394 
The tropical 
AGRICULTURIST. [Dec. i, 1894. 
drUMtisU' quill sold at 0J(l per lb for sound, and Id to 
6d per lb for damaged lots. A sm all lot of original yel- 
low chips realised Id to ljd per lb. No other East India., 
cinchona was offered. Of Ceylon bark a small lot of 
oriirinal red shavings sold at |d per lb, renew ed red chips 
realised l}d per lb, ami renewed yellow chips 2 jd per lb. 
A small parcel of tine bright Hybrid and Officinalis chips 
(said to contain an equivalent of 2-»7 per cent sulphate 
of quinine) sold at -i'id to 3d per lb. Fair chips of the 
same varieties realised 1 £d per lb . 
Java cinchona.— Only rive bales crushed Ledger bark 
were offered, and these sold at 2Jd per lb. 
West African Cinchona. —Several parcels of West Afri- 
can' bark totalling 474 bales, all imported via l.isbon, for- 
ined the chief dish at the auctions. The whole of it was 
sold with some dfficultv, at 2fd per Hi for fine bold partly 
silvery quill, l : jd to 2Jd per III for rood bright quill, and 
ljd to l|d per lb for tine quilly chips. 
South Amkuican Cinchona.— The only bark of this 
kind offered was a parcel of 199 bales cultivated Bolivian 
Calisaiya, in good bright, partly irregular quills, most!) 
damaged, and the bulk of which sold at 4'd to SU per lb 
for sound, and 4->d to 4jd per lb for damaged bark. 
Cuiiuns.— No business was transacted at the auction last 
week. Forty bags of fair greyish-brown berries, slightly 
mixed with stalk, were bought in at 50s, a suggestion of 
45s per cwt finding no response. 
CAFFEINE. — The makers' prices arc nominally unaltered 
but they cannot supply anything for immediate delivery i 
second-hand holders have sold today at bis per lb, and we 
believe that a little could still be had at that price. 
Kola-NUTS.— Fifteen packages good West Indian Kolas, 
slightly mouldy, mixed, sold with excellent competition on 
Wednesday at the high figure of Is 5d per lb. 
QUININE. — Business is very slack. A few thousand ounces 
secondhand German bulk are reported to have been sold 
on the spot at lljd per oz, and there are further sellers 
at that figure. 
VANILLA.— About 280 tins were offered last Thursday, 
and sold at steady prices; good chocolate, slightly crys- 
tallised, 7 to 8 inches, ids to 22s Od ; ,« to «• inches, I5g 
to 19s; 4i to 5.J inches, 12s to 12s (id ; fair chocolate, 
to 6i inches lis to 12s ; rather dull and brown. UJ to is, 
inches, 10s 6d to 14s Od ; ordinary foxy and dull, from 
2s 6d to 3s 6d per lb. 
NAMING OF FIBRE PLANTS. 
(Communicated.) 
A want of precieion in desariptions of, and refer- 
ence to, plants baB been the cause of much confu-io' 
to stulents of Natural History. This is well 
illus ntel in the oaae of fibrous plantp. The 
h"mp plant, for instarce, is Cannabis sativa (order 
Vrticaeece). but other plants hiving no botanical 
relation (that is not belonging to the same order) 
have| been oalled hemp, suoh as Mauritius hemp, 
Fourcroya gigantea, (jrder Amaryllidacece), Bows ring 
hemp, Sanseviera zeylanica (order Hcemodoracece) 
and Sunn hemp, Crotalaria juncea (order Legu- 
minosce). The resemblance of the fibre of th ee 
plants to real hemp has no doubt given rise to 
this nomenclature. 
Again the Flax plant is Linum usitatissimum (order 
Lminacce), but we have New Zealand flax whioh is 
Phoreium tenax and belongs to the order Liliacece- 
The word Aloe, too, is rather oonfusing. Aloe is 
a genus belonging to the Lily order, like Phormium 
and Yucca and (acaording to soma botanists) also 
Saiwew'era-all fibre-yielding. The true aloes a e 
sometimes distinguished as African aloes from 
the Aaaves or Amerioan alots which ar*, of course, 
not true aloes and belong fro the Amaryllis faaiiy. 
Among the latter are Agave riqida var. sisaana 
(Sisal hemp), Foum-oya gigantea -once nam d Agave 
fcetida - (Mauritius hemp). Boehmeria nivea, Khea 
or Ramie— the so-called China " grass"— belongs 
to the family Vrticaeece. Even the term ju e (the 
product of Corchorus Capmlaris) h s been errom ously 
applied to the fibra of other plan's. So that one 
has to be careful in using th» termi hemp, flax, 
aloe and jute to employ, at the same time, such 
qualifying epithets a3 would indioate the plant 
intended to be referred to— and BO help to avoid 
much confusion that may arise 
COCONUT AND CINNAMON CROPS IN 
NEGOMBO AND N. \V. PROVINCE. 
The severe and -long continued drought which 
prevailed here ami caused very serious damage 
to birth Cinnamon and Coconuts, came to an end 
on the Kith ultimo, from which date up to the 
31st about 10 inches of rain were reentered. 
The record to date for November is 97 cent*. 
The crop for the current punekjf motonut will 
be very iMxir a* the growth of the cinna- 
mon has been stunted and for the same reaMin 
next year's yield, too, will l»e Uinefa l>elow the 
average. The coming year's coconut crop will 
compare very unfavourably with this year'*. - 
Planter. 
INDIA: TEA PLANTING AND PRODUCE- 
Gknkkai..— The Doorga Poojaba have made k break 
in work in all the districts since the date of last report, 
The weather in Durjiling Dooars and Terai has been 
better latelywliich will probably make the season in the 
last two diatricta later than was recently anticipated. 
Upper and Lower Assam have been having weather 
favourable for growth, and manufacture and teas aie 
reported to be improving in quality. Oachar lias 
had a little unseasonable weuther, but latest reports 
advise a change to better weather. Sylhet gardens aie 
doing well both as regards weather and manufacture. 
The weather in Darjeeling has been far from favour- 
able ; and latest reports advise heavy rain. Mosquito 
blight is reported fr in Darjiling, Dooars and the Terai, 
and in the last two ° districts the pest has not been 
known to be ao bad for many years past. Cachar 
and Sylhet districts have been fairly fortunate in 
weather. So have Lower and Upper Assam, but if 
both these diatricta the prospects for a good lne 
month during October altogether rests with the 
weather. — Planter, October 12. 
various planting notes. 
The Lanka Plantations company Direc- 
tors furnish, as usual, a very full Report 
(see pajje 389) for the benefit of tlieir 
shareholders. The Company's affairs are evi- 
dently very carefully managed and a better 
Chairman than Mr. George Allen, we feel sure, 
does not preside over anv Ceylon Company. 
But the failure of coffee lias left a great deal 
of leeway to make up, and we trust to see the 
good progress already made in tea and cacao, con- 
tinued and increased. 
Ceylon Tea in America.— Mr. P. R. Bu- 
chanan (whom we are glad to welcome hack in full 
vigour) is well pleased with the arrangements which 
Ceylon has at length made to start an American 
campaign. Mr. Blechynden is doing good work 
and the trade is increasing; but the more agents 
there are to interview, exhibit and lecture, the 
better, if China and Japan are to be overcome within 
a reasonable time. Mr. Buchanan is better pleased 
that China tea shows an increased export this 
season to America, than if it had been in 
"Japan's''; because we can fight the former- 
more readily. Should the war in the Far East 
continue much longer, Mr. Buchanan is sanguine 
there will be interference with tea culture and 
cropping in some of the districts and therefore a 
less export from this cause, apart from other 
canes, such as the disturbance of trade. All this 
and the prospect of short crops both in India and 
Ceylon give encouragement to Sir John Muir's 
Company to persevere with their programme of 
buying up more land and adding to cultivation. 
The ousting of China and Japan teas from 
America, Russia and Australasia is, evidently, a 
matter of a limited number of years, in the opinion 
of the Company's Directois, 
