Dec. 1, 1899.1 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
407 
evening. It took the whole day to coagulate. 
The men cut slits out of the bark, which 
is very thick, and allowed the rubber to 
collect and set in them. I have sent rub- 
ber and herbarium to Kew for identifica- 
tion. 
The vine rubber, &c., I have also sent to 
Kew. I was always striick with the enormous 
amount of caoutchouc this vine yields : it sim- 
ply runs out of a cut in the bark for any 
length of time, and I was 
LED TO EXPERIMENT 
with some from what I read in your T. A. 
I went to the forest with two men and from 
one vine, in the course of a few hours, we 
returned with two ql^arts of caoutchouc. Into 
one quart, I stirred half a tumbler of water, 
in which one tea-spoonful of J. T. Morton's 
tartaric acid was dissolved. After a little stir- 
ring, the contents coagulated the same as 
butter would come in a churn. I then went 
to the bath-room and washed the rubber, 
squeezing it and working it in my hand for 
some time, till all the refuse was washed 
out, when I had a piece of beautifully pure 
rubber quite white. When exposed it turned, 
reddish grey in colour. The other quart I 
boiled pure and simple without the addition of 
any acids. In a quarter of an hour, stir- 
ring all the time, I got the same i-esult. 
Gradually the rubber stuck to the stick until 
all was collected. This seemed to take place 
gradually as the water evaporated until I 
had one lump like very thick porridge, 
which I tumbled out on a board, poured 
water on it, and worked it about till I had 
A LOVELY PIECE OP RUBBER 
much nicer looking than what was made with 
the acid— more elastic with a pretty bluish 
transparent look about it. I am sure the above 
treatment is simple and inexpensive enough, 
and perhaps better results may be got than 
hy the use of p.atent machinery. I shall try 
the churning ; but as the use of my dairy 
churn is prohibited, I shall have to con- 
struct one for myself. I shall let you know the 
result in due course. 
The ahovementioned vine is very hardy, 
easily propagated from seed, and only takes 
about ten years to become fit for tapping, 
with a stem a foot in diameter. I am think- 
ing of 
PLANTING IT ALONGSIDE ALL THE SHADE 
TREES 
in a coffee clearing on which native shade 
was left, although the coffee is a decided 
success so far up to 18 months old. I do not 
think the rubber vines would do any harm ; 
and, of course, it is always better to have 
two strings to one's bow. 
I have frequently read in the columns of your 
Tropical Agricxdtiirist about hybrid coffee. 
Why, it is as common as anything here. From 
SOME ORANGE COFFEE 
imported by the Church of Scotland Mission by 
Gardener or some other person, we have got 
it hybridised on, 1 suppose, every estate in 
British Central Africa. At all events Mlanji 
has got it in every shade from the real orange 
to nearly approaching the dark greeQ of our 
Coffee Arabica. I have often wondered 
whether this variety would resist the attack 
ot leaf -disease. I could send some seed to any 
one in Ceylon who may wish to try it. 
From a small-leafed West African coffee we 
have several hybrids. The narrow-leafed 
coffee that my P.D. in Dimbula used to 
point out as a mail coffee, and give orders 
to reject when counting the plants, is also 
here, and has got hybridised with the Arabian 
variety. 
I got some Liberian coffee seed from the 
Blantyre Mission in 1892 and put it into a 
nursery, and remember a few of the seeds 
came up ; but what became of the plants I 
never found out from my assistant who 
did not know much aboiit coffee. After 
some years I discovered several of the 
Maragogipe or hybrid variety of coffee trees 
in a field of about 140 acres ; but how they 
came there I do not know, for I never got 
any seed or plants of Maragogipe from any- 
where, and can only surmise thcxt a Libe- 
rian plant must have existed somewhere 
and got 
HYBRIDIZED WITH THE ARABICA. 
I have not had much experience of tea- 
making. In the early days of hand work, I 
got some lessons from the late A. Cameron 
when on his rounds and turned out fairly 
good tea, which sold at 50 cts. per lb. in 
Colombo. But what puzzles me here is, I 
sometimes make a break of tea which is quite, 
better ; and if any of your experienced planter* 
or your worthy self would tell me what is 
the cause of better tea I would be much ob- 
liged. I see nothing in T. C. Owen's book 
about it, and never remember turning out 
better tea in Ceylon. I have an idea that it 
is the withering or fermenting that has to 
do with the bitterness as it is only occasionally 
it turns out better. The crop is just ever in 
British Central Africa and said to be a large 
one, and it would need to be, for the past two 
years have been very short. 
THE RAINS 
have been seasonable this year and our 
coffee is blossoming early : we have a grand 
show of spike on the trees at pfesent. Early 
blossoms always do well in British Central 
Africa, so that I may safely say prospects 
are good for 1900 crop. H. B. 
Analysis OF A Coconut.— Dr. Bachofen, of 
Mr. Baur's Laboratory, has produced an ana- 
lysis which should be of much interest to 
coconut-growers. The chemical constituents 
are most precisely detailed, while the amount 
of each important ingredient in the soil, 
removed by 1,000 nuts, is also added for -re- 
ference. The latter should be extremely 
useful in the analysis of soils under con- 
sideration with a view to coconut-planting. 
In the former the most noticeable points 
are that Potash and Sodium Chloride are 
the chief constituents of every portion of 
the coconut ; and tliat the dry matter ex- 
ceeds the moisture only in the Shell, (by G9-60 
per cent) while it is less in the Husk and Kernel 
by 31-12 and 5'8 per cent respectively. 
