466 
VARIETIES. 
of  about  140]  lbs.  eacb,  the  average  production  being  2500  bas- 
kets. No  price  has  yet  been  fixed,  but  it  is  expected  that  18s. 
per  lb.  will  be  about  the  figure  at  the  commencement  of  the 
season.  The  average  consumption  of  different  countries  is  as 
follows  : — 
England       ....        400  baskets. 
America       ....        900  « 
China  ....       1000  « 
Java  ....        500  " 
Borneo  ....  100  « 
France  ....  80  « 
Germany      ....  60  " 
The  above  figures,  however,  vary  considerably  according  to 
price,  particularly  with  regard  to  the  exports  to  China. — Lon. 
Ohem.  News,  July  7, 1850. 
ft  a  i  i  e  t  i  e  0  ♦ 
Vegetable  Tallow.— The  Agricultural  Bureau  of  the  patent  office  has  re- 
ceived  specimens  of  vegetable  tallow,  known  to  botanists  as  myristica  sebi- 
fera.  It  comes  from  a  nut  about  the  size  of  a  nutmeg,  full  of  meat,  which 
being  melted,  becomes  a  yellowish  tallow  excellent  for  candles.  The  plant 
is  a  native  of  Central  and  South  America,  and  naturally  attains  a  height 
of  10  or  12  feet ;  it  carries  herbaceous  flowers  from  July  till  September,  and 
makes  so  profuse  a  secretion  of  oily  matter,  that  this  may  be  readily  obtained 
from  it,  in  the  form  of  fat,  by  immersing  it  in  boiling  water.  H.  L.  Clarke, 
Esq.,  United  States  Minister  at  Guatemala,  writes  that  he  has  no  doubt  that 
this  article  might  be  collected  and  exported  at  considerable  profit.  It 
grows  in  immense  quantities  in  the  southern  departments  and  in  Verapaz. 
It  is  susceptible  of  such  high  purification  as  to  resemble  the  finest  sperm, 
is  solid,  and  quite  as  transparent.  A  sample  of  this  production,  in  the  nut 
and  in  the  tallow,  is  now  among  the  numerous  collections  at  the  patent 
office.  The  cultivation  of  it  from  the  seed  will  be  tried  at  the  horticultural 
garden. —  Chem.  News,  London,  June  2,  1860,  from  Scientific  American. 
New  Way  to  discover  Leaks  in  Gas  Pipes. — The  usual  way  of  looking  for 
them  with  a  lighted  candle  our  readers  know  sometimes  results  in  an  ex- 
