314 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST, fNov. 1, 1902, 
A COMPRESSED (WHOLE LEAF) TEA 
SYNDICATE, LTD. 
The above new Company has been registered 
*'in England, and we take the following from the 
Investors' Guardian, August 9: — 
Compressed (Whole Leaf) Tea Syndicate Ltd, 
,^,(74,493),— Registered July 29, wiMi capital £1,000, 
£1 shares, to adopt an agreement with W Gow 
land J H H Rolfe, to buy. sell and deal in tea 
and other products and substances, capable of 
being dealt with by the invention for an improve- 
ment in the manufacture of compressed tea, 
.. mentioned in such agreement, and to carry on any 
business incidental or auxiliary thereto. No initial 
public issue. Begg, Dunlop and Co., of London, 
are the managing agents. Registered Office, 138, 
Leadenhall St, E.C< 
INDIAN PATENTS. 
Applications for the under-specified inventions 
j have been made :— 
c No. 267 of 1902— Rakhal Dasss Khan, rice miliar 
. Ramkristopur, Howrah. A mill for husking rice 
j,. finally' so as to make it saitible for use as a 
food-grain. 
No. 268— Rakhal Dass Kha,n, rice miller, Ramkris- 
tj.topur, Howrah. A p'.ddy-boiling apparatus. 
No. 269— Rakhal Dass Khan, rice miller, Ramkria- 
' ' topur, Howrah. A mill for drying paddy and other 
food-grains. 
No. 271— "Basrur Brothers & Company, merchanlis 
and agents, Hanawar, North Kanara district, Bombay 
presidency, British India. Minufacture of a new 
product from the Talipot palm. 
No. 288— David James Young, plumber, of Patea 
in the provincial district ot Taranaki, in the Oolony 
of New Zealand. An improved portable shower bath. 
" No. 290- -Henry JMathew Alleyn, tea planter of 
Meria Cotta, Maskeliya, Ceylon. An improved ma- 
nnrial mixture for tea cultivation. 
No. 308 — Edward Daw Mashiter Cooper, conserva- 
" tor of Forests, Madras. Improvements in the fast- 
*feningof doors, windows and the like. — Indian Engineer, 
August. 
A USEFUL TREE FOR THE HIGHER 
PLANTING DISTRICTS. 
Mr Nock writes that he has had a specimen 
sent him of the tree growing on an Agras estate, 
Dimbula, supposed to be Ailantus glandulosum ; 
but which be (Mr N) tiiinks is rather Aero- 
carpus fraxinifolius, a tree from India. Mr 
Node has sent the specimen to Peradeniya to be 
verified, so the result will soon be known. Mean- 
time here is Dr. Watt's account of the tree known 
as the red or pink cedar of tea planters, which 
we believe with Mr Nock must be the tree 
flowing on Glasgow ; — 
AcROCARPUS Fhaxinifolius, Wright ; Fl Br Ind, IT, 
292 ; Wi(ild, Ic, t. 254. 
Red or Pink Cedar of (tea-planters). 
Vern. — Mandania, Nepal; Mad ing, Lkpcha ; 
Malai-kone, Tinnbvelley. Kalinji, Nilghiius, Kilingi, 
BuRGHEBS, Hantitige. helanjikavuliiige, Kan. 
J< Habitat.— A lofty deciduous tree, found in the 
Eastern Himalaya and lower hills dowa to Chittagong. 
ascending to 4,000 feet, also in Suutb India and 
Bacma. , . 
Strxjoiure op the Wood. — Sapwood •white, heart- 
wood light red, moderately hard. Weight 39 lb per 
cubic foot; 
Used by Planters in Daijiling for tea-boxes and 
planking, in the Wynaad for building and furniture, 
and in Coorg for shingles. 
la the Tropical Agriculturist for May 1833, some 
intsresticg information ia given regarding wood for tea- 
boxes. Mr Bruce writes : " I have used this timber 
mora perhaps thin any other for tea-boxes and tea- 
house furniture in general, and it it had been well 
seasoned it is as good a wood as could ba procured for 
the purpose." 
Dr. Watts' extract from the T. A. probably 
explains how Mr A L Cross came to introduce 
this tree. Ii tiie very early years of " tea" 
here, we had a very carefully written essay on tea 
culture, prepared for us and published in our daily 
and monthly by Mr Bruce, an experienced 
Nilgiri tea planter, and it was no doubt on 
seeing bis recommendation as given above that 
Mr Cross first got seed of the tree in question. 
The wonder is that Acromrpus fraxinifolius 
is not grown more freely upcountry. 
LIQUID FUEL FOR STEAM ENGINES. 
We are informed that the Steam Engines 
of Messrs. Clayton and Shuttleworth— for 
which Messrs. Walker and Grei^ are Agents 
— work equally well with all petrolenm 
having flash points from 82° to 240=|. The 
conditions of working- with the heavier oils 
require that the engine be altered slightly 
to secure economy with the liquid fuel, but 
these alterations are not an expensive itfim. 
Messrs. Walker and Greig have at present 
a 7 horse-power engine at work with J.iquid 
fuel at their Glencairn Works, Dikoya. Bub 
before the firm can give any advice on the 
subject of driving under these circnmstances, 
they intend running the enpjine for one month 
on the new fuel, in order to be able to judge 
of its merits or demerits on all points. 
RA1LWA.Y Traffic ij^ Plantains.— A 
morning busine.ss visit to the Railway 
Goods Department at the main station— 
the appro.'ich road to which by the way 
is in an atrocious state— will generally reveal 
half a-dozen bullock carts being loaded up 
with green plantains; and from the intelli- 
gent Goods Clerk we leirn that on an 
average 10 loaded waggons, chiefly from 
Rambukkana, Polgahawela, Ambepussa and 
Mirigama, arrive daily. Each waggon has 
probably 500 bunches, and each bunch 
averages, perhaps, 30 large plantains— so that 
150,000 plantains (or one for each inhabi- 
tant !) come into the city by this route 
alone. Probably if the supplies received 
from the Cotta, Negombo and other sides 
were added, the total would be very much 
increased. A traffic in fruit from native 
gardens between Colomb and Avissawella 
ought to form part of the Kelani Valley 
Railway traffic, and the cultivation should 
be extended to meet the demands of a 
ready market as the result of railway com- 
munication.- Wa have been told since by 
native authorities that there are more like 
100 to 159 plaintains on each normal bunch ? 
