710 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [April 1, 18W. 
Eucalyptus Globulus in the opbn.— Tlie 
reafleis of tlie Gardeners' Chronicle fcliould be glad 
of tlio iiifoi niatio'i respecting tliis tree aflforded by 
'J. A." on i>a{^e 28. If a tree be killed to tlie ground 
by 18° of frost Jler Ijein^ planted tliivteeii yeari», 
eacii riaist (lf-ci<le lor liii;iNelf wlietlier it is a tree 
worlli planting,'. C'-rliiinly it grows very freely 
and TUHlce>* a fine tree in a lew seasous, and tlien 
conies a liard frost and it is killed to the ground. I 
have only known E. globulus to liower in the open 
air in our maritime counties.— ^4, R. Pearce. 
TitK Prospkcts OF Tk\, for the coming season, 
are undoubtedly improving, says the CaleuttA 
correspondent of tlie Pioneer. The stocks in all 
parts of the worlrl are considerably lower than 
they have b<.-en for some time. The recent fire in 
Meilioiune, in which half-a niillion pounds weight 
of tea was consumed, has resulted in telegrams 
being rcceiveil from that quarter to buy all the tea 
avaihible in Calcutta. The season here being now 
finished, theie will probably be a scarcity of 
Indian tea in Melbourne. Considerable comment 
has been made regarding certain Governmeut 
ligurss showing that an extra GO.OOO acres have 
been put under tea during the past year. The 
a"ents here of tea gardens are unable to discover 
wliere these large extensions have been placed. 
The general opinion being that not more than 
20,000 acres have been laid out. Prices of tea 
ye.sterday, at the last .sale of the season, were 
fully one anna higher. Present low-priced tea 
stocks arc worth attention. 
Trout in Ceylon. — Land and Water for Feb. 
4th contain.s an article on this subject, referring 
specially to the annual report of the Ceylon Fish- 
ing Club by Mr. Burrows, as published in the 
Overland CO. Regular icing, it is said, is all 
that is required for preserving trout ova in their 
transhipment ; as yet it has been efficiently 
seen to only on a vessel ofthe German line. In 
reference to the destruction of fry by the larvae 
of drason flies, each of which, Mr. E. E. Green 
considered, was enough to swallow them whole, the 
writer says :—" The hon secretary evidently does 
not know that the larva; even of some of our 
English water insects, if carnivorous, will bite and 
kill" trout fry, even though they are not large 
enough to swallow them whole." Finally, the 
order's sent to Messrs. Andrews for mayflies (to 
rouse the trout) and for a consignment of grayling 
are approved of, as well as the proposed import- 
ation of trout ova from New Zealand. 
RUBBEK Cultivation in the Madras 
Presidency.— With a view of extracting rub- 
ber from the powdered inner bark of the 
ceara rubber tree for supply to Government 
offices, the Madras Government directed the Agri- 
cultural Department of the Board of Kevenue, 
last year, to place itself in communication with 
tiie Kepovter on Economic Products to the 
Government of India. Mr. Hooper, the Offi- 
ciating Keporter, is of opinion that the result 
of his experiments show that the scheme is im- 
practicable. The result of the microscopical ex- 
amination of the inner bark of the trees shows 
that while the lactiferous vessels, or caoutchounc 
ducts are not absent, they are scantily distri- 
buted in the bark, and are undeveloped and in 
some cases empty. While the cultivation of the 
ceara rubber trees has been fully established in 
the Madras Presidency, it is a matter for regret 
that the climatic conditions or soil are not suitable 
for encouraging the secretion of rubber in the trees, 
so as to make their introduction a commercial sw- 
cea%.— Madras Mail, Feb. 27 
Most Extemsively Used Food.— Kice, is no 
doubt, the most extensively used article of foftd 
the world over. Hundreds of inillions of people 
chiefly subsist on it, and its consamption is con- 
stantly iiicreai-ing. It i» the principal diet of at 
lea.st one tliiid of the hunian race, foiniiug the 
chief food of the native populations of India, 
China, Japan, Ma<{agascar, many parte of Africa, 
anil in fact, of alinobt all Eubteiu nation*. The 
Burmese and hiiamese are the greute«t consuiuers 
of it. A Malay labourer gets through 5(i pounds 
monthly ; a Burmese or Kiaiueete 46 pounds in 
the same period. Although rice is sucli a universal 
article of fjoil, it is not nourishing a^wheat or 
someotlier grains. More llian nine tcnlh^ of its 
substance con.sists of Ft irch un<l water, formiiiLr in/>re 
fat than muscle. — From the Journal tf the Jatnnica 
Agricultural Society for February. 
The liANTANA Pkst in Mvsooe —To Mr. 
John Caiiifroii, the Superintendent of the Mysore 
Governmeut Gardens, is due the ectablibhnient 
of "lAintana, Limite<^l " in Bangalore. Ii is in- 
cor|)oratod under a bye-Ia-.v of the Bangalore city 
Municipality, providing that the growth of Lau- 
tana wiihiu luutiicipul liinite t-hall be kept 
under control. .Mr. ' nmeron drew attention o»er 
a year ago to Uie exteuMive growth of i^antiina 
Camara in Myxore, and observed that while the 
tlirub seivcd a useful purpose if kept in iU 
proper place, it should only be a<lniiited with 
much caution, and to a very limited extent 
where the soil is already fertile. It is a hardy 
plant, and its i^eeds are spreail far and wide by 
birds. Like the Prickly-Pear, too, it takes a 
good deal to ern<licale it. An attractive and 
f)rotectivc plant, it makes a good bid for popa- 
arity ; but the bat has goue forth, and for the 
future its growth is to be limited in Bangalore. 
No doubt similar measures will probably be 
taken in other parts of Mysore, so that we 
may expect soon to see " Lautana, Limited," 
opening numerous branches, and throwing out 
" suckers and seedlings " as vigorously as the 
plant itself does. — Plantiiuf Opinion, cited in 
" Indian Gardening." 
Tka Freight.s.— The question of freights gene- 
rally has, I learn, been exercising the minds of 
the Committee of the Indian Tea Association 
(London). Under an agreement with the London 
Conference, siiortly about to expire, rates have 
been paid which on compari'-on with the rates to 
London, ruling in Colombo durin;; the i>eriod, 
shew an excess of nearly 50 per cent. The days 
have gone by when tea can stand extra charges of 
this kind, and it is hoped thit the hard hearts of 
shipowners may be stirred, so that in the near 
future better term.* may be arranged. The position 
in this matter, however, in Calcutta is so essen- 
tially different from that in Colombo^that iti« 
vain to hope that Indian tea-growers will ever be 
put on a fooling of equality with their Ceylon 
brethren. Calcutta is a terminal port, the only 
vessels trading thence to London being the Con- 
ference lines who hold the trade in the hollow of 
their hands. Colombo, on the other hand, is the 
port of call of some twenty different lines, running 
to London from all parts of the earth, from Calcutta 
itself, from Burma, Cliina, Japan (there is a con- 
stant service now of Japanese boats) and Australia. 
Seldom it happens that there is not ample tonnage 
offering for all available car;40, and often, if three 
or four steamers of competing lines chance to call 
at the same time, cargo becomes an object of ex- 
treme desire and freights drop to a minimum. — 
London Cor., The Planttr, March 4tk. 
