104 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[August i, 1890. 
thought of both in London and on the Continent ; 
and the £1 shares were now quoted at £12 pre- 
mium. There was also every prospect of an even 
better dividend next year. — Mr. S. Bernard secon- 
ded the motion, which was unanimously agreed 
to, and the usual formal business transacted. 
LOWCOUNTRY PLANTING : NEGOMBO. 
WE ATHEB— CINNAMON — COCONUTS. 
Kadibana, July 1st. — We are badly in need of 
rain here. May was a dry month and June was 
worse ; the former had 3'64 inches and the latter 
1-61 inch of rain ; so that for the south-west 
monsoon this year we have had only 5'25 inches. 
Even in the earlier months of the year there a 
smaller rainfall than usual. For the previous 4 
years the average fall for the fir-'t six months of 
the year has been 44-60 inches, against 23-09 this 
year. Colombo, I see, for the same time has had 
over 33 inches, while the record on one estate in 
Veyangoda is a little over 60 inches. These three 
stations, all in lowcountry, and within about 18 
miles of each other, show how unequal is the rain- 
fall distribution. All estates are busy preparing 
cinnamon, but unless we have rain soon the peeling 
is likely to become difSoult. Coconut crops all over 
the district are, I believe, better than they were 
last year, while prices continue to keep up. Can 
you say why coconut poonac has been so high in 
price for about twelve months past ? 
- 
The Fobests of Europe. — The forests of Europe 
according to a recent report of one of the State 
foresters of Prussia, cover the following areas ; — 
Germany, 34,596,000 acres; Russia, 494,228,600 
acres; Austria-Hungary, 46,951,700 acres; Sweden, 
42,000,000 acres; France, 22,240,000 acres; Spain, 
19,769,000 acres ; Italy, 9,884,570 acres ; and Eng- 
land, 2,471,000 acres. — Public Ovinion. 
The Penang Sugab Estates Co., have recently got 
out a lot of machinery of the newest type for the 
manufacture of sugar. They have also fitted up 
their sugar factory at Caledonia with electric light, 
which was used for the first time on Saturday night 
and proved a great success. There are eighteen 
arc lamps of one thousand candle power each, 
which are worked by two Victoria dynamos supplied 
by the Brush Co. of London.— Pmanp Gazette. 
Java Cinchona Exports. — In respect of 
cinchona bark, the Java exports have been much 
more progressive than in the case of tea, as may 
be seen from the following figures : — 
lb. lb. 
1884 ... 447,000 1887 ... 2,429,000 
1885 ... 1,074,000 1888 ... 3,588,000 
1886 ... 1,836.000 1889 ... 4.965,400 
Seeing that Java bark analyses about double the 
average for Ceylon, last year’s export was equal 
to 9,930,8001b. of our bark. During the current 
year, the exports of bark from Java show a further 
increase and may reach 5J million. 
Bcchanania latifolia. — Read the following letter 
from Surgeon-General G. Bidie:— “In the July mim- 
ber of the Society’.s Proceedings I see a brief but 
interesting notice of the .seeds of Buchanania latifolia. 
They are very commonly used by natives as we use 
almonds. When Sir M. K. Grant Duff visited Oud- 
dapah they were brought to his notice (by, I believe. 
Dr. lyasawmy I’illay Uai Bahadur), and be, recognising 
their groat merits as an atter-dinner dainty, introduced 
them at Government House. In this way their use 
bfcC'ime more general at European tables. Tliey have 
a delicate nutty flavour, and the only defect that I 
know in fliem is that they do not keep very well, 
being apt to get mouldy. They are known in the local 
market at Cuddapah as Chara pappu bijam —From 
Report of the Ayri-Horticultural Bociety [of Madras, 
Sept, mo. 
Vitality OF Seed.s. — I wish to place on record one 
instance more, illustrating this point. Twelve months 
ago I sowed a seed of Abrus precatorius, or the 
Liquorice tree. This was cne of several others of the 
same kind which I know to be twenty-five years of 
age. I have had the seeds since the beginning of 
1879, and the gentleman who gave them to me grew 
them in the West Indies, and be left there in 18.55. 
The seed sown, as mentioned above, has vegetated this 
spring, and is growing vigorously.— G. Paul, Knares- 
borough, — Gardeners’ Chronicle. 
An Historical Palm Tree.- Visitors to Rome in 
past years who remember the gardens of the British 
Embassy, will be interested, says the Times, to learn 
that the Palm which stood in them, and which was 
not only the tallest in Rome but was historical, as 
having been pierced by a cannon ball during the 
attack on the city in September, 1870, has been blown 
down during a gale. It was strapped with iron where 
the ball had pierced it, and was the only object in 
the vicinity which showed the traces of the attack 
which opened Rome to the Italian army. — Gardeners' 
Chronicle, 
Peofbssoe Olivee. — It is with much concern that 
we have to announce that Professor Oliver resigns his 
post keeper of the Herbarium of the Royal Gardens, 
Kew, at the end of this month. Professor Oliver has 
been connected with the Herbarium for about thirty 
years, and it is quite impossible to overate the services 
he has rendered to botany, and, incidentally, to horti- 
culture, during that period. The Professor’s modesty 
and retiring habits have prevented him from becoming 
so widely known to the general public as his merits 
warrant, but among botanists there is but one feeling 
of the highest respect for his perfectly unique know- 
ledge, and of gratitude for the readiness with which he 
has always used it for the benefit of science and the 
public. We are glad to learn that the Professor will 
continue to reside at Kew, and to lend his invaluable 
assistance as Editor of the leones Plantarum and in 
other ways — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
A Sweet Orange-Pomelo is noticed in 
the Florida Dispatch, Farmer and Fruit-Grower, 
The grower writes : — 
The fruit of this tree varies considerably, soma 
individuals being as sweet as an orange and others 
almost as sour as the average grape fruit. Please 
sample these and see how they compare with the best 
that yon have eaten. For my part, at this season, I 
prefer them to oranges, either sucked or cut through the 
equator, sprinkled with sugar and placed upon a glass 
for breakfast. I am strongly inclined to think them 
wholesome, and think that they need but to be known 
in order to be appreciated. 
The editorial opinion is : — 
The samples were very firm and smooth, though 
slightly rusted, but nobody could quarrel with their 
interiors. The only bitterness was in the core ; the 
pulp was deliciously sweet quite to the rind, with a 
slight suggestion of coconut flavor. 
Fancy a pomelo with coconut flavour 1 
Professor Eisen’s Remedy fob Coffee Leaf 
Disease does not seem, from his own account of 
it, to have any marked superiority over Mr. D. 
Morris’s remedy of sulphur and lime. That killed 
the fungus where it was applied, and this is all 
that is claimed for the professor’s remedy. Our 
experience in Ceylon proves that no remedy short 
of complete extirpation of the ubiquitous fungus can 
be of any avail. The Professor had better address 
himself to the Government of Java, where coffee 
is still more of a staple product than, unhappily, 
it now is in Ceylon. Professor Schrottky was as 
fully satisfied in his own mind of the merits of 
carbolic acid as Professor Eisen is of the success 
of his simple remedy. But that is not enough. 
We fear the only remedy is effluxion of time and 
the extinction of the fungus with the disappearance 
of that which it feeds on. Then a non-fungus cycle 
may set in and coffee be once more profitably 
cultivated. 
