Sept. 2, 1901.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUEIST. 
189 
the duration of the different stages I noted 
the following data : — 
Egg stage .. 6 days 
Until to the first moult ... 2 ,, 
,, second ,, ... 1-2 ,, 
„ third ... 2 
,, fourth ., ... 2 ,, 
fifth „ ... 2-3 „ 
Total 1.5-17 days. 
Not longer than two days after the insects 
were full-grown, they entered into copulation; 
and one day after copulation the females 
commenced egg-laying. Each female is able 
to lay about 30 eggs. In captivity I could 
conserve alive the adult insects during 4-6 
days, — Yours very truly, 
L. ZBHNTNER. 
Salatiga, (Java), 7th July, (Cacao Experi- 
ment Station.) 
[Mr. Green, to whom we showed the manu- 
script, thinks this a very interesting letter. 
He would like to know if the Helopeltis is 
found on tea in Java ; and, if so, the experi- 
ment would be an interesting one to try if 
the tea insect thrived on cacao and vice versa. 
—Ed. T.A.] 
THE DEMAND FOR PLUMBAGO IN 
THE UNITED STATES. 
Jersey City, N. J. (U.S.A.) June 19. 
Gentlemen,— You will remember the writer 
as Vice President of the Dixon Crucible 
Company. We receive every week your 
Ceylon Observer paper and you have our 
order for your "Ceylon year book," the 
particular book that is to have a detailed 
account of all the plumbago pits. 
The question was raised some time ago in 
one of your numbers, in the correspondence, 
of Mr, Peto, which was followed by an 
editorial from you, as to the demand, for 
plumbago ceasing in the Onited States, or 
if not ceasing, of its being very much less. 
The enclosed editorials, one called "Tricks 
in Crucible Steel Trade " and the other called 
" Crucible Steel's Hard Struggle " in the 
' American Manufacturer andiron World,' one 
of the leading trade papers in the United 
States, bears on this question and will speak 
for itself. The condition of affairs as described 
in these editorials is somewhat overdrawn ; 
nevertheless, there is a good deal of truth 
in them. You need not return these articles 
as we have duplicates here, and we submit 
them to you as more or less evidence on a 
topic that is vital to the plumbago industry 
of Ceylon.— Yours respectfully, 
JOHN A. WALKER, V.P. 
[The articles are from the " American Manu- 
facturer and Irpn World " and we make a few 
extracts : — 
A correspondent calls attention to one of the 
tricks in the crucible steel trade, that of substitu- 
ting open-hearth steel for the product made in the 
crucible. . . . For many years the " American 
Manufacturer " with many other good publications 
have been calling attention to the advancement in 
the science of steel-makiug. Columns upon columns 
of reading matter has been offered on the subject ot 
the substituting of open-hearth for crucible steel. 
Those who have been paying fancy prices for cruci- 
ble steel, if there are any such, are probably those 
who will not subscribe for a technical or trade 
paper, believing they know all that is possible for 
them to know about their business. ... It can 
scarcely be possible that many consumers of cruci- 
ble steel have been buying open-hearth steel and 
paying the same price they paid for crucible steel. 
Eight hereit might be well to add that the purchase 
of steel by brand such as has been uhe practice for 
centuries is not in keeping with modern methods. 
Many manufacturers are uaying two prices for 
material which can be had for far less money and 
will answer the same purpose. . . . Tlie strong 
invasion of the field that was formerly held exclu- 
sively by crucible steel by high carbon open-hearth 
is even more serious to the crucible trade than the 
mere fact that competition may be so easily intro- 
duced in the crucible field itself The makers of 
crucible steel employed open-hearth furnaces and 
much of that product went into the crucible market 
as genuine crucible steel. The character of high 
carbon open-hearth steel so closely approaches that 
of crucible that, except for special uses mentioned, 
the making of the very hardest tools, that consu- 
mers accepted the substitute without question. It 
might be strong to assert that the Crucible Steel 
Company will be compelled to make a fight for ex- 
istence, but in the light of the development of the 
manufacture of open-hearth steel and the decline of 
crucible, except for those special uses referred to, 
probably the statement is not too strong. When 
the consumers of crucible steel become aware of 
how much open-hearth steel ihey are buying as 
crucible, there cannot but be severe changes in the 
crucible steel trade. The higher cost of making 
crucible as again.st open-hearth, will be another 
important feature of the competition. Not the 
least, however, will be the fact that the latest 
crucible, company will have new and modern plants 
with which to compete with the older and less eco- 
nomical plants of the crucible combination. The 
field for open-hearth steel is bound to expand 
rapidly and with tlie extension of its active terri- 
tory will come the decline in crucible as was the 
case with the cruder and cheaper Bessemer pro- 
duct." [All this would seem to point to a lessened 
demand for plumbago for crucibles, ere Ions ? 
—Ed. T.A.] ^ 
THE CARNAHUBA PALM OF BRAZIL. 
Hatton, July 27. 
Dear Sir,- I enclose a cutting from an old 
' ' Review of Reviews " on a rather wonderful sort ot 
palm that grows in Brazil. Have you ever heard 
of it? Perhaps the tree woidd grow iu Ceylon.— 
Yours faithfully, jj, 
A MHIACULOUS PALM TEEE 
which grows like a weed in Brazil, but the like of 
which is unkuowu iu any other part of the world. 
It IS the carnahuba palm. {Copermna ceriferi), 
which grows uncultivated in the States of Parahiba, 
Ceara, Rio Grande do N >rte, Piauhi, and some of the 
neighbouring States. The descriptions given of it 
to me seem incredible. Perhaps in no other region 
is a tree to be found that can be employed for such 
varied and useful purposes. It resists intense and 
protracted droughts, and is always green and vigorous. 
Its roots produce the same medicinal effects as 
sarasaparilla. Its stem affords strong, light fibres 
which acquire a beautiful lustre, and serves also for 
joists, rafters, and other building materials, as well 
