us The TROPicAL 
What iollows is quoted from the work men- 
tioned :— " In Anthon's method for producing 
three to four cwb of starch sugar per twenty- 
four hours, the ingredients for boiiicg are : — 
370 lb of air-dry starch. 
11 lb of sulphuric acid of 66 degree Beaume. 
3 lb and seven-tenths of bone black. 
2'46 to 3"70 lb of pure burnt lime. 
4'95 lb of prepared chalk. 
The apparatus is very simple. It consists of 
a boiling pan, a vat of about eight and half 
bushels capacity, with a wooden spigot at the 
bottom, a Taylor's filter in a case four feet high 
and two feet wide and deep, arranged for the re- 
ception of nine bags, each about two and half 
feet in length, and six to seven inches in diameter 
when filled, ai-.d set up so that the thin liquor 
can be drawn oif into a caslc. The bags are made 
of grey linen of prime quality and of uniform weft 
and are fastened over funnels placed in the bottom 
of a syr 11 p-ccntoining box with a strong cord." 
It is stated in America the cost of manufacture 
is about one cent (half pence) a pound. Some 
26 to 32 lb are made from a bushel of corn. It 
is sold by the manufacturers at three to four cents 
one penny to twopence per pound. 
The authors quoted also give directions for the 
preparation of starch-sugar on a larger scale by 
Anthon's process, which it is stated, furnishes 
excellent sugar. They also state that starch- 
sugar is principally used for manufacture of table- 
syrups, . candies, as food for bees, tor brewing, and 
for making artificial honey, All soft candies, 
waxes, and toffies, and a large proportion of stick- 
candies and caramel are made of starch-sugar 
syrup. Small quantities of starch-sugar syrup are 
used by vinegar ni&kers, tobacconists, wine- 
makers, distil leis, mucilage-makers, and perhaps 
for some other purposes. 
All readers interested in the proper utilisation 
of cassava in Jamaica should consult the valuable 
work from which I have partially quoted. 
Old Harbour, Uct. 23, 1902, James Neish, M D. 
—Journal of the Jamaica Agricultural Society. 
WEbT INDIAN COTTON CULTIVATION 
A BICH FIELD IN PBOSPECT. 
Sir Alfred Jones has just received from 
Br Morris, of the Imperial Department of 
Agriculture, Barbados, a letter stating that 
they had already 600 acres under cotton culti- 
vation in different portions of the West 
India islands. In St. Lucia, Antigua, Mont- 
eerrat, and St. Kitts encouraging results have 
attended the experiments, proving that the 
West Indies offer a rich fields for cotton 
growing. The revival of interest in West. 
Indian cotton cultivation, like that of the 
West African, is very marked in Lancashire. 
Further larger shipments of Aiuerican cotton 
seed have been sent to the Governor of West 
African colonies as well as to Sir F Lugard, 
who is displaying great interest in regard to 
cotton growing.— London Times, March 2. 
RUBBER IN UGANDA. 
In a report on exolio plants of economic interest in 
the Botiyiic Gardens at Entebbe, Uganda, Mr J Mahon 
states that while some iplautB make only moderate pro- 
AGRlCULTtiiilSt. [May i, 
gvesain this country, which in other parta of the tropica 
lire known to grow very rapidly, still, it may be said 
that, on the whole, the things mentioned in the accom- 
panying lists thrive moat Batigfactorily, and are 
eminently suited to the climate for either useful or 
ornamental purposes. 
It is well known there are large areas in Uganda coa- 
taining abundance of rubber vine (Landolphia) yielding 
excellent rubber, but as it is practically impossible to 
systematically cultivate this piant, we are introducing 
all the celtbrated rubber-yielding trees with the object 
of demonstrating that this country offers a field for 
establishing rubber plantations on a commercial basis. 
As I have pointed out before, it is only a question of the 
activity of traders to determine the time during which 
our natural supplies of rubber will last, and as the same 
circumstances apply to other countries, where rubber 
is found naturally, it follows that timely preparations 
require to be made to furnish supplies for the demands 
of the future. 
The standard by which all rubber is judged is the 
Para (Heavea brasiliensis). When I came to Uganda 
in 1901 the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 
forwarded in my charge a consignment of plants, 
amongst which were several sorts of Para rubber seed- 
lifgs with stems about as thick as a lead pencil, and 
9 in. to 12 in. high. One of these, in the Botanic Gardens, 
is now over 7 ft, liigh, and otherwise of proportionate 
growth. As I reached Entebbe for one of the worst 
droughts remembered here, the young plants, after a 
trying journey of almost two months, had a hard battle 
to exist, and some of them succumbed, so that the suc- 
cess of the survivHls is all the more satisfactory to re- 
cord. But as this Amazonian plant affects low levels, 
it remains to be seen whether our climate and eleva- 
tion will suit it'. I am certain the lake will exercise a 
very favourable iuflaence, and it would, in my opinion, 
be a mistake to experiments with these aud other extra- 
tropical plants elesewhere in Uganda than on the lake 
shores. 
Castilloa elastica — Central America rubber — was 
another item in the Kew consignment, ^This also has 
done very well, and, being more or less of .a highland 
plant in its native country, it is reasonable to assume 
the conditions here will prove suitable. A considerable 
quantity of Oastilloa plants have been ordered, and an 
experiment in introducing its ceeds here direct from 
Mexico is being conducted. 
Ceara rubber (Manihot Glaziovii) is growing with its 
aocustomed vigour. A seedling of eight months is nearly 
4 ft. high. It seems quite at home in Central African 
climates, but it is not a first-class rubber, and instances 
are on record where it was proved not worth the trouble 
of planting, still it might be a. most suitable sort here. 
A serious loss occurred last June in the burning 
down of a large nursery shed through native oateless- 
ness, when a fine batch of the celebrated silk rubber of 
Lagos (Funtnmia elasiica) was lost, in company with 
other valuable things. 
They were raised from seeds I received from the Gold 
Coast, and we were waiting for a rainy spell to plant 
them out. I am expecting more seeds by every mail. 
A few seedlings are doing very well, but a plant brought 
from Kew, which at first made good growth, has, for 
some reason, become leafless and refuses to move at 
present. I feel certain Lagos silk rubber will prove a 
suitable culture here for plantations in the lake 
region. 
We have a large number of Landolphia seedlings 
which were obtained from Sesse in 1900. Nothing is 
more puzzling than the slow rate at which this common 
native plant grows under cultivation. It is quite clear 
it requires to be sown where it is intended the 
plants are to remain. It resents transplanting, and 
some seedlings we put at the base of trees in a 
stretch of forest to grow " au naturel " have remained 
practically as they were put out six months ago. — 
India-rubber Journal, March 2. 
