August i, 1891,] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
”3 
CIXCIIONA BARK IMPORTS A\D PROSPECTS.' 
Messrs. 0- M. & C. Wodahouss in thoir l.itest 
mentUly Rspjrt sum up iha total ioi 'Orts of bark 
iuto tha Unit 'd ICiogdoia for a sarias ■'! years, and 
wa sea at a glatioa how the saraa has baguii 
steadily though . slowly, to deolino. The figures 
extend from 1883 to 1800 inclusive, Tha import 
frjm Oeylon fell oR from 12, 872, .384 lb. (in 1886) 
to 8,135,450 Ibi last year. From India, Java, 
and other parts of tha East there has bean 
an inareaao, however, tha import rising in six 
yaare, from 985, 2iU lb. to 1,688,480 lb. [Of course 
tha bulk of tbo J tv t bark goes to Holland.] In 
the also of Sou'.u and Central America, West 
Indies, Ac,, wo have 873.204 lb. imported thenaa 
in 1885 aud only 335,532 lb. ia 1390. Ita-imports 
from the Oontinaut ot Europa, however, have inareasad 
from 673,120 lb. in 1885 to 1,023'344 lb. in 1890 
—this means of aourso Java bark mainly ; for 
the grand total of import, iuto the United Kingdom, 
whiah was close on 14J million lb in 1885, and 
exceeded 16 million in aaoh of the throe suaoeed- 
ing years, fall to l-lj again in 1839 and to about 13 
million lb. in IS90. This makes it all the stranger, 
in view of tha iaorease in consumption and the 
clearing out of bark and quinine in aooond hands 
in Loudon of late years, that the market for bark 
has not improvjd. Tnat it has not done so, must 
be ohiufly Uue o Java, whioh, it will be seen, h.ta 
more tuan doublet its total export of high-class 
bark. in four years. 
♦— — 
COAL AND OTHER COMBU.STIBLES IN 
CEYLON. 
Prom tha latter of a Ceylon public servant now 
in England and who shows his patriotism by not 
forgetting his adopted land, we quote as folhiws : — 
“I mat Mr. Blantord of the Indian Mateorologioal 
Department lately, and in a discussion about ooal 
m India he said it was not likely to bo found in 
Ceylon, as the strata lying below tha mountain 
ranges ware of too recent formation and did not 
go baok to the oarboniferous period. The moun- 
tains theinselves were of crystalline origin and 
belong to one of tha oldest systems of rooks in 
geology, A good knowledge of chemistry however 
might lead to tha discovery ot some substitute for 
ooal, as has been done iu Italy recently. A des- 
aription of this discovery will bo found in the 
*nol ,8 id slip from the Stomiurd of tha 28th May.” 
‘ R 'ME, W dnaaiay Night. — Anexparim, nt was suo- 
oossfu.iy oiciiid out yisicrday which will probably 
mark the oommciiooment ot a new era of prosperity 
for the mechauical industries of Italy, and espeoiaily 
tor her carrying oompanies. A traiq was run yostordny 
iroin Rnm.i to Frascati, fnraishod with a new oombus- 
Ublo, prepared according to tlie invention of Signor 
It is a preparation of lignite, of 
which there are imin-niBo and rich deposits in Italy. 
It 18 touud of two qualities, the xiloide aud the sohistoso, 
of whioh the latter ia the richer iu oombastible material. 
In yesterday s experimnut the train ran easily and 
TOoothly np one of the steepest gradients in Italy, 
■theq iiutity of fuel naiid durin.g the transit was throe 
hundred and sixty-seven kilogrammes, as agiinal three 
hundred of ordinary ooal. The train was a heavy one, 
ot eight o irnsgea arid luggage van ; an-l there were 
seventy passengers, molading members of Parliamont. 
engineers, 4cc. 
'Lunoh was served at the Hotel Frasoati, at whioh 
0.i3ta wore given. An E .gliea gentleman said Bug- 
ittucl would witiiefla with plviaeuro the 8 ucoo ‘'3 oftho 
experiment, and the cjinmorcial omanoipatioii of Italy, 
A Lolegram was sent to the King, annonuoieg the sua- 
oassofthe experiment. A very brUli.»otgas is also to 
he obtained from lignite. 
The importanoa of this new maanfaature will be seen 
when it is rcmembeiod that Italy now pays from a 
15 
Imndrod to a hundred and twenty million francs yearly 
to other countries for coal, and that her supplies of 
lignitsara practically unlimited. Tha smoke from the 
new combustible is very light, aud not disagreeable in 
odour.’ 
We shouM be only too well pleased if even lignite 
ware found to exist in quantity iu Ceylon. Mean- 
time it is ourious wo have heard nothing further 
ot the Siim lignite whioh, a few years ago, a 
mining engineer told us abounded in a looality 
whence it eould be cheaply shipped to Ceylon. 
SALE OF TEA ESTATE PROPERTY, 
A third share ot the Mipitiakande estate in the 
Kelani Valley has been purobased by Messrs. 
Kennedy & Evans tor £5,000 sterling. Mipitiakande 
has 260 aores of fine tea ia full bearing with 112 
acres of reserve. Tha price — £15,000 over all — is 
a handsome one, equal to £55 per aore for the tea. 
« 
COCONUTS AND CINNAMON. 
Kadirana, June 20th| 
After an interval of flne weather, whioh lasted frum 
the 6tb to the 12th, rain sot in again steadily yester- 
day, and the previous night being stormy with heavy 
rain ; the gauge showing 3'46 i'lobes in the 24 hours. 
The total for the mouth so far is 8'43 Inches. With 
so much raiu all vegetation is loekiog fre-sh aud groeo, 
but it oven would benefit by a few weeks of warm sunny 
weather. The vigour in the oinoauieu bushes seems 
to be forcing out a ” bud " which it is hoped will 
not be heavy, as it would intorfere much with the 
peeling which is now good. The last cinnamon sales 
m Li'idon show no improvement iu ptioe or demand 
fur due spice ; this ia bad for those who cultivate 
well, for tha preparation of lower quality cinnamon 
scarcely pays expenses. Fever I regret to say still 
prevails extensively all over the diatriot ; fresh oases 
are ooinmoii, uu'i r dapses immorons, and this last 
is the most serions, as each relapse leavos the patient 
weak"r. The poverty of the people will not permit 
of their lying up till strength ia quite restored, for 
being poor they must work to raaiotaiu themselves 
and their fainil in, aud the food they oan afford ia 
not what one would prescribe for oonvalesoent fever 
patients. Quinine ia coming greatly into favour, and 
tbo various dispunsarics and the hospitals ace freely 
patronized. The people are beginning to recognise 
the foot that by the use of qniniuo fever can be 
snbdned in a few days before the strength is much 
affeoted, while under native treatment the patient 
as a ruin is fit for nothing for weeks after the fever 
has subsided. This is a serious matter to the poor- 
THE STORY OF A TORTOISE. 
Mr. J. H. Tiika contributes the following very 
interesting paper to the Journal of tho Hitohin 
Natural History Club for May: — 
[After recording tha deaths of animals and birds 
from cold, the writer proceeds :— ] 
But to my family aud myself, the loss of an old 
friend and summer visitant, who bus for more than 
a quarter of a oentury amused and interested us by 
his odd ways and quaint old-world appearanoe, 
caused tho deepest regret. Ha was a tortoise, I 
speak of him as a summer visitant, for with tho 
regularity of a bird of passage he took his departure, 
leaving no trace behind of the quarters ho had 
solooted for liis winter residenoe. It is a carious 
faot that that thu saU-burying of the tortoise is 
aocomplished without any visihle disturbance or 
heaping up of the earth, and we have rarely, if 
ever, bo’n able to discover tho preoisa spot, until 
on some warm d.ay iu the early spring his muddy 
form was p.irtially seen at the mouth of his hole. 
This he usually oonttned himself to until he 
thou ght the warm weather was fully assured to him. 
