366 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[November i, 1890. 
remarks to you and I hope that something will be 
done in Oevlon to improve the packages, at any rate 
for shipments to Russia. — My present address is 
care of Madame Mathey, Maison meublee, Grande 
Nikitsky, Moscow, and in case a telegram should be 
addressed to me, Rogivue, Mathey Nikitsky Moscow, 
would do. Again yours faithfully, M. R. 
♦ 
A FUEL SUPPLY FROM WASTE GRASSES. 
The rapidly narrowing field from which our 
needed supply of fuel can be drawn, and the 
widening demand due to the consumption necessary 
for the curing of tea, justify us in considering every 
possible suggestion that can be made for averting a 
difficulty already felt and promising soon to increase 
in seriousness. With many suggestions emanating 
either from correspondents or started by ourselves 
we have dealt on previous occasions, and we do 
not propose in this article again to discuss them. 
But few of these have been put to a practical test, 
and it is impossible, therefore, to say whether any 
of them will fulfil the hope entertained of them or 
not. But just now very much interest is felt at home 
in what have hitherto been the waste products of 
the island, and the more the utilisation of these 
can be promoted, the greater the gain, both present 
and prospect, to the Colony. 
As an instance of such utilization, we oan well 
recollect the time when the accumulation of coffee 
husk or chaff in the Colombo mills of that day was 
found to be a positive nuisance. Trials made, 
however, proved ic to be an admirable fuel for 
steam boilers, and while the supply could be kept 
up we believe every steam factory in ('olombo 
fired with this material. At the Government Factory 
its use gradually superseded that both of wood end 
coal, with the result that a very large saving was 
effected. That was a single case in point, and it 
emboldens us to write further on a subject with 
the technicalities of which we do not profess to bs 
acquainted, but which, under the cireumstancee, 
may be found to be deserving of some thought 
by those whose interests are becoming greatly 
affected by the scarcity of fuel within our plant- 
ing districts. We have but lately been informed 
by our London Correspondent, that Messrs. Curtis 
& Harvey, the well-known manufacturers of fine 
gunpowder, believe that it may be found to pay them 
to import from Ceylon a quantity of mana grass for 
the purpose of making charcoal. Now in the produc- 
tion of that article a very great amount of heat is 
evolved and lost. The question is, whether from 
the many varieties of grass which cover waste lands 
in this island charcoal could not be made in a 
special apparatus, the wasted heat from which 
could be availed of to do us valuable service while 
leaving the residue as a marketable commodity ? 
If this could be accomplished a distinct step in 
advance would be made towards solving the diffi- 
culty apprehended as to our future fuel supplies. 
Of course we know that dried grasses of this 
kind burnt in an ordinary furnace would be simply 
Hashed away uselessly by the strong draught, aud 
would leave an ash certain to choke the bars and 
Hues so as to completely check after-combustion. 
But, assuming that they were fed into some kind 
of incinerator which would utilize the heat of the 
gases evolved for general purposes, h aving behind 
a pure charcoal, it is possible, we think, that if 
the latter were possessed of sufficient value for 
export or home use, this question of fuel supply 
might in a great degree be sat'sfaotorily solved. 
As to this lust point, we oan oc-ly say that if 
McHErs. Curtis A Harvey believe that it would 
pay them to import tlio grass and burn it into 
charcoal at home, there is good ground for us to 
believe that it would pay our planters to trans- 
form it on the spot, using the wasted heat we 
have written of for their own purposes and export- 
ing the charcoal produced. We must leave it to 
those better acquainted with the character of such 
processes, to determine whether or not the idea 
that occurs to us is in any way feasible. As we 
have on previous occasions said, we do not offer 
our suggestions on this and kindred matters with 
any conviction of their full practicability. But 
there is often a shade of truth and a grain of 
practicability even in the most crude ideas ; and in 
the faoe of anticipated difficulties we do not hesi- 
tate to propound any scheme which might from bare 
theory be advanced by experts to practical use. 
fulness. 
NOTES ON POPULAR SCIENCE. 
By De. J. E. Taylor. F.L.S., F.G.S., &c.. Editor 
or “Science Gossip.” 
Some months ago 1 drew attenti-m to Mr. D. Morrises 
paper, read before the Linnasan Society, on the fruit 
of the sugarcane. The practical result of that paper 
is that seedling sugarciiues are now being grown in 
Kew Gardens. The Government of Barbadoes took up 
the question in great earnest, and they have just 
published a valuable report on the seedling sugarcanes, 
in which are fully recorded the interestine results 
obtained on the experimental fields at Dodd’s Reforma- 
tory in that island. 
I observe that the Italian navy has recently beeu trying 
a new fuel — a mixture of kerosene and coal-dust. The 
inen-of-war thus fired are said to have increased their 
speed by its u»e two knots an hour. This will be very 
convenient in war time for abat'le sbip to get away. 
However, one drawback is recorded — the increased heat 
seriously affects the boiler-plates. Then who is going 
to sit on the safety-valves ? 
You have in Australia nearly all kinds of climate and 
physical conditions for the growth of pl .nts. It is no 
good drawing anything that the world doe.s not want. 
Therefore, the following facts may not be without in- 
terest. Perhaps we shooM never have liesrd of India 
or the Blalayan Archipelago, nor would Europe have 
been embroiled in a host of wars, if it bad not been 
for the spices those lards produced. With the increased 
growth of the world’s population the amount required 
is of course increased. Take cloves for example. Not 
only are these rice fruit-capsules the most pung’ent 
of spices, but an important oil is now extraot< d from 
them for microscopical and other purpose-. One cannot 
wonder, therefore, that the eul'iv.etion of c'oves has 
become a speciality. Sixty years ago the plant was in- 
troduced into the Island of Zanzibar, so that it may have 
influenced the Arab slave trade, just as the iu'roduoed 
cottcn-plaut is historical associated with the importation 
of niggers ii to the Southern States of America. How- 
ever that may be, the chief supply of cloves now-a-days 
is not from India but from Zanzibar, where it has been 
cultivated to a high state of perfection. In that island 
a ten -year-old plantation of clove trees produces an 
average rate of twenty pounds of cloves per tree, while 
Iree.s twenty years old frequently produce fully one 
hundred peunds. It is stated that the yield of cloves 
from Zanzibar alone for this year will amount to thirteen 
millions of pounds, the average market price being 5d. 
]ier pound. Surely, in many of the tropical regions cf 
Australia there must be opportunities even fur planting 
clove trees . — Australasian 
♦ 
RICE GROWING. 
The accompanying figures aud information may 
prove uit ful as .shewing the value of Rice plonting. 
The land planted was the bottom of ordinary drams 
in portions of laud laid out as Banana and Oocoa 
plant;! tions. It is not general in Trinidad to take 
advantage of the drains to raise a crop, but the experi- 
ment shewn here proves that it oan be done without 
