THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[November i, 1890. 
B3<5 
CEYLON TAMIC COOLY MISSION. 
Many who have supported this Mission seem to be 
crowio" weary of doing so, and many more wholly 
decline” to help at all, giving as a reason that we are 
doing no good. I am far from endorsing this state- 
ment- but I am as far from satisfaction conceriiitig 
results as any real friend of the Mission who desires 
to see souls converted to Christ and His King.iom 
extended. 1 realise more and more that the best 
eflbrts of man will accomplish nothing apart from the 
immediate presence of the Lor i Jesus and the power 
of the Holy Spirit. But I think wuh many others 
that the time has come for making some new plans 
to bring the Gospel message to the coolies. For this 
nurpose X am about to start an associated band of 
Evangelists, whose aim will be to carry the g'od news 
to as many as can possibly be reached. They will 
visit estates, preaching and teaching in the lines, 
and holding meetings wherever they are invited or 
permitted to go. They will also conduct prayer and 
Revival meetings amongst the Tamil ChristiaT.s Ihe 
great obieot of these meetings will bo to show to the 
nominal Christians as well as to the Heathen that 
Jesus is a Saviour who is able to save, and that when 
He eaves, righteousn-ss, truth, love and purity are 
the result We believe that Jesus doss this, and that 
He will do it. Therefore we confidently appeal for 
help I have two or three men into whose hearts 
God has put a loving strong desire to preach a full 
Gospel to their fellow-countrymen and women. I 
need special funds for supporting them. I need also 
help to build a commodious house for the associated 
workers to come to fi,r rest as a centre. This must be 
near to myself at Lochiel, so that I may meet them 
as often as possible. We have a good school at 
AVootton where they may work whilst resting. 1 
punio.se building their house on to the School room 
which also needs rebuilding. A few musical nydni- 
ments are a great help in itinera'ing preaching— 
these must be bought. I am not without hops that 
God -will give me one or two young Englishmen 
whose hearts He has kindled with love to the Saviour, 
who wid lead and work with these Native brethren 
under my general direction. I myself am too ol i to 
be the leader in the fi Id, but as far as duties and 
stnngtli allow, I hope not only to say 1o them go, 
but also to say come. God is enabling me to be- 
lieve that He will do greater things than we have 
seen of late years. AVe will put no confidence_ in an 
arm of flesh, our tru4 is m the Lord; He is the 
God of Salvation. We believe we shall yet join lu 
singing the 9S h Psalm. Any help for this new 
effort, independent of that given to the General 
Funds of the Mission, will be thankfully received. 
J, D. Simmons. 
Lochiel, 15th September 1890. 
^ 
Danger in Water Filters.— The old charcoal and 
gravel filters, which once had the entire confidence 
of families and physicians ns entirely efficacious in 
purifying drinking water, have bsen recently found 
to be not only of dubious character, but even m cases 
to aiieravate the danger which they were expected 
to allay. The inve.stigation of the Rhode Is'and 
Medical Society seems to show conclusively that the 
meshes and interstices of the filtering matter become 
clogged with the deleterious organisms of the water, 
and that these increase in number when the filter 
is not iu use, standing in the warm air of the kitchen. 
In one examination by this Society uufiltered water 
containing thirty. six colonies of organic growth in- 
creased to 10,000 after filtration. The danger of the 
iiltor seems to lie iu the impossibility of _ cleansing it. 
A simple way of purifying Ihe water is to boil it 
j'reely for ten minutes. Then pour it into a broad 
earthen dish, in the open air, whero it can cool away 
from any chance of contamination. The water thus 
prepared may ho kept in a stone jar m a cool cellar 
for four or five honrs at a time, and when cooled with 
rmre ice is a good snbfiituto for spring water where 
ftnriDii w;<tcr cannot be obtaiued, luicl it is probably 
an harii.hss as this gift of bouulet.us nature can bo 
rendered in the restrictive euviroumeuts of a large 
pity.— Ntw I'ork Ti'iOune, 
Cinnamon and OoeoNUTS. — Kadirana, Got. 3rd.— 
There is a change in the weather, and light showers 
have fallen during the last few days, yesterday’s 
fall being 0 53 of an inch ; till more comes this will 
at least oau.=e the grass to grow and give food to 
the half-starved cattle. 
Teamen will be interested in the following 
telegram : — “ Chicago, 29th July. — Ernest Theodore, 
a prominent taa exporter from Hankow, China, 
is in this city. In speaking of the tea commerce 
Theodore said ; ‘ The recent passage of the Silver 
Bill raised the price of tea 10 per cent. We make 
all out payments in silver out there, little gold 
being used. The purchase of 4,500,000 ounces of 
silver a month by our Government is equivalent 
to taking out of the market just so much that 
was hitherto available. The eastern markets have 
felt this influence, and silver in London has risen 
in price. The tea crop in China is heavy this year 
and of prime quality.’” — N.-G. Herald, Sept. 6th. 
COLTIVATION OF ToMATOES IN ENGLAND. — At a COU- 
firence of the British Fruit Growers’ Association, held 
at Brighton yesterday, it was stated by one of the 
members that from the two stations of Worthing and 
Lancing, during the three summer mouths. 35 tons 
of fruit were despatched by rail weekly, and for tie 
remainder of the year six tons per week, making 
663 tons of fruit during the year. Of this amount, 
3.50 ttui we.'e tomatoes, the remaiuder being grapes, 
cucumbers, apjiles, &c. The value of the tomatoes at 
5d. per poun l was e timated at £20,000, and the o'her 
fruit at £14,000, making a grand total of £34.000 from 
the Wor hiug district alone. Other speakers main- 
tained that the industry was not fully developed, and 
that for a long time to come the supply of English 
tomatoes would not excee t the demand. — Globe. 
Dahjbe cling. — i'ea is, of ourse, going on in the 
eveu tenor of its way, and it appears as if, although 
the nights are getting markedly colder plucking would 
bo kept on until about the middle of November— on 
a small scale ot course. Taking into consideration the 
long drought at the beginning of the year tea gardens 
iu the hills do nor seem to have done so badly after 
a'l in the hills, and the rise in prices has been decidedly 
encouraging to planters generally. What effect the 
improved exch8.nge wid have ou Calcutta prices ot 
course remains to be seen. I have always been given 
to understand that a low ra.eof exchange always meant 
good prices for ludiau productions of all kinds Here 
is another prob'em which will need solving later on. 
AA'^hat effect wili the gold finds in the centre of India 
have ou tea prices in the future ? This is a question 
which I leave others to solve, as it is quite beyond 
me. — Indian Planters’ Gazette, Sept. 16tli. 
Wholesale Destedciion cf Fish. — Colonel Camp- 
bell AValker, Conservator of Forests, Southern Circle, 
Madras, recently brought to the nocioe of his Gov- 
ernment the wholesale destruction of fish in rivers. 
In the Bhavani river the main and subsidiary 
streams are dammed up and the fish destroyed by 
dynamite, or the water baled out and fish, both 
large and small, taken and sent into Mettupalayam 
in bullock and cart loads ; and as a similar practice 
is followed in almost all rivers, it would ultimately 
tend to the extermination of fish in the rivers of 
southern India, as by the above system both fish 
and fry are destroyed. It is under contemplation 
to alter the rule in the Madras Forest Act which 
permits ” the catching of fish by the damming or 
baling of water ’ by a proviso that “the Collector 
may attach such conditions to the issue of the permit 
as he may consider necessary.” This would only 
affect fishes in rivers running through reserved 
forests, and it is incumbent on Government to adopt 
some legal measures to regulate the wanton destruc- 
tion of fish and fry, such as their capture only by the 
net and rod, the meshes of the former being regula- 
td to such a size that fry may not be taken,— 
Pioneer, Sept, 18th. 
