566  THE  TROPICAL 
VAIUOUS  PLANTING  NUTES. 
Gomi-auati\  K N'ai.uk  ok  Kick,  Wheat  and 
Potato  as  Nl'TKIENTS. — A correspondeiit  writes: 
— I shall  tliank  you  to  let  me  know  whether 
rice,  wheat,  or  potato,  is  more  nonrishin"  ?”  The 
order  in  nutrient  value  is  (1)  wdieat,  (2)  rice, 
(3)  i)otato.  The  last  contains  7o  per  cent  of  water. 
A Cinchona  Manufactory  in  Java.— It  ap- 
pears, from  a prospectus  received  by  the  Java 
pode,  that  a quinine  factory  is  really  to  be  built 
in  Bandoeng.  Idie  ground  has  already  been  ac- 
([uired,  and  permission  obtained  to  build.  The  work 
is  to  be  done  by  Mr.  H.  J.  van  Prehn.  C.s.  ; and 
when  the  manufactory,  estimated  at  a capacity 
of  80,000  kilograms  of  quinine,  is  ready,  it  will 
be  taken  over  for  /'250,000  (its  cost  is  not  stated) 
by  an  anonymous  company  lloated  with  a capital 
of  /500,000,  of  which  /300,000  will  be  first  issued. 
The  cost  of  manufacturing  is  estimated  at_/o  b^r 
a kilogram  of  quinine  ; and,  as  the  planters  will  be 
charged  /6,  there  will  be  a prolit  of /I. 
There  is  a S.mai.l  Coffee  Plantation  in 
the  Matang  District,  wdiich  is  said  to  be  an 
ideal  one,  ami  the  trees  are  the  healthiest  in 
the  State  and  bearing  superbly.  It  is  the  jiroperty 
of  a Malay.  On  the  Jebong  Estate,  too,  some  of 
the  plants,  planted  in  March  last,  are  said  to  be 
already  in  blossom.  It  has  been  said  that  coffee 
planting  on  low  land  is  a mistake,  and  that  the  trees 
soon  wither  away.  The  Pero/c  Pioneer  is  given  to 
understand  that  the  idea  is  erroneous,  and  that  so 
me  trees  planted  in  the  Magistrate’s  compound  at 
Parit  Buntar,  some  lifteeu  years  ago,  are  still  in 
sple.ndid  condition  and  bearin'^. — J/.  J/foY,  Jan.  2."i. 
Coffee  in  India. — TheToju’s  of  India,  referring 
to  the  statistics  of  coffee  cultivation  which  we 
quoted  yesterday,  remarked  : — “The  industry  can 
hardly  be  said  to  be  a very  flourishing  one,  for 
despite  a considerable  increase  in  acreage  in  1894, 
the  yield  was  only  a little  over  thirty-five  and 
a-<iuarter  million  pounds,  or  hardlj'  more  than 
that  of  the  preceding  year.”  Nothing  could  be 
more  fallacious  than  this,  says  the  Madrafi  Mail, 
for  not  only  is  the  industiy  more  stable  and 
jtrosperous  now  than  it  ever  has  been  before, 
lint  we  very  much  doubt  whether  during  any 
one  quinquennium  since  coffee  was  first  taken 
in  hand  by  Europeans  in  Souihern  India  fifty- 
five  years  ago,  the  average  annual  profits  cal- 
culated over  thcwholc  area  of  actual  (uiltivation 
have  been  so  great  as  during  the  jiast  five  j'ears. 
The  Vanilla  Genus. — At  a meeting  of  theLin- 
nean  Society  held  on  Dec.  19,  Mr.  II.  A.  llolfe 
gave  an  abstract  of  a i)ai)or  entitled  ‘ A Kevision 
of  the  Genus  Vanilla,’  in  which  some  50  siteeies 
were  enumerateil  17  of  which  were  new,  though  five 
of  them  had  been  ])reviously  confused  with  older 
forms.  The  plants  in  this  genus  were  describeil  as 
tall  forest  climbers,  some  of  them  leafless,  found 
almost  throughout  the  troidcs,  though  generally 
somewhat  local  in  their  distribution.  Uf  the  s])ecies 
described,  29  were  American,  11  Asiatic,  and  1" 
,\frican.  Six  of  the  American  species  have  aro- 
matic fruits,  and  three  of  them  are  well-kiiown  in 
<a)mmerce,  though  only  one  of  them,  ]'nnilln  plani- 
folia  (often  confused  with  other  s|)ecies),  is  largely 
cultivated  as  an  economic  i)lant.  Mr.  Ilolfc  gave 
an  account  of  the  morphology  and  mode  of  fertili- 
zation of  the  genus,  its  allinities  and  geographical 
distribution,  and  an  enumeration  of  the  s])ccies  with 
descriptions  As  indicating  a still  imperfect  know- 
ledge of  the  genus,  he  remarked  that  it  was  even 
now  uncertain  to  what  species  the  ]»eruvian  ))lant 
with  aromatic  fruits  belonged  which  was  noticed 
by  Humboldt  more  than  eighty  years  ago.  The 
jtaper  was  illustrated  by  a series  of  carefully  made 
drawings.— Af/iegcgani,  Jan-  IL 
AGRICULTURIST.  [Fer  i,  1896. 
The  Season  in  Maukas. — On  Tuesday  the  Board 
of  llevenue  telegraphed  to  the  Government  of  India 
for  the  week  ending  the  25th  instant  as  follows: — 
“ No  rain  except  scattered  showers  in  parts  of  Viza- 
gapatain.  Irrigation  supplies  are  adequate  except 
in  the  Southern  districts.  Some  sowings  are  still 
made  in  places.  Standing  crops  are  generally  fair. 
Harvests  continue  with  generally  a fair  outturn. 
Pasture  and  fodder  are  generally  sufficient  Cattle 
is  in  good  condition.  Prices  are  falling  in  the  Southern 
districts,  stationary  elsewhere.” — M.  Mail,  Jan.  30. 
The  Wvna.vd.— Commenting  on  the  article  %ve 
had  recently,  the  Madras  Mad  .says: — We  have 
steadily  advocated  the  cultivation  of  Lea  here, 
and  some  two  years  ago  we  took  occasion  to 
point  out  that  there  was  no  need  for  Ce3don  to 
fear  any  extensions  in  the  Wynaad,  as,  com- 
parativel.y  speaking,  it  was  but  a small  district. 
With  reference  to  Mr.  William  Taylor’s  remark 
regarding  the  jiU  of  tea,  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  during  the  last  two  or  three  j'ears  only 
good  pedigree  seed  has  been  used.  There  are 
now  in  the  Wymiad  some  8U0  acres  of  j’oung  tea, 
from  one  to  three  years  old,  all  of  which  are 
planted  uj)  with  bushes  of  an  irreproachable 
jut. 
Society  of  Art.s  (Indian  Section).— Mr. 
George  Curzon,  M.P. , was  to  jireside  at  the 
opening  meeting  of  the  Indian  Section  of  the 
Society  of  Arts  on  Jan.  16,  when  Colonel  II.  G. 
Woodthorpe,  c. IJ. , lately  on  special  duty  in  the 
Mekong  Valley,  was  to  read  a paper  on  “ The 
Shan  Hills ; tlieir  Peoples  and  Products.”  The 
jjaper  was  to  be  illustnated  by  lantern  views  of 
sketches  made  on  the  spot  bj-  Colonel  Wood- 
thorpe. Other  i)apers  will  be  read  during  the 
Session  as  follows: — Sir  James  Lyall,  G.c.i.E., 
on  “ Punjab  Irrigation”;  Mr.  J.  H.  Glass,  c.i.E., 
Chief  ‘Engineer,  Public  M’orks  Department,  Ben- 
gal, on  “ The  Great  Landslip  at  Gohna  in 
Gurhwal,  and  the  measures  adopted  to  prevent 
serious  loss  of  life”;  Mr.  Walter  II.  I.awrence, 
I.C..S.,  C.I.E.,  on  “ Kashmir  : its  Peo]>le  and  its 
Products  ”;  Mr.  C.  Tripp  (formerly  of  .Sumatra) 
on  “ The  Tobacco  Industry'  of  India  and  the 
h’ar  East  ”:  Mr.  G.  W.  Christison,  on  “ Tea 
Planting  in  the  Darjeeling  ”;  and  Captain  Charles 
llolleston  on  “ The  Deserted  City  of  Hampi.” 
Sir  Charles  Crosthwaite,  who  was  Lieut. -Governor 
of  the  North-West  Provinces  when  the  Gohna 
disaster  occurred,  will  pre.side  at  the  reading  of 
Mr.  Glass’s  iia))er. 
The  “ Indian  Fouester”  for  December  1895  has 
the  following  contents : — I.  Original  Articles  and 
Translations — Recruitment  of  Officers  for  the  Indian 
Forest  Service,  by  C.G.R.  Pruning  Spicorraic  Branches 
of  Oak,  by  ‘H  H’  with  translation;  Is  the  Lantana 
,a  Friend  or  an  F.neniy  ?;  II.  Correspondence — Do- 
minated Trees,  letter  from  ('.  P..  Fisher;  P'lowering 
of  Strobilanthes,  letter  from  .1.  Ji.  Ij  IMcG;  The  word 
‘ Siwalik'  letters,  from  E.  Me  A.  M.  and  iu.  Rama  Rao; 
Ilow  to  Utilize  Papilionaceous  Plants,  letter  tromll-H. 
The  Patiala  Western  Siwaliks,  letter  from  G S.  Hart; 
III.  Official  Papers  and  Intelligence — The  Ileorgam- 
zation  of  the  Provincial  and  Imperial  Services;  Al- 
teration of  the  Forest  School  llnlcs;  D’Aroy’s  Working 
Phans’.  TV.  Reviews  Manual  of  Forestry  \'ol. 
fll.  k'orest  Management  by  I >r.  Sehlieh,  ( '.T.E.;  Th.' 
‘Forester,’  an  American  Illustrated  Forestry  Ma^.-:ine; 
Poorest  Administration  in  Jeypore,  in  1891;  Forest 
Administration  in  Jodhpore,  in  1891-95.  A'].  Extracts, 
Notes  and  (.Uieries — Manufacture  of  Camphor  in 
P’orniosa;  Planting  Shifting  Sands  on  the  Sea-Coast; 
Holigarna  and  its  Blistering  Principles;  The  Indian 
Forest  Department  and  Cooper’s  Hill.  VII.  Timber 
and  Produce  Trade— Chnrcliill  and  Sim’s  Circular, 
November  1895;  Market  Rates  for  Produce;  Average 
Selling  Rates  in  N.W.-P.  in  November  1895.  VIlI. 
Extracts  from  Official  Gazettes.  Appendix  Series- 
Agricultural  Ledger— Acacia  Catechu. 
