7 S 6 
THE TROPICAL AGRiOULTURfST 
[May I, 1891. 
Pbeserving Hemp Rope?.— la order to insure 
greater strength in ropes used for scaffolding pur- 
poses, particularly in localities where the alincsphere 
is destructive of hemp fibre, such ropes should be 
dipped, when dry, into a bath containing 20 grains 
of sulphate of copptr per litro of wat^r, and kept 
in this solution some four days, afterward being 
dried ; the ropes will thus have absorbed a osrt iin 
quantity of sulphate of copper, wlrioh vhll preserve 
them for some time both from the attacks of animal 
parasites and from rot. The copper salt may be 
fixed in the fibres by a coating of tar or by soapy 
water and in order to do this the rope is passed 
through a bath of boiled tar, hot, drawing it 
through a timble to press back the excess of tar, 
and suspending it afterward on a staging to dry 
and harden. In a second method the rope is 
aoaked in a solution of 100 grams of soap per litre 
of water . — Indian Engineer. 
Daejbelino. — Wo have had a tolerably good fall 
of ram here, which has been pretty generally dis- 
tributed throughout the district, aud which it hardly 
needs to be said has done a very great deal of good 
in every way, more especiilly to crops of all kinds. 
This rain was, of course, exactly what all (ea-planlers 
were needing after such a long-continued drought as 
we have had; and I notice that everyth!, eg has been 
freshened up by it. Snow fell at the fame time all 
along the crests of the Singalela Range as low down 
as Tongloo, aud, indeed, as I write, the snow has 
not even yet been entirely melted on the crest of 
Phalut. 1 notice that large consignments of “ shocks” 
for tea boxes are arriving by the D.-H. Railway. 
Most, if not all, tea estates in the district are now- 
a-days obliged to import their box planking just as 
they have ail along been obliged to import tea lead, 
solder and other stores required for unnufacture, as 
the restrictions of the Forest Department are so 
great that it is cheaper to import box-wood than to 
obtain it locally. It is here that tha metal boxes must 
tell in the long tun, and judging from the brokers’ 
reports these metai boxes have answered the purpose 
very well wherever they have been used . — Indian 
Planters' Gazette, March -1th. 
'The Dangers of Sugar Cultivation and 
Manufacture IN Cuba. — There being no sugar cultiva- 
tion of much consequeuca in Ceylon, (the enter- 
prise having proved a failure), we do not often 
quote articles referring to the sweet cane. But there 
is much of interest end value in exchanges which 
reach us. Bor instance, in the Louisiana Planter, 
just to hand, there is a letter from Havana, disclos- 
ing the special risks of the pursuit from fire m the 
field and steam in the factory. We quote as follows : — 
We have, this week, to report a long series of sad 
events, consisting in several largo cane fires, which seem 
to have commenced this year earlier than enstomary, 
and two terrible boiler explo.sions, which, besides in- 
flicting heavy losses to the owners of the plantations 
on which they occurred, have also caused the deith 
of several men aud wounded a larger number. Tire 
plantations 011 which fires took place are : La Rosito, 
Alfonso XII, 160,000 arrobes ; La Gabriel, at Nueva 
Paz, 150,000 arrobes; San Juan, at Roque, 100,000 
arrobes; Mercedes, at Palmillos, 50,000 arrobes ; cslo- 
u 63 , Sangre de Dio.s, at Nueva Paz, 40,000, and San 
Ramon, at Jaguey Grande, 50,000 forming a tot.al of 
550,000 arrobes, equivalent to about 7,376 tons of cane 
that was burned, the greater part of which may as yet 
be converted into sugar, provided that it does not rain 
before it can bo gro md. Ry a strange ooinoidenoe, 
both estates on which a boiler exploded arc called 
MerceOitas, on the first one, nituatod at Molciia del 
Sur, pait of the sugar hou.so aud machinery depart- 
ment were torn to pieces and the doatli of six men 
and severe wounds to a great number were to bo de- 
plored, whilst on the seoniid, situated ‘at Raiuoa, the 
damage was limited to the unroofing and part of the 
wal's of the engino lionso tumbled over. With the 
exception of the fire on estate Meroodos, which was 
lutuiitionally tet, all the others seem to have taken 
place through oarelessucBS. 
The Sea Island Cotton of Tahiti is a beautiful 
silky fibre, but difficult to manipulate. We learn, 
however, that M. Raoul, a French colonist of Tahiti, 
has succeeded in growing a hybrid variety, obtained 
by crossing the sea island cotton plant with the 
wild col ton shrub of Guadaloupe. The journals of 
Tahiti gi\e a glowing account of the fibre and the 
richness of the yield.-— G/o6c, 
Bellevue and Sinnegodde Coconut Etates. — Th® 
information we published, that Mr. Charles Byrde is 
the purchaser of these estates, was derived from a 
source that should have been well informed, but it is pro- 
bable that the pnrehase was on behalf of Mr. F. W. 
Byrde who had recently dispesed of a Kelani Valley 
property of his. A correspoudeut writes : “ It will 
be instructive to know ihat there was keen competi- 
tion for those estates. The offers were as under — 
RL5,000 by J. P. de Vos. 
R17.000 by H. J. C. Pereira. 
R20,000 by F, W. Byrde per Messrs. Rogers & Co. 
R20,00d being the highest offer made, the sale was 
concluded in favour or Mr. Byrde — at the rate of al- 
most R.100 per acre.” 
Patents in Holland. — A good many years ago 
says the Journal of Useful Inventions, the Blinister 
from Holland, at London, was consulted in respect to 
some proposed reforms in the patent system there. He 
replied there were no patent laws in Holland, and 
none wa-e required, the arts in that country had passed 
beyond the period of discovery, and hence the im- 
provements made by indviduals could not fairly 
become personal property. This is the substance but 
not the words of the story, and it contains a tolerably 
large suggestion, supposing the Dutch Minister to 
have been sincere in his views. A much better 
explanation, however, would be to say tnat the 
Dutch have so nearly abandoned the arts that 
a patent law there would amount to little more than 
a tax in the interest of foreign inventors. Looking 
at Holland of our day, it is hard to imagine that 300 
yeare ago it was a kind of centre in Europe of skilled 
industry, ineulding millwrighting, and so on. The 
want of fuel, water power, iron, and timber, has 
nearly put an end to such industry there, and to 
patents too. — Electricial Trades Journal, 
The Gar'imore Fancy Tea. — “The sale of a 
pound of Ceylon tea in Mincing Lane for £10-12-6 
beats even the highest of the recent high records. 
The Gartmore Estate has achieved the costly 
honour of obtaining for a small lot of tea this ex- 
travagant price. A plantation which should be so 
reckless as to send to Mincing Lane fifty boxes of 
tea of equal value would not long escape bankruptcy. 
The method employed to achieve the result is even 
more wasteful than tha process which tha famous 
Boyer recommended for producing a juicy mutton 
chop — to skewer three chops together side by side 
and burn the two outer ones to cinders so as to 
obtain in tho midale chop some share of the 
juice and flavour of its calcined mates. In pluck- 
ing tea the practice is to pick the three top leaves 
of every tender branchlet ; on plantations where 
quantity is in more demand than quality the topmost 
five are taken. The sm-allest, the most delicate in 
flavour of the three, or the five as the case may be, 
is the topmoed, which is also the youngest and tha 
least in size. By picking out this the rest lose that 
flavour which is necessary to impart the bouquet 
to tha whole and sink into the lowest and almost 
unsaleable class of teas. The tiny leaf is so light 
and fills BO small a spaoe that a great number is 
required to make up even a pound or two. Nothing 
so wasteful of the gifts of nature has been devised 
by tho wit of man since Roman epicures made 
ragouts of tha tougues of nightingales, or drowned 
valuable slaves in fish ponds in order to procure 
lamprey of the Jiaept Bombay Qa^tto, ' 
