694 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRlCULTURlS  l\ 
[April  i,  1896. 
alcoholic  beveraj<es  in  general  use.  The  tea  plants, 
coffee  shrubs,  and  cocoa  trees  must  some  day  follow 
t le  lead  of  madder  and  indigo. 
Tobacco  will  be  obtained  in  a siindar  fashion. 
Professor  lierthelot  has  o'  tained  pure  nicotine,  whose 
chemical  constitution  is  perfectly  understood,  by 
treating  salomine,  a natural  glucoside,  with  hydrogen. 
“-Grocery  World. 
Says  ih&Rubbev  World-.— 
Not  alone  in  coffee  ars  the  Straits  Settlements 
becoming  interested,  but  al  io,  it  seems,  in  res]  ect  to 
the  cultivation  of  rubber.  The  Ceylon  Observ  r has 
received  a visit  from  the  proprietor  of  a plants' ion  in 
Lower  Perak  on  alluvial  ri  -erside  soil,  which  there  are 
either  planted,  or  about  to  be  planted,  some  500  acres 
of  Para  rubber  trees.  The  progress  of  the  ch  aring, 
and  the  eventual  harves.s  of  rubber  made  by  the 
experimentalist,  Mr.  Baker,  will  be  watched  with 
interest.  In  the  past  two  years,  however,  a good  deal 
has  been  done  in  Para  rubber  in  Ceylon,  especially 
in  the  Kalutara  and  other  low-country  districts. 
Here  is  an  amusing  paro.ly  of  Goldsmith,  describing 
the  state  of  affairs  in  the  West  Indies  : — 
111  fares  the  land,  to  lastening  ills  a prey 
Where  blacks  accumul  ite,  and  canes  decay  ; 
Plantains  and  yams  mi-,y  flourish,  or  may  fade  ; 
You  scratch  and  grow  cm — capital,  a spade  ; 
But  great  es’ates,  tha,  erst  on  sugar  thrived, 
Once  sexuatted  on,  cat  never  be  revived. 
Mr.  Westinghouse,  the  well-known  inventor,  manu- 
facturer, and  capitalist,  confirms  the  annotnu  ement 
recently  made  that  he  has  “ solved  the  problem  of 
converting  coal  into  eueigy  wdthout  the  intervention 
of  steam.”  In  other  words,  he  claims  to  have  dis- 
covered a simpler  methoa  for  generating  electricity 
directly  from  coal.  The  reputation  of  Mr.  Westing- 
house  is  an  ample  guarantee  of  his  sincerity.  What 
he  says  he  undoubtedly  believes.  And  there  is  no 
man  more  capable  than  he  of  judging  what  a new 
device  in  the  development  of  power  will  accomplish. 
It  is,  therefore,  reasonable  to  assume  that  the  time 
is  at  hand  for  the  discontinuance  of  the  use  of  steam 
generators  in  developing  electric  force.  With  all  the 
progress  that  has  been  made  in  steam  tinginec'ing,  it 
has  been  impossible  hitherto  to  utilise  more  th.in  10 
per  cent,  of  the  power  of  the  coal  consumed.  The 
Waste  of  energy  is  enormous — beyond  calcrdation. 
Of  every  100  tons  of  coal  consumed  under  boilers  on 
sea  or  land,  90  tons  are  lost.  It  is  claimed  that  Mr. 
Westinghouse’s  discovery  will  save  more  than  li  ilf  this 
waste.  If  this  claim  should  be  verified  by  experience, 
the  discovery  would  mark  an  era  in  hu  nan  progress. 
The  apparatus  which  is  to  perform  these  wonders  is 
very  simple  in  consti’uction.  Turning  coal  into  pro- 
ducer gas  is  the  idea.  In  doing  this  the  least  number  of 
heat  units  are  lost,  so  that  the  resulting  gas  contains  90 
percent  of  all  the  heat  units  of  the  coal,  while  this  gas 
has  been  used  with  great  success  for  metflllurgicHl  pur- 
poses,..it  is  not  one  that  can  be  distributed  f )r  heat 
or  light,  so  in  the  development  of  po'wer  the  gas- 
producer  appai'atus  must  be  located  in  close  proxi- 
mity to  the  gas  engine.  Thus  the  gas  is  easily  con- 
verted into  electrical  energy.  Since  the  alte.'nating 
currents  of  10,000  volts  can  be  easily  delivered  and 
used,  and  by  means  of  Tesla's  multiphase  actors  be 
handled  for  the  transmission  of  grest  power,  it  fol- 
lows that  sites  can  be  selected  for  establishing  the 
generating  plants  wdiere  coal  can  bo  conveniently 
delivered. 
The  report  of  W.  F.  T.  McHai-g,  an  assistant 
conservator  of  forests  in  the  Upper  Burma  states  that 
the  rubber  from  the  west  of  the  Mindu  hills  comes 
from  the  Finis  elastica  and  not  from  a creeper  as 
was  generally  supposed.  The  most  interesting  point 
in  this  discovery  is  that  heretofore  it  was  not  be- 
lieved that  this  tree  flourished  in  such  low  latii.udes, 
though  the  major  part  of  the  Burmese  rubber  out- 
put lias  always  been  known  to  be  the  pro  luct  of 
the  Finis  trees.  As  a n atter  of  fact  etplorat  on  does 
not  point  to  any  grea;  increase  in  the  output  of 
rubber  from  the  Mindu  district  but  the  nova  is  of 
extreme  interest  from  a botanical  i.taiid'point. 
The  reiiort  of  the  valu  itioii  survey  t irouglu  ut  that 
country  as  published  in  tne  Indian  7- 'orci'ter  is  of  gi  eat 
interest,  especially  the  portions  that  treat  upou  the 
chats  with  the  heads  of  different  villages  who  are 
but  just  learning  that  rubber  is  valuable,  but  do  not 
know  how  to  gatiier  it.  Those  who  have  learned 
the  w'ork,  however,  are  intelligent  enough  to  appre- 
ciate that  the  trees  nmst  be  allowed  resc  between  the 
tappings,  and  thiu  the  incision  must  be  such  that 
the  wound  may  heal  easily.  The  trees  are  all  tapped 
in  cold  weather,  as  then  the  yield  is  best.  There 
are  only  a few  nren  in  a village  who  are  expert 
enough  to  do  the  work,  as  it  necessitates  a great 
deal  of  climbing.  They  tap  not  only  the  aerial  roots 
but  the  large  branches,  indeed,  anything  that  is 
large  enough  to  bear  a cut. 
The  following  wi  1 raise  a smi'.e  among  those  wdio 
have  not  forgotten  the  Kev.  H.  E.  Uaweis,  who  visited 
us  some  time  ago  : — 
While  doing  some  pioneer  lecturing  during  his 
recent  visit  to  New  Zealand,  Mr.  Ilaweis  occasionally 
found  himself  regarded  in  a dubious  manner  by 
reason  of  his  violin.  On  visiting  an  ont-of-the-way 
place,  where  he  was  going  to  lecture  on  music,  a 
deputation  of  local  big-wig.s  came  to  the  station  to 
meet  him  and  escort  him  to  the  place  of  entertain- 
ment. He  nlighted  only  to  find  that  these  august 
personages  failed  to  recognise  him,  and  he  heard  them 
in(]uiring  of  the.  sti.tionmaster,  *■  Hasn’t  the  lecturer 
come  by  this  train  V”  No,”  was  the  reply ; ‘‘there’s 
nobody  come,  but  you  little  chap  tvith  the  fiddle  case.” 
THE  TEA  MARKET. 
The  Tea  market  exhibits  the  same  distinctive 
feature  that  has  generally  characterised  it  during  the 
season — viz.,  a constant  steady  demand  for  “character” 
teas,  w'hich  have  not  been  abundant,  whereas  the 
preponderance  of  ordinary  quality  has  kept  the  market 
frequently  over-supplied,  hence  the  lower  range  of 
prices  that  are  current  as  against  last  year.  With 
supplies  for  the  season  from  Indi.i  drawing  to  a close, 
attention  will  now  be  diverted  chiefly  to  Ceylon 
growth.  Recent  imports  comprise  a marked  absence 
of  teas  with  point.  The  few  invoices  received  from 
favourite  gardens  realise  better  averages,  and  that 
alone  should  encotu'age  the  manufacture  of  a better 
class.  Java  growth  comes  imre  into  prominence  as 
quality  im])roves.  China  is  almost  a dead  letter,  but 
at  current  quotations  surely  must  be  worth  attention 
on  the  part  of  blenders  of  tea  “ for  ptrice.” — L.  tO  C. 
Erpress.  March  6. 
MARKET  FOR  TEA  SHARES. 
Thursday  evening,  March  5. 
BuOness  still  goes  on  increasing  in  the  shares  of 
all  the  better  known  Tea  companies,  and  the  Stock 
Exchange  official  list,  besides  numerous  daily  '‘mark- 
ings” of  business,  shows  rises  during  the  week  in 
the  quotations  for  no  less  than  seven  out  of  the 
seventeen  Indian  companies  included  in  the  “List,” 
while  in  one  case  (Singlo)  there  have  been  three 
successive  advances,  bringing  the  quotations  of  lOJ 
to  ll.j  up  to  11 — 12,  at  which  it  now  stands.  This 
upward  tendency  now  looks  like  being  intensified  np 
to  the  dates  when  the  various  companies  issue  their 
reports  and  announce  their  dividends. 
Mincing  Lane  keeps  firm  for  Indians,  though 
easier  for  Ceylons. 
Fresh  Issues. — Dimbula  Valley  I’refs.  seem  “ a 
shade  ” easier  at  g prem.  to  1 prem.  only. 
Ceylon  Shakes.— G.  T.  P.  Co.  Ordinary  have  been 
done  at  ‘2(>,  and  more  wanted,  even  at  this  elevated 
figure.  The  Prels.  ask  i‘17  upwards. 
Eastern  Produce  and  Estates  shares  have  changed 
hands  at  4J. 
Lankas  have  been  taken  at  5^,  and  now  ask  more 
money. 
Ouvahs  are  said  to  have  changed  hands  at  lOj  or 
thereabouts. 
Ceylon  Debentures. — Business,  we.  hear,  has  been 
done  in  some  of  these  at  a premium  for  IJ  per 
cent. — H,  ct'  C.  Mail, 
