1 Sxpr., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 241 
rubbed with drv bran in order to give it that rich, glossy polish so pleasing to 
the eye and smooth to the feel. The hams and shoulders are now sewn in 
coarse canvas, and are then ready for market.—Hachange. 
INDIGENOUS FRUITS. 
On the subject of indigenous fruits, Mr. Barclay Millar, of Herberton 
writes :— 
I am very much pleased to see the fruits of my early collections in your 
coloured illustration in the June number of the Journal. The pear is even more 
beautiful in its wild state. It is usually larger than the specimen shown, and in 
colour like lovely porcelain or white wax painted about two-thirds of its length, 
cool, pleasant-tasted, and refreshing. I have not at any time seen it on the 
Endeavour watershed, but on the Normanby, Laura, and towards the More- 
head Rivers plentiful. I believe it is better known in Victoria now than it is 
in Queensland, as inits natal habitat no one resides. The late Mr. A. J. 
Hockings took much interest in the propagation of indigenous fruits, as did 
also his son, to whom I have invariably sent seeds of any found by me worthy 
of attention. 
The Davidsonia is a lovely tree in its native state, very large and hardy. 
Ii will continue to shoot up in the main roadway. The men who make the 
roads don’t know it, and down it goes. I think there are many of its class. I 
collected many about two years ago on the Russell, Mulgrave, and Johnstone 
Rivers, but lost all through insects. One not unlike the ‘‘ Litchee” (Chinese 
Lie-chee). Another, rather a nice purple plum, of which I had eaten about 
twelve, when the blacks informed me it was poison. I, however, ate six more, 
with no bad consequences. 
? 
SUGAR FROM POTATOES. 
Even as beet sugar has to a great extent replaced cane sugar, and turned the 
industry upside down in the process, so, it appears, may potato sugar eclipse 
beet sugar and again upset the tide. A Dutch correspondent writes to the 
Westminster Gazette that Dr. Geerlings, director of the proof station in 
Kagok-tegal (Java), formerly of the University of Amsterdam, and many years 
assistant in the chemical laboratory of that university, has discovered a simple 
method of converting the starch of potatoes into sugar. He has sent ina 
sealed envelope, as is customary, the descriptions of his method to the French 
Academie des Sciences; this to secure the priority of his invention, as his 
discovery is not yet quite at the stage of being made public. Dr. Prinzen 
Geerlings has so much official business upon his hands that some months may 
elapse before he can prepare the discovery for publication. Starch-producing 
plants are much less liable to climatic influences than sugar-producing 
vegetables, and with regard to the sugar industry the only question is to find 
the means for converting on a big scale and at small cost, so that the method 
may take the place of the manufacture of sugar from cane or-beet. If this 
can be done there is one of the biggest economical revolutions in sight. 
SUGAR FROM WATERMELONS. 
Dr. C. P. Carver, of St. Augustine, Fla., is experimenting with the sugar- 
producing properties of watermelons. He has so far found that he can extract a 
fine taffy candy sugar at the proportion of 1 oz. to 8 oz. of the melon pulp 
without the rind. Dr. Carver is going to ascertain the proportion of saccharine 
matter in the whole watermelon, for he believes, from experiments he has 
made, that a large quantity can be extracted from the rind, as well as from the 
pulp or heart of the melon. He says he is positive a sugar of superior delicacy 
can be made trom the melon.—Wew York Shipping List. 
