wliole 
subject ef Boil-organism, as also of bacteria generally 
is well worthy of the gardener's closest attention, 
seeing that these ort/anisins seem tj lie at the very 
base of all growth-force, as well as at the root of 
most, even if not of all, kinds of decomposition as it 
occurs in the garden. 
In a future piper, I shall like to draw further 
attention to tlic bai-ter a peculia- to Jieguminose 
vegetables, and which are supposed to possess the 
unique po«er of " fixing " free atmospheric nitrogen. 
F. W. liuBEiDGE. — Gardencm' Cluoniclc. 
SALE OF KANANGAMA ESTATl']. 
Mr. Divid Fairweather has, through Mr. W. D. 
Gibbon of the Central Land R'gii-t'y Oiliao. Kandy, 
Bold Kanangama tstite in llio Kelani Valley to 
the EilaTei Company, Limite J, (or £9,000 sterling. 
The estate is over 280 acres iu extent, moitly 
under tea. 
« 
A NEW TEA BREAKER. 
A Tor*! pUnter is lou 1 in hia pnises of a new 
tea breaker, inveiite 1 l)y Mr H. Sabo.v, ih i— in thosj 
parls— wellknovvu Kurseoi g KTgiueer. Siiicj using 
this braiker the plai tvir touud that halmimade -lU 
per ce it less PautJiu.;8 aud Uust than with hU fornicr 
maoliir e. Mr Sa'jow's breikcr costs 11200. — ,Suulli of 
India Ohswver. 
CHEMISTRY OP TEA. 
We have already urged upon the Tea planters of 
Ceylon the great advantage they would almost cer- 
tainly gain by the services of a qualified chemist, 
and we return to the subject, because of its para- 
mount importance, now that competition is so keen 
and IS increasing year by year. Planters who speak 
of tlie crop of the Island in millions of pounds may 
look complacently on snch comparatively pigiiiy 
production as that of Johore, Natal, and other countries 
that are making their debut in the held ; but, if they 
recall the rapid progress that Ceylon made from its 
first start, they would see reason to regard these 
small beginnings elsewhere as indicating great 
possibilities within a comparatively short space of 
time. Ceylon exports increased by leaps and bounds, 
and with that example before them, why should small 
beginnings elsewhere be despised? ±u short, the 
Ceylon planters have still to maintain the high 
position they have acquired, and that, too, with 
lands that are yielding up their fertility yea- by 
year, and w th markets more and more abundantly 
supplied as time goes on. 
Manv of the planters, most of them indeed, admit, 
though with more or less mental reservation, that 
their lands become weaker with each crop they produce 
which means that a time is certainly coming when 
their fertility will be much more reduced. From that 
admission, which no one will deny, there is an 
inevitable conclusion forced upon the mind, that a 
period of exhaustion is assuredly coming, whether' 
more or less distant may not be easily determin- 
able. Ceylon tea planters are divided between tbo«e 
who are cultivating coffee lands, that had alre&cly 
I been more or less exhausted before tea was pl&nteil 
iu them, and others who are cultivating new land^ 
that liad not been so impoverished. In the former, 
the need of manurial aid is in many cases already 
pressing, and with regard to all kucIi lauds, no time 
should bo lost in giving artificial help. Yet, where 
are the cultivators who are so situated who know, 
even approximately, what kind of aid tlieir soi s 
require Kvcn those planters who arecultivating vi-gin 
lands know not wliat artificial aid they require, nor 
how soon they may require it. — Ceylon " Independeul. ' 
♦ 
VARIOUS AGRICULTURAL NOTES. 
SEVCHEi.r.ns Ti-rtlk Oil. — A gentleman liaa leased 
I the Aid ibra Islands, in the neighbourhood of llie 
I Seychel e', in the Indian Ocean, and proposes to 
promote a company for utilising the eooriuous supply 
of turtle which the islands p ovide. A large profit 
is, he thinks, to be made in preserving and canning 
the turtle oil for shipment to Europe, where its et- 
cellent medicinal properties, which are (ir in ad- 
vance of cod-liver oil, woald probivhly be much ap- 
preciated.— //;//> 
Mack ano Nutmeok in Kanda.— The spice-growers 
on the island of Banda (Dutch Indies) bad a very 
prosperous year in 1891 owing to the rise iu the 
market value of nutmegs and mace. There are 
thirty-four nutmeg-plantations in the island, and the 
recent sale of two of these showed that the value 
of this kind of property has increased very largely. 
'I'he total < utput of nutmegs and mace in the islancla 
of the lianda group in 1891 was about 14,58() piculs. 
Tiie cultivation of nutmegs is extending to many of 
the neiglibouring islands, but the trees there are 
not yet in bearing. — Ibid. 
PKnKfME-YiEi.niNo Flowehs at Gbabse. — It is 
reported that the Violet crops in the south of 
Fiance this spring, have given only a mediocre re- 
sult, the output being not quite snfiicieut to satisfy 
the requirements of the local manufacturers. It 
seems that during the present, and in many previ- 
ous years, the Violet plants have sullered from a 
blight, which has inju'ed the Howeriiig. The Frencli 
and Algerian Geranium growers continue to com- 
plain of the competition to which they are being 
subjected by the distillers in Reunion, wlio.se output 
is increasing very rapidlj'. Almost every steamer 
that arrives at Marseilles brings Reunion Geranium 
oil, sometimes by thirty cases or more in one con- 
signment. The Orange trees at Grasse promise a 
good crop of flowers. .Jonquils a e now being ga- 
thered, but the prices realised for these flowers are 
so low, that they are gradually going out of use 
for perfumery purposes. — (lurdeniis' Cliioniilc. 
New and Curious Substances fuox Plants. — 
Amongst a number of obscure but chemically-in- 
{ terestiiig substances which have recently been ob- 
tained from plants, we notice the following :— From 
the root of Corydalis cava, M. Freund has isolated 
several alkaloids, namely, corydaline, bulbocapnine, 
and corycavine. G. Carrara has obtained conduran- 
gin from the bark of Gonolobus condurango ; this 
substance is supposed t) be identical with the zince- 
toxin from A.sclepias vincetoxicum. Schimmel, the 
great German essence manufacturer, has found cineole 
in the oil of Lavandula spica. Gerard has shown 
that the choluterol derived from phanerogamous 
plants is identical in physical and chemical properties 
with the phytosteriu of Hesse ; whilst tliat obtained 
from cryptogams is similar to the ergosterin of 
Tausit. From the Balliidonua, E. Merck has obtained 
another alkaloid, namely, apoatropine. Altogether, 
this plant «e!l deserves its other name of " Deadly 
Nightshade." Schmidt has found scopolamine in 
Hyoscyamus niger, Atropa belladonna, Datu'a stra- 
monium, and Duboisia myoporoides C. Sengerfiuds 
that Artemisia absiuthum contains large quantities 
of absinthin. From Licari kanali P. Barbier has 
isolated licarol, — Ibid. 
