6o2 
THE TROPICAL AGRlCULTUmSf. (March j, 1894. 
cooly up here ooats aboat R60, 80 and 113 per bead 
this for three yeirs — so that men work a piece of tea 
to the (ieath and then abaudon it, whereis with labont 
to apply manure every year to bad parte, it might be 
made to bold on, though perhaps, hardly at any great 
profit t 
Jlere however, I fiod some information in a letlpr 
and answer which appeared in Bome tea papr-r, the 
pith of which I will now give. Given good 6oil ond site 
it ia ben fioia), useless or harmful lo apply matiurr. 
(a) When planting out. 
(A) After first year of iiUntin?. 
(c) Any time before pluoking eorameuoe''. 
(d) Any time before the deterioration of the bushes 
comraences. 
2 If you have once com nionced manuring Bt any of 
the above periods is it nece-sa-y to keep up the Ircat- 
inent or may you drop it nt any of the ctageB. 
3 What is the best time of the yasr to niaouro. 
4 How close to the bashes without being iujurioas. 
5 How faraway without beirg useleas. 
6 How deep. 
7 Is there any benefit in pnttirg it very deep. 
Repfi/ Srriatim 
(a) ... Usele's 
(4) ... do 
(c) ... do 
(d) Beneficial, nay more ntcqsparv — some may differ, 
but remember he says given good so'l and ei'e. 
2 You may drop it but you'll drop the benefit as 
iva'l. 
3 From the let of January to the Slst December, as 
you hiive the manure and labour available. 
4 As close as the majority (if the ep ngle's. 
This will take the beet pirt of two days with a 
largish bush — A coloured man might do it in less lime 
bv himself but not Thakoor Dass Kiniya, K' iat or any 
of the other coolies. 
5 This is answered in the 4th. 
6 Just so that when the earth is filled over it, all 
will be as level as things were before. 
7 I_ should say not, because the rain "ill t>ke it 
down in time and to feed both upper and lower circles 
or rootlesd distinctly is not, at present part of our plan 
though it might be a good plan. 
To oonolnder the flower of my experience is that to 
mike the tea bnsh flush and fiouri.th most effectually 
to nourish it there is nothing thit can come np to a 
(<ood basketful of farmyard manure i(. cow dnng, 
(tabes and decayed straw. 10 or 12 teeta for an ordinary 
bush this is used on every garden more or leas, not the 
whole but p»rts. 
A cheap manure is 60 1b. sulphite of nmonia 40 lb- 
nitrate of soda, 250 lb. bone dust 250 lb. plaster and i 
bushel salt, 
Lima is a good strengthening manure— as you know. 
—South of India Observer, 
TEA-SEED OIL. 
Referring to our note on the offering of Ceylon 
tea-seed at the recent drug-auctions, a writer in the 
Lidi.tche Mercutir points out that CameUia oh-ifera ; 
Abel, a plant closely allied to the tea-shrub yielding 
the leaves of commerce, is largely cultivated in China 
for the sake of the pale bland oil prepared from its 
Reeds. These seeds contain a considerable proportion 
(10 to 44 per cent.) of oil of sapouine, a toxic ele- 
ment, and their oil, unless refined, is, therefore, uu- 
sLiited for eating. The pressed cakes^ containing the 
bulk of the saponijie, are used as a hair- wash, a fish- 
poison and an insecticide. The seeds of the Japanese 
camellia (C. japonica) yield an oil which excels as 
a lubricant. Of tea oil proper {i.e., oil from the 
seeds of Camellia theifera. Grriff.) two varieties are 
recognised — viz., the Chinese and the Assam 
oil. Chinese tea-seed oil is of the consistency of 
o'ive oil, pale yellow and inodorous. The oil has a 
Bp. gr. cf 0-917 to 0 927 at 51° O., ia insoluble in 
iilcohol, and congeals at - 5° C. (?). It is edible, very 
suitable (or soap-manufactnre, and forms a useful 
lubricant. Oil of Assam tea-seed grown in Java baa 
tipea investigated recently by Mr. L. van Itallie, city 
■pVarmaoiBt, of Rotterdam. The oil ia present in the 
bv^ .ked eeede (9 the estent of »bout 20 per ceatj aucl 
can be extracted by pc-trolcum cud eihet. It has 
en acrid tasts, a pale yellow colour, very tbin coo- 
sistenoy. > sp. gr. of 0 020 at 16"^, and congeals as 
- 12'='. Its iodine uumber (Biiidj is 88, and ite saponi- 
fication DuoDber 194. It cuutaii e 915 par cent of 
fatty aciln soluble io w»ter. The chief coD*tiin- 
cntE of the oil were palmitiuio aciJ (about Vi \><t 
cent), liqnefiable fatty acids (oleic and liuuleic aoids, 
about 72 ptr cent.), glycerine (about 8 pi r rent.; with 
traces of volatile fatty acida, Itcilhin, and pliyloeterin. 
It is not at all unlikely that tb<^re ma) be a fuiare 
for tea-seed oil in the Kuropean marketR, but in that 
case it will be nc'cessery to supply a better class of 
i^eoi than that which wns sbowu at the anctioni>. It 
is doubtful whether it would not be the better pUa 
to seHd over the oil pressed io Ceylon or India. It 
appears that isome of the merchaota to whom aaniple* 
of the tea-seed have bceo ai-nt are of opinion that 
the oil obtained from it would find a ready sale iu 
quauti'-.y, in London, at 20r to 2il . per ton a« a safe 
quotation. PJauters are advised t-j cru'h 5 (>r 10 tons 
of seed and send the oil over to L >ndoD, oo trial, 
in package not exceeding 10 cwt. each. "Let them," 
remarks one adviser, " pat a brand on the p»cka«;e8 
but avoid ior^icatiui; (hat it is tee-seed oil" (tic!) 
— C/temisI and Druggist. 
CLNCUONA PIONEBES. 
DR. SPRUCE (MAKKHAM. CROSS & LEDGER.) 
On another page of this iasue we record the death 
of a modest but aceomplishsd scientist, whose name 
will ever remain linked with those of the other 
pioneers of the greatest achievement of this century 
in the domain of practical economic culture of 
medicinal plants. Dr. Spruce, with his fellow- 
w6rkets, Markham, Ledger and Cross, belonged to 
that band of men of various nationalit es, embracing, 
as representatives of Britain, Dr. Royle and John 
Eliot Howard, of Holland, Mr. Teysmann and Dr. 
de Vry ; of France,' Dr. Weddell ; and of Oermany, 
Dr. Franz Junghuhn and Mr. Hasskarl, wbose 
efforts laid the foundation of the cinchona industry 
of India, Ceylon, and Java, which has been a boon 
to the health of millions and a source of prosperity 
to hundreds. The fact that the SucciriJna seeds, 
of which l>r. Spruce was the successful collector 
have produced the trees which, from a practi- 
cal manufacturing point of view, have since been 
proved the least valuable of the principal varieties 
of cinchona does nut iu tb» least dttr.ict from the 
merit of bis servict-e. At the time when the S^nth 
Arnerican cinchonas nere introiuced in'o the East 
our knowloc'ge of the coiMmercia! value and the 
botaniojl (livis:oas of the p'.inta was ixtremelj limited, 
nnd it wa? the purest chance thit caus'd the task 
of collecting the red variety to fall to Dr. Spruce. 
It is now, after a quarter of a century of expcriecce, 
an admitt d fact that the climate of Cey'on is not 
r ally so irell suited for cinchooa propagatioo as that 
of Java, or eveu of certain parts of India, and there 
era probtb'y few candiil planters in the British domi- 
nions who will not arknowladge that as a c'asf, their 
colleagues iu Java ha.e conducted the industry upon 
more ecientific lines and with a clearer precepiion 
of i's future development. Dr. Spruce has lived 
to know that the majority of the red bark trees 
raised from the seeds which he collected with 
so much toil in the moisture-reeking forests of 
Ecuador an Andes have met with the inevitable fate 
of weaker species— extermiQat ion. Still, if he had 
any precticil acquain'ance with the cicchona trade, 
he must alsa hiVi kni>wn that for nearly 25 years 
these trees lined their owners' pockets with gold, while 
be, without whose cervices their culture wo'jld pro- 
bably have been much less easily accomplished, was 
vt'getating in a Yorkshire village upon a paltry hun- 
dred a year as hia ehire of the spoil. The familiar 
lino about obtaining "great pensions and great praise," 
wbioh was true euoagh of the general to whom it was 
addreised, would certainly be quite misapplied to the 
cinchona-pioneers, at any rite to those who happened 
to work lor the British Government. Yet these men« 
whose work was ol m esseatitlly civilisieg and pesice' 
