202 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Sept. 1, 1898. 
Amstkrdam Bark and Quinine Market.— Our 
Amsterdam representative wires us this afternoon 
that the re.siilc of tlie bark auctions in Auister- 
dain today was an advance in the unit of •10 
Dutch cents per haif kilo the averaj,'e unit work- 
ing out today at 4-20 about 7-9d per lb) against 
4'10 at the last auctions. The lowe.st price for 
Mantcfacturer.'i' Vjark was 7] cent.^, and the highest 
38 cents, and the lowest for iJniag'uts' was 1 
cent and the highest CU^ cents. Tlie tone of the 
market was firmer. Out of 6,350 packages olFered 
6, 113 sold.— i?. and 0. Bnignixf, July l.j. 
Thh Florida Velvkt Bean.s, you .so kindly 
ser.t me, for trial, look almost the same as our 
Vandurumii. The description given in the T. A. 
conies so very near it. But the Vandurunia of 
Ceylon, is not much relished for human consump- 
tion as the consumer is often put into a sort of 
giddine.ss, just after it is taken. I shall report 
on florida beans later on. — Sinhalese Planier. 
Florida and Lima Beans.- A well-known 
planter writes : — 
"I shall hi very glad i? you can spare me a few 
Florida Velvet Bems to try; and I promise to do the 
best I can for them, and to report results. I have 
tried the famous ' Lima " Bean here with some 
success; but the crop seems only seasonal, and I shall 
not have any more for a few months. It is a very fine 
bean, and I shall be glad to send you a dish when the 
next supply ooines on." 
From the Gardeners' Chronicle of July ]6, we 
quote : — 
The Flobid.v Velvet Be.vn. — We had occasion to 
refer to this in a preceding number. We now have 
to make mention of an article with an illustration in 
the Qaetnsland Agricidl-m-al Journal for May last. The 
plant is named as Mucuna pruriens var. ntilis, and it 
is thought it may prove a valuable fodder plant in 
warm climates, and useful for green manuring. 
CoMPR ssiNG Flour : a Nk\v Indu.stry for 
India. — We lind the following interesting state- 
ment in the Friend vf India : — 
" Considerable interest is being taken in the system 
of compressing tiour in England. It is now fonnd to 
be quite feasible to make blocks sufficiently hard and 
coherent to bear the handling necessary for packing, 
etc. Compressed flour occupies two-fifths the spare of 
the loose flour, or one half the space required for 
flour stored iu the ordinary manner in sacks. The 
quality of the flour when compressed is not injured 
in any way." The foregoing quotation, which is 
taken from an Irish agricultural journal — the Iriah 
Homestead — ought to be a sufficient hint to Indian 
milling companies. There are now flour mills at work 
in Calcutta, the Punjab, and elsewhere, producing as 
fine flour as any English or American mill could 
turn out. The whole of the present output of these 
mills is, we believe, consumed locally. The important 
question is wtiether the output might not be increased 
for the sake of establishing an export trade, or 
whether it would not be profitable to start further mills 
of the same character. Hitherto the main objection 
to sending Indian flour instead of Indian wheat to 
England has been the transport difficulty. Wheat 
is obviously less delicate as a traveller than 
fine fiour, and therefore suffers less by the trying 
journey through the steaming atmosphere of "the 
judian Ocean and the Red Sea. But if it be possible- 
to compress flour as above described, there seems to 
be no reason why it should not travel as well as 
wheat. If so, India can retain for herself that portion 
of the milling industry which she now gives to Great 
Britain. It is along these lines, as we have often 
before urged, that Indian industries should be de- 
veloped. Wherever a trade in raw materials i» 
established, the object of manufacturers should 
be to convert that manufactured, or partially 
manufactured, products. The wheat trade should, 
if possible, be converted into a flour trade, jnst as th& 
txftde in raw jute has been, 
The Big Tea Distributing Firms— Wo not 
enjoy the critiei.sm which our columns tor some 
back liave contained ; but there is no get- 
tins: over the harm done by fixing their piues 
too low an 1 80 shutting out h<int quality lean. 
Ulu Langat, Straits Settlements, for June 
1898.— Tlie (lurian-erop, now ripening, will ii.)t 
be a large one, though there i.< promise of a 
better crop tlian was experienced at the einl of 
last year. — Sdanqoi Gooerniiunt UazelU. 
Cevlon Tea in Ku.s.SIA.— Writes a tea es-tale 
jnoprietor :— " You of the Observer certainly have 
(lone well for the Ceylon Tea interest, by directly 
interesting the Uus.sian Finance Minister in the 
subject of reducing the heavy duty on lea, and 
in the information you elicited fionitlie lale Uun- 
sian Consul Capt. de Friwli a-s to the tea cui-tom« 
duty in Itussia. I heartily trust that we may 
see some good come of this and a growing tea 
tiv de between Colombo and Ode-ssa." 
Tea IV SiciLV.— This i.s liow our old friend 
Mr. J. K. W. Pigott (formerly of Matale) re- 
Eorts on the prospect iu Sicily, where he li.oa 
een Consul : — 
A taste for tea is increasing B.monn the upper 
classes in Palermo, and with a little judiciou« 
eetacation the demand would rapidly grow. At pre- 
sent tea can be obtained at only one or two places, 
and that of a very inferior quality, while the price 
is very high, being about 8 lire, or 6s per lb. The 
duty on tea is about Is per lb. if in bulk, and the 
cases are included in this rate. Tiking everything 
into consideration, the Consul is of opinioQ that high- 
class Ceylon and Indian teas could be sold at a fair 
profit at from 3iire .50c to 4 lire 50c per lb. During 
the past year the total amount of the coniiuodity 
imported was, according to the Customs returns, ouly 
1,000 lb., 80 that Palermo, and, in fact, the whole 
islands, present virgin soil for tlic propagandists of 
the cup that cheers and does not inebriate. 
A Cure for Tvi-hoid Fevek.— " A Planfcr 
■write.s to Indian Garden inq •.~\ desire to record 
the virtues of the Eucalyptus oil in typhoid 
fevers. The remedy is well known in Australia- 
and Mr. Maiden, F. L. S., and Curator of the Tech- 
nological Museum, New South Wales, in his works 
on the useful ])lants native to Australia and 
Tasmania in the chapter on oils, record.s that a 
Doctor Kesteven, iu two hundreil and twenty cases, 
treated in eighteen months for typhoid fever liad 
only four deaths ; his success was due to the use 
of Eucalyptus oil. Tt is a pity that India cannot 
show the like results. For instance, they have 
liad some fatal cases of typhoid fever in Oota- 
camnnd quite lately, and thoiioh the Blue (Juin 
abounds and the oil i.s common, we do not hear 
of its use as a cure ; if given with olive oil it is 
said to produce astonishing results, more especi- 
ally if the diet is confined to milk and plantains 
Some thirty years ago a lady treated her son 
sufienno; from typhoid fever to a milk and plan- 
tain diet, and he recovereil ; this was before the 
virtues of Bine Gum oil were known. As an an- 
tisepetic in the treatment of ."ores and wounds 
It is unrivalled, being three times more power- 
ful in the destruction of bacteria than carbolic 
acid. It is mentioned that an Australian native 
suitering from a fearful wound over the intestines 
to which a person treated in the ordinary man- 
ner w'ould have succumbed, was cured by a poul- 
tice of Eucalyptus leaves applied by his nin. in 
influenza the inhalation of steamed Eucalyptus 
Jeave.s has cured many; the remedy is al.so very 
useful in attacks of bronchitis. In mteriuitteiifc 
malarial fevers the oil has been found useful in 
ooses of fiv§ drops every three hours, 
