REVIVED  CORKS. 
155 
corn  or  fodder  crops  in  Europe,  and  for  growing  rice  under  the 
tropics ;  and  it  is  my  opinion  that,  owing  to  the  steady  increase 
of  population  both  in  Europe  and  Asia,  the  time  may  not  be  far 
distant  that  it  will  be  imperatively  necessary  to  apply  the  space 
of  ground  now  devoted  to  beet-root  and  sugar-cane  to  the  culti- 
vation of  corn-crops  and  rice,  in  order  to  supply  the  increasing 
demand  for  these  staple  articles  of  consumption.  Whereas 
sugar-cane  and  beet-root  require  such  soils  as  are  also  adapted 
for  cerealia,  the  Aren  palm  flourishes  in  soils  utterly  unfit  for 
that  purpose,  so  unfit  even  that  it  would  be  in  vain  to  attempt 
to  render  such  soils  fit  for  the  growing  of  rice  or  cerealia  ;  the 
Aren  palm  relishes  the  deep  mountain  ravines  of  Java,  running, 
in  some  parts  of  the  island,  from  the  sea-shore  so  the  interior, 
the  said  palm  being  found  in  groups  together ;  and  it  is  quite 
possible  to  lay  out  fine  plantations  of  this  beautiful  tree.  There 
is  one  drawback,  though  not  a  very  serious  one,  viz.,  not  before 
the  trees  have  obtained  an  age  of  from  ten  to  twelve  years  are 
they  fit  to  yield  sugar.  When,  however,  it  yields  sugar,  the 
tapping  can  be  continued  for  many  years,  and  the  sugar  manu- 
facture will  become  a  continuous — not  as  now,  an  interrupted — 
industry.  According  to  my  calculation,  a  field  of  500  square 
Rynlandf  roods  planted  with  these  trees,  would  yield  annually 
40  picolsj  of  sugar  from  a  soil  quite  unfit  for  any  other  kind  of 
agricultural  service.  I  am,  &c. 
Dr.  J.  E.  de  Vry." 
—Chem.  News.,  Feb.  3,  1865. 
REVIVED  CORKS. 
The  attention  of  the  French  public  has  been  called,  by  M. 
Stanislaus  Martin,  to  the  employment  of  refuse  corks  as  dan- 
gerous to  public  health.  It  is  the  custom  of  the  Paris  scaven- 
gers to  collect  those  which  are  brought  down  by  the  sewers,  and 
sell  them  to  persons  who  make  it  their  business  to  revive  them. 
If  the  corks  are  of  unsightly  shape  they  are  re-cut ;  while,  if 
containing  holes,  these  are  filled  up  with  mastic,  and  then 
smeared  with  a  powder  to  give  them  a  proper  color.  Such  corks 
used  only  to  be  employed  by  the  ink  and  blacking  makers,  but 
their  low  price  (5s.  6d.  per  1000)  has  of  late  induced  retailers 
f  Equal  to  about  three-quarters  of  an  acre. 
%  One  picol  is  equal  to  about  60  kilogrammes. 
