Oct.  I,  1&95.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
259 
VARIOUS  PLANTIG  NOTES. 
Tur  “ Agricurtuiul  G.vzETTt;”  Oi  N.'.iV  South 
Wales,  Vol.  VI.  Part  7 for  Tuly  1395,  h is  for  Con- 
tents:— -The  B.itluu’jt  Suir,  (Xuafliium  spiiio-ia.'ii,  Linn). 
J HSIaiden.  Australian  Sandarach  — J il  Miiden. 
Econo  nic  Etoniology — A S Olliff.  Tne  rioney  Bee 
(Part  III) — R Helm.  Fruit  from  the  Orchard  to  the 
Buyer — L G Coirie.  Rotation  of  Crops — J L Tiiomp- 
son.  Fluke  and  Liver  Rot  in  Sheep — A Bruce.  Ana- 
lyses of  Commercial  Fertilizers — F B Guthrie.  Prac- 
tical Vegetable  and  F'lovver  Growing — Directions  for 
the  month  of  August.  Orchard  Notes  for  August — 
General  Notes.  Agricultural  Societies’  Shows,  1395-6. 
Ckylon  TiiA  IN  London.— Pekok  Souchong 
The  SaxME  as  L.-vst  Week  and  the  Average  ^d. 
Ur. — Our  Special  Telegram  from  Messrs.  Gow, 
Wilson  & Stanton  reports  that  the  market  gener- 
ally is  very  linn,  and  good  liquoring  Pekoes  are 
dearer,  while  the  market  for  poor  liquoring  teas  is 
very  firm.  The  price  of  fair  liquoring  Pekoe 
Souchong  is  7d  and  the  average  8i|d.  Reuter 
reports: — “Tone  of  Geylon  Tea : Very  firm;  fine 
qualities  id  higher,  common  qualities  ;Jd  higher.” 
Fair  Pekoe  Souchong  he  quotes  at  G.Vd  and 
the  average  at  S|d,  both  shows  an  advance  of  ^d. 
15, DUO  packages  of  Ceylon  Tea  were  offered  for 
sale,  of  which  l-f,(.)UU  were  sold. 
Poisoned  by  Coc.yine. — “ Death  from  misadven- 
tuie  ” was  the  verdict  returned,  on  August  11,  iqion 
the  body  of  William  Patelield,  aged  22,  a solicitor 
of  Bradford,  who  died  on  the  platform  at  the  Leeds 
Midland  Station.  He  had  been  in  the  habit  of  taking 
cocaine  hypodermically,  and  before  starting  for  Lon- 
don he  went  to  the  lavatory,  drank  a quantity  of  the 
drug  mixed  with  water,  returned  to  the  platform, 
fell,  and  expired.  The  deceased’s  arms,  forearms, 
and  thighs  were  covered  with  marks  such  as  would 
be  caused  by  a hypodermic  needle,  and  a quantity 
of  cocaine  was  found  in  the  stomach.  Dr.  Roberts, 
of  the  Leeds  Infirmary,  said  in  small  doses  the  drug 
was  a stimulant,  and  in  large  doses  it  produced  a 
kind  of  intoxication.  Eight  or  ten  grains  would  be 
fatal,  and  it  would  be  easy  for  a person  to  administer 
to  himself  an  overdose. — Fharmaceutical  Journal. 
Java  Coffee. — The  British  Consul  of  Batavia  reports 
that  the  cultivation  of  the  Liberian  bean,  both  in 
Mid  and  West  Java,  is  rapidly  increasing,  and  the 
satisfactory  results  obtained  from  its  introduction 
become  year  by  year  more  apparent  as  the  principal 
difficulties  attending  the  preparation  of  this  coffee 
for  the  market  are  gradually'  being  successfully 
surmounted.  As  a result  a marked  improvement  in 
the  appearance  and  quality  of  coffee  is  noted,  and  its 
flavor  is  becoming  more  and  more  assured.  The 
continued  reciiii'euce  of  the  so-called  “leaf”  disease 
in  the  Java  coffee  on  low-lying  lands,  from  which  the 
Liberia  still  preserves  comparative — have  been  im- 
ported and  laid  under  the  streets,  distributing  though 
by  no  means  entire — immunity,  causes  more  confi- 
dence to  be  felt  in  the  latter,  and  many  lands  which 
have  suffered  most  severely  from  the  ravages  of  this 
disease  in  the  Arabian  plant  are  being  re-planted  with 
Liberian. — Am.  Grocer. 
The  Influence  of  Trees. — As  far  as  influence  upon 
neighbouring  crops  is  concerned,  trees  exert  a dele- 
terious influence  upon  the  immediately  adjoining 
portions  of  either  by  their  shade — and  some  species 
are  shadier  than  others,  hence  a difference  in  degree 
of  effect — or  by  their  competition  for  moisture.  Some 
kinds,  like  cottonwoods,  willows,  and  elms,  require 
not  only  more  water  than  others,  but  their  root 
systems  are  capable  of  rapid  and  enormous  extension 
in  search  of  water,  so  that  thijir  influence  is  far- 
reaching.  Grape-vines  are  of  the  Scime  nature,  so 
that  it  is  almost  useless  to  cultivate  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  a vine-yard,  unless  the  soil  contaim  a 
superabundance  of  moisture.  The  taproot  trees  are 
less  injurious,  because  they  supply  themselves  from 
greater  depths ; while  the  shallow-rooted  ones,  like 
black  locust,  beech,  spruce,  Ac.,  compete  on  the  same 
level  with  the  annual  crops. — Public  Oimian. 
The  Coekee  Cror  oi-  Liiieri.v  lia^  proved  an 
alino.st  entire  failure  tliis  season.  'Flie  prices  for 
Ceylon  and  Straits  croi)s  of  Liberian  ouglit  to 
rise. 
hLUFFV  Tea  Dust. — It  is  ratlier  extraordinary 
that  iVir.  Peter  Shoi  t ca:i  nowliere  in  tlie  Dim- 
hula  district,  find  ;i  planter  willing  to  supply 
the  lliilly  dust  of  the  tea,  now  either  sold  to 
natives  or  burnt.  We  suppose  the  difficulty 
is  to  make  up  a sullicient  ([uanlity.  If  Mr. 
Short  or  the  linn’s  Agent  would  start  a cart  or 
carts  to  itinerate  and  call  at  every  stoi-e  once- 
a-week,  we  should  think  all  the  Huffy  dust  could 
be  secured  with  the  minimum  of  inconvenience  to 
the  planters.  It  certainly  does  not  seem  busi- 
nesslike for  a bye-product  worth  3d  to  4d  alb.  to 
be  comparatively  wasted  or  worse  than  wasted. 
“ Triangular  ” verms  “ Square  ” Planting  is  a 
subject  exercising  Tea  planters  in  some  places  up 
North.  With  the  same  distance  between  the  trees, 
the  former  system  seems  to  be  the  most  economical 
as  far  as  ground  is  concerned,  bringing  in  2,012'18 
trees  to  the  acre,  against  1,712  47  on  the  “square” 
method.  Triangular  planting  too,  is  said  to  possess 
the  advantage  of  simplicity  of  execution.  'This  is  the 
method  given  in  the  I'lanter:  Measure  out  abase  line  on 
Hat  land  if  possible.  On  the  base  line  take  any  number 
of  stakes,  say,  when  planting  5 feet  by  5 feet,  take 
21  stakes  (20  spaces).  Have  two  chains  of  100  feet 
each,  lay  them  out  to  t';c  front  from  the  1st  and 
the  21st  stakes,  and  makes  the  ends  meet,  holdin" 
them  straight  and  tight,  put  in  a stake  and  there  is 
the  apex  of  your  first  triangle.  Then  lay  the  chains 
from  the  21st  to  41st,  ma.ke  another  triangle,  and 
so  on  ; the  triangles  can  be  filled  in  by  small 
boys.  Simple  enough  indeed  for  anyone. 
Cinchona  Plantations.— There  are  nearly  four 
million  living  cinchona  plants  at  the  Government 
plantation  in  Sikkim  and  Nimbong.  The  outturn  of 
the  cinchona  factory  during  1891-95  was  8, .318  lb. 
of  sulphate  of  quinine,  the  produce  of  393,150  Iff 
of  yellow  bark,  and  4,032  lb.  of  cinchona  febrifuge^ 
the  yield  from  105,560  lb.  of  red  bark.  The  outturn’ 
in  1893-94  was  4,765  lb.  of  quinine  from  230,100  lb. 
of  yellow  bark  and  3,848  lb.  of  the  febrifuge  from 
91,800  lb.  of  red  bark.  Thus,  while  it  took  nearly 
24  lb.  of  red  bark  to  yield  a pound  of  febrifuge 
in  the  previous  year,  26  1b.  of  the  bark  were  required 
for  the  manufacture  of  a pound  of  febrifuge  durin" 
the  year  under  review.  On  the  other  hind,  in  order 
to  produce  a pound  of  quinine,  47  lb.  of  yellow  bark 
wore  required  during  18.11-95,  against  18  1b.  in  Uie 
previous  year.  Owing  to  the  increased  demand  for 
quinine,  two  or  three  hundred  addition.il  acres  have 
been  prepared  for  being  planted  with  new  trees. 
Pioneer,  Sept.  7. 
Official  Retailers  of  Quinine  in  Italy.— A pro- 
position exciting  a great  deal  of  indignation  among 
Italian  pharmacists  has  just  been  presented  in  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  by  Signor  Garlanda,  who 
wishes  the  Government  to  supply  sulphate  of  quinine 
in  1 gramme  tube.s  to  the  general  public  at  10  cen- 
times each,  through  the  licensed  vendors  of  tobacco 
and  salt  (this  latter  is  a dutiable  article  in  Italy) 
This  bill  reads  as  follows:  “ For  public  and  hygienic 
reasons  the  Minister  of  Finance  is  empowered  to 
furnish  to  the  general  public  sulphate  of  quinine  by 
means  of  the  veadors  of  dutiable  articles.  The  sulphate 
of  quinine  shall  be  supplied  to  the  vendors  in  hermeti- 
cally sealed  glass  tubes,  each  containing  1 gramm 
Upon  each  tubes  shall  be  placed  a stamp  value  !o  cen- 
times,^ which  will  be  the  selling  price  of  the  said 
tube.”  'The  Neapolitan  pharmacists  at  once  tele- 
graphed to  the  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Rome 
in  those  terms  : “ The  Neapolitan  pharmacists  strongly 
protest  against  the  proposition  Garlanda,  which  viola- 
ting sanitary  law,  injuries  vested  interests  and  gravely 
offends  professional  dignity.”  Besides  the  Neapoli- 
tans, the  chemists  of  Florence  and  Venice,  as  well  as 
the  pharmaceutical  associations  in  Italy  generallv 
arc  actively  agitating  the  rejectiou  of  this  unjust 
aud  illogical  bill.— Ibid.  ^ 
