THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. 1, 1901. 
Calcutta, 
The continuation of tlie 
ciation's statement r^ads :- 
"The balance of tea to be 
Assam 
Cachar 
Sylhet 
D,u-jeeling 
Terai 
Dooars 
Chota Nagpore 
Chittagong ... 
KangraValley 
Dehra Dun ... 
Total 
[Total manufactured 
Aug. 29, 4-8 p.m. 
Indian Tea As.so- 
made is :— 
.. 40,775.333 lb. 
.. 14 292.421 lb. 
.. 19.839 723 lb. 
.. 3 178.390 1b. 
,. 1,60.5 040 lb. 
... 18,524 428 lb. 
73 000 lb. 
551,837 lb. 
870,000 lb. 
670,000 lb. 
...100,380,170 lb. 
... 72,160,525 lb. 
Totalfor 1901 season ...172,546, 695 Ib. ]-^ 
To this there must be added :— 
Kiimacn .. ••• 300,000 lb. 
Outside Gardens ... 11,500,000 1b. 
[Grand total ...184,346,695 lb ] 
The shipments to America and the Colonies 
and other ports are estimated at 2o,000,000 lb. 
and, to meet local and trans-frontier demand 
9,000,000 lb. v/hich leaves 150,000,000 lb. for 
Great Britain." • i *. 
[We give the totals we have arrived at, 
but our correspondent telegraphs 172,496,6951b. 
as the total, for 1901 season,* showmg a 
difference of .50,000 lb. unaccounted tor.— UiD. 
T.A.] 
" VBGETALINE ": A PRODUCT FROM 
REFINING THE COCONUT. 
Anxious housewives will be glnd to know tliat 
"Vagetaline," made by aMarseilles firm l.y lefiuing 
the oil extracted from the copra (dried coconut), 
and now placed on the English market, is not, 
as was feared, an imitation butter, or even a 
substitute for butter in its don.e.-tic uses. Ac- 
cordincr to Messrs. McAulay Brothers, the maker s 
agents " vec-etaline " is almost entirely a manu- 
fcfctuier's article, although it can be used in the 
kitchen for making pastry, and will be ^"PPlied 
in retail if there is any demand for it. Hut Uie 
value of the process by which " vegetahne is 
made -will, it is claimed, be in providing bakers 
and biscuit manufacturers with a substitute for 
butter which is not only pure and cheap, but winch, 
for biscuits in particular, is better than butter. 
"Vegetaline" only resembles butter in its fatty 
natuPe ; it is white, and much harder than the 
dairy product.-Dai^y Express, August 15. 
UNIQUE USE FOK THE PLANTAIN. 
Amongst the multifarious purposes to wbich the 
intopensable plantam is put. surel/ the most nm- 
que iB to make'^ it yield a subsUtute for salt m cook- 
?ne l MrBGBasu, in a buUelm recently issued by 
he AKBam Agricultural Department, asserts that 
llk..mie water, made from the plantain, is used to an 
a mazi .1' extent bv the natives of the Province m this 
^ay ThelheathB of the fruit and the thick corri 
Tre dried and reduced to ashes, which are kept tdl 
required for n.e. To extract the alkali the ash >n 
not which has a few holes in the bot om lightly 
pW«ed with straw. Water is added and the filtrate 
™hich runs off is caught in another pot, and is ready 
p use When the sheath* alone are used the process 
is even simpler. The ashes are placed in a cup of 
water and in a few minutes the solution is prepared 
The practice seems to have grown up in Ass . m when 
common salt was scarce and could only bn drawn 
from Bhutan andtheN..fra Hill-. That it should be 
persisted in now, when fiue Liverpool salt can be pur- 
chased in every counUy shop and the custom of 
bartetinp paddy for salt prevails in the country at 
the foot of the Bhutan Hills, is a remarkable instance 
of the tenacity with which the native clings to hia 
ancient customs. — Times of India, Aug. 29. 
THE MOSQUITO THEORY. 
RIDDEN TO DEATH : ANOTHER PHASE : 
THE LAGOS VIEW. 
Theie seems to be an iinpre."-sion in Lagos that 
the great new mosquito theory is being lidden to 
death. The Lagos Standard characterises it as 
" a crnze which threatens to cause as much 
annoyance and inconvenience as the ravages of the 
much-maligned insect it.self." The latest develop- 
ment is that, owing to water in the houses being 
likely to breed mosquitoes, the Sanitary Inspectors 
have been commissioned to eziter into private 
dwellings and overturn and destroy ulensil.s used 
for storing water. The wisdom of this eilict is, 
in the opinion of our coutem|)orary, more than 
questionable. " How our Sanitary liisj/cctors, 
who have had no particular training in ihat 
respect, can tell thelaivaeof the mosquito is noc 
very clear. Besides, it is very hard lines that the 
Go\ eminent will not provide tlie town with puie 
drinking water, and after people have been to the 
trouble of getting good water from Apapa and 
other distant places, they should lose not only the 
water, but their utentils as well. When the 
authorities have filled up the many swamps that 
abound in the island town of L^igos, and looked 
after the drains, so that theie will not be so many 
stagnant pools and muddy puddles in the most 
prominent streets after every heavy downpour of 
rain, it will be time enough to interfere with the 
domestic arrangements of peaceable householders." 
The Lagos Weekly Record takes the same tone, 
saying that the new regulation implies a very 
serious interference vvith the domestic concerns of 
individuals and will doubtless lead to much 
vexation and trouble. The mosquito will breed 
everywhere and anywhere, and putting people 
under privation in this way is not likely to retard 
or prevent the process of breeding, as experience 
hsLS shown. — Central African Titnes, July 27. 
ZANZIBAR NOTES. 
(From the Zanzibar Gazette, Aug. 14.) 
PEABL DISCOVERIES. 
Captain Oldfield has found a shell which, 
besides containing two very large pearls, is 
covered all over its inside with knotty pe^.rly 
excrescences. Unfortunately the pearls, which 
are of a very good colour, are not regular in 
shape and are not therefore of much value, 
but this find shows that our pearl-oysters are 
really good ones and that the reputation 
enjoyed by Zanzibar and Pemba as pearl- 
producing Islands is quite justified. 
EUCALYPTUS AND MOSQUITOES. 
Sir, — In a recent issue a suggestion was made 
recommending the use of eucalyptus oil as a pre- 
ventive against the bite of the niosciuito. ^n 
