April 1, 1901.] 
THE TROPICAL 
AGEICULTURIST. 
723 
cone-shaped cover lined with rice straw. Then the 
vessels are heated, and the camphor is driven cue 
of the cliips. Do you know what I mean when I 
use the word ' volatile ' ? No? Well, a thing is 
volatile that seenis to fly off in the air. Now, 
camphor is volatile ; it is cajjable of being chang- 
ed into vapor. When hear is applied to the iron 
vessels the camphor is volatilised, but it condenses 
almost at once ; that is, it is chant^ed to a multi- 
tude of tiny little lumps of solid camphor, wiiich 
fasten themselves on the straw that lines the 
cover. It is then scraped from the straw, refined 
and pressed into blocks." 
"Is camphor used for anything hut medicine 
and to keep off motiis ? " asked Sandy. 
" I was just coming to that. Strange as it may 
seem, we can get a substance from it that looks 
almost like ivory— hard and beautifully white. Go 
out to the first show-case on the left, and bring uie 
a white comb and one of those hand-mirrors with a 
white back." 
Sandy looked puzzled as he obeyed. 
" This material," tapping the back of the mirror, 
"is called celluloid, and it is made from camphor 
and cotton. It is used for hair-brushes, soap-boxes, 
knife-handles, and many other articles. In 
another field we find that it plays its part in 
changing the map of the world or shaping the 
destiny of a nation. Camphor is used in making 
smokeless gunpowder. Our country certainly 
learned the value of it in the summer of '98." 
" Why," Sandy ventured, " I should think, 
with all the big armies everywhere, that most of 
the camphor would be used for poM'der." 
" A great dsal of it is. That is why camphor has 
been so dear for a number of years past." 
■' Couldn't tar camphor be used?" 
"Oh, no! Tar camphor is really not camphor 
at all, though somebody discovered, about twelve 
years ago, that it would take the place of cam- 
phor in preventing the ravages of moths. For 
many years it was thrown away ; it was a puzzle 
to get rid of it. It comes, in a roundabout way, 
from bituminous coal. When this kind of coal is 
heated in a certain way it is split up into gas 
(used for lighting), a heavy, black liquid (coal-tar), 
and coke ; and it is from the coal-tar that tar 
camphor is made. I couldn't begin to tell you all 
about coal-tar in one night. Sandy. Some other 
time we'll talk about it again." 
INDIAN TEA ASSOCIATION LONON. 
The following is part of the proceedings 
of a meeting of the Committee held on March 
5th, 1901, when the following members were pre- 
sent :— Mr D Cruicksliank (in the chair), and 
Messrs A Bryans, J S Hulbert, Kobert Lyell. C C 
McLeod, F A Roberts, A G Stanton, J N Stuart, 
and C W Wallace. 
Green Tea. — The correspondence on this ques- 
tion was read, and after discussion it Was agreed 
that the decision come to on June 21st, 
1900, should hold good in respect of the cur- 
rent season, viz., " that 1^ annas per lb, up to 
a maximum of 200,000 lb to be manufactured 
this season, be allowed out of the funds of 
the levy on the shipmeats of green tea for the 
American market, sent there direct from India, 
such funds to be distributed as a bounty at the 
discretion of the Calcutta Committee," the 
definition of the term " gi'een tea" for the 
receipt of the bounty being taken to be tea 
made from the ordinary leaf plucked on the 
gardens, such as would be ordinarily made into 
black tea, but which in its altered manufactured 
state will not compete with the sale of black tea 
in Ar.ierica or elsewliere. The bounty to be paid 
on the same quantity as before sanctioned, viz , 
200,0001b, until it is seen what success is attained 
in the manufacture of gveen tea, the Association 
in Calcutta to be requested to notify the com- 
mittee pron>ptly if a larger quantity than 200,0001b 
is likely to be sjjecially prepared for shipment to 
America. 
FiSH Culture at the Crystal Palace.— An 
interesting experiment in fish culture is being 
made at the Crystal Palace. For some time past 
trout have been hatched and reared in the aquarium 
from eggs received from various parts of the coun- 
try, and the process of tieatment from the time 
when the eggs are placed in the hatching ap- 
paratus up to the full growth of the fish may be 
seen by visitors. Tiie tanks contain a number of 
fine two and three-year-old irout. The experi- 
ment of rearing them has been undertaken by the 
Crystal Palace Company for the purpose of ascer- 
taining whether the trout will live in the stagnant 
water of the great lake in the palace grounds. 
About 150 two-year-old rainbow trout {Salmo 
Iridens) have just been taken from the rearing 
tauks and [)laced in the lake. The number will 
be added to from time to time, and it is hoped 
that the trout will thrive, as there are no jack in 
the lake. In course of time, if the experiment 
succeeds, fly-fishing will be introduced at Syden- 
ham. Anglers in the district are taking great 
interest in the matter, and a joint committee of 
various angling clubs is in course of formation with 
the view of protecting the waters and of arranging 
conditions under which the trout will be fished for. 
It has been already agreed that tor the first year 
all lish hooked shall be returned to the water, — 
London Tij/ies, March 14. 
RAINFALL RETURN FOR COLOMBO. 
{Supplied hij the Surveyor~General.) 
1896. 
189?; 
1898. 
1899. 
1900 
AV Of 
31yrs. 
l9Cl 
Incli 
Inch 
Inch 
Inch. 
Inch. 
Inch. 
Inch. 
Tantiary . . 
2-92 
3-81 
2-32 
6-9S 
3-72 
3 "34 
11-91 
February . . 
C-3o 
1-6S 
1-9S 
2-78 
0-63 
1-89 
5 12 
March 
5-64 
3-66 
4-21 
0-88 
3-71 
4-75 
0-99* 
April 
5-93 
10-97 
22-81 
6-66 
15-12 
11-43 
May 
9'31 
8-30 
5 -SO 
17-73 
10-63 
12-04 
June 
8-37 
10-14 
10-94 
9-23 
7-83 
8-35 
July 
2-85 
5-24 
6-15 
1-11 
6-77 
4-30 
A ugust 
6-35 
9-09 
0-97 
0-62 
7-35 
3-79 
September 
10-99 
4-58 
6-90 
1-48 
4-00 
4-98 
October . . 
16-78 
4-71 
20-60 
12 99 
9-47 
14 3G 
November.. 
19.81 
11-66 
17-38 
8-58 
9-25 
12-55 
December. . 
11-76 
8-89 
3-05 
4-44 
5-20 
6-35 
Total.. 
101'06 
82-73 
103-11 
73-48 
83-68 
88-03 
21-57 
* From Isc to 3rd April 0 99 inches, that is up to 9-30 a.m 
Vn the 4.tU April -Ed, CO. 
