Magaxine  of  the  School  of  Agriculture . 
time.  They  must  not  be  kept  too  long  in  the 
shade,  as  the  castor  is  a sun-loving  plant.  Its 
action  on  the  mosquito  is  not  very  well  under- 
stood : one  writer  says  they  are  killed  by  a 
poison  they  find  on  the  underside  of  the  leaf. 
But  if  a dozen  leaves  are  placed  about  a room 
that  swarms  with  mosquitoes,  the  wretched 
insects  will  disappear  without  leaving  any  dead 
victims  lying  about. 
Tea  planters  will  be  interested  in  the  follow- 
ing applications  for  patents: — 1.  Samuel  Sykes, 
Engineer  of  Calcutta,  for  improvements  in  the 
treatment  of  green  tea  leaf  preparatory  to  the 
process  of  rolling.  2.  By  Augustine  Cooke,  tea 
planter  of  Chota  Nagpore,  for  improvements  in 
the  apparatus  for  preparing  green  tea  leaf  for 
the  process  of  rolling.  3.  By  William  Carey 
Leechman,  Merchant,  for  an  improved  preparation 
of  tea  and  the  process  of  making  the  same. 
We  have  all  heard  and  wondered  over  the 
man-eating  tree  and  the  cow  tree,  the  thread 
and  needle  tree  and  the  tree  that  provided 
candles  ready  for  use,  and  other  vegetable  pro- 
digies, but  the  latest  discovery  said  to  have  been 
made  by  a Mr.  Barber  in  the  mountainous  region 
of  Kiating  would  seem  to  throw  all  these  in 
the  shade,  to  wit  (1)  the  tea  and  sugar  tree, 
(2)  the  tea  of  milk  tree.  The  first  is  described 
as  tasting,  when  brewed,  “ like  coarse  congou 
with  a large  addition  of  brown  sugar,”  the 
second,  “just  like  tea  and  milk,  without  sugar, 
or  perhaps  more  like  tea  and  butter.”  The 
occupations  of  the  tea  planter  and  broker,  the 
dairyman,  and  the  grocer  as  well  as  the  sugar 
grower  would  now  appear  to  be  in  jeopardy, 
and  with  the  prospect  of  the  cultivation  of  the 
tea  and  sugar  plant  and  the  milk  and  tea  plant 
as  a mixed  crop,  the  very  thought  of  the 
revolution  that  is  imminent  in  trade  circles  is 
aPPalling ! 
