April i, B94.J tHR TROPtCAL AGRICULTURIST. 
701 
The New Peradeniya Estate Factory. — The tea 
factoiy on this well-knowE estate, which was hnriit 
down verj re 'entiv, the machinery being al! damaged, 
haa been got reody for work again. The work was 
given to Mtssra. Walker, Sona & Co., who have com- 
pleted the re-fitting of the machinery in the very 
ehort time of fifty days. Mestrs. Walijer, Sons & Co. 
arc to be ccngrutalated on having such a competent 
staff of eiigiucers and workmec. On the day of 
complet'on Jilr. Bernard Stave, who is in charge of 
the titters, hoisttd a flag anl gave the workmen a 
treat for the manner iu which thev hal enabled him 
to complete thew'irk so rapidly. — Cor. 
Thr Coffee Upcoontrt. — Bogawan'alawa, March 
16: — Excellv^nt blos-oms all over Dikoja where there 
is ai.y decent-looking crliee. Morar, Therasia, Kil- 
larney and Bogawanne are a sight to see, and the 
colfee looks «o strong and well it reminds one of the 
old days. The weatlierfor setting the blosFom has 
been all ttat could be desired, aid the lucky pro- 
prietors of coffee will certainly score decidedly this 
year; while tl:e railway returcs from Hatton to 
Colombo tor coffi e will in this coming season, Octo- 
ber, 1894j to Fe':ruary, 1695, show, I should say, 
nearly ten times the amount of cofleo carried to 
February 28ih, 1894.— Cor. 
B.OYAL Gardens, Kew. Bulletin of Miscellaneona 
Inforuaaiion tor December 1893 has the following 
conttntt : — Rojt Dis ase of Sugar-cane, Peruvian 
Colonisation, Hor ijultural in Cornwall, Bo anical 
Station Domiijicn, St. "Vincent Arrowroot, Coft'ee-leaf 
D aease iu Gential Afiica (Preventive Measures), 
West African Boticic S'-at'ous, and Misoellaneoua 
Notes. Bullttinot Mifcel'aneous information App.-n- 
dix Ilf.— 1893. Contents: — List of Siaffs in Rolanital 
Departments at Home, nn i iu India and the Colonies. 
Bulletin of Miscellaneous information for January 
has lor contents : — Gumming of the Sugar-cane ; 
Decades Keweases, VII ; ^Ye^•t African Mahogany ; 
Tubtroua Labiat* ; Veitch Col eotion ; Diagnoses 
Afiicanae, I ; Mifcillaneous Notes. 
The Alton Estate Factory Fire: Further Parti- 
culars. — A. ton estate tea factory w s aaen by the 
tea mak'-r to be in flames shortly after 9 p.m. on 
March 9th, and before the coolies arrived the whole 
of the two upper floors were iu flames. All that 
could be saved were the estate check-rolls and books 
out of the otfice, as by that time the two upper 
floors of the old factory were blazing, and the smoke 
and heat prevented anyone's approaching. By mid- 
night there was not a stick standing, the store and 
all its surroundings being completely destroyed. 
The tool store, which caught fire, was saved by the 
coolies with buckets. The hose being inside the 
factory it wti,s impossible to get at it. Firing and 
all work bad finished at 8 p.m., and no sign of fire 
was visible then. It is impossible to say .how the 
fire commenced, but somehow fire got from the No. 1 
sirocco chimney into the withering loft. The factory, 
machinery, and tea in the store was fully insured, 
but the inconvenience and loss during the next nine 
months will be very great. — Cor. 
Thk Cinchona Mabket and Ceylon. — In an 
interview with the representative of a coolemporary 
Mr. C. Bohr.nger is reported to have said that in 
Java so much oinchona had been plantid at the 
start that they could go on uprooting for a long 
time to come. The analyeia was inoreasirg, and, if 
they went on increasing the quantity as well, of 
course it would make a terrible difierenca from 
what things formerly were when Ceylon only 
supplied the market. The Java planting had had 
the I lljot o( reducing the price of quiaine from 
8j to Is 3,1 per 07,., which was the price now ; while 
it had bion as low as sj l. Of oourse the price 
would go higher if Java found out] the way ot 
not over.stooking the markjt ; but, speaking aa a 
manufacturer, ho ptrionally diou't believa she 
had yet found out that way. It would suit him 
pereoually if Ceylon gcew CmohoQa again but be 
I PATEKTS : TEA MIXTURE. 
' 16,267, September 10, 1892. Tea. H. Carns- 
! Wilson, 22, Fenchurch Street, London. Consists in 
i impregnating tea, after or during the ordinary pro- 
cesses of manufacture, with 1 to 2J per cent its weight 
of a mixture of two parts of bicarbonate of soda 
and one part of phosphate of soda, A solution of 
this mixture is raised to boiling heat and sprayed 
upon the tea. which is then heated in a chamber 
to 130° F. for about half-an-hour, and afterwards dried 
in a tea-kiln at 120°-1.S0° F., or in a rotary drying 
machine at 20°-3U° lower. As an alternative pro- 
cess the dry leaf may be sprinkled with the mixed 
salts in the form of a powder, and then subjected 
to a hot-water spray.— Paff';f Journal, Jan. 17. 
FIJI VANILLA. 
Vanilla appears for the first time as on article of 
export from Fiji in the official ttatistics ot that 
colony for 189'2. In that year 112 lb. of a declired 
value of 12i'^ left the island. The quality Feems to 
have been excellent, and the fruit realised from 2l8 
61 to 22s 61 per lb iu Loniion. lo the small island 
ot Kodri^uez, near Mauritius, vanil'a growing is also 
tried. The plantations, it is said, are prospering. — 
Chemist and DruggiM. 
COFFEE CROPS IN SOUTHERN INDIA 
promisa well for next season, and all that is wanted 
now is timely rain to ensure suooesa. On the 
whole, gardens have pruned out well; but on some 
estates thera was le^s developed wood than was 
anticipated. We hear that large quantities ol 
poudrette from Ootaoamund are being carted to the 
Ouchterlony Valley. Some of this is from very old 
pita and should be of rich manuiial value. — Silgiri 
JVews. 
THE AMSTERDAM CINCHONA MARKET. 
Amsteidam, Feb. 17.— The analyses of the Java 
cinchona baik to be offered at our sales on March 
1st have been completed. The manutacttiriog 
bark contains IG tons sulphate of quinine or 5"06 
per cent on the average. About 1 ton contains 
about 1-2 par cent sulphate quinine ; 15 tons, 2-3 
per cent ; 56 tons, 3-4 per cent ; 79 tons, 4-5 
per cent ; 73 tons, 5-B per cent ; 61 tons, 6-7 
per cent ; 19 tooB, 7-8 per csnt ; 5 tons. 8 9 per 
ceat. — CheniLSt and Druggist. 
BARK AND DRUG REPORT. 
(From the Chemist and Druggist.) 
London, Feb. 2. 
CixcHOXA.— A moderate quantity of Eastern and Afri- 
can bur. a was olfcred tor sale on February aOth. There 
were seven catalogues, mostly small oues, totaUibg up as 
follows :— 
Pact ages Pacloges 
Ceylon cinchona . . 366 of which 247 were sold 
Easti ludiau ciuchona t2i do 53j do 
Java tiuchoua . . 93 do y6 do 
African cmttiona .. }Si do 182 do 
South AmeriCiu . . 453 do — do 
191S 1057 do 
The Eastern barks were mostly of very high av<rrage 
quality; those (rum Inda were inmost exclusively maJa 
up vt KOod bright yellow and griy chips and ehaviugs. 
A steidy time prevailed ihrounliout ihe oaies, but a.< soiuo 
of tlio hjlJers mipcar to be aanguine of obminiUK nioro 
mou-y by adopting a waiting I'oucy, and tliorclDre did 
not i)ress their .-upplios lor sale, a considerable propjr- 
tlou was boiigiit iu. The unit keeps firm at i t to Jd per 
lb. for lair qualities. 
A somewhat ii;tcr«tlDg feJtura of the iiles w a the 
cgtiriog '.'( 333 baUs ci " b^tc ijglouiblaa " btJCii 9t IM^ 
