702 
the tropical agriculturist. 
[April r, 1892 . 
dollars. 80 that the fine ore from Ceylon has the 
markets ol Britain and America praotioally to itself. 
Qraphite is a mineral of motallio luster, ill oolor 
riDKing from iron-black to dark steel-gray. Its hard- 
nesB is 12 and its apeoifio gravity Iroin 2-25 to 2-27. 
It Boila paper and has a greaay feel by which it is eaai.y 
recognized, being diatinguishe 1 from molybdenite by 
the streak, that of molybdenite having a slightly green- 
ish oast. Molybdenite also affords a test for sulphur 
before the blowpipe. 
OccUBRENCB. — Graphite is every common and abun- 
dant mineral in many regions of metamorphio rooks, 
and has attracted attention in various psrta of the 
country. The only looality which has proved as 
yet an important producer, however, is Ticoude- 
roga, N, Y., and its neighbotbood. The old mines 
by which the place is beet known are on a series of 
eliipitioal obimueys in gneiss which are filled with 
ealciie and graphite, They were long since exhaust- 
ed. The present souruo is a graphitic ipiartzite or 
Bohist in Uio town of Uague, N. Y., some live miles 
west of Lake George. There are crystalline lime- 
stones along Lake Champlain which also contain 
graphite, and might fnrnish the mineral. Any rook 
employed for this purpose must bo free from mica, 
for it is impossible to separate two sosly minerals 
in tile dressing. 
A ^oru Je graphite, adapted for the manufaotnre of 
oruoibies, stove blacking, eto., is found in ooojcnc- 
tion with anthracite coal in Hhode Island. Graphite 
is also mined in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wyo- 
ming. Other deposits are known in this country, 
but none ol tbem are worked. Moat ol the graphite 
used cornea from Ceylon. 
PbiiP 4 BAtion. — T he rook oonsisting of about 10 par 
cent graphite and lbs remainder quartz, which ia worked 
at Lake George, is crushed in a battery of Oalifornia 
stamps and then w.iabed with buddies and settlers, 
the percentage of graphite being thus raised to 40 or 50 
per cent. This prodnet ia farther treated at Ticou- 
deroga by a secret washing process, whereby the grade 
is raised to 90 pCr cent. 
PuontTCTiON. — The quantity of graphite produced at 
Tioonderogs is not Urge, and could doubtless be con- 
siderably increased. The mines are owned by the 
Joseph Dixon Crucible Uompany and serve as a chock 
on the price oi Ceylon graphite whioh is principally 
used by that eompany. The production of graphite in 
the TJeited States, together with the imports into the 
country, is shown in tlio following table : — 
S 
C5 
a 
H 
»5 
M 
M 
s . 
11 
s -s 
o 
I ■S 
u 
p 
O 
b0CO<O?9CRv<ai3bOt’- 
S 53 IS ^ ^ 
g? 
BO 
iiiiiiSSIIs 
gs'fsiisiiSi 
9Sa>^cco«i'ncic^oro^ 
-||l ltd'll ' 
io .ft 5? P F 
o ^ Cl TO sC *-o i- oo 35 p 
OUUOCQ'luaOCCQQCOQQVP 
QOcqSTOTOooaSQOTO'X'tiO 
■ggfiS. 
d a 
■G •« g va 
^ a IT 
S.2 « o. 
2T3 s S <n 
" ►a'O.S a: 
— '-t-i j3qo « 
H ay rQ 
_ oo Q 
A considerable amount of graphite is used in it 
crude state for foundry facings, eto. Thus it will bo 
observed from the preceding table that the produntion 
of r< fined graphite in 1889 wos but 100,000 lb. valued 
at $8.'i,00O, while the output of crude graphite was 
7,003 tODP, valued ot $72,662. 
Uses. — G raphite is largelji used for pencils, and as 
a lubiioaut, for both of wbiob pntposos it must be 
soft and of high grade. Lower grades fire used for 
oruoibies, stove blfioking, foundry facings, and as a 
substitute for red lead in pipe fitting. It is also be- 
ing extoneively employed as a paint for covering smoke 
stacks, boilers, tin roofs, etc., having been proved to 
be very durable. Booent experiments have shown that 
a graphitic lining for Bt’ssemer oouverters is specially 
adapted to witbstaud the cutting action of acid slag, 
and a large demand for graphite has come from steul 
works In conserpionoe, especially in Germany wh«>ro 
this material has beun adopted by the Krupp works. 
Thus, the imports of graphite into GeruiMiiy, from 
OeyloD, are said to have increased from about 3.100 
cwt. iu the year ending Ju »- Ist, 1889, to 14,215 owt. in 
1890, and 11,000 owt. in i891. The decrease in the 
last year was occasioned y rho falling off of the output 
of Ceylon, from which island 148,000 cwt. of graphite 
were exported during the year ending June 1 st, 1891, 
against 162,000 owt. in the twelve months preceding. 
PitiCB, — The price of graphite or plumbago, as it ia 
commonly called, varies according to its quality. It is 
divided into four grades, viz.: Largo lump, ordinary 
lumps, chip, and du^-t. Large and ordinary lump are 
now worth from $4*00 to $5-00 per cwt.; chip, from $3 50 
to fi4 00 and dust from $275 to $1-50. ThequsUty of 
plumi ago depends as much upon its physical structure 
as upon its chemical composition. 
To the above wo add the following 
Fokmatio.v OP Graphite.— I n a paper on the forma- 
tion of graphite by contact rnetamorphonig, by E Bock 
and W. Lnzi — of the Chejnical *S'cciWy— the 
authors claim to have ftiscovored some beautifully 
crystallized graphite in rooks which have been meta- 
morphosed by contact with ancient volcanic rocks, the 
graphite crystals are easily discernible from the 
amorphous carbonaorOus substances of tbe original olay 
slates and silicooua slates. The authors have proved 
that graphite has been formed from enrbouj eeous 
substauocs by oontaot metamorphosis in tbe case of 
certain rocks in Saxony. In Pirua and Kreiseba, 
upper Silurian clay slites and siliceous 
slates ocenr, which are very rich in car- 
bonaccoTis substances, and lie partially within the 
region of contact of the granite and hornblende 
granite ; those within this region of contact 
have become converted into graphitic rocks. A chiaa- 
tolite slate and a graphitic quarzite were ex- 
umiued. The graphite had a greasy feeling, and 
produced a metallic 8 reak ; it had aUo a metallic 
luster. Anaylsis showed that the graphite from the 
obiastolite slates had the oomposition C— 98*84 per 
cent, n =: 0*21 per cent ; while that from tbe graphitic 
quarzito hnd the comuositioa 0 = 99*94 per cent, 
H — 0 06 per cent. The graphitic quarzite inself 
contained over 2 per c^nt of graphite, and its apeoifio 
gravity was 2 62 — 2 637. Proof is therefore afforded 
by this discovery that graphite is formed in nature 
from amorphous carbon iu muoh tbe same manner 
aa it is produced artificially. — Engineering arid Mining 
Journal. 
TEA AS A BEVERAGE. 
Tea, as a beverage, is being ** boomed at home just 
now in an extraordinary way. Doctors looturo about it, 
preachers preach on it, daily papers devote their lead- 
ing columns to the phases oi the market, and wherever 
you turn, tea, In some form or another, oatohes the eye. 
The British Medical Journal devotes space to discuss the 
death of a boy, aged seven years, from a shock pro- 
duced by drinking hot tea without milk. Our medical 
contemporary writes thus : — This incident forcibly 
and sadly emphasises the particular vice of the ordinary 
English method of driukiug tea« Tbe tea had been left 
