August  i,  1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
89 
COLOUR  IN  PLANT  LIFE. 
Those  familiar  with  the  growth  of  flowers  know  how 
essential  light  is  to  the  creation  of  colour.  The  most 
gaudy  blooms  and  the  most  brilliant  foliage  if  kept 
in  the  dark  or  over-shaded  will  become  pale  and 
almost  white.  This  fact  (according  to  the  Horticul- 
tural Times ) shows  the  presence  in  the  plant  of  some 
chemical  agent  which  is  acted  upon  by  the  actinic 
rays.  To  some  extent  this  chemistry  of  nature  is 
understood  by  florists,  who,  by  the  use  of  chemical 
manures  and  other  means,  strive  to  take  the  greatest 
advantage  of  it.  For  instance,  it  is  a common 
practice  to  mix  alum  and  iron  filings  with  the  soil 
in  which  certain  plants  are  grown  in  order  to  bring 
out  special  colours.  The  bluish-tinted  hydrangea  is 
the  result  of  such  treatment.  Salts  of  iron,  or 
sodium  phosphate,  added  to  the  soil  turn  the  crimson 
of  the  pseony  to  violet,  and  produces  blue  hortensias. 
According  to  Dr.  Hansen,  who  has  studied  the 
subject  very  closely  for  many  years,  there  are  only 
three  distinct  pigments  to  be  found  in  flowers — 
setting  aside  the  chlorophyll,  which  forms  the  green 
colouring  matter  in  all  plants.  These  colours  are 
yellows,  reds,  and  blues.  The  yellows  are  mostly  in 
combination  with  the  plasmic  sap,  while  the  others 
exist  chiefly  in  solution  in  the  cell  sap.  The  yellow 
pigments  form  an  insoluble  compound  with  fatty 
matters,  and  is  termed  lipochrome.  Orange  is 
formed  by  a denser  deposit  of  the  yeUow,  and  the 
colour  in  the  rind  of  an  orange  is  identical  with 
that  found  in  many  flowers.  The  red  in  flowers  is 
a single  pigment  soluble  in  water,  and  decolorised  by 
alcohol ; but  capable  of  being  restored  by  the  addi- 
tion of  acids.  Lipochrome  combined  with  this  red 
pigment  produces  the  scarlets  and  reds  of  poppies  and 
of  the  hips  of  hawthorns ; but  the  varying  intensity 
of  reds  in  roses,  carnations,  pseonies  and  otherflowers 
depends  on  the  presence  of  a greater  or  lesser  quantity 
of  acids.  The  blue  and  violet  colours  are  also  de- 
colorised by  alcohol,  but  reddened  by  acids.  Florists 
have  already  succeeded  in  producing  a very  large 
scale  of  unusual  colours  in  flowers,  and  there  seems 
to  be  very  good  grounds  for  believing  that  it  is  possible 
so  as  to  manipulate  nature  that  she  will  produce 
blossoms  of  every  conceivable  tint  and  hue. — Chemical 
Trade  Journal. 
BARK  AND  DRUG  REPORT. 
(From  the  Chemist  and  Druggist.) 
London,  May  26. 
Annatto.— Dull  seeds  from  Colombo  sold  at  lid  per 
lb.  today. 
Abeca-ntjts.—  The  recent  arrival  of  37  bags  from  Ceylon 
was  offered  for  sale  today.  The  whole  parcel  sold  at 
25s  to  27s  per  cwt. 
Cinchona.— The  following  quantities  are  at  present  ad- 
vertised for  sale  next  Tuesday Ceylon  and  East 
Indian  bark  1,760,  Java  bark  66,  South  American 
(Oalisaya)  84,  and  African  139  bales ; total  2,049  bales. 
The  exports  from  Ceylon  between  January  1st  and 
May  2nd  show  a trifling  increase  as  compared  with 
last  season.  They  were  in  1892  1,927,586  lb.  ; in  1891 
1.804.935  lb.  ; in  1890  2,806,992  lb. ; and  in  1889 
3,510.992  lb. 
Coca. -Ceylon  was  unusually  well  represented  at 
the  sales  today.  There  were  16  small  bales  from  this 
island,  of  which  15  sold  at  fairly  good  prices— Is  Id  per 
lb.  being  paid  for  fair  bold  greenish  Huanoco-charaeter 
leaves  of  good  flavour,  and  9d  for  browner  and  duller 
quality,  There  were  altogether  570  lb.  of  this  quality. 
London,  June  4. 
Cinchona.— Tuesday’s  bark  auctions  were  fairly  large 
the  catalogues  being  made  as  follows:  — 
Pkgs.  Pkgs. 
Ceylon  cinchona  ...  981  of  which  862  were  sole 
East  Indian  cinchona...  1,445  do  1,302  do 
Java  cinchona  ...  G4  do  64  do 
South  American  cinchona  121  do  44  do 
West  African  cinchona  154  do  154  do 
_ , „ Total  2,765  do  2,426  do 
Ibe  parcels  offered  were  below  average  quality,  anc 
good  lots  were  very  scarce.  Competition  was  extremeli 
sluggish,  and  prices  were  hardly  up  to  the  low  scale 
of  the  preceding  auctions;  the  unit,  in  fact,  cannot  be 
placed  above  1 l-16ths  d,  to  ljd  per  lb. 
The  following  are  the  approximate  quantities  purchased 
by  the  principal  buyers  :— 
Lbs. 
Agents  for  the  Auerbach  factory  ...  197,745 
Agents  for  the  Mannheim  and j; Amsterdam  factories  139,354 
Agents  for  the  Frankfort  o/M.  and  Stuttgart 
factories 
95,986 
Agents  for  the  Brunswick  works 
....  38,696 
Messrs.  Howards  & Sons 
36,018 
Agents  for  the  American  and  Italian  works 
31,338 
Sundry  druggists 
37,802 
Total  quantity  of  bark  sold 
576,939 
Bought  in  or  withdrawn 
73,105 
Total  quantity  offered 
650,044 
DIBRUGARH  TO  THE  DUARS. 
Travel,  some  wise  man  once  remnrked,  is  a liberal 
education.  This  idea  is  more  widely  accepted  by  the 
planter  now-a-days  that  it  used  to  be;  and  it  is  as 
rare  now,  as  it  used  to  be  common,  to  come  across  a 
man  “ in  tea  ” whose  knowledge  of  the  wily  ways  of 
the  planter  with  the  tea  leaf,  from  the  time  he  plucks 
it  from  its  parent  stem  till  he  packs  it  in  a lead-lined 
chest  is  confined  to  the  usages  and  customs  of  his  own 
particular  district.  Taking  the  Assamese  as  the  species 
with  whom  I am  perhaps  most  familiar,  you  find  most 
of  them  have  had  a trip  to  Darjeelmg ; a good  many 
who  have  put  in  some  time  on  Caohar  teelas  or  Sylhet 
bheels ; and  not  a few  who  have  had  a run  round  the 
Duars,  or  who  speak  from  personal  observation  or  ex- 
perience of  the  way  they  do  things  in  that  island  where, 
according  to  Bishop  Heber,  “ the  spicy  breezes  ” blow 
soft,  and  where,  to  continue  the  quotation,  “ every 
prospect  pleases,  and  only  man  is  vile.”  Good  old 
Heber  I you  didn’t  mean  to  include  the  planter  in  your 
sw<  eping  assertion  about  the  villainy  of  man  ; but 
if  your  “ shade  ” had  been  in  a position  to  sum  up 
the  average  opinion  of  the  Indian  planter  during 
the  last  few  years,  since  Ceylon  started  flooding  the 
market  with  an  utterly  unnecessary  number  of  mil- 
lions of  pounds  of  tea,  thereby  sending  prices  down 
by  leaps  and  bounds  ; while  at  the  same  time,  by 
smartness  in  advertising,  and  by  a unity  of  action 
unattainable  somehow  by  Mr.  “ Lo,  the  poor  Indian  ” 
(Cowper  this  time,  I think — not  Heber)  it  managed  to 
make  some  startling  big  figures  in  its  own  prioes,  for 
small  fancy  lots  ; you  would  have  been  surprised  to  find 
what  a prophetic  vision  yon  were  gifted  with  ! Ceylon 
has  been  a bete  noire  to  the  Indian  planter  any  time 
the  last  half-dozen  years ; but  time  brings  round 
its  revenges ; and  we  are  beginning  to  “ chortle  ” over 
thefast  that  the  place  that  makes  thirty-guinea  tea,  oan 
also  make  three-penny  tea  ; and  is  likely  to  do  a good 
deal  more  of  the  latter  than  the  former. 
The  value  of  varied  experience  does  not  always  come 
out  at  once.  We  live  and  learn;  and  a good  deal  we 
learn  in  one  district  has  to  be  unlearned  again  in  an- 
other. Circumstances  alter  cases,  which  is  trite,  but 
true.  I knew  a man  who  went  to  the  Terai  after  a 
successful  career  of  some  years  in  As'am  and  who 
started  to  work  his  Terai  garden  on  Assam  principles, 
and  talked  very  big  about  the  reformation  in  tea  he 
was  going  to  introduce.  But  soil,  olimate  and  labour 
were  essentially  different,  and  that  man  wasn’t  a success. 
Indeed,  until  a couple  of  years’  experience  of  his  new 
surroundings  brought  wisdom,  he  was  a distinct 
failu  e.  But,  nevertheless,  there  a-e  wrinkles  to  be 
picked  up  in  every  district  that  will  bear  transporting 
to  others ; and  the  wise  man  who  travels  is  electric, 
and  oan  select  and  assimilate  a dodge  here  and  a 
wrinkle  there  which,  slightly  modified  perhaps  to  suit 
particular  circumstances,  will  place  him  miles  ahead 
of  the  stay-at-home  semi-foBsilized  individual  who 
works  in  one  groove,  and  never  gets  a new  idea. 
A trip  on  the  Brahmaputra  is  a very  different 
thing  now  to  what  it  used  to  be  some  half  dozen  years 
ago.  The  daily  mail-boats,  barring  occasional  acci- 
dents due  to  fogs  or  sandbanks,  run  almost  as  regu- 
larly as  trains ; and  you  can  ride  down  to  your  own 
particular  ghat  a little  before  advertised  time,  and 
calculate  with  almost  sbsolnte  oertainty  on  catohing 
a steamer  without  muoh  delay ; and  you  can  be  sure 
12 
