238 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct. I, 1897. 
Arekanuts. —An estate proprietor writes : — 
“Many of your readers would be glad if you would 
publish a market report for arelcanuts." 
Where can sucli be got we ask v Not we 
think in Lornlon market re)>orts — the great mart 
for Ceylon uivkanuts being in India; but ve 
have never s_en quotations in the Indian jiapers. 
The trade is, we suppose, entireiy in native 
lianiis. 
Radiograpjiv OE Buds. —In a recent number 
of tiie Gardetiers' Chronicle, Mr. G. J. Burcii con- 
tribute.s an interesting article, accompanied witli 
figures, upon the u.se of tlie .x-rays for plioio- 
graphing flower and. fruit buds. Mis Fm.rrl. n.nd 
his as.sistants liegan by evjinsing jilate.s of 'da'.,, 
of dill'erent colours to tlie .action of llie lays. 
The violet glass showed itself mucii more opai(ue 
than that of other colours. It contained alumina 
and cobalt in addition to tlie ordinary elements. 
An experiment was afterwards made with a 
violet-coloured liyacintli, and, as iiad been antici- 
pated, the llower gave dill'erent resaltsfromtho.se 
given by the glass. It was mucii more transparent. 
The sensitised plate, after du\ -!lopment. showed 
the contour of tlie petals, tlie \ eins, and tlie inter- 
nal that form of tlie o\ ary were well represented. 
Is'ortaking sncli radiograph.s Mr. Biircli advise.s tlie 
use of tubes that give very little liglit, and tliat, 
for example, would scarcely give the contour of 
the hard parts of the liand. The aeriferons 
tissues are very transparent to tlie x-rays. The 
more water the tissues contain, the more opaque 
they are. Dry fruits and llower buds give ex- 
cellent radiographs. The seeds are very distinctly 
seen, as are also the different parts of the 
flower. 
J \MAICA. — The report on -Jamaica for the past 
financial year which the Coloaial Office has just 
published, shows that the colony is, upon the 
whole, prosperous. It is stated tiiat the colonial 
public is now thoroughly roused to the importance 
of giving more attention to the eiilLivation of pro- 
ducts. “ There is a grewing desire not only to 
cultivate, hut to cultivate well, and to improve 
the quality as well as increase the qu uitity of 
these veral crops.” The local agricultural society 
encourages this tendency in every way. It must 
he long before the loss on sugar can be compen- 
sated for by other products, but the rate of in- 
crease in the latter is greater tlian the decrease 
no sugar, and for this the fruit ]iroduction is 
mainly accountable. The decline in the cultiva- 
tion of the siiyar cane is gradual, but persistent ; 
the increase in coffee, ginger, cocoa, and tobacco 
has been great; while that in bananas is very 
much greater. Thus twenty years ago 31,6 per 
cent, of the total exports was sugar ; last year 
sugar was only 11 per cent., though the value of the 
exports had increased. Theincreasein fruit exports, 
and especially in oranges, is due to some extent to 
the destruction in the Florida groves by a blizzard 
in 1894. The value of the imports last year was 
2,288,946/. against 2,191,745/. the previous yeaiq 
while the exports amounted to 1,873,105/. Tlie 
population of the island is estimated at 690,667. 
In conclusion, Bir Henry Blake observes that 
tiiongh the year was not one of special pros- 
perity, it was not one of depression in the colony 
generally. Borne industries liavc not been so 
fortunate as in previous years, but (.tliers have 
been jirosperons. Trade lias not largely in- 
creased, but it has not diminished, and the 
value of the imports is greater than in any 
previous year, showing that the purchasing 
power of the po])ulaliou h.as not diminished. — 
British Trade Journal, .July 1. 
The Dumont Coffee Cumpasv Diuector.s— 
have acted wisely in their generation in putting 
£S3,.)00 out of^their tii'st ye.ar’s eaniing.s to a re- 
.sei ve fund. T. hi.s .simuhl surely restore conlidence, 
aii.l Innig np their -ih.ares to |iar one would tliink. 
The Ilepm-i. gh'cn on p.age 23.5 has niiub interest- 
ing infoi-m itioa. 
C'n'’FEE Husk A ; a.v Abtu’Ee of Human Con- 
sum ition. — Occasion. dly orders are received at Co- 
lonibo from the Persian Gulf ports and Aden for 
coffee husk, the refuse thrown away after pulping 
the coffee. It app^.u-s that the natives there boil 
the husk, and use it as a Idnd of tea, or make a 
prepara'ion and mb; it with real coffee. The husk 
of Ijilv-ri i.n eoiiee i>; prcfi-ri-ed to tint of cither 
p’ani.'Uion or native rherry.—Um' 
T't.A (T'l.'l r\ ATI IN IN ,Voi: ITIIOUN Indi.v .v\o 
Cevlon. —.Many of our planters .should be in- 
terested in the chatty and critical letter which 
“ 1874' (an Indian tea [/lantei- dating from that 
year) semis ns elsewhere. E\’en .if there be 
nothing much that local men can appropriate or 
utilise, it i.s of interest, to learn- how 
“manuring,'’ “pruning ' and “ ]jhu‘kiiig ” are 
dealt within the dilleient Iinlian districts named. 
One piece of advice is worth cmi.sidering ; it is 
to speiiii money in manuring rather than in ex- 
tending tea gardens. 
The “ AonicuLTUHAi. Gazette” of New South 
Wales, has the following contents for June 1897:— 
—Remarks on the Object and Method of Soil. 
Auilysis; Chemical Notes; Reports on the Darling 
Pea; The Suppression and Prevention of Tubercu- 
losi3 of Cattle,^ and its Relating to Hurnau Gon- 
sumption (Reprint) ; Pruning, Budding and Grafting; 
Prauiug the Vine ; The Fruit Fly ; The City Abat- 
^irs ; A Tobacco-Growers’ Association ; Influence of 
Bees on Crops; The Treatment of Pells; Orchard 
Notes; Vegetable Notes; General Notes; Replies 
to i orresuoadents ; List of Agricultural Subjects 
Snows ; L-ibel for Specimens. 
Japane.se _ Tea Bureau.S.— I n New York 
“Bra istreets” of July 3rd we have the following 
“business note” : — 
Among the passengers on the steamer “Gaelic,” 
which o.rived at San Francisco this week, “was a 
p.arty of Japanese who have come to this country in 
Ore interest of the Japanese government and 'the 
CentiMl Tea Association, of Japan, to establish 
bureaus for the regulatiou of the tea business here. 
I here is now a bure.au in existence in New York, 
and other bureaus will be established at Chicago and 
Montreal. The tea linrcaus will serve about the 
same purpose in respect to tea as the viticultural 
bureaus in uhe eastern cities do in the regulation of 
the foreign wine trade. 
The (JUEEN.SLAND Agricultural Journal is 
a new publication, the July number being- the 
hr, St part. It is is.sned by direction of the Hon. A. J. 
Thynne, M.L.C., Secretary for Agriculture, and the 
contents of the first number are as follows : — 
To our Readers, Some Things we Need, Oigani- 
satioa amongst Farmers, Agriculture— A Paying Crop 
^r the West, Coffee-growing at Cairns, Dairyiug— 
D.airying Industry in Queensland, The Orchard 
—Fruit Culture in Queensland, Entomology— Des- 
tructive In.sects Liable of Introduction to Queensland, 
Apiculture — ^Bee-keepiug for Extracted Honey, Bee- 
keepers Association of Victoria, A Tropical Industry 
India-), ulibar fC-i-outchouc), Tea Fariners' Confer- 
ence ;rt the Gait.m Agricultural Oollcge, Meat Ex- 
port -liob-ihle Meat Trade witlr Egyijt, Botany — 
OontiTbn.imns to the Flora of Queensland, General 
Notes— Auober in Upper Bm-uia, The Butter Indus- 
try of C.anada, The Brilish Import Trade in Eggs, 
Irickly Pears lor Stock, Panning by the Wealthy 
-'lasses, J he Ma.r,v borough Show, The Lockver Show, 
Agricultural and Horticultural Shows, Show Fixtures, 
harm and Garden Notes for Julv. 
E^^T fhis short paper in an early issue. 
