Oct. 1, 1902. J SappUnimt to the " Trojncal Agricuitarist." 
extracts by Mr. Hooper gave 57 tannin or 71'7 (iii 
dry bark)"; and by Dr. Leatter .53-42 to 56-33 
taiiiiiii aiitl (in dry bark) ^4."2 to G0"7. 
The wood yields a poorer extract, for whil^ bark 
prepared at Dehra Dun extracts yielded 33, 46, 
and ~A per cent by Loweutlml's procus.--, two 
samples of wood extract gave only 13 and 16 per 
cent tannin. Bark exported to some extent from 
Ceylon to India. 
Ceriops Gandolleana. (Tamil Cliirnkandel) — 
Tills tree is also common in the coastal mangrove 
forestF, as at KegoniUo and Chilaw. There is 
said to be a steady demand for the baik in the 
Calcutta market, where 10,000 to 12,000 mannds 
nre sold annually. Tlie bark gives a considerable 
large amount of tannin, and gives a deep red 
colour — wilh water. From samples of bark ev- 
nmined the percentages of tannin in certain sampb s 
from Bengal reached 27 24, equivalent to 31'o6 
tannin in dry barli. Mr, Hooper also found as 
much as 2(i'20 of tannin or 30*20 in the dry bark. 
The extracts from the bark of this tree have beeu 
for some time in theLondon market. The perceiit- 
nge of tannin in the exact (taken from analyses by 
Prof. Dunstaii, Mr. Hooper and Dr. Leather) is 
found to rise up to G9'83 and (in dry bark) to 
869o, while extract pre])ared at Dehra Dun 
8hev\-ed a percentage of 90 of tannin. 
Extracts are, as a rule, made by evaporation in 
the ordinary still, but we are told '.hat "in 
Singapore, Borneo and Ceylon, factories have been 
erected for the purpose of preparing cutch substi- 
tutes." In Ceylon a special concession was made 
by Government to <a company working in the 
Eastern Province, but as far as we know iheopera- 
lions there have now been suspended. 
Ceriops Roxhurghiana. — This tree differs little 
from the last in habit and foliage. The bark 
is usually found in the market in the form of 
reddish-brown quills, and its decoction gives a 
deep reddish colour and astringent reaction. The 
ordinary bark examined by Mr. Hooper sliowed 
19"20 per cent tannin. The tannin in the dry 
bark was found by Mr, Hooper to be 21 "10 and by 
Prof. Duiistau 23'54. A sample of extract from 
the first mentioned sliowed 53 5 tannin and 
(from dry bark) 62'1 percent. Mr. Gamble of 
Dehra Dun writes that in practice the barks of 
C Candulleana and C. Roxburghiana could prob- 
ably be used indiscriminately. 
Kandelia Rheedii.— The bark of this tree was 
found to contain by Prof. Dunstan 11 "99 tanuin 
in dry bark, by Mr. Hooper ]2'20 tannin and (in 
dry bark) 13 40, by Dr. Leather 14'54 t(.nnin, but 
instances have been known of a percentage of 20 
end even 27 per cent of tantiin occurring. The 
extracts on the whole are said to be less satisfac- 
tory than these from Ceriops bark, and yield 
about half their weight of tannin, calculated iu 
the dry substance. 
CarnUia integen-ima, (Sin. Dawata).-- This is a 
Common tree about the sandy lands in the nc rlhern 
part of Colombo. The tree shows its relationship 
to the mangroves by the large tufts of aerial 
..roots it sends forth from the tiunlc and branches. 
A specimen of the bark received in 1897 from 
I^egu afforded only 1-5 per cent of tannin. The 
Vi'as about UuU tw iucU UiIqH t^»e ash 
content amounted to 15'2 per cent. Ifc would 
thus appear th it Davvata Iwrk is of poor quality 
for tanning. 
{To be cyntiiiued.) 
NATUKE STUDY, 
At a recent meeting in London llie Duke of 
Devonshire said : —It is frequently said, and [ am 
afraid with a certain amount of truth, that educa- 
tion as at present conducted is not so fully 
appreciated in rural districts as I am happy to say 
it is in towns. If this be so, wo have in nature 
study the means of bringing rural education into 
th e same relation to rural life as to the indust ies 
of urban localities. If at present the villnge 
labourer takes interest in his children's education, 
1 am afraid it is only too often with the object of 
enabling them to escape from the drudgery of his 
own existence, and to exchange it for the more 
exciting atmosj)here of the towns. And if that 
feeling has its effect on the agricultural labourer, 
we cannot wonder very much if some country 
gentlemen and many ol the farming class have not 
hitherto viewed education with any great enthu- 
siasm. At the Boord of Education we have long 
been conscious of this difliculty, and have been 
most anxious to find some means by which ele- 
mentary instruction should be brought into closer 
relation with rural life, and that all classes con- 
nected with the cultivation of land should 
come to feel that education was not antagonistic, 
but, on the contrary, conducive to the interests of 
agriculture. To attain this end we could not do 
much without external assistance. That external 
assistance has come in this neiv de{)arture. An 
influential committee has been formed, including 
a large number of memliers of Parliament and 
county councillors, with the object of drawing up 
proposals to improve the character of the instruc- 
tion given in rural districts. The rerolutions 
drawn up were presented to the board, and were 
accepted with great pleasure and satisfaction by 
Sir John Gorst and myself. (Cheers.) We have 
also endeavoured to take some practical steps in 
the direction of this change. But one difficulty 
was to find teachers sufBciently conversant with 
natural science and the objects of country life to 
impart this new form of instruction. The depart- 
ment now requires that nature study, in its practi- 
cal and experimental form, shall be taken as one 
of the subjects of the teacher's certificate examina- 
tion. In that we have been most cordially assisted 
by the great ma j irity of training colleges and by 
many of the county councils. We hope that this 
new departure may do something to increase the 
interest felt in schools in rural districts. It must 
not, however, be supposed that nature study is to 
be exclusively confined to country Schools. 1 con- 
ceive the idea wliich underlies this movement is 
thaf, while there is much to be learned from books, 
and It would be foolish to neglect those stores of 
knowledge acquired by those who have gone before 
us, there is also much to be learnt, not from books, 
but from the facts of nature ; and while tlie study 
of books is often only an exercise of the faculty 
of memory, and may leJive almost untouched other 
faculties of tliemiud, qq thevthsr Uaud,tl)e iut^Ui- 
