June 1, 1904.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
845 
T.A. of that year.] After exhaustive ana- 
lyses, &c., he concludes with regard to the 
oil and the cake :— 
On the whole, therefore, while I think there 
would be a market for the oil if it could be obtained 
in quantity and fairly clieaply, it must, for the 
present, be a local one, and the material could 
hardly compete with oils already in general com- 
n:erce; unless it be for the production of superior 
soaps. As a lamp oil it has distinct advantages 
which recommend it for local consumption. The 
press cake is useless for feeding, and forms an 
inferior manure, though one quite good enough to 
apply to the laud and also to cart for some distance, 
provided the cost on the garden does not exceed 
8 to 12 annas per maund. It \yould probably be 
useful as an insecticide— both as cake against 
certain caterpillars, and as decoction jvhich might 
replace that of a wild fern now used in Dibrugarh 
against Ked Spider. 
MORE INFORMATION WANTED. 
At present therefore the matter seems at 
a standstill for want of knowledge of cost of 
production of tea seed oil in quantity. As it is 
not only superior to coconut oil, but has been 
— according to Mr. Coryton Roberts— ranked 
at home above, the best olive oil " it seems to 
us that; there is a distinct need for imme- 
diate further experiment— especially in view 
of the possible relief the new industry 
might afford to non-paying tea fields. As 
the matter is to come up at the next meet- 
ing of the Planters Association Committee 
we trust that careful consideration will be 
given to the whole matter and a favourable 
answer returned to the request for a few 
hundredweight of seed for experiment by the 
firm now reported to be offering its services. 
CEYLON RAMIE RIBBONS' 
It is not generally known that a number of 
landowners have been growing ramie on a small 
scale and the plant thrives and the preparation of 
ribbons is a comparatively simple process. There 
is naturally a desire to find a market for the stuff. 
Enquiries have been made from Mr C Drieberg of 
the Stock Gardens as to the market and value 
of local ramie ribbons. In response to his request 
that a local firm should come to the rescue of 
small ramie-growers he has received a reply from 
a well-known mercantile house asking for large 
samples to be submitted for quotations in Loudon. 
TOLL ON MAKUKE IN COCHIN. 
The Dewan of Cochip lately introduced a 
system of toll on the Nelliampathy Ghaut Koads. 
Each pack bullock, taking manure to the coffee 
estates, has to pay a toll of 6 pies, and 3 pies 
on its return from the Hills. The introduction 
of this toll has raised the price of bone manure 
by 2 per cent. The planters contend that such 
tolls are objectionable, as they are incom- 
patible with the otherwise generous attitude of 
the Sircar towards the planting community. 
» 
BUFFALOES IN ZANZIBAR. 
We congratulate Dr. Andrade on the introduc- 
tion into these islands of a new factor in agri- 
culture : the Indian tame bufl ilo. Three yoke of 
these splendid animah have lately arrived from 
Goa and are now being used for weeding in Dr. 
Andrade'a shamba at Sheriff Moosa, It is a real 
ileasure to watch them at work, pu lling a small 
plough which turns up, the .sod to about a foot 
depth and getiing over uneven ground and dodging 
round trees without any apparent effort, followed 
by Goanese farm hands whose uncouth shouts and 
guttural exclamatioLs they seem to thoroughly 
understand. Three Goanese farm labourers have 
also arrived, in charge of these buffalo, and as they 
are skilled and energetic, Dr Andrade calculates 
that with the aid of their "animals they will do as 
much work as 40 or 50 ordinary Swahili labourers, 
turning up the ground and weeding it. Having 
shown what they can do at Sheriff Moosa, they 
will now be sent to Dr Andrade's plantation at 
Koani, where they will be set to work in real 
earnest. This is a very interesting innovation and 
Arab planters who are always complaining that 
they cannot get labour woir'ld do well to turn 
their attention to this new departure,— Zanzibar 
Gazette. 
SlFi HAREY JOHNSTON ON COTTON-QEOWING 
IN WEST AFEICA. 
{Before the Society of Arts,) 
Sir Harry H. Johnston, g.c.M.g., k.C b., said 
he could add a little information respecting 
the districts of Africa which the reader 
[Mr. Alfred Emmott, M. P.] of the paper 
[on Cotton-Growing within the Empire] 
singled out as being possibly suited to the culti- 
vation of cotton. With other gentlemen he had 
recently been instrumental in sending out to the 
little negro republic of Liberia an eminent botanist, 
Mr. Alexander Whyte, to examine into the 
interesting flora of Liberia; and amongst other 
discoveries that gentleman thought he had lighted 
upon was the important one of cotton, showing 
a long staple. It might or might not be a 
development of the wild Gossypinm anomalum, 
which seemed to be the only truly wild species 
of the cotton tribe in the continent indigenous 
to Africa, or it might be like the coffee of Liberia, 
a new species peculiar to that remarkable little 
region, which had so much that was .strange and 
confined to itself in its fauna and flora. The 
specimens had not yet arrived, but they were now 
on their way to Kew, and he hoped they might) 
reveal a fresh ground on which cotton of valuable 
quality could be cultivated with great success close 
to the sea. In reviewing the various parts of 
Africa to which their energies should be devoted 
in the. matter of cotton cultivation, he thought 
they should endeavour to be practical, and to 
select in preference the coast regions first if they 
were suited in climate, soil, and labouring popu- 
lation for the cultivation of cotton. Undoubtedly 
Northern Nigeria might be a magnificent field for 
cotton cultivation. Much of the soil was what 
would be called in India cotton soil, but as it 
was far away from the Niger and Benue it meant 
that the means of transport were absolutely de- 
ficient. Even the Niger and the Benue near the 
cotton-growing regions were obstructed by rapids, 
and were navigable only during a very short period 
of the year. He wished to say how thoroughly 
he agreed with the author in enunciating'" the 
principle that so far as po.ssible they should'grow 
cotton in Africa in partnersliip with the African, 
and should not attempt, unless it was absolutely 
necessary, to import foreign labourers if the 
business could be done by the African himself 
under slight tuition at the hands of the European' 
