October i, iSgi.l THE TROPICAL AQRIOULTO RJST 
The Egg-Plant. — A.s some of the neglect of thi 
eg^'-plaut is doubtless clue to tbe fact tiiat cooks are 
not tamiliar vii^h ity the fo'l wiug r cipes for cooliing 
the fruits are recommeiided by he experimeutera at 
Oornell a.^ reliable-: (1) Cat iu slic='S crosswse, not 
(iver a half inch thick, and parboil in salt water about 
fifti-en minutes; then remove, snd fry in a tiot .spWer 
in butter and lard. (3) Cut in n slic s a quarter or a 
half inch thick aud lay in strong briuo for two hours; 
theui wash vi-ry tUorousrh-y ; st^riai Id with brown sugar, 
pepper aad salt, lif d fry slowly ;oa dark brown, (3j 
Cut; iri t.wo lengthwise, remove the seeds and pulp) 
and fill with dressing mado of ba'f a teacupful of bread 
cru nbs, one tea otiful f butter, and sa t and p .^pptr 
to tas e; l;iy the ha ves side to side in a diipping pan 
adt a little watu; and bakj neaily aii hour. (4; Pare, 
cut in thin slic-.-s crosswise, s ak in sale w iter fo - 
eight or teu hours,- dry onatO'Vel, d p in br'aten egg, 
and r 11 in bread ofumbs, then fry plowly iu hot b itter 
uiuil the pie-'-s Lo30rae a r;ch browu; serve lio^. 
American Givcet: 
Cinchona in Java. — From the report of the 
director of the Gro /erament uiaoiioaa eaierpnse in 
Java for ths aeooad quarter of 1891 wa laarn that 
from the middle of April to the end of May 
drought was exparisncjd. Jaae was wjt, but OL.ly 
oocagioiially heavy showers fell. Ta~> weather wag 
not favorablo for tha youn? plaots put out in 
March and Aprs!, but tlie older p'aats made ex- 
ceptional growth in response to the alternate heat 
and wet. The upkeep of the plaotations during the 
west monsoon was confiiied to kaaping cleaa the 
youug gardens, with tbe view of assisting the 
small plants in their straggle with the growth of 
weeds. On the setting in of the dry wether the 
thorough working of the surface of the soil by 
means of hois wa^ commauoed. Working of the 
ground was speeiiiiy carried out in young plaa- 
tations, with a view to protect them from tha drying 
of tho soil in the expeated severe east monsoon. 
The continuance of working of the ground during 
the rainy eeison h=is had the good result of 
diminishing con-iderably tha root disease, which 
now prevails only at Nagrak. It may be ad- 
mitted that the root disease has its origin 
chiefly if not entirely iu tho excessive mois- 
ture and incomplete aeratiin of the soil. By 
the maiutenanoe of a dense growth over tho ground 
the supsriluous moisture of the soil is evaporated 
through the laaves of tho cultivated plants and the 
weeds, aud thus also the chief factor of the origin 
of tha root dis;-ase is removed. Tho aim is to 
cause the evaporation of the soil moisture by the 
cultivated plants alone, by means of close plaiitiag. 
At Nagtak, in order to hasten the drying of the 
soil and thus combat the root disease successfully, 
the working of ihe ground was not carried cut 
again in the eeoond quarter. During the first 
half year of 1891 some 200,000 half kilograms of 
bark were gathered, consisting both manu- 
facturer's barks of moderately high quinine con- 
tents and of pharmaceutical barkj in the desired 
quill foun. In coiisequenoa of the great fall in 
tho price of cinchona bark in tha European 
market, whereby the bark of C succirubra, sinco 
it cannot be harvested in quill form, can no 
longer bo brought into the market with any profit, 
or only little, a ootisiJerablo change his taken 
place lately in tha h-arvost ng of this vari.^ty of 
cinchona. Crowded plants, whion should of neces- 
sity bo removed in order to give mora light and 
room to the overshadowing trees, are no 
longer- dug out, but cut oli near the groutid, 
whilot no moro bark is gathered from the stem -, 
f-xoept what can bo cut in qmll form. If in tho 
future no^root bark aud also little or no stem 
bark oi C. mu-i rubra is packed iu bales aud des. 
patched, this will have a great influence ou the 
quaotity of bark gathered, but the average value 
of the crop will thereby be considerably increased. 
By the end of June 123,307 half kilograms of bark 
of this year's crop were despa'ohed to Taojong 
Priok. On 2ad April, 1-lth May and llth June 
bales of bark of the 1890 crop ware held in 
Amsterdam. The unit price for manutaoturer's 
bark amounted at these sales to 6f and 6^ cents 
per half kilogram. As a consequence of the mild 
east moosoou in 1890 the blossoming of ledgerianas 
was small, and the crop of seed of this variety o£ 
cinchona therefore promises to be small. In tha 
latter months of this year it will be possible to 
hold sales of small lota of ledgeriana seed. Tho 
total number of plants in the Government gardens 
at the end of June was 3,791,600, viz. :— In the 
nurseries -490,000 ledgeriana {iacluding 20,000 
grafts), 413,000 succirubra: total 933,030. In the 
opsn— 2,l'j9,000 ledgeriana (including 270,000 grafts 
and cuttings and exclusive of the mora or less 3.000 
original ledgerianas), 2,200 calisaya and haskarliana, 
633.00.) sue ;irubra aad oaloptera, 52,900 oiBcianlis, 
1,500 califolia: total 2,858,600. 
Cocoa is an article which oa?ht to be g 
[Hawaii] aud exported. The cocoa of oo rown here 
higli-priced and always in demmd. There * 
co3oa trees growing on these islands, but n° attempt 
has ever been made to prepare the artiol^ "^^d in 
commerce. On page 249 a correspondence gives a 
detailed description of the best mode of cultivation 
aad of curing the berries. It seems to us that a 
small farm of ten to twenty acres, located oti the 
liaa of tho Oahu railroad, where artesian water for 
irrigation Cin be supplied, would ba just the locality. 
Bananas help to pay current oipensea till the coooa 
orchard comes into bearing; aud perhsips even after 
i^. The. Euujeot treated of by our correspondent ia 
well worth the attention of those having the means 
an 1 the opportunity to engage in this pursuit, in a 
desirsble locality, which, if well located, must- always 
be a safe real estate iuvestmeut,— PianJa-j-' Monthly, 
OuE North Tkavancoee correspondent writes to us, 
under date 2.3rd instant : — " While reports are com- 
ing in from other planting districts about the scarcity 
of labour, and the friction which ia the natural out- 
come, we find ourselves here with labour to spare. 
In May I had to send away a gang of 30 coolies 
who c .me and offered ]thems»lves, — tliey went on to 
the next Estate and were not wanted there either. 
At the end of this month I shall send away about 
50, much against their own will ! I know of more 
than one Estate . here which does not give any 
advances whatever, and the labour supply for the 
last live years at any rate has been ample. My 
own coolies return to me year after year without an 
anna in the way of advance. They are recruited 
partly in Trichinopoly and partly in Tanjore. This 
shows what combination even in a small district 
with only 2,000 -acres under cultivation can do. The 
Travancore Planters' Association has divided the 
estates which subscribe to it into three sections. 
North, Central, and Southern, and the facilities 
for procuring labour differing slightly, rates of pay 
for each district have been separately settled, and 
every planter has bound himselt to make no further 
change unless allowed to do so by the Association. 
At the last General Meeting of the Association, 
the correspondence with the South Mysore Associa- 
tion on the subject of combination was read, and 
our Secretary was asked to try and arrange an 
early meeting of delegates 'from every Association 
in Southern India. So far we have not heard 
what has been done, but as far as we are concerned, 
we intend to keep hammering away at the subject 
until a United Planters' Association is formed for 
the whole of Southern India. As a step iu the 
right direction, our local Association has become 
affiliated to the ' Travancore Planters' Association.' 
Last week when I wrote, the monsoon seemed to 
have gone for good, but yesterday it commenced 
raining aud looks like continuing."— l/ar-^z-as limes. 
