784 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [May 2, 1904. 
about the same extent as Cornish pitchblende, Sir 
William Ciookes was good enough to give me a 
part of his specimen, which is being analysed. The 
second mineral examined was found by Mr Holland 
in the same gem washings at Balangoda, and was 
identified as probably uionazite. This mineral 
was pale brown, and when fractured exhibited a 
purple brown interior with a resinous lustre. The 
specific gravity was 4-98. An analysis by Mr 
Blake furnished the following results : 
Per cent. 
Xhorinm oxide 
ThOS 
66-26 
Cerium oxide (and Cerium earths) Ge02 
7-18 
Zirconiam oxide 
ZrOS 
223 
Uraniam oxide 
U03 
■ 0-46 
Ferric oxide 
1-71 
Galoinm oxide 
OaO 
0-35 
Phosphoric oxide 
V205 
1-20 
Silica 
Si08 
14'10 
Water 
E20 
6-40 
99-89 
This mineral is therefore thori'.e, consisting 
chiefly of thorium silicate. Both these minerals 
are under further investigation at the Imperial 
Institute, Careful explorations are now being 
made as to the extent of their occurrence in Ceylon, 
It is obvious that apart from the scientific in^ 
terest attaching to the determination of their 
compositon, the discovery in Ceylon of two 
minerals rich in thoria, now so largly employed for 
the manufacture of incandescent gas mantles, may 
be of considerable commercial importance. 
Wyndham Dusstan. 
Imperial Institute. 
^ 
AETIFICIAL SILK. 
Currency has been given in the newspapers to a 
wonderful report said to be circulating in Galveston, 
Texas, to the effect that one of the many ' mpcha- 
nical geniuses there has invented a mechanical 
silkworm,' which ' will perform all the work 
Dt a silkworm at small cost.' This wonderful 
machine, it is said, ' macerates mulberry leaves, 
such as the silkworm lives on, and with the aid of 
a chemical similar to the juices secreted by the 
worm, digests the leaves. The machine then spins 
the silk, a viscous substance resulting.' It is claimed 
that by this machine silk can be produced as 
cheaply as cotton. It also is reported that a Stock- 
holm engineer has succeeded in producing an 
artifical silk out of acetate of cellulose, free froin 
the deficiencies which have marred the results of 
previous experiments. This new silk is as strong 
as natural silk, does not lose anything of its 
strength in water, is easily coloured, soluble only 
in a few substances, as cliloroform, phenol, and 
nitro-benzole, and shows a marvellous power of 
resistance against; electricity, surpassing even 
vulcanised gum in this respect. The new artificial 
silk will, it is believed, be of enormous importance, 
especially for the northern countries, where at 
present all experiments to produce artificial silk 
have been abandoned. 
♦ 
300 ELEPHANTS IN BURMA IN ONE 
SEASON. 
The Kheddah Department has had a very suC' 
cessful season in Upper Burma and has captured 
about .SOO elephants. Although the season only 
opened in February, two of the captures are now 
dragging timber lu the Katha District, and a native, 
who has started buying and selling, has made about 
75 per cent over his first transaction. At the sale 
held on the 15th instant, Mr McGuffie, of Messrs 
MacGregor and Company, purchased some 50 of 
the new captures and both he and the Department 
are mutually pleased at the prices given. It is, 
apparently, the intention of the Superintendent to 
try and break the present prohibitive market 
prices, and he is likely to succeed, for about 130 
animals have already been sold at the Katha 
Camp. 
THE CAMPHOR INDUSTRY OF JAPAN. 
AN EXPERT IN COLOMBO. 
Mr. T Masuzawa, of the Monopoly Bureau under 
the Japanese Government, was lately in Ceylon 
on his way to Europe. He intends studying the 
question of camphor consumption. Mr. Masuzawa, 
whose mission is to make an official report to his 
Government, arrived here from Bombay, where he 
made an inquiry into the consumption of camphor, 
which expensive product is chiefly exported from 
Japan and Formosa. He is of opinion that camphor 
trees would grow well in Ceylon as the climate ia 
well suited for the cultivation of that plant, and 
with a view of studying tlie subject he visited 
Peradeniya Gardens and inspected the experimental 
trees there. 
THE AUSTRALIAN TEA MARKET. 
Since the opening of the current season the Sydney 
tea market has tsken on distinctly improved condi- 
tions. British teamen would scarcely credit the fact 
that very heavy stocks, not only of China, bat also of 
Indian and Ceylon tea, have been held by conserva- 
tive importers and speculators for years, says a 
correspondent of the " Grocer." Indeed, there are 
large quantities of tea stored in Sydney which were 
brought in previous to the present tarifi under which 
no duty is paid, bat at the time — fonr years ago — Id 
per lb was being collected. As might be expected, 
much of this tea has become perfectly useless, and 
although repeated e^orts have been made to plaoe it 
on the market, on nearly every occasion it has fallen 
back in the hands of importers. Now however, with a 
general uplifting in the world's markets for British- 
grown, something akin to a resurrection has taken 
place in this market, and catalogues representing 
about 2.000 packages per week are being placed under 
the hammer'. Sellers adopt the time-honoured custom 
of designating every line " new season's" ; indeed, 
they give the name of the ship, but they do not say 
when she arrived, as the same vessels have been 
coming here for years, Hbone on the inside of the 
market, of course, know a great deal about the con-^ 
dition of stocks and their intrinsic value, but the 
great majority of vendors do not, and as their ideal 
commodity is invariably the cheapest, it is convenient 
to have a market well supplied with " stuS for price' 
when values are in the ascendant. 

PARA RUBBER AT 3.500 FEET. 
THRIVING WILL. 
We hear of a branch of a Para rubber tree, 
in blossom, being sent by a Watagoda planter 
to the Peradeniya Gardens, with an enquiry as 
to what the tree was. The intimation that it 
was Para rubber came as a great surprise to the 
applicant ; for the tree was thriving well at an 
elevation of 3,500 feet — the highest instance of 
the kind of which we have' yet heard in Ceylon. 
We hope to have further particulars shortly, 
