March i, 1892. J 
fHf Tt^OPiCAL AGRICULTURIST. 
69 f 
OoFFEE IN Burma. — At the annual meeting of the 
ARri-Hortioiiltural Society on Saturday, writes the 
Rangnon Tim-s of the 1st inst., Dr. Stephens oora- 
pared a sample of coffee from Mr. Petley'a estate in 
the Karren Hills with some coffee grown in the 
Society's gardens. The latter was so small that Dr. 
Stephens considered it was not advisable to propa- 
gate it, but advised the sooioty to purchase Arabian 
coffee seed from Mr. Petley and Liberian coffee 
seed from Mr. Watson of Tavoy and to distribute 
plants at cost price and to encourage ooffae growing 
as much as possible. Dr. Stephens considered that 
some of the Liberian ooi^ee trees in the Society's 
garden which are 2.'5 feet high should bo sawn down, 
and a euoker allowed to grow up to 5 feet and ihen 
topped, as they will then give mors crop, and it will 
be easy to gather. Oeylon was made by its planters, 
and the Straits Government is encouraging the 
planting enterprise as much as possible, but nothing 
is being done by our locul Government to attr ict 
planters, or to induce the natives to cultivate coffee, 
&o,—Pinnnc/ Gazette, Feb. 10th. 
The Tba\'ancoiie Government and Jaffna 
Tobacco. — We have in previous issues referred to 
the action of the Travancore Government in 
reducing the duty on Coimbatore tobacco, while 
maintaining the duty on Jaffna tobacco, the con- 
sequence of which has been the entire demoralie 
zaiion of the .T.il'fna tobacco tr^de, and the 
threatened ruin of thousands of cultivators. The 
Travancore Government, it seems, acted in any- 
thing but a straightforward manner, denying again 
and again that they had any intention of reducing 
the duty on Coimbatore tobacco, and then suddenly 
doing so. The influential memorial of 17th Dec. 
last from the leading residents in Jaffna 
4w the Maharaja has brought no reply ; and 
the memorialists therefore now intend addressing 
H. E. the Governor ou the subject. It is almost 
a matter of life and death for Jaffna, Travancore 
being practically the only market outside of Ceylon 
for Jfift'nii tobacco ; and we have no doubt that 
Sir Arthur Havelock will do all that he can to get 
justice done to the tobacco cultivators and traders 
of the north. 
OiNNAJioN FOR Influenza ?—2'/(e Produce Markets' 
Pu'view of Jan. 10th has the following :— 
Cirjnanion has long been known ss a delicate spie 
of which the exquisite flavour an I stimulating proper- 
ties are in-ulficimtly appreciated here, thouijh they are 
far more valued on the continent. It has now, however, 
a fresh claim on the public attention, for M. Chambel- 
laud, of M. Paateur's laboratorv for the study of germs, 
basdisr;nvered that essence of cinnamon ia the most 
powerful germicide as yet kno vn, b^ing even stronger 
for this purpose than corrosive ^nhliInate. The fol- 
lowing from the Paris corre.sp()ndeut of T/<e Daily 
jVeirs gives the particnlars as yet published "There 
would pretty certainly be a cinnamon boom if the 
oxpennaent made with thut spice by Mr. ChanibelUnd 
111 M. I'xNteur's laboratory were {.■ecorally keo^vn. Our 
ancestors, it .ippears, hit npon the beit preservative 
tri'iu the infoclious microbe when they u*ed to drink 
mailed wines and other beverages in which strong 
<l>n >< of cinnamnu were infused. Mr. (Jliambelland 
miw says tbntao living diseaso-gerra can resist for more 
than H tow hours the antiseplic power of essence of 
cmnanion. lie looks upon it as not les'^ effjctive in 
destrouiig microbes than ;c»rrosive snl)lini>.to. Kven 
Its .s.'ont kdlH them, urul it ,1o.-s no br^rra to hnman 
beiDgi. A decoction of cinnamon is often ko )d to drink 
in loolitioH wh.rc t\phoi,l fever or cholera is rife." 
To combat the approaclioa of indurtnzv by adding 
ground cinnamon to pud JinRS and t..rt9 would oortainly 
be a pleasant w^v of !a!iing luilis^ptic pr.ciinions 
ag'unst th.' prevalent opidomio. Stick cinnamon bnr.-.t 
in the ,vek-r>.o.u ba. Ion- h,', n known as au agreeabUi 
(leoiloi- uo, but 111 11,0 li^bt of the above it may very 
prooably bo that it was origiually its roal antiseptic use 
which suggested the idea. Essence of cinnamon ia 
various forms is, of course, familiar to ns all. when 
added to conceal the taste of physic; but the essence 
itself, as a medicinal germicide, would be an agreeable 
cure. On the continent, cinnamon is much more useij 
in cookery than with us, and it is also supplied ready- 
mixed with sugar for sprinkling over cooked fruits 
pastry, &o. 
British Vegetables. — Most of our vegetables are 
of foreign parentage. Many, like the sprout, onion, 
and bean, still bear the name of the places from 
which they were imported. Few can put it to their 
credit that they were born Englishmen and none can 
trace their descent through an unbroken line of 
British sap to the Norman conquest. Vegetables 
ranked much higher with the Greeks and Romans. 
Sparta's standing dish was the black broth, a vegetable 
soup, and a parsley crown was the prize of the winnera 
in the Isthmian games. Many great Roman families 
took their names from the commonest vegetables ; the 
Pabii from a bean, the Lentuli from a lentil, Scipia 
from an onion, and Cicero from a pea. Some people 
fancy that the Roman Church christened Lent from 
the lentil. The Egyptians made a god of the onion, 
and the comic Romans of the period sneered at the 
race which grew their divinities in their back gardens. — 
— Inverness Courier. 
CKYLON EXPORTS AND DISTRIBUTION, 1892. 
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