Oct,  r,  1892,] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
289 
— - 
To  the  Editor. 
VANILLA  PREPARATION  AND  TRANSPORT- 
London,  E.C.,  Aug.  10th. 
Sir, — You  do  so  much  to  try  and  bring  up  any 
facta  to  the  latest  date  as  they  are  discovered  that 
I feel  bound  to  send  you  any  information  of  a 
reliable  nature  which  comes  before  me.  I have 
just  received  from  France  some  vanilia  beans  that 
have  been  sent  over  in  spirit.  Of  course  I am 
unable  to  give  the  whole  details  of  tha  treatment, 
but  the  spirit  was  thoroughly  impregnated  with 
the  flavor  and  the  beans  arrived  in  a full  meaty 
state,  without  having  lost  very  much  of  their  flavor. 
I am  told  that  the  vanilla  in  this  form  has  been 
found  very  acceptable  to  the  chooolateand  the  cream 
makers  in  France.  I need  hardly  say  that  by  pre- 
paring the  vanillas  in  this  way  great  risk  is  avoided 
of  the  beaDS  becoming  mouldy,  also  when  they  are 
sold  there  is  a great  difference  in  price  between  a 
crystallised  bean  and  ODe  that  has  not  been  per- 
fectly dried.  No  such  discrepancy  will  arise  with 
the  vanilla  beaDS  sent  home  in  spirit.  They  are 
packed  as  tightly  as  possible  into  the  vessel  and 
then  spirit  poured  upon  them, — Yours  truly, 
THOS.  CHRISTY. 
SEEDS  WANTED  IN  JAVA. 
Soerabaya,  22nd  Aug. 
Dear  Sir,— Would  any  reader  of  the  Tropical 
Agriculturist  kindly  inform  me  where  I can  buy 
the  following  seeds  or,  if  better,  young  plants  of 
the  best  of  the  (1)  Criollo  and  Forastero  types  of 
Cacao;  (2)  Mountain  Papaw  (Carica  Candamercensis); 
(3)  Carioa  (Vasooncellia)  Centiflora  ; (4)  Chocho ; (5) 
Arracacha;  (6)  Cberimoyer  (Anona  Cherimolia)  ; (7) 
Mahwah  (Bassia  Latifolia).  They  need  not,  <J 
course,  all  be  from  one  place  or  person.  I wrote 
more  than  a year  ago  to  Messrs.  J.  P.  William 
& Bros,  about  them,  but  got  no  reply,— Yours 
faithfully,  THOS.  C.  WILSON. 
[J.  P.  William  & Bros,  have  been  advertising 
the  last-named,  and  could  have  got  or  could  now 
get  all  the  others  (except,  perhaps,  the  eherimoyer) 
from  Mr.  Nock. — Ed,  T.At] 
“ AN  OLD  COFFEE  STUMP.’1 
Dear  Sir, — Doubtless,  if  we  give  this  writer 
time  enough,  and  rope  enough,  wa  shall  get,  in- 
directly, at  the  meaning  of  the  statements  he  so 
freely  asserts,  yet  is  so  shy  to  explain.  His  last 
dictum  is  : “ What  little  good  there  is  in  Ceylon 
soil  is  being  pumped  out  of  it  by  fine  plucking.” 
This  implication  is  by  no  means  original  : we  have 
all  heard  it  before.  But  what  wa  have  not  yet 
been  told  is  : how  the  law,  thus  laid  down, 
operates.  When  we  understand  that  clearly  we 
shall  know  what  to  do.  “ An  Old  Coffee  Stump” 
must  know  this  ‘‘law  ” as  he  so  foroibly  insists 
upon  it  ; and  it  is  the  height  of  selfishness  to 
keep  to  himself  whilst  twitting  us  with  it  abuse. 
It,  most  likely  (in  his  opinion),  has  something  to 
do  with  the  “ atmosphere  but  what  ? • If  we 
did  not  pluok  “ so  fine"  we  should  give  the 
atmosphere  more  chance,'  he  as  good  as  says.  And 
in  this  there  is  a sparkle  of  truth,  for  ‘the  larger 
the  weight  of  the  produoe,  the  more  the  carbon 
and  its  compounds ; and,  the  ooarser  we  pluok, 
the  more  produce  we  get.’  Is  this  what  he  means  ? 
But  the  more  we  produoe  the  leas  coin  we  get 
37 
for  it.  How  then?  As  regards  this  nom  de  plume, 
it  also  is  not  original.  It  will,  sir,  be  in  your 
reoollection  that  it  was  appended  to  a series  of 
letters  in  the  Observer  seven  or  eight  years  ago 
by  a very  different  pen.  Memory  though  latent, 
is  tanacious,  and  it  is  as  well  to  note  this  now  to 
prevent  a confusion  of  epitaphs  hereafter. 
ANOTHER  PROPRIETOR. 
[We  suspect  that  “ An  Old  Coffee  Stump”  does 
not  answer  because  he  is  “stumped,”  That  carbon 
is  derived  from  ‘the  atmosphere  every  tyro  knows, 
but  what  planters  hoped  to  learn  from  the  man 
who  seemed  so  confident  and  well  informed,  was 
how  to  attract  nitrogen  from  the  same  source.  We 
doubt  if  “ An  Old  Coffee  Stump”  has  any  secret  to 
tell  in  regard  to  this  important  question.  Has 
any  experiment  in  growing  leguminous  plants 
between  rows  of  tea  and  turning  such  leguminous 
plants  down  green,  or  when  dried,  into  the  ground  ? 
—Ed.  T.A. ] 
AN  AGRICULTURAL  DEPARTMENT. 
Colombo,  15th  Sept. 
Sir, — Your  suggestion  that  the  Central  Irrigation 
Board  should  be  developed  into  a Central  Agri- 
cultural Department  or  Board,  and  worked  on  the 
lines  of  the  Agriculiural  Society  of  Jamaica,  iB 
an  admirable  one.  This  is  I think  the  second 
time  the  reform  has  been-  suggested  by  you,  and 
I trust  you  will  continue  to  urge  the  advisability 
of  such  a measure  till  it  is  carried  out.  There 
is  a tendency  amongst  us,  in  making  innovations, 
to  be  content  with  merely  nominal  appointments 
and  half  measures.  The  result  of  suoh  action  is 
even  worse  than  if  no  innovation  was  sought  to 
be  introduced,  for  it  tends  to  bring  discredit  on 
the  movement  itself  and  those  who  are  connected 
with  it.  This  has  been  the  case  in  more  than  one 
instanoe  of  late, where  those  who  have  been  appointed 
are  given  no  facilities  for  performing  their 
duties  with  that  freedom  which  they  should  in 
justice  have  so  as  to  render  the  maximum  amount 
n[  service  in  the  cause  whioh  they  are  supposed 
to  te  working  for.  The  hampering  of  persons 
who  are  acknowledged  to  know  and  are  willing  to 
conscientiously  perform  their  duty  has  been  the 
cause  of  much  evil  in  our  midst.  The  blame  for 
“ omissions  and  commissions”  and  the  ridicule 
by  the  supercilious  who  are  ever  ready  to  throw 
contempt  on  every  attempt  at  reform  always 
oome  down  in  the  head  of  the  nominally  respon- 
sible, while  the  dens  ex  machina  hides  behind  his 
cloud.  If  agricultural,  veterinary,  or  technical 
work  is  to  do  any  good  it  should  ba  left  to  the 
direction  of  those  who  are  qualified  to  control  in- 
such  matters  and  help  in  its  development  and 
progress.  Let  an  agricultural  department  or 
board  such  as  you  suggest  be  established,  and 
’then  will  follow,  as  it  should,  the  consumma- 
tion of  the  objects  you  have  indicated — the 
collection  of  useful  information,  correspondence 
with  other  societies,  the  encouragement  and  im- 
provement of  certain  prooessss  in  agrioulture,  the 
discovery  of  new  varieties  of  the  staples  and  other 
plants  useful  for  man  and  animals,  the  enlighten- 
ment of  the  cultivator,  the  improvement  of  stock, 
the  developement  of  old  produots  and  the  intro- 
duction of  new,  the  amelioration  of  unfavourable 
conditions  for  culture,  &e.  This  can  only  result 
from  free  intercourse,  mutual  advice  aod  con- 
sultation of  such  qualified  men  a3  should  be  urged 
to  co-operate  in  these  important  matters.  Here 
we  are  still  stagnating  while  other  colonies  are 
doing  everything  in  their  powers  to  advance  the 
interests  of  agrioulture,  veterinary  and  technical 
education.  We  must  drop  our  make-believe  sohemes 
