March i, 1892 J 
rHf TftOPiCAL AGRICULTURIST. 
691 
Coffee in Burma. — At the annual meeting o( the 
Agri-Hirtieuliural Society on Saturday, writes the 
Rangoon Tim s ot the let inst., Dr. Stephens com- 
pared a aample of coffee from Mr. Betlej’s estate in 
the Karten Hills with some ooffeo grown in tlio 
Society’s gardens. The latter was so small that Dr. 
Stephens eonsidored it was not advisable to propa- 
gate it, but ad vi led the sooietyto piirehase Arabian 
coffee aied from Mr. Petley and Liberian coffee 
seed from Mr. Watson of Tavoy and to distribute 
plants at cost price and to encourage coffee growing 
as muoh as possible. Dr. Stephens considered that 
some of the Liberian coffee trees in the Society’s 
garden whioh are 2i) feet high should be sawn down, 
and a rucker allowed to grow up to .1 feet and then 
topped, as they will th'-n give more cri p, and it will 
ho easy to gather. Oeylon was made by its planters, 
and the Straits Government is encouraging the 
planting enterprise as muoh as possible, but nothing 
is being dona by our local Government to attr-ict 
planters, or to induce the natives to cultivate ouff-oe, 
&C. — Rinnng Gmclle, Peo. 10th. 
This Th.vv.vnpoiir Govnn.\.M.K.NT anp.Iafpna 
Toiiacco. — We have in previous issues referred to 
the action of the Travanoore Government in 
reducing the duty nn Coimbatore tobaooo, while 
maintaining the duty on Jaffna tobacoo, tbe oon- 
aequenoc of which has been the entiie demoralia 
zation ot the J.HIna tobaoon tr.de, and the 
threatened rnin of thousands of cultivators. The 
Travanoore Government, it seems, acted in any- 
thing but a straightforward manner, denying again 
and again that they had any intention ot reducing 
the duty on Coimbatore tobaooo, and then suddenly 
doing so. The lulluential memorial of d7th Deo. 
last from the leading reeidents in Jaffna 
l»> tba Maharaja has brought no reply ; and 
the memorialists therefore now intend addressing 
H, E, the Governor on tbe eubjeot. It is almost 
a matter of life and death for Jaffna, Xravancore 
being practically the only market outside of Ceyion 
for Jsffna tobacco ; and wo have no doubt that 
Sir Arthur llavelook will do all that ha oan to get 
justice done to the tobacco cultivators and traders 
ot the north. 
Cinnamon for iNsnoENZA? — Th’ Produce Markets’ 
Review ot Jan. Kith haa the following 
Cinimmou ban long been known as a delicate epie 
of which the exquisite flavour an 1 stimulating proper- 
ties arc in-ufBciently appreciated here, though they are 
far more valued on the contiueiit. It has now. however, 
H fresh claim on the public attention, for M. CUambel- 
laiid, of M. Pasteur's laboralorv for the study of germs, 
basdiscovi red that o taenoe of cinnam-Mi is the most 
powerful germioideas yetkuovn, b -ing even s ronger 
for this purpoHo than corrosive snbUmate. The fol- 
lowing from the Paris correspondent of The Daily 
jVeics gives the particclars as yet published: — “'Tbere 
Would pro'ty certainly lie a ciniiamou boom if tbe 
experiment made with that spice by Mr. CliambelUnd 
iu M. Pasteur’s laboratory were geocratly k'lOwn. Oor 
auc.estora.Jt appears, bit upon iho best preservative 
troni tbe infectious microbe when the.v Used to drink 
mulled wines and other beveragte in wh'eh strong 
d.isns ot cinnamon were infused. Mr. Ubambellaud 
now ssysthatuo living disease. gorra oan resist for more 
than a lew hours the autisepiio power of e-souoe of 
oiunamou. He looks upon it as not leas effective in 
uesti-oiing microbes tliaa [corrosive sublimite. Even 
Ps s'-ent kills them, and it does no brrin to human 
beings. A decoction of cinnamon is often good to drink 
}i' u'calities where tiphoid fever or cholera is rife.” 
-tn combat the approaches of influenza bv adding 
ground cinnamon to pudJings and tsrts would o»rtainly 
® a pleasant wiv of labing anlisoptio precautions 
gainst the prevalent epidemic. Stick oiunauiou burnt 
“ be s’ck-roooi has long been known as an agreeable 
-uL but in the light of tUo above it may very 
prooably be that it was originally its real antiseptic me 
whioh suggested the idea. Essence of cinnamon in 
various forms is, of course, familiar to ns all. when 
added to oouceal tbs taste of physic ; but the essence 
itself, as a medi-inal germicide, would be an agreeable 
cure. On the oontioent, ciuuamon is muoh more used 
in cookery than with us, and it is also supplied ready- 
mixed with sugar for sprinkling over cooked fruits 
pastry, &o. 
Biutisii VFoETABi.Ea. — Most of onr vegetables are 
ot foreign parentage. Many, like the sprout, onion, 
and bean, still bear the name of the places from 
whioh they were imported. Few can put it to their 
credit that they were bom Eugliahmen and none can 
trace their descent through an unbroken line of 
British sap to the Nonnan conquest. Vegetables 
ranked much higher with the Greeks and Romans. 
Sparta's standing dish was the black broth, a vegetable 
soup, and a parsley crown was tho prize of the winners 
in the Isthmian games. Many great Roman families 
took their names from the commonest vegetables ; the 
Fabii from a bean, the Lentuli from a lentil, Soipio 
from an onion, and Cicero from a pea. Some people 
fancy that the Roman Church christened Lent from 
the lentil. The Egyptians made a god of the onion, 
and tho comic Romans of the period sneered at the 
race which grew their divinities in their back gardens. — 
— Inverness Courier, 
■TTIT’— < 
OEYLON EXPORTS AND DISTRIBUTION, 1892. 
