60 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
[July 1, 1901. 
virtually inexhaustible in Madagascar, the supply being 
limited only by the scarcity of labour. For export the 
fibre is merely coUeoted in large skeins , twisted up or 
plaited, and then baled like raw cotton, Madagascar 
exports about 20, UOO bales annually.— /ourjiui of the 
Bocietij of Arts. 
THE MANUFACTURE OF COCONUT 
BUTTER IN GERMANY. 
The manufacture of cononut butter is an industry 
of some importance in the City of Mannheim. The 
Mannheim factory is said to be the only one of any 
considerable size ia Germany ; it has an output of 
about 10 tous of butter a day. The product is sold 
under the name of " Palmin " — a registered trade name 
— or coconut butter (" Kokosuuss butter"). It is 
manufactured from the kernels of coconuts, and is 
used as a substitute for butter and lard in cooking. 
Consul Harris of Mannheim says that, as sold, ic is 
generally white in colour, almost tasteless, melts at 
about 80° Fahr., and is of about the consistency of 
mutton or btef tallow. When desired by retail custom- 
ers who are bakers, confectioners, &c., the product 
is coloured to resemble ordinary butter: 'When 
furnished to dealers it is unlawful to colour it. The 
proprietors of the factory at Mannheim, referred to 
above, claim that an analysis of their product shows 
it to contain more than 90 per cent, of vegetable fat, 
with but a slight trace of water, while ordinary butter 
contains about 85 per cent, of fat and nearly 15 per 
cent, of water. It is stated that the substance does 
not become rancid easily, that it will keep for three 
or four months in a cool room, and that it is much 
more wholesome and easily digested than the ordinary 
fats used for baking and cooking. For this reason 
the product has met with considerable favour in 
German hospitals and other institutions, and for use 
in army camps. Coconut butter is generally put up 
in square packages, wrapped in parchment paper, a 
small percentage being sold in tin cans. The latter 
are hermetically sealed for shipment during hot 
weather. The product is sold at one price through- 
out Germany, namely, about eight-pence per pound, 
or about half the price of ordinary butter, The kernel 
of the coconut is imported in thoroughly dried strips, 
forming the " copra " of commerce. It is subjected to 
various refining processes, by which all the free acids 
and other substances are separated, leaving only the 
vegetable fat. In the latter stages of the manufac- 
ture the product resembles ordinary butter recently 
churned. It is placed in machines, similar to the 
separatois used in creameries, in which the water 
and other foreign substances are separated by 
centrifugal force. In the manufacture of coconut 
butter a by-product, consisting of free acids and 
other substances, is obtained, and sold to soap manu- 
facturers.— /oitr/ia^ of the Snciettj of Arts, May 24. 
RUBBER NOTES. 
Experiments in the cultivation of the ficus elas- 
tica at Katha, in Upper Burmah, have not been 
very successful, only eighty- two out of 370 seedlings 
planted survived at the end of the past year. It is 
stated that the Rubber Trade in the Lagos district 
has almost reached a position of complete standstill. 
This anxiety is well founded, and tkere are soma 
substantial reasons for believing that other causes 
than the failure of the rubber trees are operating, 
to obstruct and kill the trade — India Euhher Journal, 
May 13. 
♦ 
SEYCHELLES NOTES. 
Vanilla. — Our next year's vanilla crop promises to 
te a vory good one. The rains in November, how- 
evei'i prevyuied it br;inf{ {he b^mpor crop it then 
appeared to promise. The owners of the mountain- 
vanilla estates were the hea\iest losers, owing to the 
rain. It came down steadily just a day or two be- 
fore the grent flowering days, the result being that 
thousands of flowers were not fecundated. The area 
under vanilla in tJhe Colony is steadily increasing. 
There are a good many diseased viaes about all 
over the islands, bat now, owing to each vine being 
kept distinctly separate from its neighbour, the fell 
vanilla-disease cannot cause the ruin of our planta- 
tions as it did in 1889 and following years. 
Soap.— The exports of soap from the Seychelles 
per the British India steamers to Zanzibar and the 
East Coast of Africa continue to expand. Conse- 
quently caustic soda is being imported here in in- 
creasing quantities. The bulk of it comes from New- 
castle-ou-Tyne. One of the chief causes of the 
flourishing state of our soap industry is the low 
price at which coconut oil has been selling. This 
oil is only v/orth now about J'60r per velt (li gal.), 
instead of over 2r a year or two ago. 
Guano.— The exports of so-called " guano " from the 
Admirantes Islands (a dependency of Sychelles) are 
also increasing. Shiploads have been sent recently 
from Remire Island to Durban and Mauritius. As 
I think I already told you, this stuff is only rich in 
phosphates, but it is an excellent material t> use 
as a basis with which to mis other kinds of fer- 
tilisers.— A Seychelles Cor. to the Chemist and Druoaist 
or May 11. 
THE TRADE ON TEA: 
{To the Editor, Grocers' Journal.) 
Sib,— -In your capital leading article on " The Trade 
in Tea," in last week's Grocers' Journal, you say that 
tea is still, as it always has been, the chief glory of a 
grocer's business. This is certainly what it ought t» 
be, but I must confess that it is diflicalt to see whert 
the glory comes in. Selling a strong, dark, bitter, 
dyspeptic Assam, with a little tasteless unfreshing 
Ceylon thrown mto the blend, and perhaps some un- 
commonly common China (not to improve the flaTcnr 
but to make a little more profit), in possibly a very 
handsomely decoiated canister, at an impossible price, 
does not, in my opinion, add largely to the glory of 
the tea trade. Neither is it likely to assist the public 
to value or enjoy the infusion. It is true there is 
" nothing like tea " when you get fine China tea 
properly made, and I have proved over and over again 
that ninety-five people out of a hundred appreciate 
such tea, which refreshes them more than cocoa or 
chocolate, and is palatable without milk and sugar. 
This is more than can be said of common Indian 
tea, which is not only injurious to health and tem- 
perance, but is decidedly nasty. I agree with yoa 
chat China tea has long been under a cloud. This 
has been brought about through the trade, as a body, 
shirking the trouble of selecting China tea when 
they got strong liquoring Assams at low prices. 
Th ese latter produced a dark-coloured liquor, and 
were puffed as more econnmical than China at the 
same price ; and it was asserted that three-quarters 
of a pound made as much liquor as a pound of China 
at the same price. Old-fashioned people who knew 
anything about tea were not gulled by this specious 
argument, and did not give up drinking pure China 
tea ; but gradually it became more and more trouble- 
some to get a pound of tea anywhere that was not 
heavily dosed with Assam, which ultimately swamped 
all the old flavour of China tea out of the blend, and 
then the trade (all but a few old houses) bought and 
sold nothing but a mixture of Indian and Ceylon, te 
save trouble and secure a profit. At the present time 
it is almost impossible to find a grocer who has a 
pound of really fine China tea in stock, and equally 
impossible to find a customer who has any knowledgs 
of the quality be gets for his money. Whisky and 
tobacco have not improved the public palate, or th« 
teaa now supplied by the bnlk of the trade woultj 
