Fep,.  1,  1896.J  THE  TROPICAL 
It  is  just  possible,  that  these  trees  fonnd  011  the 
Nyuiigwi  stream  close  to  the  i-’ortognese  border  might 
have  had  their  origin  in  seeds  of  the  wild  Zambezi 
coli'ee  nccidentally  conveyed  there.  At  the  same 
time,  seeing  tliat  colfeo  is  indigenous  to  tropical  Africa 
and  is  found  in  almost  all  the  warm  parss  of  the 
continent  which  aro  not  ab.solnte  deserts,  it  is  very 
extr.i, ordinary  that  a fertile  region  like  Nyasaland 
should  almost  alone  possess  no  form  of  indigenous 
coffee.  The  Commissioner  therefore  desires  us  to 
publish  this  discovery  for  the  information  of 
planters  and  others  who,  by  careful  investigations, 
may  succeed  in  discovering'  a wild  indigenous  coffee 
in  the  British  Protectorate.  Msautima  lie  lias  no 
objection  to  tile  berries  of  tiie  wild  coffee  growing  on 
the  Nyiuigwi  stream  (which  is  on  Crown  land)  being 
gathered  by  any  persons  wiio  may  like  to  try  ohe  ex- 
periment cf  planting  this  wild  coffee, — Jlritinh. 
Uentral  Africa  (fazettc,  Oct.  15. 
PRESERVING  FRUIT  AVITH  BORAX. 
One  is  inclined  to  think,  judging  from  tlie 
successful  e.x]>eriments  tliat  liave  recently  lieen 
made  in  jireserving  fruit  with  bova.x,  that  it 
should  be  well  wortli  the  while  of  the  jiroprie- 
tors  iu  the  \Vc.>t  Indies  to  send  a few  experi- 
iiicntal  sliiimients  of  limes,  mangoes,  and  other 
fruit  to  London.  I was  told  in  Coient  Garden 
that  the  London  market  prefers  the  small  limes. 
Although  ,it  is  [lerfectly  true  that  the.  want  of 
good  roads,  unays,  ami  other  shipping  arrange- 
ments would  lie  severely  felt  in  some  of  tlie 
islands,  fur  fruit  requires'  most  careful  picking, 
packing,  handling,  even  more  so  than  eggs — 
and  oil  these  points,  too,  Mr.  Meaden  1-ays  groat 
stress— yet,  considering  the  enormous  quantity 
of  limes  and  other  fruit  that  could  be  gnnvn 
]>er  acre,  the  low  i)rico  of  borax,  and  by  no 
means  heavy  rates  of  freight,  I do  nut  see 
wiiy  it  should  not  pay  to  shi|i  hand  picked  and 
carefully  jiacked  fruit  to  liondon  and  the  Conti- 
nent. I slmnld  like  to  see  the  Botanical  Gardens 
Dei)artmcnt  of  'rriiiidad  leading  the  way  by 
taking  up  the  (jnestion,  and  making  a few  ex- 
perimeiitai  shipments  uith  a view  to  ascertain- 
ing _wliic.li  fruit  stood  the  voyage  best.  I also 
mde-tliat  Air.  George  Christie,  of  New  York, 
encourages  the  idea  of  a fruit  trade  from  Trini- 
dad, as  he,  too,  believes  that  a iirolitahlc  trade 
is  to  he  done  if  growers  would  ship  their  pro- 
duce in  the  right  way  and  at  the  right  time  of 
year. — Colonics  and  India. 
DRUG  REPORT. 
('I'rom  the  Chemist  and  Drur/(/ist.J 
Lonilon,  December  19. 
V.\Mi,L.'i.— A .Seychelles  correspomlont  writes:  “ Our 
v.anillii  iiulustry  1ms  experienced  great  disappointments 
lateiv  : we  have  bad  two  wretebed  crops  in  succession, 
so  that  our  vanilla  planters  have  made  no  protits  what- 
ever for  over  two  years.  However,  wlien  I left  Sey- 
chelles at  the  beginning  of  October  the  vanilla-tiowers 
were  everywhere  showing  up  well  (in  vanilla-planting  to 
get  a flmAr  is  half  the  battle  wont,  and  the  Seychellois 
were  rejoicing  accordingly.  The  exports  of  vanilla  from 
.Manritins  dm  ing  the  last  three  years  have  hecn  : 
111  l.SO'2  1893  1891 
Kilos  17, luU  G,9O0  4,130 
p,\iCHOi  1.1. — fifteen  hales  very  stalky  lea.es  or-um 
flavour  were  oll'eretl  at  the  last  s:lles,  and  a of  tliese  sold 
at  ().'.d  per  lb. 
Es.sKXTi-U.  Oils.— Lemongrass  oil  remain  very  linn  : ii.bl 
has  been  p-dd  on  the  spot,  and  a bid  of  -yid  e i f has 
been  rejected.  Oinnamon  leaf  oil  has  remained  exceed- 
ingly tiVni,  nothing  being  now  to  he  liail  below  fid  per 
0/7-,  it  is  even  said  that  that  ligiire  li.is  actually  been 
paid.  Oitronella  oil  is  again  dearer,  2s  being  asked 
on  tlie  spot.  A considerable  business  is  said  to  liave 
been  done  for  arri>al,  and  fiuther  transactions  are 
expected. 
AGRICULTURIST.  5^5 
CINNAMON. 
TO  Tllli  ICDirOR  “CHKJIIST  AND  DRUOOIST.” 
Siir,— 1 read  recently  of  a conviction  for  selling  cinna- 
mon which  1 lie  analyst  certified  to  be  cassia,  and  on 
testing  my  stock  get  the  following  results  : — 
I’lilv.  cimiamomi : a riococHon  cooled,  and  a solution  of 
ioiliue  added,  gave  a bine  colour. 
Pnlv.  cinnamomi  mixed  with  water  (cold),  and  a .solution 
of  iodine  added,  gave  a .slaty  bine. 
Cortex  ciimamomi,  bruised  in  a mortar,  boiled  in  water 
and  the  decoction  c.toled,  gave  a blue  colour  with  a 
solution  of  iodine. 
The  13.  i*.  says  a decoction  wiien  cooled  is  not  coloured 
by  iodine;  Yours  truly, 
bivei'i)ool.  Gko.  M.  .Slegos. 
I'l'he  Dhainneopuda  is  wrong,  for  cinnamon-decoction 
docs  give  a l)Ine  colour  witli  exce.ss  of  tincture  of  iodine. 
If  the  tincture  is  added  drop  by  drop,  the  first  drops 
do  not  give  a penn.ineiit  colour,  probably  becan.se  the 
ossentiiil  oil  absorbs  the  iodine  ; after  that  the  colour 
remains.  Klnckiger  and  Ilanbnry  fully  worked  out  this 
]);)int  more  th  in  twenty  years  ago,  and  we  presume  that 
the  retoition  of  the  sentence  referred  to  in  the  13.  P. 
is  an  oversight.— Kl)  C.  A D.\ 
COFFEE  PLANTING  IN  KUALA 
8ELANGOR. 
{From  the  District  Officer's  Report.) 
Diuing  October  applications  were  received  for 
land  from  Europeans  and  others  for  blocks  varying 
in  area  from  1320  to  1,000  acres,  each  applicant 
proposing  to  plant  coffee.  The  Resident  has  since 
given  instructions  to  the  Chief  Surveyor  to  have 
2i)  blocks  laid  o:it  in  accessible  parts  of  the  dis- 
trict, and  these  will  be  p'ut  up  to  auction  at  an 
early  date.  The  laud  demarcated  during  October 
comprised  101  lots,  aggregating  515  acres.  The 
balance  of  land  nndemarcated  has  now  been  re- 
duced to  1,885  acres.  Mr  E.  V.  Carey  took  up  500 
acres  on  ths  S angel  Bingei  Road,  and  an  applica- 
tion for  :’)20  acres  was  also  received  on  behalf  of 
Mr  T.  Fairlnu'st  for  land  adjoining  Mr  Carey’s  ap- 
plication. The  land  in  the  vicinity  has  been  very 
favourably  reported  upon.  Applications  were  also 
received  from  Mr  Cropley  for  50  acres,  and  from 
Yn|)  .All  Bosu  for  25  acres,  of  mining  land  at 
Biikit  Kamuning. — Straits  Jjiuhjet,  Dec.  31. 
THE  AM.STERDAM  DRUG-MARKET. 
London,  December  19. 
Our  Amsterdam  correspondent  writing  after  last 
Thursday’s  cinchona  sales  states  that  a very  firm 
feeling  -prevailed  at  those  auctions,  and  that  it  seemed 
apparent  that  the  quinine  manufacturers  were  anxious 
to  have  the  unit  quoted  higher  than  in  the  No- 
vember sale  and  therefore  competed  briskly  at  prices 
ranging  np  to  3o  per  unit.  Of  the  5,682  packages 
offered  5,219  found  buyers,  the  quantity  bought  iu 
representing  the  equivalent  of  1,638  kilos  of  sulphate 
of  quinine.  It  is  expected  that  at  the  forthcoming 
January  sale  a further  small  advance  in  price 
will  be  established.  The  richest  lot  at  auction  con- 
sisted of  10  bales  of  crushed  Ledgeriaua  bark  any- 
lysing  10-70  per  cent.  It  sold  at  42c  per  half-kilo, 
while  a parcel  of  11  bales  from  the  same  plantation 
analysing  only  10  40  per  cent  realised  42^c  per  half- 
kilo. The  difference  between  the  officially  published 
analyses  and  those  made  privately  by  the  manufac- 
tiirer.s  seems  to  have  been  larger  than  usual.  A few 
lots  of  bark  even  realised  above  4c  per  unit,  but 
otliers  sold  as  low  as  21c.  Druggists’  bai'ks  in  quill 
wove  quite  neglected  and  only  a few  lots  sold.  The 
average^  quality  ofioriug  however  was  very  unsatisfac- 
tory. Since  tlie  Java  cinchona  bark  sale  of  December 
12th,  41  lialcs  containing  about  152  kilos  of  sulphate 
of  quinine  and  64  cases  of  quill  bark  which  were 
bought  ill  at  the  auctions,  li.ave  been  sold  privately 
at  very  satisfactory  prices.  A sale  of  fully  300 pack- 
ages of  Java  bark  which  had  not  been  offered  in 
public  auction  at  all,  has  also  been  made.  No  de- 
tails are  known,  but  it  is  said  that  the  unit  paid 
was  fully  .3c.  The  reports  from  the  Continental  quinine 
factories  indicate  a brisk  demand  for  the  manufacture^ 
article, — Chemist  and  Druggist, 
