Jan I, 1894.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
469 
ECHOES OF SCIENCE. 
Diamonds hnve been icanufactnrcd by tha French 
chemist, M. Gustavo Rouste^iU, by sirap'.y heating coal 
gas under ntmospberio prtsenre to a tempfraturo 
botweun 2,000 and 3,000 oe;^reea Cent. The gas w^s 
saturated with vapour of bei zir,e and passed iuto a 
hollow block of quicklirrio, in which a vcltaio nre was 
kept up. Unf oriunalo^y, the gns leake', but ttlll, 
after two honrp, he f i und both graphite and block 
diamonds or carboi ai'o. Ac Ijttne has jiivfn the 
ssme producta by the eame ireatmtnt, and he intends 
to try ccndenf-ed catburi ts deiived from coal ti r or 
petroleum residuum. The diaiiouds are very small, 
lURQUOisE has been found in the larilla mountains 
of DoLa Anna county, Ntw Mexico, as well nsinthe 
Burro mouaiains, Grant county, where the well-Known 
prehiaioric miueM are sitnited. In the laii Irf, too, 
there are signs of tld workings among the cacti and 
palmias of the arid soil. The matrix or mother rock 
is tracbyle as at Burros, and the gems are found in 
a shaft which has been sur.k in a crevice of the rock. 
It appears th.t the turquoise has bsen fi-rmedfiom 
kaolin by alteration, It occurs in noduhir masses 
nearly in iuch thick, and is green as well as blue in 
col'jur. Wheu first fonnd the tint is of magnificent 
ethereal b'tie, which dims on exposure. A peace of 
ftn indigo colour will fade to the tiot of a thruth's 
egg. That near the surface is ept to become wbito 
and friabl<>. If alter drying, the stene adheres to 
the tongue it is of little value. The MexicatB of 
the d strict believe that the " Old Pueblos " and 
Aztecs worked these mines, a';d it is certain that the 
Pueblos still prize the gem, which they call " Shoo- 
M-me," even more than the Navnjo Indi:>ns do The 
Apact.6 Indians onU it " Stth," aud care little forit. 
The Mex can nauieie " ch;ir-chu-a-cty," which is like 
the Aztec " Cha!-chi-hni-tl " of several authorc. 
Thtt fird in a house which wes recently traced to a 
burn ng glass or lens exposed to sunlight in one of 
the rooms is paral el by one occasioned in a New 
York warehcu'e by sparks coming from the fiiction 
of the hind whe(l:( of a van against the curb-ston^'. 
Another curirus case of fire is also reported from 
America. A jet of gas from a small leik in the 
fillings was igui el by the indacsd eleclrioity of a 
thunderstorm, which created a tiny spark in eoaie 
electric wires nenr the nas filtin;,s. Of.viocsly, had 
the electric wires not been run near the gas pipers 
there would not have been any danger of this fire. 
Sparks in underground nirts have been knowu to 
explode the mixture of gas and air in cavities near the 
gas-mains of our London streets. 
The grape harvest of France this year hai not been 
equalled during the last tiuiidred j e^irs, notwithst'iud- 
ing the attacks of three enemies, the oidium in April, 
mildew and the phylloxera. The extraordinary crop 
is due to the favourable climatic condiiioDS of the 
summer. Ttie flowerii g took place iu dry weather, 
aud the light rains of April loUowed by the drought of 
July ai.d Angupt were just what the vinrs wanted. 
We may add that we have seen both white and red 
grapes ripen this year on the walls and roofd of houses 
in the op^n air near London. 
There has been a plague of wiisps in France as well 
as in E'lgland durim» the past summer aud ihe occasiou 
wasseizeu by more than one naturnlist toob-crveand 
experiment on the in^eote. M. Milne-Eilwards fi/und 
that their orditary food having tailed at Pas-de-Calais 
the wasps fed on the sap of young elms ; end M. 
Msrchal sacci odod iu t ansforming a working wnep 
into one oapaulo of produeiug egga by giving it the 
proper nourifhtneut. — (j/obo. 
♦ 
THE QUEEiNSLAND STATE NURSERIES. 
[.Exttaot from the annual report of the Overseers at 
Mack ay ana Cairns.l 
.MACK AY. 
Msngco".— A very important matter will, as soon aa 
the irtigatiou work ti-c mpleio, bj got on with— viz., the 
propaKatioD of iho In lian maii^ots. The stocks for 
iu»rching Ihe-O upon are all ooutained iu tins and 
bQSus so tUal tliojf uau bo placed [uuuU lUei t^rowiiij,' 
trees ; these tins and boxes ivhich have to be watered 
every day to krep up the flow of sap necessary to the 
success of the iuarch, to carry the arrount reqoired, 
would hive er^tailed more lihor than could have been 
gi^ en, but the V. ater can then bo run close to where 
requ red. The imported plants have grown well, most 
of thera being now {,ood-s.ized trees, aud will, I expect, 
fruit this sr^ason. 
Sugar-cane, — Considering the want of rain, the five 
, varieties from Mauritius hFive grown well, and about 
18 tons of phmts have been tent out, the reports of 
which show thatthry have done remarkably well ; the 
greatest riemnnd being for the Rose Bamboo, Striped 
Bamtoo and Louzier. There me a large amount of 
Louzier, Bronchen Royee and Bronchen Blanche left. 
— iSur/ar Journal. 
♦ 
BANANAS IN QUEENSLAND. 
For 6ome years past the farmers who live in district 
On the seaboard in the North of the colony have been 
fhipping thii f uit to the southern markt:ts, aud after 
many reverses for s"me time, established a fairly 
remunerative trade there. This ltd to further extcn- 
feion of the area planted with consequently greit in- 
create in production, tlie quantity of bananas grown 
being on an average luily inree times grciter than in 
1889. This large increase in production, combined 
witti the quantity imported from other countries into 
Sydney end Melbourne, which was more thun could 
be properly tonsumtd iu those cities, has operated 
advarsely towaids the banana-plaiiter in Queensland, 
so reJucirg the price of the fruit as to render it 
almost unsaleable. The difBculties in connection with 
the freighting a Irnit so easily damaged, and requiring 
so mach space as the banana, have always been a 
difiiculty in the way of export, and would operate still 
mure adversely in a prolonged trausit. The recent 
shipment of this Iru.t to Vancouver has showa that 
uoder present conditions the banana is not available 
for distant cocsumers. 1 am not aware that mocb 
Buccets has attended the endeavors made to convert 
this Iruit into a more exportable form, either by 
preserving, drying or griodiiig it into flour. 
There were 3,059 acres planted uncer this crop in 
1892, being 838 Ihhs than in the year previous, but the 
average yield 4,667'43 dozen per acre in 1892, was 
so great in improvement on tie result for 1891, that 
thtj le.sser area iu the year first mentioned returned 
2,632,894 dozen more fruit to the grower than were 
o'Jtaued from the larger average in 1891. — Sugar 
Journal. 
YAEIOUS AGEICULTUBAL NOTES. 
Brazil Coffee Seed for East Africa. — 
Mr. Scoit Black. aw, in a letter which will appear 
further od, reports that-a emdll box of coffee seed 
is being sent from Brozil to Mr. W. H. Cowley 
in Germau East Alrica, as a trial. 
Coffee. — Messrs, I. A. Kucker & Eencraft 
report on Nov. 16th as follows : — 
Some five weeks ago we remarked, after reviewing 
the position, that we found it impossible to treat 
Vilnes such ts were then current as oiher than normal. 
Sitice then mild ccffees have advanced, say 6d to Is, 
aud Brazil cctfces several sliiliingg. It is roughly 
computed that about 7S per cent of the consuming 
trade is now done iu roasted blends of coffee, and 
of course as long as the retail prices remain unaltertd 
iu uu advancing market, the tendency is to use more 
of the inferior, less ot the superior descriptions. At 
a'l even's tlio fact remains that for some time the 
Values of the lower grides have been getting nearer 
and nearer to the ran^,e of prices ourroot for mild 
coffees. If, however, retail pricea are presently ad- 
v«nced, there may tnen be a better demand lor mild 
coffees. For the last few days msrkeia hara ruled 
quiet, with an easier tendency, today ihingi ace steady 
bat in the lou,< run probably the iii«rket n ruthui; 
BtioDjjtUoued lliaa otherwise bg bucIi r«aotwttfl< 
