THE TROPICAL AGRlCULTURiST. 
[Nov, I, 1897. 
35 ^ 
planting notes. 
Coffee from British Central Afnca, says a 
correspondent of the London Times, i.s fetcliinf* 
liigher prices in Cape ports tlian any of the 
otlier kinds usually imported. It is far supe- 
lior to Java or llio coffee. 
The Manubing of Tea. — Writing on the 1st 
Oct. from London, Mr. John Hughes says: — 
“YouiTetter of the 8th Sept, respecting the traffic 
returns on the railways for manure duly to 
hand, and I thank you for the explanation. I 
imagine there is very little increase in the use 
of manure either for tea or coffee.” 
SrooniNG OF Gutta Percha. — The question whether 
the tree yielding gutta purcha (Dichopsis Qiltta, 
Benth.,) will produce shoots from the stump after 
the tree has been felled is of some practical 
importance. It appears now to have been disposed 
of in the affirmative : — Extract from letter from 
Director, Gardens and Forest Department, Singa- 
pore, dated July 3rd, 1897. lie Professor Eamsay’s 
letter about stooling of “ Getah percha.” The tree 
always cornea up again when cut down. It can be 
cut to within six inches of the ground, and will 
then throw up shoo;s. Were it not for this there 
would hardly be a single specimen in this country. 
It grows slowly in this manner, but never fails 
to come up again. It is a very troublesome plant 
to propagate by cuttings, but this can be done.’ — 
Keiv Bulletin. 
The Mango. — With reference to the suggestion re- 
cently made that there should be a demand at home 
for the Indian mango, the cultivation of which was 
strongly recommended by Sir George Birdwood, whilst 
secretary of the Agri-Horticultural Society, it is in- 
teresting to fand in this connection that the Govern, 
n.eut of Queensland lately sent an experimental cargo 
of mangos to Loiidon. The fruit was kept at a cons- 
tant tempeiature of 45deg Fahrenheit during tie 
voyage, and arrived here in excellent condition. As 
mangos thrive in the West Indies, no doubt some of 
the fruit will sooner or later be sent over here from 
British Guiana and the West India islands. — H. £ C. 
Mail, Oct. 8. 
GOVERNMENT CINCHONA GARDENS IN JAVA 
AND India. — The Chemist and Druggist of Oct. 2 
in discus.'iiig ihe annual report on the Madras 
Cinchona gardens, remarks 
It is generally know'n that, unlike the Java Govern- 
ment gardens, whose bark is sent to Amsterdam to 
compete in the open market with the barks grown 
by private firms, the Indian Government do not 
compete with private traders in Europe. They 
sell all their product to the Indian Medical Stores, 
and to native consumers — quinine at 18r., and febri- 
fuge at 16r., per lb, The average yield of the 
Crown and hybrid barks treated during the year was 
3'32 per cent, of quinine and 1'39 per cent, of 
febtiluge ; that of the red bark 4'45 per cent, of 
febrifuge. The sale of cheap Government quinine 
and febrifuge to the Indian native population is 
increasing very slowly. In 1896 it only amounted to 
some 2,000 lb. — an advance of about ,10 per cent, on 
the previous year. The bulk of these sales takes 
place through the 1,550 village postmasters in the 
Freddency, who retail it in 5-gr. packets. The 
Medical Stores Departments at Bombay, Calcutta, 
and Madras are the beat customers of the gardens. 
In the course of last year the Madras cinchona 
department was separated from the botanical depart- 
ment. Mr. David Hooper, the Government Quino- 
logist, was temporarily appointed assistant to Dr. 
Watt, the Eeporter on Economic Products to the 
Government of India, and he has since been defi- 
nitely appO-Uted assistant-curator in the Indian 
Museum at Calcutta. Mr. Stauder is therefore now 
in sole charge of the Nilgiri cinchona-gardens. It 
is to be hoped that the experiment of appointing 
a practical planter and businessman instead of an 
official, which has been attended with so much 
initial success, will continue to work well in the future. 
Grevilleas. — They are so taken with the 
great value of grevilleas in tea, that Ceylon 
)ilaiiters are now asking themselves whether, if 
]i!antecl out in their now abandoned coffee, their 
old favourite niight have been saved. For an 
answer, they need only tuin to South India, 
where the silver oak enjoys enormous popularity. 
— Planter, Oct. 16. 
Asclewas Cuhassavica as an iNsECTiFUGE. — Thc 
use of this plant for the purposes described in the 
following communication appears to be unrecorded : — 
Eostherne, Eed Hill Surrey, July 21st, 1897. 
Miss Matning would be greatly obliged if the Direc- 
tor would tell her what the enclosed plant is. 
It grows everywhere, as a weed, about the Isthmus 
of ithauutepec (Southern Mexico), and is used by 
the Indians there to keep away veimin, especially 
fleas. Miss Manning’s friends in Mexico have tried 
it, and found it most successful. They make a rough 
broom of it, and sweep the floors and walls of their 
huts, and find that they are not troubled with fleas 
for a considerable time efteiwards. They have tried 
brushing dogs with it when their coats are full of 
vermin, and it appears to answer the same purpose 
with them. The Indian name of the plant is Chil- 
pati.” — Kew Bulletin. 
The Malayan Coffee Planters. —In a recent 
is.sue of the Straits Times, a correspondent, .sign- 
ing himself “A Planter,” prote.sts against a scheme 
laid before a committee of the United Planters’ 
Association of the Federated Malay Stales. The 
scheme suggested that all parchment should he 
shipped to a curing establishment at Colombo 
and dealt with there; all the parchment on 
arrival at Colombo to be sampled and approved ; 
the whole to be pooled or each shipment to be 
sold separately under estate m.ark. He urges 
that the Association should pass a resolution 
asking the Government of Selangor to give the 
Association a piece of ground at either Klang 
or Kuala Klang for the purpose of erecting a 
curing mill. In a letter to the same paper Mr. 
E, V. Carey points out that the scheme which 
the Committee of the U.P.A. is drawing up is 
only in an embryo state, that the Colombo pro- 
ject was only one of several laid before that 
body for consideration' and that on the agenda 
for the next meeting of the Association there is 
a proposal to ask the Government of Selangor 
to give a piece of land as a site for a curing mill, 
Argentine Palm Kernels. — The palm-kernels to 
which the following communication relates, were iden- 
tified at Kew as those of Acrocomia sclerocarpa. This 
isknown as the Gru-gruor Macaw palm. It is a native 
of Jamaica and other West India islands, and of 
South America from Brazil southwards. The nuts 
do not hitherto apppear to have been tnrned to 
any Use, though their shell, which is very 
hard, has been sometimes used for carving. — 
African Association, Limited. 35a, Castle Street, 
Liverpool, May 25th, 1897. Dear Sir, — My Board 
instruct me to ask the favour of some information 
from your department in regard to a considerable 
quantity of palm kernels lately arrived at this port 
from the Argentine Eepublic. They are informed 
that a very large tract of country produces the 
plam from which these kernels are gathered, and 
seeing the large interest of this Association in 
palm kernels from the Nigar Coast Protectorate and 
other West African districts, my Board are natu- 
rally desirous to get what informaton they can in 
respect to this new competing product. Can you for 
their information be so kind as to say, is the palm 
of the Argentine region a true oil-palm, and would 
the fruit or kernel of this palm be likely to com- 
pare closely or differ considerably jin oily product, 
from that in which this Company is interested. — 
Yours faithfully, (Signed) J. Hampden Jackson, 
Secretary. The Director, Eoyal Gardens, Kew, — 
Ibid. 
