540 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Fee. 1, 1904. 
well, bnt I understand there is a good deal of clay, 
and there is a difficulty in getting rid of it. That 
ought to be overcome. When I speak of not going 
in for placer-mining, I do not say it ia because it 
may not pay. I simply want to see what you have 
in the way of quartz-mining, as I understand not very 
much attention is being paid to that. 
' And what about capital ? How much Vv-ill you 
be prepared to put up or bring ia ?' 
I don't know whether we will start a company or 
not. If we find anything valuable and think it will 
pay, why, we will just put down a mill and develop the 
property. I can get all the capital I want if the 
mine justifies it. lam not prepared to say anything 
more because I have not been in the fields. When 
I go and return, I shall, in all probability, know a 
good deal more about it than I do now,' 
NETHERLANDS INDIA GUTTA COMPANY. 
The Netherlands Gutta Company, a Singapore 
venture, has now a sceamboab plying in the 
neighbourhood of Banjermassiu in its business 
interests as regards the gathering of gutta percha 
leaves. The company pays a small premium for 
every newly set out gutta plant. It has about 
fifty thousand guilders available for this purpose 
in y.E. Borneo during t!ie next five years, and 
reckons then on having ten millions of gutta plants 
ready for plucking at easily accessible places. The 
giants set out now are expected to be productive 
in live years' time. — Straits Times, Jan. 11. 
» ' ■ ' 
INDIAN TEA UP TO DATE, 
BETTER PACKING WANTICD. 
Our tea growers are doing very well all round at 
present ; and therefore we think that it is time to 
point out that there are matters which will bear 
improvement, it the name of Indian tea is to remain, 
as hitherto, pre-eminent. Quality and quaiility 
■we have, and with these can stand against the 
world, but it is a pity that our packing, both for 
black and green lea, U inferior. Uomplaints are 
very rife as to tlie securicy of Indian tea ehestf. 
In Ceylon much mora attention is paid to this 
matter, and if we are not niisinfonned, (he care- 
lessness shown by Indian gardens is likely to le 
brought home to them this year in an unpleasant 
manner, as buyers are turning their attention to 
the subject, with a view to creating diatinc^ i'>n in 
value betwee)) tea packed well and tea packed ill. 
Gardens which have earned a bad name in thia 
respect, must not be surprised if they hnd their 
maiks penalised. All estates have done well 
enough recently to admit of standing a little extra 
expense, and to carry on our competition it is 
essential tliat we should be as well furnished at all 
points as our neighbours. — Indian Planting and 
Gardening, Jan. 16, 
_™. 
CINCHONA AND CARDAMOMS IN 1903. 
In a Sur; ey of the drug markets for the past 
vear tlie BrUifsh and Colonial Druggist. Jan. 
1. li^ s the following notes on Ceylon drugs: — 
Cincliona : At the auctions during tl^e year 
tlie supplies hroi.giit furwrrd were moderate 
on tlie wholf, and were niojilly sold ; (he largest 
quantity offered w.ns 2,012 p;ickagRs in March, and 
the smallest 7U packaj/es in February. The 
average units were 1 .5 81 as the highest in 
February, and IJdas the lowest in the months of 
January, July and August. In 1902 the highest 
average units were 1 5 8d in March and May, and 
the lowest of 1 l-8d in August and in 1901 the 
highest average unit of 21 was obtained in May 
and June, and the lowest 1 3-8d in January. 
Cardamoms were offered in ever-increasing sup- 
plies, reaching 945 packages on October 15th as a 
record quantity brought forward at any one public 
auction during the year. Prices were already 
cheaper in January; wlien selected bold bleached 
Mysore obtained 2s 8d to 3s ; splits, &c., lOd to Is 
2d ; and seeds, Is 4d to Is 51 per lb, but were at 
their lowest in September and October at 2s to 2s 
4d, 7d to lOvjd, and Is per lb. respectively. The 
market Las improved since then, and higher 
prices liave been paid at the last two auctions 
this year. 
TEA PLANTERS' AND OTHER INDIAN 
PATENTS. 
[Applications for the under-specified inventions have 
been made. Full particulars may be obtained from 
the Indian and Eastern Patent Agency, 14, Clive St 
Calcutta, through whom applications can be filed.] 
No, 502. — Louis Lazare Auguste Seguin, civil en- 
gineer, of 4<1 Rue Lafayette, Paris, in the Republic of 
France, and Jules Francois George de Roussy de Sales, 
civil engineer, of 26lh Rue de Constantinople, Paris, 
in the Republic of France, A method of manufactur- 
ing artificial caoutchouc. 
No. 506.— John lilackay, tea planter, Selin Hill, 
Darjee'.ing district. Improvements in piisnos. 
No. 519. — Robert Lewis Proudlock, curator. Govern- 
ment Botanic Gardens and Parks, the Nilgiris, 
Ootacamund. An improved rubber tapping knife. 
No. 525. — Robert Lewis Pioudlock, curator. Govern- 
ment Botanic Gardens and Parks, the Niigiris, 
Ootacamund. An improved simple machine or extrac 
tor, designed to be worked by a single cooly, for 
extracting plantain and other fibres; 
No. 532. — Harry Morton Girling, engineer and tea 
planter, of Cherra Tea Oorapany, Limited, Ballnc- 
herra, Cachar, in British India. ImprovemeQ's in 
hoop-iron and other strainers. 
THE NEW "COAL HOIST." 
No. 514. — Gerald Edward Holland, c i e, d s o, com- 
mander, Royal Indian Marine, principal port officer, 
Burma,. Rangoon, and Henry Johnston, chief engioeer, 
RoyHl Indi.m Marine, goverr.ment superintending 
engineer and shipwright surveyor to the port of Rau- 
goon, Burma. Improvements in driving gear for 
elevaiiug machinery or the like. 
MR DIXON'S PliARE OYSTFR MACHINE. 
No. 4. — Gecige Gongh D xon, engineer, of Swyn- 
combe Rectory, Henley on-Thamss, in the county of 
Oxford, England. Meihod of, and apparatus for, 
extracting pearls from oysters and other molluscs. — 
Indian and Eastern Engineer, for Jan. 
THE CHEMISTRY OF RUBBER. 
NEWS FEOM THE STRAITS : COTTON EXPERIMENTS 
ADVISED. 
The December number of the Straits Agricul- 
tural Bulletin (ZO ceMs) contains articles on the 
suhjects given in the heading above. Mr Burgess 
has the first part of en article on "Tlie Chemistry 
of Rubber" a brief but) uspfal and fiugsjestive 
account of the properties of rubber. Mr Burgess 
lays strefs on the separation of ilie latex into two 
parts, a solid or p^endc-solid and the liquid mens- 
trum, (he problem to be sol vtd in the preparation 
of rubber being the separation as perfectly aa 
possible of the liquid from the solid. He says. — 
