768 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[June  t,  1893. 
A Kincardineshire  Housewife  purchased  a hen 
from  a farmer  ia  the  Gartly  district  of  Aberdeen- 
shire, and  after  killing  it  (says  Poultry ) she  found 
the  following  extraordinary  collection  inside  One 
sleeve  link,  one  three-quarter-inch  button,  a top  of 
a small  cartridge,  a flattened  lead  bullet,  two  pins, 
a brass  nail,  and  a pipe  of  a watoh-key.  Tbe 
whole  oolleotion  weighed  nearly  2 oz.  Despite  the 
faot  that  the  hen  had  swallowed  such  a quantity 
of  odds  and  ends,  it  was  in  quite  a healthy  con- 
dition at  the  time  of  its  death. — Echo. 
Indian  Museum  Notes. — Volume  III.  No.  I. 
— has  come  to  hand  and  is  full  of  useful  reading 
as  the  contents  show: — 
Miscellaneous  Notes  by  E.  0.  Cotes,  Notes  on  Scoly- 
tidaa  by  W.  F.  H.  Blaadford,  f.e.s.,  i.z  «.,  Notes  on 
Coconut  Palm  Coocidae  byW.  M.  Masked,  f.bm.s.,  The 
Silk  Cotton  Pod  Moth  by  F.  More,  F.z.s.,  A New  Gall- 
making  Aphid  by  G.  B.  Buokton,  f.R.s.,  A New  Wood 
Borer  by  O.  E.  Janson,  p.e.s. 
The  following  extraots  will  indioate  the  great  value 
of  these  notes  ■—> 
Scale  Insects  on  Tea. — In  Deo.  1891  information 
was  reoeived  through  Messrs.  Mitchell,  Reid  & Co., 
of  the  presence  in  small  numbers  of  the  Oocoid 
Chionaspis  thece  Maskell  ( =zAspidiotus  there  vreeu  A1S.) 
on  tea  ( Camellia  Then)  in  the  Kangra  Valley.  The 
curious  little  fluted  aoales  of  the  male  insect  of  this 
species  were  represented  in  considerable  numbers 
upon  the  leaves  that  were  sent  to  the  Museum  for 
examination.  No  particular  harm  seems  to  have 
been  done  as  yet  by  this  insect,  but  it  is  oae  to  be 
watobed  carefully  as  it  has  now  established  itself 
upon  tea  both  in  tbe  Himalayas  and  in  Ceylon,  and 
may  at  any  time  prove  destructive,  It  is  satisfactory 
to  Jearn  that  the  kerosioe  and  soap  emulsion  which 
have  been  recommended  for  ubo  agaiust  this  inseot 
have  been  used  successfully  in  the  Kangra  Valley, 
Acrididj!  Attacking  Tea.— In  February  1892  infor- 
mation was  reoeived  through  Mesgrs.  Jardine,  Skinner 
& Co.,  of  considerable  injury  to  young  tea  ( Camellia 
theiferd)  bushes  in  the  Western  Doars  by  AcrididEe. 
Of  the  insects  forwarded  to  the  Agents,  some  were 
Identical  With  speoimens  in  the  Museum  collection 
determined  by  Dr.  De  Sanssnre  as  his  Catantops  indicus 
while  others  seemed  to  be  a variety  of  tbe  same 
species  characterized  by  the  absence  of  stripped  mark- 
ings on  the  posterior  femora.  Two  specimens  of  the 
speoies  Acridium,  flavicorne  Fabr.  were  afterwards 
forwarded  as  associated  with  the  insect  first  reported. 
In  the  end  of  February  the  manager  wrote  that  be 
had  been  to  a great  extent  successful  in  destroying 
the  insects,  and  that  he  had  not  heard  of  their 
appearing  on  any  of  the  neighbouring  gardens.  The 
method  adopted  was  hand-colleoting  by  children  and 
coolies,  were  paid  two  annas  per  hundred  insects.  Up 
to  ihe  date  of  his  letter,  the  manager  estimated  that 
he  had  destroyed  31,770  insects  in  this  way,  with  the 
result  that  they  were  getting  so  much  scarcer  that, 
at  tbe  time  be  wrote,  the  coolies  were  only  bringing 
in  about  25  per  cent  of  the  daily  number  they  had 
been  able  to  obtain  when  hand-colleoting  was  first 
started. 
SuLphUr  Vs.  Red  Spider. — A very  complete  and  in- 
teresting aeries  ot  reports  by  Mr.  G.  F.  Playfair,  on 
the  results  of  experiments  conducted  iu  Oach^r  upon 
the  subject  of  the  sulphur  treatment  for  red  spiiier, 
have  been  furnished  by  Messrs.  Barry  & Co.  Five 
tons  of  refined  flowers  of  sulphur  were  sent  up  to 
the  garden  lor  application  as  a remedy  against  red 
spider  ( Tetranychus  bioculatus  W.  M.),  which  is  one  of 
tbe  tea  planters’  most  inveterate  enemies.  The 
sulphur  was  applied  over  an  area  of  138  acres,  and 
the  results  appear  to  be  so  successful  that  the  treat- 
ment seems  likely  to  prove  of  the  very  greatest  value. 
Gas  lime  and  lime  has  long  been  recommended 
against  root-feeding  insects,  and  in  a recent  Bulletin 
of  the  new  Jersey  Agricultural  College  Experiment 
Station,  Mr.  J.  B.  Smith  advocates  kftiuit  and  muriate 
potash  for  a similar  purpose 
ThePbice  of  Coffee  hae  risen  from  thirty  or  thirty 
five  cents  a catty  about  two  months  ago  to  fifty  cents 
at  present.  At  this  rate  things  ought  to  be  looking 
rosy  with  coffee  planters. — Pinang  Gazette. 
Oeylon  Tea  does  noj;  compare  favourably 
with  that  of  India  in  respect  of  the  average 
prices  for'last  year  aa  quoted  by  us  on  April  21st, 
The  time  is  not  so  iar  back,  when  we  were 
accustomed  to  speak  of  the  superiority  of  our 
teas  to  those  of  Assam  ; but  it  will  have  been 
observed  that  while  our  average  for  1892  was  only 
9fd,  that  for  Assam  (llfi)  was  not  only  far  above 
ours,  but  equal  to  the  average  for  the  very  beat 
district — Agrapatana — in  all  Ceylon.  We  must 
never  again  therefore  think  that  Ceylon  can  as  a 
whole  rival  Assam  in  the  home  tea  market. 
Coffee  in  Brazil. — The  following  circular 
says  the  Rio  News  of  March  14th,  has  been  recently 
published  : — 
“ The  committee  of  coffee  factors  of  Rio  de  Janeiro 
appointed  to  estimate  the  ooff.e  crops  available  for  ex- 
portation from  this  market,  ratifies  the  estimate  it 
handed  to  the  press  on  the  22nd  of  last  November.  Up 
to  the  end  of  January  the  season  was  unfavourable,  aud 
the  loog  drougnt  in  the  coffee  distriots  injured  tbe  crop 
and  at  the  same  time  caused  its  rapid  ripening.  This 
cireumstence  will  lead  toreoeiptsat  (bis  market  iD  ad- 
vance of  the  nsnal  time  and  will  increase  the  figures  for 
the  present  crop  year,  which  had  been  reduced  to 
2 700,000  bags.  In  some  dislricts  in  the  month  of  Feb. 
there  was  abundant  flowering  and  if  the  coffee  resulting 
therefrom  should  mature,  it  may  compensate  for  tbe 
loss  in  tbe  early  flowering.  Under  these  circumstances 
tbe  committee  deems  advisable  to  maintain  for  tbe 
present  its  estimate  of  2,700,000  bags  as  the  maximum 
quantity  available  for  exportation.  The  want  of 
laborers  and  the  lack  of  discipline  among  the  few  who 
seek  employment  and  the  rise  in  wages  are  difficulties 
with  which  the  planters  still  have  to  contend.  The 
transportation  service  should  be  improved  so  that 
planters  may  promptly  market  their  crops  and  receive 
supplies. — Joaquim  Mello  Franco. — Mirauda  Jnrd&o  & 
Co. — Herman  Joppert. — Cesar  Duque-Estrada  & Co.~ 
Araujo  Maia  & Co.” 
Manufacture  of  Sulphate  of  Cinchonidine.— Dis- 
cussing the  relative  advantages  of  sulphate  of  cinchoDi- 
dine  and.  cinohona  febrifuge,  the  Government  of  India, 
in  a letter  addressed  to  tbe  Bengal  Government,  sug- 
gested that  before  attempts  to  manufacture  the  former 
drug  on  tbe  Government  plantations  were  finally 
abandoned,  the  impossibility  of  preparing  cincboni- 
dineat  a reasonable  price  should  be  fully  demonstrated. 
Brigade-Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel  G.  King  now  re- 
ports that  a process,  which  has  been  under  trial  for 
some  time,  and  which  seems  more  hopeful  than  any 
other,  is  to  treat  the  precipitate  from  the  mother 
liquors  with  sulphurio  acid  and  Rochelle  salt,  by  which 
means  the  quinine  and  cinchonidine  are  converted  into 
tartrates,  and  the  cinchonidine  and  amorphous  alkaloids 
are  left  behind.  The  tartrates  thus  obtained  are 
treated  with  a weak  solution  of  oaustio  soda,  and  the 
quinine  is  then  separated  by  adding  oxalio  acid,  the 
residue  (combined  with  sulphuric  acid)  forming  sul- 
phate of  cinchonidine.  He  is  not  without  hope  that 
some  modification  of  this  process  may  yet  be  found 
which  may  be  profitably  worked  ; but  hitherto  it  has 
not  proved  a sucoess.  He  is,  however,  of  opinion 
that,  instead  of  trying  to  make  cinohonidine  sulphate 
at  Mungpoo,  it  would  be  more  economical,  and  quite 
practicable,  to  crystallise  as  sulphates  the  whole  of 
tha  crjstailisable  alkaloids  which  are  contained  in 
the  precipitates,  which  are  obtained  during  the  present 
process  of  making  both  quinine  and  cinchona  febri- 
fuge. An  alternative,  and  stil  cheaper  plan,  would  be 
to  convert  the  quinine  aud  cinchonidine  into  tartrates 
without  attempting  to  separate  them  from  each  other, 
and  to  issue  ihe  product  as  a mixed  tartrate  of  quinine 
and  cinchonidine.  One  objection  to  this  drug  is,  how- 
ever, that  it  would  be  less  soluble  than  either  sulphate 
or  quinine  or  oinchonidine,— Ptartser,  April  4, 
