Jan. 1, \902.1 THE TROPICAL AGEIC¥LTURIST. 
413 
THE ACCIDENT TO DR. CALMETTE, 
SNAKE-POISON AND MALARIA. 
Mr. J Claine, the French Consul in Ran- 
goon, writes as follows to the Rangoon 
Gazette : — 
Mr. Editoe,— I have the honour to forward here- 
with the translated copy of a letter just received 
from Dr. Calmette, Director of the Pasteur In- 
stitute at Lille (France), and inventor of the 
serum anti-venomous against the bite of snakes. 
Although this letter is private, the directions and 
advice therein contained having a general interest, 
1 cannot resist to communicate it to yon, sure that 
its publicity in your estimable newspaper, will prove 
an humanitarian boon. 
The following is Dr. Calmette's letter : — 
Dear Mr. Claine, — I wish to thank you immedi- 
ately for the kind sympathy extended to me by 
your letter of the 28th October, with reference to 
the little accident of which I have been very nearly 
victim. 1 have had the bone-joint of the fourth 
finger traversed by the tooth of an enormous 
" Cothrop." Without the serum I certainly would 
have been in the other world- Bat the tooth of the 
animal being dirty caused a deep phlegmon of the 
one, and it was found necessary to take out a piece 
of it which was mortified. Now there is nothing 
the matter and I have resumed my work. 1 have 
just reoeivfld from an Bnalish Doctor from Bombay 
a great quantity of dry venom of cobra. I am do- 
lighted! There are some good apostles — of whom 
you are one — who will very soon lessen the mortal- 
ity by snake bites, for which the peoples of ludia 
shall bless us. I learn with regret thai; you have had 
to pay your tribute to malaria, Preserve yourself 
from mosquitoes which transmit it. Destroy their 
larvse in stagnant pools of water in your neighbour- 
hood. It is very easy ; pour some petroleum over 
these pools every eight days, and do not sleep with- 
out a mosquito net. If necessary place some nailed 
round a frame to the windows of all the rooms where 
you are at night between sunset and sunrise. The 
mosquitoes that transmit malaria (anopheles) do not 
sting during the dny, but solely after sunset. This 
notion is for your benefit. — Believe me, etc., 
Lille, Nov, 9. Dr. Calmette. 
—M. Mail, Dec. 24. 
NEW RUBBER. 
A new source of supply for rubber has been 
found out by M Deiss, a I'rencli scientist ab 
Saigon. The forests inland in that quarter abound 
with lianas — creeping and twinina; plants wiiieh 
grow to a large size. These lianas yield rubber 
out of the juice from cuttings in thf; bark (the 
usual mode of gathering) but not in p lying quan- 
tities. The facD that ihe bark, apart from the 
juice, holds rubber, had long been' known ; but 
nothing had been done to turn this knowledge to 
profitable account. M Diess was struck by this, 
and sought for means to get at the stores of rub- 
ber in the bark. It is said that he has met with 
success. The bark is treated chemically, and under- 
goes sundry processes including tieatment by 
currents of hot and cold water alternately. The 
result is said to be the extraction of rubber of tlie 
best quality, which soon thickens and iiardens. 
It took repeated experiments to show the right 
way to go to work. The ou* cmie is that a syn- 
dicate of capitalists in France has undertaken to 
start, in Cochin China and Tonquin, works for 
turnins' out rubber from bark, on the new sys 
tern. — Malay Mail. 
THE CALEDONIAN (CEYLON) TEA 
ESTATES, LIMITED. 
REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS 
to be submitted at the Fourth Annual Ordinary 
general meeting of shareholders to be held at the 
offices of the Company, on Thursday, 28 November, 
1901, at 12 o'clock noon : — 
The Directors beg to submit the balance sheet and 
Profit and Loss Account for the year ended 30 Jnna 
1901, duly audited. 
The working account, after providing for London 
charges, shows a profit of *£4,191 13a. lOd., and the 
Profit and Loss Account, including the balance brought 
forward from the previous year, and after payment 
of interest on Debentures, &c., leaves an available 
balance of £2,019, lis. 6d. 
From this sum the Directors now recommend the 
payment of a dividend of 6 per cent, on the prefer- 
ence shares for the year to 30 June last, amounting 
to £1,920 ; leaving to be carried forward to the next 
year the balance of £99 lis. 6d.=£2,019 lis 6d. 
The Directors regret that they are again unable to 
declare any dividend on the ordinary shares. 
The yield of tea from the Company's estates for 
the past and two previous seasons was as follows 
1900-01. 1899-1900. 18t8.99 
lbs. lbs. )bi, 
Lawrence and Venture... 399,087 402,535 378 501 
Selegama ... 167,378 111,415 94',278 
W»Tin«, ... 94,979 40,763 16,908 
661,444 554,713 489,687 
The gro8« arerage prices obt^ned in London 
were ; — 
1900-01, 1899-1900. 1898-99. 
Lawrence .. 6 84d. .. 7-40d. 8-27d 
Venture .. 713,, .. 7-59,, .. 828' 
Selegama .. 5-79 „ 6-52,, .. 7-03 
Wavina .. 5 64,, .. 6-39 „ (Sold in Ceylon) 
70 cwt. of cocoa were secured from the Kahawatte 
and Wavina estates, and sold in Ceylon. 
The above figures show that the tntal qnantity of 
tea produced was 106,731 lbs. more than the previous 
season's crop, and 41,444 lbs. over the estimates. 
Owing, however, to the low prices prevailing during 
the greater portion of the year, in consequence of 
the coniinued excessive supply, the profit shows bat 
a small increase, although the cost of production was 
considerably reduced. 
The statistical position of tea generally has lately 
much improved, and it ia estimated that the supplies 
from all sources for the current season will be much 
below last year's yield. Prices have consequently 
shown a marked improvement during the last few 
weeks, and the outlook for Ceylon tea is at the 
present time more promising than it has been foe 
some years past. 
The estimates for the current season are given 
by the Manager in Ceylon as follows :— 
Lawrence and Venture ... 4CO,000 lbs Tea 
Selegama 175,000 „ ' 
Wavina 100,000 ,. „' 
675,000 „ „ 
and about 82 cwt. cocoa. 
The Directors have to recrrd with much regret tha 
death, in March last, of Mr. Stanley Ross, who had 
acted as general Manager in Ceylon since the for- 
mation of the Company. They had in consequence 
to make other arrangements for the administration 
of the Company's business, which have so far proved 
quite satisfactory. 
In accordance with the articles of Association, Mr. 
David William Rennie retires from tha Board, and 
being eligible, offers himself for re-election. ' 
The Auditors, Messrs. Singleton, Fabin & Oo., alio 
offer themselvea for re-election, 
