262 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. J, 1903. 
Although a Cacao-tree is in finit more or less all 
the ve r round, the seasons when the crops are most 
abnndant are in May and Jane, and October and 
November. The qaality of the Caoao-beana or seeds 
depends largely on the variety, of which a large 
number are in cnltivation, known chiefly by the form, 
size and coloar of the fruits. Cacao seeds contain 
niirnrally about half their weight of oil or fat, known 
as Coco i-butter, which is expressed ; and in conse- 
quence of its sweetness and freedom from rancidity, 
is largely used in medicine in the preparation of 
suppositories, as well as in ointments, cosmetics, 
coating of pills, 8so, 
Commercial cocoa of the cheaper kinds are mostly 
composed of a small portion of the pulverised seed 
mixed with starch or flour, hence the thickened 
beverage produced by them. The " Cocoa Essences " 
or "Cocoa Extracts" of the best makers, being the 
pure powdered seed, produces a thinner or more 
fluid beverage, but one in every way more wholesome, 
nutritious, and invigorating. 
Without going into figures as to the increased con- 
sumption of cocoa in this country, it will suffice to 
say that while in 1820 only 267,000 lb were consumed, 
at the present time the consumption in the various 
forms of cocoa and chocolate amount to some 20,000,000 
to 30,iiQ0,i}0Q lb.— Gardeners' Chronicle. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
The Flowering of Hardy Bamboos.— Nearly 
all over Gieat Britain and Ireland some or other 
of the hanly Bamboos are flowering this year. 
The profusion with which A. Simoni is now nob 
only floweiiog, but fruiting, in the Trinity College 
Gardens at Dublin is well shown by the fertile 
culms I send herewith. The seeds or fruits are 
nearly naked, and resemble very fat and heavy 
Outs, but are larger and more glossy. It was for- 
merly believed that wiien Bamboos flowered they 
invariably died after ripening the seed. In some 
cases this is probably true, as observed in India 
and elsewhere; but Lord Rede^dale informed me 
some time ago that in the case of A Simoni this 
does not usually take place, and that, although 
the clamps look very brown and miserable for a 
time, young leafy shoots again appear from the 
stout, Ooucli grass-like sterna that run about un- 
derground. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Tea Soils. — Previous to going on leave, MrMann 
published a valuable contribution to tea literature 
in a work entitled " The Tea Soils of Cachar and 
Sylhet." All the soils of the tea districts in 
Assam and Bengal have now been dealt with save 
the Dooars, which will be treated of later on. 
Mr Mann shows that soil has an important 
bearing on the quality of tea made ; at the same 
time other causes, such as climatic conditions, etc , 
of course, influence manufacture. Until further 
expeiinienis have been made by planters, no very 
definite conclusions can be arrived at. We have 
not yet learnt how to make a good sianaa.d 
quality tea all the year round. This is what baffles 
experts and planters alike ; and until we can 
harness climatic conditions, and make them sub- 
serve our requirements, the same as, for example, 
electricity, we are absolutely at the mei cy of the 
elements ; and i he best of soil, and the most modern 
buildings and machinery, will not .solve the pro- 
blem of how to turn out an irrepioachable stand- 
ard of the best quality tea. Planters are blamed 
at times for rh^ p.tor quality of their teas ; if the 
wiseacres at Home would only come out — and 
take their place— say for a fortnight — they would 
very speedily find out to their own entire satis- 
faction, that the qaality of tea can in no way be 
improved during certain tiseasons of the year. 
—Indian Planters' Gagette. 
The Penbhos Estates Co. of Ceylon 
— We direct attention to the very full and 
interesting information regarding the work- 
ing of this Company given in the Annual 
Report elsewhere and at the same time have 
to congratulate all concerned on the sub- 
stantial dividend of 10 per cent declared to- 
(fay. The Penrhos Company has never failed 
to pay a dividend, although 10 per cent has 
not been attained since 1899 In addition to 
the dividend R5,000 have been placed to 
Extension Account and R3 486 93 carried for- 
ward— all of which signifies prosperity and 
careful management. 
The Clock Plant.— The Clock Plant is a 
native of Borneo, and in that country even, it 
is said to be as rare as in other sections of the 
world. The plant derives its name from its pecu- 
liar habits, which are known to bub few who have 
not studied the plant from a scientific standpoint. 
The planb has leaves of two sizes one of which acts 
in the capacity of a minute hand, which keeps 
moving until four o'clock in the afternoon, and 
the other keeps going until morning. The larger 
leaves act as the hour hands. Starting in a 
position when all of the leaves lie close to the 
stem, with the points hanging down, they rise 
grartually until they turn toward the top, and 
then they drop to their former position. It 
takes the smaller leaves about one minute 
to go through this performance, and the 
longer leaves just about an hoar,— Journal of 
Horticulture. 
Coconut Breakikg in Trinidad.— An article 
in a recent issue of the Journal d'Agriculture 
Tropicale gives an account of the method of opening 
the coconut in Trinidad. The coconut, it is said, 
is opened, generally, by a negro with four blows of 
a cutlass. The nut, broken into t'.ree pitces, is 
handed over to a woman or boy who removes the 
kernel with a small knife and puts it, cut in small 
pieces, into a bag. The bag when full is cairied to 
the drying room. A thousand nuts yield about 
650 to 700 lb of kernel and fresh fibre (undried). 
The cost of breaking the nuts, up to the time they 
are cut up and put into the bag, amounts to about 
2s per thousand nuts. A good labourer breaks 
about 2,000 nuts per day. The writer states that 
the growers would be grateful if manufacturers 
could supply them with a machine that would 
break the nuts and remove the kernels. —The Board 
of Trade Journal, 
Porcupines on Coconut Estates.— A letter 
to a Ceylon contemporary refers to t!ie damage 
being done to ru >ber and coconut trees by porcu- 
pines. A remedy mentioned is ' Rough on Rats* 
poison. Tennent, in his interesting " Natural 
History of Ceylon" says that the porcupine is 
extremely pernicious and persevering, bat withal 
so crafty that it is with difficulty that any 
trap can be so disguised as tc capture il. The 
foil )wing mode of capturing porcupines by the 
natives is worth quoting from the same author, 
" Some of its favourite food is placed at the extre- 
mity of a trench, so narrow as to prevent the por- 
cupine turning, whilst the direction of his quills 
effectual y bars his retreat backwards. On a 
coconut tope at Eangwelle, within a few miles of 
CoUimbo, I have heard of as many as twenty- 
seven being thus captured in a single night." The 
more ordinary expedient is to smoke them out by 
burning straw at the aperburea of their burrows. 
