416 
THE TROPICAL AGEICULTURLST. 
[Dec. 1, 1900. 
Mexican Notes. — The Tabasco Commercial 
Co., with heaclqiiarters at Springfield, Massachu- 
setts, are developing a tract of 15,000 acres in 
the state of Vera Cruz, Mexico, betweeu Coatza- 
coalcos and Frontera, cutting mahogany and pre- 
paring to plant rubber and other crops, — India 
Rubber World, Oct. 1. 
CEARA IIUBBER. 
has not always been considered of the highest 
value by the Ceylon planter. But from a report 
I have been reading, styled "The Diplomatic 
and Consular Report of Bahia" for July 1899, 
there is a good deal more to be said for it, appa- 
lently, than what used to be, at all events, 
thought in Ceylon. The pre.sent day planter, of 
course, may, for aught I know, be more fully alive 
to tlie virtues of "Ceara" than liis predecessor. The 
writer of the aforesaid report begins the sul ject by a 
description of Para rubber, which, though aware 
of its high place commercially, he rather depre- 
cates planters cultivating, on account of the un- 
healthy districts in which it flourishes. He 
suggests as alternatives the " Mangal:era," 
and " Manicoba " varieties, but as the former 
requires from eight to ten years growth before 
yielding, I pass it over. Coming to 
THE 'MANICOBA" TREE. 
he says : — "Considering everything the 'Mani- 
coba' plant shows many advantages over other 
varieties. It is easily planted from seeds or 
saplings, grows in six or eight months in any 
kind of soil to a height of six feet, and w.ill 
begin yielding in about three years a consider- 
able quantity of milk, far moie in proportion 
than any other rubber tree in existence." He 
then cites the case of a planter known to him 
who has recently planted over 100,000 " Mani- 
coba trees" and intends increasing tlie number to 
a million, being fully convinced that a very few 
years will show extraordinary results. 
But what has all this to do with "Ceara," 
some person may ask ? Simply this, that in an- 
other pamphlet by Mr. Thistleton Dyer, he says 
that he has identified the fiuilful "Manicoba" 
tree with the "Ceara" plant. A retired Ceylon 
planter, with whom I was discussing the subject, 
tells me he had many Ceara trees on his estate, 
and never once troubled to tap them ; he thought 
so little of them. If there are any planters still 
who are of the same way of thinking, the 
extracts quoted above may perhaps lead him to 
reconsider the question, — London Cor. 
A PARMER'S EVERY-DAY LIFE. 
No. M. 
{By Cosmopolite.) 
HARVESTING AND SHEEP SALES. 
The month of September has been, — as 
usual with agriculturists, — a very busy month, 
harvesting having been in full swing, in ad- 
dition to all the big sheep sales of store 
lambs, so that those who deal as nnich in 
sheep as I do, have been kept pretty well 
on thg trot. The moon, which has just run 
its course, came in on a Saturday, and full 
moon fell on a Sunday, reminding one of the 
old prophecy :— 
" A new moon on Saturday, 
On Sunday at its prime ; * 
If it comes again in seven years, 
'T will come in plenty time." 
It was dirring the course oi a moon, with 
these characteristics, that 
THE TAY BRIDGE 
was b'own down and believers took every 
opportunity of drawing the public atten- 
tion to the result, as being in keeping with 
prophecy. This month that has ju.st passed 
over to the majority, however, has not kept 
up its character, for it has been windless 
and rainless, but with heavy fogs at night 
and sunshines during the day, so that an- 
other of the cherished beliefs of our youth 
has gone by the board. Cutting has almost 
been completed, and in some cases, farmers 
with the earlier and higher crops have begun 
leading the grain to the stack yards, with 
the usual result that much of it is heating 
and spoiling, so that extra work has been 
caused by turning the stacks, to let them cool. 
PREMATURE "LEADING." 
The se called practical farmer is very 
fond of leading his crop before it has 
had time to be killed in the stock, 
and no number of lessons seem enough 
to teach him wisdom. Yet he continues, 
year after year, to abuse the grain mer- 
chant for giving him a shilling or two less, 
per quarter, for his gi-ain which has been dis- 
coloured, than what his more patient neigh- 
bour gets, who has allowed his crop to re- 
main in the stook until it was readv for 
leading I fear that too much grain has been 
led before it waj ready, this year, for I 
already hear the whirr of thrashing machines 
all around me, and excited farmers, w'hose 
stacks are heating, may be seen chasing the 
proprietors of travelling thrashing mills, and 
begging of them to come and thrash out 
their grain before it is quite useless. The 
outcome of this ridiculous haste is that grain 
will be knocked down in price, as the mer- 
chants will only consent to take grain that is 
soft and discoloured at a very low ra'e, and 
unfortunately, this brings the price of a good 
sample down also. I was speaking on the 
subject to the doyen of the grain trade in this 
locality, and he darkly hinted at prices 
going steadily downwards, and all because 
the so-called, practical farmer will persist 
in leading his grain l efore it is ready to be 
stacked. The grain merchant I refer to was, 
in the early fifties, a digger on Bendigo, at 
the same time as Lord Salisbury, and i-efer- 
ring to that circumstance, it appears that 
Lord Robert Cecil was considered one of the 
strongest men and best miners on the gold 
field. I have no doubt his early experience 
as a digger has been of service to him in his 
after-life as a politician and premier of Britain. 
THE WEATHER 
of the past month has been more delight- 
ful than any we have had this year, although, 
personally, I have had no complaint to find 
with the drippy weather of the past 
suiimier as it exactly suited my land, 
and I find that I have a finer crop than 
ny I have had during my term here, 
