68 
T^r TPOP’CAL AGP)CULTUR18T. 
[July i, 1S91. 
T3\ SUBSTITUrEi AT THE CAPE. 
In reference to the arKclp" Tea and r ofTeo iin^- 
now nppeariui? in th * Oavdeners' C h r oni c/ o, iho 
following notes coucerning tins col ny nuiy bo of 
inW -t;— 
Cycl«'j)ia gfiiistoirles^ V**nt.,i«the common*^8t Berg- 
thee of th • wnutern proviiio**.. It used part ' aa 
a rnera su **ti'uie f *r or'in ry Tea, a-'d par'ly w tb 
an i<Va that it is good for coughs and d Si<-u)iy f 
brea^diin<. Ice iofanion i«( >^ickly, swr^eM-h, and haa 
a fl mewh'4 astringent arter-taste; il is not mdike 
a sweet solution of dqiionoe. Th»* liquorice flavour 
is, h‘»wever, much more evuiont in the several He* 
Hchryfa u^ed under the i mri»s of Ilotten^-'t. Bos- 
j smau aitd K flSr Tea. IT, niidifoliijro, Less., H. 
a* rp>ri o'ium, Less., H. Lei- pobura, DC., are all em- 
pluyed withuut mo<di discri ination, and the v**rnaenlar 
names change '’bout mnoug these *p' cie«. I have spi-n 
Oernnium iaoariiHtunj, L„ ga+h red as a Berg-^he** 
on Bosohberg, behind Somerset-Kast. Motironia ovat i, 
biflora, DO., and fiurlciana, PI, ar* only us' d 
inodicinally in cases of diarrhoea, but are less prize 1 
^au the allied Polargonium reniforme, Bot. Afag 
The report of Cassia mimo8oido«, L., being used at 
the Cape as a aubsU^ute for China Tea is surely a 
mistake. The only Casata I know of as in use here 
is C. tomeotost, Lam., a naturaliS'Ml plant, cornm'^n 
in fann gardens and about villages; it is a capital 
substitute fo Senna, with or without the aocornpnni- 
mont of Kngeisobe Zout, or Epsom salts, among the 
oolwured servants. I should doubt if any Oassfa is a 
Tea ill any other sense than “Senua Toi.” 
Ti'o Mh ays of Cape Town are grea on native 
Tea^; they driuk lots of .nfus'On of “Als,"' Arte- 
EoiH a xfra, Jacq., under the idea it is good for the 
“ peus,''— Anglioe, paunch— but, I believe, partly for 
the paouUar buzzioeos of brains which it causes, 
something like the efifoefc of strong tobacco on a 
smoker sooustoined only to golden leaf. I have often 
been told that it makes you feel ‘*mooi,” — that Is, 
nice— a sufficiently suggestive term for those who are 
forbidden to indulge in the mooi-ness ‘Imt comos of 
Cape brandy. Ley-«t*ora gfuphsloi lea, Le^*., is brought 
down from the Lion’s Mount every day in the seasoh 
to make “G el-b'ommHtjea-tl.**- it is ere iited with 
demulcent prO'H-rtio.s in emu^h f»nd catarrh, but is used 
oftr'U mer ly ».« h rb dr nk. 
Mv W T l(v frieni, t>.e U-v. A. G. Uottanob, of the 
. M esio-i at Ge>>ad ndaal, seut a oolleotion 
of thirty.thr e nUnt^ need raedioslly or as herbal 
dri ks hy m e Ho^ ent ts and off-colour people on his 
8 at‘o *, t'> tb* Co' n ’ Exhibition in 1886. Whether 
th y evr.r ^ot h r ,or, liku so many other contributions, 
wo e dr pi ed a loi wu- re, I cannot fay. B-it they 
wer». -itt d to ni»* fori i«»*tifioation, an I I publi-hMil 
th • li.t with Mr. Helt.Hrth’fl n'i»p. on tlioir n-e-, in 
the Voiksllad. D.o n her 29 1885. A trftmlMtion 
cou 0 t.Q uo'i I b‘ m.ii. fur anyone itit rent d iu Capo 
hurbali.m. — 1*. AIacDwan. — Gardtneri* Vhronicle. 
■ « 
PEARL 1' ISHERY AND WATER TELESCOPES 
8ib, - I kn ‘W the nntrQrM.i|it ’’Wat^r tele.copts” 
old. .1 lonir tin tunnel 2rt. — 3t''. lonp ; » ith a 
piece o' plate lila-H at the lower en.l about 8 
il 0 ie» wule, the upper enl being a‘'OUt ^ the 
aize. We used to uae it to look lor freah wa er 
munael in the T.y; one would row the boat over 
where the mu-". I had. were BUi.po'ed to be; and 
another wou d l-nnover th-atern with the te'e-cope the 
gla-a en wa. put info the wa’er ah nt 10 in. just 
olo.r of the ripple and y u c mid seethe h..ft .ni of 
the river plaii.L. in ‘pi o of the da k pnaty roloir 
of th I w.bor. Wii-n we '.w the mna.ela we ua.d 
to fl h them up with a long aiiok with a couple et 
pi O’ a of iron Hied at the e.iid. The mua-ela uun- 
tained amiiU p -arl , a i y m see the water tele o 'pe 
haa be n u ed at a pearl fiohery before n iw. — I am, 
youra faithfully, J, Maudslay. 
June 9tb, 1891. 
—Local “Independent” 
COCOA IN TUE LONDON AIARKET. 
A I te Cey'on PUuter writing from Home saya: 
The very hi h nuotafiooa for coo 'O which you had at 
I he begiunii g of April, wire not rinl'v obtan able. 
The, were roerelv ba.idon a a ngle aal , at which two 
buy. ra wore bidding r. ckleaaly agaiiiat each other. 
No further lale took p'ace at the same rate. 
The hrokera, however, think that the present rate., 
about 122/ for .very good samph a, are likely to be 
m i tamed f r a lime. They informed me, that the 
biiuht red outside colouring, is the roost important 
th ng. The Spanish buyers, for instance, value cocoa 
solely by its outside colour. I was not aware that 
0 coa beana wero eaten as dessert- It appears that 
they are so uaod in Kusaia, and they are exported from 
Loudon, to be eaten in Mexico.— Local “Indepeudent.'’ 
^e 
Thk Oiskasss or the Coconut True.— The paper 
by Mr. M. 0. Potter on this subjeat, which was 
announced (or reading at the meeting of the Lin- 
nean Society on May 7th, was not reached in 
aon8Pi]uenoe of the length of the eommunioations 
which preceded it. It stands over therefore until 
Juno 4th. 
The Pbopobal for (ormlug a Ceylon Syndicate for 
working tin in F.rak ia taking deUuite shape, and 
that the arrangemonta are now only awaiting the 
arrival in this oonntry of Mr. Campbell, who w il 
filially have the determining of one or two p .inta. 
The result will certainly be the appoinimoot of Mr. 
F. D. Mitchell aa manager of the concern, the leading 
nil n ill i' being Mv-ats D, Reid, H. K. Ko'boif rd, 
and Sir G. U. D Elphinatoue. I underelan I th ti - 
Cecil Smith takes a deep interest in th-' e-iterprisc, 
whioli will have all the aid and encouragement in bia 
power togive.— iontfoa Oor- Local “Times.” 
Ooiteb and Te.a Lanob in Tbavanoobe. — A Royal. 
Proclamation has bean issued giving nutioe that in 
ooneequcDoe of largo areas of laui. taken np (or 
oollee cultivation having been abaodon.d by 
the proprietors, a tax of two annas per acre 
will bo levied on all lands acquired for ooilee or 
tea cultivation whether such lands be under culti- 
vation or not and that il is open to proprietors to 
renounce and resign to Government the whole or any 
portion of such lands in which case the lax upon 
the relinquished portious will be remitted. — Cochin 
iVettern Utar. June 6. 
An Abtivicial Substitute for Quinine. 
As it to adi tbe very last straw to the oioobona 
planter's back, the ohemiata have at length suo- 
oe-^sfully aoeomplished the work so long set before 
them of manufacturing artificial quinine, or a 
sullicient substitute (orihesam.-. For ihe detailB we 
refer to an article in our Ti'opical AgricuUuriat ; but 
the Clumiit and Drugijitt may well add the remark, 
that the discovery comes too late to be of any 
commetoial value sinoo it does not even pay now 
'0 out do vn the Guprea bark in the South American 
forests. Still hero is one more reason why wa 
need nev. r expeot to see oioobona bark again rule 
hi.h in priea. 
Fall in Tobacco Shabes. — Wo learn from out 
Amsterdam oorreepondent that an extraordinary 
decline has taken place during the week in tbe 
aliares of the Dutch Tobacco Companies, For 
iLSia ice, the Deli Company's shares reutded 80 
1 er cent., while the Deli Batavia Company shares 
are 113 per cent, lower. The aharea of the 
Sen.'m'eih Company are quoted 260 per cent., 
against ‘200 p -r eent. last week, or a drop of nearly 
5 1 points. The reason of this lall, ooiwithatand- 
mg the high dividends declared, is asaribed to (he 
fiotitiou-ly high rate to wbioh these stourit.es have 
been driven up, and further to the uoBatmfao'ory 
quality of tbe arrivals of the present year's orop, 
fur which lower prices have bad to be accepted. 
— L, and C, Exprett, May 16th, 
