122 THE TROPICAL 
Silk.— Experiments of wreat scientific interest 
e beiii}^ conducted by i lie producers of Lyons, 
lie object in view is to oblain silks already 
oloured from the body of the silksvorm. As a iirst 
essHV, ninlbsrry leaves were tre-iied wiih neuiral red 
of autidotoliine, w th methylene blue, and picric 
acid. The worms readily ate the leaves so treated, 
and began to show correspo-idin;^ colours in their 
own bodies. They nho yielded red and blue silks ; 
v.lule tbo e fed on Lhe len.ves trealed with picric 
acid gAve whit'' or oraug" tinted silk.— /jiaian 
Agriculturist, July 1. 
ToMATOS AND APPENDICITIS.— The name ap- 
pendicitis, now so familiar, is comparatively new. 
The disease itself was foiineriy not differen- 
liated from colic or from inflammation generally. 
When its true nature was understood it became 
a matter of impoi tance to avoid swarowinEr any- 
thing which might lodge in the " appendix " and 
set up inflammation. Among the possible sources 
.of danger were the seed of the Tomato. The 
Americans (the tale comes from the other side of 
the Atlantic) set to work to produce Tomatos 
without seeds, and have succeeded ; at Uie same 
time they have increased the size of the fruit and 
the amount of sugar which it contains. — Gardenen* 
Chronicle, June 6. 
Economic Products in Tbavancore.— Ac- 
cording to the annual report for 1902 to the 
Travancore Forest Department, results in regard 
to camp'^or-cultivation have been far from en- 
couraging, as a third consignment of seeds from 
JapaiT have failed to erovv ; and although four 
hundred plants purchased from Ceylon nearly a 
fourth are reported to be thriving, the modifying 
statement is added that the plants are inclined 
to bush instead of forming clear stems. In Tran- 
vancore the cardamom-industry is steadily devel- 
oping, an additional area of 181 acres having beep 
registered last year, raising the total under culti- 
vation to 15,861 acres. The receipts from carda- 
moms rose from 51,953r to 83,79.3r. Manila, hemp, 
and teak are thriving, but rubber is a failure so 
i&r.-- Chemist and Druggist, June 27. 
Abnormal Growth of Corypha Elata.— 
Certain Palms, among them being the various 
species of Corypha, grow for several years with 
out producing 'flowers or fruits, they then produce 
a huge mass of flowers, form their fruits, and 
die. The same thing occurs with other " mono- 
carpic " plants well known in the West Indies, 
among them the Agave, where the main plant 
usually dies after producing its long pole. Some 
plants of Corypha elata are grown in the Botanic 
Gardens, Demerara, and Mr. J F Waby has re- 
cently reported an interesting case of abnormal 
growth in one of them. In May, 1883, three plants 
of this Palm, then some two or three years old, 
were planted in a group. One flowered, fruited, 
and died in 1901. A second flowered and fruited 
last year (1902), and ia now dropping its ripe 
fruit, the plant standing gaunt and naked with 
the panicle of fruits at the top. The stem is at 
least 50 feet high. The third, instead of produc- 
ing the flowering panicle as the others did, has 
started into fresh growth, and has, as it were, 
a young plant at the top about the size of one 
six or seven years old, with no sign whatever of 
the flowering panicle, This one has retained the 
large head of foliage usual at the ^flowering stage. 
—The Agricultural News, (Barbados.) 
AGRICULTURIST. [Aug. 1, 1908. 
British Cotton-Growing Association.— At 
a meeting of the executive committee in Man 
Chester this week, a letter from Count Gleichen 
of the Sudan Government, was read, in which he 
said: — "He the Suakin-Berber Railway, I can 
only repeat my assurance to you that the Sudan 
Government is even more anxious than you can 
possibly be that the railway should be completed 
as soon as possible. It cannot, however, under 
the most favourable conditions, be ready for 
transport until the summer of 1906. . . . The 
aotunl laying will befin in September, 1904." 
Count Gleichen also stated that the Government, 
have sent a quantity of cotton seed into the Sudan. 
Mr J K Prince, the expert sent out to Southern 
Nigeria by the association, wrote from Unitsha : 
— " There is no doubt in my mind but that cotton 
will do well here ; the only thing will be to find 
ont the best time for planting, and that 
I will try to do by my experiments." A letter 
from Mr Hoffman, the expert at Lagos, 
staled that lie hoped this season to have 5,000 
acres under cotton at Abeokutta; Letters 
had been received from the Hon Francis Watts 
of Antigua, Director of Agriculture for the 
Leeward Islands, and the meeting decided to 
send out a power gin and press to Antigua 
at once. The subscriptions promised to the 
guarantee fund of £50,000 are now a little under 
£30,000. A meeting will be held in the Bolton 
Town-hall on Monday next for the purpose of 
making known the objects and methods of the 
association. Mr F Fletcher, of Gizeh, Cairo, 
who has been appointed Director of Agriculture 
for the Presidency of Bombay, will meet the 
executive during a forthcoming visit to this 
couhtry. It was agreed to ask the Secretary of 
State for India to grant an interview to a depu- 
tation representing the Association.— London 
Times, June 25, 
The Making of Panama Hats,— The Jan- 
uary issue of the Jamaica Bulletin of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture contains an interesting 
account of the making of "Panama" hats in 
Ecuador and Colombia. The common fan- 
shaped Palm is the one used in the manufacture 
of these hats. Young fronds, very uniform as to 
size, are cut from the plant, and boiled to a certain 
stage ; they are afterwards hung up to dry, and 
the frodns separated in a draughty, sunless place. 
When nearly dry, the fronds are split, to make 
them uniform in size, and when completely dried 
the strips curl in at the edges, and then are ready 
for manufacture. When making a hat of this 
" straw," four women usually work together, 
taking from a week to six weeks over 
the task, in proportion to the standard of excel- 
lence required. When finished, the hats are 
pared smooth, well washed with soap and. 
limejuice, and left to dry in the shade. 
A really well-made hat is alway costly, since 
much care and time in expended upon it. 
To become a good hatter requires a very long train- 
ing, and often the female children are set to work 
when only ten years old. Hatters work every day 
steadily, taking but hurried meals, and continu- 
ing work by candle-light, so as to have the hat 
ready by market day ; an hour or two wasted 
means to them the loss of the market day, and 
consequently the loss of ready money. The process 
of boiling the ' culls ' is an ar5 in itself, as only 
few people are able to turn out good straw. — 
Gardeners' Chronicle t June 6. 
