30 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTUEIST. [July 1, 1905. 
not iu the ordinary way ilistilled by ateam and that 
practically no differences exist iu tiie grasses used for 
distillation. It is distilled in all cases from freshly- 
cut graas or grass cut within th -ee days as it is found 
that if the grass be left for more than the fourth day 
the yield of oil is not great enough to cover the 
distillation expenses. 
Further light i.s now thrown on this question by 
Messrs Hayley's letter, in which it is stated that 
the grass used in tlie preparation of Winter's oil is 
not identical with that cultivated by the natives. 
No particulars are given, however, as to the 
method of distillation or as to whether a portion 
of .the terpens? is removed in the course of 
preparation. It was on account of the undoubted 
purity of this oil that our minimuui standard for 
the refractive index of the first 10 per cent 
distillate was fixed as low as I'ioTO, the next 
lowest being l"4o90, out of the sis samples 
examined in connection with our notes. 
Messrs Hayley & Co state that they have 
adopted a practical test which gives satis- 
factory results without recoirse to a complete 
analysis at the hands of an expert. If this test 
could be used to replace Schimmel's test; admit- 
ting all pure oil and rejecting adulterated ones, 
surely it would be in their own interests, and in 
the interests of commerce, to publish it with a 
view to stoppinc the greatly increased adultera- 
tion of the last few months. At the same time 
the quality of pure oils for valuation purposes 
must necessarily be determined by some quantita- 
tive analytical method, and the process recom- 
mended by Mr J C Umney — viz , estimation of 
the total acety Usable constituents (C. cfc 1896, 
Vol- 48, page 356)— while not showing the different 
proportions of geraniol and citronellal, in our 
opinion suffices, the minimum suggested by Mr 
Umney being the equivalent of 60 per cent of 
geraniol. It should be, of course; be understood that 
the usual limits for specific gravity and optical rota- 
tion must be included with the standards suggested 
in our last paper, We mention this, inasmuch as a 
heavy oil has recently been met with which has 
a sp. gr. of 0,935, a fis-ure which at once condemns 
the oil as impure. 
Yours truly, Ernest J Parry. C T Bennett. 
Lond'ou, S.E., April 21. 
— Cliemist and Druggist, April 25. 
^ 
BRITISH NORTH BORNEO RUBBER 
AND GUTTA. 
AN AMERICAN COMPANY TO EXPLOIT. 
We have just received official particulars of an 
agreement between the Governor of North Borneo 
and Mr. AUeyne Ireland, of Boston, U, S. A., that 
the British Government have placed at the dis- 
posal of an American coriipany about 20,000 acres, 
CO be selected by the company, at a merely 
nominal rent, and for 999 years, of suitable land 
for the collection of the existing rubber and gutta, 
and for the future planning of these trees. The 
agreement seems to us a most generous one, and, 
while we have no doubfe that it will eventually 
result in North Borneo's good, we regret very much 
that such a large tract of the best country should 
have been placed in the hands of an American 
company, without first being offered to a British 
syndicate. Considering the number of responsible 
people on this side who would gladly have 
tioauced such an undertaking, we think that it 
would have been well if the Governor had ad- 
vertised his imentions of granting such a lease- 
The duty payable upon eacli variety of rubber or 
gutta exp u ted from the State of British North 
Bjrnso will be 10 per ceut. ad valorem, the cur- 
rent Sandakan prices being taken as the standard 
of value, and this rate of duly will not under any 
circumstances bs increised, and at no time shall 
the lessee oe called upon to pay a rate of export 
duty greater thai that paid by any other ex- 
porter of rubber or gutta from the State. — /nc^ia- 
Bubber Journal, April 27, 
MO^iQUITO AND MALARIA IN B4R0TSE- 
LAND. 
SPEECH BY .SIR AV. HELY-IIUTCHINSON. 
Capetown, April 28 (Special).— In the course of 
his speech last night, at the Science Association, 
His Excellency, the Governor, stated that Dr Ross, 
of the Indian Medical Staff Corps, who had 
devoted three years of his life to the study of the 
life history of the milarial parasite, iiad not 
met with his reward. In spite of the apparent 
hopelessness of his task, and of many discourage- 
ments, he continued unremittingly with his re- 
searches, and the result of his inquiries was that 
the mosquito was discovered to be a carrier of the 
malarial parasite. He supposed that many of 
them would have heard of the mission established 
about 400 miles north of the Victoria Falls, by 
the Evangelical French Church, called the Barotse 
Mission. The climate in the district was deadly 
in 1899. Seventeen people, young men and women, 
went out to work the mission, today, there were 
only two of these people left up there, both 
widowers, their wives having died there. Nina 
of the seventeen who went in 1899 were dead, and 
the rest had been obliged to return to Europe, 
Last year, a medical man went up to join the mis- 
sion, at his own expense, and took with him an 
iron house, built upon Dr Ross's plan, fitted with 
mosquit© blinds all round the house. He arrived 
at the mission in September, 1892. He (Sir W 
Hely-Hutchinson) saw a letter, three days ago, 
which had bee,n written by that gentleman, this 
Month. He said, among other things, that the 
sickness among the white traders in the district) 
was so great that he believed nine-tenths of them 
had died, or been desperately ill since he kad been 
there, while he and hi^-vife, living in this house, 
had not had a touch of fever during the wliole 
time, (flear, hear.) He (the Governor) was writ- 
ing Home to tell his friends of the wonderful results 
of Dr Ross's discovery. He mentioned this case 
as a conspicuous illustration of what science could 
do in the cause of humacity, — Natal Mercury, 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Tea Growing in the Caucasus.— We 
have received a copy of ati iateresting report 
—which appears on page 27-on Tea 
Cultivation in tbe Caucasus The informa- 
tion has been furnished to Mr. J. H. Renton by 
the British Commet'cial Agent in Moscow. 
It is satisfactory for us to know from it that 
the i-otal tea output from Russia is never 
likely to exceed 2 million lb. It seems im- 
possible, however, to learn what the tea cost 
per lb. to produce ! 
