G16 
IHE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [March 1, 1904. 
illustrations) lias"been sent for the Ceylon Hand- 
book and it i= ro be hoped that it will be distri- 
buted at the Exhibitioa ia paiDphleb form and 
money should not l.e stinted for tliis purpose. 
Your Ooniinittee desire to point out that in every 
country (Jardamoms appear to b- used for itifT^rent 
purposes : — In Sweden they are used in flavouring 
bread, in Russia, for flavouring ^v^eei meats, in 
Germany in the manufacture of sausages and 
flavouring cakes, in France for flavouring liqueurs 
and in England medicinally as well as in ihe curing 
of tinned fish and meat, iilso as a corrective of the 
, breath after tobacco siuoking it is daily 
become better known, so it will be seen that 
there is scope for further extension. — Your 
Committee have from time to time published 
in the local papers leports of the work 
done, as well as reports from Mr Renton and the 
agent employed by him. They have also published 
the result of Mr J A Spence's work in Australia, 
which your Con)mittee anticipated would not 
result in much, as it is not a manufacturing 
country bub they considered their duty to try 
everywhere to push the article and in this instance 
it has only cost the value of the samples sent. — 
Your Committee have to thank Messrs Renton 
and J A S-pence who have gratuitously done and 
will continue to do their best on behalf of the 
Cardamom growers. We have also to thank Mr 
Crosbie R des for his assistance with the pamphlet 
on Cardamoms for St Louis Exhibition. 
EUBBEE PEODUGTlON : AND PLANTEKS 
AND MANUFACTUEES. 
The letters we published some time ago 
regarding rubber coagulation by ihphhs oi' 
acetic acid, and relations between planters 
and manufacturers seem to have attracted 
attention in the Straits, as did ihe quoted 
article on which it was based. By a recent 
mail we received a commtmication from a 
high antliority in that quarter whose remarks 
will have so much interest for the i.iereasing 
Company of rubber planters that we give them 
special prominence. They are as follows : — 
" With reference to the article recent y pub- 
lished concerning the preparation of rubber, 
the effect of acetic acid, etc., it would doubt- 
less be advisable to make some comparative 
experiments with the various coagubtting 
agents, though this could not be done without 
the assistance of a thoroughly qualified 
chemist. One might, i)erhaps, get the Govern- 
ment Analyst at Singapore to take the qu' s- 
tion up, but even then the question might 
arise as to whether his opinion and that of 
the manufacturer would coincide with refer- 
ence to which was the best sample. Personally 
—although I do not profess to have more than 
an elementary knowledge of chemistry— I do 
not think that aceiic acid affects the rubber 
at all ; nor, so far as I know, will it interfere 
with the use of other chemicals used in the 
manufacture of rubber goods. 'I he case, I 
think, would be different if some of the mineral 
acids were used. I was much disappointed 
with the result of the samples 1 sent to Kew 
some time ago. These bad been cii'efully 
prepared for the special purpose of having 
hem submitted to a chemical examina- 
tion, but the Director passed them on to 
soma rubber brokers who could not undertake 
to do this. You will remember, perhaps, that 
they valued the acetic acid sample at Id per 
lb. less than the one naturally coagulated. 
One can quite understand that the merchant 
would pr' fer the rubber coagulated without 
the aid of chemicals— unless he knew exactly 
what had been used - for fear of chemical 
changes taking place diiruig the manufactur- 
ing process. Ill any case ihe .■imount of acid 
contained in t!ie rubber is extremely .-mall, iiy 
far the greater part of it remaining behind 
in the water with which the latex was diluted. 
So far as the cheniioal side of the question 
is concerned the authorities are favourably 
situated at Perad' niya, having a chemist on 
the spot, and should be able to give an 
authoritative opinion." 
TKOUT OVA FOR INDIA. 
The Ooty correspoadent of the Madras Times 
writes :— " A consignment of 10, OOOKainl)'>w trout 
ova airived from Wyiesdale F.shery on February 
10th. Major Baguall went over to Colombo to 
meet them and to attend to them on the j lurney 
from there, this bei'ig the most risky part of their 
long journey, as they have to he kept cool by con- 
stant application of iue to the box all the way. 
They came by train via Tuticorin to Cooiioor, and 
thence to Ooty by special tonga, and were taken 
straight up to the hatching boxes at Snowdon. 
They were met by Mr H P Hodgson and Mr CJ 
Oakes, who with M jor Bagnall are the Committee 
appointed by the Niigiri Game Association to at- 
tend to the importation of the ova. The boxes 
were opened, and a large percentage of the ova 
had hatched out on the journey, and were of course, 
dead, but there was a fair percentage of live ova 
in an advanced stage, some of which hatched out 
at once on being put into the boxes ; and could be 
seen wriggling about. It is hoped that the result) 
of this importation will be suciessful to a mode- 
rate extent, and another consignment is expected 
to arrive at Colombo in a fortnight. Rainbow tiout 
is the only variety that has been successfully in- 
troduced into Ceylon, where they commenced 
breeding very early, and have incieased rapidly; 
where as the brown trout have never I red there, 
the same being the experieace on the Ngiris. 
THE AGRA TEA CO. OP CEYLON LTD. 
REPORT OF THE tlRI'XTORS 
Directors.— Mfljor B F Tranchell, Messrs. John K. 
Symonda and Jo>eph Frriser. 
The Directors have the pleasure of sabmitting their 
Report for the year ending Slst December, 1903. The 
acreage of the Company's property is as under : — 
Tea in full bearing ,, 321 acres 
Do partial bearing ... 7 do 
Do not in bearing ... 20 do 
Total in Tea ... 348 do 
Forest .. ... 8 do 
Grass, Waste Land, &c. .. 11 do 
Total area of Estate .. 367 acres 
The estimated crop for 1903 was 205,000 lb. of Tea, 
and the actual qnnntity realised was 203,798 lb., or a 
deficiency of 1,202 lb. This crop realised E92.101'62, 
equivalent to 4.')19 cfnts per lb., as aeainat 41-38 centa 
in 1902. The expenditure, as shown in the accompany- 
in accounts, was E53,681'48, or 26 34 cents per lb., as 
