134 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
rAiTf;. 1, 1899. 
A Rubber Coagulating Machine.— It is 
learned from Messrs. Thomas Christy & Co. (25, 
Lime street, London, E.C.), that they have sold 
•' a rubber coaRulating machine wliich lias given 
every satisfaction, and turns out a very iine class 
of rubber, quite free from dirt and foreign matter. 
One of its great advantages is that the rubber can 
be coagulated without the admixture of chemicals, 
except in certain circumstances, and can be got 
ready tor export free from water and moisture, 
saving a great deal in freight and labor." It is 
understood that a circular describing tliis macliine 
will be printed soon, and tliat it is not built on the 
Biffen centrifugal system, — India Rubber World. 
Coffee Shade.— Kead the following letter 
from Mr. J W Minchin, Honorary Secretary, Mil- 
giri Agri-Horticultural Society, Ooicamund, dated 
7th February, 1899 :— " Mr Rhodes James, of 
Coonoor, writes me that he wishes to obtain more 
seed of the Pitliecolobium polyciphalum, which, he 
says, promises to be a very valuable shade tree for 
coffee. He reports that one tree from the seed, 
received througli me from your Society in 1897, 
has grown well and is apparently a faster grower 
than even the Albizzia moluceana. Can you assist 
Mr. Rhodes James of tliis Society in getting any 
more of this seed". The seed asked for will be 
procured and supplied. — Madras Agri-Horticid- 
tural Society's Proceedings. 
Camphor Plants.— Of the twenty-four plani^ 
received from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Cal' 
cutta, twenty-two plants have been distributed 
to members and others. Those planted out in 
our gardens two years ago are now two to three 
feet high. Mr. Winterbothain, of Meppadi, 
Wynaad, reports that the two plants we sent 
him in October 1896 are doing remarkably well ; 
4 feet high Mr. S M Pritchard, of Yercaud, in his 
letter of the 18th March, says that the one plant 
sent to him in August, 1898, made little progress till 
a month ago, when it began to make a vigorous 
growth. The elevation of Yercaud is not quite 
4,000 feet ; soil a virgin black, and the tem- 
perature never goes above 89" in the hot and the 
rainfall averages fifty inches. — Madras Agvi-Horfi- 
cidfural Societi/s Procecdintis. 
Black Pepper : a Profitable Crop.— The 
cultivation of black pepper in Wynaad is being 
largely increased, the crops harvested last season 
being the heaviest ever known in this taluq, while 
the price realised touched R600 per ton, the local 
quotations having been R180 per candy of 680 lb. 
This year the vines appear to be yielding even 
more largely, and 18 inch long cuttings of the 
best variety known as " Barlaucottan " for trans- 
planting purposes are selling at R5 per mile. 
Pepper in Wynaad is not usually grown from 
seed ; cuttings being almost exclusively used ; 
these are planted in pits about 15 iuches in 
depth at the base of the tree or standard up 
which they are to be trained. Where natural 
standards are not available, stakes of the Erythrina 
Indicu, or thorny Indica, are laid down, as this 
variety of indigenous tree appears to be most 
in favour for this particular purpose, as it strikes 
root readily, and, being deciduous for several 
months in the year, it gives a light shade, too 
much of which is inimical to the vines bea,ring 
well. At existing quotations, pepper is un- 
doubtedly the most profitable staple to cultivate 
in Malabar, as after being well started, the gardens 
require but little labour for cultivation, and 
'♦locals " suffice for the purpose,— Ibid, 
Chinese Competition in Tea.— It will interest 
exporters of tea in Calcutta to know that, owing 
to the competition on the Pacific, the new season's 
China teas are being cariied from Yokohama at 
less than a cent a \)o\\nl.— Pioneer. 
A Madagascar Rueber-Teee.— M Henry 
J umelle contributes to the Coiiiptes Pi,endus for May 
29th, a paper on the Guidro,t, a rubber-tree of 
Madagascar. The writer mentions that the plant 
has hitherto been known only under its native 
name, but that now, thanks to specimens sent 
from Suberbieyilie (!) by M Feiier de la Bathie, it 
has be^n possible to ascertain whether it is a new 
species, or can be identified with any that is already 
known. The conclusion arrived at is. that the 
Guidroa, though clearly belonging to the Mascaren- 
hasia genu'^, does not exactly resemble either ot 
the fifteen or sixteen known species, but may be 
li&ld to be a new species, and may be named Mas- 
carenhasia velutina, in allusion to the very 
characteristic velvety substance of tiie leaves. M 
Jumelle describes the manner in which the rubber 
is gathered from the trees by the Sakalaves. Dur- 
ing the dry season, when the milky juice is very 
thick, they make, he says, numerous incisions in 
the trunks. The milky juice coagulates almost 
immediately below the wound, forming small 
bands of pum wliich the workers remove 
after an hour, and which they agglomerate 
into balls. In this way one man can easily 
gather a kilogram of the gum in one day. 
The caoutchouc thus obtained is of good qua- 
lity, and even, it appears, superior to that 
gained by ebullition. Thus it .seems likely 
that the Mascarenhasia genus, only found 
on the east side of Africa and in Mada- 
gascar (especially in the north and east), 
will play a more important part in furnishing 
caoutchouc plant- than has previously been 
thought likely. — Gardeners" Chronicle, June I7th. 
Castilloa Rubber Trees oh Wiharegama, 
M;itale, have clone even better than Major Gor- 
don Reeves recently reported. We now learn 
on undoubted aitthority, in a note from 
Matale, that the trees from which seed is 
now being gathered and which must be 
almost nine to ten years old, vary in girth 
from 40 to 46 inches at three feet from the 
groitnd. Of this size there are about 25 
trees. Of trees about seven years of age 
there are some 25 also, average girth 
20 to 22 inches ; four years old trees 
about 45, approximate girth 12 inches. 
Of trees two to three years about 90 trees 
of varying girth, eight to twelve inches, 
besides, of course, a large number of youn- 
ger sapling plants. Most of these larger 
trees have been planted along with or 
under cacao and Liberian coffee ; and the 
manager sees no reason whatever to aban- 
don the system. In regard to planting Cas- 
tilloa ritbber as shade for cacao, we find on 
reference to the T. A. of 2nd July, 1894, 
(Columbia) reports on cultivation of cacao, 
banana and indiarubber. in districts surround- 
ings Sierra Nevada, and Mr. Muuton followed 
the practice there established. The plant- 
ing of Geara rubber in cacao is certainly not 
desirable ; the tree absorbs too mircli moisture 
and drops its foliage where the cacao has 
most need for shacle. Dr. Morris, when As- 
sistant Director Kew Gardens, we see by a 
footnote to this report, stated that the yield 
of Castilloa trees of ten years should be from 
four to seven lb. of rubber per annum ! 
