March 2, 1891.] 
THf TROPICAL AORSOULTURiST, 
675 
The Discovery of Sponge Banks of a considerble 
extent and of groat yield at Lampedusa. Trapani, 
Egadi and Panteileria has come very opportunely 
and will no doubt extrcisa a beneficial influence 
upon the shipping and labouring classes of the 
coast. The quality of the article brought from 
Lampedusa is of the very best, and tliesc new sup- 
plies will no doubt influence prices all round and 
everywhere. — Naples, Italy Deo. 11. — Aiiisrican Mail. 
Sarawak Tea has been reported on as follow, s: 
— “A t-iuuple of the jMatang tea was banded to. an English 
fir.n last mouUi. They report upon it a.s follows: — 
‘ Wo onrefally return yoiir nnost iutere.shng earople of 
Srrawak tea which we haye this morning liquored 
and are delighted and surpri.sed with it. The prepa- 
ration and make of this tea are very much to be 
commanded and the liquor we think would tiava been 
most marketable had proper precaution been, taken 
in sending .nc the samples in soldered up tin, for 
the lea-'es seem to us at present to bo in process of 
decay, we think if tbi.s tea bad been sound, it should 
have fetched in Mincing Lane, about the same mniiey 
as two ijvrcels we recently bought, aud of which we en- 
close sample.®, the Ceylon at lOd and the Indian at 
9d.’ ”—B. W. B. Herald. 
Entomological Society, Feb. 4th. — Mr. 0. J. 
Gahan called attention to a small larva which he 
had exhibited at the meeting of the Society on 
the 1st of October last, when some doubt was ex- 
pressed as to the order to which it belonged. He 
said that Prof. Riisy had since expressed an opi- 
nion that the larva was that of a dipterous insect 
of the family Blepharooerid®, and might probably 
be referred to Hammatorrhina bella, Low, a species 
from Oeylon. — Mr. C. 0. Waterhouse exhibited 
speoimena of Scyphopliorus inierstitialis, a Mexican 
species, and Aceraius comptoni, a Ceylon species, 
recently taken by Mr. B uvring in his greenhouse. 
He also exhibited, on behalf of Miss 10, Sharpe, 
a specimen of Daplinis lujpothous, Cramer, a native 
of Borneo, Java, imd O'eylou, caught some years ago 
at Crieff, N. B. The specimen had long been con- 
fused with Clacrocampa nerii, under which name 
its capture v/as recorded in the Eatomoloyist, xiii. pi. 
162 (1880), — Athcnceiim, Feb. f4th. 
Cacao Oultiv.-viton in Peru. — Up to a recent date 
the cultivation of cacao in Peru s; ems to have been 
confined more especially to the Traesandine slope, 
in the province of Convenoion, in the department 
of Cusco, not, however, in sufficient quantities to 
supply the markets of the southern departments of 
the iiepublic. The cacao produced is of a superior 
quality, and could compete advantageously with 
best descriptions raised at Booonusoo and in Vene- 
zuela. The exoolieuoe of the bean is, however, 
rather due to the geological and topographical 
conditions of the valley ol Santa Ana than to the 
efforts of the cultivators— the cacao goes by the 
generic name of Cusco cacao — but, owing to the 
cost of production, distance from the sea, and 
deficiency of transport, cannot compete in price 
with that imported from Ecuador, consequently the 
production and consumption does not e.vtend beyond 
what is requisite for the local demand. Cacao of 
good quality has also always been raised in the 
province of Jaen, in the department of Cajamarca, 
and the cultivation of the plant extends towards 
the seaboard in tho north of the department of 
Piura, but upon so limited a scale as scarcely to 
amount to more than an experiment. With a more 
extended development, caoao could easily be produced 
in sufficient quantities for the internal consumption 
of Peru, displacing export from abroad, and p. rhaps 
even competing in foreign markets ; a future for the 
industry wliioh appears more than probable when 
the contemplated irrigation scheme in tho depart- 
ment of Piura shall have been carried into effect. — 
l'orei<jn OjJice Report, Oot. 8. 
A Big American Produce Company,— Messrs. S. 
V. White & Go , Now York ; Messrs. John H, Davis 
& Co,, New York ; M- ssr,:, Connor & Co., New York, 
are Liuihorized to otier for subsciipiion one million 
dollars of preferred eight per cent. Cumulative 
Stock pentioned below. Thurber-Whyland Company, 
Organized under the Laws of the State of New 
J'. rsey , — New York Press, Jan. IG, 
'X’riE i^iNEST 'J’kAj in Oriental estimation, ia gathered 
from shrubs which have been kept shaded for tbrre weeks, 
so that the leavea are partly etiolated or blanched. 
It iS called “flit tea,” because the leaves are not rolled 
they are merely steamed and are never touched by the 
hand but turned over by the aid of a bamboo stick. 
After steaming they are merely dried. There is nothing 
in tuis peocess to justify the high price demanded for 
tbe tea.^ A Japanese chemist, Y. Kozai, as.sistant in 
the Agricultural Chemical Laboratory, has analysed 
this tea and found that it contains HO per cent more 
theiuo than tho tea made from leaves grown in the 
sun. Ihe woik done by the chemist appears to bo re- 
liable. Ho analyfod tbe natural leaf aud the same 
manufactured into blac.k and green tea. The chief 
difference he found w'as in the quantity of tauuin, 
which was large in tbe natural leaf and iii the green 
tea, bub very much smaller in tiio blaOk tea. He 
maintains that there is nothing injurious in faced tea 
the Prussian blue being only 1,000th part of the 
weight but he is severe in his condemnation of the 
jiractice of mixing with (he tea the leaves of other 
plants. — “ Ceylon Advertiser.” 
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