188 
THE TROPICAL AGEICULTURIST. 
[Sept. 1, 1900. 
war has helped us, and there is a prospect 
of prices keeping up for some time yet. The 
rich pasturage has caused store cattle to rise 
considerably in value, indeed it is difficult to 
get them at anything like a price that would 
leave a profit, ' but, as one must have his 
grass eaten down, I have been compelled, 
although I have no great liking for 
IRISH CATTLE, 
to purchase a mob of these, merely _ to 
eat down my grass, that is runnmg wild. 
These cattle were bought in Limerick 
market on a Friday, and, the following 
Friday, I bought them at my nearest auction 
mart, so they have not been knocked about, 
from pillar to post, in the way that so 
many of these Irish cattle are treated for 
weeks before they are bought, and then, .as 
a consequence, they take months to i-ecover 
from the bad treatment they have endured. 
I trust that my mob may pt'ove the advantage 
of getting this cla.ss of cattle as quickly as 
possible from their native wilds on to our 
good pastures, and that they may thrive 
exceedingly, and leave a handsome profit. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Method of Making "Wood Fire proof.— The 
latest method of making wood hie-prnof is that 
ot a Mr. .Joseph L FeirelJ. The timber is not 
steamed in a vaciuun, but the fii eproohng sohi- 
tion is foraed into it by great hydraulic pres- 
sure, am aintiiii' to 1,500 lb. on the .square incli 
for some hard woods. The solution is a secret, 
but is neither vrdatile, corrosive, nor hygros- 
copic, and tlie timber, after treatment, is kiln 
dried so as to leave only line crystals in the 
pores. A house of this wood is nninfiamroable. 
Boxes made of it and placed in a fire of pitch- 
pine kept documents in them, it is stated, un- 
scorched for 23 minutes, although the outside 
of the box was churved. — Globe, Aug. lOih. 
Rubber Extraction. — We have been 
favoured with another letter on this subject 
from our esteemed confrere, Mr. A. Godefroy- 
Lehoenf, of Paris- He reports that the ex- 
traction of rubber from bark by a patent 
process has proved a success, and that a 
regular manufacture in this way will shortly 
be commenced. We trust our correspondenc 
will keep us fully informed as to the suc- 
cess of this new" factory, and it any of onr 
rubber planters are enterprising enough to 
send us a kilo (2J-lb.)of any bark he would 
like to have experimented with, we shall see 
that it is sent forward and the result duly 
reported. 
Indian Tb:a Association.— We are in 
debted to Mr. .laines Peter, Secret^iry to the 
Sylhet Branch of Indian tea planters, for a 
copy of the detailed Report of the general 
Conimittee of the Indian Tea Association 
for the year ended 28th February 19(10,— In- 
cluding list of gardens belonging to the As- 
sociation corrected to tlie 80th June 1900, 
with i)rocef.dings of the Nineteenth Annual 
General Me('ti.ig ludd on the 22nd May 1900.— 
There is nnioh valuaJile inf'orm.ation in this 
volume to which we shall refer fi'om time 
to time. 
The Profits of the Russian-American India- 
Rubber Co., at Si. Petersburg, for the last busi- 
ness year are reported at 2,941,906 rubles, against 
3,94,5,222 roubles, in the year 1898—99. The 
dividend will be on!j' 35 per cent,, ag'dn.st the 
cu-'ouiary yearly divi.iend of 50 per cent. — The 
India Rubber World. Au?. 1. 
.Jamaica is Pukely Agriculxuual. — Walking in the 
country and niHking enquiry, one soon discovera 
that seventy-five per cent ot the people are unable 
to answer with any certainty the follcwing simple 
questions : — " How long does it take from the time of 
planting for a banana, or pine apple to commence 
fruioing, and how long after the fruit appears does 
it take to ripen?" "Hjw long does the coffee or 
oriinge take to ripen after the blossom appears ? " 
Of those who read ninety per cent conld not an- 
swer. Yet these are things that we cannot avoid 
seeing before us, year -after year. Our young men 
will not take kindly to agriculture: they all want 
to be Clerks and Gentlemen, I hear repeatedly 
day by day, something sorrowfully, and frequently 
sneeringly. Now this is partly true, in as much as 
a boy who has been " educated " at an elementary 
school is very apt to loi-k down on the small cul- 
tivator as beneath him, and bow can he be blamed ? 
Oan he not write and read, what is the good of his 
education if he is to go aud hoe grass ? His teacher in 
all probability is above pLintiiig a rosd iu a pot, 
and he has unfortunately for himself and his coun- 
try, never seen a white man v^ith a spade in his 
hands. " Buocra " don't dig, therefore it cannot be 
a good thing. — Journal of the Juniuica Agricultural 
Socic'ti/. 
YerbA Mate Tea.— Some of our Cori.?uIs in 
South America refer in their last reports to the 
virtues ascribed to the tea made from yerba matfe, 
a herb which takes the place to some extent of tea 
or coffee, and which is derived from the leaves of 
the Ilex Paraguariensis, a tree of from 12ft. to 
20ft. in height. Our Ci.msul in Paraguay says 
this tea is consumed by a large pr')])ortion of the 
populations of Brazil, the Argentine, Uruguay, 
Chile, and Paraguay. The leaves are gathered 
every two or three years and dried over a slow fire; 
they are then pounded iu mortars in the ground, 
and linaily packed iu fresh skins and dried in the 
sun. The tea is made by pouring boiling water 
on the leaves, which serve for several infusions. 
The taste is bitter, but not unpleasant, and the 
effects sre asserted to be invigorating. It is said 
that it would be valuable as a restorative to 
troops on the march and on active service, and the 
French Goverment have ordered a shipment of 
matd for the colonial troops, and some samples 
have also been sent to Germany for experimental 
purpo.ses. An attempt is also being made to intro- 
duce it into the Tnited States as a suitable bever- 
age for the working classes. When analysed the 
tea is shown to contain caffeine and cafetannic 
acid in important proportions. Tlie Coasul-Gene- 
ra! at Rio also refers to the subject as one of com- 
mercial interest. It is claimed, he says, on behalf 
of the tea that it possesses superior stoniaehic pro- 
perties to tea and coffee, in that, while it is re- 
freshing and invigorating and favourable alike to 
mental and physical exertion, it does not disturb 
the nervous system. But even Brazilians are not 
agi eed as to its merits, some alleging that by iis 
aid the most arduous work can be done, such as 
forced marches of troops on short rations ; others 
asserting that in war coll'ee has proved much more 
sustaining. However this may be, ic is largely 
consumed in South American countries when the 
prices ot low grs.de Chipa teas are too high to ad- 
mit of their thipment to South America, and it is 
therefore possible that it has some good qualities 
to recommend it. — London Times, Aug. 9. 
