October i, 1891.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
“53 
The Egg-Plaint. — A.9 somo of tho of tin 
eg/-plant is doubtless due t ) the fact that cooks are 
not taniiliar with it, the foil wi* g r cipes for oouhiug 
tho fruits are recominouded by lie exporimouters at 
Oornell as reliable; (1) Cut in slio'S orossw.so, not 
over a half inch thick, and parboil in salt water aliout 
fifteen minutes; then remove, and fry in a bot spider 
in butter aud lard. (2) Cut in u slie s a quarter er a 
half inch thick and lay in strong brine for two hours; 
then wrBh very thorounh'y ; aiTiutle with brown suyar, 
pepper and salt, a d fry slowly lo a dark brown. (3) 
Cut in two lengthwise, remove the seeds and pulp, 
and fill with dressing made of ha'f a toacupful of bread 
cru'ebs, one ti a -p onlul "f butter, and aa t and p 'pper 
to taae; lay tho ha vea siilo to aide iu a diipping pun 
ad 1 a little wat r, ai d bake nearly an hour, (ii Pare, 
cut in thin slie -s crosiwise, a ak in salt w«ltr fo* 
eight or tea li iur<,- dry on a to vel, d p in b 'aton egg, 
aud r. 11 iu broad crumbs, then fry slowly iu hot b -tter 
until the pie'ts lo‘oma a r ch hro.vu; aurva hoC 
Amtricaa Orocn'. 
OiKoiioNA IN .1 AVA. — From tho report of the 
direct ir of tha Gjyeniuieut oinoliona emerpriae in 
Java for tin aaoja.l quarter o: 1891 wa learn that 
from tho middla of April to the end of May 
drought was exparienod, June w.n wit, but o. ly 
ooousioually heavy Bhowera fell. Til i weather was 
not favorable for the young plants pat out in 
March and April, but the older plants made ex- 
oepliinal growth in respouae to the alternate heat 
and wet. The upkeep of the plantations during the 
west monsoon was oouliued to heaping olea i the 
young gardens, with tho view of assisting the 
small plants iu their struggle with the growth of 
weidi. Oil the sotting in of the dry wether the 
therough working of tno surface oi the soil by 
means of boas was oommaneed. Working of the 
ground was speei ally carried oat in young plau- 
tations, with a view to proteot them from the drying 
of the soil in the exported severe east monsoon. 
The oontinuaiioa of working of tho ground during 
the raiuy so ison li is had the good result of 
diminishing con adorably the root disease, which 
now prevails only at Nagrak. It may be ad- 
mitted that tho root discus i has its origin 
oliiefly if not entirely in tho exeessivo mois- 
ture aud inoompleta aerati ui of the soli. By 
the maiulenaueo of a douse growth over tho ground 
tho Buparlluoua moisture of tho soil is evaporated 
through the loaves of the ouitivatcd plants and tho 
weeds, and thus also the ohief fautur of tho origin 
of tho root dis use is removed. The aim is to 
oauso the evaporation of the soil moisture by the 
cultivated plants alone, by moans oi close planting. 
At Nagrak, in order to hasten tho drying of the 
soil and thus combat the root disease sucoossfully, 
the w-irking of the ground was not carried out 
again in the second quarler. During tho first 
half year of 1891 some 200 000 half kilograms of 
bark were gathirod, consisting both raanu- 
fiioturer’s barks of moderately high quinine con- 
tmts Bil l of piiarmaceutieal barks in the desired 
quill foim. In conseq lenee cf the greet fall in 
the pride of cinchona bark in tho European 
market, whereby the bark of C. mcr.iruhra, sinoj 
it oaniiot be harvested in quill form, can no 
longer be brought into tho market with any profit, 
or only little, a oonsidcrablo chaugo has taken 
place lately in tho harvest ug of this variety of 
oinahona. Crowded plants, which should of neces- 
sity be removed in order to give more light and 
room to tho overshadowing trees, are no 
longer dug out, but out off near tiie ground, 
whilst no more bark is gathered from the sitiii , 
except what can be cut in quill form. It in th ' 
future no root bark and also liit.o or no stem 
bark of C, giicimhra is paekod in bales and dos- 
patched, this will have a groat iulluenoo on the 
quantity of bark gathered, but the average value 
of the crop will thereby be oonsiderably inoreased. 
By the end of Juno 123,307 half kilograms of bark 
of this year's orpp were despatched to Tanjong 
Priok. On 2nd April, 1-lth May and 11th Juiio 
bales of bark of the 1890 crop wore held in 
Amsterdam. The unit pries for manufaoturor'a 
bark amounted at these sales to 6^, G} and cents 
per half kilogram Ac a oonseqneuoe of the mild 
east monsoon in 1890 the blossomiog of ledgerianaa 
was small, and the crop of soed of this variety of 
oinohouu therefore promises to bo small. In tho 
latter lu mths of this year it will be possible to 
hold sales of small lots of ledgoriana seed. The 
total number of plants m the Government gardens 
at tho end of June was 3,791,000, viz. In the 
nurseries 190,000 ledgoriana {inoluding 20,000 
grafts), 413,000 sueoirnbrs; total 933,000. In the 
op.m — 2,189,000 ledgoriana (inoluding 270,000 grafts 
and outtiugs and exolusivo of the more or less 3,000 
original lodgerianas), 2,200 oalisaya and baskarliaua, 
633 00 I sue lirubra and eaioptera, 52,900 offloianlis, 
1,500 califolia : total 2, 858, GOO. 
Cocoa is an article which ouieht to be g , 
[Hawaii] and exported. Tho cocia of oo rown here 
higU pfioed and always in demand. There a few 
cojoa trees growing on those islands, but n° attempt 
has ever boon made to prepare the artiol® *“ 
commerce. On page 249 a oorrespondenoe gives a 
detailed description of the best mode of cultivation 
and of curing the berries. It seems to us that a 
small farm oP ton to twenty acres, located on the 
line of the Oahu railroad, where artesian water for 
irrigation can be supplied, would be jnst tho locality. 
Bananas lialp to pay current expenses till the cocoa 
orchard comes into bearing and perhaps even after 
U. The Fuojecl treated of by our correspondent is 
well worth tho nttention of those having tho naeans 
an I the opportunity to engage in this pursuit, in a 
dcsirsble locality, which, if well located, must alwavs 
bo a safe real estate investmout.— Plaitfecs’ Monthli/, 
Quit Noutii TraVaVNoome correapondent writes to na, 
under date 23rd instant: — “ Whue reports are com- 
ing in from otlier planting districts about tho scarcity 
of labour, aud tho friction which is the natural out- 
come, wo find ourselves hero with labour to spare. 
Ill May 1 had to send away a gang of 30 coolies 
who c .me and uil'orod [thorns Ives, — they went on to 
tho next Estate and were not wanted there either. 
At the cud of this month I shall send away abont 
.'lU, ranch against their own will! 1 know of more 
tliaii one Estate liero wbicli does not give any 
advances whatever, and tlie labour supply for tho 
last five years at any rate has been ample. My 
own coolies return to mo year after year without an 
anna in tlie way of advance. They are recruited 
partly iu Trichinopoly and partly in Tanjore. This 
shows what combination oven in a small district 
witli only 2,OUi) acres under oiiltivation can do. Tho 
Travanoore Planters' Association has divided the 
estates which subscribe to it into throe sections, 
North, Central, and Boutliorn, and tho facilities 
for procuring labour differing slightly, rates of pay 
for each district have been separately settled, and 
every planter has bound liimaell to make no further 
change unless allowed to do so by the .Association. 
At the last General Meeting of tho Assooiation, 
the oorrospoudenco with tho South Mysore Associa- 
tion on the subject of combination was road, and 
our Secretary was asked to try ami arrange an 
early meoting of delegates from every Association 
iu Soutliorn India. So far wo havo not heard 
what has been done, but as far as we are concerned, 
we intend to keep liauimoring away at tho subject 
until a United Planters’ .Asaociatiou is formed for 
tho whole of Southern India. As a step in tho 
riglit direction, our local Association has become 
atfiliatod to tho ‘ Travauooro Planters’ Association.’ 
East week wbon X wrote, the monsoon seemed to 
have gouo for good, but yesterday it commonood 
raining aud looks like coutiuuiug .”— fimes 
