July 1, 1900.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
43 
has all the appearance of a good beet beast. The 
heifers are now coming into milk and their 
yield is from 8 to 10 quarts per day of excellent 
quality. 
You will perhaps remeniler our getting some 
small cattle from Ceylon. Wc have not done so 
well with them as was anticipated. There has 
been no increase amongst them and unfortu- 
nately the bull has broken his leg. The leg has 
been set, but from his restlessness there are no 
great hopes of repair,— I am, yours truly, 
C. W. MEADEN. 
[The photographs— very fine ones— can be seen 
at our office. The Report will be reviewed in 
due course. — Ed. T.A.} 
EXPERIMENTS WITH INDIARUBBER. 
Paris, 29:h April. 
Deae Sik,— I should like to kQOW if I could procure in 
Ceylon, dry corks or bark (ecorces) of Indiarubber plants 
for experiments such as Alstonia, Hevea, Urceola, etc. 
For the species of little development, few stems will 
be sufficient. You know that I have attracted the 
attention of chemists to the possibility of extraction 
of rubber by dissolvents and that the results have 
proved that for Landolphia, etc, etc., dissolvents 
are not needed and extraction can be purely mecha- 
nical. I have sent twice to America for samples of 
leave's of Castilloa, but the experiments have been 
totally unsuccessful ; but it is not the same with corks 
of Landolphiapartieularly if (? preserved) on the roots. 
Curiously, and you will easily understand the fact 
o£ plants one year old, when I say at two months 
old, if they do not show nearly any rubber in the 
stems, are very rich in the roots. So I beg the 
planters on the Colony if they have Landolphia under 
hand, to marsol ('.' sic) to layer the stems all around the 
mother plants and when hour of exportation come, 
to whig (? pull) out all the children around the 
mother. Do you understand what I mean ? 
1 is the mother plant which must never be 
touched ; 2 are the children layered in the soil where 
they have much roots. These can be digged out 
and all the cork (? bark) from the stems or the roots be 
sent to manufacture aud the planter can begin 
again with new shoots from the mother plants. 
Landolphia Hendelotii gives easily 8 per cent of good 
rubber from the stems and ten to eleven per cent 
from the roots,— which you can easily see by the 
samples I sent to you. 
You must understand the interest for me to know 
the value of the corka (? bark) of any rubber plant 
—Tours most truly, 
A GODEFEOY-LEBEUF, 
SEi!"CHBLLES GUANO AND MR. BAM- 
BEK'S REPORT ON CEYLON TEA 
ESTATES. 
Analytical Laboratory, 79, Mark Lane, 
London, E.G., May 11. 
Sir, — Just a few lines to say that I have 
only this week seen a copy of Mr. Bamber's 
report ; indeed, I doubt if I should have done 
so, only Mr. Talbot called on Monday to con- 
sult me in reference to the vise of the Sey- 
chelles Guano as a phosphatic ingredient of 
tea manures, and in the course of conversation 
asked me if I had seen his report, to which I 
replied that up to the present time no copy 
had been sent me. The publication which ap- 
parently has only been privately circulated, 
is very interesting, especially the portion re- 
ferring to the manufacture of tea, concerning 
which, yoir will remember, I originally made 
some urgent recommendations, pointing out 
how very useful careful investigations made 
in the factory must prove in the future. 
In reference to the system of manuring sug- 
gested by INIr. Bamber, I refrain from going 
into details, as I may be consulted profes- 
sionally, and have already reported on some of 
his soil analyses. — Yours faithfully, 
JOHN HUGHES. 
WHO WILL TELL US MORE ABOUT 
" CHILLIES." ? 
Aberfoyle, Rakwana, May 15. 
De,\r Sir,— I shall be verjr much obliged 
if you could give me any information by 
post or through your Journal regarding 
chillies: — 
1. The most suitable kind for local and 
home consumption. 
2. Method of planting, from mu'sery, or" 
sown broadcast. 
3. Safe estimate of crop for one year's 
bearing. 
4 How long each bush lasts from time of 
coming into bearing, and Avhen the bush 
comes into bearing from time of planting or 
sowing. 
5. What enemies to fear or pests ? 
You have had some information in the 
T.A. on this subject, but not giving any 
of the information now asked for. — Thanking; 
you in anticipation, I am, sir, vours faith' 
fully, W. G. B. STRONACH. 
[We shall be obliged if any cultivator who 
has had actual experience in raising "chil- 
lies " will send us answers to the above ques- 
tions. — Meanwhile we quote the following 
from the Treasury of Botany.— Y.D. T.A.] 
Capsicum annuum a native of South America, 
but introduced into India and elsewhere, fur- 
nishes the fruits known as Chillies ; these, as 
well as the fruits of C. fridescens, and several 
other speciesor varieties, are used to fornr Cayenne 
pepper. The species of Ca.psicum are chiefly natives 
of tlie East and West Indies, China, Brazil and 
Egypt, where they are inuch esteemed for theit 
pungent fruit and seeds, which, under the name 
of Cayenne Pepper, or chillies, farm an indispen- 
sable condiment which Nature herself appear to 
have pointed out to persons resident within the 
tropics. According to Sir R. Schomburgb, the 
natives in Guiana eat the fruit of these plants in 
such abundance as would not be credited by A 
European unless he were to see it [Jour. Hort, 
^S'pe. ii 153), la Jawaiga the species roos^ esteemei^ 
