Feb.  t,  1896. j THE  TROPICAL 
DRUG  ERPORT. 
fFrom  the  Chemist  and  I)i-tuj<jist.) 
42  (,':iimon  Street,  E C.,  .I;ui.  9. 
Annatto  skko.— Still  ill  fair  ilemaiiil,  but  sliglitly  easier. 
Connnoii  East  Indiaii  sold  today  at  lid,  fair  iinality  at 
2Jd  jrer  lb. 
Calu.mb.v  is  iiiudiaiiged.  <!ood  washed  was  bo"f>ht  in 
at  45s  per  ewt.  wliile  for  fair  rather  dark  mixed  a bid 
of  8.S  was  refused,  10s  being  the  price  at  whicli  it  was 
bought  in. 
COCA-LKAVKS.— Quiet.  Ten  bales  were  bought  in  today  — 
Huanoco  character  at  Is  tid,  broken  pale  at  Is  2d  per  lb. 
Cuttlefish.— Rather  slow  of  sale.  Prices  remain  very 
low.  Three  cases  of  dull  dark  bone  sold  at  today’s  auc- 
tions at  2d  per  lb.,  while  for  a 6-cask  parcel  from  the 
Canary  Islands,  small  to  medium,  barely  fair,  a bid  of 
2id  per  lb.  was  rejecleil  2^d  per  lb.  being  the  price 
Gambose.— Firmly  held,  several  good  bids  being  refused. 
Of  26  packages  only  six  sold  at  Ilf.  per  cwt.  for  fair  broken 
pipe  partly  blocky,  at  9f.  5s  for  damp  partly  blocky 
pickings,  partly  ricey  in  fracture,  and  at  Sf  15s  for  ordi- 
nary dark  pipe  of  ricey  fracture  and  dull  colour  Good 
bright  picked  pipe  was  bought  in  at  12f  per  cwt. 
Nt;x  Vomica  remains  very  low  in  price,  although  holders 
seem  disposed  to  ask  a little  more  money.  A parcel  of 
120  packages  small  grey  fair  seed  from  Cochin  was  offered 
today  at  7s  6d  per  cwt.  but  there  were  no  bids  above 
4s  6il  per  cwt.  Another  lot,  from  Bombay,  was  bought  in 
at  6s  6d  per  cwt. 
Oils,  (E.ssential). — Extremely  quiet.  At  today’s  auctions 
only  3 cases  Nutmeg  oil  (1893  import)  sold  without  reserve 
at  Ijd  to  Ihl  per  oz.  Another  lot  was  bought  in  at 
3d  per  oz.  The  following  oils  were  among  those  bought 
in.  13  ca.->cs  Cinnamon  at  Gd  to  9d  per  oz. ; 14  packages 
Citronella  at  Is  lUd  to  2s  2d  (for  one  lot  Is  9d.  per  lb. 
was  refused). 
I’ATCHOULi.— Nine  bales  very  stalky  leaves  were  bought 
in  at  4d  per  lb. 
PIC'KING  WITH  A LOCAL  APPLICATION. 
In  the  Ceylon  rainfall  returns,  the  largest  record 
for  1804  seems  to  be  that  taken  at  Padupola  which 
aggregated  232'71  inches.  I believe  some  I inches  is 
supposed  to  represent  the  rainfall  in  Sind,  but  Muri- 
kandy  (North-Central  road,  Ceylon)  does  not  come 
far  behind  in  1893,  with  its  11'2  inches  I Ganot 
mentions  that  the  heaviest  rainfall  at  any  place  on 
the  globe  is  on  the  Khasia  Hills  in  Bengal,  where 
it  is  600  in.,  of  which  .'fOO  fall  in  7 months.  As  re* 
gards  England,  the  driest  place  is  said  to  be  Lincoln 
with  a mean  fall  of  20  in.,  the  wettest.  Stye  in  Cum- 
berland, with  165  inches. 
In  reply  to  an  enquiry  made  by  the  Governor  of 
Barbadoes  as  to  what  efforts  had  been  made  to  plant 
economic  plants  other  than  sugar-cane,  the  Secre- 
tary to  the  Barbadoes  Agricultural  Society  in  his 
reply  writes  as  follows : — During  the  present  year 
the  subject  of  Tobacco  and  Grape  cultivation  was 
brought  piomiueutly  forward  with  the  result  that  a 
Tobacco  Process  Association  was  formed : later  the 
Society,  in  furtherance  of  the  scheme,  were  able  to 
distribute  Tobacco  Seed,  Indigo  Seed  and  Linseed, 
to  some  forty  pilanters : all  of  whom  have  promised 
to  plant  small  trial  plots  ranging  from  one  quarter 
of  an  acre  to  one  acre,  of  one  or  other  of  these 
seeds;  but  more  especially  Tobacco,  and  to  report 
results  in  due  course. 
The  following  from  The  Australian  Tropiculturist 
refers  to  coloured  labour  in  New  South  Wales  : — 
In  the  northern  districts  of  New  South  Wales  there 
is  a great  outcry  about  ‘‘  an  influ.x  of  coloured 
labour.”  'The  classes  represented  arc  Hindoos,  Afghans, 
Cingalese,  aud  Chinese,  who  are,  it  is  said,  “ousting 
white  labourers  from  their  legitimate  sphere,”  Some 
of  these  aliens  have  even  bought  land,  and  are 
trying  to  establish  sugar  growing  on  an  extensive 
scale.  When  employed  by  settlers  the  coloured  folks 
work  for  less  per  week  than  the  whites.  Many  of 
the  Chinese  have  settled  down  as  fruit-growers  on 
leased  ground.  Their  plan  is  to  lease  an  orchard 
which  is  in  a good  state,  and  in  a few  years  when 
it  is  worked  out  the  owners  are  left  lamenting,  and 
“ John  ” is  missing. 
The  Barbadoes  'Ae/ricidlural  G'rt.vef/c  writes  strongly 
on  the  subject  of  “ petty  thefts”  (pnedial  thefts) 
and  the  leniency  of  the  law  in  dealing  with  them, 
guch  condonation  aud  such  paltry  hnee  as  are 
AGRICULTURIST.  565 
usually  imposed  are  not  fair,  it  says  to  our  strug- 
gling proprietors  overburdened  as  they  are  already  with 
a thousand  expenses.  Many  estates  are  compelled 
to  employ  two  watchmen  during  the  ripening  season  : 
hundreds  of  able-bodied  men  are  thus  withdrawn 
from  productive  labour  annually  and  paid  to  play 
hide  and  seek  with  wily  thieves,  who,  if  occasionally 
caught,  can  readily  afford  to  pay  the  one  shilling 
fine  which  magistrates  usually  exact,  or  without 
much  inconvenience  endure  imprisonment  for 
a few  days.  This  kind  of  punishment  un* 
for  unately  casting  no  slur  on  the  individual.  We 
protest  against  this  leniency  which  demoralizes  the 
people  forters  evil  habits,  is  an  absolute  wrong  done 
to  proprietors  and  the  struggling  Industries  &c.,  &c. 
For  one  thing  we  are  better  off  as  regards  magis- 
trates here ! 
Liquorice  (an  extract  from  the  taproot  of  Gli/- 
cyrrhizi  f/la>>ra)  is  annually  imported  to  England 
to  the  extent  of  GOO  tons : Damascus  exports  TIOO.OOO 
worth.  It  is  also  imported  from  the  West  Indies 
and  Brazil. 
Nelson’s  /home.  Comforts  gives  the  following  amus- 
ing “black  man’s  recipe”  for  boiling  rice:— Wash 
him  well,  much  wash  in  cold  water,  rice  flour  make 
him  stick,  water  boil  all  ready,  very  wash.  Shove 
him  in  ; rice  cau’t  burn,  water  shake  him  too  much. 
Boil  quarter  of  an  hour  or  little  more.  Put  one 
rice  in  thumb  and  finger;  if  all  rub  away  him 
quite  done.  Put  rice  in  colander,  hot  water  run 
away.  Pour  cup  of  cold  water  on  him,  put  back  in 
saucepan,  keep  him  covered  near  the  fire,  then  rice 
.all  ready.  Eat  him  un.” 
PLANTING  IN  THE  MATALE  NORTH- 
EAST DISTRICT. 
A planter  correspondent  referring  to  a notice 
of  tea  land  for  sale  in  the  Matale  North-East 
district  says  ; — 
It  looks  like  as  if  owners  of  old  abandoned  coffee 
lands  and  forest  too  high  for  coffee  in  the  olden 
days,  had  begun  to  realize  that  now  is  the  time  to 
sell  seeing  that  lea  is  doing  so  well  in  this  district. 
When  they  knov  that  three  of  the  smaller  places 
1st  year  gave  700,  600  and  500  lb.  of  made  tea  per 
acre  aud  that  the  yield  of  the  district  has  steadily 
been  increasing,  they  are  wise  to  try  aud  sell  their 
old  properties,  and  new-comers  will  be  most  heartily 
welcomed. 
Though  it  is  an  outlying  district  and  far  from 
the  madding  crowd,  it  is"  alter  all  within  the  pale  of 
civilization.  It  has  its  post  office,  dispensary  and  a 
very  able  genial  doctor  who  is  anxiously  looking 
forward  to  ihe  commencement  of  the  new  dispen- 
sary with  six  or  eight  beds  it  is  hoped  for  patients, 
as  the  exi  ting  buildings  are  in  anything  but  good  re- 
pair. The  site  most  suitable  for  the  new  buildings 
IS  the  old  tennis  court  on  Calloogahatenne  estate, 
being  on  the  road  side  in  a well  sheltered  hollow 
and  a plentiful  supply  of  good  water. 
Taking  the  post  office  as  the  centre,  the  district  is 
seven  miles  only  trom  the  beef  shop  in  Battota,  An 
enterprising  firm  opened  there  recently,  and  as  they 
have  made  application  to  Government  for  a license 
to  sell  liquor  hy  the  bottle  they  hope  to  save  their 
customers  Irom  sending  further  tor  their  supplies. 
Several  estates  do  their  own  transporting  to  and 
from  Matale  and  transport  rice  and  produce  for  their 
ueighbeurs  with  the  regularity  of  transport  agency 
firms  specially  established  for  the  purpose.  At 
present  ihe  chief  difficulty  is  not  being  aole  to  get 
good  straw  at  a reasonable  price.  R2  per  100  bundles 
— and  very  small  ones  they  are — have  been  paid  during 
the  past  six  weeks,  and  if  the  paddy  field  culti- 
vators don  t low'er  their  prices  when  the  new  crop 
is  harvested,  Australia  Avill  have  to  bo  applied  for 
compressed  straw  or  feeding  stuffs  for  cattle.  Why 
this  scarcity  ? Only  once  before  during  the  past 
seven  years  has  straw  been  over  one  rupee  per  100 
buudels,  but  that  was  before  the  paddy  tax  was 
abolished. 
