316 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov. 1, 1900. 
there were up to 30 of tliern, some of wliich had not 
come round the hill -vvhefl they were disturbed. 
" I will <T;ive you acreages, &c., later on as I 
have some tea to recaver from junyle. The total 
in laud is 1,258-98 acres." 
ANOTHER SCIENTIST FOR 
FEKADENIYA, CEYLON. 
Mr. A G Tansley, v/ho studied botany at Cam- 
liridge, and there knew Messrs. Willis, Garruthers 
and Gardiner, and other of the younger scientists 
who have recently visited Ceylon, arrived on 
Sept. 30th, bv the s's. " Oceana,"— says our evening 
contemporary— to join Dr. Lang, who has been in 
this island two mouths, engaged in botanical in- 
vestigations. They will continue at Peradeniya 
together, until November or December, and then 
■will start for the Malay States. Mr. Tansley, 
who will stay with Mr. Garruthers while at 
Peradeniya, will, during his six months in 
this part of the world, more especially study 
the lower forms of plant life. In August last, 
shortly before starting, he met a,t Cambridge Mr. 
J Stanley Gardiner, who recently conducted an 
exhaustive research in the Indian Ocean atolls. 
[Mr. Tansley is, we believe, an old pupil of Dul- 
wich College— a school which is constantly 
sending up scholars who attain distinction in the 
' sister Universities. — Ed. 2'. A.] 
RUBBER INDUSTY IN MANICA. 
The " Manioa Mining JournpJ " is complaining 
o£ the destructive way in which the rubber mdustry 
is exploited by Indians in Manica. Until quite 
recently (it says) the wealth of the country m india- 
rubber was known only to Indians, who traded with 
the natives at considerable profit to themselves. The 
Indian stores buy yearly about 12 tons of india- 
rubber of a value of nearly MfiOO. On that sum they 
have something like 60 per cent, profit, or a net 
return of £2,400. The complaint is not that these 
Indian traders should make handsome profits on their 
transactions, but that in the makhig of them one of 
the most important natural products of the country 
is being ruined. The natives bleed the lianas very 
carelessly, in many cases killing them, in order to 
lessen the difficulty of their task. To mitigate, if not 
to remove this evil, our Manioa contempory suggests 
that the Mozambique Company should charge a 
yearly licence of £100 or more per stone to all 
india-rubber buyers, and, further, that the workmg 
of the lianes should only be permitted to the con- 
cessionaires who bind themselves when the season 
is over and the crop gathered to plant again a certain 
number of new trees, and strictly forbid any working 
to the natives, iho Blozambique Company has 
already granted one concession under these condi- 
tions, and it is, no donbt, the intention to impose them 
in ftiture contracts.— IxcZia-JSitZjerr Journal, Sept. 17. 
Ion graphite, as, while the latter is nearly pure, 
the former has about 60 to 75 per cent of earthy 
subr^tances mixed with it. The Passau graphite 
however, can be purihed by a very simple and 
inexpensive process, and a substance produced 
th;i.t is quite equal to tlie Ceylon graphite. Un- 
furtunaiely this process is little used, as the de- 
posits are spread amongst anuuiberof small pro- 
])rietors, who work on a small scale in tl»e 
elitape.st manner possible ; the result is that there 
is waste of raw material, of which it is said 
that nearly 90 per cent is absolutely thrown away 
owing 10 the unscientific system of worklDEf 
vi hicii must lead to the premature exhaustion of 
the depcsiss. In 1898 there v.ere 49 graphite 
works in Bavaria, employing only 210 men, which 
produced 4,593 tons of graphite, worth £19,583. — 
Loudon Times, Sept. 10. 
THE GRAPHITE INDUSTRY OF BAVARIA. 
In a report on the economical condition of Bava- 
ria, Mr. Harford, of our Legation at Munich, 
says that graphite is one of the most valuable mi- 
nerals found in Bavaria, and like the htho>;raphic 
stone, represent almost a monopoly for the country, 
as the only formidable coiii()etitor in the supply 
of natural ' graphite is Ceylon. The production 
in Ceylon has, however, decreased in the last 
six y'ea.-.s from 30,000 tons to 12,000 to 15,000 
tons annually, causing a great rise in prices as 
the delicit could not be made good from other 
son rces. The price of Ceylon grapliite ranges from 
X50 to ,):75per ton. In Bavaria the graphite deposits 
are found near Passau, and are inferior to the Cey- 
THE PRECIOUS STONE CUTTING 
INDUSTRY OF BIRKENFIELD. 
Tlie cutting and polishing of precious and semi- 
precious stones forms the chief industry of the 
little princip.ility of Birkenfeld, up among the 
hills of the Nake River in Oldenburg, and gives 
employment to over 5,000 persons. Although an 
improved factory system is gradualli' supersed- 
ing the laborious methods of former times, there 
are, nevertheless, plenty of the old polishing and 
cutting works, which bear evidence to the lives 
sacrificed to this industry. The United States 
Consul at Mainz says that in the early days of 
the trade, agate quarries existed in the adjacent 
bills, and this stone was cut and polished by a 
very laborious method, which is still practised, 
although the a.gate quarries have loirg been ex- 
hausted, and the raw material — as well as 
amethyst, jasper, opal, topaz, &c. — has been im- 
ported (since about 1831) chiefly from Brazil, 
whence it is shipped to Birkenfeld, to be cut, 
shaped, and polished for the jewellery trade. 
The usual method employed in cutting and 
polishing these stones is as follows :— In a rude 
hut by a stream, wliich furnishes the power, 
four large grindstones about 4 feet in diameter 
are so fixed that their axes are only about one 
foot above the floor, into which a slit is cut, .so 
that part of the grindstone is below its level 
The lowest portion passes through the water, 
thus keeping the stones constantly wet. The 
operator has a bench or block of wood, about 
la inches high, hollowed out to receive his chest 
anrl body. On the bench he lies at full length, 
and with his fingers holds the small piece of 
opal, amethyst, or other stone which is to be 
cut, against the grindstone slightly above the 
level of the floor : in this position the men lie 
from morning to night, day after day. Con- 
sumption usually carries them off at an early 
flge, but other men are found to follow this 
vocation, as the earnings are comparatively high. 
The operator usually owns his grindstone, or at 
least half of one. Ihis represents an investment 
of about £20, and a skilled lapidary can earn 
from i;3 to £5 per week. He does not usually 
cut and polish stones on his own account, but 
generally contracts with manufacturing jewellers, 
who supply him with the stones in the rough 
to cut and polish at a certain price per gramme 
(gramme = 15"4 grains). As the stones, even in 
the rough, represent quite an outlay of money, 
the honesty of the workman must be greatly 
relied upon, for nobody can say in advance how 
many grains of finished stones a certain piece 
of opal, amethyst, or the like may yield. Be- 
sides these semi-precious stones, precious stones 
such as diamonds, &c., are also cut and polished 
there, but this is an entirely different branch 
of the industry, and is chiefly carried on in 
