April 1, 1904.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
G71 
been jjj Ceylon and. the Malayan Archipelago, and 
only returned a few montha ago from the Wess Indies, 
where he has been investigating soils and conditions. 
Should his report in regard to Southern Nigeria be 
favourable, it has been arranged that a larger party 
shall be sent out from Liverpool on April 3 in 
order to develop more fully the lands which may be 
mapped out. Mr Hitchen and Mr Freeman will be met at 
the mouth of the Forcados river by a steam lannoh and 
60 carriers, who will accompany them on their various 
expeditions. Every arrangement that could bo suggest- 
ed has been made by both the British Cotton Growing 
Association and the Colonial Government for the com- 
fort of the expedition and the rapid survey of the 
country. The association have just received 21 bales 
of cotton of different varieties from a planter in 
Barbados, and that from the Sea Island has been 
valued at Is 4d to Is 6d per lb. This cotton has re- 
ceived the best attention in ginning of any that has 
arrived from the West Indies, and possesses all of the 
various requirements of this long-stapled cotton. In 
a letter sent by the planter in question he states 
that he is very much interested in the growing of 
cotton, aa he believes that when their present 
difficulties regarding pests are got over the crop will 
be a paying one. He adds that he is not only planting 
a fairly large quantity himself, but is trying to 
induce his planter friends to go in for larger 
quantities. — Loudon Times. 
» - ■ 
PARA EUBBER SEED AS A CROP. 
(To the Editor, ^' India Rubber Journal.") 
Sir, — With regard to the interesting question as 
to whether or not the seed of the Para Rubber tree 
is likely to prove of any appreciable value to the 
planter as a crop, in addition to the collection of 
the rubber itself, possibly the information I am 
able to summarise to date on this certainly im- 
portant subject may afford hope to some of your 
more despondent readers. Should the results 
foreshadowed by recent experimental investiga, 
lions receive hereafter practical confirmation 
jt means to the proprietor of a rubber estate, that 
jf ultimately dependent on the seed alone, he holds 
an investment as round at least, and as profi- 
table, as can be expected from the safest alterna- 
tive product — namely, coconuts — such land would 
probably be suitable tor. It places the intending 
groSver of Para rubber, in fact, in an extremely 
satisfactory position, for it completely eliminates 
any fear that his capital will have been spent 
unremuneratively— should the fallacious nightmare, 
that seems to be at present disturbing the rest of 
a few writers who may not have had opportunity 
to look very closely into the matter, prove worse 
than a dyspeptic dream, as to the eventual over- 
production of rubber, or of an artificial substicute 
for the higher grades of rubber being discovered. 
Now we have in prospect a double string to the 
" elastic" bow, and it is difficuli; to overstate the 
thatiks and congratulations that are unquestionably 
due to the curator of the museum at Parok for 
bis insight in recognising the possible economic 
value of the rubber seeds, in addition to the gum, 
or to the authorities at the Imperial Institute for 
the skilful and practical way in which they have 
brought the subject to the present point. I take 
my figures as to the probable market value of the 
seed from the supplement to the" Board of trade 
Journal" for December, 1903, and for an ascertained 
yield fiom the official reports from Ceylon for 1902; 
Professor Henry, of the Imperial luslitute Labor- 
atories, having very kindly in my presence scaled 
A dozen auselected and, from their appearance, 
somewhat over-dry seeds to enable me to complete 
the resultant calculations as follow ;— The twelve 
seeds referred to weighed a|ipr<ixinialely l.i oz — 
that is, 128 teeds to t.he lb. The crop from the 
Para trees at the Government Experimental 
Gardens at Heneratgoda for 1902 was 25,000 
seeds, weight say, 2,000 lb. The number of trees 
at the gardens in bcaiing is 427, or, at the usual 
distance of planting, ju-:t 2 acres. The seed has 
b-en valued by the Loudon brokers at £10 to £12 
per ton, and th« gros.s value of the crop would 
therefore be £4 10s to £5 10s per acre. If, as I 
expect probable, £2 will cover the conb of collecting 
and marketing tiie crop, the net profit per acre is 
£2 10-5 to £3 10s, being a return of 16 per cent to 
24 per cent per annum on a capital outlay of £15 as 
the cost of opening up tlie properly. It is well 
known, however, that, though a few of the oldest 
trees at the gardens are very fine specimen.'?, the 
majority do not compare favourably with the bulk 
of the trees over a large extent iu some private 
estates in Ceylon, Moreover, the oil from the seeds, 
of which I have a sample, though valued with 
linseed oil, possesses qualities that may create tor 
it a special demand, and so considerably enhance 
the demand and market price for the seed. Finally, 
whilst on the subject, if present prices for Para 
rubber should at any time suffer a serious fall, the 
owners of estates, if all proves true about the value 
of the seed, can afford to stop tapping their trees 
until such time as they have risen again, without 
incurring a total cessation of income from their 
properties, 
J. CoRYTON Roberts. 
♦ — 
THE CEYLON FISHING CLUB. 
BAD IMPORTATIONS OF TROUT OVA. 
Our representative learnt from Mr. H D Elharc 
that the last consignment of 20,000 Rainbow ova 
which arrived towards the end of February by 
the N L ss " Preussen," has i)rovfcd a failure. 
The percentage of return is worse than the con- 
signment of Rainbow ova which arrived by the 
N L S3 " Roon " early in February. Tl«e last 
consignment was also from the Wyresdale Hatc hery 
and arrived in dry and stinking condition ac 
Nuwara Eliya. It is surmised that this maybe 
due to the lack of attention on board, which 
may have resulted from neglect of the shippers 
to inform the Captains of the two vessels what 
had to be done to keep the ova fresh and moist 
while on the voyage out. Information has been 
received here that the shipment of ova consigned 
to Ootacamund by the " Preussen " also arrived 
there in bad condition. 
BREEDING OPERATIONS COMMENCED AT NDWARA 
ELIYA. 
The Managing Committee of the Fishing Club 
are adopting the suggestions made in the paper 
read by Mr. Murly at a meeting of the Fishintr Club 
on the 13ch ultimo, to put in 20 large Rainbow 
trout into the hatchery to secuie ovm. Mr 
A W A Plate was deputed by the Committee to 
fish for the required number of trout with Mr. 
Murly. The trout now have been caught and 
are at present in the stew pond where they were 
put in under the supervision of Mr. Murly, after 
the pond had been properly prepared for thew. 
