April  i,  1893.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
641 
NOTES  FROM  OUR  LONDON  LETTER. 
London,  March  7tb,  1S93. 
Some  time  baok  you  devoted  several  articles  to 
discussion  of  the  question  as  to  how  far  it  might 
be  practicable  to  locally  manufacture 
A HYDRAULIC  CEMENT  IN  CEYLON 
to  take  the  plaoe  of  the  large  importation  now 
made  into  your  island  of  home. prepared  Portland 
cement.  I notice  that  there  has  just  been  dis- 
covered in  Tasmania  a natural  cement  stone  which 
yields  a product  quite  equal  to — if  not  surpass- 
ing— the  product  of  home  artificial  manufacture. 
Specimens  of  this  cement  cent  home  for  testing 
have  yielded  results  as  to  strength  and  setting  power 
quite  up  to  the  highest  standard  known  to  experts 
here.  You  could  probably  get  all  the  details  from 
your  Tasmanian  papeis,  and  it  would  be  well  worth 
the  while  of  some  of  your  mineralogists  to  get 
specimens  of  the  stone  and  to  compare  them  with 
such  as  are  to  be  found  in  your  island.  There 
might  be  specially  mentioned  among  these  last  the 
magnesian  limestone  fcund  in  such  large  quanti- 
ties in  the  Jaffna  peninsula,  wbioh  I knew  by 
personal  experience  to  be  possessed  of  some  con- 
siderable amount  of  hydraulic  qualifications. 
Your  former  resident  Daturalist, 
PROFESSOR  MARSHALL  WARD,  F.B.B. 
recently  read  a paper  before  the  Royal  Society 
entitled  “Experiments  on  the  Aotion  of  Light  on 
Bacillus  Antliracis.  This  paper  has  been  very 
widely  noticed,  I believe,  by  scientific  jour- 
nals. I cannot  pretend  to  be  qualified  to  in 
any  way  describe  it  to  you  usefully  in  detail.  It 
must  content  me  to  refer  to  the  experiments 
described  as  evidencing  that  the  direct  solar 
rays  seem  to  possess  great  power  in  retarding 
the  growth  of  bacteria,  and  that  by  far  the  most 
patent  factor  in  the  purification  of  the  air  and 
rivers  from  these  pests  of  the  human  race  is  the 
sunlight.  This  has  long  been  suspected,  but  has 
hitherto  only  been  very  vaguely  stated. 
CORUNDUM. 
Dr.  H.  Warth,  Officiating  Superintendent  of  the 
Government  Central  Museum,  has  asked  the  Board 
of  Revenue  to  procure  specimens  of  corundum  for 
the  Museum.  The  Museum  has  at  present  speci- 
mens of  corundum  from  24  different  places  in  the 
Madras  Presidency  and  in  two  principalities  of 
Southern  India,  and  as  this  mineral  has  since  many 
years  been  an  important  mining  produce  and  has 
of  late  been  much  inquired  after  as  an  article  of  ex- 
port, Dr.  Warth  is  desirous  to  exhibit  corundum  in 
the  Museum  from  as  many  localities  as  possible. 
Such  a collection  would  not  only  be  a welcome 
source  of  information  for  the  trade,  but  it  would  also 
form  the  basis  for  a future  study  of  the  geological 
conditons  under  which  corundum  occurs  in  the  Madras 
Presidency.  Collectors  of  districts  have  consequently 
been  requested  to  comply  with  Dr.  Warth’s  request 
and  to  send  samples  from  each  locality  where 
corundum  exists.  Should  there  be  any  doubt  whether 
any  particular  sample  is  the  true  corundum  (the 
polishing  material  equal  to  emery  and  in  main 
substance  the  same  as  ruby  and  sapphire,  aluminium 
oxide)  such  sample  is  to  be  forwarded  to  the  Museum 
for  examination.  In  his  “ Geology  of  India  ” Mr.  Ball 
remarked  that  since  the  name  corundum  is  derived 
from  the  Hindi  word  ICurand,  it  is  most  probable  that 
the  stone  first  became  known  in  Europe  from  having 
been  imported  from  India.  He  stated  also  that  at  afl 
the  known  localities  in  India  where  it  occurs  it  has 
been  worked  by  the  natives  and  that  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  the  first  discoveries  date  back  to 
very  early  periods.  Most  of  these  localities  are 
Bituated  in  Southern  India.— M.  Times,  Feb.  21. 
81 
TRAVANCORE. 
The  total  quantity  of  Coffee  and  Tea  exported 
from  Travanoore  during  the  year  1892  was  3,725 
cwts.  43f  lb.  nf  the  former,  and  7,491  owts,  of  the 
latter,  and  the  exports  of  Coffee  from  Cochin 
during  the  same  period  amounted  to  219,102  owts. 
— M.  Times.  [But  most  of  the  coffee  sent  from 
Cochin  was  of  Travanoore  growth. — Ed.  T.A. ] 
SEASON  PROSPECTS  IN  SOUTHERN  INDIA. 
The  Season  Reports  in  the  last  Gazette  showed 
that  the  crops  in  the  parts  of  Tinnevelly  where  rain 
fell  last  week  had  slightly  improved,  but  otherwise 
they  remained  unaltered.  Harvests  so  far  have  been 
poor,  and  prices  of  food  grain  both  in  Tinne- 
velly  and  Madura,  the  two  Districts  that  are  suffering 
most,  are  still  double  the  normal  piioes.  It  is  satis- 
factory to  know  that  Government  is  fully  alive  to 
the  seriousness  ef  the  situation,  and  has  already  pro- 
vided for  the  employment  of  the  distressed  in  both 
Districts.— Madras  Mail,  Maroh  3. 
THE  MAHA  UVA  ESTATE  CO.,  LD. 
Application  has  been  made  for  the  registration  of 
this  Company  which  is  beiDg  formed  with  the  objeot 
of  purchasing  the  Maha  Uva  estate  situate  in 
Udapussellawa  for  the  sum  of  R220,000.  The 
property,  we  find,  on  a reference  to  our  Direotory 
belongs  to  Mr.  T.  C.  Kellook,  and  comprises  875 
acres,  of  whioh  about  500  acres  are  in  tea, 
coffee  and  some  cinchona.  The  capital  of  the  Com- 
pany is  R300.000  divided  into  600  shares  of 
R500  eaoh. 
♦ 
INDIAN  TEA  IN  CEYLON. 
Mr.  Knight,  the  Chairman  of  the  Travanoore  Plan- 
ters' Association,  telegraphs  to  us  as  follows  from 
Colombo  : — “ The  South  Indian  planters  will  aooept 
nothing  less  than  as  perfectly  free  a market  in  Ceylon 
as  Ceylon  enjoys  in  India.  The  Quarantine  laws, 
as  suggested  as  an  alternative  measure,  will  not  meet 
requirements.  The  Hon.  Mr.  W.  W.  Mitchell  moved 
and  carried  a Resolution  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  for  a Commission  to  revise 
the  Customs  Tariff,  especially  referring  to  Indian  tea 
and  cinchona.”  This  telegram,  we  presume,  is  by 
way  of  rejoinder  to  the  artiole  we  published  on  the 
24th  ultimo,  in  which  we  said  that  it  was  to  be 
hoped  that  steps  would  soon  be  taken  to  either  abolish 
the  import  duty  altogether,  or  to  allow  foreign  teas 
to  be  imported  into  Ceylon  and  taken  out  of  bond 
for  purpose  of  re-firimr,  etc.,  if  necessary,  under  the 
conditions  we  mentioned.  The  South  Indian  planters 
however,  are  uncompromising  opponents  of  any 
scheme  that  will  cob  put  them  on  the  same  footing 
as  their  Ceylon  confreres.  We  sinceiely  hope  that 
the  Ceylon  Government  will  accede  to  their  reasonable 
demands  and  revise  the  duties  in  the  manner  desired. 
As  we  remarked  in  our  previous  artiole,  provision 
might  surely  be  made  to  protect  Ceylon  teas  against 
adulteration  without  imposing  an  import  duty  on 
foreign  teas.—  Madras  Mail , Maroh  3. 
NOTES  ON  PRODUCE  AND  FINANCE. 
Hop  Tea  and  Tomato  Coffee.— Under  the  title  of 
“ Snelling,  Limited,”  a company  has  just  been  regis- 
tered, with  a capital  of  £100,000,  in  2,000  founders', 
20,000  seven  per  cent  cumulative  preference,  and 
29,020  ordinary  shares  of  £1  each,  no  particulars 
being  given  of  the  remaining  shares.  The  object  is 
to  acquire  a certain  patent  relating  to  the  combina- 
tion of  tomatoes  with  coffee,  and  to  develop  and 
work  tho  same,  also  to  acquire  the  business  uf  tea 
dealers  hitherto  earried  ou  at  St.  George’s  House, 
