744 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  f June  i,  18^3. 
estimated,  and  yet  where  are  the  satisfactory  prices 
whioh  were  got  for  good  teas  all  through  the  spring 
of  last  year  ? — while  now  China  buyers  are  generally 
busy  expecting  a good  season  and  l&rger  shipmt  nts. 
We  have  spoken  of  premier  tea  districts  as 
respects  prices ; and  in  regard  to  plantations,  the 
palm  for  1892  belongs  to  Messrs.  Macfarlane’s  fine 
plantation  Ormidale  in  Maskeliya,  whioh  gained 
an  average  of  Is  4Jd  for  some  40,000  lb.  of  tea,  thus 
taking  the  place  of  Fortswood  which  fell  from  an  aver- 
age of  Is  4|d  to  Is  ljd. 
FISHING  AT  DEHRA  DtJN. 
Mr.  A.  Symthies,  the  Honorary  Secretary  of  the 
Dehra  Dud  Fishing  Association,  has  written  a Report 
on  the  work  of  the  Committee  of  the  Association 
during  the  past  year,  in  which  there  is  much  of 
interest  to  fishermen  and  naturalists.  The  efforts 
were  chiefly  directed  to  building  a fishing  lodge  ih 
the  Western  Dun,  and  to  the  introduction  of 
English  trout  into  the  streams  of  the  valley.  The 
experiment  of  introducing  trout  ova  with  a view 
to  acclimatising  English  trout  in  the  Dun  streams 
was  undertaken  in  the  cold  weather,  but  like  the 
attempts  made  in  th9  Nilgiris  and  Ceylon,  h?.a 
resulted  in  failure,  Mr.  Thomas  Andrews  of  Guild- 
ford 6ent  out  10,000  eyed  ova  of  Salmo  Fario  in 
layers  of  moss  placed  in  perforated  zinc  trays,  and 
packed  in  a foreign  transport  case  surrounded  by  ice; 
the  case  left  Liverpool  early  in  December  last,  and 
was  two  months  on  its  way  to  Dehra,  When  opened 
on  the  6th  February,  it  was  found  that  half  the  ova 
was  dead,  the  remainder  was  at  onoe  placed  in  the 
batching  trays  on  a oanal  made  from  the  Re  Nadi,  and 
about  900  fry  were  hatched  and  turned  into  the  trough 
prt pared  tor  their  reception  ; of  this  number  only  4 
survived  and  were  put  into  the  stream.  It  is  much 
regretted  that  this  expensive  venture  was  not  more 
prosperous,  and  very  disappointing,  for  Mr.  Smytbies, 
who  closely  followed  the  instructions  drawn  up  by 
Mr.  LeMesurier  of  Ceylon  (based  on  his  experience 
in  hatching  trout  ova  in  that  island)  and  took 
every  precaution  to  ensure  success.  The  result  of 
the  experiment  is  very  disheartening  ; the  causes  of 
failure  may  lie  in  the  water  whioh  came  from  the 
Natraunda  swamp  springs,  and  was  very  largely 
impregnated  with  carbon.  The  temperature  of 
the  water  was  high,  while  in  February,  when  the 
hatching  was  going  on,  the  cold  in  Dehra  was  un- 
usually severe;  either  or  both  of  these  oaus68  may 
have  killed  the  young  fry  shortly  after  they  were 
hatched. 
The  oost  of  the  experiment  will  be  of  interest  to 
those  who  ere  desirous  of  introducing  trout  into  other 
streams  in  India  : — 
R, 
10,000  ova,  packing  case,  hatohing  boxes  £17  ...  280 
Freight,  carriage,  agenoy  charges,  ioe,  &o  ...  470 
Filters,  sheds,  canal,  watching  &e.  ...  ...  150 
Total...  900 
A plan  is  now  being  formulated  for  introducing 
trout  into  the  Kumnon  lakes,  where  climatic  con- 
ditions are  more  favourable,  and  among  the  weeds 
the  young  trout  will  find  shelter  until  large  enough 
to  hold  their  own  against  their  numerous  enemies. 
The  Dun  Association  are  endeavouring  to  get 
the  Government  of  India  to  legislate  to  prevent 
the  destruction  of  stock  in  the  rivers  of  India,  a po  nt 
so  strongly  advooated  by  Sir  Francis  Day  in  his  pre- 
liminary Report  on  the  Fishes  of  India.  A new  set  of 
fishing  rules  are  likely  to  be  shortly  brought  out  by 
the  Forest  Department  which  will  assist  in  preventing 
unfair  fishing  in  Government  forests,  it  is  hoped  that 
fish  will  then  seek  the  protection  of  Government 
streams  from  poaohers,  just  as  deer  and  feathered 
game  now  seek  repose,  by  instinct  as  it  were,  in  closed 
Government  forests.  Expenditure  is  being  inourred 
by  the  Committee  in  keeping  She  minor  streams  of 
the  valley,  that  are  the  hatching  grounds  of  trout 
and  mahseer,  in  their  proper  channels,  arid  prevent- 
ing pools  from  drying  up. — Civil  and  Military  Gazette; 
BARK  AND  DRUG  REPORT, 
(From  the  Chemist  and  Druggist.) 
Loudon,  March  29. 
Cinchona.— At  last  Thursday's  bark-auctions  in  Amster- 
dam 6,869  packages  Java  bark  total  weight  585,994- 
kilos  were  offered.  The  manufacturing  barks  represented 
22  472,  and  the  druggists’  barks  1,021  kilos  sulphate  of 
quinine,  an  average  for  the  manufacturing  barks  of  4’23 
per  cent.  The  tone  throughout  the  auctions  was  flat, 
and  onlv  4,631  packages  sold  at  a unit  ranging  from 
4?c  to  5$c  (equal  to  fd  to  1 J-lCthsd.)  per  lb-  according  to 
the  quantity  of  bark.  The  following  were  the  principal 
buyers  : — 
Sulphate  of  Quinine. 
Kilos. 
Mr.  Gust.Briegleb  ....bought  4,891 
The  Amsterdam  and  Mannheim 
Works  ..  ....  do  3,703 
Mr.  H.  A.  C.  Wischerhoffi  do  2,416 
Mr.  J.  Louet  Feisser  do  1,911 
Messrs.  Matthes  & Bormeester  do  1.289 
Messrs.  Hoppert  & Heyse  ....  do  526 
Mr.  J.  de  Ligt  do  483 
Smaller  buyers  do  406 
The  general  quality  of  pharmaceutical  barks  was  ex- 
ceeding.y poor,  and  the  total  supplies  of  this  kind  were 
small.  What  was  sold  of  this  bark  brought  unsatisfactory 
priceB.  The  best  parcel  of  bark  in  the  sale  was  one  of 
45  bales  crushed  Ledger  stem,  containing  the  equivalent 
of  7‘83  per  ceut  of  S,Q.  This  sold  at!4c  per  half-kilo  (equal 
to  about  8d  per  )b.  net.) 
Coca-leaves  — There  has  just  been  an  arrival  of  27  cases 
coca-leaves  from  Ceylon. 
Essential  Oil.— Lemrngrass  has  made  a further  ad- 
vance, business  haviug  been  done  at  2|d  per  lb : there 
are  now  further  buyers  ut  that  figure. 
VARIOUS  AGRICULTURAL  NOTES 
Coffee  prospects  in  Cjoorg  are,  we  learn,  moderate. 
The  “ blossom  showers  ” have  been  partial  and  not 
altogether  seasonable  ; on  many  estates  the  rain  fell 
too  soon  when  the  wood  was  still  green  and  re- 
quired hardening.  According  to  present  estimates 
the  coming  season  will  be  a moderate  one.—  M. 
Mail,  April  15. 
Trout  Ova. — We  call  attention  to  an  in- 
teresting reference  in  the  Tropical  Agriculturist  to 
recent  experiences  at  Ootaoamund  in  the  hatching  of 
Trout  Ova.  Messrs  Le  Mesurier  and  Fowler  oannot 
fail  to  be  interested  in  what  is  doing  on  the  Nilgiris 
and  the  detailed  experience  gained  there  ought  to 
be  of  valua  to  experimentalists  in  Ceylon. 
Tree-Planting  in  Pussbllawa. — One  of  the 
pioneers  of  tree-planting  on  plantations  in  the  island 
is  Mr.  Gabriel  Ross,  the  well-known  Manager  of 
the  Le  Vallon  group  of  estates.  Thirteen  years 
ago,  he  went  in  very  freely  for  grevilleas  whioh 
suit  his  average  elevation  exceedingly  well,  and 
now  Le  Vallon  can  show  as  large  specimens  as 
are  to  be  found  in  the  island  of  this  tree.  Mr. 
Ross  has  also  a large  number  of  “toons”  and  of 
Albizzia  moluccana ; while  E.  robusta  does  well 
in  his  top  fields  whioh  run  up  to  5,000  feet  above 
sea  level. 
Lord  Kelvin,  says  the  London  Correspon- 
dent  of  the  Indian  Engineer,  has  made  very 
careful  calculations  to  ascertain  the  best  method 
of  obtaining  power,  whether  it  is  better  to  ubo 
one  6r  more  steam-engines,  and  then  whether  to 
transmit  the  power  by  shaftiDg  and  belting  by 
rope.s,  or  by  electricity.  The  results  being  that 
with  electricity  he  can  confidently  count  on  70 
per  cent,  of  the  indicated  horse-power  at  the 
machines;  but  with  shafting  he  oan  only  get  about 
60  to  63  per  cent.  In  Mr.  Alexander  Siemens’  view, 
the  ideal  way  of  applying  eleetrioity  as  a motive 
power  in  factories  is  to  provide  each  maohine  tool 
with  a separate  motor,  and  thereby  avoid  the  use  of 
shafting,  and  counter-shafting,  pulleys  and  belts, 
besides  dispensing  with  the  heavy  oolumns  necessary 
to  carry  these. 
