512 
THE TROPICAL AOtmOLTURIST. 
[January i, 1891. 
The trees having once tiled over all the hin" 
dranees iiicidentiil 'O cnconnt p'anti ig, such as beetles’ 
black and red, porcupiues, aud wild p'g", and h-ving 
grown to 4 or 5 jears old, tb--y are left to nature, 
and even tb«n thsy are liable to beetles and lightning, 
which prostrates many a fine young and old tree. 
Enalishmen m»nure their trees by turning into the 
ground between the rows all that the tree drops, 
and tying 4 or 5 cattle at the foot of each tiee, 
where a suffi lent trench has been . reviously made. 
These cattle are tied there every night, for 3 or 4 
nights running, and then removed to a fresh tree, the 
manu ed tree having its trench carefnlly cover.-d up, 
for the soil to take in. 
The nu s are pick’d once every three months in 
the season, being taken to the ‘ barbacues’ ordrjing 
gr'und, split M to h lveswith one stroke of a large 
hatobet, and turned ke nel upwards and left to dry 
in the sun ; while at nigh s the kernels are turned 
downwaris to k ep the d"w from them, After 3 or 
4 day-’ drving, the kern 1 begins to shrivel in th” 
shell, rnd men, women, and child en are emp oyed 
to ‘Coop them out into heaps. This is called the 
‘oopr ,’ and is ready for sale, and wib fetch from 
£3-i0 to £4 per can ly of five hundre I w> ighfs. 
The native estate owner, or village coconut garden 
proprietor, opens and plants his land in about much 
the same manner; bu’ he puts in his plants very much 
c'oser, so that one acre of land holds from 100 to 
120 young plants not very correctly lined or even 
properly holed. In many instances he will even 
plant two trees in one hole, hut the result will bo 
that they will never bear properly. When once the 
plants require no wate iog, he will on large properties 
leave them to shift for themse'ves, letting thorny 
scrub and jungle grow around them, and otherwise 
neglecting the property j so that it very soou de- 
eriorates in value and bearing crpacity. He will 
never put bank into the ground or bury what falls 
from the tree, or otherwise manure his property, 
so that nothing ever goes under the soil. But in 
village gardens, which are kept splendidly clean, and 
where they are constantly ' urying dirt and rubbi-h, 
the trees come on splendidly and bear beautifully, 
giving large crops. I stood near a village tree when 
*hev were picking nuts, in the spring of last year 
118881, and counted 203 ripe nuts picked from one 
single tree.* Catamaran. 
— limes of Ceylon. 
RAIN. 
The fcllowing para/raphs arc fnu d in an article 
in The Missionary Review of the iro/ M for July, 
1890, and ar from t e pen of h w. ll known 
m S 3 i nary ph an hrop st, D . .John L Nevius, 
of Chefoo. The snhjeet of the ariic e is “ Famme 
and the W rk oi Famms Eteliff : Famine is 
the result of t^o ippos. e causes— d' ou.hs and 
flood — which rnay b'’ referred to one and the same 
cause, the un qovl distribution of the rainfall, 
producing dr ugtu in some pi ice , and floods in 
others. In 'hat part of Eist un Asia whi 'h ndudes 
the great empire.s nf Hindustan, China, and Japan, 
the altpraa ion of he winds of summer and winter 
are so marked as to produce what are called the 
north’ rn '-nd srurtherri mon=oons, to which the 
ol’inatio perubnrit es of this whole region are to 
be largely at rihuSed. D'lring the winter months 
the northern monsonn blows almost continuously, 
and somelim -8 with great violence, from the Aret e 
regions to the tropics. Early in the spring the 
tropical winds, chargel with moisture, commence 
moving nnrlhwa d. at firs’ con iouing only for a 
few rtegrrea of la'i’ude, hut rudu lly sarari.ii g 
heir u rr-macy, and ex’,' roling f ircher and t irt“nr 
norih vrd, < nth, ni Jo y a d Au 'U t, ihey mnstitute 
the Bouthein mnn ,oon, wliish, on ihe e 'tire ooist 
of A-ia, oit nds from the tropics to fo rty degree s 
' Thu is rather a tall order. 
of north latitul i. The region in wlii h the soul hern 
monsoon and the colder breezes of the nor h m^'=t, 
bke two orpusing armies alternately advancing and 
rnt'ring (thecol.cr atmosp' er- cond-nsi’ng th vapour 
v;ith which th.n souh'rn monsoon is surcharged 
forma the ra n-b^lt, which, asi advtnoes step by 
step to the n rth, brings what is callel the rainy 
season). The rainy season reaches Ningco and 
8h inghai, in Central Ohi 'a, the latter part of 
May, when the rain is almost constant, while north, 
in the province of yhantuog, the skv is ■ loudlees. 
This monsoon, af’er discharging its moistu’’e in the 
south, often continues its course northward for 
several degrees of la'’tuie with great violence, and 
almost as dry «s the s roc'o o' the des rt. In the 
latter part of July, an! ne-iriy the whole of August, 
when the air iu Central China has risen to high 
temperature, the sou her y monsoon blows past 
tha- region, holding ts moisture in suspense until 
it is condensed, and falls in N irthern t h n'a and 
Maoohuria. Th“se two monsoons, with the 
flue nations in iheirfon e and ’emoerature produce 
the very irrecu’ar rainf-sll of the rainy season. In 
one seotion of country there is sometimes such an 
excess of rain as to form destrucivs floods, while 
in an adjacent region, north or south, 'here is a 
comparative deficiency. S 'metimes the ram falls 
gently for days, and at other times in such v 'lumes 
that it is impossible to distinguish objects at 
mid-day a few hundred yards distant, and water- 
oourses half a mile in width, in which the stream 
had shrunk to a little rivulet, requiring only a few 
stepping stones for the foot traveller to pass, in 
an hour’s time becomes a rushing torrent, overflowing 
its banks, and rendering all pa sage, for the time 
being, impossible. ” — Chinese Times. 
♦ 
CoiFBE Planting in Goatemala. — C oflee trees, 
transplanted from the nursery after a year's growth 
from the seed, are usually planted 9 feet apart, 
making 484 ’.ress to the acre; hut where the soil is 
exceedingly rich, at an altitude of 3,000 fe t above 
the sea, they are placed 12 feet apart to pr>-vent 
int'-tfereuue with each other’s luxuriant folliage. 
Each tree produces 1 to 2 pounds of the berry in oro 
(that is, after being cleaned and po'ished and ready 
for the murkat), according to the soil and tempera- 
ture , so that the product of an acre of coflue trees 
woull be from 484 to 9G8 pounds i i u>-o At the 
present price of 23 cents per pound tha result would 
be $111,32 or $222.64 per acre, which, at the average 
O'jbt ot 6 cents p-r pound for producion and trans- 
portation to the seaboard, would show a net profit 
per acre of $87T2 or $174’24, according to richness 
and adaptabidiv of soil and condition of temperature, 
— Am lican Grocer 
The UA.’auFACTOa of Rubies. — W hat is the u-e of 
exploriu.' uuk lown an i dangerous countries for rubios 
when LU ■ SQcre’ <>f Chei.- artific .1 pc" luction has been 
disc vere i ? This war toe quesfci "n nhich t''P AcHdemy 
of Soi- nces d'seussed on the report ot MM. Fr^ray and 
Vernouil, who for sooie time past have been making 
chemical xperimeuts in the manufacture of these 
stones. More valuable than mere theory was the fact 
that the 'wo chemists exhioited some hundreds of spe- 
cimens of the glittcriog rod crystals they had sue. 
ceeded iu producing. Tlierubi<'.s were admitted by all 
to be much superior to auytt iug hitherto manufactured. 
No li’tle danger, however, a'teuds the proc ss. The 
rhem cals have to br fu-ed at a heat so intense that 
.VI. Ver'icui! duri g the cuu'se rf the i.xperim nts 
iioarly lo,..t f.is ,<i|,ht. Wiiile inanuf^oturing rubi. s the 
two cbeiiii.s rt f lund th it at a certain stage of *ha 
operatiouM crys’als of the colour of sepphircs were 
jiroduoed, but the hue hitherto obtained has not been 
eijual to the hint of the real gem. — F. M. Budget, 
