November i, 1890.] TH£ TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
347 
Essential Oils.— In Citconella there has been a very 
good business, and the demand lieeps up well, the spot 
price ij |1 to |d per oz. : and business has been done 
at 12id per lb. c. i- f. The price cabled Irom Ceylon is 
higher, viz. I3id per lb. c. i. f. ; while for Lemongrass 
Id 9-l6ths c. 1 . f. is required. 
Coconut Oil ins advanced in price since last week, 
and closes very firm indeed. Fine Ceylon oil on the 
spot is held for 32s 9d, while for shipment near at 
haud3is c. i. f., and for distant delivery 30s 6d c. i. f. 
is required. 
QoiNiNE.-Market stagnant. The only business reported 
this week is a stle of 5,000 oz. second-hand German 
bulk, at Is Ifd oz. There was some faint expectation 
that the American Senate might decide to re-establish 
the duty on quinine during the debate on the M’Kinley 
Tariff Bili. In that case our market would probably 
have been temporarily influenced, but, as it is, the 
amendment to subject quinine to a customs duty was 
defeated; 
HILLCOUNTRY PLANTING REPORT. 
THE VALUE OF JABRAH TIMBER — THE “ KEW 
BULLETIN ” — THE ECONOMIC PLANTS OF 
MADAGASCAR. 
Afteu I had written at such length on Australian 
fuel trees,* I opened the latest number of the Kew 
Bulletin and found a notice of the celebrated Jarrah 
^ree of Western Australia (E. marginata), in which 
Baron Von Mueller is quoted to the effect that 
this is one of the least inflammable trees for building 
structures and at the same time the very best of 
the West Australian trees tor charcoal. We have 
some splendid specimens here of this famous 
euoalypt, the wood of which compares not unfavour- 
ably with mahogany, but neither we nor any others 
who have grown Jarrah trees are likely to convert 
them into charcoal. The immediate reason for the 
tree being noticed in the Keio Bulletin was that b'ooks 
of the timber were being u^ed for paving streets 
in London. A similar use of the timber in Mel 
bourne is mentioned,- but when I was there in 
188')-8l I saw blocks of red gum (E. rostrata) 
being laid in Collins Street ; and while Victoria is 
rich in this excellent timber and Jarrah is found 
only in Western Australia, it is not at all likely 
that the imported and more expensive wood (pr'-b- 
ably not better for the purpose) would be resorted 
to. In the London Times I find a condensed form 
of the information in the Kew DuUeiin ready to my 
hand, which I quote : — 
Jarrah Wood. — The new Kew Bulletin contains 
intercs ing section ou the propertie s an I uses of the 
jarrah wood, a species of eucalyptu.s, native to We-iteru 
Australia. The niiin diflicul ies in c uu-xion with it« 
use iu this country are the cost of freigh'. for such 
heavy timber from Anstra ia aud ils ieiense hsrdness, 
which makes it difiioult for ordinary Bnghsh carpeii' ».is’ 
tools to work it. The tree whicli prodoc-s it prows 
generally to a height of 100 ft., and soiuetimes 150 ft. 
It is found only in AVeatein Australia, exti-niling over 
the greater portion of the country from tho M> ore River 
to King George's Sound, lormi g ma'nly the forests of 
these tracts. According to Baron Mueller, when se- 
lected Irom hilly localities, cut while ihe sap is least 
active, anil subsequently carefully dried, it proves im- 
pervious to the bori: gs of ii, sects. Vessels consTucted 
solely of it have, niter 25 years’ constant service, re- 
main' a porfec ly sound, although not coppered. It has 
been tried at tnree p aces iu the Suez Canal, and, a ter 
having been down seven years, tee trial samples were 
taken up in ord- r that a. report on their coiuh'ion 
mi.' hi bo sent to Paris. Prom cortaiu correspondence 
between Kew ai d some l.onclon vestries, it appears 
that jarrah has lately been used by tho Chelsea Ves.ry 
* hoe page J5C,— Ed. T. -1. 
for paving the King’s-road, and by the Lambeth Vestry 
in (he Westminster Bridge-road. 
There are few trees about which such contradictory 
accounts have been given, especially as to its ability 
to resist submersion in sea water and the attacks 
of Teredo iiavalis. Conspicuous in the Western 
Australian Court in the Melbourne Exhibition of 
1880 was a fino slab of J'lrrah said to have been 
for 40 years part of a pier at Fremantle and which 
certainly was uninjured. The re ult of other trials, 
however, was stated to be its liability to be bored 
equally with other trees ; but the evidence in favour 
of the timber largely preponderates. The n n- 
inflaramability of the timber readers it specially 
valuable for shingles. It can be used for 
the purposes to which siU {Shorca rohusta) and 
teak are put, and also where those woods are 
inadmissible, while it is said to be cheaper. Mr. 
Allen Ransome r, ’ported : " It is beautifully 
marked, and somewhat resembles mahogany in 
colour. Railway sleepers, joinery, casks, spokes 
and hammer handles were made from it. The 
planed and moulded specimens left the machines 
with a very fine surface.” Like teak its breaking 
strength ia not to bo compared to that of the 
Australian iron and stringy barks. The figura 
1,982 for average specific strength, however, is 
not bad. It atiaina a great size, exceptional 
planks having a diameter of 10 or 11 feet. This, 
like other eucalypts, is liable to the existence on 
its stem and branches of enormous protuberances, 
most beautiful slabs of which were exhibited at 
Melbourne in 1880. Those from the Jarrah are 
described as rivalling in beauty the finest speci- 
mens of walnut or pollard oak. The protuberances 
occur 6 to 10 feet in diameter. 
Thera is other m itter of interest in the September 
number of the Kew Bulletin, Mr. W. F. H. 
Blandford identified an insect which injured 
barrel staves as a small beetle called Trypoden- 
dron signafum, Fabr., ■* Prickly pear” has spread 
so in South Africa that legislative measures have 
become necessary for dealing with. This reminds 
us that a member of the Madras Civil Service 
once reported that he found this pUnt useful 
as a protection for tree seeds which he sowed 
in spaces cleared amongst it. We have also seen 
it stated that if the thorns are burnt off the 
sliced leaves make good fodder for cattle. — Thera 
is an article on the treatment of mildew in vines. 
The remedy is “ Bonillie Bordel lise,” a mixture of 
sulphate of copper, slaked lime and water, a 
mix'ure 1 kely to be useful not only as a fungi- 
cide but as an iusectioide. — There is an interesting 
account of cultural industries in West Africa But of 
chief interest in Ceylon, which ia supposed to have 
been once joined to Madagascar, is an elaborate 
paper on the economic p ants of the great 
African island, by the Rev. Richard Baron, r.L.s., 
In the prefatory matter it is stated that, 
In a valuab'e japer by the Rev, Richard Baron, 
F.L s., on the Flora of Madsg'iscar {Joiirn. Linn. Hoc. 
vol. XXV., pp. 216-294), it is stated that the vege- 
table productions of Madagascar have been very ex- 
ten -ively “explored, and that the tnajoriiy of the 
plsnts inhabiting the island are ki own to science.” 
The flora of the low lands of the southern part of 
the island is still, however, the 1 nst known. Our 
knowledge of the flora of Madagascar ia due to the 
labours of numerous botanists fri m Flacourt, Dupetit 
Thouars, and Commerson to Greve, Bojer, Grandi- 
dier, and E lis. Within the la-t few years this 
knowledge has been greatly increased through the very 
successful labours < f Mr. Baron himself, and his col- 
lections, received at Kew, have been determined aud 
described by Mr. J. G. Baker, • .it.s.. It is otimated 
thar. whereas until recently less than 2,000 species 
of plants were known from Madagasca-, there 
now named and clesbcibed about 1,100 species, 
