96 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
EXOTICS AT KEW. 
Of the many plants in blossom at the Royal 
OTi-dens Kew, at the jiresent time several are 
oV snecial pharmaceutical interest. Among these 
ni-QSalaimm crispum, a bushy plant, native or 
Chili known to the natives as Natri, which, 
uiacerated in water, is used as a remedy tor 
typhoid fever, cither asadnnk or clyster. Ledum 
laiMmi, or L ibrador te.i, a plant or snrnbby 
character native of North .s.ineiica ; the leaves 
ie ;Seemed as a pectoral and tonic, and during 
tlie War of Independence were used as a subs- 
titiive for tea. Viburnum prunifolinni, the black 
haw or stag-bush of the Eastern United btates 
where it forms a muc'.i-hranched sluaib or small 
tree on -rocky hillsides, is valued, for its edible 
fruits and its bark, which is usea as a remedial 
ntrent in uregnancy and uterine diseases. Ihe 
fm-egoing are grovying m the open. 
rMcincA,ox Venezuelan rose, a shrub trom 6 to 10 
feet bi-vh, with bright scarlet tragrant liowers, 
which, '’together with the leaves, are employed 
hv the Venezuelans as a laxative and thebaik 
as a remedy for hfemorrlioids, is growing in the 
uahn-house, where will also oe tounw .,aram 
a mnall tree of the Himalayan y^ion, 
Ceylon, and Malacca, and known to the Hindus 
as^soka, and venerated by them as a sacred 
tree Th^ I'icli or^ange-coloured (lowers, wlucli 
Iraduallv^ecome red, are highly fragrant, and 
are employed for temple decoration, fhe bark 
is mildly astringent and a.cidulous, and is much 
used by' native physicians in uterine affections, 
especially in hemorrhagia.— CAcnusi! andDvugcjist, 
May 22. 
• — ^ 
TAFENA A NEW SOURCE OF LABOUR 
SUPPLY. 
A Matale correspondent writing under yester- 
about a dozen Jaffna Tamil coolies en- 
trained at Matale on tlieir way to Oiknya. Tins 
is'the firs', time Jaffna Tamils have been seen going 
to be em idoyed as coolies on estates, and the new- 
tinniers viir be watclied witli intere.st,astotkeir 
capabii .ty to compete witli the Indhu. Ramasamy. 
t.-'actb'V’N and CEYLON TEfl. ESTATES 
IJlf TOXUING COMPANY, LIMITED, 
Beaistersd May Hth, wi'di a capdal ot £20,000 m 
£1 sh a«s to carry on in Ceylon, India, China or 
elsewhere the business of planters and growers of tea, 
cofiee, rice, cocoa, ciucnona, tobacco, etc. 
s" 1 
E, H^ywaiXsi Lower Thames Street. B.C., ^ 
J. v’aT Blerle, Market Hill, Woodbridge, ^ 
A. B.'^^Scott^il, Bi’lliter Street, E.C., civil ^ 
W. bS!" 21, Billitcr SfcVeet, E.C., book- ^ 
F. iSeT, Central Hill, Upper Norwood, tea ^ 
J. Guildfo'rd Street, London, linen ^ 
RegiX-SrW McCraw, 61, Chancery Lane, W.C. 
. — Investor's Guctvdiun. 
OPENINo’ct A NEW COLONY. 
1’be nnmlier of persons who are now going out 
In Vlombassa, discloses the fact tiiat tlie railvyay 
to Umuida is not only being well and quickly 
mished on, hut that the country Is fomul to agree 
V til tlie emigrants from India. At hist it was 
[Aug, 2, 1897. 
feared that they would suffer in the malarial dis- 
tricts from fever, and. doubtless, such was the 
fate of many ; but the stay of the consiruetiou 
jiarties in the thick c iie brakes and low-lying 
lands within a few miles of IMombassa is now 
nearly at an end, and miles upon miles of veldt 
are ahead of the track-layers through a rising 
country and an incre?.,.-,ingly salubrious climate 
Indeed, in some parts wliere the elevation rises 
from tour to eight thousand feet, natives ot 
India, save those from the Nortli West or the 
Punjab, may lind in rather too cold for pleas- 
antness ; but the European wilt be likely to con- 
sider it a delightful climate, and not only is it 
jirobable that the principal railway .stations will 
be eventually removeil from the t-nninns to some 
central locality, hut that the coming colonies 
will arrange themselves naturally in the elevated 
districts, where itiscool, well watered and healthy. 
— Indian Planters’ Gazette, May 2tl. 
BRITISH NORTH BORNEO. 
(Oficial Gazette, May 1.) 
FB03I ANNUAL REPORT ON PROVINCE ALCOCK. 
(west COAST DISTRICT.) 
The year 1896 has been a most prosperous one as 
regards trade ; and a proporiiouate increase in revenue 
has followed. As contrasted with 1895 an increase of 
51 per cent is shown ; similar to that year over 1894. 
Agbicdliure. — Tobacco The crop planted in 1895 
and supplied last year fetched a much lower price 
than formerly, owing in a great way to the state of 
the market where low Iricea ruled. In quantity it 
surpassed the preoeediiig year by 954 bales, for, although 
Banguey Estate closed Langkom Estate was reopened 
by the New Loudon and Amsterdam Company and 170 
fields planted. During last year, the season was a 
splendid ene for planting. This crop throughout 
Marudu Bay, is an excellent one as regards quantity 
aud quality of leaf ; which is quite equal to that 
planted in 1894. 
The following notes were taken during a visit made 
by me a few days ago: — 
Estate. 
Company. 
0 
1 
Pitas, 
German B. Syndt . 
. 230 
2 
Tandik, 
N.L.B. Tob&Co.*. 
. 1.50 
3 
Bongon, 
ditto. 
. 200 
4 
Bandau, 
ditto. 
. 250 
5 
Rauau, 
ditto. 
. 250 
6 
Langkom 
, N. L. & A. Co. 
. 170 
14 42 
10-07 
10-82 
10-24 
Total fields . .1,220 Gen. Av.10-70 
N. L. B. T. Co.’s average 11-35. 
The crop of 1896 is therefore a great success aud 
Managers are confident. 
The returns of bales shipped from Province Alcock 
during the last nine years are as follows : — • 
1888. 1889. 1891. 1892. 1893. 1894. 1895. 1896. 
130 800 2,664 6,466 4,890 4,497 5,060 6,014 
The sad deaths of Messrs. Eamermann and Breitog, 
Head Manager of the Loudon Borneo Tobacco Com- 
pany, and Langkom Estate respectively were much 
felt by their numerous friends. Mr. A. F. Spruijt has 
succeeded the former and Mr. Van Leeuweu the 
latter. The Chinese, no longer attempt to plant 
tobacco at Kudat. The soil is too poor in the vicinity. 
Mr. Ceole’s Book on “ Tea.”— A review ot 
this new hook will he found reproduced in our 
daily and Tropical Agriculturist. So competent 
an autliority as Mr. John Hughes h.as given his 
opiliion, that in rer.pect of practical information 
for the purpose of the tea planter, Mr. Crole’s 
volume is inferior to Mr. Bamber’s which is 
published in Calcutta, and which we have made 
so widely known in Ueylon. 
