4oo 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTl^RIST. 
[Dec. I, 1857 . 
When the outside air is saturated with moisture 
and will not wither leaf a little steam can be let into 
the heater, raising the temperature a few degrees ; 
vapour will then be freely carried away, and good 
withering done. By increasing the inlet of steam 
the temperature of the house can be raised so as 
to wither »\ell on the coldest and wettest of days. 
Thus it is claimed that without in the least inter- 
ering with any existing advantages, natural or other- 
wise, this new system afiords the planter the means 
of effectively withering his leaf, whatever the weather 
may be. The same thing is being done, says Mr. 
Bobinson, now in numerous factories larger than any 
withering house on this system would need to be, 
the conditions obtained being identically the same 
as the well-known conditions required for withering 
tea leaf. — H. and C. 31ail, Oct. 22. 
INDIA RUBBER, 
LATEST NEAVS. 
In an article on India Rubber in the Indian 
Af/ricullurist of the 1st S^tember, we notice an extract 
from a paper by Mr. J. B. Jackson, which appeared 
in “Nature,” Vol. 55, page 610. Except where this 
paper may be taken to refer to the few artificial 
plantations that have been established, it is, we regret 
to say, far from accurate ; for it talks of the Firm 
el ast ica iormmg laige forests in India and Ceylon, 
while, as far as our Indian experience goes, we only 
find this species very sparingly interspeised in ever- 
green forests. The Ficus elastica is not sufficiently 
shade-endurirg to permitof its germination and growth 
on the ground. The seed no doubt germinates very 
freely in the forks of trees where a little mould or 
debris has accumulated but in Older to peimit the 
young plant to establish itself and to become suffi- 
ciently strong to form a connection with the soil 
below, it is absolutely necessary that the tree on which 
it finds itself placed should be either dead or diseased. 
If not the young Ficus cannot obtain sufficient 
nourishment, and dies. That this is the case has been 
clearly established by experiments in the Charduia 
rubber plantations. Here many hundreds of Ficus 
were planted in the forks of trees. They were supplied 
with a considerable quantity of soil and grew to be 
healthy plants ; but they lived the life of pot plants, 
and after more than 10 years not one of those grow- 
ing on a healthy tree had established its connection 
with the soil. Now, even in a virgin evergreen forest, 
the majority of trees are neither dead nor so un- 
healthy as to yield sufficient nourishment to the 
Ficus elastica till it has become connected with the 
soil and established itself as an independent tree , and 
the ‘‘ veritable forest of trunks” remains a thing to 
be wished for, but does not exist in nature. 
As regards an entirely artificial rubber plantation, 
Mr. Jackson’s description is perfect. In fact over- 
acres of such plantations the roots of the trees, in 
some instances planted 100 feet apart, have not 
merely become interlaced but have amalgamated, 
and acres and acres may be said to live, so to say, 
on one great root . — Indian Forester for October. 
■ 
PLANTING NOTES. 
The Pat AAV Juice, which is iioav quoted at 
5s. per lb., is easily prepared. Tlie unripe fruit 
has to be scarred or lined some 4 in. deep, with 
a sharp knife daily, and the juice caught and 
dried upon sheets of glass, when it becomes at 
once a marketable commodity. The active prin- 
ciple, pai>aw is in much esteem as a medicinal 
agent. The Chemist and Drugqist gives the fol- 
lowing method of preparing it : — “ The juice is 
pressed out of the fruit, clarified by filtration 
through a twill bag, and the ferment piecipita- 
ted by alcohol. It is then dried, but is sometimes 
purified by treatment with water .” — Planting 
Ol>inion. 
The Oldest Poplar in France.— The citizens 
Dijon, France, recently voted a sum of mon^y 
for putting a railing round a tree standing within 
the city limits. The tree bears a label which informs 
the sight-seer that it is the oldest Poplar in 
France. The Town Council has a record tracing 
the history of the tree since the year 722 a.d. 
It is 122 ft. in height and in circumference . — Scientific 
American. 
The Export.s of Coal and Coke from India for 
the year ended 31st !March, 1897 — says the Indian 
and Eastern amounted to 136,719 tons, 
the destinations of which were; — 
Ceylon 
. . 93,635 
Aden 
.. 16,775 
Straits 
. . 14,532 
Mauritius 
. . 7,757 
Turkey in Asia. . 
. . 2,550 
Sumatra 
... 1,300 
and trifling quantities to the Persian 
Zanzibar. 
tons. 
Gulf and to 
Cultivation cf the Soy Bean.— D r. W. G. 
King, of Calcutta, has requested certain officers 
in Vizagapatam, Bellary, and Saidapet to report 
upon the possibility of cultivating the “ Soy 
beau,” with a (juantity of which he furnished 
them. The “Soy bean” is, he states, probably the 
most nutritious form of readily assimilable pulse 
at present known, and should it prove possible 
to introduce it widely in Madras, it would prove 
of great advantage in jail administration and 
also to the poorer classes generally. — Pioneer, 
Nov. 5. 
German East Africa is politically and com- 
mercially the most important, as Avell as the 
largest, of the German [)ossessions, but it is un- 
fortunately also the most unhealthy, says a re- 
port in the London Times. “Not a foot of East 
Africa,” according to Major von Wissman, “ can 
be regarded as healthy.” Of the produce of the 
plantations in the province of Tanga coffee pays 
best, but it has been attacked by a disease 
which is the most serious in that the destruc- 
tive fungus is considered to be native to East 
Africa. Tobacco and cotton can be grown, but 
not, apparently, under remunerative conditions. 
Special attention is being paid to indiarubber 
nnd cocounts. Agricultural experiments are being 
made in other distiicts also, but no opinion can 
be yet expressed as to their success. Gold-bear- 
ing quartz has been discovered at LTsambara, 
but of too ])oor a yield to repay mining. On th'e 
other hand, as rich deposit of hard coal has been 
found close to the Avater at the north end of 
Lake Nyasa, The only raihvay so far is the 
Usambra line, ot Avhich 40 kilometres were com- 
pleted by January, 1896, but funds failed to 
extend it, and the company is chiefly occupied 
in maintaining and improving the existing sec- 
tion, over Avhich one passenger train a week is 
conveyed. A grant of £15,000 has, however, been 
made for preliminary surveys of a line from Dar- 
es-Salam to Lakes Nanganyika and Victoria, the 
cost of Avhich for the fist section alone (258 
kilometres out of 1,7381 is estimated at £592,500, 
but its construction cannot be attempted A'ith- 
out a financial guarantee, which the Government 
has not yet ventured to propose to the Imperial 
Diet- It is Avorth noting that the total trade 
of German East Africa in 1896 (R10,338,278) 
less than a quaiter of the imports came from 
Germany and less than one-sixth of the exports 
went to Germany, 
