Nov 1, 3901.] 
THE TKOPIOAL AGRICULTURIST. 
339 
THE MAZAWATTB COMPANY: CHOCO- 
LATE AND COCOA. 
NEW " ALL BRinSH" ENTERPKiSE. 
(Globe, Sept. 27.) 
One may fairly describe chocolate as the queen 
of sweetmeats. Thanks to the foreigner, who 
often supplies us with what we could well pro- 
vide for ourselves, eating chocolate has long 
usurped whatever position drinking chocolate may 
have held in the past, and where the cocoa bean 
is used in liquid form it is as cocoa pure and 
sample that we know it. After all, the difference 
between chocolate and 20coa is largely one of 
degree— the degree of butter, in fact, which is 
extracted or is allowed to remain. A cocoa bean 
contains something like 50 per cent of butcer ; 
for cocoa essence this is nearly all extracted, 
but in making chocolate of the best quality tlie 
rich veo-etable oil is not to any considerable 
I extent "interfered with, whereas in chocolate 
of the lower grades (and it is to be feared 
a good many people know none other), for 
the natural butter, which is a very marketable 
commodity, there is substituted inferior animal 
fats while arrowroot, sago, and all kinds 
of colouring matter find a home in the cheaper 
chocolates that have but slight acquaintance with 
the cocoa bean, and that only with the husk du- 
carded by the high-class manufacturer. 
Holland, France, Switzerland, and Germany 
have so far, almost monopolised the trade in the 
best chocolate and the finest cocoa essence m this 
country, and it is interestins to learn that an at- 
Iterapt is to be made by the iMazawattee Company 
Ito capture some of this trade from the hand of 
'the foreigner. Of course, competition being what 
it the public is not prone to extend any parti- 
Llar favour to an article simply because it is 
'British-made. This fact is often deplored, but 
Ithe answer (and one which the Mazawattee 
Company would surely make) is that the 
buver seeks the best article for his money, 
whether it bears a Dutch name or a 
French title. It is such a couimo lity that the 
vast undertaking so long identified with packet 
seas promises to place on the market, and, having 
regard to assured reputation, no less than to the 
>laborate preparations, extending over five years, 
br entrance upon the new enterprise, and to the 
iinique facilities for distribution possessed by the 
irni promise may almost be taken as performance. 
Something not far short of half-a-million sterling 
las been sank in the enterprise, which is not only 
ilready giving work to about 3,000 hands at INew 
3ross, but is further stimulating trade with our 
jolonies. , 
Some of the finest of the cocoa beans come from 
Devlon while a large quantity is imported from 
Trinidad; and in the making of the chocolate 
n all its' varied form— but of one quality— at 
jSfew Cross, including the most popular inilk 
Uocolate, in regard to which again the foreigner 
Inust nov(f look to his own, cocoa from our British 
Colonies is alone being used by M;:zawatte. 
kt New Cross this new and self-contained enter- 
brise with which the puldic will make more 
'utimate acquaintance in a few days, is now in 
nil swinw. Everything is done there— from 
vashin^^ tlie cocoa bean to turning out the 
ho"olate with that bloom and smoothness of 
urface known to the connoisseur and producing 
he best of cocoa essence, and from cutting the tin 
0 finishing the boxes in which the chocolates 
are so daintily placed. Cardboard is said to 
contaminate, and is therefore to be rigidly ex- 
cluded. The works cover an immense acreage, 
divided almost equally between the tea trade and 
the new industry, which has its centre atNew Cross. 
It is a bold venture and a big one, which, as a 
purely British enterprise, may be wished that 
success which is already assured. 
DISEASES OP CHILDREN AND 
THEIR TREATMENT : 
BY J. L. VANDERSTRAATEN, M. D.* 
This very valuable work, which has been 
out of print for some time, has now 
passed through a fourth edition. It used to 
be the book to which every English-read- 
ing mother in Ceylon, turned in time 
of sickness, and in which she seldom 
sought in va in for guidance. Dr. Vander- 
straaten had had so many years' experience 
in Ceylon that he knew just how co direct 
and advise. The first Edition appeared in 
1873 and now the work has been completely 
revised ; the chapters on the management of 
children in Health and in Illness have been 
re-written and several additions have been 
made to the Table of Ailments, while another 
chapter on Directions for Infant Feeding 
is given. The book itself is divided into 
two parts : — Part I contains a concise ac- 
count of each disease so that the symptoms 
may be re;idily recognized before the treat- 
ment is attempted. I'he List of Medicines 
in general use and the Table of Prescrip- 
tions, contain the doses suited to children, 
from under one year to ten years of age. 
In addition to the results of the Doctor's 
own experiisnce, much of the valuable in- 
formation in this part is obtained from the 
works of Drs. Goodeve, Hooper, Kesteven 
Kees, Tanner and West. A section on Acci- 
dents and Poisons is also added. Part II. 
is composed mostly of extracts on the Hy- 
gienic and the General Management of the 
Young, the most valuable extracts being 
from Goodeve's Hints for Management of 
Children in India. The Address to Nurses, 
by Dr. West should be studied carefully by 
mothers. 
The work is one that every mother ought 
to keep close at hand. It tells when a doctor 
ought to be called in, and gives such clear 
directions what to do when symptoms are 
first observed that no time is lost before the 
Medical man can appear. Especially on teaand 
other estates should this little volume be 
valued. Goodeve's work is a larger and more 
expensive one and, for fevers especially, is 
fuller, but, in a general way, this book 
will be found the more handy. The pres- 
criptions are such as any one can under- 
■tand and copy for the chemist and 
then the Alphabetical List of Medicines, 
giving their Operation, Diseases in which 
gives doses according to age, and remarks, 
is one to be often consulted. 
Equally valuable is the chapter one the 
Preparation of Invalid's Pood, that on Nurs- 
ing and what not to do, and one on cholera, 
precautions against it and the treatment of it 
Published by A. M. & J. Ferguson, Colombo. Price 
R2 60 by V. P. P. Post. 
