May 1, 1900.] THE TROPICAL AG::iICULTURTST. 746 
PLANTING NOrKS. 
Stable- Manure for Potatoes. — Accoiding 
to some experiments carried oat for the Wilis 
County Council, a more profitable crop was ob- 
tained with the use of stable-manure, at 5s a load, 
than with artificials. The stable-manure un- 
doubtedly enabled the plants to resist the olTeoi* 
of the drought of the last two seasons. — Gardeners' 
Chronicle, Mar. 3. 
Bordeaux Mixture and the t^otato Dis- 
ease. — According to the experiments made on 
behalf of the Wilts County Council, the average 
gain from the use of Bordeaux Mixture as a pre- 
ventative of the Potato disease amounted to over 
£2 10s per acre. The application is specially valu- 
able to late varieties. Two applications are gen- 
erally necessary, the first being most ailvan- 
tageous, whilst no benefit accrued from a third 
spraying. — Gardeners' Chronicle, Mar. 3. 
The "Coconut" Dispute, with the judg- 
ments of their Honors Justices Lawrie and 
Browne on page 731, ought to carry a 
lesson to local consignors of produce to 
London who (if Ceylonese especially) are 
sometimes inclined to think that if they ship 
and draw on the bills of lading at their 
')vvn estimation of value, thero \a an end of 
the transaction. In the present case, the 
consignor not only gets nothing for his 625 
bags of coconuts ; but he will be out of 
pocket £75 15s lOd, besides the costs of both 
sides in the case in the District Court and 
in appeal. Pity such coconuts were ever 
shipped ; but then it is too late to cry over 
what is irretrievable. 
A Cure against Dysentery.— The Colonial 
Garden in Indo-China, through the good offices 
of Senator Pauliat, has received some seeds 
called " Ko-San " by the Chinese and employed by 
them as a preventive against dysentery. Dr. 
Mongeot, of Saigon, had the happy idea of utilising 
these seeds according to the Chinese methods, 
and the results have been very satisfactory. Out 
of 879 cases experimented upon, he met with only 
eight unsucceistul results. Experiments made at 
the Colonial Garden have shown that the seeds 
had a powerful physiological actiou. New ex- 
periments will, no doubt, enable the cause to be 
traced, and the effects of the action determined. 
If, as everytlnng seems to point to it the utility 
of this Ko-San seed is confirmed, the plant will be 
spread all throughout the French Colonies.— iS^in- 
gapore Free Press, March, 8. 
Coffee Hulling : Dutch East Indies.— 
The coffee planter has always been very desirous 
of finding a haller which, whilsD not deteriorat- 
ing the bean, would at the same time be able- 
to deal with different kinds of coffee. The pro- 
blem has now been solved by M Schaap, one 
of the planters, who has invented a machine 
which can hull all the kinds of coffee grown in 
the colony. At the last coffee planters' congress 
held at Malany in October, 1898, a prize of 
2'*00 florins was voted for the improvement of 
Schaap's system which could be made lighter, 
mere economical in motive power, and able to 
treat at least three picnls per hour. Coffee liullers 
come generally fro>n England and Germany, but 
on many plantations this work is still done in a 
very rudimentary way. The U.S.A. are now in- 
troducing machines made by the " Engelberg 
Haller Co." of Syracuse, New York ; they are 
giving great satisfaction and will soon become very 
widely spread. —French Official Report from, Java. 
Coconut Cltltivation in Sxlangou.— Sayt 
the Pernk Pionzer (March 7th) in an article 
on the Antiu il Report of the Selangor Planters, 
Association :— Under the heading of coconuts^ 
the report records the tesiiinony of Ceylon 
experts, that the F M S pioduct is finer than 
anything obtainable in that island. This beto- 
kens an unmist i Unable iiiiiux of Ceylon coconut 
planters in the ne ir future. The coconut oil, 
fibre, and rone industry, sre already under deve- 
lopment in the Straits and PM States. Hithert©, 
Rangoon and Calcutta have received a very larj>e 
percentage of niir coconut produce, for the pur- 
])oses specified. The order of things now existing, 
promises therefore and very rightly so, to be 
revolutionized. The sooner the better say we, for, 
when its products are r.-produced in a country, 
its welfare is undoubtedly on the incline. A 
mighty industry in the coconut and its products 
may therefore be safely predicted, tor the regionsi 
bordering on and contiguous to the Straits of 
Malacca. 
Cooper, Cooper and Johnson.— On page 
733 we give the annual report of this 
well known Ceylon Company in which it is 
sttated that the concern has now been brought 
into good and economical working order. 
Commerce however considers it very dis- 
heartening reading for the shareholders and 
adds :— 
An addition ia made to the melancholy list of indus- 
trial companies which have failed to come up to th« 
promises of their prospectuses. They ought to have 
done well. For not only have they the advantage of 
growing their own teas, but they sell direct to tb« 
consumer, an i thus save those intermediary charges 
which add a aerious burden to the tea trade. 
The document states that the difficulties of effecting 
the transfer of so many estates and buaiaesses. and 
their organisation as a whole have been very great, 
but the directors consider that the company has now 
been brought into good and economical working order, 
with steadily improving results. During the first part 
of the year under review the mauigement. of the 
estates acquired by the company was not in their 
hands, but after the transference had been effected 
and other matters in Londori settled, Mr. B H Han* 
cock proceeded to Ceylon, ou behalf of the company, 
to make the necessary arrangements for combining and 
working the estates. The board being subsequently dis- 
satisifled with the way in which the Colombo agency 
was being managed by Messrs. J J Vanderspar & Co., 
instructed Mr. Hauook to pay special attention to 
that matter, and eventnally partionlara of such a 
nature came to the knowledge of the board aa to recderf. 
in their judgment, a change of age cy necessary in the 
interests of the company. This change was made, but 
unfortunately disputes have arisen on accounts and 
otherwise, the details of which the directors are unable 
to go into, the matter being atill sub judice. The non- 
receipt of the accounts from Ceylon has caused the 
delay in preparing the accounts of the company. Mr, 
Hancock spent six months in visiting Ceylon, and 
making arrangements ou the estates, which have al- 
ready resulted in a more efficient workine, by which 
the cost of the tea has been reduced and a consider- 
able saving effected in every way, and he reports moat 
favourably on the futureprospecfcg of both tea and cocoa 
estates. The amount of tea produced up to 30th Jane 
was 2,100,302 lb aud it is estimated that the production 
for the current year will be 2,322,000 lb at a reduced 
cost per lb. The cocoa estates, from varioua caiisei, 
includiue; unfavourable weather, showed disappoint- 
ing results, but advices received to date show that a 
larger crop may be expected this year. The whole- 
sale business shows satisfactory results. 
We also reproduce a letter to The Financial 
Times in which the opinion is expressed that 
it is a case of to© much Hancock, 
