394 
^HE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Dec. 2, 1901. 
INDIAN COOLIES IN MADAGASCAR. 
[(London "Times" Cor respondent.) 
Paris, Oct. 15. — According to a letter from 
Madagascar, the Hindu coolies who recently 
went CO Antananarivo are rendering good 
service to their employers, and a fresh convoy 
of 1,700 is expected. The Chinese, however, 
who are being set to road-making, seem to 
be less sluggish and better fitted for heavy 
labour. Two-thirds of the trade on the west 
side of the island are in the hands of Ger- 
mans and Hindus. They are more conver- 
sant than French merchants with the native 
language, and give longer credit. Some Lyons 
firms are endeavouring to compete with them. 
— London Times, Oct. 16. 
INOCULATING PLANTS AGAINST 
DISEASE. 
Do you know that ib is possible to reader tlie 
plants in your garden or greenliouse disease proof 
by inoculation ? Tliis tlie latest preventive scien- 
tilic discovery, and it offers tlie world a novel 
reans of fighting the numerous maladies vvliicli 
mttack the garden, the orchard, and the ripening 
fauvt crops. 
Briefly the system is this : hypodermic injec- 
tins of certain germ cultures are given to the 
plants, which, being mildly sickened for a while, 
presently recover and are thereafter proof against 
infection — veritable vegetable immunes, in fact. 
Moreover, it is necessary to administer the 
treatment to every plane in a field, for tliat would 
be far too costly and elaborate a process. 
The object of the new system is to establisii 
varieties tliatare immune, and these may be counted 
upon to transmit to tlieir descendants the disease- 
proof qualities acquired by them through inocula- 
tion. 
Thus all the gardener or tiller of the soil lias to 
do is to cultivate the immune strains of vegetables, 
cereals, and fruit. Recent experiments have 
proved that plants may be made more vigorous by 
viratering them with oxygenated water ; and 
rendered more resistant to disease by inoculating 
them with apple acid or grape acid. 
Of course, there are certain germs which, far 
from being injurious to plants, are highly bene- 
ficial to them. Each kind of podbearing plant has 
its own species of bacteria, upon which it depends 
for a supply of nitrogen from the air. 
Tlius the modern pjardener or farmer may in- 
oculate his land with the microbes required or 
growing various plants iu the event of the des d 
microbes being scarce on a given piece of land^ 
Nowadays the successful tiller of the soil niuj 
be somewhat of an intelligent scientist. — Da 
Express, Oct. 16. 
Progress in Manilla and the Philip- 
pines. — We direct attention to an inter- 
esting letter on page 3S3 from Mr. W. 
H. Steele Morrison— " the boy traveller" — 
in which he gives us a good deal of useful 
information about the Philippines and their 
capital, Manilla, and what the American 
officials .and merchants are doing and hope 
to do with their latest Dependency. We 
have no doul)t that there is a great future 
before these splendid islands under American 
iius pices, 
THE CEYLON FERTILIZERS ORDINANCE, 
1901, 
The regulations under section 9 of this f)rdin- 
ance, made by t!ie Governor with the advice of 
the Executive Council, are published in yesterday's 
"Gazette" for general information. They refer 
to the following:— Definition of terms. Appoint- 
ment of Agent, Proceedinns by buyer to procure 
sanrples. Regulations as to samples taken by 
buyers, Regulations as to samples taken by analyst 
or authorised rejiresentative. General regulations 
for taking samples, General directions, and Regula- 
tions as to samples sealed by seller and buyer. 
The regulations are to take effect on the first 
day of January next and to remain in force until 
altered or revoked. 
We quote the following : — 
Phoceedings ny Buyer to Peocuee Samples.— When 
the buyer of not less than a hundredweight of a fer- 
tili ser desires to have the same analysed in pursuance 
of the 6th section of the above Ordinance, he is, within 
ten days after delivery of the article to him or receipt 
of the invoice, whichever is later, either to give notice 
to the seller that he intends to take samples of the 
article himself, or to give notice in writing to the 
Analyst or authorised representative, stating that he 
desires that the sample shall be taken by the Analyst 
or authorised representative, as the case may be, 
Regulations as to Samples taken by Buyer. — When 
the buyer intends to take the samples himself, he is 
to give at least three days' notice in writing of such 
intention to the seller, with particulars as to the place 
day, and hour of sampling, if the seller does not 
attend, the samples are to be taken in the presence of 
a witness, who is to initial each sample. The buyer 
is forthwith to deliver or send by nost to the Analyst 
one of such samples, with the invoice or a copy thereof. 
One of the remaining samples is to be delivered or 
sent by post to the seller and the other is to be re- 
tained by the buyer. 
General Regulations for Taking Samples. 
When the fertilizer is delivered in bags or other 
packages, a number of bags or packages are to be 
selected as follows, viz : — 
Not less than 2 bags or packages where 
the quantity does not exceed 1 ton 
" ^ 51 J) 2 tons 
^ " •. 3 tons 
and one additional bag or package for every addi- 
tional ton or part of a ton ; provided that in no 
case need more than ten bags or packages be 
selected. 
COMPRESSED TEA AND THE POPULARITY 
OF TEA DUST. 
An up-country correspondent writes : — " The 
growing favour accorded to tea dust in the London 
market is, we understand, due to the appreciation 
the tea tablets (for which Mr. William Gow has 
acquired a patent) are acquiring among hotel- 
keepers, coffee room people and others who use 
large quantities of the articles. Concentrated foods 
are now so much in vogue that these cakes, as 
likewise the bigger 'bricks,' bid fair in the 'near 
future to supplant loose leaf to a very great ex- 
tent. The several advantages of using them are 
self-evident, not the least being that while the neces- 
sary compression will ensure, in retention of strength 
and aroma ; double, and more, of the auantity°of 
material that can be got into the usual 'space, the 
tinfoil wrapping will also hermetically seal the 
packet. While on this subject, I may as well note 
that Japan bricks are being largely imported in 
Vladivostock for consumption in Siberia, and as the 
population of that great internal colony is rapidly 
increasing— we should enter the field. Our Ambas 
eadyr at Tokohama aad the Consulg at other centre 
