May  I,  1896.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST, 
787 
fellow  ollicers  tloserve  encomium  for  what  they 
have  aecom])lishe(l  uiulcr  circumsstaiiceH  of  exee])- 
tional  dilliculty,  but  Mr.  Bwelteiiham  would  he 
the  last  to  endorse  the  liigh  superiority  claimed 
for  them  by  less  responsible  speakers. 
COCONUT  OIL  IN  AMERICA. 
CuYLON.— It  is  reported  that  the  Edmonton,  with 
TOO  tons,  had  pnt  into  St.  Thomas  in  distress,  which 
in  all  probability  will  delay  its  arrival  for  a month 
or  six  weeks  at  least.  So  far,  however,  the  market 
has  not  changed,  for  the  reason  that  those  in- 
terested have  had  no  cable  replies  to  their  requests 
for  information  as  to  the  amount  of  damage  sustained. 
Should  this  prove  later  on  to  be  more  serious  than 
at  first  expected  an  upw'ard  turn  in  values  will  in 
all  probability  occur,  as  it  is  known  that  the  bulk 
of  the  700  tons,  as  well  as  the  300  tons  of  Cochin 
on  board,  is  sold  for  consumption,  and  its  non- 
arrival will  be  the  source  of  inconvenience  to  many 
consumers  who  were  daily  expecting  the  arrival  of 
these  supplies  to  meet  their  current  needs,  which 
now  in  all  probability  they  will  be  obliged  to  pur- 
chase at  a higher  figure.  Already  several  orders  are 
in  the  market  at  a shade  under  5Jc.,  though  most 
holders  are  asking  .5Jc.  Sales  are  reported  of  25  tons 
at  5Jc.  and  10  tons  in  lots  at  5jc. — Oil  Paint  and 
Drug  Itepoiter. 
THE  SPRING  HARVEST  IN  BENGAL. 
It.  appears  hum  aii  Imliau  contom])orary  that 
taking  all  the  juineipal  crops  together,  iuclucliiig 
that  is  to  say  tobacco,  sugar-cane,  opium  and 
ganja,  the  s))ring  harvest  in  Bengal  this  year  will 
be  less  than  that  of  last  by  an  area  of  163,000 
acres  or  about  H l-'ci'  ('e'h-  The  general  quality 
of  the  harvest  is  put  at  lljf  annas  against  13^ 
annas,  which  was  the  figure  last  year.  As  in 
other  i»rovinees  the  autumnal  drought  was  the 
cause  of  le.ss  land  being  sown,  and  the  alrsence  of 
rain  since  accounts  for  the  inferiority  of  the  crops. 
« — 
. MR.  CHARLES  LEDGER. 
It  is  not  generally  known  that  w'o  have  still  amongst 
us  (at  Eenmore,  near  Goulburn,  New  South  Wales), 
Mr.  Charles  Ledger,  famous  in  two  hemispheres  for  the 
introduction  to  Java,  after  most  perilous  adventures, 
of  the  most  valuable  variety  of  any  species  of  Cinchona. 
To  the  last  generation  of  Australians  his  name  was 
very  familiar  as  the  introducer  of  alpacas  and  other- 
animals  into  New  South  Wales,  only  accomplished, 
like  his  previous  venture,  after  much  vicissitude  and 
actual  peril. 
It  falls  to  the  lot  of  a very  few  men,  either  in  Austra- 
lia or  out  of  it,  to  have  been  the  means  of  doing  so 
much  good  to  their  fellow-men  as  Mr.  Ledger  has  been 
able  to  effect  by  his  introduction  of  Cinchona  Cali- 
saya,  var.  Ledgeriana.  The  old  gentleman  is  still  hale 
and  hearty,  and  it  occurred  to  me  that  this  journal 
would  be  a particularly  appropriate  medium  by  w'hich 
to  remind  our  raisers  of  “ new  products  ” in  New 
South  Wales  of  the  Cinchona  enterprise,  which, 
although  forty  years  old,  should  be  fresh  in  the  memo- 
ries of  the  present  generation. 
As  regards  the  Cinchona,  Messrs,  libward  and  Sons, 
the  groat  quinine  firm,  wrote  to  Mr.  Ledger  (piitc  re- 
cently : — It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  it  is  entirely 
owing  to  the  seed  reoeivod  from  you  that  Java  is  now 
supplying  the  world  with  quinine.  Some  of  the  culti- 
vated Bolivian  bark  is  of  quality  equal  to  the  Java  bark 
from  your  seed,  but  it  seems  that  the  cost  of  cultivation 
is  much  greater  than  in  Java.” 
To  which  Mr.  Ledger  remarks,  in  a note  to  me: — 
“ The  expenses  of  cultivation  are  not  greater  in  Boli- 
via. It  is  the  distance  from  port  of  shipment  that 
causes  greater  extra  expense  than  in  Java.  From 
where  cut,  the  bark  is  carried  on  the  backs  of  Indians 
out  of  the  Monte  at  least  20  to  100  miles,  then  from  300 
to  1,200  miles  on  donkeys  or  llamas  to  La  Bias  (city  of 
60,000  inhabitants)  ; there  it  is  put  up  in  packets  of 
150  lb  net  of  bark,  covered  with  half  a bullock  hide 
(no  return  allowed  for  hide  when  sold),  and  carria.ge 
to  Tacna  by  mules,  285  miles,  then  40  miles  by  rail  for 
shipment  at  Arica.  Export  duty  in  my  time,  or  up  to 
1853,  20  dollars  per  quintal  of  loO  lb.” 
Messrs.  Howard  & Sons  again  write: — *'  There  is 
certainly  no  doubt  of  the  importance  to  the  Dutch 
plantations  in  Java  of  the  seed  supplied  by  you  in 
1865.  Almost  the  entire  supply  of  bark  from  Java  is 
sold  as  Ledgeriana,  and  comes  from  that,  supply.  The 
only  complaint  that  they  could  make  would  be  that  it 
has  turned  out  so  rich  that  they  are  supplying  too 
much  for  the  world  to  consume.  C.  succirubra  from 
India  and  Ceylon  is  rapidly  becoming  a thing  of  the 
past.  English  Government  plantations  apparently 
fail  to  propagate  your  seed  to  more  than  a very  small 
extent,  and  a great  deal  of  Ledgeriana,  which  is  grown 
in  Ceylon,  is  from  Java  seed.  It  is  difficult  to  give 
exact  figures,  but  the  quantity  of  bark  from  your  seed 
now  produced  per  year  cannot  be  far  short  of 
10.000. 000  lb.” 
Although  infinitely  less  important  to  the  world  than 
the  Cinchona  venture,  Mr.  Ledger’s  alpaca  expedition 
has  rendered  him  better  known  to  Australians,  and  the 
story  of  the  alpacas  is  familiar  to  people  who  lived  in 
Sydney  thirty  or  forty  years  ago. — Agricidtural  Gazette 
of  New  South  Wales. 
Tun  Cf.d.M!  Foicksts  or  Mount  Mlan.tk. — One  of  the 
earliest  acts  of  Sir  H.  H.  .Johnston’s  administration  as 
Commissioner  in  British  Central  Africa  was  to  declare 
the  great  mountain  mass  of  Mianje,  in  the  south- 
eastern corner  of  the  British  territory.  Crown  property. 
The  Commissioner’s  main  object  in  doing  so  was  to 
protect  the  remnants  of  the  magnificent  cedar  forests 
that  were  still  found  on  Mianje,  and  that  this  jjolicy 
was  a wise  one  is  shown  by  the  report  which  has  just 
been  addressed  to  the  Commissioner  by  Mr.  John 
M Clounie,  who  is  in  charge  of  the  Government’s 
forests  in  that  district.  In  this  report  Mr. 
M’Clounie  says  : — “ I have  now  been  all  over  the  Ruo 
plateau  and  the  liuchenya,  and  the  Likubula  gorge, 
and  the  Tuchila  plateaux.  The  district  round  the 
source  of  the  Tuchila  is  by  far  the  best  and  most  tim- 
bered part  of  the  mountain.  A few  straggling  trees  are 
seen  near  the  source  of  the  Ruo  and  only  one  of  any 
size,  while  the  Lucheuya  is  dotted  with  cedar  along  its 
slopes.  The  Likubula  is  well  wooded,  but  the  forests 
are  almost  inaccessible.  On  the  plateau  round  the 
source  of  the  Tuchila  the  ground  is  covered  with  com- 
pact cedar  forests  and  may  be  estimated  at  700  to  800 
acres,  on  that  around  the  Likubula  about  200  acres, 
and  a further  100  acres  round  the  Lucheuya.  Giving 
the  number  of  trees  to  the  acre  as  150,  the  total 
number  of  full-grow'n  existing  trees  should  stand  at 
150.000,  with  an  average  of  40  cubic  feet  of  timber- 
each.  At  the  present  value  of  3s  per  cubic  foot  the 
total  value  of  these  trees  would  be  £000,000.  But  if 
this  timber  was  sold,  as  it  ought  to  be,  at  6s  a cubic 
foot,  the  wealth  would  be  doubled.  As  I have  gone 
all  over  the  woods  and  noticed  quantity  and  quality 
these  figures  may  be  taken  as  near  the  mark,  it  is  no 
fix^SS^vation  to  say  that  five  or  six  years’  more  delay 
in  the  assumption  of  control  over  the  remaining 
patches  of  cedar  forest  would  have  meant  the  entire 
extinction  of  this  unique  conifer,  which  thsre  is  abun- 
dant evidence  to  show  was  once  indigenous  to  all  the 
high  mountains  and  plateaux  in  the  souther-n  part  of 
British  Central  Africa.  Up  to  the  present  I have  cut 
up  nothing  but  dead  wood  which,  in  most  cases,  is  in 
good,  seasonable  condition.  The  supply  of  timber- 
yearly  might  be  considerable  and  not  materially  affect 
the  forests  for  many  years,  especially  as  there  are  largo 
numbers  of  young  trees  growing  up  in  all  the  w-oods 
which  must  now  be  protected  from  lire.  I have  this 
season  sown  a large  quantity  of  cedar  seed  which 
should  be  ready  in  a year  to  transplant.  The  ground 
to  be  planted  must  be  thoroughly  hoed  and  cleaned  to 
remove  grass,  etc.,  and  prevent  fires.”— London  Timeo 
April  li  * 
