Sept. 1, 1898.] 
THE TEOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
169 
The Plobida Velvet Bean.—" I was induced to 
plant about two acres of them [velvet beans! last 
spring upon thin land. The beans grew nicely^ and 
made a large amount of forage. As they were recom- 
mended as good food— both .-ines and beans for stock, 
and also regarded by some as edible table food— we 
cooked and ate a lot as green shelled beans. Quite a 
number were made sick, some before leaving the table, 
others later— even to twelve hours afterwards. Two 
who were not affected, and doubting that the beans 
were the cause of the trouble experienced by others, 
ate some cold the next day, which ' fetched 'em.' Some 
were seriously affected, but all recovered after two or 
three days. Symptoms were nausea, purging of the 
bowels, headache, and violent action of the heart. 
Afterwards, some were fed to chickens, both cooked and 
raw ; home of the chickens died, and the beans were 
found, on examination, to be still undigested. Horses 
refuse to eat the ripe beans in the pods, and, in view 
of our experience, we do not care to urge them by 
grinding and mixing with other food. Will not our ex- 
periment station test and analyse them for poison, and 
tell us what is its extent, and how to overcome it — 
The Data Pepper. 
Tka and Australian Trees.— We think it is, 
generally acknowledged that Abbotsford is among 
the estates in the island, most fully supplied, with 
introduced timber, as well as ornamental trees. 
The penchant of the late Mr. A. M. Ferguson 
was, it possible, to give a trial to every tree he 
could hear of in India, Australia or elsewhere 
that might be useful or interesting to grow on the 
hills of Ceylon. He and his son backed up by 
their experienced Manager, Mr. Praser, have 
certainly succeeded in giving Abbotsford a lead- 
ing place in the island, so far as introduced trees 
go. Among these the Australian eucalypti and 
Queensland grevilleas occupy a prominent place 
and being dotted tlu-ough the estate from the 
very beginning of tea, no one is better qualified 
perhaps than the Abbotsford Manager to give an 
answer to the question said to be started by 
Mr, Kehvay-Barnber.— Do grevilleas on estates 
affect the quality of the tea ? Hitherto tliere 
lias been unanimity in the opinion that grevillea 
leaves dropping on the soil did good to tiie 
teaplant ; and now as regards the quality of the 
product, if due consideration be given to his long 
observation and experience, we think the letter 
we publish today from Mr. John Fraser should be 
deemed re-assuring. We have no doubtMr. Kelway- 
Bamber will be much interested in reading ii. 
Tahiti : Exports of Vanilla. -In a report on 
the trade of Tahiti for 1897 our Consul says that 
vanilla, winch had been rapidly increasing in 
value during the early months of the year, 
suddenly dropped to 'half the price previously 
obtained, and the Chilian and Peruvian silver 
dollar— the currency in which most of the trade 
of the island is conducted— fell to the compara- 
tive value of Is 9d sterling. Accordingly, their 
expectations not having been realised, importers 
found themselves at the endot the year with abnor- 
mal stocks on hand and in bond, and with by no 
meanspromisingouL-lookforthe ensuing 12 month.s. 
Our Consul goes on to say that tlie greater care 
exercised in the cultivation of vanilla during 1897, 
stimulated, doubtless, by the continued demand 
and high prices ruling at the end of the year 
preceding, led to an increase in the export of 
this article of 16,606 lb, valued at £19,351. Start- 
ing in January at about £1 per kilo, it gradually 
rose in value until £1 16.s per kilo, was reached in 
April, when its pricedeclined to 16s, with little pro- 
spect of an immediate improvement in that tiuure. 
During 1897 7.5,740 lb of the value of £3o, 408, "were 
exported, against 59,134 lb. of tlie value of £16,057, 
in 189G. — British and Colonial Drugpist, July 1. 
The "Joubnal of the .Ta-vfit/^a 
Society," for June 1898 hL the f'otlow^nf 
-Illustration of Dexer Cow Eed Ecs5.'°S'<^°^ • 
piece; Board of Management; Sp.ckl p'r,fl Z""'''; 
General Meeting; How to Wo?k an 1''?°'''^ 
Vegetable Growing; Notes from Apia^T : War on ?h ' 
Banana; Sheep Breeding; Bad Ees^l s from° 
Cross-Bred Rams ; Poultry Notes ■ Hoeincr ^r^i ^ 
Grape Growing in France; Mp'thods of PI^^'° '' 
Irish Potatoes; Odds and Ends ; War , Its Efft^ 
the Fruit Trade ; The Eight Way to Set FruU T. 
The Orange; Cheese; Recipes; ke Ag iSrai7)'uV 
Sei Sc! ' Answers, Prices ^of Mea^ Vegt 
The Nature of Fungus Diseases.-M,. w 
C. .Sturgis contributes to the Twentv-firs^A n„ \ 
Keport of the Connecticut AgriVuUuraf ^f^T^ 
(New Haven, Conn.), a vaFuable li': o ''^e 
publications relating to plant diseases, issued bv 
the U.S. Departn.ent of Agricultur; ami thi 
several experiment station durinc^ the f-pn 
1887-1897, inclusive. The list w"ri b V^affi 
that w-e may expre.ss the hope that it nmv be 
circu ated separately. The author has adopted 
popular names where they are inisleadinr^an d 
has endeavoured to systematise them thus "black 
rot rust, leaf-bl.ght leaf-spot, stem-rot, Vnil lew" 
leaf-scab.— Gardeners' Chronicle, July 2. 
Vera Cruz :— Exports of Vanttta axt^ 
Cacao - In a Foreign Office report on X fradt ^^ 
Vera Cruz for 1897 our Co.sul says tha tl ere has 
been a considerable decrease in the exiorts of 
vanilla. The curing of it is very difficult L i 
cultivators generally sell their to ' ofes 
sional cuiers. In 1896-97 the exnnrt.; ^n,A^ * 
to 16 tons, of the value o £47 316 aATnT 
1895-96, 56 tons, of the value of iioi Pr'The 
exports of cacao have been insignificant, and our 
Consul says that it is even imported inS the 
country although it produces abundantly on the 
coast. In the States of Tobacco and ^Chiapas 
cacao gives four crops a vear tk„ x"''^?^*' 
barvest\is from Marih to Ipr UhoughTan.rt^ 
ing continues all the year r!)und. T^ Jrice t 
very variable, being from 18 to 33 dollais Mevi 
can per 60 lb. Cacao ^could be advant«L^ i 
cultivated both for honie co^nZtS fTP 
export-British and Colonial DrugS\,w \ 
I HE Botanic Garden, BADuiL.-The ^^ea 
of the Garden being only eleven acre? ft 1^ 
impo.ss.ble to grow more than one or two\neci^ 
mens of each kind ef plant, and ti lis ^^n a 
commercial scale must necessarily be made p^p 
jvhei^ in the neighbourhood. The fu fc for of 
the Garden is to grow as many kinds of usefnl 
plants as possible with a view tn VtI! ■ • ' 
their suitability to the ^Im^te' of 'uvT'ncf 
should they prove thus suitable, to suppt seeds 
or cuttino-s in small quantity to resicE f 
may be desirous of giving tliem f.u leTt a^^^ 
The Garden was opened in 1886 on some old 
paddy land near the racecourse • a drivin i 
passes through it, and there are several 2 
paths. Badu la stands on the eastern ide of the 
main mountain mass of the Islands at an p1« 
tion of 2,220 ft. It depends foi /JvLnfairm re 
on the north-east than the south-west nioLoon 
and has a distinctly drier climate than tlun of 
the western .side of the hills. The mean nnnn^i 
temperature is about 73-9. The avj a 'e raS 
is given in tlie following table-— '^^^ 
January, 9 91 in., Februarv 3 75 in iv u 
4-21i. , April, 8-4G in., May, s'oV in.^'june' A^in ' 
a^?i\?uin-^;^^hir;' 
