758 
tHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [May i, 1894. 
people in some casee help to bnild the Forts I 
intended to command certain routes taken I 
by the Arab slave-dealers whom they detest. J 
But the works done by the British in putting 
down tribal and intertribal wars among the 
natives of A.frica is beyond praise— one of the 
most valuable ever undertaken in the name 
of civilisation and progress. For planters, 
we have useful information in returns of 
rainfall for two districts in the Shire High- 
lands as follows : — 
Mr. Hyde Wyatt of NatBitembo has supplied ns wilh 
the following fecord of the raiufall for tho yei.r« 
189^ and 1893 oa the south wettern park of Zombft 
Moantain. 
Rainfall, Somba South Wet.t, for 1895. 
Mootb. 
January 
February 
March 
April 
May 
June 
July 
Augaat 
September 
October 
November 
December 
Inched, Number of Daye KaiD. 
1893. 
1892. 
9 65 
23 
no record 
8-22 
19 
8 
5-16 
11 
15 
1-96 
11 
11 
•05 
1 
3 
•15 
1 
2 
117 
6 
4 
•00 
0 
0 
•32 
1 
1 
•80 
2 
8 
2-30 
1 
10 
ll^38 
13 
15 
41-06 
91 
72 
SuppoBinft we take 23 (Jaya' raia for January 1893 we 
have 96 days' rain against 91 days in ]893. It is 
curiona to note only a difFerence of 1 day's fall in the 
two years during the months of July-October inoioeive 
bnt '44 of an inch more rain was rfgittered in 1893 than 
in 1892. The ht aviest falls were February lOtU 4 50 
and December 24th 3 00 in 1892. November lOih 2 30, 
and Dec. 11th 2-75 in 1893. The planting season 
commenced in 1892 on November 19ih and lu 1893 on 
December 23rd. 
Mr. Bell, the Collector for the Mlahje District, has 
measured the rainfall ou tbe western flank of Mianje 
mountain during tbe year 1893. He tinds that there 
was a total rainfall of 64 25 inches that rain fell on 134 
days of the 365, and nas distributed as follows throngh 
tbe 12 months. 
Rain fell on 
Bain fell on 
1893. 
Jan. 
Feb. 
March 
April 
May 
June 
Days. 
Rainfall 
1893. 
Days. 
Rainfall 
Inches. 
Inches. 
22 
1375 
July 
... 11 
551 
23 
10 44 
Aug. 
1 
•02 
24 
10^65 
Sept. 
... 2 
•48 
14 
8-66 
Oct. 
... 6 
1 66 
12 
3^80 
Nov. 
... 5 
2 19 
5 
1-77 
Deo. 
... 9 
5-29 
164 
64-25 
Finally to show that Commissioner and 
Consul-General Johnston, c.a., is at the head 
of an important service, we need merely quote 
the " Official Gazette " :— 
Commissioner's Office, Zomba, Jan. Ist, 1894. 
BBI6H CENTKAL ATBICA AD MINIS! KATION. 
H. Croad has been appointed to be Assistant 
Collector in the Mianje District. 
H. Crawford Angus has been appointed to be an 
Assistant OoUeotor in the West Shire District. 
Feb. Ist. 
De Symons M. G, Honey has been promoted to be 
Assistant Collector in the Blantyre District. 
Mr George Gait, Assistant Collector at Blantyre has 
been transferred to the Lower Shire District to act 
as Collector. 
Mr, Gbslmeis DaE has beet} appointed to be an 
PLANTS ON THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 
We extract the following notes on tbe flora and 
products of the Philippine Ii^lands from a report 
recently furnished to the Foreign Office by Mr. 
Consul Stigand, dated Manila, July 24, 1893: — 
" The flora of the Islands would require a long chapter 
for proper treatment. There is a great absence of 
flowering plants, and those which do flower have, as 
a rule, very small flowers, and the absence of 
odorous blossoms is as remarkable as the absence of 
singing-birds. Flowering Orchids are abundant, both 
iu variety and quantity in the forests, but in the 
towns a fair-sized plant of an ordioary species cannot 
be procured under 1 dollar, or about is. By the 
roadsides near Manila the principal trees to be seen 
arc tbe tall and graceful Uctel nut Palm, Bamboo, 
Bananas, and other tropical trees and plan's. Vege- 
tables — Beans and Pea', for example— are grown 
here by covering them up from the sun with trellis- 
work coveved with Banana and other leaves : but 
most of the vegetables are brought from Hongkong. 
There is hardly any eatable fruit but Mangoes and 
Pine-apples, the latter growing as commonly ae weeds. 
The Bugar-cane, Coffee-plant, Abaca or Uemp 
(Musa textilis), Tobacco, Maize, and Uice, are the 
plants chiefly cultivated. As for the woods of the 
country, their nomenclature forms au immense list ; 
and the better kinds of woods are too little known. 
Some of these woods are excellently eoited for 
furniture, especially the " Narra" wood, which has 
the look of Mahogany, bnt is not so close in grain, 
while having a lighter colonr." 
The only outside market for Philippine woods is 
Chiua, where large quantities are shipped annually, 
and the hard woods of good length find great ac- 
ceptance in that market for the building of temples. 
A wood known as ." Camagon," a sort of ebony, 
is a good wood for ornamental work, but it is de- 1 
fective, owing to the white streaks that run through 
it. A sort of Boxwood, or Lignum-vitse, grows in 
the country, but not iu sufficient qnantit^ to be of 
marketable value. None of the Philippine woods 
hdve had a fair trial in the home market. 
Referring to gutta-percha, a good business, it is said, 
was done iu this article for a few years, kut owicg 
to asyateui of adulteration carried on bv the Chinese, 
the trade has been euiirely killed, and scarcely any 
business has been done for two yeajca.— GardetKn' 
Chronicle. 
TEA IN TRAVANCORE. 
Baron Rosenberg of Travancore, despite hie 
great belief iu oinohona, bas c^me back from 
Oeylon fall of tea and means to go in largely 
for tbe fragrant berb on his TravaDCore estates, 
— South of India Observer, 
INDIAN PATENTS. 
Applications in rcs'peot of the undermentioned in- 
ventions have been filed during week ending 17th 
March 1894 :— 
Decorating Machines. — No. 88 of 1894.— Alfred 
Deudonne Estienne, Chief Engineer of tbe Meesageries 
Maritimes for improvements in machines for decorating 
ramie and other plants. 
Coconut. SCRAPER. — No. 339 of 1893. — David Isaacs, 
Assistant in tiie firm of Messrs. W. Whelan, Coen 
& Ooi of Uub'i, Southern Mahratta Country, British 
India, for a new or improved cocouut-scraper. (Filed 
8tb March 1894.) 
Wiek ending 24th March, 
PtANTiNS Machine, — No. 92 of 1894.— K. Ksparam, 
Micbiniet to H. H. the Maharaja of Mysore, Naza- 
rabad, Mysore, for planting purposes, by name 
Rapana." 
India -Post Reply Covee.-No. 93 of 1894.— Thomas 
Stephenson Weir, Health Officer, Bombay, and George 
Walsbe, Retired Warrant Officer, Grand Road, Bombay 
for an India-Post Reply cover. 
Tea-sifting, &c. — No. 94 of 1894. — George Murray 
CoUom, Engineer and Tea Planter, care of W, G. Forbes 
Mint Baildinga, Calcutta, for au improved sifting and 
sotting machio? for tea or gMioe, &c,— /n4i«n Enginmy 
