March i, 1892.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
63 s 
This is the tinost aud jnoat delicious tea the world 
can produce, and is equal, if not superior, to what 
is sold by moat tea dealers, and grocers at ‘2s 6d to 
3a 6d per lb. 
While on the other side we read: — 
TO At, I. LOVERS OF THE FRAOUANT DF.VF.UAOE. 
Mr. Lipton has pleasure in intimating to in's cus- 
tomers and the putilio in general that the extonaivo 
purchases ho has made in Ceylon tea estates enable 
him to supply the most delicious tea tho world can 
produce, at prices impossible for any other tea dealer 
to sell at. 
His estates, which cover many thousands of 
acres of the best tea land in Ceylon, are at an ele- 
vation of !),(X)0 feet, whore nothing but the clioiccst 
teas aro grown; and, to give an idea of the labour 
required in the cultivation and manufacture of tea 
on these estates, there are several thousand natives, 
independent of Europeans, constantly employed. 
And then the opinions of tho Ceylon press are 
quoted — and all to promote the sale of blends I 
Too bad this, I ray. 
STAINIXG CKYUliV WOODS. 
A correspondent asks us if wo can give or 
obtain informaiion for him c.lative to tho methods 
available lor ebunging or improving the colour of 
some of the commoner among the many varied 
woods that are locally available for furniture and 
other purposes. It is rather a coinoidenoe that 
this request should reach us just as we were ad- 
vocating justice being done to Gey. on’s forest 
wealth in the structures for the distribution of 
tea at Chicago. Tho larger proportion by far of 
our more valuable woods must, of course, be 
excluded from any list of timbers to which the use 
of any ataining material would be an improve 
ment; but we think it will be admitted that there 
are some of the commoner desoriptions that would 
be improved by the application of tomething of 
the sort. When writing this we have particularly 
in our mind the jakwood from which nearly all 
our eommoner furniture is made. But we must 
except in this case one particular feature in re- 
gard to that wood. Ugly as its yellow colouring 
is when new, there is no wood that better repays 
in tho course of time the application of what 
is known among energetic workmen at home 
as "elbow grease.” If this most valuable 
of applications is bestowed syskmatically upon 
jakwood furniture, in tho course of time it not 
only deepens tho oolour to a close resemblance 
fo Spanish mahogany, but imparts to it a lustre 
whioh no other applioation could give to it. And 
the beauty of this “elbow grease" is that its 
efleots are lasting, and may be revived with but 
^ight eilort after years of neglect and lying by. 
But ,aa our correspondent justly points out, it^ is 
not everyone who, being unable to afford the 
luxury of more expensive woods, would care to 
Wait tho result of this oomparatively slow-aoting 
though^ efficient agent. What he asks for is a 
auggestion as to how the results obtained by time 
and hard work may more quickly be secured. As 
to jakwood we may reply that tho application of 
Washes of thick lime water, of about tho con 
siateney of oream, will soon discharge the yellow 
colouring matter from the wood, and if, when dry 
®ttch applioation, boiled oil be rubbed on, 
or, better still, good varnish bo applied, it will 
0 very difficult to distinguish the results from 
hose of a longer and more laborious process. 
We have seen the whole of the oeiling boards 
.. ®n open Cothio roof so prepared (with boiled 
oil); and it was almost impossible to distinguish 
these in oolour from the dark leak of which the 
principals of (be tool were framed. Not long 
ago too, in the ease ot new doors to a house 
in Colombo, a liberal use of varnish so changed 
the native yellow of jak to a handsome mahogany 
oolour, that a planter who bad never previously 
seen sneb a transformatiou was lost in surprise 
and admiration. By means of a letruginous prepa 
ration too, jakwood can be stoined so as very 
closely to resemble ebony. Wo are in possesaion 
of two boc'k oasea which more than forty years 
ago were made and stained under the direction 
of the late Mr. J. 1. Strachan. They have been 
in our possession some thirty-five years or more ; 
and with only an occasional renewal of the staining 
on muoh rubbed parts in polishing, they have so 
passed for real ebony, that yesterday a member 
of our family was muoh amazed to learn that 
what be had all hia life regarded as ebony was 
a jakwood imitation. We can understand that 
Huskin would include such imitations in the same 
Beatbing oondemnation with stuceo trying to ape 
stone : the world in general, however, is not so 
particular as to the ethics of oonstruolion and oolour. 
The one objection to ebony furniture is its pon- 
dtrousnesB, an objection wbieb does not apply to 
stained jakwood. Then again, nadun is one of 
those woods in constant use that may be 
brightened up aud the touo deepened by the use 
of plain linseed oil. and this if well rubbed in 
will seoure the permanenoe of the improved colouring. 
This wood, nadun, may bo eonatantly used when 
thus darkened for the repair of English-made 
furniture of walnutwood, especially for suoh items 
as are made of tho oft-used Amerioan waluut. 
That itsell is an arlificislly oolonred wood, and 
stocks of it lay lor years reserved in the London 
timber yards, until it ohanoed to someone to find 
out a good medium lor oolouring and brightening 
the dull grayish-looking wood. We recently 
described the perleot harmony ol a well 
prepared nadun ohimaey-piaee with tho walnut 
framing of a mirror. The darkened jakwood 
we have above referred to has also been used 
with great success for replacing large fist surfaces 
of mahogany veneer whioh so often suooumb to 
the influenoes of this oiimate or to the damp of 
a sea voyage out from home. Further than these 
instanoea our own experience haa not carried ua, 
but there are probably many among our readers 
who could add to the list of native woods which 
would repay the applioation ol artificial colorants. 
Possibly there are many of our more plentiful 
woods whioh might bonefioially supplant the supply 
ol jakwood, if moans were known whereby their 
oolour might be deepened or brightened. A series 
ol experiments on speoimens of wood supplied 
by the Forest Department, might be tried at tbs 
Government Factory, where, we understand, a sub- 
stitute for jakwood, whioh is becoming soaroe, is 
greatly desiderated. 
A PARASITE. 
Hla reci-ullou wna threefold. 
His aniblciun ludiorous. 
His a.biovomoDt wonderful. 
Deceit No. 1— Th«t ho wua only a oreeitor. 
,, No. 2— That his roots were in tho ground. 
„ No. 3— That the loaves he boro were 
Tra leaves 
No' 1 — lie was a creeper inaemneh as a bang- 
mann rope is a oravat. No. 2 — His roota in the 
ground might have heen pulled up by a red ant ; 
hut to loosen his erobreoe of the Tea I had to 
insert my knife blade, aud then at varying distances 
I found his creeping wcody stem had white-roots of 
a quirter inch, gimlot-like imbedded in tbeTeuwood 
No, a— lu this he told to much truth that mado it 
quite apparent he lived at a table other than bis 
own, lor the flatterer bad found a soft place ia warm* 
