312 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov. I, 181^7. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Tropical Fruits. — Tt is surprising we do not see 
more tropical fruits in the markets. Wbat Vi^ould 
attract more attention at large dinner-parties during 
Gliristmas-time than a dish of Custard Apples or 
Avocado Pears ? They would add the variety and 
change so much needed, the flavour is so unlike that of 
our own native fruits. The two fruits mentioned I 
can recommend as being very palatable. The Melon- 
Pear, frequently seen two or three years since, has 
not gained favour in this country. The Loquat (Erio- 
botrya Japonioa) I am not acquainted with. I had a 
large plant, but was not successful in fruiting it, I 
should be interested to know if it has produced 
edible fruits in this country [often], W. H. Clarke, 
"Wellington, Somerset. — Gardeners’ Chronicle, Sept. 4. 
Local Tea Companies and Eesebve Funds. 
— In his rejoinder to recent criticism our evening 
contemporary takes special care to ignore the 
all-important reason given by a mercantile 
authority and ourselves for the course pursued 
by the Directors of Rupee Tea Companies with 
the full approval of their shareholders. The 
latter being nearly all in the Colony and busy 
on their own account, did not— and do not — want 
their money locked up in a reserve, lying idle 
at the bank ; but preferred to get a full share 
of their Companies’ earnings, in order to invest 
on their own account. For our contemporary to 
pose as superior in sagacity and business apti- 
tude to the mass of the Directors and share- 
holders in local Companies, is rather ridiculous ! 
Vanilla Cultivation in Seychelles.— Governmeut 
House, Seychelles, Sep. 25th, 1896. Sir, — I have the 
honour to report that the result of the Vanilla crop 
for this year is most satisfactory. The crop up to 
the present (it is not quite gathered) is returned 
at 40,000 lb., and has realised over half a million. 
The prices have been exceptionally high owing, I 
am told, to a reduced exportation of "Vanilia from 
Mexico. Seychelles Vanilla is now well and favour- 
ably known" both in London and Paris markets. — I 
have, &c., (Signed) H. Cockburn Stewart, Admistrator. 
To the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, M.P., &o., &c. 
Extract from Colonial Reports, Annual. No. 182. Sey- 
chelles. Annual Report for 1895, p. 9. Next to coconut 
oil Vanilla is our most important produce, and in a 
good year the crop gives a return of about R400,000. 
Unfortunately vanilla is a most capricious plant, 
and, whereas we may have a good crop for two 
consecutive years, we may have also three, or even 
four, years without any crop at all. — Ken- Bulletin. 
[One planter gets as much as 80s or 32s 6d per lb. for 
his Vanilla. For 1897, we believe, the crop will not 
exceed 25,0001b. — Ed. T.Ai\ 
Longevity of Seeds. — Botanists, who have reason 
to revere the name of de Candolle, will read the 
following note with sympathy, not only for its in- 
orinsic interest, but also as the production of one of 
the fourth generation of this famous botanical family. 
M. Auguste de Candolle, who now writes to us, is the 
great grandson of Auguste Pyramus de Candolle, who 
died in 1841. With reference to M, Ch. Naudin’s 
paper on the longevity of seeds and their preservation 
in the earth, referred to in a recent number of the 
Gardeners' Chronicle, the following facts may be of 
interest. Some time ago, I was put in possession of 
some earth which had been dug up in Peru, n ar 
the Amazon River. Less than four days after the 
earth had been plac'd in two large germinating pans 
in a hothouse, a species of grass began to spring up, 
which proved to be Bleusine indica, Stead., and of 
which I .subsequently counted over a hundred plants. 
I also detected Vandellia Crustacea, Benth., a Spurge, 
and a species of Verbenacese, perhaps new. These 
species all flowered and produced seed in due course. 
No doubt, with proper care, and had the Eleusine 
been kept down, many more distinct species might 
have been reared. Anej. de Candolle, Geneva.” — Gar- 
dencTs Chronicle, Sept. 4, 
New Garden Plant.s at Keyv in 1896.— 
Kendrickia Walkeri, Thw. (G.C. 1896, xx., ,394.) 
Melastomacepe. S. Described as one of the most 
beautiful of Ceylon plants. It is a climber with 
creeping ivy -like stem.s, ovate fleshy grey-green 
leaves and terminal umbels in large bright red 
flowers. Ceylon. {Ke\y.)—£cir Bulletin. 
The Manufacture of Picric Acid. — On Saturday, 
at the Oartford Petty Sessions, Mr. Bruce, on 
behalf of Messrs. W"allace A Co., manufacturing 
chemists, of Fenchurch Street, Loudon, E.C., gave 
notice of an intended application for permission 
to make piiric acid at their works at Cray ford. 
Mr. Bruce stated that the acid is largely used in 
the manufacture of explosive, and at present is 
only made in Germany. The Bench fixed October 
9th for hearing the application . — Chemist and Drur/gist, 
Sept 4. 
The Forests OF India.. — Few people have any 
idea of the immense forest area in British India— 
a valuable asset which is now being systematically 
conserved. At the present time the reserves of 
forest cover an area of nearly 75,000 square miles, 
and they may hereafter be further extended in 
Madras and Burma, where the work of reservation 
is as yet incomplete. Outside these reserves are 
about .56,000 square miles of State forests some 
part of winch will be brought eventually within the 
reserve area. This means that there are in India, 
practically for all time, forests wl)ich would com- 
pletelycover the United Kingdom , — Daily Chronicle 
Cruelty, Coffee and Rurrer in the Congo 
Free State. — The following in The Century for 
September is from the journal of the late F. J. 
Clave who crossed Africa in 1895 : — 
There is good ground for coffee at Stanley Falls, 
where it grows prolifically. The station is on the 
north hank. Just below the rapids and falls. In 
former times the station was on the south bank, but 
the tendency with the Arabs lias been to the other 
side of the river. All ivory and rubber comes to 
the st-ation of the Congo Free State. No matter how 
wide a road you make, the natives soon have in it 
a tiny footh-path, and tramp one after another in 
single file. 
The state conducts its pacification of the country 
after the fashion of the Arabs, so the natives are not 
gainers at all. The Arabs in the employ of the state 
are compelled to bring in ivory and rubber, and are 
permitted to employ any measures considered neces- 
sary to obtain this result. 
Mr. Giave died just at the conclusion of his expedi- 
tion, May 12, 1895, at Matadi, near the mouth of the 
Congo, Shortly after his arrival at Matadi, he wrote 
a letter to the President of the Century Co., dated 
April 25, 1895, in part as follows : — The administra- 
tion of the Belgians is decidedly progressive. Five 
large, comfortable boats have replaced the tiny A.I.A. 
“Royale” and “En Avant” on the upper river: a 
reliable postal service has been established to the 
very limits of the state territories; the Arab slavers 
have been crushed beyond ever again being a menace 
to the state’s authority ; and the Congo Railway, 
already running over a well-laid track for sixty miles, 
promises completion in three years’ time, provided 
sufficient funds are founds. This line will of course 
supersede the miserable depopulating system of 
manual transport by the native porters (the Bakongo), 
and will, when finished between -Matadi and Stanley 
pool, bring the heart of Africa within easy reach of the 
markets of the world by steam communication. The 
state intends also to carry a telegraph line from the 
coast to Tanganyika, and operations are already 
begun. Coffee of a superior quality has been found 
to grow out here in nearly every district, with most 
promising results ; and, to my mind, coffee and rubber 
will constitute the main articles of pi’ofitable export. 
Ivory is getting constantly scarcer, and in a few 
years’ time trade in elephant-tusks will have yielded 
up its important position in the list of African pro- 
ducts. 
