246  THE  TROPICAL 
and  is  well  known  to  be  of  a superior  quality, 
commanding  a price  in  the  great  markets  of  from  20 
U>  25  cents  per  pound. 
“ In  the  liepublic  of  Honduras  land  can  bo  had  in 
either  of  three  ways — by  direct  concession  from  the 
Government  or  municipalities,  by  pre-emption  under 
the  agricultural  law,  or  by  direct  purchase  from  indi- 
viduals. In  the  first,  two  ways  the  lands  will  cost 
nothing,  or  a nominal  price;  in  the  latter  the  lands 
will  cost  from  $5  to  $10  per  acre. 
“ A new  plantation  of  coffee  will  commence 
to  produce  a profit  by  the  end  of  the  fourth 
year  after  planting,  and  after  the  seventh  year 
a profit  of  from  100  to  HOQ  per  cent,  on  the 
capital  invested  may  be  expected.  The  average  cost 
of  the  production  of  coffee,  after  the  plantation  is 
well  started  and  five  years  old,  will  not  exceed  7 
cents  per  pound. 
“ The  preparation  of  the  land  for  a coffee  plantar 
tion  will  consist  only  of  clearing  it  off  well  and 
keeping  it  clean.  The  young  trees  are  to  be  secured 
from  a nursery  and  cost  from  $10  per  thousand, 
Hurseries  of  course,  are  maintained  on  every  planta- 
tion. The  young  trees  are  planted  from  10  to  12 
feet  apart,  in  regular  rows,  like  an  orchard  fn  the 
United  States,  and  the  holes  are  dug  about  1 foot 
square  ahd  la  inches  deep.— Munthhj. 
VARIOUS  PLANTING  NOTES. 
The  E-state.s  Company  of  Uva  Limited,— 
we  learn  officially,  have  paid  an  Interim  Divi- 
dend of  4 per  cent  for  1895.  We  congratulate  the 
shareholders. 
Coffee  Cuetivation  in  Java.— The  statutes  have 
been  published  of  the  French-Netherlands  Java  Agi'i- 
cultural  Company  with  a capitai  of  fl  200, OUO,  fully 
taken  up.  The  object  is  the  cultivation  of  coffee  and 
other  produce  in  Java. — L.  and  C,  Expretis. 
A Kauiu  Tkee  blown  down  recently  in  Western 
Australia  measured  174  ft.  from  the  roots  to  the  first 
branch,  where  it  was  14  ft.  in  circumstance.  Mr.  J. 
Ednio  Brown,  the  forestry  expert,  cut  down  a Karri 
ICOft.  high,  which  he  estimated  to  be  only  35  years  old. 
— AustralaHuin. 
“ LADY-BiiiD.s”  Fou  Coffee.— We  direct  .atten- 
tion to  an  interesting  letter  from  Mr.  E.  E. 
Green  by  tins  mail.  We  liope  a full  measuie 
of  succes.s  will  crown  Mr.  Green’s  e.xjieriment 
and  then  he  will  indeed  he  a benefactor  of  coflee  in 
Ceylon. 
The  Pineapple  Tuade  of  Sinoapoke  has  ex- 
panded greatly  within  the  last  few  years.  There 
are  now  ten  European  firms  and  nine  Chinese  firm-i 
engaged  in  the  business,  and  tlie  annual  exports 
amount  to  150,000  two-dozen  cases  of  preserved  pine, 
valued  $200,000.  The  pineapple  is  preserved  whole 
and  retains  its  delicious  juciness.— J/.  Timeti 
Cl.NNAMON. — Tlie  “ Impei  ial  In.stitute  Journal  ” 
to  liand  hj"  the  Fremdi  steamer  contains  .a 
],.aper  on  “Cinnamon  of  (leylon,”  by  xMr.  I’eter 
de  Abrew  of  Colombo.  There  is  nothing  new  to 
us  in  Ceylon  ; hut  tlie  information  is  concisely 
compiled — from  our  “All  <ahont  Spices”  and 
“Planting  llevicnv”  among  other  sources. 
English  P.atent.— 4,741.  March  6th,  1894.  Pack- 
ing, tea,  coffee,  etc.  Moore,  J.  H.,  7,  Jansen  Road, 
Leytonstone  Road,  Stratford,  and  Inger,  J.,  28, 
Minories,  both  in  London.  Tea.  coffee,  cocoa,  and 
the  like  are  packed  in  small  quantities  in  a trans- 
parent wrapper  preferably  of  gelatine,  which  is  solu- 
ble in  the  water,  milk,  or  other  liciuid  used  for 
making  the  infusion  of  tea,  etc.  The  package  is 
encircled  by  a iiaiicr  band  bearing  a descrijition  of 
tlie  contents.  It  may  also  contaiii  a caramel  m i.de 
bv  desolving  about  a pound  of  sugar  in  a quart  of 
niilk  beating  till  the  mixture  becomes  pasty,  then 
solidifying  it  by  cooling,  and  finally  cutting  up  and 
coating  with  sugar. — I'atent  Journal,  ,July  31. 
AGRICULTURIST.  [Oct.  i.  1895. 
Indian  Ijamoci!  in  West  Austualia. — Mr.  Adnljee 
Dinsha,  a wealth  Parsec  merchant  at  Perth.  Wes- 
tern Australia,  has  been  lined  f 100  by  the  local  bench 
of  m igistratos  for  importing  40  I ndian  labourers 
without  first  0 itering  into  an  agreement  under  the 
Imported  Labour  Registry  Act. — Times  of  India, 
Sept.  2nd. 
Cocoa  and  Sugah  in  Trinidad. — The  exports  of  sugar 
from  Trinidad  this  season  keep  well  ahead  of  those 
of  last  year,  and  the  expectation  of  a considerably 
larger  crop  will  be  fully  realised,  Cocoa  also  shows 
an  excess  over  the  hitherto  record  year  (1892), 
Picking  is  now  reported  over,  and  attention  is  being 
already  directed  to  the  fall  crop,  accouiits  of  which 
from  various  parts  of  the  island  being  very  conflict- 
ing. The  weather  when  last  mail  left  had  been  favour- 
able, so  that  agriculturists  generally  were  satisfied. 
— A,  Mail 
Tuavancore  Planters’  Association. — X iiieeting 
qf  the  Travaneore  Planters’  Association  was  held  at 
the  Club,  Tri'andruin,  on  the  14th  inst.  It  was 
unaninjQusli'  agreed  to  continue  the  subscriptions 
to  the  ilmerican  Tea  Fund.  Mr.  Acworth  has  been 
asked  to  represent  the  Association  at  the  Annual 
Meeting  of  the  Central  Planters’  Association  of 
Southern  India.  Thus  Mr.  Aesvorth  will  ftnd  him- 
self with  5 votes  out  of  ten  at  his  disposal  viz. 
Central  Travaneore,  Travaneore,  Rannan  Daven, 
North  Mysore  State,  South  Mysore  State. 
Reform  of  British  Weights  and  Measures, — 
J’he  Report  of  the  Select  Committee  appointed  to 
enquire  whether  any,  and  wnat  changes  in  the 
present  system  of  weights  and  measures  should  he 
adopted,  has  been  published  as  a Parliamentary 
paper.  It  js  recommended,  according  to  Nature : — 
(a.)  That  the  metrical  system  of  weights  and 
measures  he  at  once  legalized  for  all  purposes. 
(b.)  That  lifter  a lapse  of  two  years  the  metrical 
system  be  rondei  ed  compulsory  by  Act  of  Parliament. 
(c.)  That  the  metrical  system  of  weights  and 
measures  he  taught  in  all  public  elementary  schools 
as  a necessary  and  integral  part  of  arithmetic,  and 
that  decimals  be  introduced  at  an  earlier  period  of 
the  School  curriculum  than  is  the  case  at  present. 
The  Heat  of  tue  Sun  as  Power. — If  the  coal 
mines  of  the  world  were  exhausted,  it  would  be  a 
relief  to  know  that  other  great  sources  of  power  are  at 
our  command;  that  no  distress  would  ensue  with  such 
rapidity  as  to  di'prive  us  of  a means  of  warmth.  In  fact 
our  own  mother  country,  England,  has  been  contem- 
plating the  time  when  her  fuel  centres  will  have  be- 
come diminished  and  the  burrowed  catacombs  reaching 
far  out  beneath  the  ocean’s  bed  will  have  been  emp- 
tied of  their  precious  deposits.  Then  the  miner  will 
take  Ills  pick  and  shovel  and  mount  upward  to  the  air 
and  glistering  sunlight.  It  will  not  be  a useless  errand 
to  move  towards  the  sun's  light,  because  it  is  here,  if 
all  other  i esources  fail,  that  we  may  look  for  greater 
power  and  wider  possibilities.  It  is  not  ihe  buried 
sunlight  of  the  past  ages  that  wo  need  look  for 
any  more,  for  that  is  for  ever  gone.  The  heat 
of  the  sun,  the  living,  reviving  rays  of  our  parent 
planet,  will  yield  its  energy  for  countless  years 
to  come  to  warm  our  bodies  and  liglit  our  homes. 
John  Ericsson  invented  a machine  with  which  he 
believed  we  would  be  independent  of  the  coal  supply, 
and  make  direct  use  of  the  heat  rays  of  the  sun. 
It  might  have  been  called  a sun  steam-engine— a 
steam-engine  heated  by  sun-light.  The  vast  tracts 
of  the  Sahara  or  the  deserts  of  Asia  can  supply  heat 
that  would  generate  millions  of  horse-power  in 
Kricsson’s  solar  engines.  The  torrent  of  Niagara  is 
not  comparable  to  t e incalculable  waste  of  power  on 
the  scorcliing  surface  of  tliose  enormous  plains.  The 
engineering  schemes  of  today  will  fade  into  insigni- 
ficance in  comparison  with  those  that  the  fierce  ciw 
of  future  necessity  will  force  men  to  execute.  It 
would  be  a curious  sight  to  see  a fully  equipped 
power-station  si'uated  in  the  centre  of  a dreary 
waste  sending  its  threadlike  lines  across  the  desert 
to  heat  and  light  some  distant  town,  th.n  guiding 
the  warm  sunlight  that  it  may  glow  and  glitter  in 
the  mosques  and  minarets  of  the  Far  East. — Electrical 
Aye  (i/.N.) 
