486 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Jan. I, 1898 
“Records of the Geological Survey op India.” Vol 
XXX, Part 4. 1897, has for contents : — On Nemalite 
from Afghanistan. By F. R. Mallet, late Snperin- 
tendent. Geological Survey of India ; On a Quartz- 
barytes rock occurring in the Salem district, Madras 
Presidency. By T. H. Holland, A. r. c. s., f.g.s.. 
Geological Survey of India (with a sketch map) ; 
Note on a worn femur of Hippopotamus irraradicus 
Oaut. and Falc. from the Lower Pliocena of Burma. 
By Fritz Noetling, Ph. D., f.g.s.. Paleontologist, 
Geological Survey at Jainlia. (V/ith Plates xix and 
XX.) ; On the Supposed coal of India, Buxa Duars- 
By H. H. Hayden, b. a., b. e.. Officiating Deputy 
Superintendent, Geological Survey of India ; Per- 
cursion Figures on Micus. By T. L. Walker m.a. Ph. 
D., Assistant Superintendent, Geological Survey of 
India; Geological Notes; Donations to the Museum ; 
Additions to the Library. 
The Consolidated JSstates Company, Ltd.— 
(Messrs. vVrbntlinot, Latliain & Co., Great St. 
Helen.s, General Managers) are to purchase 
the Horana Group of estates, comprising about 
657 acres in the Kalutara district of Ceylon, 
of wliicli about 426 acres are planted with tea, 
with tea factory and machinery complete. This 
group of estates is conveniently situated for tlie 
business of the Conprany, and the price at which 
the estates have been nci^uired is considered a 
very favourable one. The jirice paid for the 
estates is a little over £15,700, in addition to 
which some (ields ))lanted with tea adjoining the 
estates, with expenses of transfer, will probably 
bring the total cost to nearly £18,000, To cover 
this, the Company are to issue, £7000 in 5pei- cent. 
Debentures at par, £7,000 in 8 jier cent. Preferred 
shares at £1 per share premium, £7,000 in ordi- 
nary shares at |iar, and these issues are to be 
oll'eved to the shareholders. 
The Bengal Government Cinchona plantations.— 
The Governmeut oiuchoua- plantations and quinine- 
factory in Bengal appear to be almost as profitable 
as those in Southern India. From the rather com- 
plicated accounts published in the a.miual report of 
these plantations for 1896-97 it is difficult to arrive 
at the exact profits ou the year’s working, hut it is 
apparently half a lakh of rupees. The total factory 
output of sulphate of quinine was 14,124 lb. The 
Naduvatam factory made 7,891 lb. during the same 
period, so that Government manufactured in all just 
two tons of quinine last year. Most of this goes to 
meet a new demand that would not exist but for 
Government undertaking the distribution. In the 
Bengal report it is stated that cinchona-febrifuge is 
bought largely by the non-official public who are 
under no sort of compulsion to use it in preference 
to other febrifuges, but who do so because the find 
it such an efficient medicine. There is, for example, 
a single native medioa.1 practitioner in they Jessore 
district vi'hose purchases of it last year exceeded 
the official consumption of the [whole province of 
Bengal. — Ibid. 
Rubber in Zanzibar, — One hundred and fifty Para 
rubber trees have been taken from the Dunga nur- 
series and planted out at Tundauwa,' Pemba. They 
have been placed 25 feet apart and cover a spaca of 
a little over 2 acres. Up to the time of writing, all, 
with the exception of seven, have taken hold aud 
show every sign of growing rapidly. The locality 
is low sandy swampy ground though not actual swamp. 
The “ Para ” rubber tree appears to be especially 
fond of light aud sun. It was found that trees grew 
much faster if the shade were removed as soon as signs 
of renewed vitality became apparent. The great thing 
is to keep the roots moist and well mulched with grass 
or leaves. The mystery of the Pemba rubber forests 
has at length been cleared up. No one was more 
ignorant of the locality and nature of the reported 
forests than the Pemba people themselves, particularly 
those who lived almost in the middle of it and all 
around it. Natives are loth to leave pathways, hence a 
black forbidding wood is to them a thing to he 
avoided, as it means sore feet— /S/tamia. 
IIUP.BEE .-vr THE STRAITS— is going to be done 
on a large .-caie to judge by w!»at the Acting 
District Magi.-trate, Matang, says in liis monthly 
report ; — 
Mr. S'epiiens of Jehong estate has applied for some 
3,0( 0 acies of land for rubber pilantiiig in accordance 
with tiic terms of the circular that lately appeared 
on the subject. 
New rnles ior land have just been promulgated 
by Sir F. Swettenliam as follows :— 
Cultivation of Gutta.— As it is the desire of the 
Government to encourage a comparatively new indus- 
try, it i.s hereby notified that hi.ud applied for the 
cultivation of gutta can, for the present, be granted 
on the following terms, which, liowever, will only 
bo given to the first six successful applicants, after 
which they will be cancelled, (n) Quit-rent. — Ten 
cents an acre for ten years, afterwards fifty cents an 
acre, ili) Chdtiration. — In concessions of 1,000 acres 
or less, at luast one tenth of the land granted to be 
planted with gutta of any description, every year, 
no other form of cultivation being permitted soTong 
as the land pays a quit-rent of ten cents per acre 
only. In concessions of over 1,000 acres and not ex- 
ceeding 2,000 acres, one twentieth to be planted in 
each year. If over 2,000 acres and not exceeding 
3,000 acres, then one thirtieth to be planted in each 
year, (c) Dtiiy, — An ad valorem duty of 2) per cent 
for fitieen years from date of commencing work. 
After that the duty in force for the time being; 
such duty not to exceed 5 per cent, [d) The above 
coudicious to bind the lessee and his assigns, alien- 
ation of the laud being unrestricted. — 1st Decem- 
ber, 1897. 
The Po.sition of Vanilla.— It is believed- 
says the New York Drug Jiejyorter —Xha.t a syndi- 
cate is in control ot the situation, so far as 
vanilla imiiorts fioin Mexico go, and one view is 
that the reports from Alexico during the past 
three years of damage to the crops have been 
colored to some the ends songlit by the mani- 
pulators ; hut on the other hand, the shipment 
last April of 42 cases of the croji of 1894-95 is 
thought to conlirm the reports of actual short- 
ages in the croji.s. The action of the Mexicans 
has seriously curtailed the consumption of tlie 
Me.xican bean. Dealers have ransack-ed the 
markets of the world for the other varieties. 
That they have been successful in securing sup- 
plies is attested by the importations. During the 
past two years about 40,000 pounds of Tahiti 
beans per annum have been received here, as 
agaiu.st annua! average of 15,000 in the jireceding 
three years. Thus far in 1897 about 570 cases, 
or 57,000 pounds, ot Bourbon beans have been 
im])orted. Only in rare instances have dealers 
sueceede.l in j-ersuading their customers to con- 
tinue to use none hut the Mexican beans. Most 
of the users have mixed the cheaper varieties 
Mith a certain proportion of the Mexican beans, 
and in instances a small quantity of vanillin has 
been added to produce and extract of tlie flavor 
desired. The consumption of vanillin has in- 
creased enormously, the drop in the price from 
$5'50 per ounce to $1’70 (in fact to 90 cents 
before the new tarift' became operative) having 
been coincident witli the advance in the price of 
beans. Wliile it is probably true that the arti- 
licial product does not produce that same rich 
flavor in the extract that the best Mexican bean 
does, a very large quantity of the cheaper ex- 
tracts are used, and unless the price of Mexican 
beaus is speedily reduced, it is very doubtful if 
there will be an outlet for the former average 
crop of 1,090 cases, even at the prices which 
existed before the upward movement commenced 
three years ago. 
