2go 
THE TROPICAL AQRICULTURfST- 
[October j, 1890. 
and three yards when at the lower level of from 
2,000 to 1,000 feet above the sea) to depths of about 
twelve innhes by twelve inches in width. It has been 
demonstrated, by frequent experiment, that leaving 
the holes open for three or four mouths is chemically 
beneficial to the soil. In the matter of transplanting, 
the actual placing of the infant trees into the holes 
prepared for their reception is one that requires the 
most care and attention of all the operations in the 
formation of a coffee plantation. Early planting, 
during the month of May, June, and July, is desirable 
because the tree have the benefit of the entire rainy 
season, and are sure to give a larger maiden crop. 
Coffee trees usually bear abundantly one year and 
lightly the next, judicious pruning helps to increase 
the crops, although no definite rule can be given tor 
pruning old trees further than that no branch should 
be allowed to yield more than three crops. The aver- 
age product per acre in Guatemala of coffee cultivation 
is 1,8001b. In the preparation for market, the berries 
are always picked by hand and carried to the curing 
house, where the pulp is removed by machinery and 
placed in. a water-tank, where the bean is never allowed 
to remain beyond a period of twenty-four hours. 
After the saccharine scum which covers the bean 
is washed off, the contents of the tank are turned 
out npon large drying grounds of cement, called patios, 
upon which the coffee beans are thinly spread. It is 
important that the coffee shall be constantly turned 
until all the surface is dry, and the beans cease to 
adhere to each other, while care is taken not to break 
the parchment whilst exposed to wind or sun, as 
every hour’s exposure to the atmosphere, after re- 
moval of the parchment husk, takes away both the 
colour and aroma of the bean. When the beans are 
thoroughly dried and hulled, the sorting operation 
commences. Generally “firsts,” “seconds,” and 
“ thirds ” are prepared for packing into Dundee or 
Calcutta sacks of 130 to 135 lb. net each, and upon 
its oomplefion the coffee is ready for transportation 
on the backs of Indians or mules, or in o.u ts drawn 
by oxen, to the nearest railway station for the most 
convenient port of shipment. The largest bulk of the 
“firsts” finds it? way to London, the “seconds” to 
Germany and France, and the “thirds” to the 
United Slates. The labour on the coffee plantations 
is performed by the Indians of the country, whose 
remuneration varies from 19 to 25 cents in Guatemalan 
currency. The Indians subsit on tortillasi a corn cake 
and frijoles, the bean of the country, both corn and 
bean being grown by their own labour on patches of 
ground on the squatter system, which belong to either 
the owners of the estates where they are employed, 
or are unsold Government lands which are thus gra- 
tuitously appropriated . — Journal of the Society of Arts. 
♦ 
SCIEIS’TIFIC GOSSIP 
on the kola and areka nuts, on tea, camphor and 
other substances, as given in the Melbourne Leader 
is interesting. It is specially important to learn 
that tea grown under shade, so as to be partially 
blanched, possesses nearly one-third more theine 
than tea grown in the open. It is, however, start- 
ling to learn that theine is a poison 1 We quote 
as follows : — 
The Kola nut of South America and the areca, 
better known as the betel, nut of India have had 
much attention paid to them of late, because 
there is a disposition on the part of Europeans 
to give thorn a trial on the supposition that the 
South Americans and Indians must have really 
derived advantage from the virtues they are sup- 
posed to possess. The Germans have resolved to 
give the Kola nut to their soldiers when on service 
in a campaign, because it is at once a food and 
a stimulant, containing within a small space more 
nutriment and more capacity for maintaining 
strength than any other condiment. The consump- 
tion of this nut may have its drawbacks, but they 
have yet to be found out, and the experimcht ifi 
at least worthy of being made. The nut contains 
a large proportion of theine and of theobromine, 
so that it is at least probable that it has some 
sustaining properties, although these are probably 
exaggerated. The chocolates sold as sweetmeats 
may have similar properties, acd wa may hear of 
their being added to the commissariat of the French 
army, so that the virtues of the two stimulants 
may be tested in future warlike encounters. The 
Indian areca nut is regularly eaten every day in 
the year by 100,000,000 of the population. There 
is an annual importation of upwards of 30,000,000 
lb. from Ceylon, the Straits Settlements and Sumatra, 
and they are exported in considerable quantities 
for the use of Indians living in Zanzibar, Mauritius^ 
Aden, China and other countries. The fresh nuts 
have intoxicating properties and produce giddi- 
ness. These objectionable properties are much 
diminished by heat and by drying, and many cautious 
people deoliue to use any except those nuts which 
have undergone a process of cooking and are known 
by their color. The original wild nut was intoxi- 
cating, but the only nuts now used are from 
cultivated trees, and these are milder. They are 
only intoxicating when unripe, and then but 
slightly. The nuts are eaten with the betel leaf, 
the praise of which is sung in the ancient books 
of the Hindoos, which attribute to it no less than 
13 valuable properties which are duly enumerated. 
Modern medical men vouch for the fact that the 
essential oils of betel leaves are highly beneficial 
in catarrhal afiections and throat inflammations. 
Further researches into the properties of the nut and 
leaves are evidently called for, because their pre. 
paration by native methods are a good deal re- 
gulated by superstitions. The betel leaves are 
mixed with other spices and with lime to form pan, 
with which the nuts are eaten. An organic poison 
can be extracted from the nut, and when this 
is injected under the skin of rabbits and oats 
they die in a few minutes : but the same may be 
said of a great many other vegetable productions, 
the Kola nut inclusive, which are usually regarded 
as harmless. Even the lettuce contains such a 
poison. The areeanut grows on a palm which is 
supposed to have been indigenous in the Malayan 
Peninsula and Islands, but is not now found in a 
wild state. The Indians no doubt indulge too 
freely in the use of the areeanut and betel leaves 
but for exoeptional use they may be found to be 
medicinally beneficial. If the reverse be the case, 
further investigation is demanded on behalf of 
the 100,000,000 betel eaters. 
The finest tea, in oriental estimation, is gathered 
from shrubs which have been kept shaded for three 
weeks, so that the leaves are partly etiolated or 
blanched. It is called “ flat tea,” because the leaves 
are not rolled ; they are merely steamed, and are 
never touched by the hand but turned over by the 
aid of a bamboo stick. After steaming they are 
merely dried. There is nothing in this process to 
justify the high price demanded for the tea. A 
Japanese chemist, Y. Kozai, assistant in the Agri- 
cultural Chemical Laboratory, has analysed this 
tea and found that it contains 30 per cent, more 
theine than the tea made from leaves grown in the 
sun. The work done by the chemist appears to be 
reliable. He analysed the natural leaf and the 
same manufactured into black and green lea. The 
chief difierenoe he found was in the quantity of 
tannin, which was large in the natural leaf and 
in the green tea, but very much smaller in the 
black tea. He maintains that there is nothing 
injurious in faced tea, the Prussian blue being 
only 1000th part of the weight ; but he is severe 
in his condemnation of the practice of mixing 
with the tea the leaves of other plants which 
