July  i,  1895.]  THE  TROPICAI. 
AGRICULTURIST. 
TI 
Up  to  tlie  middle  of  last  )'eav  there  had  been  distri" 
biited  from  the  Botanical  Station  1()15  plants  in  pots, 
and  47,070  seeds  of  this  one  variety.  The  object  of 
this  has  been  to  try  and  improve  the  quality  of  the 
Dominica  product,  at  the  same  time  giving  it  uniformity 
of  sanijile. 
The  great  quantity  of  cac.ao  now  shipped  is  settlers' 
cacao  of  the  Calabacillo  kind.  The  trees  are  very 
hardy  and  hear  well.  They  thrive  with  little  care  and 
bear  profusely.  The  beans  are  however  very  flat, 
dark  and  bitter,  and  it  is  almost  impossible  to  prepai'e 
a good  sample  It  rests  %vith  the  planters  of  Domi- 
nica whether  they  will  go  on  improving  the  general 
sample  of  the  Island  by  continued  planting  of  a good 
hardy  kind,  or  allow  the  cultivation  to  sink  back  to  its 
level  of  settlers’  cacao  by  planting  the  old  local  variety. 
— Aijrirultilrul  Joiinial. 
THE  KITTUL  PALM. 
The  Wine  Palm  or  Kittul  Palm  attains  a height 
of  50  or  60  feet,  and  is  remarkable  for  the  peculiar 
form  of  the  leaflets,  which  have  been  compared  to 
those  of  our  common  IMaiden  Hair  Fern.  The  leaves 
themselves  are  from  18  to  ‘20  feet  long.  It  is  a native 
of  Ceylon  and  India,  growing  in  forests  in  the  hilly 
districts  where  teak  and  the  wild  mango  abound. 
The  Kittul  fibre  of  commerce  is  prepared  from 
the  sheathing  leaf-stalk ; it  is  used  as  a sub.stitute 
for  bristles  for  making  brushes,  baskets,  etc.  The 
value  is  from  34d.  to  lOd  per  lb.  It  is  said  that 
in  Ceylon  ropes  made  from  the  fibre  are  used  for 
tying  elephants.  Roxburgh  says  it  is  highly  valuable 
to  the  natives  of  the  countries  where  it  grows.  “It 
yields  during  the  hot  season  an  immense  quantity  of 
toddy,  or  palm-wine.  I have  been  informed  that  the 
best  trees  will  yield  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  pints 
in  the  24  houi's.  The  pith  or  farinaceous  part  of  the 
trunk  of  old  trees  is  said  to  be  equal  to  the  best 
sago ; the  natives  make  it  into  bread,  and  boil  it 
into  thick  gruel ; these  form  a great  part  of  the 
diet  of  the  people,  and  during  a famine  they  suffered 
little  while  the  trees  lasted.  I have  reason  to  believe 
this  substance  to  be  highly  nutritions." 
The  Wine  Palm  ends  its  existence  by  flowering. 
The  fk’st  flower  stalk  appears  at  the  top  of  the  tree, 
as  soon  as  that  has  done  flow'ering,  another  appears 
lower  down,  and  so  on,  till  the  last  one  blossoms  at 
the  foot  of  the  trunk,  proclaiming  that  the  death 
of  the  tree  is  near  at  hand.  These  flower-spikes  hang 
down  in  large  bunches,  producing  quantities  of 
round,  reddish  berries.  The  w'ood  is  strong  and  dur- 
able, used  for  agricultural  purposes,  water  conduits 
and  buckets. — huJian  Aijncnlfurixt,  May  1st. 
PIONEEUIXU  AND  TEA  PLANTING  AND 
MISSION  WORK  IN  A.SSAM  FRONTIER. 
From  the  letter  of  the  Rev.  .1.  A.  (Irah.ani  of 
the  Scottish  Mission.aiy,  (hite<l  Naya  Sylee  Tea 
Estate,  Dnoars,  we  (|Uote  :is  follows  from  “(Inild 
Iflfe  and  NN'ork”: — 
For  the  first  time  I have  been  on  the  Assam  fron- 
tier, and  so  touched  our  most  eastern  boundary. 
There  would  not  have  been  much  object  in  going  there 
before  this  year,  for  theii  one  woidd  have  found  no- 
thing save  huge  grass  jungle  land.  But  a few  months 
have  changed  all.  Now,  on  the  banks  of  the  Sankos, 
which  is  the  dividing  river,  is  a young  Scotchman — 
Mr.  Craig,  known  to  East  Kilbride  Guildsmen — and 
with  him  a band  of  Nepali,  Mechi,  Nagpuri,  and 
Santhali  coolies,  all  busy  converting  the  haunt  of  the 
tiger,  the  elephant,  the  leopard,  the  rhinoceros,  the 
wild  cow  and  buffalo,  the  deer  and  the  pea-fowl,  into 
a prosperous  tea-garden,  to  supply  you  folks  at  home 
with  the  cup  that  cheers.  I am  staying  with  Mr. 
Craig’s  neighbour,  Mr  Murray  (brother  of  the  Minister 
of  Greyfriars,  Aberdeen).  They  two  have  charge  of 
many  thousands  of  acres  of  fine  virgin  soil  for  your 
Glasgow  firm  of  Duncan  Brothers.  It  gives  a fine 
example  of  British  enterprise  and  pluck  to  see  a 
fellow-countryman  go  out  with  his  tent  into  the 
forest  and  begin  to  carve  out  of  the  wilderness  a 
smiling  tea-garden.  Rough,  hard  work  it  is  to  begin, 
but  in  three  years  he  probably  has  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  his  own  substantial  bungalow  and  great  fac* 
tory  in  the  midst  of  l,<X)0or  1,.500  acres  of  tea.  And 
as  we  rode  the  last  part  of  the  w.ay  on  Mr.  Murray's 
elephant,  one  could  not  but  marvel  too  at  the  power 
of  man  over  the  wild  beasts  around;  for  there  was 
that  huge  animal,  who  but  a few  years  ago  would 
be  roaming  at  will  over  those  very  plains,  now  con- 
trolled with  the  utmost  precision  by  a single  man. 
During  the  last  two  years  over  300  elephants  have 
been  caugdrt  by  Government  in  the  Dooars  part  of 
our  district.  All  along  the  foot  of  the  hills  I have 
met  occasional  members  of  our  Church.  At  Ranga- 
muth,  about  30  miles  west  of  the  Sankos,  is  stationed 
.Titman,  the  evangelist  of  the  Foreign  Mission  to 
Bhutan,  sunported  by  the  native  Christians  themselves. 
We  have  .also  a school,  and  I had  the  pleasure  of 
baptizing  there  a woman  and  two  children.  Two 
days  .ago  Naiman,  the  Dooars  catechist  for  the  Nag- 
puris,  met  me  at  Piskor,  where  there  are  nearly 
thirty  Nagpuri  Christians,  and  after  a delightful 
service  we  baptized  three  persons  who  had  been  a 
year  on  probation.  In  the  earlier  part  of  the  jour- 
ney Dilbir,  the  Nepali  Dooars  catechist,  accompanied 
me,  and  we  had  some  baptisms.  Every  night  we 
have  a magic-lantern  exhibition  for  the  coolies  of 
the  garden  where  we  happen  to  be  staying ; and  on 
Sundays  we  have  services  for  the  planters.  At  yes- 
terday’s service  in  Mr.  Oliver’s  (Nagrakata)  fifteen 
of  us  met  together.  Not  the  least  pleasant  part  of 
such  a tour  as  this  is  the  meeting  with  so  many 
planters  in  their  own  homes.  In  every  bungalow 
one  finds  a hearty  welcome — for  a planter’s  hospital- 
ity is  proverbial — and  in  all  districts  are  Scotsmen ! 
Not,  indeed,  that  they  surpass  in  hospitality  those 
who  hail  from  south  of  the  Tweed  or  across  the 
channel ! This  morning  I am  starting  up  the  .lal- 
dacca  River,  through  Bhutan,  to  visit  Dongbu’s  people 
at  Tode,  and  to  baptize  some  others  of  his  house- 
hold. A planter  friend  is  to  accompany  me  for  three 
days  on  foot. 
Mr.  Graham  seems  to  be  the  right  man  in  the 
riglit  j)lace. 
♦ 
TEA  MERCHANTS. 
These  tea  merchants  seem  to  have  their  day  the 
same  as  with  other  trades.  Formerly  it  was  .John 
Rose  and  Co.  Then  for  a time  we  heai'd  of  nothing 
but  Horninian,  followed  by  Cooper,  Cooper  and  Co., 
and  then  “ Mazawatte.’’  Twenty  years  ago  the  name 
of  Lipton  was  not  even  known,  and  now  he  tops 
the  lot.  The  others,  we  have  no  doubt,  are  all  flourisli- 
ing,  but  we  do  not  hear  so  much  of  them. — London 
Pai>er. 
M'OOD  FOR  TEA-BOXES. 
A large  quantity  of  “shooks”  are  imported 
from  .Iai)an : they  belong  to  .some  coniferous 
wood,  probably  Cn/ptomeria  Japan  ica,  and  though 
tliey  cost  rather  more  th.an  Simul  at  the  outset, 
nevertheless,  ,as  they  are  tlioroughl}'  sea.soned  .and 
ready  for  dove-t.ailing,  they  can  all  be  utilised 
witliout  .any  loss.  Consignments  of  what  is  known 
in  the  tr.ade  .as  “sjuaice”  .are  received  from  Van- 
couver's Island,  .and  some  redwood,  probably  a 
kind  of  Dijiferocarpns,  comes  from  Ilurma.  At 
first  sight  it  m.ay  seem  strange  that  witli  her 
barge  forest  .area  Assam  should  have  to  depend 
for  the  tea-box  woods  from  distant  countries, 
but  it  is  essenti.al  among  other  conditions  that 
for  a wood  to  come  into  practical  use  on  a large 
sc.ale  the  tree  which  yields  it  must  be  greg.arious  ; 
it  will  never  pay  to  employ  a wootl  which  is 
only  found  scattered  here  .and  there.  Thus, 
though  there  are  in  the  Dehra  Dun  forests  seve- 
r.al  trees  adapted  for  tea-boxes,  it  is  jirobable 
that  the  planters  of  that  district  will  eventually 
use  either  spruce  or  silver  fir  from  the  neigh- 
bouring Himal.ajaan  forests,  .as  soon  as  their  avail- 
able supply  of  mango  trees  has  been  exhausted, 
— Tivihcr  Trades  Journal,  April  20, 
