884 
THE TROPtCAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[June i, 1892. 
prooeea csn he carried out on u large manufacturing 
Scale, when further valuable erperienoo will doobllcBa 
be gained. 
From MeserH. Dewar and Bedwood’a Beport, I take 
one paragraph : — 
In reaped to Ihe commercial value of a succorafnl 
procera for the manufacture of a solid Petroleum luel 
we may point out that in auy localities where ihe 
cost of Peirohnm iu relation to Iha'. other (ut l is 
Bufflciently low, snch a proceta eheuld admit of heiug 
advanlagf oualy carried out on a scale of great magni- 
tude. The enormous extent to which in Kuasia, and 
in the United States, liquid feel is now employed, and 
the rapidly growing demand for this beating agent 
for use in meiallur^cal and other industrial tpere- 
tions as well as for steam raising, conclusivi ly demon- 
strate that the we l-known iheoretii al euperiiritj of 
Petroleum over coal aa a fuel has been c ■nflrnied lu 
practice. Liquid fuel, however, r* quires for iia satis- 
factory eomhusiion the adepliou o special applisnces, 
and in many caso«, a soil Petroleum fuel which could 
ho burnt in an- ordinary fireplace or furnace, nonid 
bo ptelerahlc or oven capable of being used whore 
the other oonld not. Moreover there are seme des- 
criptions of Petroleum ocenrring in nature in great 
abundance which from their viscid charscler are not 
adapted for iransport or nse in a liquid state, end if 
as we see no reason to doubt, the Oheuha l process 
can bo applied to such I'etroleum it wuii'd bo possible 
to utilise the raw material which is at present prac- 
tically iinniarketahle. If thorelore. by the adoption 
of the process in question a fuel capable or being 
transporied in the solid form and satisfactorily humid 
in fnrnancea cud fireplaces of the u-iial omistinction 
can be economically manufactured from Pitrolmm 
the results should of greet industrial importance. 
Havii g regard to the prisumahly euornioii; un- 
developed resources of petroleum iu various oouutric s, 
there does notappesr at present to beany riasoeahlo 
ground for apprehension in respect to lutnre supplies. 
But, as the matter is one of auoh special interest 
to Ceylon Tea Factory owners, I quote the lost 
report in full: — 
^ London, 18lh Nov. 1891. 
To the Directors of the Solidified Petroleum (I’ioi-eer) 
Corpora' ion, Ltd. 
Gentlemen,— I have had the pleasure ef eismini g 
at Hackney Wick the Ohonball processor converting 
ernde Petroleum into a solid mass for Ihe purpose 
of burning it in lieu of coal, and must say tliat the 
experiments i witnessed were of a most satisfactory 
character, more especially in cases where fuel is 
nsed to generate steam. It has 1< ng been known that 
by burning Petroleum a greater amount ot heat and 
steam producing power can be obtained th nhyburn- 
ing coal, and up to the present iiroe t umlurs of irists 
and expirimeiita have been made with a view to introdu- 
cing this doscriptioii of fuel, but it hss been found that 
by using Petroleum in a liquid state a certain amount 
of oxygen has to bo combined with it, and in oider 
to do ihia the Petroleum has to be sprayed in Ihe 
furnace by means ol either a steam or compressed 
air jet, aucli process meaning a loss of coal, besides 
the necessity of having to alter Ihe furnaces into 
which this Petroleum is sprayed to effect perfect 
oombnstion. 
In the consolidated system referred to, the crude 
Petroleum is mixed with a chemical comptund equal 
to about 15 percent, of its bulk. This is subjected 
to a moist beat equal to about 210 degrees Fahreii- 
heit, which osnses the solid matter to dissolve aud 
amalgamate with the oil. Iu this state it is suhjootcd 
to a dry heat of from 400 to 600 degrees Fahren- 
heit and commences to solidify ; when cooled it is 
in a’pasty state. When in this condition it is placed 
in a press, pressed into the form of bricks, peifeotly 
solid and can be transported and used aa desired. 
The fuel in this form when burned on an ordinary 
fire grate without any application for spraying presents 
a bright Asms of intense hi at without giving off auy 
liquid or rmtll, and after it baa burnt until all the 
carbon contained has been consumed, it leaves little 
OP no ksb. 
Asa steam generator it is, iu mj opinion, far stipe* 
rior to the beat Wehh ooal or patent fnel made from 
cod and pilch combiaed, for the foiloviug rear-otis 
First . — The lieat obtained from it ia undoubtedly 
greater (nsallwLo b&vo burnt TetroUnm will admit) 
than that i f coaI. 
Second — It requires little or no Rtoking, as its heat 
con ets ir> in the surlacu and not from the m«aB. 
TAiVff.— There la no refuse left-* (it burns itself out) 
— aua coBBt quentty there is no olinkcr or nab to remove 
Irom the furnace bars. 
Fourth.^^li taa little doUrloratiug iffect on the fire 
barA, and can boused iu any ordinary furnace. 
1 have not gone into at j detailed odculation as to 
the oomparstivo oost of ibis material and coal, but I 
am sure that at the prei-ent price of crude Peircleum 
and the Mivall e< at ul solidifying it for^ steani-gonera* 
ting purpose , it wculd be much cheaper than oral, and 
1 am ot opinion that tbin method ot solirljfytng Petro- 
leum tor iLe purpose of using it ns fuel completely 
overcomes the difficulties tbs t have hitherto been ex- 
perienced in bun ing Petroleum iu a fluid state. 
Under these oircumHlanoea tboro mnut b*.) a great 
future for the fuel iu generating steam, both for 
marine and land purposes, and from ihe etp'Timenta 
I have witnessed and the ob^ervaiiotiB, I bave made, 
I can confidently say that a pound of water oan be 
evaporiiied by its a*e mure cheaply Iran the us© 
of cool.— I am, Gentlemen, Yours toitbfiilly, 
Alfred bnyTH. 
{Late ,T. & A. Bi-yTU, Engineers, Limehov.se, 
^ > 
THE AMSTERDAM CINCHONA AUCTIONS 
Amsterdam, March 31. 
At today’s fiOctioDS 2,646 packages of Java bark 
r>old at an avt rage unit of 6^ cents, or equal to about 
1^1 per lb., thus showing ro alteration in value npou 
the last London saleH. Tbo following prices were 
paid Manufacturing barks m whole and bn k« n quill 
and chips U to 63 cents (equal to l|d to IHd per 
Ih.); ditto root 10 to 43 cents (equal to 3d to y^d per 
lb); Urnggiets’ lark", iu quill, bn ken quill, and chips 
10 to 133 cents (equal to l|d to Is ll^d per lb.) ; 
ditto root 11 to 27 centH (rqual to 2d to4|d prrib.) 
The principal buyers in the order of their purchaeea 
vere the Aoerboch Quinine-works, the Rrurewick 
works, and the Amsterdam factory.— CAcwri«< and 
Druggist. 
Japanese Persimmons. — The Japanese persimmon, 
when unripe aud not properly cured, Is astringent 
and unpalatable ; but when fully ripe, is highly 
nutritious, luscious, and of delicate flavour. Mr. 
Ellwood Cooper, of Santa Barbara, Cal., gives the 
following direction for use: “Place on shell or side- 
board or table for ornamentation until it becomes soft. 
It will shrink somewhat and turn a darker color; if 
it ripens properly will be uniformly soft in every 
part — must not be eaten until it is— then peel from 
the top. Tho skin is very thin and will leave the 
pulp readily,*’— Ai/icrican (Jroeer. 
“ Canella’* not Cinnamon. — It may bo worth 
while pointing out that the canefa spokrn of in 
Messrs. Ross and binolair’s report on Peru is not 
cinnamon, though in most of tbo European 
langUBKes the name for Ceylon’s spioy bark is 
some form of the diminutive of the Latin canna, 
a cane. What the tree referred to in the Peru 
esport is, is shown in the following extract from 
the Treasury of Botany — 
Canella.— T he tree yielding Canolla bark han been 
placed in various natural groups by different 
writers. The characters of the genus, in brief, are the 
presence of three bracts, and five sepals ; no petals ; 
twenty stamens united below, and having narrow 
anthers ; a one-celled ovary, with two or three pendu- 
lous evules. The tree is a native of the West Indies, 
and fuinishes a palo-orango-coloured bark, with an 
aromatic odour, which is used as a tonic. Tho negroes 
of the West Indies use it as a sploe, Tho plant 
froquoutly grown in botanic gardens. 
