March 1, 1900.1 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
59? 
thing personally, but allowed to do what they 
like.au'l when liiey eveainnlly "etabillet onK8S S3, 
■wiiich is aboiic ioui' pouiid.s a lUDntli, unless they 
are hard workers tiiey t^et the sack and add to 
the ;;reat army of nnenspioyed plauoeis to be found 
HI Ceylon. Tea seems to he on 'ts last \i^<i«. 
everywhere salaries and staff are being reduced. 
White men are |.;etting sacked and native condxic- 
tois are taking' their places on a salary about a 
quarter what a European would yet. Id will be a 
ease of the survival of the lit.test: many estates 
I expect will be abandoned unless something un- 
foreseen turns up. 
This is a niagnilicent i,'aine country, being all 
virgin -jungle ; elepiiants, leopards, bears, buil'abies, 
pig, deer, peafowl, etc I shot a cheetah the other 
night about two hundred yar.lsfrom my bungalow. 
We live on fowls down here, as butcher's meat is 
not |)iocurable, and one's gun is a very useful 
thing to vary the monotony of the everlasting 
chicken. I enclose you a cheqire for 30/ for my 
subscription to Colonia. I shi/uld lie very much 
obliged if I could get the back numbers which 
have been issued since I left the College." 
WEIGHING TEA— AND CEYLON MY- 
COLOGIST. 
In a London letter to the Observer, 1 
saw it mentioned that the scales on some tea 
estates must be wrongly balanced, which 
would account tor the difference of weight 
which the tea chests would tui'n out, in 
London. From my persoiial experience I 
know that spring balance scales, such as are 
iissd at railway stations, and which, I 
belicA'e, are the sort used in tea factories also, 
are in the habit of going wrong on the slight- 
est i)rovocation. In weighing bags of grain, 
averaging about 2001b. each, these scales 
generally show a dilference of from 2 to 4 lb. 
per sack, and that would just run out about 
the amount of deficit on tea chests. I check 
my scales by having myself weighed on a, 
beam scale, which, of course, is always right, 
and then trying my weight on the balance 
scale, allowing the difference between the 
two. Tea planters should try this plan. Of 
course, Railway companies naturally patronize 
a class of weighing scale which enables them 
to charge more on packages than they are 
justly entitled to. 
APPOINTMENT OF A MYCOLOGIST. 
I am glad to see that you are, at last, 
going to have justice done to your island, 
in this respect, for a Mycologist is really one 
of the most useful appointments that could 
be made in connection with any agricultural 
or horticultural connnunlty. I don't grudge 
you your good luck in gaining your pointj 
although we agriculturists in Britain are 
never, by any chance, so fortimate as to 
get any concession from the powers-that-be, 
because the policy of our Government, be it 
Tory, Whig or Radical, is to encourage the 
foreign agriculturist and crush their own 
countrymen. Our Minister of Agricultiu-e, 
Mr. Walter Long, has lately been visiting 
the Scotch agriculturist on his native 
heath, and has been bombarded with wild 
provosts, J. P.'s, kerosine lamps, addresses 
and other bucolic products ; but all to no 
purpose, for he simply refuses to do anything 
for the greatest but most depressed industry 
of , our native land. Cosiiopolite. 
NEW GUINEA RUBBER. 
It is encouraging to lem-n that a, high value 
is placed in Londou on rubber from New Guinea. 
Aa nuich as cJs 4d pec ponarl lias been realised for the 
article in the home market, The reason for this 
is said to be that adul eration, ao mut-h practised 
in other rubber-producing countries, New Guinea 
not excepted, has been promptly checked in the 
Possession. With tlie cessation of adulteration, prices 
have rapidly risen for the Papuan production. Let 
us hope that with the eucourj;ement of quick sales 
and high prices the collection of rubber will become 
one of the steady industries of the island. 
The Northern Miner says on this subject : — "Messr. 
McIKviaith, JIcEacharu, ana Co. inform me (vsrites 
'city Man,' in the Brilish Australasian) that the 
rubber which they receive from New Guinea has been 
steadily advancing in vakie of late, owing to the 
improvement which is taking place in the, prepara 
tion of the article. The gentle and unsophistica- 
ted nigger, iu whatever part uf the world he is, has 
a nasty knack of adulterating the rubber ^which he 
sells to the trader, and the Papuan is not an ex- 
ceptioii to the rule. But this propensity in his case 
has been tirmly checked lately, with the result that 
New Guinea rubber has been sellinc: in Juoadon 
up t0i3s 4d per lb." — From the (Juecnsland Agricul- 
tural Journal. 
A CURE AGAINST DYSENTERY. 
The Colonial Garden in ludo-China, through 
the good oflices of Senator Pauliat, has received 
some seeds called '"Ko-Sau" by the Chinese and 
employed by them as a preventive against 
dysentery. Dr. Mongeot, of Saigon, had the happy 
idea of utlising these seeds according to the 
Chinese niethodo, and the results have been very 
satisfactory. Out of 879 cases experimented upon, 
he met with only eight unsuccessful results. Ex- 
periments made at the Colonial Garden have 
shown that the seeds had a powerful physio- 
logical action. New experiments will, jio doubt., 
eniible the causes to be traced, and the clTects 
ol: the action determined. If, as everything seems 
to point to it, the utility of this Ko-San seed 
is confirmed, the plant w ill be spread all through- 
out the French Colonies. — London and China Ex- 
press, Jan. 26. 
THE INDIAN TEA ASSOCIATION 
(LONDON). 
Scientific Officer for the Tea Districts, 
—A letter on this subject from Dr. Voelcker, 
addressed to Mr. Cruickshank, was read by the 
Secretary, and at the request of the Committee 
Mr. Cruickshank arranged to see Dr. Voelcker 
again and settle with him as to the engagement 
of a suitable man with the requisite qualifica- 
tions to proceed to India and take up the appoint- 
ment. 
Travancore Statistics.— After some discus- 
sion it was decided that in future it was advis- 
able that estimates of Travancore crop, should, 
if procurable, be given separately by the Calcutta 
Association when framing their forecast of the 
Indian tea crop.— Indian Planters' Gazette. 
LIQUID MANURE. 
A simple and cleanly way of applying liquid 
manure to pot plants, is first of all to make a 
strong liquid nrnnure, and into this put dry 
charcoal. When the charcoal is tlioroughly 
soaked, take it out and dry it. When re- 
potting plants put a little of it into the bottom 
of the pot. When the roots of the plant 
reach • it, the efi'ecb is soon visible. By thi-s 
means there is no smell as in using the ma- 
nure in a liquid state. — Queensland Agricultuhii 
