Septemsihr i, 1S91.] 
THE TROPICAL A'QRIOULTURIST 
179 
NOTES ON POPULAR SCIENCE. 
By Dn. J. E. Tatlob, f.L-s., r « s., &o., Ewion 
or SctENCE Gossip.” 
Sir Ctiarlrs MilU and Dr. E <in<.tc n have b' en 
viniting Pm co for the purp.vse of inquiring into tlio 
b St, me h<>di of g'laroing against and extrrminaling 
the phvlloxer i. Sonth African vineysrds aio just now 
Buffering griev ■u'-ly from this pext. Sir Oharles 
has drawn np a report, in wiilrh he advises 
vilionlturists to study Frenrb nis* ods at Lyons, 
M ‘ntpelli* r, and Bordeaux. Dr. ISdingtou describes 
the host me'bods of grafiing a»d planting. Ho is 
about to return to the Cape, in order to be there 
before the grsf ing season begins. It is pi'ipuaed to 
establ'sh trial stations, in which the eerious kinds 
of America - vines can be separatelv wat'-hod and 
tested. One kind, called riparia, is said to i'e absolutely 
free from and ui assail Ida Iry the phylloxera. These 
Cape experiments should i>e kcecly and carefui'y 
Watched by Aus val an vition'turist*. 
M.Lesage, a French scientist, baa just eommuniottod 
tile results of some^ very cuiious experiments bo has 
heou oinking on tbeinfluenee of salt upon the quantity 
of starch contained in the tissues of the cress (Lepidium 
sitivum). These show that wbtn the plants were 
w tcied with S' lutioiis containing from twelve to 
fifteen grains of ,alt per litre the starch disappeared 
oomplet, ly. The diminution of starch was proportional 
to the iiicrtaie of salinity. 
Mr. Storoh. a German chemist, has been micro- 
^opically investigating the causes of “oily but'er.” 
He thought it might be duo to Borne particular 
kind of bacteria, but if so he failed fo find one. He 
drscov' red, however, tiiat in all the butters he examined 
lu whioli toe “ oiliness” was a marked feature (here 
were always numerous longi present, so Mr, Storoh 
ooLcludes they ate iniurious. A different organism 
was fonod in “tallowy butter.” Another probable 
navouriria of butter is that of •• turnips, ” although 
made from the milk of cows which have not 
fed on th"-o pliints. This al-o is beli, ved to he dire 
to a speoisl organisnV. The aromatic odour pecnlinr 
to fourrng cream is caustd bv a bacterium, and it 
rs thought that but-er having the same ff.vonr 
owes it to the same cans '. Tlieao microsoopio fungi, 
tlierefore, give the flivour.s to onr butters ns well as 
odoura to our wines. 
It is now proved that the power pn.sae,sBed by 
p ai ti to store up nriueral s.ibs ances diff ra much 
botu quantitively and qualitatively. The ohjeot of 
lulls is t'l convert the poisouoiia potassium oxalate, 
which is found in considerable amount, into calcinm 
ozalato. The assimilation of nrtrio so d t.akeB place 
fb the green cells of pleats, and nitrogen migrates 
chiefly in tbs form of amide* and nmiHo-acids. 
We have by no means learned all ws can about 
ants, and we shall have to take R, lomonL advice, 
and CO' si er Ihoir ways » go d deal more b'forewe 
do, in pito of the toaoarohos ol Huh. c, Lubbooki 
and M’Cook. The latest di>c iv ry concerning ants 
is that 'hey are capable ef parthenogaues's. This 
lung wort dues not signi'y a crime — it oily means 
that lb' female insect can bn ed f r several generations 
without the aid of the male It is a characteristic 
method of reproduction in the aphides, or plant lice. 
Several other orders ..t inse t* have m’-mbers which 
ooossn iially or haldtui ly adopt ilie habit, but no- 
body hitherto snspecitd ants. Professor Wasraann, 
however, has lieen enabled to induce two species 
of our com" on anta to become partbenoconetio by 
simply warming their nista in wiiiiBr.— Au.xfra/osian. 
Plantino in Perak.— T he Pinang Gazette ol 30th 
July says: — Negotiations are in progress for the 
purchase of fi e thousand aoreg of land from the 
Perak Government on terms as reoenily advertised. 
This large acreage of land will be brought into 
cultivation by the intending purchasers as quickly 
as possible, principally, we nuderitand, with coffee 
and tcfti 
PLANTING IN TRAVANCORE. 
We have had very complete returns sent to us 
by our Travanoore friends for the plantations in the 
varions planting divisions of the State. They are 
included in full detail in our Directory and the 
following summary made up thereupon indicates 
how tea is slowly but steadily superseding coffee 
and cinchona “ over the ferry," as in Ceylon : — 
Travanoore : — Average or Planiaiionb. 
1890 
t a 
i 
Coffee. 
Culti- 
vated. 
TotaL 
P^ermade 
601 
2,100 
2.023 
4,486 
9,068 
North and Cen- 
trbl ... 
877 
2,898 
696 
3,871 
16,630 
Asuamboo 
1,0^0 
1,878 
2,800 
7,918 
KaniiaadeTAQ 
270 
100 
2.231 
4.017 
1891 
3,063 
6,318 
4,167 
13,333 
37,531 
Pcernrada 
SIO 
3,331 
1,356 
4,997 
8,589 
North and Gen* 
tral 
291 
3,350 
362 
3,993 
16 610 
Aesamhoo.. ... 
1,127 
1.334 
2,303 
6,713 
KanoaadeTan ... 
1,703 
S08 
362 
2,273 
86.386 
2,804 
e.ic# 
8,804 
18,65a 
68.023 
Travanoore has now 8,106 acres under tea, 3, 204 
of ooffee, and 2,304 oinohona, making np a total 
of 1.3,658 cultivated acres out of 66,098 acres com- 
prised in the properties. 
The Chinese Tea men are reported to maintain a 
sort ol . incredulous uonobalanae, even in the face 
ol that almost complete capture of the English 
market by the Indian and Ceylon teas that ap- 
pears to be impending. Consul Hopkins tells us 
that, in spite of the gloomy forebodings of 
foreigners, it is certainly true that the tea-men 
have not yet had the alleged gravity of the situ- 
ation confirmed by any general lightness of their 
pockets since the transitional period began. They 
see Russian buyers plunging at all the oraek teas 
aim St at any cost, and even buying up in London 
what they had not been able to seoure at Han- 
kow. Indian teas (adds Mr. Hopkins) are not in- 
deed to the Russian taste, but the danger that 
threatens the teas of Central China comes from 
the rivalry of the Ceylon plant, ihe leal of which 
gives a liquor, soft, pure, aod delicate, suggestive 
of line Ningchow, but preserving a obaraoter of its 
own . — Indian 
Do TorLs Grow Tired ?— This seemingly absurd 
question is seriously answered in the affirmative by 
a oorruspondent in a teehuical oootemporary. He 
sajs: — •' I called the attention of a sbopmate — a 
grizzled old veteran — to the peculiar behaviour of a 
ohisal. He looked at it and handed it back to me, 
saying— ‘The t'lol is all right, only a little tired. 
Lay it aside and let it rest. It will come out all 
right again, just as a man that is tired will.' I did 
not believe the old fellow, and 1 really thought he 
was crazy, speaking ol a tool getting tired ; but, as 
there was no help for it, the tool was laid away. I 
do not r- member how long it was left to ‘rest,’ but 
when it was sgain sharpene-d an-i used it appeared to 
bold its k-enest edge as well as it did before it got 
tired. Barb' rs tell me their razors, m oon tant u-ie, 
get tired in the same way j and wood-choppers say 
their axes seem to grow soft all at once. Possibly 
constant and hard usage may cause changes in 
crysiallisation that would aooount eatisfaotorily for 
the peouliarityalludedto ."— Quarterly Trade 
Remw, 
