420 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
Scientific Planting. — Dr. Leather, Agricultural 
Chemist to the Govevnnaent of India, has addressed 
the planters of Northern India through their re- 
presentative body, the I. T. A., stating that his engage- 
ment was about to terminate, and enquiring whether 
it would be worth his while to commence practice 
as an Agricultural Chemist in connection with Tea, 
Indigo, &c. IJuluchily, sufficient inducement could 
not be offered him at the present time, as there is 
“practically no work for an Agricultural Chemist.’’ 
No work indeed ! Bather should it t e said that the 
necessity tor such work is not recognised. Madras 
the Benighted will soon, w'e hope, give North India 
a lead, and a long one, in this matter. — Ibid. 
Tea Planting in PruNioN : a Pcssille 
Opening fok a Ceylon \’an.— A Pieunion 
sugar planter — whose name (Scotcli) is not un- 
known in the past banking ami sni veying annals 
of Ceylon — is anxious to leave tea tiled in liis 
neighljonrhood. Wiitingtoa relative acejuainted 
w'ith Ceylon he says : — 
“ Can yon give me some good information as 
to the culture and manipulation of tea as it is 
cultivated in Ceylon ; above all as to the price 
of labour. You will lender me a service because here 
in Reunion tea grows admirably and is of very good 
quality, and I think if wo could meet with an English- 
man who would come to tiy it here, he would be 
well received by my family and neighbonrs, because 
you know our land is, as in Ceylon, 5, COO feet high 
and even more. If you know any one who won d 
come and see for himself I would receive liim 
wiih pleasure and show him much suitable coun- 
try for growing tea.’’ 
We leain tliat the writer’s ]dace is easily got at 
being about three hours’ jouiiiey from where the 
steamers from Mauritius lainl, and it is only 14 
hours from Mauritius. The climate is delightful; 
hut tlie doubt will be os to a sutiiciency ot 
labour for tea culture. Any one interested can 
have tlie addre.ss on application. 
Tea in Java. — Mr. J. H. S. Ua\idsor, who 
went to Java some four months ago, in the 
interests of tlie linn of Messrs. Davidson A Co., 
lias returned to Colombo with a very good im- 
pression of tea growing prosiiects there. He says 
that, though tea lias been grown for a long time 
past in Java, the suece.es of tlie jdace as a tea 
growing country undoublediy lies in the future. 
Enormous tract .s of land are being iqiened np, 
and there is a great demand for tlie newest kiml 
of machinery. Mr. Davidson has had good op- 
portunities of seeing tea cultivation in India, 
Ceylon, and Natal, and he says, he never saw a 
place better fitted for the industry iliQii Java. 
From what lie could see the soil is excellent 
and there is very little trouble in regard to 
labour. It is all Malay laliDur, of course, and 
it is free; that is to say there is no such thing 
is coast advances. He was also much struck 
with the facilities for travelling^ in Java. The 
gradients are not so steep as in Ceylon and he 
says tliat, beside.s a railway which inns into 
the heart of the tea-growing district, they have 
remaikably good roads. A kind of tea tliej" go 
in f r there to some extent is k' own as “ w bite 
tips.” It is a very delicate, light liquoring tea 
made without fei mentation. He only met two 
English planters in Java, but both were doing 
well. One is Mr. Binglcy, who was in Ceylon 
for a time, and the oiher Mr. Evnis. Mr. 
Bingley has w'itli him Mi. Adams, wh.o went 
out from Ceylon at the i econimemlation of Mr. 
Wright not very long ago. According to Mr. 
Davidson, when all the newly o|iened eslate.s in 
Java come into bearing, it w ill make an appreci- 
able difl'ercnce op the tea maiket, 
[Dec. I, 1897, 
Cinnamcn Oil, Cf.vlon. — The result of the last 
cinnamon aucliou, whiih took place on May 3rd, 
was not as satisfactory as the preceding ones. Only 
abcut one-half of the brok effered was sold and 
piices declined Ly about Id told per lb. The prices 
realized for both commodities, bark and chips, seem 
to be prcfitable to the planters; for the issue of 
the 2nd of August of the “ Tropical Agricultuiist” 
pnb'islied in Cob mho contains an urgent warning 
against the contemplated c-st'ention of tiunamoii 
plantr foils, correctly arguing that ihe consequence 
would be over-production and low piices.— <S'c/<iw»«cZ 
<£ Co.’s Report. 
“ The Aoricfltural Gazette ” of New South 
Wales, issued by direction of the Hon. Sydney 
Smith, M.P., Secretarv for Mines and Agriculture 
Vol. VIII. Part 9. 'Edited by Wk H. 'Claike. 
The following are the contents for September 1879 
I'sc-fiil Australian Plants, J. H. Maiden ; No. 43— 
Triraphis micredon. Benth ; No. 44 — The Reflexed 
Panic Grass ( Ranicum reversnm, F.v.M.j ; Botanical 
Notes— IN ute on two so-called Madagascar Beans — 
• No. 1— A variety of the Lima or Duffin Bean 
{I'haseohts Innatiuf, Linn.; var. iiiainanHs) ; No. 2 
The Lablab or Sim Bean of India {Dolir/ios lallah 
syn. l.ahlah viifejaris). Weed eradication on a Cana- 
dian Railway. A note on the Lulla or Fiench 
Honeysuckle (tlcdyrarum coronarium) ■, Melanose of 
the Orange— Results of Experiments at Castle Hill, 
G. B. Owen; Agricultural Education, F.B. Guthrie; 
Plant Diseases and Legislation, B. T. Galloway ; 
New Labour saving Implements, J. L. Thomnson’ 
Influence of Bets on Crops, Albert Gale; Profitable 
Poultry Bleeding for the Local ami London Maikels, 
Geo. Bradshaw; The Keeping ol Grapes, P. klouille- 
feit ; Rules for Tuberculin Test issued by Board of 
Health ; Trees for Shelicr and Break-winds, H. V. 
Jackson; Bee Calender for October, Albert Gale; 
Orchard Notes for October. George Waters; Practi- 
cal Vegetable and Plowcr Growing for October 
W. S. t ampbell ; General Notes; Replies to Cor- 
respondents ; 1 ist of Agricultural Societies’ Shows ; 
Label for Specimens. ’ 
Peter Lund Simmonds, pe.s. — The Society 
has lost an old and well-known member by ih'e 
deaih of Mr. P. L. Slmmonds, on the 3rd October. 
Mr. Simmond’s teal name was Lnud. He was born 
at Aaihuus, Denmark in 1814, and was adopted by 
Lieutemnit George Simrnonds, e.n., whose name he 
took. Mr. Simrnonds was a voluminous writer on 
technical and commercial subjects. In 1853 he 
published a volume on “The Commercial Products 
of the Vegetable Kingdom,” and from that date, until 
within a few' years of his death, he continued to pro- 
duce a constant succession of book.s, which, if they 
were sometimes deficient in minute accuracy, w'ere 
always full of useful information. Perhaps his best 
known works were “Waste Products and IlKdeve- 
loped Substances,” 18G2, and “ Tropical Agriculture ” 
1877. He became a rm-mker of the Society of Arts 
in 1855, cud 18G2 he was elected a life meniher 
without payment, in recognition of the work he had 
done for the Society, ami his services in the applica- 
tion of sciences to the arts. His contribnticnslo the 
Jovrna! have been very numerous, and include a grea.t 
deal which does not bear his name. He read no less 
than sixteen papers before the Society on a variety of 
subjects. In spite of his constant and laborious work 
hew as never pirosperous, and as advancing age rend- 
ered him incapable of the jcurnalistic woik which 
fonried his main support, he tell into pecuniary diffi- 
culties. Abeut five years ago some of his friends Were 
successful in obtaining for him admission to the Char- 
ter house, .a refuge wliich few can have better deserved. 
His end was hastened by an unfortunate accident! 
About a fortnight hefere his death he was knocked 
down and run over by an omnibus in the Giays-inn- 
road, the result of whi.ch was lhat one leg was fractured 
and he received scalp wounds on the hack of the head 
and forehead of a serious character. He was buried 
on the 7ih October, in the Charterhouse burying ground 
Bow Cemetery, after a furrera! service in the chapel 
of the Charterhouse. — Journal of the Society of Arts, 
