THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUEIRT. 
[Junk 1, 1903. 
become an important institution. The 
Fishery Board of Scotland institute,! a 
Hatchery at Dunbar which in 1895 had an 
output of fry as follows :— 
The output of fry from this hatcliery in 1893 
was :— Plaice, 38,615,000 ; co.-l, 2,760,000 ; turbofc, 
3,800,000 ; miscellaneous, 1,050,000 ; a grand total 
of 46,225,000. 
and we read, — 
It is worthy of note that the authorities consider 
the services rendered by the Fisliery Board for 
Scotland fully justify the indefinite continuance of 
the grant of £23,000 per annum. 
In the case of Jersey, Mr Hornell re- 
commended a thorough in v^estigation, followed 
by a series of Experiments, together with the 
establishment of an Education and Infor- 
mation Bureau, more especially for the 
benefit of the fishermen. The total cost he 
estimated so moderately as £150 to £200 a 
year and yet he was confident of very notable 
results in a few years. We do not know 
whether the suggested experiments were 
taken up ; but it is well to know that the 
Ceylon Government has at hand in Mr 
Hornell so experienced and excellent an 
authority on any questions arising or con- 
nected with our Fisheries. May his experi- 
ments in Pearl Oyster culture prove an un- 
qualified success. 
CULTIVATION* OF RAMIE. 
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "DAILY CHRONICLE."] 
Sir,— I am very pleased to see that at last the 
ralueof the Uhea, or Bohmeria iibre, is recognised, 
according to Dr. Edwards-RadclyfFe. It requires 
no more cultivation than the ordinary garden 
nettle ; in fact, three decades since every effort was 
made to exterminate it in sub-tropical regions. 
The fibre is splendid in texture, lightness, and 
tensile strength when freshly woven, bat " shorts" 
by continuous bending or folding. This is due to 
the presence of formic acid, which cannot be eli« 
minated entirely by the process of decortication. 
There is a process termed the " Soehon " process, 
the invention, I believe, of W E Soehon, which, 
if still extant, seemed to provide an inexhaustible 
market for the rough libre. Briefly, it consisted in 
the formation of a vegetable leather, synthetically, 
which coold not be done with any fibre not con- 
taining free formic acid. This leather I have tried 
for aeroplanes and model balloons, and it is im- 
pervious to hydrogen, comparatively, with dressed 
silk, and resembles goldbeaters'-skin, the weight 
per square foot being less by eighteen per cent. 
And in this state it allows of folding and creasing; 
and if the process no longer exists I should think 
it would be due to the lack of material, and it 
may be resuscitated in some form if the market) 
for raw material is rendered open according to your 
correspondent's account. In these days of air-ships, 
war-kites, and racing yachts I do not think a 
really good product of nature should be left " out 
in the cold." — Yours faithfully, 
FREuK. WALKER, C.E. 
Oxford, April 15. 
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE 'DAILY CHRONICLE."] 
Sir, — As sole importers of ramie prepared by the 
new French method, we should be glad if you 
would allow us to confirm the statements of your 
various correspondents with regard to the benefits 
that would arise from the growing and cultivation 
of ramie grass in the British Colonies. At the 
present time our manufacturer has to obtain his 
supplies from China, where, largely.the grassgrows 
wild in abundance. Nevertheless, great difficulty 
is found in securing immediate requirements at 
reasonable prices. British manufacturers have long 
recognised the possibilities of ramie,- bub the 
methods hitherto used in preparing the grass have 
been defective. These troubles have at last been 
overcome, and, in consequence, the demand for 
ramie is daily increasing. With a plentiful regular 
supply of the raw grass, cottjn " rings " or " com- 
bines" need, therefore, trouble the public no longer 
The British Colonias cannot be too strongly urged 
to cultivate this ramie grass. The cost of production 
and shipment should not be great or prohibitive, 
and we may add that we should of course prefer 
the British to a Foreign grown grass. This might 
be an encouragement to those interested, and we 
trust that you will accordingly find space to publish 
this letter.— Yours fathfuUy, 
(For Yan Geelkerken and Co., Ltd.) 
H E A COOPER, Director. 
79, Mark-Lane, London, E.G., April 15. 
—Daily Chronicle, April 17. 
^ 
THE HULETT TEA PLANTATION IN 
NATAL 
is the largest of its kind in South Africa, in fact, 
ni all Africa, for tea is not grown in any other 
part of the Continent. ' I believe,' says a writer 
in the ' Magazine of Commerce,' • its greatest 
output for one day is 10,.370 lb. of tea and the 
estimate for a recent season is 1,000,000 1b. Its 
acreage is extensive, and beside a large factory 
and quite a village of huts for the Indian em- 
ployees, it also has a railway of its own— a 2 ft, 
gauge line— being the first light railway laid in 
Natal, and costing £20,000 to lay. The native 
labour mainly consists of coolies, of whom there 
are about 1,000.— (?rocers J'ouma^, May 2. 
"Planting Roadsides with Shade Trees' 
—is an item in P. W. D. estimates now-a- 
days ; but why not select really useful trees? 
At one time it was proposed to plant pal- 
myra palms all along the North road for 
100 or 150 miles. In France and Belgium, 
the country roads are, more and more every 
year, lined with fruit bearing trees. 
Grevilleas— do not seem to be responsible 
for the spread of " tea tortrix" alone, but— 
as will be seen by the paper (see page 
846) read to the Mysore Planters 
from the Indian Cryptogamic Botanist— it 
is found to start the'' disease of "stump 
rot " in tea bushes. At least this is the ex- 
perience in Assam. We wonder if it has 
been noticed generally in many districts in 
Ceylon. What do our planting correspond- 
ents say ? 
An " Entertaining Melbourne Tea * 
House."— The phenomenal success of Ceylon 
tea in Australia does not appear to have 
yet reached its zenith by any means. 
On page 835 under the above heading 
we quote an interesting article, showing 
Messrs. Griffiths Bros, (whose representative, 
Mr Shelley, was lately in Ceylon) have by 
the erection of an elegant tea house been 
popularising our staple. We trust the Ventura 
may be a complete success and profitable 
to the merchants as well as the producer. 
