8 ^ 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Aug. 2, 1897, 
tivation of Nutmegs And Mace from the years 1634 
to 1894— that is, during a period of 260 years. 
The third and botanical division of the book deals 
with the Nntmeg-tree itself, and numerous other 
spices that merit attention from a commercial point 
of view. 1 • , 1 li- 
The fourth division is concerned with the cultiva- 
tion, the fifth with the trade details. Not only 
the species recognised in commerce, but the false 
Nutmegs, and the substitutes for the genuine spice 
are fully considered. In an appendix to this section 
of the book are given detailed price-lists of Nut- 
megs and Mace. ,, , j . 
The sixth section deals with the collateral products 
of the Nutmeg-tree, their commerce, and history. 
Among them are oil of Nutmeg, oil of Mace, can- 
died Nutmeg fruits, candied Mace, and Nutmeg fruits 
in vinegar or salt. 
In the seventh division the medicinal and aroma- 
tic products of the Nutmeg-tr^e are considered, and 
the poisonous qualities of the Nutmeg receive due 
notice. , .3 .v. 
In the eighth section the author considers the 
future prospects of Nutmeg cultivation. 
Finally, there is a complete literary catalogue of 
some eighteen pages, which speaks well for the 
thorough acquaintance of the author with his sub- 
ject. A very complete index greatly adds to the 
value of the book. 
We congratulate Dr. Warburg on the completion 
of this work, which will serve as a model for all 
future books of the kind, no such complete mono- 
graph having before appeared. Everybody, be he 
botanist or gardener, chemist or philologist, historian, 
political economist, or merchant, will here find a 
wealth of imformation, whilst the general reader 
will find it a most interesting and instructive work 
to add to his library shelves, — Gardener's Chronicle, 
July 3. 
GATHERING RUBBER IN THE 
FRENCH CONGO. 
Bij Mrs. Martha Nehne.* 
1 — FROM THE NEW YORK SUN. 
In the months of March and April, during the 
rainy season, one sees busy life in the native towns 
of the French Congo. The men are preparing to 
go to the bush to cut rubber. Every woman and 
child seems to have something to do, and even the 
men do not lounge about as usual, but are sharp- 
ening their knives and machetes and putting their 
guns into proper trim. The women are digging 
cassava and some of them are washing it and pre- 
paring chiguanga, or native bread. Others are cleaning 
the cassava with knives and tying it into mattets 
made from palm leaves. This kind of cassava is 
roasted over the fire and eaten warm, while the bread 
is eaten cold and is mostly used on the road. The 
men carry their guns so that they may be prepared 
to kill the game which abounds in the forest. 
When all is ready a drunken carousal and dance 
are given the night before the start by way of 
saying farewell to the villagers left at home. Some- 
times a good place with plenty of rubber plants is 
found after a march of two or three days, but oftener 
the journey takes a week or more. In this case the 
men keep carriers on the road with food for them 
because there is nothing to be had in these parts 
with the exception of game. 
The rubber in central Africa is not a tree, but 
a vine, often three or four inches in diameter. This 
vine generally climbs up the tallest ti’ees, and the 
natives often use one of the vines to ascend the 
tree. After the branches are reached, which in most 
cases are at least fifty feet from the ground, the 
men proceed to cut the vines away at the top, 
• The writer of the information printed here is 
an American lady who for the past nine years has 
been a missionary in the Mayumba district of the 
French Congo.— The Editor. 
leaving only one for their descent, and this one, if 
possible, not a rubber vine. It seems strange that 
the natives cut away the rubber plants and so de- 
stroy them instead of tapping them, but they are 
too lazy to learn any other way. 
After the vines have fallen they are cut into lengths 
of three or four feet, and the juice is collected into 
iron pots. Tnis is a tedious job. The piece of the 
vine is held over the pot, first by one end, then 
by the other until the juice ceases running. Then 
the piece is cut again to get at any juice which 
may have been left in the middle. After a pot is 
nearly full a rest is taken, and this juice is boiled 
for nearly two hours, and, during the boiling process, 
is mixed with the juice of other vines and some 
lime juice, so that the mixture is more sticky and 
easier formed into balls. 
As soon as it cools down sufficiently to be handled 
the hardening rubber is shaped by winding it at 
first around a stick. After a bit the stick is pulled 
out and the ball is re-wound to finish it off. In 
some places these balls weigh three pounds or more 
each : in others, five of them make a pound. The 
purity of the rubber depends much upon how much 
other juice has been added. The best and purest is 
that obtained from the juice without boiling. This 
is only found in the shape of bracelets, because the 
natives wind the juice as it runs out around their 
wrist and let it dry there. When perfectly dry it 
slips off easier. This would be transparent rubber 
if the skin and fingers of the natives were not so 
very dirty. 
The natives often used to put foreign substances, 
such as small stones, palm-nuts, and little balls of 
grass into the rubber ball to make it heavy. They 
were soon found out, and every ball is now cut 
through the center to reveal its mixture. Often the 
rubber is buried for some days because it draws 
the moisture from the ground, which adds to the 
weight. Cheating is resorted to because the pay is 
so poor. It takes a party of eight or ten men and 
boys six to eight weeks to gather from eighty to 
one hundred pounds of rubber. The value of this, 
if all is first-class, is from 200 to 250 yards of cotton 
cloth or forty gallons of rum or three or four 
flintlock guns. Surely this is poor pay for this kind 
of work. 
Still, the natives rejoice greatly if the men from 
one town return with 100 pounds. It seems like a 
fortune to them, because they need so little that 
civilized people crave and pay for. When this little 
fortune is spent and the weather permits, another 
trip is undertaken to the rubber region. — India Rubber 
World. 
Packing Seeds and Tubersfor Long Journeys. — The 
Chenil, as quoted in the Revue Scientifique, mentions 
a method of forwarding and packing seeds and tubers 
which seems ingenious and practical, especially when 
the journey will be long, and warmth and dryness 
are likely to have injurious effects. The method em- 
ployed by a Lot florist consists in moistening a little 
plaster, and imbedding the seeds, tubers, or rhizomes 
which are to be transported in this. This plan has 
succeeded well for packing rhizomes sent from Japan, 
roots of aquatic plants, the lengthened transit of which 
is always a difficulty. Enveloped in plaster, the 
plants, or pieces of plants are in no danger; they 
cannot become parched, and are kept in a satisfac- 
tory condition of partial moisture. It would seem 
that this plan would also succeed under other con- 
ditions — in Australia it is employed for the transport 
of fresh butter. The butter is made up into blocks 
with parallel and rectangular surfaces, to which are 
pressed glass slabs of the same sizes as the sides 
and ends of the blocks of butter. The edges are 
covered with gummed paper for greater security, and 
the whole is then covered with plaster to a thick- 
ness of 6 millimetres. Plaster being a poor conductor 
of heat, secures the butter against the variations of 
the temperature, and enables it to be kept longer 
than is possible under other methods of packing, 
— Gardeners’ Chronicle. 
