59° 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  [March  i,  1893. 
care  to  encourage  looal  industry  in  pieture-frame- 
making  by  our  Sinhalese”!  But  this  is  oDly  in 
knep:ng  with  the  experience  of  the  various  firms 
engaged  in  meohanical  industry  after  a much  more 
extensive  fashion.  We  refer  to  our  Iron  and 
Machine  Firms,  in  Colombo,  Kandy,  Hatton,  Ba- 
oulla,  <fec.,  who  employ  hundreds  of  natives  ; but 
who  find  all  their  raw  material  required  for  the 
construction  of  machinos  taxed,  while  if  they  choose 
to  import  the  6ame  machinery  ready-made  in 
England  or  elsewhere,  it  pays  no  Customs  duty 
whatever  1 Such  are  some  of  the  absurd  anomalies  of 
our  Customs  tariff  which  urgently  call  for  rectification 
in  the  interests  of  the  community  at  large  and 
especially  of  meohanical  industry  and  manufactures. 
But  with  “machinery.”  we  have  entered  on  a 
large  branch  of  the  subjeot  which  must  be  treated 
more  fully  in  a future  issue. 
VARIOUS  NOTES. 
Cotton  Culture  in  Central  Asia. — It  is  reported 
from  Odessa  that  several  large  Dew  cargres  of  raw 
cotton,  grown  in  Bussian  Central  Asia  are  to  be 
shipped  at  Odessa  for  Danlzic  and  other  ports  in 
Germany.  The  Bussians  are  sanguine  that  the 
future  will  Eee  a vigorous  development  of  this 
new  branch  of  trade.  Should  their  hopes  be 
realised,  the  raw  cotton  would  hereafter  be  sent 
by  rail,  river,  and  canal,  via  Odessa  and  Wersaw, 
so  as  to  avoid  the  long  voyage  round  Europe. 
In  competent  quarters  in  Berlin,  however,  the 
St  ndard  correspondent  says,  the  hopes  of  the 
Russians  are  regarded  as  at  present  illusory.  The 
quality  of  the  cotton  from  Bussian  Aeia  is  inferior. 
Still,  it  is  reported  that  the  quantity  shipped  to 
North  Germany  has,  so  far,  amounted  to  about 
ten  thousand  bales. — Pioneer. 
Coffee  Planting.— A correspondent  writes  to  say 
that  in  order  to  obtain  an  experienced  opinion  on 
Mr.  E.  A.  Watson’s  soheme  for  Government  Coffee 
Plantations  in  Selangor,  he  sent  all  tho  cuttings 
relating  to  the  mat'er  home  to  a friend,  a planter 
of  80  years’  standing,  and  now  a gentleman  of 
England,  who  lives  at  home  at  ease.  He  appends 
that  opinion  which  is  as  follows: — “I  read  your 
enclosures  with  interest  and  quite  agree  with  the 
Singapore  Frees  Press  that  no  Government  can  push 
an  icdustiy,  especially  an  agricultural  one,  satis- 
factorily. If  the  planting  of  coffee  will  pay  at 
Selangor  or  elsewhere  you  may  depend  on  it  private 
capital  will  soon  discover  the  faot.  There  are  millions 
of  pounds  in  London  seeking  investment,  in  many 
instaneeB  only  wanting  to  be  shown  the  proba- 
bility ofa  return.” — S.  F,  Press,  Feb  1. 
The  Java  Coffee  Crop. — Aocordirg  to  a telegram 
from  the  Governor- General  of  Netherlands  India, 
dated  the  16th  inst.,  the  Government  ooffee  crop 
in  Java  for  this  year  is  estimated  at  144,496  piculs. 
The  year  1893  promises  thus  to  be  again  a year 
of  total  failure  of  tho  crop,  as  generally  the  out- 
turn remains  under  the  estimate.  The  first  estimate 
of  the  crop  cf  1890  was  189,000  piculs,  and  the 
outturn  was  only  tho  half  of  it.  In  connection 
with  this  decrease  attention  is  fixed  upon  the 
Java  finances,  and  the  neoessity  is  pointed  out 
of  increasing  the  revenue  by  the  introduction  of 
taxes,  for  which  the  Minister  bad  already  propos  d 
some  Bil's,whioh  were,  however,  withdrawn,  owing 
to  the  satisfactory  rutturn  of  tbe  eeffee  crop  of 
1892.  A deficit  on  i he  Budget  of  3894  will  for  the 
pr  ater  part  be  coverid  by  tbe  balance  of  the 
current  year  ; but  it  is  advised  that  measures 
should  be  taken  for  a more  reliable  basis  of  the 
Java  finances,—  L.  and  C.  Express,  Jan.  27. 
GAMBIR. 
(From  the  Agnculturdl  Bulletin  of  the  Malay  Peninsula. 
Introduction. 
Of  all  the  vegetable  products  of  the  Malay  Penin- 
sula, Gambir  takes  the  second  place  only  in  im- 
portance. In  the  tanning  and  silk  trades  it  is  well 
known  to  be  indispensable,  and  it  is  also  used  to  a 
small  extent  in  medicine.  The  larger  portion  of  the 
drug  which  finds  its  way  into  the  market  is 
exported  from  Singapore,  and  the  average  value  of 
the  annual  export  for  the  last  five  years  is  §4,682,833. 
The  import  into  the  British  Islands  in  1889  was, 
roughly  speaking,  of  the  value  of  £460.000,  and  the 
United  States  took  in  the  same  year  nearly  £180,000 
worth.  Nevertheless  hitherto  this  important  cultiva- 
tion has  been  in  the  hands  of  the  Chinese  and 
Malays  only.  Europeans  as  yet  have  hardly  begun 
to  think  seriously  of  undertaking  it,  and  yet  it  is 
certain  that  a properly  treated  estate  would  bring  a 
good  profit.  The  reason  of  this  neglect  is,  it  seems, 
that  the  Malay  Peninsula  with  the  adjoining  islands 
of  Rhio,  Lingga,  Banka  and  some  others,  where  alone 
the  plant  seems  to  thrive,  has  not  yet  come  under 
the  hands  of  the  European  planter  to  any  large  ex- 
tent, and  the  few  planters  who  have  settled  down 
in  the  Straits  Settlements  and  Malay  Peninsula 
have  devoted  themselves  almost  exclusively  to  coffee 
and  tea  cultivation. 
There  are  signs,  however,  of  an  increasing  interest 
in  planting,  and  the  attention  of  the  planter  is  turn- 
ing to  other  products  than  these,  and  among  them 
to  gambir,  and  indeed  there  is  no  reason  why  this 
plant  should  not  be  grown  on  a large  scale.  In  the 
Malay  Peninsula  there  is  plenty  of  suitable  land, 
the  cultivation  is  easy  and  not  expensive,  the  plant 
is  quick-growing  and  will  bring  a return  within  a 
year  or  a year  and-a-balf  after  sowing,  and  the  de- 
mand for  the  product  is  steady  and  constant. 
It  is  true  that,  on  the  whole,  the  price  of  gambir 
has  fallen  in  the  last  few  years,  but  this  is  due  en- 
tirely, I believe,  to  deterioration  of  the  quality.  The 
Native,  working  with  rough  apparatus  and  being 
very  careless  as  to  result,  supplies  the  market  with 
an  inferior  article  unnecessarily  loaded  with  water, 
often  containing  as  much  as  from  30  to  50  per  cent. 
In  the  hands  of  Europeans,  with  the  aid  of  better 
methods  of  cultivation,  and  of  improved  machinery, 
a much  superior  class  of  gambir  might  easily  be 
produced,  while  at  the  same  time  by  doing  away  with 
the  middleman,  represented  here  by  the  Chinese 
towlcay , the  expenses  of  the  product  would  be  lessened. 
Nor  is  the  interest  in  the  gambir  cultivation  con- 
fined to  the  Straits  planter.  Requests  for  seed  and 
young  plants  have  been  addressed  to  the  Botanic 
Gardens  at  Singapore  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 
To  Borneo,  India,  Australia,  Africa,  the  West  Indies 
and  other  tropical  colonies  of  the  Empire,  seed  has 
been  sent  in  quantity.  In  some  of  these  countries 
it  is  probable  that  the  gambir  will  not  thrive  well 
enough  to  bring  profit  by  j its  cultivation,  owing  to 
the  difference  in  climate,  but  this  is  impossible 
to  decide  till  the  experiment  has  been  tried. 
Comparatively  little  has  been  written  on  its  culti- 
vation and  manufacture,  and  much  of  that  has 
been  published  is  inaccurate  and  misleading.  I have, 
therefore,  besides  consulting  all  accessible  works  re- 
ferring to  the  subject,  visited  plantations  in  different 
parts  of  the  Straits  Settlements,  cultivated  the 
plant  myself,  and.  with  the  aid  of  Dr.  Bott,  Govern- 
ment Analyst,  made  some  experiments  in  improved 
methods  of  preparation.  The  information  thus  ob- 
tained 1 have  set  forth  in  order,  so  that  this  article 
may  be  as  full  as  possible  and  may  perhaps  be  of 
use  to  intending  planters. 
Description  of  the  Plant. 
The  Gambir  plant  ( Uncana  Gamlir,  Roxb.)  is  a 
climbing  shrub,  clambering  over  trees  and  bushes  to 
a considerable  height  by  the  aid  of  its  recurved  hooks. 
The  stems  are  from  one  to  three  inches  in  diameter 
in  the  cultivated  plant,  but  usually  slenderer  when 
the  plant  is  allowed  to  climb  as  in  a wild  or  half 
