March r, 1898. J 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTDRIST. 
597 
the calyx or husk from the seed ball, Cook the husks 
as you would any fruit imtil done and stra'n the 
juice out for jelly as from any other fruit; ii fact 
treating it as you would any jelly. It jells very easily and 
makes the nrost beautiful jelly ever seen, we all think. 
The residue, after straining out the juice may be 
put through a colander or vegetable sieve and made 
into marmalade or sauce, or the entire produat may 
be so used without making jelly, and will be found 
excellent ; or it may be cooked and canned as well 
as any other fruit and used in any way. Pies, short- 
cake and as a spread for the youngsters’ school lunch 
are examples of its uses. In looks and taste it is 
almost identical with cranberries, only not requiring 
so much sugar and cooking, and lacking the bitter 
taste sometimes found in cranberries. A pleasant 
drink may be made from the leaves by boiling them 
in clear water. Pour this off, sweeten it and boil 
down until quite rich and when cool add a few 
spoonfuls to a glass of water. It is very refreshing. 
This juice from the leaves may be also made into 
jelly if one wishes, and the leaves may be eaten as 
greens. It is remarkably prolific and can be put to 
so many uses that it may well be considered one of 
the most useful plants we can grow in Florida. It 
is an annual and of course must be planted every 
year as with cabbage or potatoes, but it is tenacious 
of life and easily grown. We planted ours six by six 
feet apart last, spring and now it is crowding together 
and presents a solid mass of green, red and yellow 
all over the patch, and fuliy eight feet high 
from the ground. The 150 plants will yield many 
bushels of fruit, and helps mightily in our living 
for a year, for I see evidences of store of jelly and 
canned goods to be made from it. 
Another year I slnxll plant further apart, eight by 
eight, I think, and this you must remember is on a 
sand hill in the lake region of Polk county ; on richer 
soil it spreads oirt even more. 
W. S. Preston. 
Auburndale, Fla. 
NORTH NYASSA NEWS. 
Plumbago (black-lead) has been discovered in 
the southern portion of this district. It is in the 
solid form and of excellent quality. Specimens 
of it were brought in to Deep Bay by the natives 
who use it for colouring their earthenware ]>ots. 
Game is more plentiful on the Konde plains 
this year than it has been since rinderpest visited 
the district in 1892. Amongst the game, large 
herds of Roan Antelope are to be met with, 
apparently having been forced to leave the hills 
through scarcity of water. 
An antelope which may prove to be a new 
one has recently been discovered near here. It 
is very small with horns only about 1^- inches 
long. Tlie colour of the buck i.s very similar to 
that of the otter. — B. C. Africa Gazette, Nov. 29. 
AN INVENTION BY A CEYLON 
PLANTER. 
Mr. A. K. Leitch, of Great Valley, Deltota, 
has patented an invention which is “ an improve- 
inent in Lock-Nuts,” and relates to improvements 
in lock-nuts for the purpose of rigidly bolting 
together various parts of materials employed in 
mechanical constructions, and to prevent any 
nut so employed becoming loose on the bolt. 
“ The invention consists of making a grove in 
the bolt, deep enough to take a flexible pin or 
wire below the level of the threads of the screw, 
and at the end of the grove a hole is drilled in 
the bolt so as to allow of the bent end or head of 
the pin being passed into it, and so secured. A 
pin is tlien taken, bent at right angles atone eml 
fipd it is laid in the groove -vvith the bent poi> 
tion or head in the hole in the bolt, the bolt 
being p.as.sed through the bolt holes of the pieces 
to be coniiecte(i together, and is then screwed 
on the imt (which may have any number of 
grooves on the face of it, so as to allow of the 
bending over of the other or tail end of the 
pin 01 - wire withotit di.stnrbing the level" of the 
face, and so making the hold more secure and 
the tail end of the pin is bent over in one of the 
groves cut iu tl>e face of the nut after the said 
nut has been tlioronghly tightened up. Although 
only SIX grooves are usually cut in the face of 
the nub there may be any number where there is 
room for radiating from the centre for the end of 
tlie pin to be bent at right angles, over, depressed, 
or clamped into either of aforesaid grooves. It 
will 1)6 seen by tliis metiiod that, after the pin 
lias been fixed, it is impossible for the nut to 
become loose from the bolt and bolt head, owing 
to the nut being fixed to the bolt by the action 
of cliiicliing the pin described. 
CEYLON Vs. COCHIN COCONUT OIL— AN 
OLD COLOMBO MERCHANT. 
NOTES FROM HOME. 
( By a very old Colonist ) 
By the time you receive this it will be nearly 
two months since your most interesting papers 
containing what tve may call. 
THE COCONUT OIL QUESTION 
came to liand and again tlie Trojiical Agricultur- 
ist with nmcli more on the same subject. Had 
it been possible I might have written you a short 
saniniiiig-up of the array of facts your circulated 
enquiries liave elicited. In fact the question has 
been well threshed out and was w'eli pub in a 
nutshell by your correspondent W.B.L., an autho- 
rity of experience. 
Your 
MEMOIR OF C. SH4ND 
is an admirable one, and the man iiimself an 
eminent type of the Pioneers you wish to record. 
We were known to each other from the earliest, 
days. He w'as my neighbour (25 miles away) in 
Sabaragamuwa. As a merchant no one ever 
came to Ceylon with so thorough a mercantile 
training in the thick of Liverpool business. I 
last saw him at his London office on my arrival 
home at the end of 1870. I find he is two years 
my junior. N. B. — Mr. Shand did nob marry the 
daughter of plain Mr. Symons, but of Colonel 
Symons, R.A., then f lomnuindant of Artillery iu 
Ceylon. 
COCONUTS AGAIN. 
1 think it must be conceded that the climate 
of Soiitliern India is hotter and drier than Ceylon 
(I found it so)— therefore more favorable for nuts 
and copra. Pruning away old fruit stalks does 
not bleed the trees, but is practised, as our rose 
cultivators liere cut off the bud or seed vessel 
after tlie flower has gone off by which the blooms 
are increased. If coconut planters will take the 
lesson, tliey may gain for Ceylon oil a good 
reputation in Europe. Interior oil there will 
always be as of ollee and probably now of tea. 
By adopting new methods, coffee (Ceylon) was 
raised from the “elephant trod” of the thirties 
to the splendid samples which ruled the Englisli 
market in late years. The natives greatly im- 
pi’oved the merchantable condition of their coffee 
follow'ing the methods of English planters to 
some extent ; and they may do so in copra and oil. 
