522 
THP TftOPIOAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[January i, iSgi. 
palm in his butter dodge, which is as ingenious as 
it is original. “On the morning of the sixth day, ” 
he says, *‘ get some good quality of butter, wash out 
all the salt thoroughly, and rub the cacao with it. 
About three cents worth of butter is sufficient to each 
bag : the butter will give the cocoa an agreeable per- 
fume without destroying the chocolate aroma, and 
will prevent mildew, one of the greatest enemies that 
cocoa planters and shippers have to contend against.” 
There is an appendix to this essay, and “ Talisman” 
has a note on b ittered cacao. He feels that this plan 
of his may not commend itself to the common intel- 
ligence, be received with derision, in fact, and like 
the Roman who appealed unto Osesar, he appeals 
unto science. “ The application of butter to cocoa &o. 
may excite the risibility of some people,” he says, 
“ but I have tested it well : and cocoa which has had 
butter judiciously rubbed on, can be shipped without 
fear of mildew to any cold or damp climate. The milk 
of the cow must have some latent virtues antagonistic to 
the little germs or microbes which infest damp cocoa.” 
In manipulating cacao, and doctoring it for the 
market, the Moorman has always been considered to be 
an expert. He discovered the use of the annatto dye 
for brightening up a dark sample, and now that this 
little dodge has been found out, and local buyers are 
in a position to checkmate it ; his active mind has 
been at work again, and the same results which 
the annatto formerly produced, he can and does bring 
about by jak sawdust and lime. When this the latest 
plan is tripped up, he will devise something else. 
This kind of ingenuity, which is so marked a feature of 
the Moorman mind, has rather a deteriorating effect 
upon character, and has earned for the Lebbes and 
Saibos the reputation of sharp practitioners. 
But as compared with our West Indian rivals the 
Moorman is nowhere ; and he has but to transfer 
himself to Trinidad, or Grenada, to have his character 
renewed, and receive a moral whitewashing. What the 
Moorman does in the closet, the We.st Indian cacao 
planter unblushing carries out on the housetop. For 
example, the essay which received the first prize has 
the following passage, showing how weight of cacao 
may be increased, and colour heightened : — “ The husk 
is certainly much more brittle in washed cacao, and does 
not therefore protect the bean as it should : it weighs 
also considerably lighter, but this might be made up by 
recoating the bean with a mixture of starch, gum traga- 
canth, and boric acid. This would be preservative, and 
improve the look of the cocoa very much : colour might 
be added if desired. If so it should be red earth, and not 
common colouring material, because earth coating is 
recognized as legitimate.” Legitimate ! who in the 
world recognizes red earth as a substitute for cacao? 
Just fancy a state of things where the above adultera- 
tions are current and advocated ! The Moorman would 
starve among them, he would find his occupation gone. 
It is pleasing to find one of the essayists protesting 
against the adulterations current, and pointing out 
what the result would be. 
We know how the “ Heathen Chinee” mixed his teas 
with all kinds of abominations, and how he has been 
driven out before the pure article which is produced 
in Ceylon and India. Ceylon cacao too has the 
highest place in the world’s market ; and while, doubt- 
less, this is greatly brought about by our being ia 
possession of the Caraccas variety, that it is pure like 
our teas, must a'ao b ive an effect, for doctored cacao, 
like doctored goods generally, don’t pay. 
There is a great deal more in these essays that 
might be written on. But enough ; let those who would 
learn more of cacao curing iu the West Indies betake 
themselves to the Trogncal Agriculturist. 
Pbppbkcorn. 
Kehobene as a therapeutic agent ia highly spoken 
of by Dr. II. A. Gross in the Medic.al World. It 
cures almoit all pains, from toothache to gout and 
rheumatism. It is deodorized in this manner ; Take 
of coal oil, 1 pint ; nitric acid, bounce. Let it stand 
for a week and pout off the supernatant oil. It does 
not in the least smell like coal oil. — Sugar-Bowl and 
Farm Journal. 
SALE OF ESTATES. 
Wo learn that Agra oya estate, in the Lower 
Dikoya district, has just been sold on a cash offer, 
the terms of which have not yet transpired. A 
well-known estate in North-East Matale with a 
small area of tea is also about to change hands : — 
the sales in both eases will mean fresh capital and 
fresh blood. 
The Fiscal’s sale of Hyndford estate, Nawalapitiya, 
— which is likely to become a very valuable tea 
property by-and-by — has been delayed for the present. 
. 
SAMBAS R WEST BORNEO, AND GOLD 
FINDING. 
(From a Correspondent.) 
As I see a notice in a late number of the Observer 
of the map of Sambas (west division of Borneo), it 
strikes me that perhaps you might like to have a 
translaticn of the account of Sambas to which the map 
was attached. ‘‘Bij dit artikel behocrt een kaart” is 
the note under the heading of the leading article in 
the Indische Mercuur of 1st November last. It consists 
of a short but clear account of the present state of 
this portion of Netherlands India and a sketch of its 
history from the first setlement of the Dutch there 
in 1609 when the East India Company entered into 
a treaty with the Sultan of Sambas up to the presnt 
time. On my way to Java I met the then Assistant 
Resident of Sambas (it was then only an Assistant 
Residency), and we were fellow-passengers to Batavia 
on board a Dutch schooner, the “ Katerina Kornelia,” 
belonging to McLean, Watson & Co. and called after 
Mrs. McLfan. Mr. Gibson formerly of Ceylon who 
married one of Colonel Watson’s daughters was in 
Sambas a short time ago, and to the best of my belief 
he is there now. If this account of Sambas, with 
its description of the manner of collecting gold, will 
be of any use, I wiU send translation. [By all means 
send it to be given in Tropical Agriculturist.— E b. T. A.] 
PLANTING NOTES. 
MANA GRASS EXPERIMENTS AND STANLEY- 
WRIGHTSON TEA CHESTS; MR. ROGIVXTE AND 
CEYLON TEA IN RUSSIA. 
London, Nov. 28. 
At length there appears to be almost a certainty 
that the perp exing doubts respecting the several 
experiments made here with mana grass fr^m Ceylon 
will be satisfactorily cleared up. We hear that the 
gentlemen who sent home the fourteen hundred- 
weights of this grass, the failure of trials made with 
which my letters reported, has written home ex- 
pressing the opinion that very probably the failure 
of his shipment to the Stanley-Wrightson Syndicate 
has been due to the fact that he had carefully re- 
moved all the stalks before making it. Of course, 
it is the stalk which contains the strong and long 
fibres ; the leaf fibres only serve to mat the former 
under treatment. The two small lots with which 
the minor laboratory experiments were made with 
such success contained all the stalk of the grass. 
It is no wonder that Dr. Evans, the analyst em- 
ployed, said he could not recognize the large con- 
signment as identical in ch-racter with that he 
had at first had under his hands. A small lot of 
the stalk is to be sent home for distinct experi- 
menting, and the Syndicate entertains no doubt that 
Messrs. Curtis & Harvey will give them a sufficiency 
of the one ton of the grass they are < xpecting to 
continue further trials with. You will understand that 
it would have been just as easy to make straw paper 
with the ears and leaf only of wheat, as to make 
mana paper from the blades of mana grass alone, 
ll may be hopou, thereftre, that ere very long it 
