732 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [May 2, 1904. 
MAKING THE OPIUM BALLS. 
Every man has a spherical brass onp, lined with 
the poppy-flower petals, before him. Into this is 
pressed the regulation quantity of opium. From this 
brass cup, when properly pressed, the opium ball is 
transferred to another man, who gives it a coating of 
clay. This gives the drug, when ready for shipment, 
the appearance of a fair-sized cannon-ball. When well 
prepared in this manner, opium will keep its pro- 
perties according to fl'orh for fifteen years or more. 
Before it can be used, the opium balls have to be 
b roken up and further treated. 
AN INSECTICIDE FOR THE TROPICS. 
CAEBON BISULPHIDE. 
The remarkable insecticide properties of carbon bi- 
sulphide make it a most valuable chemical, especially in 
the tropics. In Jamaica the Government has lately 
taken an unusual, but perhaps a necessary, step to 
make it more available. Consequent in some degree 
on the unreasonable conditions made as to its freight, 
bisulphide was not to be bought retail in the island at 
less than 3s, 6d, per lb. By the intervention of the 
Department of Agriculture, arrangements have been 
made to import it economically, and the Government 
laboratory ia now supplying it in quantities of 5 lbs. 
and upwards at cost-price, which is only 4(Z. per lb. 
The Government chemist, Mr. H. H, Cousins, M.A., 
gives in the " Bulletin of the Department of Agri- 
culture" for January some useful advice on the appli- 
cation of carbon bisulphide, and this should be service- 
able in India and Ceylon and throughout the tropica as 
■well as in Jamaica. 
CAEE IN STOBING AND HANDLING. 
First, great care must be taken in storing and 
handling the stuff, as its vapour ia highly inflammable 
and its inhalation dangerous. The bisulphide must be 
kept in tightly stoppered bottles or in iron drums, in 
a cool place, and no light of any kind must be near 
when it ia poured out. Breathing its vapour too must 
be carefully avoided. 
KILLS ALL INSECT-LIFE, 
It will kill all insect-life in soils. One ounce mixed 
with a bushel of soil which is to be used for potting 
will ensure its sterilisation, without affecting its fertility. 
It will kill roots if the liquid is applied to them, but 
its vapour is harmless to vegetable life. The method, 
therefore, of applying bisulptiide to 
EARTH INFESTED WITH LAHV/E 
or other peets is to bore holes about 12 inches deep in 
the ground, not nearer than 18 inches to the tree 
trunks, and I rz- of bisulphide is poured into each 
hole, which is then trampled over with earth. Four 
holes to the square yard are required. In granaries 
the vapour is of great value for destroying weevils and 
insects which feed on the stored corn. Evaporating- 
pans, 1 square foot each in surface, one for every 25 
Equare feet of floor space, are placed in the granaries 
on supports 4 feet from the ground. The granary ia 
made as air-tight as poasible, and then men pour 1 lb, 
of bisulphide into each diah and come out quickly. 
The doors are then fastened and left so for forty-eight 
hours, The corn is in no way injured, and all insects 
are destroyed. Similar treatment will free a room, 
from cockroaches, bugs, fleas, or other insects. 
CUBE FOR WHITE ANT3. 
White ants and ant-hilla may be destroyed by boring 
one or two holes through them about 18 inches deep, 
pourirg 2 oz. of bisulphide down each, and closing up 
with earth. Clothes, wooUei s, or furs may be rid of 
moths (which are very tronbleaome in the tropics), 
and their larvae (which are the thinga that do the 
mischief), if they are packed in a tin trunk, covered 
well with newspapers, and tightly fastened, half a 
wineglassfnl of bisulphide being first poured on the 
articles. The clothing will not be injured iu any 
respect Dor stained. 
THE HEVEA SEED IN COMMERCE. 
In our April issue (page 656) we gave an account of 
the chemical investigation of the seed of the Para 
Rubber tree (Hevea hraziliensis) carried out by the 
Imperial Institute Scientific Department. In the 
Bulletin of that Institute further information con- 
cerning this by-product on the rubber plantation is 
given. 
PABA RUBBER SEED OIL. 
This material possesses properties very similar to 
those of linseed oil, and should therefore be suitable 
for the preparation of paints and oil varnishes, and 
for the manufacture of rubber substitutes, linolenm 
and water-proofing materials. It could probably 
also be used like linseed oil for the manufacture of 
soft soap, but its colour would preclude its employ- 
ment for the preparation of hard soaps except in 
cases where there is a scarcity of cotton-seed and 
similar light-coloured, non-drying oils. It is intended 
to make further experiments regarding its applicability 
for manufacturing purposes. 
PABA RUBBER SEED CAKE. 
As stated in the previous report, the cake left after 
expressing the oil from the decorticated seeds would 
probably be of value as a cattle food, since its calcu- 
lated composition compares very favourably with the 
various cakes at present in use, and it is stated 
that animals readily eat the kernels in the Straits 
Settlements, The suitability of the material for this 
purpose is being fully investigated at the Imperial 
Institute. 
A large consignment of the seeds has been already 
despatched from the Straits Settlements in order that 
technical trials upon a commercial scale may be con- 
ducted to determine the properties of the expressed 
oil, and at the same time to ascertain the value and 
suitability of the cake as a cattle food by analysis 
and by feeding trials. 
A SAMPLE OF PAEA RUBBER SEED MEAL 
prepared in the Straits Settlements from the seeda 
without separation of the oil, was also forwarded to 
the Imperial Institute for examination, but this 
material, in the form in which it was sent, was found 
to be unsuitable for use either as a source of the 
oil, which had suffered change, or as a feeding stuff. 
Since the meal was found to contain over 1 per cent, 
of phosphoric acid it might be used as a dressing for 
grass land, in a similar manner to rape meal, for 
which il. lOs. per ton is paid in this country. The 
sample of meal sent for examination contained, in 
a decomposed state, the whole of the oil originally 
present in the seeds, and as the valuations indicate 
that the probable value of the seeds as a source of 
oil would be at least from 10?. to 12?. per ton, their 
utilisation for the preparation of meal similar to the 
sample could not be recommended. The cake left 
after expression of the oil might be utilised formanurial 
purposes, and it was, of course, with this object in 
view that the amount of phosphoric acid in the meal 
was determined, but here again it may be found that 
Para seed cake will be suitable for use as a cattle 
food, in which caae it will probably be too valuable to 
be used as a manure. 
" Tropical Life"— is to be the title of a new high- 
class illustrated monthly magazine, the first number 
of which is to be shortly published. The magazine 
will contain social news and illustrated articles on 
tropical fauna and flora, sports and customs, industries, 
market reports and prospects, etc. Well-known 
writers will be among the contributors, such as Mrs, 
Flora Annie Steele, Rudyard Kipling, Sir H. H. 
Johnstone. R. Hedger Wallace, Dr. Nicholla, c.m.g., and 
Hugh Clifford, etc. The magazine will be published 
at 6d. per copy, and Mr. Harold Hamel Smith is the 
organiser. 
