404 THE TROPICAL AGllICULTUEIST. [Dec. 1, 1899. 
COCHIN MARKET. 
Cochin, Nov. 11th. 
C. N. Oil — As antisipated in our last this 
staple has made a slight advance, and the closing 
quotaions today are R88-12 to K89 per ca.idy. 
- A large quantity of oil is booked for New York 
by one of the steamers of the Indian-American 
line due next month. The market in London is 
also firm and Cochin oil is quoted at £29 10s Od. 
for spot and £26 10s Od. for January-March ship- 
ments c. i. f. per ton. 
Coir Yarn.— By the Englidi mail of 20th 
ultimo particulars of a public coir sale held in 
. London on that date were received. The quantity 
of Cochin yarn brought forward was only 212 
.bales and two ton in dholls and the prices realised 
■were decidedly in seller's favour. Locally supplies 
arriving from the interior continue to meet with 
a good demand, but piices shew no change.- 
ROPE Yarn.— Contracts are reported at higher 
rates and the market is firmer. We quote today 
assorted R.36-46 per candy baled weight. 
Coir Rope.— Extreme prices were realized for 
the small quantity of Cochin rope offered at the 
last sale owing to'limited stock. Early shipments 
from this side will most probably shew very 
favourable result. We quote here today R8 to 
RS'S per cwt. 
Coir Fibre —Picked R19-20 per bale of 200 lb. 
■ —Cochin Arrjus, Nov. 11. 
KUBBER CULTIVATION IN CEYLON. 
M. Eei'uand Vivier has arrived in Colombo 
Iby the M.M. ss. "Tonkin" from Singapore, 
and is proceeding home by the ss. Poly- 
nesien." He is intei-esteol greatly in the 
process of extracting rubber from young 
stems, and of preparing it by a purely 
mechanical process the bark of yo\mg trees. 
He (with his partner, M. Emi'le Deiss,) is 
dealing with a new process and has taken 
' bark (specimens of which can be seen at the 
Observer Office) from the Willoughbela 
firma. M. Vivier is now on his way to 
Paris, but will return to Ceylon in January, 
' when he hopes to be able to meet planters 
and merchants interested in rubber cultiva- 
tion in Ceylon with the view of introducing 
. the new process which, he claims, will add 
materially to the pecuniary advantages to be 
derived by those concerned in the cultivation 
of rubber trees, 
— — — ' 
MINOR PRODUCTS REPORT. 
Cardamoms, — The modo'ate supply in auction today 
met a poor demand, and a small proportion found 
buyers at about 2d per lb lower rates. The follow- 
ing vrere the prices paid :—Ceylon-Mysores, good bold 
pale, 35 8d to 3s 9d ; medium ditto, Ss 2d to 3s 
6d ; small to medium, 2s 5d to 2s lOd ; small pale, 
' 2s 3d to 25 4d; very small pale, Is lOd to Is lid; 
shelly and split, Is 8d ; seeds, Is 8d to 2s ; 
■wild Ceylon, lOd; Ceylon-BIalnbars were not in de- 
mand. 
Cinchona. — The average percentage of sulphate of 
quinine in the bark to be offered at Amsterdam on 
November 2ml, is 5'32 per cent against 5'25 per cent 
in the September auctions, 5-60 per cent. August, 
and ■')'2d per cent for the ten auctions of 1898, 
The 6, I'll pacltages to be offered contain 561-330 
]{ilos of Java bark, with a total of 2(),850 kilos 
(030,71)0) oz. The only offering in auction was a 
parcel o( nix bales red bark, dull broken quil, for 
which 4j'd was refused.— (P) om the Qltemist and Drug ■ 
• fli^l, Out. 28). 
CEYLON TEA. 
THE NEW TARING ORDER : 
HALF-POUND AND MORE TARERS TO BE USED. 
London, Nov-, 15 (received 12 p.m.). 
The Customs have decided to issue an order 
for Taring teas with an added half-pound 
weight in the scale : and increasing the 
number of tarers taking for averaging. The 
order takes effect from the 1st December, 
"CORN" RUBBER. 
From a French paper of date in October, 
we make a translation of what seems to be 
the latest information respecting "corn" 
rubber. In view of the great demand for the 
article, few products are more adulterated 
in various processes of manufactui'e than 
rubber ; and here we have one of the pro- 
cesses by which it is hoped to get a substi- 
tute : — 
For some years a kind of rubber has been 
made from Indian corn (mnis) ; now it is 
corn which will soon give the precious sub- 
stance. Corn-rubber looks I'emarkably like 
the ordinary reddish-brown rubber, but it 
has not yet been found out liow to make 
it as resistant to heat as its predecessor. 
Corn-oil, which is the first constituent of 
this false rubber, is not readily oxidized : 
and, without knowing whether this is a fanlt 
or a good quality, they say that, thanks to 
this peculiarity, the new product will 
always preserve its suppleness and will not 
crack. The public has not yet been able to 
judge, as this rubber has not reached the 
trade ; chemists wish to continue their re- 
searches until success is assured. The corn- 
oil is taken from the germ of the grain and 
not from its cover. The starchy and 
glutinous parts of the seed served in the 
manufacture of starch or of glucose while the 
oil of the corn was practically useless. 
Hence it is thought that the new rubber 
could be put on the market at 33 centimes 
(3d. ) per lb. Already it can take the place of 
rubber in cycle tyres or linoleum or for 
cheai3 toys ; but will not do for scientific or 
industrial apparatus. 
It was started in Chicago and will probably 
make its debut at the Paris Exhibition. 
In another Paris paper, there is the 
following reference to gutta-percha of some 
local interest :— 
THE cultivation OF THE EUCOMIA. 
M, Dybowski, Director of the Garden for 
the Colonies, has given the Academy of 
Science an interesting note on the possibi- 
lity of obtaining a very superior gutta- 
percha from a shrub native of the North of 
China, called Exicomia. Hitherto the pro- 
duction of this article (which fetches often 
12s. the lb.) has been confined to the islands 
of Sunda, The Encomia can be grown in 
very temperate climates. The gutta 
extracted from the fruits is of very good 
quality, and the fruits contain 28 per cent of 
gutta. The leaves and branches also contain 
it and can be utilized, 
