418 
THE TEOPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Dec. 1, 1903. 
had lost their footing and were both killed, also that the 
Sahib wag comina back in spring to drain the lake and 
make a path to the deposit. That a find of some kind, 
has really taken place, I hid have little or no doubt 
I happen to know who the Sahib in question is, and 
also that he has a mineral concession from the Maha- 
rajah, and in a letterl received from him some months 
ago he told me he intended to search for corundrum 
minerals in that direction during the past summer Still 
the story has been greatly embellished, sapphir.es two 
feet long are as mythical as the philosopher's stone; 
one a quarter of that size would be a giant among 
cornndrum gems ; a deposit of that size is far more 
likely to turn out massive blue beryl of very poor 
water, as these large stones invariably are beryls run 
to a great size at times, 'ihe late Professor Dan, in 
his work on mineralogy, mentions an aquamarine in 
the possession of Don Pedro of Brazil, as large as a 
horse's head, but unfortunately clear on one side 
only, the other sides being opaque, and a Mining Engi- 
neer of my acquaintance told me he had seen an even 
larger specimen, found in Brazil some nine or ten 
years ago. — B. Gazette, Nov. 12. 
A PEAEL FOR £700. 
According to the latest Northern Territory 
files a pearl found on the local grounds two 
or three months ago is reported to have been 
sold to a Queensland pearlbuyer for £700 cash. 
This pearl weighed 79 grains, and, with one 
small exception, was a fairly perfect gem. 
A recent visitor to Thursday Island bought 
£900 worth of shells. The great majority of 
them was purchased from European boat- 
owners. — Adelaide Register, Nov. 5. 
PARAGUAY TEA : OR 'MATE, 
There come.s from Paraguay to the ' Journal of 
Tropical Medicine' news of an apparently harm- 
less beveraore which is the sole stay and stimulant 
of tha working classes in Paraguay and the 
Argentine Republic. It is often known as Para- 
guay tea or mate, and an attempt made to 
introduce it into this country some years ago 
failed because — as we may guess — there were more 
potent compecitors in the field. It is usually 
drunk as a hot infusion, through a metal tube, 
but may be taken like tea, with milk and sugar. 
Workmen take it with them wlierever they go and 
sip it occasionally. Wood cutters will work on 
it for five or six hours before breakfast, and the 
writer declares that, taken at night, it makes 
nursing, study, or what doctors call ' night work,' 
real pleasure. Analysis does not explain these 
results, and lifelong and persistent use appears to. 
have no evil consequences. Tliis would be good 
substitute for the numberless patent medicines 
which supply alcohol to women, or even, in at 
least one familiar case, cocaine. — Chronicle. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Another Rubber Producer.— A new rubber 
producing creeper, called Khynehodia Walliciiii, 
has been discovered in the Pegu district by Mr 
Heareey, Divisional Forest Director, Shwegryir 
says the Commercial News, 'Frisco Oct. 8. This 
creeper is found growing abundantly on low land 
in light forests on both sides of the railway line 
in the Nyaunglebin subdivision, but is liable to 
deetruction by potta soldiers, 
Rubber in Negri Sembilan.— It is interest, 
lug to note in connection with the progress made 
by tlie Federated Malay States that quite re- 
cently a Negri Sembilan estate of four hundred 
acies of rubber sold for $300,000.— <S F. Press. 
Mr. Alex. Whtte.— News of this remark- 
able agricultural scientist appears elsewhere. 
After a brilliantly succes.sful career in 
Uganda, he is off on a special " rubber " 
mission to Uganda, which our London 
correspondent fully describes elsewhere. 
Planting Products in Zanzibar.— We are 
glad to see that His Majesty's Government have 
decided to make the regulations about adulter- 
ation of produce binding on British subjects. The 
attempts of the local nuthorities to improve the 
quality of our products were greatly hampered by 
the fact that they had no control over the Indian 
middleman who is invariably the worst offender 
in matters of this kind. The quality of chillies 
and copra has considerably improved during the 
last few months, and now that the Indians have 
been made to understand that the adulteration of 
produce is a punishable offence, there is no reason 
why our copra should not be made to compete 
favourably v/ith the best produce of Ceylon and 
other p\a.ces.— Zanzibar Gazette. 
Tea Company News.— We give elsewhere the 
annual reports of Tea Companies. The 
Central Tea Company disposes of over £2,500 
but without paying a dividend on ordinary 
shares and carries forward £150 : this in 
spite of a rise of Id per lb. in prices— an im- 
provement on which the management partly 
must be congratulated.— The Ukuwella pays 
its interim at 10 per cent and shows, in 15 per 
cent, a fine increase on 1902: its tea was nearly 
^d per lb., and cocoa 2s 9d per cwt., better. 
The management are certainly doing well for 
the shareholders, after five years' work.— The 
Scottish Trust and Loan Co. has yielded up 
its solid 7i per cent and with such splendid 
and well-managed estates as Brookside (Mr 
G W Murray), Alnwick (Mr Andrew Poison 
and Annfield (Mr R M Knight) the Com 
pany should be paying its 10 per cent and 
more before very long : nearly £1,700 is car- 
ried forward this time. 
Proposed Canning of Pineapples — Mr 
Landau, the Swiss ^fentleman who recently came 
over to Ceylon to buy and export tea to Europe, has 
come to the conclusion that a lucrative business can 
also be carried on in Ceylon, in preserving and 
exporting pineapples. The Ceylon pineapple, he 
says, is excellently adapted for preservation just 
as is the Mauritius variety ; and it is one of the 
best on the market, and he hopes to start oper- 
ations soon. Mr Landau has calculated that he 
could clear a profit of Rl -8.3 on each dozen tins of 
pineapple which he made in Colombo, and he ex- 
pects to make at least 50 dozen tins a day, which 
would hrlnU bim a profit of say R90 a day or £l,8i'0 
a year! Mr Landau has tried his hand at preserving 
papau which he characterises as one of the most 
valuable fruits in exist.tnee. The other day he 
made some papau jelly. Out of a papau three lb, 
in weight, with a proportionate amount of sugar, 
he says three lb of papau jelly can be made. 
He also thinks of preserving the unripe papau 
in tins and also the jack fruit, 
