AVG. I, 1902.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTFRIST. 
121 
nient of the Tea Cess Scheme, and, as the area 
stipporting tlie proposal now amounted to about 
SO per cenc of the total acreage under lea, it was 
decided to a;;aiii invite the attention of the Go- 
vernment of In ;lia to . the memorial submitted in 
March last. — /. T. A. Minutes. 
TEA EXPERIMENTS IN THE 
PHILIPPINES. 
An experment in tea culture ir, ^-eing made by 
Mr. T H Donaldsor.-Sim at Bengaeti in the 
Philippines.— Oycr^onrf China Mail, June 30. 
CEYLON PATENT. 
A list of fourteen patents is given in the 
Gazette as having been granted under the 
Inventions Ordinance during the half-year 
ended 30th June last. Of these no less than 
six are of immediate interest to us in Ceylon, 
and they have been granted to the following : — 
69S.~Montagne Kelway Bamber, of the Labora- 
tory, Hyde Park Corner, Colombo, Ceylon, Agricul- 
tuL-al Chemist, and John Roger, of 6, Coningsby 
road, Fiusbury Park, London. — An improved method 
of filtering and the separation of suspended solids 
from a fluid.— Febrnary 1th, 1902. 
699.— Montague Kelway Bamber, of the L3,bora- 
tory, Hyde Park Corner, Colombo, Ceylon, and John 
Koger, of 6, Coningsby Road, Finsbury Park, 
London. — Improvements in producing a pure aiiU 
Bohible extract of tea. — Febrnary 6tb, I'lO?. 
712.— James Bogg, of Efjo'ii;;)., jtitj I'ea Estate, 
Assam, British India. — A New and Improved Machine 
for artificially withering tea leaf.— Febrnary 22ni3, 1902. 
286 of 1896. — Alfred Brown. — Invention for improve- 
ments in machinery for rolling tea teaf. — Extended 
for a further term of 14 years. — February 27th, 1902. 
725.— Alfred Baur, of Colombo.— Disintegrating fish 
and other articles. — April 5th, 1902. 
719.— John Thomas Mitchener, of 33 T, Juniper 
Street, Shadwell, London, England, and William 
Stanning Ross, of 10, Church Court, Wapping, 
London, England.- — Improvements in chests for tea 
and other substances.— May 13th, 1902. 
4, — 
THE FINE-APPLE AS A DIGESTIVE AID. 
The parto-king of a slice of pine-apple after a meal ia 
quite in accordance withphy^iologicaliudications, since 
though it may not be generally known, fresh pine, 
apple juice contains a remarkably active digestive 
principle similar to pepsin. This principle has been 
termed " bromelir," and so powerful is its action 
upon proteids that it will digest as much as 1,000 times 
its weight within a few hours. Its digestive activity 
varies in accordance with the kind of proteid to 
■which it is subjected. Fibrin disappears entirely after 
a time. With the coagulated albumin of eggs the 
digestive process is slow, while with the albumin of 
meat its action sesms first to produce a pulpy ge- 
latinous niBss which, however, completely dissolves 
after a short time. When a slice of fresh pine-apple 
is placed upon a raw beef-steak the surface of the 
steak becomes gradually gelatinous owing to the 
digestive action of the enzyme of the juice. Of course 
it ia well-known that digestive agents exist also in 
other fruits, but when it is considered that an 
average sized pine-apple will yieid nearly two pints 
of juice it wil be seen that the digestive action of the 
whole it must be enormous. The activity of this 
peculiar digestive agent is destroyed in the cooked 
pine-apple, but unlsss the pine apple is preserved by 
eat there is no reason why the tinned fruit should 
not retain the digestive power. The active digestive 
principle may be obtained from the juice by dissolv- 
ing a large quantity of common salt in it, when a 
precipitate is obtained possessing the remarkable 
digestive powers just described. Unlike pepsin, the 
digestive principle of the pine-apple will operate ia 
an acid, neutral, or even alkaline medium, according 
to the kind of proteid to which it is presented. It 
may therefore be assumed that the'pine-apple enzyme 
would not only aid the work of digestion in the 
stomach but would continue thn.t action in the intestinal 
tract. Pine-apple, it may be added, contains much 
indigestible mntter of the nature of woody fibre, but 
it is quite possible that the decidedly digestive pro- 
perties of the juice compensate for this fact. — Lancet. 
NEW CEYLON COMPANIES. 
The following are registered in the Investors' 
Guardian of June 21 : — 
Ceylon and Indian Tea Co., Ltd., (74,001).— Re- 
gistered June 10, with capital £5,000, in £1 shares 
(2,000 pref) to carry on the business of refresh- 
ment room proprietors, caterers and contractors, tea, 
coffee and cocoa dealers, bakers, confectioners, milk 
and butter sellers, dairymen, tobacconists, wine and 
spirit and beer merchants, ice merchants, etc. No 
initial public issue. Registered without articles of 
association by Dunn and Duncan, 87, Chancery 
Lane, W.C. 
Henry Jenkins, Ltd., (74,043).— Registered June 
13, with capital iilO.OOO, in £.5 sbnri''?, to acquire 
properties la Ceyiou ur elsewliete and any plant, 
machinery, stock in trade, book debts and other 
assessments connected therewith, to carry on the 
business of tea, sugar, cocoa, cinchona and coffee 
planters, manufacturers of and dealers in vegetable 
products, etc., and to adopt an agreement with 
Henry Jenkins. Minimum cash subscription ±1,000. 
The number of directors is not to be less than 3 
nor more than .5 ; the first are E G Hill, H Jenkins 
and W H Short ; qualification £100 ; remuneration 
£100 per annum, dividend. Registered by Tillearda 
10, GraceChurch St, E.G. 
COCONUT PLANTATIONS IN THE 
MALAY STATES. 
DEPREDATION.S BY RATS AND BEETLES. 
In his annual report for the year 1901, on the 
Federated Malay States, just published, the 
Resident General, Mr. W H Trencher, c.m.g., 
.says: — Coconut plantations are sa.id to , have a 
bright future and the yield of fruit from palms 
on the alluvial Hits is very large. Rats are 
proving almost as damaging to coconuts as to padi, 
and I regret to say that the hopes held out in my 
last report that Dr. Hamilton Wright would be 
ahle to cope with the rat plague by a system of 
inoculation have not been fuUilled. Beetles, like- 
wise, are most destructive to coconuts. The 
provisions of the exi.sting "Coconut Trees Pre- 
servation Enactment " must be more energetically 
enforced and if necessary strengthened. 
BROOKE, BOND, AND CO., LTD. 
THE ANNUAL MEETING. 
The ordinary general meeting was held at 
Winchester-house yesterday. Mr. Hector M. 
Forbes presided, and moved the adoptiou of the 
report and the payment of the dividend and bonus 
therein recommended. He observed that the 
company had existed for ten years, and during 
that time had earned a net profit of £344,476, 
distributed to the shareholders in dividends and 
bonuses £176,120, built up a reserve fund, in- 
cluding premiuiu on new shares, of £140,000, wiped 
out £100,000 goodwill, accumulated a provideulj 
