96 
THP TROPICAL AGRICULTU R!ST. [August i, 1891. 
THE DUTCH MARKET. 
Amsterdam, May 30th. 
All the imslyses of the oinohona-bark sales, which 
will take place iu Amsterdam on June 11th, 1891, 
have been published now. The manufacturiog bark 
contains about 10 tons enlphate of quinine, or S 87 per 
cent on the average, divided as follows : — About IJ 
tons contain 01 per cent ; 18, 12 ; 53, 2 3 ; 70, 3 4 ; 
38, 4-5, • 32i, 5-6; 19, 67; 6. 7-8; 2i, 8 9 per cent 
sulphate of quinine. — Chemist and Dntggiat, 
TA8UARli.N Fbuit in Londoi*. — Con»i(ler»ble interest 
was shown in Covent Garden Market, on Friday in 
last week, upon the arrival of the first of the real 
T»Bmnnian Applei, the fruit recently received from 
the Antipodes being from Australia proper and New 
Zealand. Apples ooniigned to Mr. Duthoit, a city 
merchant, had the distinction of being the first to 
be sold, the fruit realising from 10s. to 25?. per 
bushel case, and being in splendid condition.— <7a)-d(;H«r«' 
Chronitle- 
Thb Logobt Plaoub continues unabated in the 
Punjab. Government indeed appears to have taken 
Bome measures to prevent its spread, but they 
are evidently altogether inadequate ; and as a 
natural result much sioknees is prevalent, the water 
contaminated by dead locusts having brought in a 
fever. — Madras limes, June 4th. 
Counting Oocondts in the Hervby Islands. — The 
Report of the Australian and Polynesian Eaoes 
Bibliography Committee of the Australasian Asao- 
oiatioD for the Advancement of Science contains 
a memoir on the people of Mangaia (Hervey Islands) 
by the Bev. W, Wyatt Gill. It embodies impor- 
tant original evidence as to the practices associated 
with birth and childhood, maturity, oiroumcision, 
and marriage, the tribal, social, and domestic 
ouatoms, the doings of wizards, the superstitions 
relating to death and the spirit world, and the 
mythology of the people. A list of numerals is 
appended, from which it would seem that they are 
able to count comparatively high numbers, though 
the word "anere" for hundred is adopted from 
th® English. Coconuts from time immemorial tied 
up in fours, five of which make one " takau," and 
names are given for multiples by ten up to four 
stages beyond, so that they are capable of counting 
a " tiui," or 200,000 coconuts. Mr. Gill also gives 
a brief analysis of the grammatic»l structure of the 
language. — Athenmum, May 30th. 
CorrBE IN Southern India. — If a correspond- 
ent of the Madras Times is to be believed, our 
staple is not nearly in such a declining way in 
Southern India aa the official figures we published 
the other day would indicate. The criticism on 
these is as follows: — 
If these figures wore eorreot, it would mea,u that 
nearly 60,000 acres of coffee had gone out or been 
abandoned in four years, viz., 11,000 in Mysore, 9,500 
iu Cocrg, and 38,000 in this Presidency. Taking Ooorg 
for instance, during the la»t five years, more laud has 
been opened than abandoned, and 9,500 acr«g probably 
represent very nearly the total acreage of abandoned 
cofteein the province. A* for the Madras Presidency, 
the settlement of Wynaad no d oubt caused the official 
returns of land under cofifee to be set down at a good 
deal lower figure than previously, but according to 
the latest returns there are stated to be 76,000 acres 
under cultivation, and I should very much doubt if all 
the coffee land abandoned, in Mysore during the past 
ten years comes to anything like 11,000 acres. 
Mysore and Ooorg are exceptional districts ; but 
surely the process which has brought oofiee land 
down from 250,000 to 50,000 acres in Caylon, has 
had its parallel to a great extent in the Wynaad 
diatrictg. In Travaooore, we know it has been so. 
Future rr Coffee. — Thb Diario Popular (Brazil); 
of the 30th ultimo is informed by a pers'm who 
has recently visited soma of the coffee distriots of 
S. Paulo, that the next coSeo crop in that State 
will reach 3,500,000 bags, and that within five 
years the annual production of coflee in the State 
will amount to 8,000,000 ha,gs.— American Grocer. 
Scent FABiHi*tt promises to be a v«ry profitable 
industry in Victoria, according to the uewly-is5u«d 
report of the Royal Commisaion on vegetable producti. 
The climate and soil of the colany are declared to 
be particularly well suitod for the cultivation of por- 
fume-yiel'ling plants. Already scent farm* are spring- 
ing up, and the day may not b« far distant when 
atar of Roses or the like may come to m from " Britain 
of the Southern Cross." — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Sun-dried Ceylon Tea and Over-firing. — 
Messrs. Euoker & Bencraft in their latest Tea 
Circular (May 28tb) offer remarks worthy of the 
general attention of planters, thus, — 
The in price has, a.s we auticipatefl, led to brisk 
buying on the part of the trade, and we consider that 
lost ground was recovered at auction, perhspa to the 
extent of Jd per lb., on the lower grades. The present 
range of prices, coasidering the reduction of duty, the. 
increased consumption, and vhe absence of competition, 
from Indinn Tea.<!, is not sucb, we think, as to dPler 
tree buying. — The very heavy flushing in April led, we 
are told, to hasty preparation for shipment, and doubtless 
had sometbing to do with the lower quality apparent 
iu chii month's assortment ; but we look for improve- 
ment, and already the Teas coming to hand are better. 
— We have seen today a sample of fine Ceylon Tea 
sun-dried only. This tea has been slightly fecmenked, 
but the sun has apparently had enough power to dry 
the leif, to fire" it in faot sufficiently to arrest fer- 
rentation, and the tea is in perfect condition. We 
submit this goes far to support our contention that as 
a rule Ceylon teas are fired too much or too long, more 
at any rate tbau is necessary for their keeping qualities. 
Cackling and Crowing. — The Pioneer deals 
with Mr. Eomanes after an amusing fashion, and 
we quote as follows : — 
The world has hitherto taken the crowing of chan- 
ticleer and the cackling of the common or barn-door 
fowl upon trust. It had never occurred to anj' one to 
suppose a time when peradventure the cook did not 
crow. Why the hen cackled, or whereunto the cjck 
erew, wsre questions that were never answered bacause 
they were never asked. In these latter days, how- 
ever, if there is anything which shall not be revealed 
it will certainly not be for want of the asking ; and it 
has occurred to the inquring mind of Mr. George 
Romanes, the well-known biologist, to inquire whether 
the crowing of chanticleer may not have been evolved 
by contact with the refinements of the barn-yard, 
much as some ladies will find their voice only when 
there is present a sufficiently distinguishsd oompary, 
Mr. S. E. Peal writes from Sibsagar, Assam, to say 
that in the extreme east of Assam, on the Upper 
Diking River, he has often heard the wild jungle cock 
{G. ferrugina) Mowing. He admits at the same time 
that the voice of the wild fowl is " thinner, more wiry 
and high pitched ;" and he adds the interesting obser- 
vaiioD, " Eggs found iu the jungles are often hatched 
under domestic fovpls, and hence these are frequently 
crossed, and the crow of the cock varies much in con- 
sequence." Thus, while there was probably never a 
cook that had not a crow in him, a judicious crossing 
of the fowl of the jungle and the fowl of the barn-^ 
yard might result in an infinite variety of crow ; so 
that Professor Romanes has still a great field for ex- 
periment and investigation. 
We have yet to learn what Mr. Romanes has to say 
to the information sent to him from Ceylon which 
goes to show that when the domestioated fowl com- 
mences to lay away from home in the jungle, she, 
like her wild sister, ceases to cackle. Mr. Romanes 
had better pay a visit to the island to investigate 
the matter thoroughly. 
