Aug. 1, 1901.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
117 
best vegetable oils used for that purpose. I 
used it ill the tea factory for some time, 
and gave samples to my neighbours, who 
spoke well of it. Tea seed oil has been used 
for centuries by the Chinese and Japanese 
for lighting, cooking and varnishing pur- 
poses. Our estate coolies use it for lighting 
and cooking, and also for anointing their 
bodies. The boiled oil gives a good stain and 
polish to wood work of all kinds, and would 
make a very fair varnish ; and the poonac 
after tlie oil has been extracted from it 
would most probably make an excellent fer- 
tilizer for tea. 
The raw oil is specially well suited for pur- 
poses of soap manufacture, and would in this 
respect undoubtedly rival coconut-oil, if it 
could be produced at the same cost. But 
here is the run!— and I came to the conclu- 
sion, after going carefully into the question 
of production, etc., that, excepting perhaps 
upon land already abandoned {i.e. unweeded 
and uncultivated), it would not be harvested 
with profit. And even then the seed would 
inevitably deteriorate in quantity and quality 
as the bushes become gradually enveloped 
in new jungle grow;h. In South India the 
conditions may perhaps be different. 
I published an account of my experiments 
in " Planting Opinion " for (1 think) June or 
July 1896. hut at present I am away from my 
notes. On my return to the estate, I will 
furnish Mr. Deane with a copy of Mr. Coch- 
ran's report.— Yours faithfully, 
OLIVER COITLETT. 
TEA-GROWING IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 
To the Editor, The Tropical Agriculturist. 
Ottice of Special Agent, Tea Cultiare, U.S. 
Dept. Agriculture, "Pinehurst," Summerville, 
S.C.. June 6th, 1901. 
Sir,— I note in the May No. of your ever- 
instructive and welcome journal your ap- 
parent surprise that the article written by 
Mrs. Ellis for the " Review of Reviews " 
did not allude "to the part played by an 
old ('eylon planter— Mr. Henry Cottam" in 
the local experimentation. Aside from the 
fact that the work was that of another, it 
is but justice to Mr. Cottam and myself to 
state that his visit to Pinehurst was most 
agreeable, inspiriting, and advantageous to 
me ; although the first cold winter caused 
me to abandon, as unsuitable to this climate, 
the Ceylonese methods of cultivation of 
which, very naturally, Mr. Cottam was the 
enthusiastic exponent. And I might add 
that experience has demonstrated that it is 
better to conform to the taste of the buyer 
than to attempt to convert him. - Yours 
very truly, CHARLES U. SHEPARD, 
MR. A. COOKE'S SCHEME FOR A 
TEA RESERVE 
Watawala, July 8. 
Dear Sib.— Referring to Mr. A Cooke's 
scheme — I see no reason why it should not 
be quite workable, with good agents in 
Calcutta and Colombo ; provided that it re- 
ceives sufficient support in India and Ceylon, 
Of course, there would be a tug of war, fou 
some months after its inauguration, be- 
tween the buyers and the Syndicate ; and 
the side that holds on longest wins.— Yours 
faithfully, D. K. 
SOURCES OF TIMBER SUPPLY^ ON THE 
NILGIRIS. 
Sir, — A Forest Conservator in 1878 declared that, 
if forest consei vancy on tlie Nilgiris was efficiently 
carried out and an adequate number of exotic' 
trees, AuNtraliaii gums and aca ias, planted, thou- 
sands of tons of tiinher would be available ^innually 
to seiiil down the trhaut for locomotive puipo^es, 
sleepeis, building, etc. ; adding that eucalyptus 
qlohulus, thonijli inferior to te k lor the inferior 
Htiiug of li mstfs, is known to l)e a valuable build- 
ing material and used in Australia for beams, 
joists, rafters, and in outdoor work for piers, 
bridges, fences, rails, railway sleepers and shafts 
and spokes, and other purposes. Twenty-five years 
have elapsed since this was said, and the sanguine 
expectations of this enthusiastic forest official 
retnain unrealised, for no hill-grown timber finds 
its way down the ghaut and the Nilgiri Railway 
burns coal and refuses to depend for its sleepers 
on a local supply. 
It was not so long ago either, that an indent for 
timber from Oilicut could not be supplied from 
the Mudumallay foiest for the reason that none 
was available. 
Mudumallay, referred to, is a forest lying co the 
north-west of the Nilgiris on the Mysore frontier, 
extending from Tibbakailu northwaids beyond the 
Madumallay Hill, until it joins the Wainad teak 
hill. It is approxuiiately 300 square miles in ex- 
tent, of which 200 square miles have been leased 
by Government from the Tirurnalaped of Nilaui- 
bur, for 99 years, at a rental of rupees 3,500, 
beginning with the year 1862. Before that date a 
five years' lease existed of the same forest, from 
which the supply of teak for the construction of 
the Wellington barracks was drawn. This forest 
contains much teak and other timber, but is so re- 
mote that such timber really has little marketable 
value, except for theNilj^iri p atean and for Mysore, 
and communication with the former is by a ghaut 
of stiff gradient ; and with the latter the road is 
some 80 miles in length. 
The teak planted at Mudumallay by the Forest 
Department in 1868-69, is not promising — being 
too far away from the influence of the South-West 
Monsoon ; in fact, expeiience has shown that teak 
planting in mountainous countries does not promise 
so well as when planted in rich valleys, though 
the mountain timber is regarded as superior to the 
produce of richer and moister soils. 
There is another teak forest on the confines of 
the Nilgiri District, though strictly speaking no 
part of it, named Beniie. It is 80 square miles in 
extent, and the property of Government, very 
similar to Mudumallay in conteuts, but more ex- 
posed to the South- West Monsoon, for which 
reason its growth of teak is judged to be finer. 
Barring the above, there are really no indige- 
nous timber forests on the Nilgiris. Officially 
planted Australian gums and acacias amount t;o 
something like 1 000 acres in extent — but they 
have no appreciable effect on the house building 
of the plateau, where the ijum is found to be too 
stringy and wanting in durability — though I have 
beard the District Board Epgineer eay that ^ 
