THE TEOPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Dec* 1, 1902. 
faded a good deal and were not very distinct on the 
Bcreen. One especially when it came up, he described 
it heaving ». deep sigh, as being in " the sere and 
yellow leaf." In his observations of tree and plan'-'ife 
in the Gardens one bright moon-light while noting 
down, he of all people mistook a papaw tree for a 
cot on tree. You know. Sir, he ia not tlie only one that 
has been moon struck. Many of us can freely confess 
10 that experience once or more in their lives. Ifc 
proves the truism, clearly, that the best of ns after all 
is human. 
The hour ran out much too fast and the worthy 
lecturer had reluctantly to close " The story of the Jak 
Tree." It was a good story.— Mr De Saram, the District 
Judge, moved a vote of thanks to the lecturer. It was 
judicially delivered without one if ov hut, short ard 
sweet. Mr Ctpleston seconded and announced that 
two reading circles had been formed. The audience 
as they got into the Hall were given a leaflet entitled 
" Notes for Students," being " an advance " introduc- 
tion to the lecture which simplified it. It goes with- 
out saying that these educational efforts are due to the 
indefatigable exertions of the Honorary Secretary, 
Miss Gibbon. The next lecture will be '' Charles 
Dickens." A good many are endea/ouring to read tip 
his life and works to be en courant with the lecturer. 
The Secretary will, I am sure, be delighted to hear th'a 
piece of news. It will be next month and " may I be 
there to see." 
• ♦ 
CULTIVATION OF COTrOJi IN GERMAN 
COLONIES. 
Thfete is, says the Hamburger Borsen Hcdle, no 
doubt as to the value of cotton culture to the 
owner, as evidenced by the grand results of 
KuSsia in Turkistan, which will soon render the 
Russian cotton market completely independent 
of other countries. These results have drawn the 
attention of the leading circles in Germany to this 
branch of colonial economy. The endeavours of 
the Economic Committee of the German Colonial 
Society, regarding the production of cotton, 
are not) to be limited to Togo, but Eastern 
Africa is also to benefit by thein. Already the 
existence of indigenous cotton at Kilimatinde, 
Tanga, Wilhelmstlial, Mandera, Kissorawe, Kilwa, 
Kilossa, Bismarckburg, a primitive cotton- 
weaving establishment of the Wahunga, at 
Kilimatinde, at Rungwe-Uriingu, and on the shore 
of the Tanganyika, does away with the doubt 
of the possibility of producing cotton in East 
Africa. A tabulated statement by Dr. Hans 
Maurer shows that the climatic circumstances 
and the amounts of the yearly rainfalls do not 
vary essentially from the quantity of rainfall in 
the cotton -producing districts in the North Ame- 
rica. The cotton enterprise in East Africa is to be 
placed at once on a broad basis by founding 
a tea3hing institution, and by the settlement of 
American cotton farmers. The managers are in- 
structed to concert proper measures for procuring 
the necessary means, so as to secure the under^ 
taking for at least two years. The Government 
of German East Africa, a nuTiber of cotton- 
spinning associations and industrialists have 
already granted financial help to the undertaking. 
North-American negroes from the Normal and 
Industrial Institution at Tuskegee are to be 
engaged for East Africa.— London Cliamber of 
Commerce Journal, October, 
- : „ • 
THE INDIAN ACACIAS. 
India can lay claim on only twenty species, 
V'hicb are distributed throughput the plains, two 
species r( aching .an altitude of 5,000 feet abovc 
sea-level. But of these twenty species, three are 
of considerable cojnmercial importance, viz., A 
arabica, A catechu and A , seneqal ; the remain- 
der being more or less of ornamental character, 
A few foreign species have become completely 
naturalised in India, such- a A. dealhata, the 
Australian Silver Wattle, and A mdanoxylon, the 
Australian Blaok-wood. These latter are now 
found plentifully in the warm temperate tracts 
of India, especially in the Nilgiri Hills of South 
India, where they are introduced so far back as 
1840. A. concinna : The first species noticed 
is a Ecandent bush met w-illi all over India, 
the pods of which are used as a deter- 
gent and often confounded with the soap 
nut (Sapindun mukorossi.) The hark is used in 
tanning, but its chief commercial value lies in its 
pods, which are largely imported into Bombay 
from Kanara. The pods are also largely employed 
in washing silk and woollen goods, as the best 
tinctorial results are obtained when yarn is washed 
with these pods previous to dying. Tarnished 
silver-plate washed with these pods attains great 
brilliancy. A, Farnesiana yields the well known 
" Cassie Flower " of perfumers. "Cassie Pomade" 
made in India at one time had a great reputation. 
It was prepared by an Anglo.-f ndian Engineer of 
Naini Tal who used to send supplies of it to 
London. After his death the trade in Indian 
Cassie Pomade died out. Mr. Uraney, of Layman 
and Umney, considered the produce from Cassie 
Flowers grown in India, superior to that grown 
in Grasse, in France. However, the possibilities 
of a trade in Cassie Flowers are present, for the 
tree abounds in India ; but it wants some one 
with enterprise to develop it. Jacquemontii is an- 
other valuable shrub, distributed throughout India, 
up to an altitude of 3,000 feet. It bears sweet- 
scented flowers, and its chief product is a gum, 
which is recognised as one of the Sj urious guni 
arables, which comes chiefly from Baluchistan 
and Sind. Messrs. Rowntree and Co., Ltd., of 
York, have pronounced the gum of this species as 
" the best of the series of Indian gums examined 
by them for the confectioners' requirements,' It 
is described as strongly mucilaginous and sweet 
in flavour, A leucophlcea is another Indian species 
of some economic value ; it is found all over the 
Puniab Rajputana, Central and South India and 
Bnrma. Its presence is held to denote a rich 
soil. It yields a gum of some commercial 
value, the bark affords a strange fibie, and is used 
largely as an astringent in alcoholic distilation 
by natives, and is therefore called the ' Distiliei's 
Acacia.' , We next come \o A. modesta, the well- 
known ' Phulai ' of the Punjab plains. It yields 
a good gum cldssed by Bombay merchants as 
* Amritsar Gum ; ' and a beautifal, strong, dura- 
able timber, largely used for agricultural imple- 
ments. A. yjenwaia is a climbing shrub, met with 
in the sub-Himalaya region. East Bengal, South 
India and Burma. Its bark is a commercial pro-, 
duct used to tan fishing nets in Bombay. A- senepal 
met with chiefly in Rajputana and Sind yields 
the true Gurii Arabic of European commerce, the 
verek of the Negroes, and comes chiefly from the 
French Colony of Senegal. A very full account 
is given in the Ledger before us of the produce 
of tills tree, and its commercial value. A. Arabica 
is the tree which yields the true Indian gum 
arable, found over the greater part of India, and 
known as the. Kikal or Babul tree.. There are 
several varieties of this species, or rather, we 
