764 
THE TROPICAL AQRIGIJLTURFST. 
[May I, 1891. 
ECHOES OF SCIENCE. 
According lo a paper read by Professor Maiscb at 
the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, the camphor tree 
is being cultivated on an exteusive scale in Flo'ida. 
It grows rapidly there, and seems to flourish in any 
kind of soil. Professor Maiscb est'iiiate,s that in tui 
years there will be more camphor than orange groves 
in that State. The quality of the gum cbtaiiied is 
more like that of Japan than Ohiua, the odour of safroi 
being quite sensible. 
An American contemporary records the blood-poison- 
ing of several greenhouse workmen through contact 
with a plant known aa the Chinese primroso {Primula 
ohconica). It is a native of Central Ohiua, uiid was 
first cultivated from the seed in England about ten 
years ago, when it created some .stir owing to the 
beauty of his winter blossom. It bss, however, the 
property of irritating and even of poisoning tlie skin 
of some people who touch it, producing an inflammation 
resembliug eczema. The sting of the leaves will some- 
times last for several days. 
Quite recently Mr. W. H. Weed, of the United States 
Geological Survey, has proved that plants of a low 
grade are important agents in the production of traver- 
tine, tulas, and sinter», hitherto believed to bs the 
effect of inorganic chemistry. The abundance of algm 
in hot spring.s has often been observed, but passed over 
as a curiosity ot biological science, in .spite of the 
■well-known fact that certain water-plants extract car- 
bonate of lime from its solution. Some yeais ago the 
present writer drew attention to tiro fact that most 
of the “ coral sand ” orr a certain West Indian Island 
is really the calcnrecus skeleton of a soa-weed, and 
not, as was imagined, the debris of rock coral. Cohn, 
a German naturalist, has shown that vegetation is an 
agent in the production of travertine in the CarUbad 
springs, — Globe. 
❖ 
TEA : FINE PLUCKING AND HIGH 
AVERAGES. 
(From a correspondent.) 
1 think there can be little doubt Alnwick and 
Portswood pluck fine, though they do not admit it. 
The samples at the Exhibition in Nuwara Eiiya 
looked BO. If according to Wilson, Smithett & Go’s, 
account, Portswood only made 20,000 to 30,000* lb. 
last year there is no wonder the average was 
high. You will find wherever they make quantity 
the average will go down, or I am very much 
mistaken. Generally speaking, it will never pay to 
make fine teas unless you could make a large quantity 
and that would be impossible. 
NUWARA ELIYA EXHIBITION AND 
TEA PRIZES. 
A planting correspondent writes : — 
“In giving the prizes at Nuwara Eliya for Ceylon 
teas ot breaks to be sold, — that is, the samples were 
eupposed lo be of breaks to be sold, — “ Alnwick” re- 
ceived the gold medal, and Portswood the silver medal, 
the teas from the latter having averaged Is 4d all 
round for 1890, tho c.sluto never haviug even been 
ONCE beloio the Jirst average out of all the mouthly 
ealcs durii g tbo year. Alnwick for the sameireriod 
was at Is IJd— see Wilson & Smithett’s Circular 
(Ceylon Tea Memoranda for 1890) published in 
March 1891: — 
“Alnwick 66,000 lb. average Is IJd. 
I’ortiv/ood 45, 000 lb. (sold tome locally) Is 4d.’ 
Tho Portswood teas sent to tho Khow, I believe, were 
drawn from tho bulked tea by Mr. William Mitchell 
junr. in iho Portswood tea factory.” 
* No— tho return for Portswood is 45,000 lb., and 
extent in lea being 240 acres, but all will not bo in 
full bearing. Alnwick is down for 60,000 lb. at an 
average of Is l.^d last year, the JJircclorij shotvipg 
2'io acres iu tea,— En. T, .,1, 
PORTSWOOD TEA AND LOCAL SALES. 
The rates at which the Portswood teas were 
actually sold after last sale — Rl, 72 and 62 cents — 
are eo good and (as the Brokers tell us) so fully 
covered the reserve rates, that we think the proprietor 
is scarcely justified in grumbling about local sales. 
No doubt Mr. Grinlinton has got higher rates at 
home; but has he made full allowance for the 
different state of the market at different dates? 
So far from casting reflection on “ local sales,” 
we think the splendid prices realized here for 
Portswood teas last week, is about the strongest 
encouragement to sell teas locally that wo have 
yet seen. As a matter of fact, the sale in London 
in February took place at a particularly good time, 
while a sale here at the end of March with the 
prospect of what the market may be towards Mey 
is a rather different matter. At any rate, we can only 
say: “Well done the Colombo market and tbeColombo 
Brokers that got such splendid prices for Portswood 
teas last week.” 
Ceylon Tea. — The Times reports that a consignment 
ot Tea from Ceylon, recently sold at Mincing Lane, 
was, in the opinion of experts, the finest Tea ever 
grown. It W8S nltimately sold for no less a sum 
than 87s. a pound ; and again changed hands at 
£5 JOs.— a price never before approached in the Tea 
trade. Bravo, Ceylon ! Honour to the memory of 
the botanists iu India, whose labours and di.'coveries 
more than ha’f a century ago rendered such things 
possible. — Gardeners’ Chronicle. 
“ Kew Bulletin.” — The January number comprises 
articles on the West xifrioan Bass Fibre, the produce 
of a Palm, Raphia viuifera. Chinese ginger, the 
preserved ginger of'commorce, is, it appears, not 
a ginger at ail, but the produce of Alpinia galanga, 
which is said never to flower in China but which 
has been obliging enough to do so at the Hong 
Kong Botanic Garden, as well as at Dominica. 
The remainder of the numbr is taken up with cor- 
respondence relating to the pro luction of seed in 
the sugar-cene, and the consequent po.ssibilities of 
new varieties being originated. — Gardeners Chronicle. 
Close Planting or Vines. — That the practice of 
planting tbo Vine much closer together than to 
4 feet is not always a failure, is shown iu a photo- 
graph of a vinery with Vines in bearing (not suit- 
able for reproduction), sent us by Mr. Richardson, 
gradener. Wood House, Stausted, Essex. The house 
is CO feet long, aud contains twenty-one caues of 
B ack Alicante and Lady Downe’s Seedling, planted 
at 2 feet apart. The crop seems, from the view 
taken in October, to have been a heavy one. In 
the long run we think that close planting would 
end in inferior crops for very obvious reasons. The 
weakening of the Vines would commeuce and go 
on with the exhaustion of the border, the yearly 
lessening size of the foliage, aud the size ot the 
annual wood. — Gardeners’ Chronicle. 
Moke about the Gaktmobe Tea. — The following 
is from the Sunday Times published in London ; — 
t‘ Tea at £10 12s. 6d, a Pound ! — A small lot of 
Ceylon tea from the Gartmore estate realised this ridi- 
culously inflated price at a public auction at the Mincing 
Lane sale rooms. The tea i.s said lo possess extraordi- 
nary qualities in liquor, and to be composed almost 
cntirel 3 ' of small ‘golden tips,’ which are the extreme 
ends of the small succulent shoots of the plant, aud the 
preparation of such tea is of course most costly. I 
should like to know something more about the 
‘extraordinary qualities’ of this two huudred-and- 
twelve shillings aud-sixpence a pound tea when it is 
in liquor.’ Does it waken snakes P Will it make goats 
dance ? Will it make to see comets, or feel like the 
Gr.and Turk ? Well, the worth of anything is just as 
much as it will bring. It is a pity, ueveriheless, that 
SardauapaluB and Cleopatra are deceased. They 
would perhaps have liked to invest in a small lot of 
‘ golden tips’ at £10 13s. 6d. per poun d fortheir 
five o’clock teas.” 
