The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom / Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c.

by P. L. Simmonds

THE GRAIN CROPS, EDIBLE ROOTS, AND FARINACEOUS PLANTS FORMING THE BREAD STUFFS OF COMMERCE.

The vegetable substances, from which man derives his principal sustenance, such as the nutritious cereal grains, the tuberous rooted plants and the trees yielding farina, are very widely diffused, and necessarily occupy the main attention of the cultivator; their products forming the most important staples of domestic and foreign commerce. The cereal grasses and roots, cultivated in temperate regions, such as wheat, barley, oats, rye, and the potato, are so well known, and have been so fully described by agricultural writers that I shall not go much into details as to their varieties, culture, &c., but confine myself chiefly to their distribution, produce, statistics, and commercial importance. The food plants may be most conveniently arranged under three heads. Firstly—the Grain crops and legumes, which comprises the European cultivated grasses, wheat, barley, oats, &c.; and the tropical ones of rice, maize, millet, Guinea corn, &c. Secondly—Palms and other trees yielding farina, including the sago palms, plantain and banana, and the bread fruit tree. And Thirdly—the edible Root crops and Starch producing plants, which are a somewhat extensive class, the chief of which, however, are the common potato, yams, cocos or eddoes, sweet potatoes, the bitter and sweet cassava or manioc, the arrowroot and other plants yielding starch in more or less purity.

There is a great diversity of food, from the humble oak bark bread of the Norwegian peasant, or the Brahmin, whose appetite is satisfied with vegetables, to the luxurious diet of a Hungarian Magnate at Vienna.

The bread stuffs, as they are popularly termed, particularly wheat and wheat flour, maize, and rice, form very important articles of commerce, and enter largely into cultivation in various countries for home consumption and export. Russia, India, and the United States, carry on a very considerable trade in grain with other countries. Our local production being insufficient for food and manufactures, we import yearly immense quantities of grain and flour. In the four years ending 1852, the annual quantity of corn, of various, kinds, imported into the United Kingdom, exclusive of flour and meal, rice, sago, &c., averaged 8,085,903 quarters.

The flour and meal imported, omitting sago, arrowroot and other starches, averaged in the same period 4,143,603 cwts. annually.

The annual imports of breadstuffs for food, taking the average of the four years ending with 1852, may be thus summed up—

	Tons.
Corn and grain, 8,085,903 quarters, at 60 lb. the bushel	173,270
Flour and meal	207,180
Rice	40,817
Potatoes	42,440
Sago, arrowroot, &c.	5,000
Total	468,707

Some portion of this quantity is doubtless consumed in the arts—as starch for stiffening linens, &c., and for other purposes not coming under the term of food, but I have purposely left out in the calculation about 30,000 to 40,000 quarters of rice in the husk annually imported.

Ireland took, in 1849, of foreign grain 2,115,129 quarters; 1,683,687 quarters in 1850; and 2,504,229 in 1851; as well as 256,837 cwts. of various kinds of meal and flour in 1849; 220,107 cwts. in 1850; and 341,680 cwts. in 1851. England also supplied her with about 500,000 quarters of grain and 350,000 cwts. of meal in each of those years.

The comparative returns of the importations of grain into the United Kingdom for the last four years, are as follows, in quarters:—

	1852.	1851.	1850.	1849.
Wheat	3,068,892	3,812,009	3,738,995	3,845,378
Barley	656,737	829,564	1,035,903	1,381,008
Oats	995,480	1,198,529	1,154,473	1,267,106
Rye	10,023	24,609	98,836	240,566
Beans	371,250	318,502	443,306	457,933
Peas	107,017	99,399	181,419	234,366
Maize	1,479,891	1,807,636	1,277,071	2,224,459
Other sorts	8,085	3,432	868	1,150
Quarters	6,667,375	8,124,280	7,930,871	9,651,966

The meal and flour imported in the same years, in cwts., were as follows:—

	1852.	1851.	1850.	1849.
Wheat	3,889,583	5,314,414	3,819,440	3,349,839
Barley	212	34	108	224
Oats	521	2,525	5,999	40,230
Rye	92	6,493	964	18,468
Indian corn	742	9,561	11,334	101,683
Other sorts	54	343	163	1,396
Cwts.	3,891,195	5,323,370	3,838,008	3,511,840

Before the famine in Ireland the imports seldom reached 20 millions of bushels of grain and meal of all kinds. In 1848 our imports were about 60 millions; in 1849, 85 millions; in 1850, 68 millions; in 1851, 75½ millions; in 1852, 69 millions, with good wheat harvests; showing the great shock received and the slowness of recovery.

With a rapidly increasing population in all parts of the civilized world, the production of bread is obviously the first object to be sought after, alike by the statesman and the peasant. I scarcely dare give the calculation of the immense amount which would be realised in any great country, by the single saving of a bushel to an acre, in the quantity of seed ordinarily sown. The same result would follow if an additional bushel could be produced in the annual average yield of the wheat crop.

According to Mr. H. Colman, the annual amount of seed for wheat sown in France is estimated at 32,491,978 bushels. If we could suppose a third of this saved, the saving would amount to 10,863,959 bushels per year. Suppose an annual increase of the crops of five bushels per acre, this would give an increase of production of 54,319,795 bushels. Add this, under improved cultivation, to the amount of seed saved, and the result would be 65,183,754 bushels—I believe under an improved agriculture this is quite practicable.

An eminent agricultural writer placed the average yield in England at eighteen bushels per acre; some years since a man of sanguine temperament rated it at over thirty bushels. In France it is stated, in the best districts, to average twenty-two bushels. These evidently are wholly conjectural estimates. In England Mr. Colman states that fifty bushels per acre were reported to him on the best authority, as the yield upon a large farm in a very favorable season. More than eighty bushels have been returned, upon what is deemed ample testimony, to the Royal Agricultural Society of England, as the product of a single acre. In France Mr. Colman had, upon credible authority, reports of forty, forty-four and seventy-two bushels. It would be of immense importance to any government to know the exact produce grown in any county, or district, or in the whole country; and this might be obtained by compelling, on the part of the owner or cultivator, an actual return of his crop; but it is of little use to found such returns on estimates purely conjectural.

From the best statistical accounts that can be obtained, the wheat annually produced in the United Kingdom.

England, Scotland, Ireland is	111,681,320 bushels.
In France it is	198,660,000 bushels.
United States	100,503,899 bushels.

The amount of seed ordinarily sown to the acre in France is from two to three bushels. The return of crop for the seed sown is represented as in the best districts averaging 6.25 for one; in the least productive 5.40 for one. My readers may be curious to know the calculations which have been made in some other countries in regard to this matter.

CENTRAL EUROPE
Countries.	Year.	Increase for seed sown.
Spain	1828	6 for one
Portugal	1786	10 for one
Tuscany		10 for one
Plains of Lucca		15 for one
Piedmont—Plains of Marengo		4 to five for one
Bologna		15 for one
Roman States—Pontine marshes		20 for one
Ordinary lands		8 for one
Kingdom of Naples—best districts		20 for one
Ordinary lands		8 for one
Malta—the best lands		38 to 64 for one
Ordinary lands		22, 25, 30 for one
NORTHERN EUROPE.
Sweden and Norway	1838	4.50 for one
Denmark	1827	6 for one
Russia, a good harvest	1819	5 for one
---- province of Tambof	1821	4.50 for one
---- provinces north of 50 deg. latitude	1821	3 for one
Poland	1826	8 for one
England	1830	9 for one
Scotland	1830	8 for one
Ireland	1825	10 for one
Holland	1828	7.50 for one
Belgium	1828	11 for one
Bavaria	1827	7 to 8 for one
Prussia	1817	6 for one
Austria	1812	7.05 for one
Hungary	1812	4 for one
Switzerland, lands of an inferior quality	1825	3 for one
Of a good quality, 8; of the best quality		12 for one
France, inferior lands, 3; best lands		6 for one
(Statistique des Cereales de la France par Moreau de Jonnes.)

STATISTICS OF WHEAT CULTURE.

As wheat forms the principal nutritious food of the world, claiming the industrious application of labor over the greater part of Europe, throughout the temperate regions of Asia, along the northern kingdoms of Africa, and extending far into the northern and southern regions of the American continents; as it has been cultivated from time immemorial, and has produced in various climates and soils many varieties; it is surprising that so little is generally known of the distinct varieties best adapted to particular climates—and that in Great Britain and the United States we have yet to learn the variety which will yield the largest and best amount of human food!

At the Industrial Exhibition in 1851, twenty-six premiums only were distributed for specimens of wheat; of these, five were awarded to British farmers, three to France, three to Russia, three to Australia, three to the United States, and one each or severally to other nations. Some beautiful specimens of wheat were exhibited from South Australia, weighing seventy pounds a bushel; which were eagerly sought after for seed wheat by our farmers and the colonists of Canada and the United States. But as is well observed by Professor Lindley, it has no peculiar constitutional characteristics by which it may be distinguished from other wheats. Its superior quality is entirely owing to local conditions; to the peculiar temperature, the brilliant light, the soil, and those other circumstances which characterise the climate of South Australia.

All kinds of wheat contain water in greater or lesser quantities. Its amount is greater in cold countries than in warm. In Alsace from 16 to 20 per cent.; England from 14 to 17 per cent.; United States from 12 to 14 per cent.; Africa and Sicily from 9 to 11 per cent. This accounts for the fact, that the same weight of southern flour yields more bread than northern, English wheat yields 13 lbs. more to the quarter than Scotch. Alabama flour, it is said, yields 20 per cent. more than that of Cincinnati. And in general American flour, according to one of the most extensive London bakers, absorbs 8 or 10 per cent. more of its own weight of water in being made into bread than the English. The English grain is fuller and rounder than the American, being puffed up with moisture.

Every year the total loss in the United States from moisture in wheat and flour is estimated at four to five million dollars. To remedy this great evil, the grain should be well ripened before harvesting, and well dried before being stored in a good dry granary. Afterwards, in grinding and in transporting, it should be carefully protected from wet, and the flour be kept from exposure to the atmosphere. The best precaution is kiln-drying. By this process the wheat and flour are passed over iron plates heated by steam to the boiling point. From each barrel of flour 16 or 17 pounds of water are thus expelled, leaving still four or five per cent. in the flour, an amount too small to do injury. If all the water be expelled, the quality of the flour is deteriorated.

The mode of ascertaining the amount of water in flour is this; take a small sample, say five ounces, and weigh it carefully; put it into a dry vessel, which should be heated by boiling water; after six or seven hours, weigh it; its loss of weight shows the original amount of water.

The next object is to ascertain the amount of gluten. Gluten is an adhesive, pasty mass, and consists of several different principles, though its constitution has not yet been satisfactorily determined. It is chiefly the nutritious portion of the flour. The remaining principles are mostly starch, sugar and gum. On an average their relative amount in 100 parts are about as follows:—

	Average.	Kobanga wheat, the best.
Water	13	12
Gluten	12	16
Starch	67	60
Sugar and Gum	8	8
	100	97

Professor Beck examined thirty-three different samples from various parts of the United States and Europe, and he gives the preference to the Kobanga variety from the south of Russia. There would probably be a prejudice against it in this country, from the natural yellowish hue of its flour and bread.

The value of the vegetable food, grain, potatoes, rice and apples exported from the United States within the past few years is thus set down:—

	Dollars.
1847	57,970,356
1848	25,185,647
1849	25,642,362
1850	15,822,273

To this has to be added nine or ten million dollars more for tobacco, 72 million dollars for cotton, and 180,000 dollars for hops and other minor agricultural staples—making the value of the raw vegetable exports about 98 million dollars. There is further the value of the products of the forest, timber, ashes and bark, tar, &c., which are equal to nearly seven millions more, as shown by the following figures:—

	Dollars.
1847	5,248,928
1848	6,415,297
1849	5,261,766
1850	6,590,037

It appears from an official document of the American Treasury Department, that the average value of the breadstuffs and provisions annually exported from the United States from 1821 to 1836 inclusive, was 12,792,000 dolls.; in 1837 and 1838, about 9,600,000 dolls.; from 1839 to 1846, 16,176,000 dolls.; and for the last seven years as follows:—

	Dollars.
1846	27,701,121
1847	68,701,921
1848	37,472,751
1849	38,155,507
1850	26,051,373
1851	21,948,651
1852	25,857,027

Out of the wheat crop in the United States in 1846 of 110 million bushels raised, 10 millions were used for seed, starch, &c.; 72 consumed for food, and 28 million exported. The 460 million bushels of Indian corn raised, were thus disposed of; exported to foreign countries 22 million bushels; sold to and consumed by non-producers, 100 million; consumed on the farms and plantations of the producers for human and animal food, seed, &c., 338 million bushels.

The United States now produce about 120 million bushels of wheat, and nearly 600 million bushels of corn. Their surplus of wheat, for export, may be taken at 20 million bushels, and of Indian corn an almost unlimited quantity. They export about one and a quarter million barrels of flour, and about one million of bushels of wheat to other markets besides those of Great Britain or her North American colonies, viz., to Europe, Asia, Africa, the West Indies and South America, California and Australia, manufactured flour being the article required for these latter markets. Nearly four million bushels of Indian corn, and 300,000 barrels of corn meal, are exported from the United States to the West Indies and other foreign markets.

From the abstracts of statistical returns prepared at the American Census office, it appears that Pennsylvania, in 1850, was the largest wheat producing State of the Union. I have had the curiosity to compare the most prominent States in respect to this crop, and give them below, with the crop of each, as shown by the returns:—

	Bushels.
Pennsylvania	15,482,191
Ohio	14,967,056
Virginia	14,516,900
New York	13,073,000
Michigan	4,918,000
Maryland	4,494,680

That the United States could export 6,000,000 bushels of wheat, and its equivalent in flour in 1845; 13,000,000 in 1846, 26,000,000 in 1847, and then fell back to 13,000,000 in 1848, and 6,000,000 in 1849, with their production of wheat constantly increasing throughout this period, shows a wonderful elasticity, and extensive home market. If the price of wheat is higher in proportion than for corn, the Americans export the former and consume the latter; if the demand for corn be also great, they kill their hogs and export corn, for the pork will keep. If there be no great demand for either, they eat their surplus wheat, feed their hogs with the corn, and export pork as having the greatest value in the least bulk.

DESTINATION OF FLOUR SHIPPED FROM THE UNITED STATES.
WHERE TO.	1847	1849	1850	1851
Swedish West Indies	7,366	7,573	8,757	5,315
Danish ditto	52,150	49,568	44,802	60,102
Dutch East Indies	1,150	4,625	1,600	1,873
Dutch West Indies	11,387	17,221	18,354	19,217
Holland and Belgium	73,871	727	1,177	594
England	2,475,076	953,815	369,777	1,004,783
Gibraltar	23,974	6,265	2,543	195
British East Indies	3,034	791	1,646	1,600
British West Indies	320,363	303,551	250,776	294,731
British American Colonies	272,299	294,891	244,072	252,380
France	612,641	—	—	—
French West Indies	28,966	5,554	5,480	7,902
Hayti	40,257	10,903	31,504	43,867
Cuba	50,046	7,154	5,584	5,611
Spanish West Indies	17,780	6,429	7,074	2,285
Madeira	4,856	4,358	6,321	7,006
Cape de Verds	1,634	501	455	838
Mexico	5,928	11,633	9,736	14,964
Honduras	10,686	4,125	4,725	5,912
Central America	550	4,180	746	2,573
Columbia	39,403	32,251	41,072	47,477
Brazil	270,473	328,129	295,415	374,711
Argentine Republic	10,684	6,599	4,901	22,612
Chili	5,977	5,129	2,848	4,327
South America	2,128	—	40	200
West Indies	4,902	3,984	1,702	4,079
Africa	25,728	4,617	5,524	5,430
North-west Coast	764	1,180	858	2,593
Other ports	29,866	35,017	18,949	19,158
Total—Barrels	4,382,496	2,108,013	1,385,448	2,202,335
Average price	5.95	5.35	5.00	4.77

Wheat, where the soil and the climate are adapted to its growth, and the requisite progress has been made in its culture, is decidedly preferred to all other grains, and, next to maize, is the most important crop in the United States, not only on account of its general use for bread, but for its safety and convenience for exportation. It is not known to what country it is indigenous, any more than any other cultivated cereals, all of which, no doubt, have been essentially improved by man. By some, wheat is considered to have been coeval with the creation, as it is known that upwards of a thousand years before our era it was cultivated, and a superior variety had been attained. It has steadily followed the progress of civilisation from the earliest times, in all countries where it would grow. In 1776 there was entailed upon America an enduring calamity, in consequence of the introduction of the Hessian or wheat fly, which was supposed to have been brought from Germany in some straw, employed in the debarkation of Howe's troops on the west end of Long Island. From that point the insect gradually spread in various directions, at the rate of twenty or thirty miles a year, and the wheat of the entire regions east of the Alleghanies is now more or less infested with the larva, as well as in large portions of the States bordering on the Ohio and Mississippi, and on the great Lakes; and so great have been the ravages of these insects that the cultivation of this grain has in many places been abandoned.

The geographical range of the wheat region in the Eastern Continent and Australia, lies principally between the 30th and 60th parallels of north latitude, and the 30th and 40th degrees south, being chiefly confined to France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sicily, Greece, Turkey, Russia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Prussia, Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain, Ireland, Northern and Southern Africa, Tartary, India, China, Australia, Van Diemen's Land, and Japan. Along the Atlantic portions of the Western Continent, it embraces the tract lying between the 30th and 50th parallels, and in the country westward of the Rocky Mountains, one or two more degrees further north. Along the west coast of South America, as well as in situations within the torrid zone, sufficiently elevated above the level of the sea, and properly irrigated by natural or artificial means, abundant crops are often produced.

The principal districts of the United States in which this important grain is produced in the greatest abundance, and where it forms a leading article of commerce, embrace the States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Iowa. The chief varieties cultivated in the Northern and Eastern States are the white flint, tea, Siberian, bald, Black Sea, and the Italian spring wheat. In the middle and Western States, the Mediterranean, the Virginia white May, the blue stem, the Indiana, the Kentucky white bearded, the old red chafet, and the Talavera. The yield varies from ten to forty bushels and upwards per acre, weighing, per bushel, from fifty-eight to sixty-seven pounds.

It appears that on the whole crop of the United States there was a gain during the ten years ending 1850, of 15,645,373 bushels. The crop of New England decreased from 2,014,000 to 1,078,000 bushels, exhibiting a decline of 936,000 bushels, and indicating the attention of farmers has been much withdrawn from the culture of wheat. Grouping the States from the Hudson to the Potomac, including the district of Columbia, it appears that they produced, in 1849, 35,085,000 bushels, against 29,936,000 in 1839. In Virginia there was an increase of 1,123,000 bushels. These States embrace the oldest wheat-growing region of the country, and that in which the soil and climate seem to be adapted to promote the permanent culture of the grain. The increase of production in the ten years has been 6,272,000 bushels, equal to 15.6 per cent. The area tilled in these States is 36,000,000 acres, only thirty per cent. of the whole amount returned, while the proportion of wheat produced is forty-six per cent. In North Carolina there has been an increase of 170,000 bushels, but in the Southern States generally there was a considerable decrease. Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin contributed to the general aggregate under the sixth census only 9,800,000 bushels; under the last they are shown to have produced upwards of 25,000,000 bushels, an amount equal to the whole increase in the United States for the period.

When we see the growth of wheat keeping pace with the progress of population in the oldest States of the Union, we need have no apprehension of a decline in the cultivation of this important crop.

The amount of flour exported from New Jersey in 1751, was 6,424 barrels. From Philadelphia in 1752,125,960 barrels, besides 85,500 bushels of wheat; in 1767, 198,816 barrels, besides 367,500 bushels of wheat; in 1771, 252,744 barrels. From Savannah, in 1771, 7,200 lbs. From Virginia, for some years annually preceding the revolution, 800,000 bushels of wheat. The total exports of flour from the United States in 1791 were 619,681 barrels, besides 1,018,339 bushels of wheat; in 1800, 653,052 barrels, besides 26,853 bushels of wheat; in 1810, 798,431 barrels, besides 325,924 bushels of wheat; in 1820-21, 1,056,119 barrels, besides 25,821 bushels of wheat; in 1830-31, 1,806,529 barrels, besides 408,910 bushels of wheat; in 1840-41, 1,515,817 barrels, besides 868,585 bushels of wheat; in 1845-46, 2,289,476 barrels, besides 1,613,795 bushels of wheat; in 1846-47, 4,382,496 barrels, besides 4,399,951 bushels of wheat; in 1850-51, 2,202,335 barrels, besides 1,026,725 bushels of wheat.

In the London Exhibition very little wheat was exhibited equal to that from the United States, especially that from Genessee county, in the State of New York—a soft white variety, to the exhibitor of which a prize medal was awarded by the Royal Commissioners. The red Mediterranean wheat exhibited from the United States attracted much attention. The wheat from South Australia was probably superior to any exhibited, while much from the United States fell but little behind, and was unquestionably next in quality.

From the Second Report on the Breadstuffs of the United States, made to the Commissioner of Patents, by Lewis C. Beck, M.D., I am induced to make some extracts. He states:—

The analyses of several samples, the growth of various foreign countries, have afforded me an opportunity of comparing the American and foreign wheats and flours. With a few exceptions of peculiar varieties, it will be seen from the results that with ordinary care the wheat of this country will compare advantageously with that of any other. Indeed, on reviewing my analyses, I question whether there is any part of the world where this grain is generally of a finer quality than it is in the United States. But all the advantages which we possess in this respect will be of little avail so long as inferior and damaged breadstuffs are shipped from our ports.

In addition to the analyses which I have executed of the various samples of wheat and wheat flour according to the mode heretofore pursued, I have performed a series of experiments for the purpose of settling the important question in regard to the relative value of the fine flour of wheat, and the "whole meal." I have also consulted every work within my reach which could throw any light upon the different points that have presented themselves during the progress of the investigation.

The large number of samples of wheat and wheat flour which have been placed in my hands for examination, have left me no time for the analysis of our other breadstuffs.

It cannot be denied that the amount shipped to foreign ports during 1849 is considerably less than for the two preceding years. In the meantime, however, a new and important market has been opened in our territories on the Pacific. It may also be safely affirmed that the causes for foreign demand, and which must hereafter operate, still remain. These are the cheapness of land in this country, and the peculiar adaptation of our soil and climate to the growth of the two important cereals, wheat and maize.

Another fact, it seems to me, is of sufficient interest in connection with this subject, to be here noticed. The failure of the potato crop in various parts of the world for several years past has engaged the attention of scientific and practical men. Unfortunately, the nature of the blight which has seized upon this tuber has eluded the most careful inquiries; but it has been shown by well-conducted analyses that potatoes at their late prices are the most expensive kind of farinaceous food. This will be evident from the following statement:—

"Potatoes contain from about seventy to seventy-nine per cent. of water, while the proportion in wheat flour is from twelve to fourteen per cent; and while the gluten and albumen in potatoes scarcely rise to one per cent., in wheat flour the range may be set down at from nine to thirteen per cent. Again, the non-nitrogenous principles are as about seventy-five per cent. in wheat flour against fifteen or sixteen in potatoes. In short, whilst potatoes supply only twenty per cent. of heat-forming and nutritious principles, taken together, wheat supplies more than seventy per cent. of the former, and more than tea of the latter. The value of wheat to potatoes, therefore, is at least four to one; or, if wheat sells at fifteen shillings sterling per cwt., potatoes to be equally cheap, ought to sell at between three and four shillings."

The preceding results, for which I am principally indebted to Dr. Daubeny, Professor of Chemistry at Oxford,[25] show that unless a great change occurs in the culture of the potato, there must be an increased demand for other kinds of farinaceous food. And it is worthy of notice that while this blight is one of the causes which bring to our shores the starving population of Europe, the raising of the cereals not only furnishes profitable employment to the emigrant, but enables him to make the best return to those who are still obliged to remain.

Adaptation of the soil and climate of the United States to the culture of the cereals.—That the soil and climate of many portions of the United States are well adapted to the cultivation of the more important cereals, is fully shown by the results of all the researches which have thus far been prosecuted. I have indeed seen it asserted that the climate of England is the best for the cultivation of wheat, and preferable to any in our country; its humidity being the peculiarity to which this superiority is ascribed.[26] But this is undoubtedly the testimony of a too partial witness. A recent statement by an English author is the result of a more correct knowledge of the facts. He acknowledges that there is no ground for the expectation which has been entertained concerning the advantageous growth of maize in England. "Nor is ours," says he, "the most favorable country for wheat, but skill in husbandry has overcome great difficulties."[27] The mistake on this subject may have originated from the occurrence of a larger and plumper grain in the more humid climate; but analysis shows that the small grain raised in the hotter and drier air oftentimes greatly surpasses the former in its nutritious value.

Russia is said to be the great rival of this country in the growth of wheat, but I think it doubtful whether she possesses superior natural advantages; and I am sure she will find it difficult to compete with the industry and skill which here characterize the operations of husbandry, and the manufacture and shipment of breadstuffs.

Export of sophisticated and damaged flour.—It is a matter of deep regret that circumstances have occurred which must have a most injurious influence upon the trade in breadstuffs between this country and Great Britain. I refer to the mixtures of damaged, inferior, and good kinds of flour, which it appears on authentic testimony have been largely exported during the past year. Whether this fraudulent operation, which is said to have been principally confined to New York, is the result of the change in the inspection laws, as some assert, I am unable to say. But it requires no great foresight to predict that, if continued, it will create a distrust of our breadstuffs in foreign ports which it will be very difficult to remove. It cannot but excite the indignation of the many honorable dealers, that the unworthy cupidity of a few individuals should lead to such disastrous consequences.

I have as yet been unable to obtain samples of these sophisticated flours, and the only information which I have in regard to them is the general fact above stated, and concerning the truth of which there can be little doubt. No means should be left untried to devise some mode by which these frauds can be easily and certainly detected.

Injury sustained by breadstuffs during their transport and shipment.—During the past year, I have had abundant means of determining the nature of the injuries which are often sustained by our breadstuffs in their transport from the particular districts in which they are grown and manufactured to our commercial depots, and in their shipment to foreign ports. As this is one of the most important points connected with these researches, I have devoted much time to its investigation. From the results of numerous analyses, I think it may be safely asserted, that of the wheat flour which arrives in England from various ports of the United States, a large proportion is more or less injured during the voyage. The same remark may be made in regard to many of the samples sent from the Western States to the city of New York. Their nutritive value is considerably impaired, and without more care than is usually exercised, they are entirely unfit for export.

In my former report, I adverted to one of the great causes of the deterioration which our breadstuffs often suffer during their transport and shipment. This was the undue proportion of the great disorganizing substance, water, under the influence of what usually occurs, viz., an elevation of temperature above the ordinary standard. My recent investigations have served only to strengthen these views. There is no doubt that these are the conditions which cause the change of the non-nitrogenous principles into acids (the lactic or acetic), while a portion of the gluten is thus also consumed.

I have tried a series of experiments in reference to the action of moisture upon various samples of wheat and wheat flour. The samples were placed for twelve hours in the oven of a bath with a double casing, containing a boiling saturated solution of common salt, the temperature of which was about 220 deg. Fahr. Subjected to this test,

100 grains of Milwaukie wheat lost	12.10 grains.
100 grains of Guilderland (Holland) wheat lost	9.35 grains.
100 grains of Polish Odessa red wheat lost	10.55 grains.
100 grains of Soft Russian wheat lost	8.55 grains.
100 grains of Kobanga wheat lost	8.15 grains.

After an exposure of the dried samples to the air for two or three days, they increased in weight from one to three grains in the hundred originally employed.

Nineteen different samples of wheat flour, which lost by exposure to the above heat from ten to fourteen grains in the one hundred, when similarly exposed to the air for eighteen hours, again increased in weight from 8.40 to 11.60 in the hundred grains originally employed.

These experiments show, what might indeed have been predicted as to the general result, that wheat in grain, if not less liable to injury than flour, yet if once properly dried, suffers much less from a subsequent exposure to air and moisture.

It is now ascertained that in presence of a considerable proportion of water, wheat flour under the influence of heat undergoes a low degree at least of lactic fermentation, which will account for the souring of the ordinary samples when exposed to warm or humid climates. The same result will inevitably follow from their careless exposure in the holds of vessels. That this is particularly the case with many of the cargoes of wheat flour shipped to Great Britain, there is little reason to doubt. This may be partly owing to the great humidity of the English climate, as the deterioration is observed as well in the flour which is the produce of that country as in that which is received from abroad.

It is stated by Mr. Edlin, quoted in an article on Baking, in the Encyclopædia Britannica, that, "as a general rule, the London flour" is decidedly bad. The gluten generally wants the adhesiveness which characterizes the gluten of good wheat."

I have observed that, in the analyses of some of the samples of damaged flour, the proportions of what is set down under the head of glucose and dextrine are unusually large. This is perhaps due to the change produced in the starch by the action of diastase, and which may under certain circumstances be formed in wheat flour. It would seem, according to M. Guérin, that starch may thus be acted on even at slightly elevated temperatures. In one of his experiments, at a temperature no higher than 68 deg. Fahr., a quantity of starch, at the end of twenty-four hours, was converted into syrup, which yielded seventy-seven per cent. of saccharine matter.[28] It may be thought that I have overrated the importance of this subject, but it is believed that a careful examination of the facts will relieve me from this charge. I am now satisfied that, if the proportion of water in our exported breadstuffs could be reduced to about five or six per cent., one of the great causes of complaint in regard to them would be completely removed.

Kiln-drying of breadstuffs, and exclusion of air.—The injury which our breadstuffs sustain by the large proportion of water can of course be prevented only by careful drying before shipment, and by the employment of barrels rendered as impervious as possible to the influence of atmospheric moisture.

In my first report, I have spoken favorably of the process of drying by steam, according to the plan patented by Mr. J.R. Stafford. I still think this mode possesses great advantages over those previously followed, and which almost always injured the quality of the grain or flour: but from some trials which I have made during the past year, it is inferred that the exposure to the heat is perhaps usually not sufficiently prolonged to answer the purpose intended by the operation. I have often observed that samples of wheat flour, after being exposed to the heat of the salt water-bath oven (220 deg. Fahr.) for two or three hours, lost weight by a further continuance of the heat. An apparatus has been patented by Mr. J.H. Tower, of Clinton, N.Y., consisting of a cylinder of square apartments or tubes, into which the grain or flour is introduced, and subjected to heat while in rapid revolution. I examined samples which had been subjected to this operation, and ascertained that wheat flour, originally containing 14.80 per cent. of water, had the proportion reduced to 10.25 per cent., while in wheat the proportion of water was reduced from 14.75 to 8.55 per cent.

Now it is probable that by either of the above modes, and perhaps by many others, the various kinds of breadstuffs may be brought to that degree of dryness which, with ordinary care, shall protect them from subsequent injury; but in order to secure this advantage, the operation must be carefully performed, and experiments must be made to ascertain how long an exposure to heat is necessary to bring the sample to the proper degree of dryness, and to determine whether in any respect its quality is impaired. It has already been stated that absolute desiccation is not necessary, even were it attainable; but any process in order to be effective should reduce the proportion of water to about six, or at most seven per cent.

I have heretofore adverted to the great care employed in the drying of grain in various foreign countries, and to which the preservation of it for a great number of years is to be ascribed.

The operation is not conducted in the hurried manner which is here thought to be so essential, but is continued long enough to effect the intended object. Thorough ventilation, as well as the proper degree of drying, and which is equally important, is thus secured.

It is said that in Russia the sheaves of wheat, carried into the huts, are suspended upon poles and dried by the heat of the oven. The grain shrinks very much during this process, but it is supposed to be less liable to the attacks of insects, and preserves its nutritive qualities for many years. During the winter, it is sent to market.—("The Czar, his Court and People." By John S. Maxwell, p. 272.)

With all the necessary attention which may be paid to the proper drying of our breadstuffs intended for export, another point is of equal importance, viz., the shipment in vessels rendered as impervious as possible to the influence of atmospheric moisture. For however carefully and thoroughly the drying, especially of wheat flour or maize meal, may have been performed, it will be nearly useless if the shipment is afterwards made in the barrels commonly employed.[29] And it is very certain that the transport and shipment of grain in bulk, as usually conducted, are attended with great loss. This difficulty might be removed at a trifling expense by adopting the plan suggested in the preceding report, and to which I would again respectfully call the attention of those who are engaged in this branch of trade.

I might here adduce a mass of testimony showing the importance of the matters just referred to, but will only advert to the following statements, which although made in allusion principally to maize, are equally applicable to our other breadstuffs. Maize meal, if kept too long, "is liable to become rancid, and it is then more or less unfit for use. In the shipments made to the West Indies, the meal is commonly kiln-dried, to obviate as much as possible this tendency to rancidity." "When ground very fine, maize meal suffers a change by exposure to the air. It is oxygenated. It is upon the same principle that the juice of an apple, after a little exposure to the air, is oxygenated, and changes its character and taste. If the flour could be bolted in vacuo, it would not be changed." "Intelligent writers speak of the necessity of preparing corn for exportation by kiln-drying as indispensable. Without that process, corn is very liable to become heated and musty, so as to be unfit for food for either man or beast. The kiln-dried maize meal from the Brandywine Mills, &c., made from the yellow corn, has almost monopolized the West India trade. This process is indispensable, if we export maize to Europe. James Candy says that from fifty years experience he has learned the necessity of this process with corn intended for exportation." "I have often found the corn from our country when it reached its destination, ruined by heating on the voyage. It had become musty and of little or no value. Kiln-drying is absolutely necessary to preserve it for exportation. We must learn and practice the best mode of kiln-drying it.[30]"

The nutritious value of the "whole meal" of Wheat, as compared with that of the fine flour.—The question whether what is called the whole meal of wheat, or that which is obtained by the mixture of the bran, contains more nutritious matter than the fine flour, is one of great importance. In my former report, I adverted to the statement made in regard to it by Professor J.F.W. Johnston, and which seemed to be almost conclusive in favor of the value of the whole meal. During the past year, however (1849), M. Eug. Peligot, an eminent French chemist, in an elaborate article "On the Composition of Wheat," to which more particular reference will be made hereafter, combats the opinion that the bran is an alimentary substance. He observes that "the difficulty of keeping the bran in flour intended for the manufacture of bread of good quality appears to result much less from the presence of the cellulose (one of the constituents of woody matter) contained in wheat than that of the fatty matter. This is found in the bran in a quantity at least triple of that which remains in the flour, and the bolting separates it from the ground wheat not less usefully than the cellulose itself."[31] M. Millon objects entirely to the views of M. Peligot on this point, and states some facts which are especially worthy of consideration. He asserts that, according to the views of the last named chemist, the separation at most of one part of fatty matter sacrifices fifteen, twenty, and even twenty-five per cent. of substances which are of the highest nutritive value. This abstracts from wheat, for the whole amount raised in France, the enormous sum of about two hundred millions of pounds annually.

It seems that in France the question whether the bolting of flour is advantageous has always been decided in the most arbitrary manner. An ordinance of Louis XIV., issued in 1658, prohibited, under a very heavy penalty, the regrinding of the bran and its mixture with the flour; this, with the mode of grinding then in use, caused a loss of more than forty per cent.—(Comptes Rendus, February 19th, 1849.)

In large cities and elsewhere, there seems for some time to have been a growing prejudice against the use of brown bread; and it is said that now nearly all the peasantry of France bolt their flour. The increase of this practice, according to M. Millon, threatens the nation with an annual loss of from two to three hundred millions of francs. If the bran was entirely valueless, there would be a loss of more than one million a day.

It is quite difficult to determine the precise amount of bran which may have been removed from wheat, for various samples contain such a different proportion of bran that in the one case a removal of ten per cent, leaves more bran in the flour than a bolting of five per cent. in another.

The following is an analysis of bran by M. Millon; the sample being a soft French wheat grown in 1848:—

Starch, dextrine and sugar	53.00
Sugar of liquorice	1.00
Gluten	14.90
Fatty matter	3.60
Woody matter	9.70
Salts	.50
Water	13.90
Incrusting matter and aromatic principles (by difference)	3.40
	100.

The conclusion to be drawn from this analysis is, that bran is an alimentary substance. If it contains six per cent. more of woody matter than the rough, flour, it has also more gluten, double that of fatty matter, besides two aromatic principles which have the perfume of honey, and both of which are wanting in the fine flour. Thus by bolting, wheat is impoverished in its most valuable principles, merely to remove a few hundredths of woody matter.

The economical suggestion which springs from these views is, that the bran and coarse flour should be reground and then mixed with the fine flour. Millon states that he has ascertained, by repeated experiments, that bread thus made is of superior quality, easily worked, and not subject to the inconvenience of bread manufactured from the rough flour, such as is made in some places, and especially in Belgium.

Opinions similar to those above noticed are entertained by Professor Daubeny. "The great importance attached to having bread perfectly white is a prejudice," he says, "which leads to the rejection of a very wholesome part of the food, and one which, although not digestible alone, is sufficiently so in that state of admixture with the flour in which nature has prepared it for our use." After quoting the remarks of Professor Johnston on the same side of the question, he adds, "that according to the experiments of Magendie, animals fed upon fine flour died in a few weeks, whilst they thrived upon the whole meal bread." Brown bread, therefore, should be adopted, not merely on a principle of economy, but also as providing more of those ingredients which are perhaps deficient in the finer parts of the flour.—("Gardeners' Chronicle," January 27th, 1849, p. 53.)

The remarks of Dr. Robertson may also be here introduced. "The advantage," he observes, "of using more or less of the coverings of the grain in the preparation of bread has often been urged on economical principles. There can be no doubt that a very large proportion of nutritive matter is contained in the bran and the pollard; and these are estimated to contain about one-fifth part of the entire weight of the wheat grain. It is, unquestionably, so far wasteful to remove these altogether from the flour; and in the case of the majority of people, this waste may be unnecessary, even on the score of digestibility."[32] This subject can also be rendered apparent to the eye. If we make a cross section of a grain of wheat, or rye, and place it under the microscope, we perceive very distinct layers in it as we examine from without inwards. The outer of them belong to the husk of the fruit and seed, and are separated as bran, in grinding. But the millstone does not separate so exactly as the eye may by means of the microscope, not even as accurately as the knife of the vegetable anatomist, and thus with the bran is removed also the whole outer layer of the cells of the nucleus, and even some of the subjacent layers. Thus the anatomical investigations of one of these corn grains at once explains why bread is so much the less nutritious the more carefully the bran has been separated from the meal.[33] There can therefore be little doubt that the removal of the bran is a serious injury to the flour; and I have presented the above array of evidence on this point in the hope of directing public attention to it here, as has been done in various foreign countries.

After this, it will easily be inferred that I am not disposed to look with much favor upon the plan proposed by Mr. Bentz for taking the outer coating or bran from wheat and other grains previously to grinding.[34] Independently of the considerations which have already been presented, it is far from being proved, as this gentlemen asserts, that the mixture of the bran with the meal which results from the common mode of grinding is the chief cause of the souring of the flour in hot climates. On the contrary, the bran is perhaps as little liable to undergo change as the fine flour, and then the moistening to which, as I am informed, the grain is subjected previously to the removal of the husk, is still further objectionable, and must be followed by a most carefully-conducted process of kiln-drying.

Nutritious properties of various articles of food.—There seems to be some difference of opinion in regard to the nutritious properties of various kinds of food. It is generally, however, agreed that those which contain the largest proportion of nitrogenous matters are the most nutritious. It is on this account that haricots, peas, and beans, form, in some sort, substitutes for animal food. Tubers, roots, and even the seeds of the cereal grasses, are but moderately nutritious. If we see herbivorous animals fattening upon such articles, it is because, from their peculiar organisation, they can consume them in large quantities. It is quite doubtful whether a man doing hard work could exist on bread exclusively. The instances which are given of countries where rice and potatoes form the sole articles of food of the inhabitants, are believed to be incomplete. Boussingault states that in Alsace, for example, the peasantry always associate their potato dish with a large quantity of sour or curdled milk; in Ireland with buttermilk. "The Indians of the Upper Andes do not by any means live on potatoes alone, as some travellers have said they do: at Quito, the daily food of the inhabitants is lorco, a compound of potatoes and a large quantity of cheese. Rice is often cited as one of the most nourishing articles of diet. I am satisfied, however, after having lived in countries where rice is largely consumed, that it is anything but a substantial, or, for its bulk, nutritious article of sustenance."—("Rural Economy," Amer. edition, p. 409.) These statements are further confirmed by the observations of M. Lequerri, who, during a long residence in India, paid particular attention to the manners and customs of the inhabitants of Pondicherry. "Their food," he states, "is almost entirely vegetable, and rice is the staple; the inferior castes only ever eat meat. But all eat kari (curry), an article prepared with meat, fish, or vegetable, which is mixed with the rice, boiled in very little water. It is requisite to have seen the Indians at their meals to have any idea of the enormous quantity of rice which they will put into their stomachs. No European could cram so much at a time; and they very commonly allow that rice alone will not nourish them. They very generally still eat a quantity of bread."[35] In regard to the proportion of nutritious matter contained in grains of various kinds, it may be remarked that the tables which have been constructed as the results of various experiments are liable to an objection, which will be more particularly adverted to under another head. For example, two substances, by the process of ultimate analysis, may exhibit the same proportion of nitrogenous matter, and still differ very materially in their value as articles of food. Much depends on the digestibility of the form in which this matter is presented to the digestive organs. A strong illustration is afforded in the case of hay, the proportion of nutritive matter of which, about 9.71, would certainly not represent its power of affording nourishment to the human system. It is in truth quite impossible to arrive at any other than approximate results from the operations of chemistry, as to the amount of nutriment contained in a given quantity or weight of any article of food.[36] It is perhaps not irrelevant to notice in this place some of the researches which have recently been made upon fermentation, and particularly its effects in the manufacture of bread. It appears that when this process is brought about by the addition of yeast or leaven to the paste or dough, the character of the mass is materially altered. A larger or smaller proportion of the flour is virtually lost. According to Dr. William Gregory the loss amounts to the very large proportion of one-sixteenth part of the whole of the flour. He says, "To avoid this loss, bread is now raised by means of carbonate of soda, or ammonia and a diluted acid, which are added to the dough, and the effect is perfectly satisfactory. Equally good or better bread is obtained, and the quantity of flour which will yield fifteen hundred loaves by fermentation, furnishes sixteen hundred by the new method, the sugar and fibrin (gluten) being saved."—("Outlines of Chemistry," p. 352.)

Another author, Dr. R.D. Thomson, states, as the results of his experiments upon bread produced by the action of hydrochloric acid upon carbonate of soda, "that in a sack of flour there was a difference in favor of the unfermented bread to the amount of thirty pounds thirteen ounces, or in round numbers, a sack of flour would produce one hundred and seven loaves of unfermented bread, and only one hundred loaves of fermented bread of the game weight. Hence it appears that in the sack of flour by the common process of baking, seven loaves, or six-and-a-half per cent, of the flour are driven into the air and lost."—("Experimental Researches on the Food of Animals," &c., p. 183.)

The only objection to the general introduction of this process seems to be the degree of care and accuracy required in properly adjusting the respective qualities and quantities of acid and alkali, and which could seldom be attained even by those who are largely engaged in the manufacture of bread.

I cannot leave this subject without adverting to a practice which has prevailed in England and France, and perhaps also in this country, of steeping wheat before sowing it in solutions of arsenic, sulphate of copper, and other poisonous preparations.

The result has been that injurious effects have often followed, both to those who are employed in sowing such grain, and to those who have used the bread manufactured from it. The great importance of the subject led to the appointment of a commission at Rouen, in France, in December, 1842, having for its object to determine the best process of preventing the smut in wheat, and to ascertain whether other means less dangerous than those above noticed were productive of equally good results. The labors of this commission extended over the years 1843-'44-'45, and the experiments were repeated two years following on the farm of Mr. Fauchet, one of the commission, at Boisquilaume, in the department of the Seine Inferieure.

The results arrived at by this commission are—1st. That it is not best to sow seed without steeping. 2nd. That it is best to make use of the sulphate of soda and lime process, inasmuch as it is more simple and economical, in no way injurious to the health, and yields the soundest and most productive wheat. 3rd. That the use of arsenic, sulphate of copper, verdigris, and other poisonous preparations, should be interdicted by the government.—("Gardeners' Chronicle," January 6th, 1849, pp. 10 and 11.)

Composition of wheat and wheat flour, and the various modes of determining their nutritive value.—In my former report it was stated that the analyses of the various samples of wheat, the results of which were there given, had been chiefly directed to the determining the amount of rough gluten which they contained. My reasons for adopting this plan, and the arguments in favor of its general accuracy, as compared with other modes of analysis, and especially that by which the ultimate composition is ascertained, were also detailed. A more full examination of this subject has served only to strengthen the opinion already expressed, that for the great purpose to be answered by these researches, the process which I have adopted is, to say the least, as free from objection as any other, and if carefully and uniformly carried out, will truly represent the relative values of the several samples of wheat flour. As this is a matter of much consequence in a practical point of view, I trust I shall be excused for introducing some additional facts in regard to it.

The term gluten was originally applied to the gray, viscid, tenacious, and elastic matter, which is obtained by subjecting wheat flour to the continuous action of a current of water. But it appears that this is a mixture of fibrine and caseine, with what is now called glutine, and a peculiar oily or fatty matter. Now these substances may be separated from each other, but the processes employed for this purpose are tedious, and to insure accuracy the various solvents must be entirely pure—a point which, especially in the case of alcohol and ether, is not ordinarily easy to be attained. This will be rendered still more evident by a reference to a French process, which will hereafter be noticed.

But were it much less difficult in every case accurately to separate the constituents of gluten, it would not, in my opinion, be of the least practical utility. It is to the peculiar mechanical property of this gluten that wheat flour owes its superior power of detaining the carbonic acid engendered by fermentation, and thus communicating to it the vesicular spongy structure so characteristic of good bread.[37] It may also be added, that the results of more than one hundred trials have satisfied me that a diminution or loss of elasticity in the gluten is the surest index of the amount of injury which the sample of flour has sustained. Whether, therefore, the sample contains a certain proportion of nitrogen, or whether it contains albumen, fibrine, and caseine in sufficient quantity, it may still want the very condition which is essential to the manufacture of good bread. My objection, therefore, to the mere determination, however accurate, of the proportion of nitrogen contained in wheat flour, or of the various principles which form the gluten, is, that it does not represent the value of the various samples for the only use to which they are applied, viz., the making of bread. The remarks of Mulder, the celebrated Dutch chemist, upon the subject of manures, are so applicable to this point that I cannot refrain from quoting them. "It has," he says, "become almost a regular custom to determine the value of manures by the quantity of nitrogen they yield by ultimate analysis. This method is entirely erroneous; for it is based upon the false principle, that by putrefaction all nitrogeneous substances are immediately converted into ammonia, carbonic acid, and water! But these changes sometimes require a number of years. Morphine, for example, is prepared by allowing opium to putrefy; and the process for preparing leucin, a substance which contains 10.72 of nitrogen, is to bring cheese into putrefaction. Cheese, therefore, does not perhaps in a number of years resolve itself into carbonic acid, ammonia, and water, but produces a crystalline substance, which contains no ammonia. Hence the proportion of nitrogen yielded by manures is not a proper measure of their value, and therefore this mode of estimating that value ought to be discontinued."[38] We infer, therefore, that the proportion of nitrogen furnished by food of various kinds is not the true measure of their nutritious value, and cannot for practical purposes take the place of that process by which the amount of rough gluten is determined.

No better illustration can be given of the uncertainty which attends the inferences drawn from the ultimate composition, than the fact heretofore stated in regard to hay, the nutritive value of which is placed in the tables containing the results of these analyses, at a figure nearly the same as that of ordinary wheat flour.[39] In the paper on the "Composition of Wheat," by M. Peligot—(" Comptes Rendus," February 5th, 1849)—to which I have already referred, the author gives the results of the various analyses which he has made, and details the process he adopted.

Aware of the complex and difficult nature of the examination as conducted by him, he seems to doubt in regard to some of the results given in his tables In the fourteen samples which he analysed, the proportion of water ranges from 13.2 to 15.2, which is a rather higher average than is yielded by our American samples, especially those which have not been shipped across the Atlantic. Of the nitrogenous matter, soluble and insoluble, the proportions range from 9.90 per cent, to 21.50 per cent.; the former being from a sample of very soft and white French wheat; the latter from a very hard wheat with long grains, from Northern Africa, cultivated at Verriéres. Another sample from Egypt yielded 20.60 per cent, of these nitrogenous matters, both of which are very remarkable proportions.

In describing the process for ascertaining the amount of insoluble nitrogenous matters, this author adverts to their estimation either by the quantity of nitrogen gas furnished, or of ammonia formed, the last being preferred for substances, which, like wheat, contain only a few hundredths of nitrogen. The results which he obtained by this method were compared with those yielded by the direct extraction of the gluten by softening the farina under a small stream of water. "These results," says he, "differ but little from each other when we operate upon wheat in good condition, although the gluten which we thus obtain holds some starch and fatty matter, while the starch which is carried away by the water contains also some gluten." The loss and gain, as I have already explained, and as has been proved by these and other comparisons, are nearly balanced, and the amount of rough gluten will therefore afford a fair exhibit of that of the insoluble nitrogenous matters in this grain.

The salts in the samples of wheat analysed by M. Peligot, were either wanting or were in small proportion; while the amount of fatty matter ranged from 1.00 to 1.80 and 1.90 per cent.

These results agree very well with those which I have obtained. But it is probable that the proportion is liable to great variation, inasmuch as it is inferred that the fatty matter originates from starch through its exposure to the general deoxidising influence which prevails in plants.[40] There are also many difficulties attending the accurate determination of this matter, and which are probably the cause of the higher proportion often given. It is properly remarked by M. Peligot that the ether employed in this process should be free from water, and that the flour ought also to be very dry. By neglecting these precautions, we separate not only the fatty matter, but also a certain amount of matters soluble in the water, which is furnished as well by the wheat as by the ether.

It would not, I think, be difficult to point out some incorrect views entertained by this chemist, and more especially those which relate to the fatty matter. Some of his processes for the separation of various substances, if not faulty, require so many conditions for success as to render the results, at least in other hands, exceedingly uncertain.

But the capital error which he has committed is that concerning the bran, already adverted to, which he considers injurious to the flour, chiefly in consequence of the large proportion of fatty matter which it contains.

In regard to the soluble nitrogenous matter usually called albumen, from its resemblance to the animal substance of the same name, I have to remark that in my trials the proportion has been found to be considerably less than that often given in tables of the composition of wheat. In one sample it was found to be as low as 0.15 per cant., in another it did not rise above 0.20 per cent. The amount was usually so inconsiderable, that I did not think it worth while to retard the progress of the work by following out processes which could add little to the utility of these investigations.

Although much time and labor have been expended upon the analyses of the ash of plants, I have but slight confidence in the results heretofore given. The difficulties which attend the obtaining the ash in a proper condition, and the fact that the products of all the organs and parts of the plants have been analysed together, must necessarily impair the accuracy of the experiments, and render the inferences drawn from them of uncertain value. Much, indeed I may say almost everything, still remains to be done in this department of agricultural chemistry.

Weight of wheat as an index to its value.—Much has been said in regard to the relative weights of the bushel of wheat of different varieties or under different modes of culture.

As ordinarily determined, this weight ranges from fifty-six to sixty-five or sixty-six pounds, being in a few cases set down somewhat higher. It is said also that the bushel of wheat weighs less in some years than it does in others, and that the difference often amounts to two, or three, or even four pounds. Though this may seem of comparatively little consequence for a few bushels, yet, for the aggegate of the wheat crop of the United States, or for a State, or even a county, it makes a great difference. Thus, were we to estimate the product of one year in the United States at one hundred and ten million bushels, weighing fifty-six pounds to the bushel, and another year at one hundred and eight million bushels, weighing sixty-two pounds, the difference in favor of the latter, though the least in quantity, would amount to five hundred and thirty-six million pounds in weight, or more than one million and a quarter of barrels of flour.—(Report of the American Commissioner of Patents for 1847, p. 117.)

It may be remarked, however, that it is not after all so easy to determine with accuracy the weight of a bushel of wheat, nor to decide upon the circumstances which have an influence in increasing the density of a grain of wheat. If the microscopical representations of wheat are to be relied on, it is probable that the increase in the density of wheat depends upon the increase in the proportion of gluten. I have found in several cases that, the proportion of water being the same, those samples of wheat which contain the largest proportion of gluten exhibit the highest specific gravity, or, in other words, will yield the greatest number of pounds to the bushel. But the weight of wheat will be influenced by the proportion of water which it contains; the drier the grain, the greater is its density; a fact which may account for the difference which has been observed in the weight of wheat in different seasons. If this is the cause, the calculation above given in reference to the United States is fallacious—but if the amount of gluten is actually, instead of relatively, increased by peculiarities in seasons, it is no doubt correct.

I have devised a series of experiments to test the accuracy of the statements made upon this point, but have not yet had leisure to complete them.

General conditions from the analyses of wheat flour.—The large number of analyses which I have made, and the uniformity of the processes pursued, enable me to draw some general conclusions which it may be useful to present in a connected form.

1. In the samples from the more northern wheat-growing States, there seems to be little difference in the proportion of nutritive matter that can be set down to the influence of climate. Thus, the yield of the wheat from Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, is scarcely inferior to that from New York, Indiana, and Illinois, although the two latter are somewhat farther south. Local causes, and more especially the peculiarities of culture and manufacture, have more influence, within these parallels of latitude, than the difference of mean temperature.

2. The samples from New Jersey, Lower Pennsylvania, the southern part of Ohio, Maryland (probably Delaware), Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia,[41] contain less water and more nutritive matter than those from the States previously enumerated. That the samples from Missouri, which is included within nearly the same parallels of latitude as Virginia, do not exhibit so high an average of nutritive matter as those from the latter State, must be ascribed principally to a want of care in the management of the crop, and perhaps also in the manufacture of the flour. Virginia flour, for obvious reasons, maintains a high reputation for shipment.

3. The difference in the nutritive value of the various samples of wheat depends greatly upon the variety, and mode of culture, independently of climate. The correctness of the former statement is shown by the much larger proportions of gluten yielded by many of the samples of hard wheat from abroad, the Oregon wheat in Virginia, and a variety of Illinois wheat, &c. And in regard to the effect of particular modes of culture, the various analyses of Boussingault may be referred to, and that in my table of a sample from Ulster county, New York.

4. The deterioration of many of the samples of wheat and wheat flour arises in most cases from the presence of a too large per centage of water. This is often the result of a want of proper care in the transport, and is the principal cause of the losses which are sustained by those who are engaged in this branch of business.

5. There seems to be little doubt that a considerable portion of the wheat and wheat flour, as well as of other breadstuffs, shipped from this country to England, is more or less injured before it reaches that market. It is also shown that this is mostly to be ascribed to the want of care above noticed, and to the fraudulent mixture of good and bad kinds. The remedy in the former case is the drying of the grain or flour before shipment, by some of the modes proposed, and the protection of it afterwards as completely as possible from the effect of moisture. The frauds which are occasionally practised should be promptly exposed, and those who are engaged in them held up to merited reproach.

6. It has been fully shown, by the results of many trials, that the flour obtained by the second grinding of wheat, or the whole meal, contains more gluten than the fine flour. Hence the general use of the latter, and the entire rejection of the bran, is wasteful, and ought in every way to be discouraged.

7. It cannot but be gratifying to us that the average nutritive value of the wheat and wheat flour of the United States is shown by these analyses to be fully equal to, if not greater than, that afforded by the samples produced in any other part of the world. And it will, in my opinion, be chiefly owing to a want of proper care and of commercial honesty, if the great advantages which should accrue to this country from the export of these articles are either endangered or entirely lost.

TABLE EXHIBITING THE PER CENTAGE COMPOSITION OF VARIOUS SAMPLES OF AMERICAN AND FOREIGN WHEAT FLOUR, BY LEWIS C. BECK, M.D. (1849).
Kind of Wheat Flour, and from whence obtained	Water	Gluten and albumen	Starch	Glucos dextrine, &c.	Bran
Country Mills, New Jersey	12.75	11.55	65.95	8.10	.65
West Jersey Wheat	12.80	12.32	69.48	5.90	.50
White Wheat, New Jersey	11.55	12.60	66.85	8.50	.50
Pennsylvania Wheat	11.90	13.16	66.20	7.25	.75
ditto ditto	13.35	12.73	66.90	6.50	.52
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	13.35	14.72	71.28		.65
Pelham Wheat, Ulster Co., N.Y.	10.79	13.17	67.74	7.60	.70
"Pure Genesee" Wheat	13.20	11.05	75.20		.55
Ohio Wheat, "fine"	12.85	12.25	73.90		1.00
Ohio Wheat, "superfine"	13.00	9.10	77.80		.10
Winter Wheat, Ohio	13.10	11.56	66.84	7.90	.60
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	13.05	12.69	73.61		.65
Michigan Wheat, "superfine"	13.25	11.10	74.80		.85
Michigan Wheat	12.25	10.00	67.70	8.75	.75
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	12.75	11.20	66.00	8.50	1.05
Illinois Wheat	12.73	14.61	65.20	6.45	.80
Magnolia Mill, St. Louis, Mo.	13.13	10.27	69.75	6.15	.35
Mound Mill, St. Louis	13.48	10.53	67.35	8.15	.20
Walsh's Mill, St. Louis	12.70	10.63	69.40	6.65	.40
Washington Mill, St. Louis	12.88	11.00	68.65	7.27	.20
Missouri Mill, St. Louis	13.00	10.46	67.79	8.35	.40
O'Fallan's Mill, St. Louis	12.85	11.25	68.24	7.00	.66
Phœnix Mill, St. Louis	13.22	10.10	68.70	7.30	.15
Nonantum Mill, St. Louis	12.10	11.02	68.60	7.93	.35
Franklin Mill, St. Louis	12.25	10.29	69.85	7.26	.35
Eagle Mill, St. Louis	11.00	10.15	69.50	8.65	.20
Winter Wheat, Missouri	14.00	9.30	70.05	6.30	.35
Wisconsin Wheat	12.80	13.20	68.90	6.50	.70
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	12.80	13.46	72.54		1.20
Maryland Wheat	13.00	12.30	66.65	7.10	.65
Richmond City Mill	11.70	13.00	67.50	6.90	.50
Haxall and Co., Richmond, Va.	11.40	12.80	68.50	6.60	.35
Virginia Wheat, "superfine"	12.05	12.95	74.50		.50
Haxall and Co., "best brand, '49"	11.40	13.25	68.20	6.25	.60
Haxall and Co., "2nd brand, '49"	11.00	13.20	75.60		.20
Richmond City Mill, '49	11.90	10.50	70.00	7.10	.50
Oregon White Wheat, Va.	12.80	14.80	71.30		1.10
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	13.85	14.50	65.15	5.90	.60
Gallego Mill, Richmond, Va.	11.50	13.50	68.35	6.00	.65
Ship Brandywine, Liverpool	13.38	10.62	67.60	7.75	.65
Ship Fanchon, Liverpool	13.83	11.38	67.45	6.34	1.00
Ship New World, Liverpool	13.65	11.60	65.80	7.70	.65
Ship Juniata, Liverpool	12.50	14.14	64.20	8.36	.80
Ship Stephen Lurman, Liverpool	11.65	13.18	64.50	9.55	.68
Ship Leila, Liverpool	13.22	13.18	64.65	8.00	.95
Ship Oxenbridge, Liverpool	13.90	10.13	68.42	7.30	.25
Ship Italy, Liverpool	12.94	& bran 10.60	68.56	7.90
Ship West Point, Liverpool	14.30	12.30	63.00	9.45	.95
Ship W.H. Harbeck, Liverpool	13.53	10.18	66.95	8.80	.30
Ship Princeton, Liverpool	13.40	11.52	65.60	7.90	.85
Ship Columbus, Liverpool	13.50	10.45	66.45	8.50	1.03
Ship Russell Glover, Liverpool	13.45	10.47	66.20	8.83	1.05
Ship South Carolina, Liverpool	13.80	9.00	70.80	5.95	.38
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	13.30	9.45	76.90		.35
Ship Cambridge, Liverpool	14.50	8.52	70.60	5.40	.40
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	14.10	9.10	70.55	5.45	.20
Ship Columbus, Liverpool	14.85	8.47	76.48		.20
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	14.15	9.00	76.60		.25
Ship Ashburton, Liverpool	13.55	11.68	69.22	5.30	.25
Wheat grown in Canada West	12.80	7.23	74.12	5.10	.75
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	12.60	8.45	78.55		.40
Chilian Wheat	12.44	9.45	67.80	8.37	1.30
Chilian Wheat	12.85	8.65	71.60	6.10	.60
Valparaiso Wheat	12.50	& bran 14.55
French Wheat	13.20	9.85	69.00	7.65	.30
Spanish Wheat	13.50	10.30	68.90	7.00	.30
Canivano Wheat	11.33	16.35	63.10	6.50	2.30
Canivano Wheat	11.15	15.40	67.25	5.70	.60
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	12.60	18.70	67.00		1.70
Hard wheat, grown near Malaga	10.87	12.15	64.38	12.60 & lactic acid
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	10.00	14.50	60.20	15.30

There is no crop, the skilful and successful cultivation of which on the same soil, from generation to generation, requires more art than is demanded to produce good wheat. To grow this grain on fresh land, adapted to the peculiar habits and wants of the plant is an easy task. But such fields, except in rare instances, fail sooner or later to produce sound and healthy plants, which are little liable to attacks from the malady called "rust," or which give lengthened ears or "heads," well filled with plump seeds.

Having long resided in the best wheat-growing district in the Union, the writer has devoted years of study and observation to all the influences of soil, climate, and constitutional peculiarities, which affect this bread-bearing plant. It is far more liable to smut, rust, and shrink in some soils than in others. This is true in western New York, and every other section where wheat has long been cultivated. As the alkalies and other fertilizing elements become exhausted in the virgin soils of America, its crops of wheat not only become smaller on an average, but the plants fail in constitutional vigor, and are more liable to diseases and attacks from parasites and destructive insects. Defects in soil and improper nutrition lead to these disastrous results. Soils are defective in the following particulars:

1. They lack soluble silica, or flint in an available form, with which to produce a hard glassy stem that will be little subject to "rust." Soluble flint is never very abundant in cultivated soils; and after they have been tilled some years, the supply is deficient in quantity. It is not very difficult to learn with considerable accuracy the amount of silica which rain-water as it falls on the earth will dissolve out of 1,000 grains of soil in the course of eight or ten days. Hot water will dissolve more than cold; and water charged with carbonic acid more than pure water which has been boiled. The experiments of Prof. Rogers of the University of Virginia, as published in Silliman's Journal, have a direct bearing on this subject. The researches of Prof. Emmons of Albany, in his elaborate and valuable work on "Agriculture," as a part of the Natural History of New York, show that 10,000 parts of soil yield only from one to three parts of soluble silica. The analyses of Dr Jackson, as published in his Geological Survey of New Hampshire, give similar results. Earth taken from an old and badly exhausted field in Georgia, gave the writer only one part of soluble flint in 100,000.

What elements of crops rain water, at summer heat, will dissolve out of ten or twenty pounds of soil, in the course of three months, is a point in agricultural science which should be made the subject of numerous and rigid experiments. In this way, the capabilities of different soils and their adaptation to different crops may be tested, in connection with practical experiments in field culture, on the same kind of earth.

Few wheat-growers are aware how much dissolved flint an acre of good wheat demands to prevent its having coarse, soft, and spongy stems, which are anything but a healthy organization of the plant. In the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, vol. 7, there is an extended "Report on the Analysis of the Ashes of Plants, by Thomas Way, Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester," which gives the result of sixty-two analyses of the ash of wheat, from as many samples of that grain, mostly grown on different soils and under different circumstances.

In this report are given the quantity of wheat per acre, the weight of straw cut close to the ground to the acre, and also that of the chaff. These researches show, that from ninety-three to one hundred and fifty pounds of soluble flint are required to form an acre of wheat; and I will add from my own investigations, that three-fourths of this silica is demanded by nature during the last sixty days preceding the maturing of the crop. This is the period in which the stem acquires its solidity and strength, and most of its incombustible earthy matter. The quantity of this varies from three to fifteen per cent. of the weight of the straw. Prof. Johnston and Sir Humphry Davy give instances in which more than fifteen per cent. of ash was found; and Prof. Way gives cases where less than three per cent. were obtained. The mean of forty samples was four and a half per cent. Dr. Sprengel gives three and a half as the mean of his analyses. M. Boussingault found an average of seven per cent. As flint is truly the bone of all the grass family, imparting to them strength, as in cane, timothy, corn, oats, rye, rice, millet, and the proportion of this mineral varies as much in wheat-straw, as bone does in very lean and very fat hogs or cattle.

A young growing animal, whether a child or a colt, that is kept on food which lacks bone-earth, (phosphate of lime,) will have soft cartilaginous bones. Nature cannot substitute iron or any other mineral in the animal system, out of which to form hard strong bones; nor can any other mineral in the soil perform the peculiar function assigned to silica in the vital economy of cereal plants. To protect the living germs in the seeds of wheat, corn, oats, rye, barley, &c. the cuticle or bran of these seeds contains considerable flint. The same is true of chaff.

The question naturally arises,—How is the farmer to increase the quantity of soluble silica or flint in his soil? This is a question of the highest practical importance. There are three principal ways in which the object named may be attained. First, by keeping fewer acres under the plough. Land in pasture, if well managed, will gain its fertility, and in the process accumulate soluble silica in the surface soil. In this way more wheat and surer crops may be made by cultivating a field in wheat two years than four or six. If the field in the mean time be devoted to wool-growing, butter or cheese-making, or to stock-raising, particular care must be taken to make great crops of grass or clover to grow on the land, and have all the manure, both solid and liquid, applied to its surface.

There are many counties in England that yield an average of thirty-two bushels of wheat per acre for ten crops in succession. There are but few of the old counties in the United States which average the half of that quantity: and yet America has greater agricultural capabilities than that of Great Britain.

Another way to increase soluble silica in the soil, is to grow such crops, in rotation with wheat culture, as will best prevent the loss of dissolved flint, at any time by leaching and washing, through the agency of rain water. This remark is intended to apply more particularly to those large districts devoted to cotton and tobacco culture, plants that take up no considerable amount of silica, and which by the constant stirring of the earth, and the clean tillage which they demand, favor the leaching of the soil. To keep too much of a plantation of these crops, is to lessen its capabilities for producing good crops of corn, wheat, and barley, at a small expense. Corn plants, well managed, will extract more pounds of silica in three or six months from the soil, than any other. As not an ounce of this mineral is needed in the animal economy of man or beast, it can all be composted in cornstalks, blades, and cobs, or in the dung and urine derived from corn, and be finally reorganized in the stems of wheat plants. Corn culture and wheat culture, if skilfully and scientifically conducted, go admirably together. Of the two, more bread, more meat, and more money can be made from the corn than from the wheat plant in this country. But so soon as what is called "high farming" in England, shall be popular in the United States, the crops both of wheat and corn grown here will demonstrate how little we appreciate the vast superiority of our climate for the economical feeding and clothing of the human family, over that of our "mother country." In several counties in England, it takes from twelve to fourteen months to make a crop of wheat, after the seed is put into the ground. At or near the first of December, 1847, Mr. M.B. Moore, of Augusta, Ga., sowed a bushel of seed wheat on an acre and a half of ground, which gave him over thirty bushels by the middle of May following. This ground was then ploughed, and a fine crop of hay made and cut in July. After this, a good crop of peas was raised, and harvested in October, before it was time to seed with wheat again, as was done. While the mean temperature of England is so low, that corn plants will not ripen, in Georgia one can grow a crop of wheat in the winter, and nearly two crops of corn in succession in the summer and autumn, before it is time to sow wheat again. No writer, to my knowledge, has done full justice to the vast agricultural resources of the southern portion of the American confederacy. But there is much of its soil which is not rich in the elements of bread. Nothing but the careful study of these elements, and of the natural laws by which they are governed, can remedy defects in wheat culture anywhere, but especially on very poor land.

All alkaline minerals, such as potash, soda, lime, ammonia, and magnesia, hasten the solution of the several insoluble compounds of silica in the soil. This fact should be remembered by every farmer. To undertake an explanation of the various ways in which alkalies, oxides, and acids act and re-act upon each other in the surface of the earth, when subject to tillage, would be out of place in this outline view of wheat-growing in the United States. I may state the fact, however, as ascertained by many analyses, that a cubic foot of good wheat soil in the valley of the Genesee, contains twenty times more lime than do the poorest soils in South Carolina and Georgia. The quantity of gypsum, bone-earth, and magnesia, available as food for plants, varies in an equal degree. Not only lime, but phosphoric acid, potash, and magnesia are lacking in most soils, if one desires to raise a large crop of wheat, and have the seeds of the grain weigh as much as the straw. In a number of the specimens of wheat analyzed by Prof. Way, when cut close to the roots, the dry wheat outweighed the dry straw.

Having secured the growth of a bright, hard, glassy stem, the next thing is to develop a long, well-filled ear. To this end, available ammonia or nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, and magnesia are indispensable. Ammonia (spirits of hartshorn) is necessary to aid in forming the combustible part of the seed. The other ingredients named are required to assist in making the incombustible part of the grain. In 100 parts of the ash of wheat, there are the following substances, viz.:—

Silica	2.28
Phosphoric acid	45.73
Sulphuric acid	0.32
Lime	2.06
Magnesia	10.94
Peroxide of iron	2.04
Potash	32.24
Soda	4.06
Chloride of sodium	0.27
Total	99.94

The quantity of ash in wheat varies from 1¼ to 2½ per cent.; the average is about 1.69. The amount of phosphoric acid in any given quantity of the ash of wheat varies from forty to fifty per cent. of the same.

Seeds that have a thick cuticle or bran, and little gluten, contain a smaller per centage of phosphoric acid, and more silica. About one-third of the ash is potash; in nearly all cases magnesia varies from nine to fourteen per cent.; lime from one and a half to six per cent. Peroxide of iron is seldom as abundant as in the ash above given, and the same is true of soda. Chloride of sodium is common salt, and exists in a small quantity. Salt is beginning to be much used as a fertilizer on wheat lands in western New York. It operates indirectly to increase the crop.

The following may be taken as about the average composition of the ash of wheat-straw. It is "Specimen No. 40," in the tables of Prof. Way, and I copy verbatim all that is said upon the subject: [Soil, sandy; subsoil, stone and clay; geological formation, silurian; drained; eight years in tillage; crop, after carrots, twenty tons per acre; tilled December, 1845; heavy crop; mown, August 12th; carried, August 20th; estimated yield, forty-two bushels per acre; straw long, grain good, weight sixty-two pounds to the bushel.] Length of straw, forty-two inches.

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Relation of Grain, Straw and Chaff.
	Actual quantities.	Per centage.
Grain	1633 lbs.	45.15
Straw	1732 lbs.	47.89
Chaff	250 lbs.	6.96
Total	3615 lbs.

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Specific gravity of grain	1.396
Weight of grain per acre	2604 lbs.
Weight of straw per acre	2,775 3/10ths.
Weight of chaff per acre	401 ⅙th.

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Mineral Matter in an Acre.
Wheat	44	½ lbs.
Straw	113
Chaff	47	⅙th.
Total	204	7/10ths.

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Analysis of the Ash of the Grain.
	Per centage.	Removed from an acre.
		lbs.	ozs.
Silica	5.63	2	8
Phosphoric acid	43.98	19	8
Sulphuric acid	.21	0	1	1/5th.
Lime	1.80	0	12	8/10ths.
Magnesia	11.69	5	3	2/10ths.
Peroxide of iron	.29	0	2
Potash	34.51	15	5	6/10ths.
Soda	1.87	0	13	3/10ths.
Total	99.98	44	6	l/10ths.

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Analysis of Straw with its proportion of Chaff.
	Per centage.	Removed from an acre.
		lbs.	ozs.
Silica	69.36	111	1	7/10ths.
Phosphoric acid	5.24	8	6	7/10ths.
Sulphuric acid	4.45	7	2	2/10ths.
Lime	6.96	11	2	2/20ths.
Magnesia	1.45	2	5
Peroxide of iron	.29	1	2
Potash	11.79	18	14
Soda	none.	none.
Chloride of sodium	none	none.
Total	99.54	160	1	l/10ths.

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If we subtract the 111 pounds of silica from 160 pounds of minerals in the straw and chaff, the difference between what are left and those in wheat, is not great. As the stems and leaves of wheat plants grow before their seeds, if all the phosphoric acid, potash, and lime available in the soil is consumed before the organization of the seeds begin, from what source is nature to draw her supply of these ingredients to form a good crop of wheat? If the farmer could reverse the order of nature, and grow a good supply of seeds first, and make straw afterwards, then many a one would harvest more wheat and less straw. But the cultivator must grow the stems, roots, and leaves of wheat, corn, and cotton, before nature will begin to form the seeds of these several plants: and every one should know that the atoms in the soil, which are consumed in organizing the bodies of cultivated plants, are, in the main, identical in kind with those required to make their seeds. The proportions, however, differ very considerably. Thus, while 100 parts of the ash of wheat contain an average of 45 parts of phosphoric acid, 100 of the ash of the wheat straw contain an average of only 5 parts. The difference is as 9 to 1. In magnesia the disparity is only a little less striking.

In what are called the organic elements of wheat (the combustible part) there are seven times more nitrogen in 100 pounds than in a like weight of straw. Hence, if the farmer converts straw into manure or compost, with the view ultimately of transforming it into wheat, it will take 7 pounds of straw to yield nitrogen enough to form one pound of wheat. Few are aware how much labor and money is annually lost by the feeding of plants on food not strictly adapted to the peculiar wants of nature in organizing the same. It is true, that most farmers depend on the natural fertility of the soil to nourish their crops, with perhaps the aid of a little stable and barn-yard manure, given to a part of them. As the natural resources of the land begin to fail, the supply must be drawn from other quarters than an exhausted field, or its cultivator will receive a poor return for the labor bestowed.

In Great Britain, where the necessity for liberal harvests and artificial fertilizing is far greater than in this country, the yield of wheat is said to be governed in a good degree by the amount of ammonia available as food for growing plants. This opinion is founded not at all on theory, but altogether on the teachings of experience. But in England, limeing and manuring are so much matters of constant practice, that few soils are so improverished as many are in the United States, With land as naked and sterile as is much that can be found in the whole thirteen colonies between Maine and Alabama, English farmers could hardly pay their tithes and poor rates, to say nothing of other taxes, rent, and the coat of producing their annual crops.

The first step towards making farming permanently profitable in all the older States, is to accumulate in a cheap and skilful manner the raw material for good harvests in the soil.

Over a territory so extensive as the United States, it is extremely difficult to lay down any rule that will be applicable even to a moiety of the republic. There are, however, many beds of marl, greensand, gypsum, limestone, saline and vegetable deposits available for the improvement of farming lands, in the Union. In addition to these, there are extraneous resources, the ocean with its fish, its shells, its sea-weeds, and its fertilizing salts, which will yield an incalculable amount of bread and meat. In the subsoil and the atmosphere, every agriculturist has resources which are not duly appreciated by one in a thousand.

As a general rule, the soil must be deepened before it can be permanently improved. One acre of soil 12 inches deep is worth more to make money from, by cultivating it, than four acres 6 inches in depth. Thus, admit that a soil 6 inches deep will produce 14 bushels of wheat, and that 12 bushels will pay all expenses and give 2 for profit. Four acres of this land will yield a net income of only 8 bushels. Now double the depth of the soil and the crop: making the latter 28 bushels, instead of 14 per acre, and the former 12 inches deep, in the place of 6. Fifteen bushels instead of twelve, will now pay all annual expenses, and leave a net profit not of two but of thirteen bushels per acre. If small crops will pay expenses, large ones will make a fortune; provided the farmer knows how to enrich his land in the most economical way. It is quite as easy to pay too dear for improving lands, as to lose money at any other business whatever.

The first thing for the operator to do is to acquire all the knowledge within his reach, from the experience of others who have done for their soils what he proposes to accomplish for his. Twenty or fifty dollars, invested in the best agricultural works in the English language, may save him thousands in the end, and double his profits in two years. The Agricultural Journals of the United States abound in information most useful to the practical farmer: and the back volumes, if collected and bound, will form a library of great value.

Rotation of Crops in connexion with Wheat Culture.—A system of tillage and rotation which will pay best in one locality, or on one quality of soil, and in a particular climate, will be found not at all adapted to other localities, different soils and latitudes. Hence, no rule can be laid down that will meet the peculiar exigencies of a farming country so extensive as the thirty States east of the Rocky Mountains. There are soils in Western New York, known to the writer, which have borne good crops of wheat every other year for more than twenty years, and produce better now than at the beginning of their cultivation. The resources of the earth in supplying the elements of wheat and corn are extremely variable. There are friable shaley rocks in Livingstone county, N.Y., which crumble and slake when exposed to the air, that abound in all the earthy minerals necessary to form good wheat. These rocks are hundreds of feet in thickness, and have furnished much of the soil in the valley of the Genesee. The Onondaga Salt Group, and other contiguous strata, which extend into Canada West, form soils of extraordinary capacity for growing wheat. Indeed, the rocks and "drift" of a district give character to its arable surface.

Nothing is more needed at this time than a good geological map of the United States, accompanied by an accurate and popularly arranged work on agricultural geology. The writer had hoped to give such a map in this report; but it is thought best to devote another year to the collection of geological surveys and facts, and to the making of more critical and extended researches before publishing.

In the matter of rotation of crops in connection with wheat culture, clover and corn are generally preferred in all the Northern, and most of the Middle States. In New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Northern Indiana, and Illinois, so far as the writer is acquainted, a crop of wheat is made in rotation, either every third, fourth, or fifth year. Wherever wool growing is united with wheat culture, clover and wheat are the staple crops of the farm. Wool and superfine flour are exported; farmers taking nearly all the bran and shorts of the millers who purchase their wheat.

The offal of wheat makes not a little feed with chaff and cut straw. Many agriculturists grow peas, beans, turnips, beets, and carrots in large quantities, as well as clover, corn, oats, and barley. Peas and beans, both stems and pulse, when well cured, are excellent feed for sheep; and on good land they are easily grown. They prepare the soil well for wheat.

All the manure derived from sheep is husbanded with extreme care by the farmers who are gradually enriching their lands. On a deep, rich, arable soil, quite a number of sheep may be kept per acre, if highly cultivated; and their manure prepares the land for producing generous crops of wheat at a small expense. Of all business men, farmers should be the closest calculators of profit and loss.

Great care should be taken to sow good and clean seed on clean land. Previous to putting the seed in the ground (drilling is preferable to sowing broadcast), wheat should be soaked five or six hours—not longer—in strong brine. After this, add a peck or more of recently slaked lime to each bushel, and shovel it over well, that the lime may cover each seed. It is now ready to commit to the earth. Most good farmers roll the earth after seeding: some before.

In the Southern States, planters are in the habit of permitting their wheat to remain too long in the field after it is cradled, and in small shocks. Good barns are too scarce in all the planting States, and in some others.

Summer fallowing is generally abandoned, except in cases where old pastures and meadows, new prairie, or bushy bad fields are to be subdued. As a general rule, friable soils need not be ploughed long before the intended crop is expected to begin to grow. Among fertilizers, wood ashes, salt, bones, lime, guano, and poudrette have been used in wheat culture with decided advantage. In Great Britain, manure derived from the consumption of turnips and other root crops by sheep and neat cattle, is much used in preparing land for wheat. Sheep, clover and peas, corn and hogs, rotate well to insure the economical production of this staple. Manure is usually applied to the crop preceding wheat.

It may be interesting to some readers to see in this place the mean result of several organic analyses of wheat made by M. Boussingault. Wheat, dried at 230 deg. in vacuo, was found to contain:

Carbon	46.1
Oxygen	43.4
Hydrogen	5.8
Nitrogen	2.3
Ash	2.4
Total	100.0

Charcoal may be regarded as a fair representative of carbon, and water as the representative of both oxygen and hydrogen. It will be seen by the above figures, that over 95 per cent. of wheat is made up of elements which greatly abound in nature in an available condition; and the same is true of all other plants. It is doubtless owing to this circumstance, that a comparatively small quantity of guano and other highly concentrated fertilizers are able to produce crops five, ten, and fifty times greater than their own weight. Azote, or nitrogen, in the form of ammonia, or nitric acid, (aqua fortis), and the incombustible part of plants are the elements which least abound in soils, and should be husbanded with the greatest care.

The Hon. C.P. Holcomb, of Delaware, furnishes some interesting remarks on the wheat crop of the United States:—

A short wheat crop in England, Mr. Webster says, affects the exchanges of the civilized world. In the vast increase of population in the absence of long wars and famines, the importance of this staple is constantly increasing. Its cultivation is the most attractive and pleasant of all descriptions of husbandry; and its rewards are generally remunerating, when the soil and climate are favorable, and the markets are not too distant.

It is important to know what our relation is to this staple of the world, and what is, and what is likely to be, our contribution to the great aggregate of production. Beyond feeding our own great and rapidly increasing population, it probably will not soon, if ever, be very great. It is a mistake, I apprehend, to suppose our country is naturally a great wheat-producing country. The wheat district at present, in comparison to the whole extent of our territory, is limited. It is confined, so far as any appreciable amount is grown, to about ten degrees of latitude and twenty degrees of longitude, and embracing about one half the number of the States. The crop of 1848 is estimated by the Commissioner of Patents at one hundred and twenty-six millions, and our population at twenty-two millions. This gives a less number of bushels, per head, to our population than the consumption of Great Britain, which is generally set down at one hundred and sixty millions, or six bushels to each inhabitant. But with us Indian corn is a great substitute; so are potatoes and oats in Ireland and Scotland. Still our consumption of wheat, including the black population, is undoubtedly less, per head, than theirs. But in the absence of any certain data, to ascertain either the actual production, or our consumption, our only safe course is to take the actual excess, or the amount exported, after supplying our own wants. This, for the fiscal year 1848, being the crop of 1847, amounted, in flour and wheat, to twelve millions two hundred and ninety-four thousand one hundred and seventy-five bushels, although Mr. Burke's figures would show a surplus of some forty millions! That there was not, and never has been any such surplus in the country is very evident, for the foreign demand was all the time good, and drew away all we had to part with.

The crop of 1848 was, undoubtedly, one of the best and largest we have ever grown; yet I have ascertained, by application at the registrar's office, that the exports for the fiscal year 1842, amounted in wheat to but 1,527,534 bushels, and in flour to 2,108,013 barrels, or less by 226,676 bushels than the exports of 1848. Twelve millions is comparatively a small surplus in a favorable season, for a country with a population of twenty-two millions of inhabitants. The loss of a small per cent. in an unfavorable season would at once sink this excess.

Let us now notice more in detail the different sections of our country as adapted to the growth of wheat.

The New England States, some of them aided in their recent enterprises by bounties offered by the state governments, have failed to insure such success as is likely to encourage them to continue the culture of wheat; or, at all events, to induce them to aim at increasing their product to any considerable extent, since, as one of their own farmers candidly states, "the attempt to grow a crop of wheat is an experiment."

The States south of North Carolina, and inclusive of a part of Delaware, have never heretofore succeeded in growing wheat to any considerable extent, though there were periods in their history—before the general introduction of the culture of cotton—when, if it had been practicable to make the cereal one of their staples, they would certainly have done so. Besides the common dangers from rust and blight, the fly, and sometimes the frost—as the past season—they have a most formidable enemy in the weevil. In Upper Georgia, in the Cherokee country in particular, wheat will probably be cultivated to some extent, and a limited cultivation of it by the planters for their own use will probably continue in several of the southern states. But the cotton, rice, and sugar states, like the manufacturing states of New England, will not soon, if ever, add much to the supply of wheat; the rich staples of the former, and the varied husbandry and grazing of the latter, suited to supply the immediate wants of a manufacturing population, will be likely to receive their attention in preference.

Kentucky and Tennessee, though their agricultural history dates back beyond the settlement of the north-western states, have already been out-stripped by at least two of them. In neither of these states has the culture of wheat ever been put forward, and regarded as one of their best staples, or as very favorably adapted to their soil and climate. Still, notwithstanding the formidable danger from rust, the production of Tennessee is estimated to be equal to nine bushels to each person, and Kentucky about seven and a half bushels. Missouri may be classed with Kentucky and Tennessee, which she much resembles in soil, climate, and productions, except that she raises much less wheat than either, her crop being placed by the Commissioner of Patents at only two millions, or less than four bushels to each resident of the state. But, besides that the experience of the past discourages the idea that these fine states are likely to become great wheat-producing states, the fact that the staple of cotton may be cultivated over a considerable portion of one of them, and that hemp and tobacco are among the valuable products of the other two; that Tennessee is the very largest corn-producing state in the Union, showing her soil and climate are particularly adapted to this description of grain, and that Kentucky and Missouri are unsurpassed as grazing countries, and there is little ground to suppose that any change in their husbandry will very greatly or suddenly augment the production of wheat. Let us come now to the States of Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa, and that fabulous wheat district or territory to the west of these again, from which, according to the vaticinations of some, may be drawn supplies of wheat to feed the population of both Europe and America, or fill warehouses that would sustain our people through a longer famine than that which afflicted the people of Egypt! I cannot help thinking that, to some extent, this generally fertile district of country has, so far as the production of wheat is concerned, been "shouted forth in acclamations hyperbolical." My own impression in regard to it is, including the states last named, derived in part from observation, from intercourse and correspondence with intelligent agriculturists of these states, and from a careful examination of a geological survey of two of them, that the soil and climate of this whole district of country are not particularly favorable to the production of wheat. The popular idea I know to be otherwise. I am not going to dwell upon it, or to examine the subject at any length. There is a single remark that may help to explain the reputation that has gone abroad in reference to the wheat-producing qualities of these lands. The prairie sod, when first broken up, generally produces wheat well, often most abundantly, provided it escapes the rust, insect, &c. But, when this ground has been much furrowed, becomes completely pulverized by exposure to the atmosphere, the light and friable mould, of which most of it is composed, drenched, as a good deal of it is, at times, with surface water, fails to hold or sustain the roots of the plant, it is thrown out, or winter-killed; and "winter-killed," "winter-killed," "winter-killed," we all know, is among the catalogue of disasters that almost annually reach us. Sometimes, when escaping the winter, the high winds of spring blow this light soil from the roots, exposing them to such an extent, that, in a dry time in particular, the wheat often perishes. When breaking up fresh prairies, there was much encouragement and promise of hope, but which, I believe, has not been, nor is likely to be, realized by their husbandmen, in the degree that early experiments induced them to look for.

As appears by the last report of the Commissioner of Patents, the crop of Illinois, in reference to population and production, is below that of Kentucky, and both Indiana and Illinois are below that of Tennessee. The crop of Indiana is set down at 8,300,000, her population at 1,000,000, or equal to 8½ bushels a-head. The production of Illinois is stated at 5,400,000, her population at 800,000, or less than seven bushels to each inhabitant—and both these "fair and fertile plains" are still farther behind the old "battered moors" of Maryland and Virginia.

Much of their wheat, too, is spring wheat, sown often on land where the fall crop had winter-killed, increasing the number of bushels much more than the value of the crop. I have heard it estimated that full one-third of all the wheat shipped from Chicago was of this description. Chicago is their great wheat depot. Several millions of bushels are shipped from this point, the contributions from parts of three States, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois; and which concentration of their joint product at this new western city, or something else, seems to have imparted to each and all these states the reputation of great wheat-growing states, though they are, in fact, with the advantage of a virgin soil, behind several of the western states, and two at least of the eastern or Atlantic States. The geological explorations of the Hon. Robert Dale Owen, undertaken under the authority of Congress, throws much light on the character of the soil of Wisconsin and Iowa, and the description given undoubtedly characterizes much of that region of country. The specific gravity of the soil, Mr. Owen states to be remarkably light; but what he represents to be a "striking feature in the character of the Iowa and Wisconsin soils, is the entire absence, in the most of the specimens of clay, and in a large proportion of silex." Again, he speaks of their being particularly adapted to the growth of the sugar-beet, which he truly says, "flourishes best in a loose fertile mould." Again, he detected no phosphates; but they might be there, as the virgin soil produced good wheat. So does the virgin soil of most of the prairie land.—"The soil was rich in geine," &c. But I submit that this does not describe a wheat soil, hardly in any one particular. Liebig tells us, that "however great the proportion of humus in a soil, it does not necessarily follow it will produce wheat"—and cites the country of Brazil.

Again, he adds, "how does it happen that wheat does not flourish on a sandy soil (which much of the soil of these states is described to be), and that a calcareous soil is also unsuitable to its growth, unless it be mixed with a considerable quantity of clay?"

The late Mr. Colman, in his European Agriculture, states, that "the soil preferred for wheat (in England) is a strong soil with a large proportion of clay. But the question after all is, not whether these States cannot grow wheat, and in comparatively large quantities, for we know that while their lands are fresh, they can and do—but whether, considering the hazard of the crop from winter-killing, the rust, the fly—the risk from the two former being equal to a large per cent. premium of insurance, they are not likely to find their interest in grazing, in raising and feeding stock, instead of attempting to extend their wheat husbandry. Lord Brougham has said, that grazing countries are always the most prosperous, and their population the most contented and happy. The meat markets of Great Britain are likely to prove better and more stable for us, than their grain markets.

The Hon. Henry L. Ellsworth, a distinguished citizen, and large farmer of Indiana—distinguished throughout the Union for his zeal in the cause of agriculture—thus expresses himself on this subject: "After a full consideration of the subject, I am satisfied that stock-raising at the West is much more profitable than raising grain. Indeed, an examination of the north-western States shows a vast difference in the wealth of the grazier over those who crop with grain. The profits of wheat appear well in expectation on paper, but the prospect is blasted by a severe winter, appearance of insects, bad weather in harvesting, in threshing, for there are but few barns at the West, or transporting to market, or last, a fluctuation in the market itself."

Such is the opinion of Mr. Ellsworth, the result of observation and experience, himself largely interested in ascertaining the safest and surest course to be pursued. The destiny he has indicated for this beautiful fertile region of country, will undoubtedly be fulfilled; it will become a great pastoral, stock-raising, and stock-feeding country.

Ohio stands now, as she did at the census of 1840, at the head of all the wheat States, in the aggregate of production; her crop of 1848 being estimated at 20,000,000, which is about equal to 10½ bushels per head of her population. The geological survey of this State, and the character of the soil, as described in the Reports of the Board of Agriculture, in a large range of her counties, as a "clayey soil," "clayey loam," "clay subsoil," &c., shows Ohio to possess a fine natural wheat soil, if indeed, alter thirty years of a generally successful wheat husbandry, such additional testimony or confirmation was necessary.

Michigan has also been successful in the cultivation of wheat. Her burr-oak openings are unsurpassed in producing wheat. They are intervening ridges between low grounds, or marshes and bodies of water, and their location not generally considered very healthy. A doubt has also been suggested as to whether this soil, being a clayey loam, resting on a sandy and gravelly subsoil, is likely to wear as well as some other portions of the fertile soil of the State. The Commissioner of Patents puts her crop for 1848 at 10,000,000 of bushels, which is equal to 23½ bushels to each inhabitant! By the census of 1840, the population of Michigan was 212,267; number of bushels of wheat, 2,157,108. Her population in 1848 is estimated at 412,000. While she has barely doubled her population, she has, according to the above estimate, more than quadrupled her production of wheat—increased it at the rate of about one million bushels a year for eight consecutive years, making the quantity she grows to each head of her population more than double that of any State in the Union.

We can at least say, and appeal to the past history of the country to show it, that for a period of more than one hundred years, the supply of the Atlantic wheat States has generally been constant, and for the most part abundant. They have furnished the "staff of life" to several generations of men, and cotemporary with it, an annual amount for export, that materially assisted in regulating the exchanges of the country.

England requires for her own consumption, upon the average of years, somewhere about 32,000,000 bushels of wheat more than she produces. The average annual entries of foreign wheat for consumption in the United Kingdom, for the sixteen years ending with 1845, were about nine and a half million bushels. Inasmuch as the average number of acres in wheat crop were in 1846 about 4,600,000, the average produce 142,200,000 bushels, or over 30 bushels to the acre—an improvement in the harvest to the extent of two bushels per acre, will destroy the demand, and a deficiency to that extent will double it. Now as there is an available surplus at the neighbouring ports in Europe, in the Baltic and the Black Sea, of about 18,000,000 of bushels only, whenever there is a demand for home consumption, for, say 20,000,000 bushels, as was the case in each of the five years from 1838 to 1843, larger shipments from America will take place; but whenever there are good harvests, as in the six years from 1831 to 1837, in which the deficiency only ranged from 230,000 to 1,000,000 bushels, the trade is not worth notice. It must be remarked, however, that in a country like Britain, where capital is abundant, consumption great, speculation rife, the harvest so uncertain, and the stake so great that a cloudy day transfers thousands from one broker to another, the importation cannot be closely assimilated to the actual wants of the country. The ordinary yield of grain in the United Kingdom after deductions for seed, is about 400,000,000 bushels, and as nearly 100,000,000 bushels of grain and meal were imported in 1847, there must have been a general deficiency of nearly twenty-five per cent.

In the "Statistics of the British Empire," the average extent of land under grain culture, &c., in 1840, was estimated as follows:—

ENGLAND AND WALES.
		Produce per Acre.	Total Produce.
Wheat	3,800,000	3¼ quarters.	12,350,000
Barley and rye.	900,000	4 quarters.	3,600,000
Oats and beans.	3,000,000	4½ quarters.	13,500,000
	SCOTLAND.
Wheat	220,000	3	660,000
Barley	280,000	3½	980,000
Oats	1,275,000	4½	5,737,500

In Scotland, ten years ago, 150,000 acres were reckoned to be under cultivation with wheat, 300,000 with barley, and 1,300,000 with oats, which is the great crop and chief food of the people.

Mr. Braithwaite Poole, in his "Statistics of British Commerce," 1852, states—"The annual average production of all sorts of corn in the United Kingdom has been estimated by competent parties at rather more than 60,000,000 quarters, and £80,000,000 in value; but in the absence of general official returns, we cannot vouch for its accuracy, although, from various comparisons, there are reasonable grounds for assuming this calculation to be as nearly correct as possible. Some persons in the corn trade imagine the aggregate production to approach almost 80,000,000 quarters; but I cannot find any data extant to warrant such an extended assumption."

The estimated produce of wheat, in quarters, and acreage, he states as follows:—

	Quarters.	Acreage.
England	15,200,000	3,800,000
Ireland	1,800,000	600,000
Scotland	1,225,000	350,000
Total	15,225,000	4,750,000

The average price of wheat per quarter in the last thirteen years, in England and Wales, has been as follows:—

	s.	d.
1840	66	4
1841	64	4
1842	57	3
1843	50	1
1844	51	3
1845	50	10
1846	54	8
1847	69	9
1848	50	6
1849	44	3
1850	40	4
1851	38	7
1852	41	0

The best wheat, as well as the greatest quantity, is raised in the midland counties. From two and a half to three Winchester bushels per acre are required for seed, and the average produce varies from twenty-two to thirty-two bushels per acre.

THE CONTINENT.

The quantity of wheat raised in France in 1835 was 71,697,484 hectolitres, of which eleven millions was required for seed. The average produce per hectare was stated at thirteen and a half hectolitres.

The total grain and pulse raised in that year was set down at 204,165,194 hectolitres.

	Hectolitres.
Maslin	12,281,020
Barley	18,184,316
Rye	32,999,950
Buckwheat	5,175,933
Maize and Millet	6,951,179
Oats	49,460,057
Peas and Beans	3,318,691

Oats, next to wheat is the largest crop grown in France, for the support of two million horses and three and a half million mules and asses.

According to the "Annuaire de l'Economie Politique de la Statistique," there were 13,900,000 hectares (each about 2½ acres) under cultivation with the cereals in France.

The primary article of consumption is wheat. At the rate of three hectolitres (1 qr. ¼ bush.) to each individual, every family would require thirteen to fourteen hectolitres, costing 210 to 280 francs (£8 15s. to £11 10s.) according as the price varies, between its present value fifteen francs, and its occasional cost twenty francs. In the reign of Louis XVI, Arthur Young referred with horror to the black bread eaten by the French. Since that time half a century has passed, and whilst the agricultural produce in France has tripled in value, the labourers who produce it continue, from custom and necessity, to eat a detestable bread made from rye, barley, or peas and potatoes; and, to make the matter still worse, it is badly baked, without yeast, and being sometimes kept for weeks, it becomes covered with mould, and altogether presents an appearance enough to turn the stomach of a savage.

According to Mr. McGregor's estimate some ten or twelve years ago, the land under wheat culture was 13,808,171 acres, producing 191,000,000 bushels; and 11,715 acres with spelt, or red wheat, the yield of which was 374,000 bushels.

The other crops were—

	Acres	Crops, bushels
Maslin	2,251,438	32,000,000
Rye	6,369,879	76,000,000
Barley	2,936,453	45,000,000
Oats	7,416,297	134,000,000
Maize	1,561,372	20,000,000

Wheat and oats are grown all over Russia, which is the greatest corn land in the world.

In Austrian Italy the yield of grain has been reckoned at three million quarters, but this seems rather low. About one-half of this is maize and rye, and a quarter wheat.

It is reckoned that eight million quarters of grain are raised yearly in Denmark, but this seems doubtful. In 1839, a million quarters of grain, however, were shipped from that kingdom.

BRITISH AMERICAN PROVINCES.

According to the census return of 1852, the number of acres under grain crops, and the produce in Canada, were as follows:—

	Lower Canada—Produce.		Upper Canada—Produce.
	Acres	Bushels	Acres	Bushels
Wheat	427,111	3,075,868	782,115	12,692,852
Barley	42,927	668,626	29,916	625,875
Rye	46,007	341,443	38,968	479,651
Oats	540,422	8,967,594	421,684	11,193,844
Buckwheat	51,781	530,417	44,265	639,381
Maize	22,669	400,287	70,571	1,666,513

Flour may be valued at 21s. the barrel.

The grain crops in Lower Canada are taken in the minot, and not in the bushel, except in the townships. In like manner, the acres are taken in arpents. An arpent is about one-seventh less than an acre; and a minot about one-eighth (some say one-twelfth) more than a bushel.

During the years 1850-1, Western Canada exported upwards of two million barrels of flour, and three million bushels of wheat, being equivalent to 13,600,000 bushels of wheat. The value of the wheat and flour exported in 1851 was £404,033. Canadian flour, like that of Genessee, is of very superior quality.

	WHEAT.—UPPER	CANADA.
	Bushels.		To each inhabitant.
Wheat crop of 1841 was	3,221,991	or	6.60
Wheat crop of 1847 was	7,558,773	or	10.45
Wheat crop of 1849 was	9,706,082	or	12.08
Wheat crop of 1851 was	12,692,852	or	13.33

The quantity of land under wheat in "Upper Canada was 782,115 acres, showing a yield of about sixteen and three quarter bushels to the acre. The wheat produced in 1852 was valued at nearly two million pounds sterling.

LOWER CANADA.
	Minots.
Wheat crop in 1843 was	942,835	or	1.36
Wheat crop in 1851 was	3,075,868	or	3.46

UNITED STATES.
	Bushels.
Wheat crop in 1839 was	84,832,272	or	4.96
Estimated by patent office 1847	114,245,500	or	5.50
Crop of wheat 1849	100,684,627	or	4.33

In order, however, to institute a fairer comparison, I will divide the States into three classes, viz.:—1st. States growing over six million bushels.

	Bushels.	Population.	Bush, per head.
Pennsylvania	15,367,691	2,311,736	6.65
Ohio	14,487,351	1,980,408	7.32
New York	13,131,498	4,148,182	3.16
Virginia	11,232,616	1,421,661	7.90
Illinois	9,414,575	851,471	11.06
Indiana	6,214,458	988,416	6.28
Total	69,847,189	11,701,924	5.97

2nd. States growing over one million and less than six million bushels.

	Bushels.	Population.	Bush, per head.
Michigan	4,925,889	397,654	12.39
Wisconsin	4,286,131	305,191	14.04
Maryland	4,494,681	583,031	7.71
Missouri	2,981,652	682,043	4.38
Kentucky	2,140,822	982,405	2.15
North Carolina	2,130,102	868,903	2.45
Tennessee	1,619,381	1,002,525	1.61
New Jersey	1,601,190	481,555	3.27
Iowa	1,530,581	192,214	7.96
Georgia	1,088,534	905,999	1.21
South Carolina	1,066,277	668,507	1.60
Total	27,865,240	7,078,131	3.93

3rd. The remaining States and territories.

2,791,470

4,466,246

0.63

Total wheat crop in the United States, 100,503,899 bushels. Population, 23,246,301. Bushels per head, 4.33.

Increase:—U. States,	1839	84,823,272	bushels
Increase:—U. States,	1849	100,503,896	bushels
		15,680,627

Or 18.49 per cent. in ten years.

Upper Canada,	1841	3,221,991	bushels
Upper Canada,	1851	12,692,825	bushels
		9,470,861

Or nearly quadrupling itself in ten years.

		Bushels.	Population.	Bush. per head.
Pr. Ed. Island	1847	219,787	62,678	3.50
Newfoundland	1850	297,157	276,117	1.08
New Brunswick	1850	206,635	193,800	1.06

The Eastern States in 1849 raised 1,090,896 bushels. Population 2,668,106, or 0.41 each.

The population of Upper Canada is 952,904, and allowing five bushels for each, 4,760,020 bushels; and for seed at one and a half bushels per acre 1,173,173 bushels = 5,933,193; leaves for export 6,761,668 bushels. More than sufficient to supply the consumption of the whole of the Eastern States.

"Were the population of Lower Canada to consume flour at the given rate, it would require—

	Bushels.
890,261 at five bushels each	4,451,305
Seed	640,000
	5,091,305
Grown	3,075,868
	2,015,437

Leaving a surplus of wheat in Canada 4,746,231 bushels, or at four and a half bushels for each, equal to 1,054,718 barrels of flour.

Professor Johnston in his report on New Brunswick, furnishes some valuable information as to the produce there.

The following table of average weights indicates a capacity in the soil and climate to produce grain of a very superior quality:—

COUNTIES	Wheat	Barley	Oats	Rye	BuckWheat	Maize
Saint John	61	—	41	—	50	—
Westmoreland	60	48	35½	—	48	59
Albert	58	50	34¾	50	45	—
Charlotte	59	45	39	—	57	59
King's	59½	48	37	—	48	60
Queen's	58½	50	36½	53	43	61
Sunbury	57	55	38	53	47	57
York	63	50	38	—	51	60
Carleton	64	—	38	—	52	65
Kent	63	—	37	—	50	—
Northumberland	62	53	37	—	45	57
Gloucester	63	51	39	—	—	—
Restigouche	63	48	42	—	—	—

The general average weights for the whole Province are, for

Wheat	60 11-13	lbs.
Barley	50	"
Oats	38	"
Rye	52½	"
Buckwheat	48 8-11	"
Indian Corn	59½	"
Potatoes	63	"
Turnips	66	"
Carrots	63	"

The annexed statement shows not only the average yield per acre of each description of crop, but affords an opportunity of contrasting it with the like products in the State of New York:—

AVERAGE PRODUCE PER IMPERIAL ACRE.
	New Brunswick	State of New York
	Bushels	Bushels
Wheat	20	14
Barley	29	16
Oats	34	26
Rye	20½	9½
Buckwheat	33¾	14
Indian Corn	41¾	25
Potatoes	226	90
Turnips	460	88
Hay	1¾	—

A possibility of error in striking the averages is suggested in the report; and to guard against it the following statement of the averages derived from the minimum returns is given, viz.:—Wheat 17¾ bushels; Barley, 27; Oats, 33; Buckwheat, 28; Rye, 18; Indian Corn, 36½; Potatoes, 204; Turnips, 389. The diminished averages scarcely affect the question of productiveness, as in every particular they exceed the averages for the favored Genesee Valley and the southern shores of Lake Ontario.

While the productiveness of the soil is thus proven by the statements of most experienced farmers, the average prices appear to be equally favorable to the Provincial growers. The following tables of averages set this in a clear point of view:—

AVERAGE PRICES OF GRAIN PER BUSHEL AND PER QUARTER.
	Per Bushel		Per Quarter
Wheat	7s.	6d.	60s.	0d.
Barley	4	2½	33	8
Oats	2	0	16	0
Rye	4	10	38	8
Buckwheat	3	9	30	0
Indian Corn	4	8	37	4

ROOT CROPS AND HAY.
Potatoes	1s.	11d.	per bushel.
Turnips	1	2	"
Eng. Hay	49	0	per ton.
Carrots	2	5	per bushel.
Man. Wurtzel	2	1	"
Marsh Hay	20	0	per ton.

AVERAGE MONEY VALUE OF AN ACRE OF EACH CROP.
	New Brunswick			Canada West			State of Ohio
Wheat	£6	13	0	£2	4	7	£2	19	0
Barley	5	13	7½	1	19	4½	2	4	0
Oats	6	3	6	1	11	0	1	13	9
Rye	4	7	0	1	5	10½	1	12	4
Buckwheat	5	5	0	3	5	0	1	16	3
Indian Corn	8	10	4	2	14	4½	2	15	0
Potatoes	19	11	0	6	6	0	6	9	4½

On a review of the foregoing and other tables, Professor Johnston has drawn the following conclusions:—

"That grain and roots generally can be raised more cheaply in the Province of New Brunswick than in New York, Ohio, or Upper Canada; and that the Province ought to be able to compete with those countries and drive them from its home markets."

Such are the deductions of a skilful and scientific, practical and theoretical agriculturist, from the statements furnished by the most enterprising and successful of our colonists. Nevertheless, I cannot conceal a doubt whether all the elements of comparison have been duly weighed. The result, especially as regards wheat, is so contrary to pre-conceived opinions, that further investigations should be made. Is it not possible that, while an equality of expense in preparing the land for a wheat crop appears to have been assumed, the great care and expense necessary in New Brunswick to prepare the land, and an occasional succession of minimum returns would, to a very considerable extent, account for the supposed discrepancy?

Wheat has, from time immemorial, been a staple crop in the plains of Northern India, and especially in the Punjaub. The climate and soil are well fitted for this cereal, but owing to defects and carelessness in the agriculture and harvesting, the crops, though excellent, fall short of what most corn-growing countries produce. Further—owing to foul boats and granaries, and to the moist heat of the months immediately succeeding harvest, the wheat reaches England in a state too dirty and weevelled for market. The hard wheat is preferred by the natives in India to the soft, probably for no better cause than that the hardness of the grain more closely resembles their favorite food, rice.

BARLEY.

Oats, rye and barley, are the staple crops of northern and mountainous Europe and Asia. In England barley is grown principally in the eastern and some of the midland counties, and chiefly for malting. It is most extensively cultivated in the Himalaya and Thibet, replacing in many districts the wheat, and producing an admirable flour.

Since the establishment of the studs at Buxar, Ghazepore, &c., oats have been extensively cultivated. It is a winter crop.

Although believed to have been indigenous to the countries bordering on the torrid zone, this grain possesses the remarkable flexibility of maturing in favorable seasons and situations on the eastern continent as far north as 70 deg., and flourishes well in lat. 42 deg. south. Along the Atlantic side of the continent of America, its growth is restricted to the tract lying between the 30th and 50th parallels of north latitude, and between 30 and 40 deg. south. Near the westerly coast, its range lies principally between latitude 20 and 62 deg. north. The barley chiefly cultivated in the United States is the two-rowed variety which is generally preferred from the fulness of its grain and its freedom from smut. Barley has never been much imported from that country, as the Americans have been rather consumers than producers. The consumption of barley there in 1850 in the manufacture of malt and spirituous liquors amounted to 3,780,000 bushels, and according to the census returns, the quantity of barley raised was 4,161,504 bushels in 1840, and 5,167,213 bushels in 1850. In this country barley is extensively used for malting, distilling, and making beer; large quantities are consumed in Scotland, or carried into England.

In Prussia, about ten and a half million hectolitres of barley are annually raised. In the Canary Isles, about 354,000 bushels are annually exported. In Van Diemen's Land in 1844, 174,405 bushels of barley were grown on 12,466 acres.

The quantity of barley made into malt in the United Kingdom in the year ending 10th October, 1850, was 5,183,617 quarters, of which about four million quarters were used by 8,500 maltsters. The quantity of malt charged with duty in the year ending 5th January, 1851, was 636,641 tons; the average price per quarter, 26s. 2d.

Barley is at present extensively cultivated in the temperate districts and islands of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. In Spain, Sicily, the Canaries, Azores and Madeira, two crops are produced in a year. In North America its growth is principally confined to Mexico, the middle, western, and northern States of the Union, and to the British North American provinces. The introduction of barley into the American colonies may be traced back to the period of their settlement. By the year 1648 it was raised in abundance in Virginia, but soon after its culture was suffered to decline, in consequence of the more profitable and increased production of tobacco. It has also been sparingly cultivated in the regions of the middle and northern States for malting and distillation, and has been employed, after being malted, as a substitute for rice.

Barley, like wheat, has been cultivated in Syria and Egypt for more than 3,000 years, and it was not until after the Romans adopted the use of wheaten bread, that they fed their stock with this grain. It is evidently a native of a warm climate, as it is known to be the most productive in a mild season, and will grow within the tropics at an elevation of 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. It is one of the staple crops of northern and mountainous Europe and Asia. It is the corn that, next to rice, gives the greatest weight of flour per acre, and it may be eaten with no other preparation than that of boiling. It requires little or no dressing when it is sent to the mill, having no husk, and consequently produces no bran. In this country barley is chiefly used for malting and distilling purposes. In the year 1850, 40,745,050 bushels of malt paid duty, the number of maltsters in the United Kingdom being from 8,000 to 9,000. About one and a half million quarters of barley were imported in 1849, and a little over a million quarters in 1850, principally from Denmark and Prussia. The counties in England where this grain is chiefly cultivated are Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Bedford, Herts, Leicester, and Nottingham. The produce of barley on land well prepared, is from thirty to fifty bushels or more per statute acre, weighing from 45 to 55 lbs. per bushel, according to quality. It is said to contain 65 per cent. of nutritive matter, while wheat contains 78 per cent.

The estimated average produce of barley in this country may be stated as follows:—

	Acres.	Crop.
England	1,500,000	6,375,000
Ireland	320,000	1,120,000
Scotland	450,000	1,800,000
	2,270,000	9,295,000

The average produce per acre, in the United Kingdom, is 4¼ quarters in England, 3½ in Ireland, and 4 in Scotland. The prices of barley per quarter have ranged, in England, from 36s. 5d. in 1840, to 27s. 6d. in 1842. In 1847 barley reached 44s. 2d., and gradually declined to 23s. 5d, in 1850.

OATS.

Oats are principally in demand for horses, and the extraordinary increase of the latter has occasioned a proportional increase in the culture of oats. They are grown more especially in the north and north-eastern counties; in the midland counties their culture is less extensive, but it is prevalent throughout most parts of Wales.

Nearly twice as much oats as wheat is raised in the United Kingdom, but the proportion grown in Scotland is not so large as is supposed. The following is a fair estimate of the comparative production:—

	Acres.	Produce.
England	2,500,000	12,500,000
Ireland	2,300,000	11,600,000
Scotland	1,300,000	6,500,000
Total	6,100,000	30,500,000

We import annually about l¼ million quarters from foreign countries and nearly three-fourths of a million quarters from Ireland. The average produce per acre throughout the kingdom is five quarters. The price within the last 10 years has ranged from 28s. 7d. per quarter (the famine year) to 17s. 6d.

The oat, when considered in connection with the artificial grasses, and the nourishment and improvement it affords to live stock, may be regarded as one of the most important crops produced. Its history is highly interesting, from the circumstance that in many portions of Europe it is formed into meal, and forms an important aliment for man; one sort, at least, has been cultivated from the days of Pliny, on account of its fitness as an article of diet for the sick. The country of its origin is somewhat uncertain, though the most common variety is said to be indigenous to the Island of Juan Fernandez. Another oat, resembling the cultivated variety, is also found growing wild in California.

This plant was introduced into the North American Colonies soon after their settlement by the English. It was sown by Gosnold on the Elizabeth Islands in 1602; cultivated in Newfoundland in 1622, and in Virginia, by Berkley, prior to 1648.

The oat is a hardy grain, and is suited to climates too hot and too cold either for wheat or rye. Indeed, its flexibility is so great, that it is cultivated with success in Bengal as low as latitude twenty-five degrees North, but refuses to yield profitable crops as we approach the equator. It flourishes remarkably well, when due regard is paid to the selection of varieties, throughout the inhabited parts of Europe, the northern and central portions of Asia, Australia, Southern and Northern Africa, the cultivated regions of nearly all North America, and a large portion of South America.

In the United States the growth of the oat is confined principally to the Middle, Western and Northern States. The varieties cultivated are the common white, the black, the grey, the imperial, the Hopetown, the Polish, the Egyptian, and the potato oat. The yield of the common varieties varies from forty to ninety bushels and upwards per acre, and weighing from twenty-five to fifty pounds to the bushel. The Egyptian oat is cultivated south of Tennessee, which after being sown in autumn, and fed off by stock in winter and spring, yields from ten to twenty bushels per acre. In the manufacture of malt and spirituous liquors oats enter but lightly, and their consumption for this purpose does not exceed 60,000 bushels annually in the United States.

In 1840, Ireland exported 2,037,835 quarters of oats and oatmeal, but in 1846, on account of the dearth, the grain exports fell off completely. Most of the grain grown in Ireland requires to be kiln-dried, and is, therefore, of lower value.

The oat, like rye, never has entered much into our foreign commerce, as the domestic consumption has always been nearly equal to the quantity produced. The annual average exports from the United States for several years preceding 1817, were 70,000 bushels.

By the census returns of 1840, the total produce of the United States was 123,071,341 bushels; of 1850, 146,678,879 bushels.

In Prussia 43 million hectolitres of oats are annually raised.

The quantity of oats imported into the United Kingdom, has been declining within the last few years. In 1849, we imported 1,267,106 quarters; in 1850, 1,154,473; in 1851, 1,209,844; in 1852, 995,479. In 1844, 221,105 bushels of oats were raised in Van Diemen's Land on 13,864 acres.

RYE.

Rye (Secale cereale) is scarcely at all raised in this country for bread, except in Durham and Northumberland, where, however, it is usually mixed with wheat, and forms what is called "maslin,"—a bread corn in considerable use in the north of Europe.

Geographically rye and barley associate with one another, and grow upon soils the most analogous, and in situations alike exposed. It is cultivated for bread in Northern Asia, and all over the Continent of Europe, particularly in Russia, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Holland; in the latter of which it is much employed in the manufacture of gin. It is also grown to some extent in England, Scotland and Wales. With us it is little used as an article of food compared with wheat and oats, though in the north of Europe and in Flanders it forms the principal article of human subsistence, but generally mixed with wheat, and sometimes, also with barley; 100 parts of the grain consist of 65.6 of meal, 24.2 of husk, and 10.2 of water. The quantity of rye we import seldom reaches 100,000 quarters per annum.

The straw is solid, and the internal part, being, filled with pith, is highly esteemed for Dunstable work, for thatching and litter, and it is also used to stuff horse collars.

In Ireland there are 21,000 acres under culture with rye, producing 105,000 quarters.

In North America rye is principally restricted to the Middle and Eastern States, but its culture is giving place to more profitable crops.

In Bohemia, as in most parts of Germany, rye forms the principal crop, the product being about 3,250,000 quarters annually.

The three leading varieties cultivated in the United States are the spring, winter, and southern; the latter differing from the others only from dissimilarity of climate. The yield varies from 10 to 30 or more bushels per acre, weighing from 48 to 56 pounds to the bushel. The production of rye has decreased 4,457,000 bushels in the aggregate, but in New York it is greater by the last decennial census than in 1840, by about 40 per cent. Pennsylvania, which is the largest producer, has fallen off from 6,613,373 to 4,805,160 bushels. Perhaps the general diminution in the quantity of this grain now produced may be accounted for, by supposing a corresponding decline in the demand for distilling purposes, to which a larger part of the crop is applied in New York. This grain has never entered largely into its foreign commerce, as the home consumption for a long period nearly kept pace with the supply. The amount exported from the United States in 1801, was 392,276 bushels; in 1812, 82,705 bushels; in 1813, 140,136 bushels. In 1820-1 there were exported 23,523 barrels of rye flour; in 1830-1, 19,100 barrels; in 1840-1 44,031; in 1845-6, 38,530 barrels; in 1846-7, 48,892 barrels; in 1850-1, 44,152 barrels. During the year ending June 1, 1850, there were consumed of rye about 2,144,000 bushels in the manufacture of malt and spirituous liquors.

According to the American census returns of 1840, the product of the country was 18,645,567 bushels; in 1850, 14,188,637 bushels. We imported 246,843 quarters of rye and rye meal, in 1849, equivalent to 49,368 tons; but in 1850 the imports were only 94,078 quarters and in 1851 they were but 26,323 quarters. About 20,000 acres are under cultivation with rye in Ireland, the produce of which is 100,000 quarters.

BUCKWHEAT.

Buckwheat belongs to the temperate and arctic climates, and is cultivated in Northern Europe, Asia, and America for the farinaceous albumen of its seeds, which, when properly cooked, affords a delicious article of food to a large portion of the human race. It also serves as excellent fodder to milch cows, and the straw, when cut green and converted into hay, and the ripened seeds, are food for cattle, poultry, and swine.

It is raised most abundantly in Central Asia and the Himalaya. In the latter country the different varieties are grown at various elevations, between 4,000 and 12,000 feet. The finest samples exhibited in 1851 were from Canada, but some of excellent quality was also shown by the United States, Russia, and Belgium. The common variety grown in Europe is the Polygonum fagopyrum, and P. emarginatum is grown in China and the East. In this country the produce varies from 2 to 4 quarters per acre. The quantity of seed sown is 5 to 8 pecks the acre. Vauquelin found 100 parts of its straw to contain 29.5 of carbonate of potash, 3.8 of sulphate of potash, 17.5 of carbonate of lime, 13.5 of carbonate of magnesia, 16.2 of silica, 10.5 of alum, and 9 of water.

It is believed to be a native of Central Asia, as it is supposed to have been first brought to Europe in the early part of the twelfth century, at the time of the crusades for the recovery of Syria from the dominion of the Saracens; while others contend that it was introduced into Spain by the Moors, four hundred years before.

The cultivation of buckwheat, in one or other of its species, is principally confined to Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Russia, China, Tartary, Japan, Algeria, Canada, and the middle and northern portions of the United States.

In America from 30 to 45 bushels per acre may be considered as an average yield in favorable seasons and situations, but 60 or more bushels are not unfrequently produced.

According to the census returns of 1840, the annual quantity raised in the United States was 7,291,743 bushels; of 1850, 8,950,916 bushels.

The average annual imports of buckwheat into this country have not exceeded 1,000 quarters, until last year (1852), when they reached 8,085 quarters. A small quantity of the meal is also annually imported.

MAIZE.

Maize (Zea Mays), is the common well-known Indian corn forming one of the most important of the grain crops, and has a greater range of temperature than the other cereal grasses. It was found cultivated for food by the Indians of both North and South America, on the first discovery of that continent, and thence derived its popular name. Maize succeeds best in the hottest and dampest parts of tropical climates. It may be reared as far as 40 degrees north and south latitude on the American continent; while in Europe it can grow even to 50 degrees or 52 degrees of latitude, some of the numerous varieties being hardy enough to ripen in the open air, in England and Ireland. It is now cultivated in all regions in the tropical and temperate zones, which are colonized by Europeans. It is most largely grown, however, about the Republics bordering on the northern shores of South America, California, the United States and Canada, the West India islands and Guiana, on the coasts of the Mediterranean, and partially in India, Africa, and Australia. We see the singular fact in Mexico of land which, after perhaps thousands of years' culture, is so little exhausted, that with a very little labor bestowed on it, a bad maize harvest will yield two hundredfold profit, while a good crop returns 600 fold.

This grain adopts itself to almost every variety of climate, and is found growing luxuriantly in the low countries of tropical Mexico, and nearly equally well on the most elevated and coldest regions of the table-land; in the rich valleys of the Cordilleras or the Andes, and on the sandy heights of those mountains wherever a rill of water can be brought to nourish its roots. In short, it ripens under the sun of America, in every part of both continents.

Though wheat is characterised as the most nutritious food for man in all quarters of the world, yet the Indian corn crop of the United States is not second in value to any product of the earth; cultivated in the middle and Eastern States, nay, even in the rich cotton-growing districts, Indian corn is fast rising in importance, and will soon equal in value that important commercial staple. This indigenous grain yields to the nation an annual average of five hundred millions of bushels, and has, within the last five years, attracted much attention as a life-sustaining food, more particularly at the period of Ireland's severe suffering, in 1847, and the following years. Nations, as well as statesmen and farmers, have found it an object worthy of their consideration and esteem.

When due regard is paid to the selection of varieties, and cultivated in a proper soil, maize may be accounted a sure crop in almost every portion of the habitable globe, between the 44th degree of north latitude and a corresponding parallel south. Among the objects of culture in the United States, it takes precedence in the scale of cereal crops, as it is best adapted to the soil and climate, and furnishes the largest amount of nutritive food. Besides its production in the North American Republic, its extensive culture is limited to Mexico, the West Indies, most of the States of South America, France, Spain, Portugal, Lombardy, and Southern and Central Europe generally. It is, however, also cultivated with success in Northern, Southern, and Western Africa, India, China, Japan, Australia, and the Sandwich Islands, the groups of the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries, and numerous other oceanic isles.

Maize is not a favorite grain as bread-corn with the European nations, for although it abounds in mucilage, it is asserted to contain less gluten, and is not likely to be much used by those who can procure wheaten flour, or even rye bread.

The large importations which were made by our Government during the prevalence of the potato disease, brought it into more general use among some classes, and the imports for home consumption are still extensive, having been as follows in the last few years:—

		1848.	1849.
Indian corn,	quarters	1,582,755	2,249,571
"	meal, cwts.	233,880	102,181
		1850.	1851.
Indian corn,	quarters	1,286,264	1,810,425
"	meal, cwts.	11,401

The trade in maize, or Indian corn, is totally new since 1846. The famine in Ireland in that year, and the potato rot in almost every successive year since, have now fully established it. Like the gold discoveries, the potato rot may be regarded as a providential means of effecting a great change in the condition of society. Those discoveries are not without their influence in the East, and, combined with the potato rot, they have rapidly increased the commerce between the East and West of Europe, while they are spreading broad paths between all Europe and the lands in the Southern Ocean. The imports of maize from all parts, in 1852, amounted to 1,550,000 quarters, of which about 1,100,000 quarters arrived in vessels from the Mediterranean, &c., calling at Queenstown or Falmouth for orders. The balance consisted of imports from America, France, Portugal, &c., and also of cargoes addressed direct to a port of discharge, without first calling off the coast for orders. The quantities received in 1851 and 1852 from the Mediterranean were as follows:—

	1852.	1851.
Received from	qrs.	qrs.
Galatz	223,000	286,067
Ibraila	362,600	211,779
Salonica	35,640	95,377
Odessa	219,170	74,065
Egypt	50,960	86,260
Italy	8,250	162,544
Constantinople, Malta, Trieste, and other ports in the Mediterranean	190,720	286,358
	1,090,340	1,202,450

The various quarters from whence we derive supplies of this grain, are shown in the following table of the imports for the last three years, which I have compiled from the most recent Parliamentary returns.

INDIAN CORN AND MEAL IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM.
PLACES.	1849.		1850.		1851.
	Corn. qrs.	Meal. cwts.	Corn. qrs.	Meal. cwts.	Corn. qrs.	Meal. cwts.
Russian Ports in Black Sea	25,519		19,721		98,176
Denmark	1,300		250		5
Hanover	1,344
Belgium	67
France	135,115	510	102,978	26	164,128	29
Portugal Proper	61,446		67,518	53	21,922
Azores and Madeira	17,214	7	7,794	6	4,356	1
Spain and Bahama Islands	26,856	48	19,982	48	34,771
Sardinian Territories	13,357		25	2	1,302	1
Tuscany	11,481	95	15,612	94	34,760
Papal Territories	8,927		1,876		75,588
Naples and Sicily	18		10,066		101,489
Austrian Territories	90,540		45,748		73,966
Malta and Gozo	18,198		4,969		11,002
Ionian Islands	5,390		7,324		5,967
Greece	57,520		8,712		3,252
Egypt	12,767		71,808		127,692
Turkish dominions, including Wallachia, Moldavia and Syria	563,799		348,456		748,180
Morocco	760
West Coast of Africa	889		2,322
B.N.A. Colonies	1,645	164	1,530		4,377	7
U.S. of America	1,170,154	100,859	538,155	11,253	295,978	9,522
Brazil	1,253		468		725
Other places			1,756
						1
	2,225,459	101,683	1,277,070	11,482	1,807,636	9,561
(Parliamentary Paper, No. 14, Sess. 1852.)

The many excellent properties of Indian corn, as a wholesome nutritious food, and the rich fodder obtained from the stalk and leaf for the nourishment of cattle, invite more earnest attention from the farmer and planter in the Colonies to its better and extended cultivation.

Though the average quantity of grain from each acre in the United States is not more than thirty or forty bushels, yet it is known that with due care and labor 100 to 130 bushels may be obtained.

In feeding cattle little difference is discoverable between the effects of Indian corn meal and oil-cake meal; the preference rather preponderates in favor of the latter.

Corn cobs, ground with the grain, have advocates, but this food is not relished, and swine decline it.

Indian corn contains about the same proportion of starch as oats (sixty per cent.), but is more fattening, as it contains about nine or ten per cent. of oily or fatty ingredients.

The following analysis of maize is given by Dr. Samuel David, of Massachusetts:—

FLESH FORMING PRINCIPLES.
Gluten, albumen, and casein	12.60
FAT FORMING PRINCIPLES.
Gum, sugar, starch, woody fibre, oil, &c.	77.09
Water	9.00
Salts	1.31
	100.

Prof. Gorham, in "Thomson's Organic Chem.," published in London in 1838, gives another analysis:—

	Fresh grain.	Dried grain.
Water	9.00
Starch	77.00	84.60
Gluten	3.00	3.30
Albumen	2.50	2.74
Gum	1.75	1.92
Sugar	1.45	1.60
Loss	5.30	5.84
	100.	100.

Professor Johnston supplies a table, which, he says, exhibits the best approximate view we are yet able to give of the average proportion of starch and gluten contained in 100 lbs. of our common grain crops as they are met with in the market.

From this table I extract the following:—

	Starch, gum, &c.		Gluten, albumen, &c.
Wheat flour.	55	lbs.	10 to 15	lbs.
Oats	65	"	18	lbs.
Indian corn	70	"	12	"
Beans	40	"	28	"
Peas	50	"	24	"
Potatoes	12	"	2⅓	"

The Professor remarks that the proportion of oil is, in 100 lbs. of

Wheat flour	2 to 4
Oats	5 to 8
Indian corn	5 to 9
Beans and peas	2½ to 3
Potatoes	0¼

Maize is one of those plants in which potash preponderates, for analysis of its ashes gives the following proportions:—

Salts of potash and soda	71.00
Salts of lime and magnesia	6.50
Silica	18.00
Loss	4.50
	100.

Dr. Salisbury has also furnished the proximate analysis of five varieties of ripe maize or Indian corn:—

One hundred grains of each.	Proportions.
	Water.	Dry.
Golden Sioux corn, a bright, yellow, twelve-rowed variety, frequently having fourteen rows	15.02	84.98
Large eight-rowed yellow corn	14.00	86.00
Small eight-rowed ditto	14.03	85.97
White flint corn	14.00	86.00
Ohio Dent corn, one of the largest varieties of maize	14.50	85.50

COMPARATIVE ORGANIC ANALYSIS.
	Golden Sioux.	Ohio Dent Corn.	Small 8-rowed Corn.	Large 8-rowed Corn.	White Flint Corn.
Starch	36.06	41.85	30.29	49.22	40.34
Gluten	5.00	4.62	5.60	5.40	7.69
Oil	3.44	3.88	3.90	3.71	4.68
Albumen	4.42	2.64	6.00	3.32	3.40
Casein	1.92	1.32	2.20	0.75	0.50
Dextrine	1.30	5.40	4.61	1.90	3.00
Fibre	18.50	21.36	26.80	11.96	18.01
Sugar and extract	7.25	10.00	5.20	9.55	8.30
Water	15.02	10.00	13.40	14.00	14.00

Large quantities of starch are now made from this grain in Ohio; an establishment near Columbus consume 20,000 bushels of corn annually for this purpose. The offal of the grain is given to hogs, 500 to 600 head being annually fattened therewith. The quality of the starch is said to be superior to that of wheat, and commands a higher price in New York.

A corn plant, fifteen days after the seed was planted, cut on the 3rd June close to the ground, gave of—

Water	86.626
Dry matter	10.374
Ash	1.354
Ash calculated dry	13.053

By the above figures it will be seen that nearly 90 per cent, of the young plant is water; and that in proportion to the dry matter, the amount of earthy minerals which remain, as ash, when the plant is burnt, is large. This excess of water continues for many weeks. Thus, on the 5th July, thirty-three days from planting, the relations stood thus:—

Water	90.518
Dry matter	9.482
Ash	1.333
Ash calculated dry	14.101
(Ash very saline.)

Before green succulent food of this character is fit to give to cows, oxen, mules, or horses, it should be partly dried. Plants that contain from 70 to 75 per cent. of water need no curing before eaten. The young stalk cut July 12, gave over 94 per cent. of water. Such food used for soiling without drying would be likely to scour an animal, and give it the cholic.

The root at this time (July 12) gave of—

Water	81.026
Dry matter	18.974
Ash	2.222
Ash calculated dry	11.711
(Ash tastes of caustic potash.)

Ash of the whole plant above ground, 6.77 grains. Amount of ash in all below ground, 3.93 grains.

So late as July 26, the proportion of water in the stalk was 94 per cent.; and the ash calculated dry 17.66 per cent. The plant gained 21.36.98 grains in weight in a week preceding the 6th September. This was equal to a gain of 12.72 grains per hour.

The rapid growth of corn plants, when the heat, light, and moisture, as well as the soil are favorable, is truly wonderful. A deep, rich, mellow soil, in which the roots can freely extend to a great distance in depth and laterally, is what the corn-grower should provide for his crop. The perviousness of river bottoms contributes largely to their productiveness of this cereal. A compact clay, which excludes alike air, water, and roots, forbidding all chemical changes, is not the soil for Indian corn.

When farmers sell corn soon after it is ripe, there is considerable gain in not keeping it long to dry and shrink in weight. Corn grown by Mr. Salisbury, which was ripe by the 18th October, then contained 37 per cent. of water, which is 25 per cent. more than old corn from the crib will yield. The mean of man experiments tried by the writer has been a loss of 20 per cent. in moisture between new and old corn. The butts of cornstalks contain the most water, and husks or shucks the least, when fully matured and not dried. The latter have about 30 per cent, of dry matter when chemically desiccated.

COMPOSITION OF THE ASH OF THE LEAVES AT DIFFERENT STAGES.
	July 19.	Aug. 2.	Aug. 23.	Aug. 30.	Oct. 18.
Carbonic acid	5.40	2.850	0.65	3.50	4.050
Silicia	13.50	19.850	34.90	36.27	58.650
Sulphuric acid	2.16	1.995	4.92	5.84	4.881
Phosphates	21.60	16.250	17.00	13.50	5.850
Lime	.69	4.035	2.00	3.88	4.510
Magnesia	.37	2.980	1.59	2.30	0.865
Potash	9.98	11.675	10.85	9.15	7.333
Soda	34.39	29.580	21.23	22.13	8.520
Chlorine	4.55	6.020	3.06	1.63	2.664
Organic acids	5.50	2.400	3.38	2.05	2.200
	98.14	97.750	98.187	99.83	99.334

The above figures disclose several interesting facts. It will be seen that the increase of silica or flint in the leaf is steadily progressive from 13½ per cent. at July 19, to 58.65 at October 18.

Flint is substantially the bone earth of all grasses. If one were to analyse the bones of a calf when a day old, again when thirty days of age, and when a year old, the increase of phosphate of lime in its skeleton would be similar to that witnessed in the leaves and stems of maize. In the early stages of the growth of corn, its leaves abound in phosphates; but after the seeds begin to form, the phosphates leave the tissues of the plant in other parts, and concentrate in and around the germs in the seeds. On the 23rd of August, the ash of the whole stalk contained 19½ per cent. of phosphates; and on the 18th of October, only 15.15 per cent. In forming the cobs of this plant, considerable potash is drawn from the stalk, as it decreases from 35.54 per cent. August 16, to 24.69 October 18. When the plant is growing fastest, its roots yield an ash which contains less than one per cent. of lime; but after this development is nearly completed, the roots retain, or perhaps regain from the plant above, over 4½ per cent. of this mineral. Soda figures as high as from 20 to 31 per cent. in the ash obtained from corn roots. Ripe seeds gave the following results on the analysis of their ash:—

Silica	0.850
Phosphoric acid	49.210
Lime	0.075
Magnesia	17.600
Potash	23.175
Soda	3.605
Sodium	0.160
Chlorine	0.295
Sulphuric acid	0.515
Organic acids	5.700
	99.175

The above table shows a smaller quantity of lime than is usually found in the ash of this grain. It is, however, never so abundant as magnesia; and Professor Emmons has shown that the best corn lands in the State of New York contain a considerable quantity of magnesia. All experience, as well as all chemical researches, go to prove that potash and phosphoric acid are important elements in the organisation of maize. Corn yields more pounds of straw and grain on poor land than either wheat, rye, barley, or oats; and it does infinitely better on rich than on sterile soils. To make the earth fertile, it is better economy to plant thick than to have the rows five feet apart each way, as is customary in some of the Southern States, and only one stalk in a hill. This gives but one plant to twenty-five square feet of ground. Instead of this, three square feet are sufficient for a single plant; and from that up to six, for the largest varieties of this crop.

Mr. Humboldt states the production of maize in the Antilles as 300 for one; and Mr. H. Colman has seen in several cases in the New England States of America, a return of 400 for one; that is to say, the hills being three feet apart each way, a peck of Indian corn would be sufficient seed for an acre. If 100 bushels of grain is in such case produced by an acre—and this sometimes happens—this is clearly a return of 400 for one.

Of the whole family of cereals, Zea Mays is unquestionably the most valuable for cultivation in the United States. When the time shall come that population presses closely on the highest capabilities of American soil, this plant, which is a native of the New World, will be found greatly to excel all others in the quantity of bread, meat, milk, and butter which it will yield from an acre of land. With proper culture, it has no equal for the production of hay, in all cases where it is desirable to grow a large crop on a small surface.

Although there has been much written on the Eastern origin of this grain, it did not grow in that part of Asia watered by the Indus, at the time of Alexander the Great's expedition, as it is not among the productions of the country mentioned by Nearchus, the commander of the fleet; neither is it noticed by Arian, Diodorus, Columella, nor any other ancient author; and even as late as 1491, the year before Columbus discovered America, Joan di Cuba, in his "Ortus Sanitatis," makes no mention of it. It has never been found in any ancient tumulus, sarcophagus, or pyramid; nor has it ever been represented in any ancient painting, sculpture, or work of art, except in America. But in that country, according to Garcilaso de la Vega, one of the ancient Peruvian historians, the palace gardens of the Incas, in Peru, were ornamented with maize, in gold and silver, with all the grains, spikes, stalks, and leaves; and in one instance, in the "garden of gold and silver," there was an entire cornfield, of considerable size, representing the maize in its exact and natural shape; a proof no less of the wealth of the Incas, than their veneration for this important grain.

In further proof of the American origin, it may be stated that this plant is still found growing, in a wild state, from the Rocky mountains in North America, to the humid forests of Paraguay, where, instead of having each grain naked, as is always the case after long cultivation, it is completely covered with glumes or husks. It is, furthermore, a well authenticated fact, that maize was found in a state of cultivation by the aborigines, in the island of Cuba, on its discovery by Columbus, as well as in most other places in America, first explored by Americans.

The first successful attempt to cultivate this grain in North America, by the English, occurred on James' river, in Virginia, in 1608. It was undertaken by the colonists sent over by the Indian company, who adopted the mode then practised by the natives, which, with some modifications, has been pursued throughout this country ever since. The yield, at this time, is represented to have been from two hundred to more than one thousand fold. The same increase was noted by the early settlers in Illinois. The present yield, east of the Rocky Mountains, when judiciously cultivated, varies from 20 to 135 bushels to an acre.

The varieties of Indian corn are very numerous, exhibiting every grade of size, color, and conformation, between the "chubby reed" that grows on the shores of Lake superior—the gigantic stalks of the Ohio valley—the tiny ears, with flat, close, clinging grains, of Canada—the brilliant, rounded little pearl—the bright red grains and white cob of the eight-rowed hæmatite—the swelling ears of the big white and the yellow gourd seed of the South. From the flexibility of this plant, it may be acclimatised, by gradual cultivation, from Texas to Maine, or from Canada to Brazil; but its character, in either case, is somewhat changed, and often new varieties are the result. The blades of the plant are of great value as food for stock, and is an article but rarely estimated sufficiently, when considering of the agricultural products of the Southern and Southwestern States especially.

To supply slaves on plantations with bread, including old and young, requires from twelve to thirteen bushels of corn each a year. Taking thirteen bushels as the average consumption of breadstuffs by the 22,000,000 of people in the United States, the aggregate is 286,000,000 bushels per annum.

The increase of production, from 1840 to 1850, was 214,000,000 bushels, equal to 56 per cent.

The production of New England advanced from 6,993,000 to 10,377,000 bushels, showing an increase of 3,384,000 bushels, nearly fifty per cent. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, increased 20,812,000 bushels, more than fifty per cent. In the production of this crop no State has retrograded. Ohio, which in 1840 occupied the fourth place as a corn-producing State, now ranks as the first. Kentucky is second, Illinois third, Tennessee fourth. The crop of Illinois has increased from 2,000,000 to 5,500,000 bushels, or at the rate of 160 per cent. in ten years.

Of the numerous varieties some are best adapted to the Southern States, while others are better suited for the Northern and Eastern. Those generally cultivated in the former are the Southern big and small yellow, the Southern big and small white flint, the yellow Peruvian, and the Virginian white gourd seed. In the more Northerly and Easterly States they cultivate the golden sioux, or Northern yellow flint, the King Philip, or eight-rowed yellow, the Canadian early white, the Tuscarora, the white flour, and the Rhode Island white flint.

The extended cultivation of this grain is chiefly confined to the Eastern, Middle, and Western States, though much more successfully grown in the latter. The amount exported from South Carolina, in 1748, was 39,308 bushels; from North Carolina, in 1753, 61,580 bushels; from Georgia, in 1755, 600 bushels; from Virginia, for several years preceding the revolution, annually 600,000 bushels; from Philadelphia, in 1765-66, 54,205 bushels; in 1771, 259,441 bushels.

The total amount exported from America in 1770, was 573,349 bushels; in 1791, 2,064,936 bushels, 351,695 of which were Indian meal; in 1800, 2,032,435 bushels, 338,108 of which were in meal; in 1810, 1,140,960 bushels, 86,744 of which were meal. In 1820-21, there were exported 607,277 bushels of corn, and 131,669 barrels of Indian meal; in 1830-31, 571,312 bushels of corn, and 207,604 barrels of meal; in 1840-41,535,727 bushels of corn, and 232,284 barrels of meal; in 1845-46, 1,286,068 bushels of corn, and 298,790 barrels of meal; in 1846-47 16,326,050 bushels of corn, and 948,060 barrels of meal; in 1850-51, 3,426,811 bushels of corn, and 203,622 barrels of meal. More than eleven millions of bushels of Indian corn were consumed in 1850, in the manufacture of spirituous liquors.

According to the census of 1840, the corn crop of the United States was 377,531,875 bushels; in 1850, 592,326,612 bushels.

The increase in the production of corn in Ohio has been (in ten years) 66 per cent. I have also before me the auditor's returns for the crop of 1850, as taken by assessors, and the number of acres planted. The auditor's returns are:—

Seventy-three counties	55,079,374
Darke county	524,484
Twelve counties, average	8,400,000
Total	64,003,858

This is an advance of 15 per cent. on the crop of 1840, and it is known that the crop of 1850 was better than that of 1849. The number of acres planted, and the average production was:—

Acres planted	1,810,947
Bushels produced	64,003,858
Average per acre	35⅜	bush.

Considering how large a portion of hill land is planted, and how many fields are ill cultivated, the average is high. Many persons have believed that taking all years and all lands into view, the average of corn lands was not more than thirty bushels. But the immense fertility of bottom lands on the rivers and creeks of Ohio make up for bad cultivation and inferior soil. We may see something of the differences in the production of corn, by taking the averages of different counties, thus:—

	Acres.	Crop.	Average.
Butler	62,031	2,646,353	42½
Warren	42,322	1,757,409	42
Pickaway	65,860	2,627,727	40
Ross	69,520	2,918,958	42

Compare the average of these counties, which embrace some of the best lands in the State, with the following:—

	Acres.	Crop.	Average.
Carroll	10,107	316,999	32
Jackson	15,680	439,850	30
Monroe	23,375	728,242	31
Portage	10,426	329,529	32
Vinton	11,413	345,470	30

The last counties contain but little bottom land, and hence the average of corn is reduced one-fourth in amount. Of these counties, two are full of coal and iron. The resources of the last are more slow to develop, but in the end will be equally valuable.

But a small quantity of the corn of Ohio is exported as grain. It is first manufactured into other articles, and then exported in another form. The principal part of these are hogs, cattle, and whiskey. It is difficult to say exactly how much corn is in this way exported, but the following is an approximation—

	Bushels.
In Fat Cattle	4,000,000
In Fat Hogs	10,000,000
In Whiskey	2,500,000
Total	16,500,000

Taking into view the export of corn meal—about twenty millions of bushels—the residue goes to the support of the stock animals on hand, of which there are near three millions, exclusive of those fatted for market.

The exported corn in the shape of cattle, hogs, and whiskey, is worth about thirty cents cash, while on the farm it is not worth twenty—thus proving that it is more profitable to consume corn on the farm, than to export it in bulk. This fact is well known to good farmers, who seldom attempt to sell corn as a merchantable article.

No mining in the world has ever been equal to mining in a fertile soil, and no treasury is so reliable as a granary of surplus products.

Indian corn and meal generally find a market in the West Indies, Newfoundland, Spain, and Portugal. It commands a good price, and finds a ready sale in the ports which are open to its reception.

Deducting one-sixteenth for the amount exported, and one-tenth for seed, the quantity of maize annually consumed for food in the United States by a family of five persons is 85 bushels.

Maize may be considered as the great staple of the agricultural products of the States. It is exported in large quantities, in a raw state, or when manufactured into meal. Before it is manufactured into meal it is dried by a fire, in a kiln prepared for that purpose. By this process the meal is much less liable to become sour on the voyage, and can be preserved much longer in a warm climate. No inconsiderable quantities have likewise been consumed in distillation; and the article of kiln-dried meal for exportation is destined to be of no small account to the corn-growing sections of that country.

The improvement continually making in the quality of the seed augurs well for the productiveness of this indigenous crop, as it has been found that new varieties are susceptible of being used to great advantage.

The following was the produce of the different States in the years named, as given in the Official Census Returns:—

	1840 Bushels.	1841 Bushels.	1843 Bushels.	1850 Bushels.
Maine	950,528	988,549	1,390,799
New Hampshire	1,162,572	191,275	330,925
Massachusetts	1,809,192	1,905,273	2,347,451
Rhode Island	450,498	471,022	578,720
Connecticut	1,500,441	1,521,191	1,926,458
Vermont	1,119,678	1,167,219	1,252,853
New York	10,972,286	11,441,256	15,574,590
New Jersey	4,361,975	5,134,366	5,805,121
Pennsylvania	14,240,022	14,969,472	15,857,431
Delaware	2,099,359	2,164,507	2,739,982
Maryland	8,233,086	6,998,124	6,205,282
Virginia	34,577,591	33,987,255	45,836,788
N. Carolina	23,893,763	24,116,253	27,916,077
S. Carolina	14,722,805	14,987,474	18,190,913
Georgia	20,905,122	21,749,227	26,960,687
Alabama	20,947,004	21,594,354	24,817,089
Mississippi	13,161,237	5,985,724	9,386,399
Louisiana	5,952,912	6,224,147	8,957,392
Tennessee	44,986,188	46,285,359	67,838,477	52,000,000
Kentucky	39,847,120	40,787,120	59,355,156	58,000,000
Ohio	33,668,144	35,552,161	38,651,128	59,788,750
Indiana	28,155,887	33,195,108	36,677,171	53,000,004
Illinois	22,634,211	23,424,474	32,760,434	57,000,000
Missouri	17,332,524	19,725,146	27,148,608
Arkansas	4,846,632	6,039,450	8,754,204
Michigan	2,277,039	3,058,090	3,592,482
Florida Territory	898,074	694,205	838,667
Wisconsin	379,359	521,244	750,775
Iowa T.	1,406,241	1,547,215	2,128,416
D. of Columbia	39,485	43,725	47,837
Total	377,531,875	387,380,185	494,618,306	500,000,000

The Indian corn crop of 1850, for the whole of the United States, is returned as over 500 million bushels, a gain of about 40 millions on that of 1840.

I give below the quantities of Indian corn and meal which were exported from the United States in the following years:—

	Corn, Bushels.	Meal, Bushels.	Value. Dolls.
1790	1,713,241
1794	1,505,977	241,570
1798	1,218,231	211,694
1802	1,633,283	566,816
1806	1,064,263	108,342	1,286,000
1810	1,054,252	86,744	1,138,000
1814	61,284	26,438	170,000
1818	1,075,190	120,029	2,335,405
1822	509,098	148,288	900,656
1826	505,381	158,652	1,007,321
1829	897,656	173,775	974,535
1833	437,174	146,678	871,814

—(Pitkin's Statistics of the United Stales, and Seybert's Statistical Annals.)

System of culture pursued in the United States.—Maize, the corn, par excellence, of America, is grown in every State in the Union.

Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, and Indiana, are in their order the greatest producers of this grain. In Illinois, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, New York, Maryland, Arkansas, and the New England States, it appears to be a very favorite crop. In Massachusetts, the most Northern and least favorable State on that account, being cold, a fair proportion is grown, the aggregate produce being greater there than in any of the grains, except oats; more, indeed, than might be expected, were not labor somewhat cheaper than in more Southern States, where the climate is more congenial. The ordinary produce is twenty-five bushels per acre; forty bushels is often raised, and in prize crops the weight has come up to 100 bushels per acre. In Ohio the average is fifty-five bushels to the acre. The eight and twelve-rowed varieties of Indian corn are those most usually grown in New York, and the average produce of a good field in that State is from forty to sixty bushels; on ordinary ground twenty-five to thirty is a fair crop. The same returns appeared to be derived from ground in New Jersey. Mr. Doubleday, of Binghampton, New York, estimates the produce of that neighbourhood at forty bushels, and the expense of raising the crop as follows, estimating the worth of the land at twenty-five dollars (say £5) per acre:—

	Dollars.	Cents.
The interest of which is	1	16
One ploughing with double team, and harrowing	3	50
Seed and planting	1	00
Plaster or gypsum, and putting on the hill	0	37
Ploughing and hoeing twice, cutting or stalking the corn	2	75
Husking or thrashing	2	50
	11	62

Average yield, forty bushels; cost of produce, twenty-nine cents. (1s. 4½d.) per bushel.

Nothing is here put down for manure or cartage, because the fodder, cut up and saved, as usually adopted, is equal to the manure required. It is looked upon that the preparation of ground for corn costs less than wheat; the approved plan is to plant on sward ground, ploughing at once, and turning the ground completely over, then harrowing longitudinally until, a good tilth is obtained. Should the soil not be rich enough, stable manure is first spread on the land.

Now suppose the corn to sell at seventy-five cents the bushel, the account would stand thus:—

	Dollars.	Cents.
Forty bushels, at seventy-five cents.	30	00
Cost	11	62
Gain per acre	18	38

or £3 13s. 6d. British money profit per acre.

In Lichfield, Connecticut, the cost of produce has been, for the items as stated above, eighteen dollars twenty-five cents, or the cost of each bushel thirty-six and one-half cents. The acre produce was fifty bushels, so that it stood thus:—

	Dollars.	Cents.
Fifty bushels, at seventy-five cents	37	50
Cost	18	25
Gain	19	5

or £3 12s. per acre.

The cost of producing maize varies somewhat in the other States, thus:—

	Per bushel.
	Cents.
New Hampshire (Unity) the cost was	50
Fayette county, Pennsylvania	16¼
Donesville, Michigan, only	17½
Plymouth, Massachusetts	17-7/10

The cost on producing this crop was small, but it appears to have been a small crop, and did not bring more than thirty cents per bushel.

In Monroe county, the richest land in the State of New York, estimating the land at fifteen dollars per acre, the producing cost stood at:—

	Dollars.	Cents.
Interest at six per cent.	0	45
One ploughing sward, cover or stubble	1	00
Harrowing, furrowing, seed, and planting	0	87½
Cultivating three times and hoeing	1	00
Husking the hill	1	00
Shelling and cleaning	1	00
	5	82½

This yielded fifty bushels, the cost of producing the bushel was eleven and three-fifths cents. This low cost was owing to the fact of no manure being used; and while it speaks volumes as to the natural fertility of American soils, yet it reflects very disgracefully upon the careless system adopted there, as under such treatment no land could continue, after some years, to produce a crop which could come into competition with those from newer and less exhausted lands; but if under a good system of tillage the ground was yearly renewed with manure, and those amendments which every soil requires, after a crop has been raised from it, added to the soil in top-dressing and in ploughing-in, we should never hear of the exhausted state of New England land, or see the sons of the soil moving west and cultivating newer soils, thus removing much of the capital and intelligence of a country away from it.

Supposing the corn of Monroe county sold at seventy cents per bushel, the balance would appear thus:—

	Dollars. Cents.
Fifty bushels, at seventy cents	35	00
Cost of production	5	82½
Gain	29	18½

£6 1s. per acre profit.

In Northern Ohio and in Illinois the cost of production averages twenty cents per bushel.

The mode of cultivation in Connecticut and the New England States has been thus described to me by Mr. L. Durand, an experienced agriculturist:—If the soil selected is light and mellow, it should be ploughed and subsoiled in the spring, first spreading on the coarse unfermented manure which is to be ploughed in. For marking the rows for planting, a "corn marker" may be used to advantage. It is made by taking a piece of scantling, three inches square and ten to twelve feet long, with teeth of hickory or white oak inserted at distances of two to four feet, according to the width designed for the rows. Then an old pair of waggon-thills and a pair of old plough-handles are put to it, and your marker is done. With a good horse to draw this implement, the ground may be made ready for planting very rapidly. It is better to leave the ground flat than to ridge it, for the latter mode has no advantage, except when the ground is wet. The difference in the two modes is chiefly this:—When the ground is ridged, the corn being planted between the edges of the furrows, it comes immediately in contact with the manure, springs up and grows rapidly the fore part of the season. When the ground is left flat, and the manure turned under the furrows, the corn will often look feeble at first, and in growth will frequently be much behind that on the ridges; and the inference early in the season is, that the ridged ground will give the best crop, but as soon as the roots of the corn on the flat ground get hold of the manure (say about the 20th of July), the corn will shoot rapidly ahead, and the full force of the manure will be given to the stalk just at the time of forming the grain. Corn cultivated in this way, if the soil is deeply tilled, will often keep green, while that on ridges is dried up.

Many farmers, at planting, shell the corn off the cob, and plant it dry. Others soak it a few days in warm water. But when the seed is only treated in this way, it is very likely to be pulled up by birds and injured by worms. The best way to prevent this is to first soak the corn in a strong solution of saltpetre; then take a quantity of tar, and having warmed it over a fire, pour it on the corn, and stir with a stick or paddle till the grain is all smeared with the tar; then add gypsum or plaster till the corn will separate freely, and no birds will touch the grain.

The time of planting, in the United States, varies with the season and the section of the country. In New England it may generally be planted from the 15th to the 25th May. Where the ground is flat, a light harrow or a cultivator is much better to go between the rows than the plough. Formerly a great deal of useless labor was spent in hilling up corn; in dry seasons this was worse than useless. The earth hauled round the stalk does not assist its growth, nor aid in holding it up; the brace roots, which come out as the stalk increases in height, support it; and it has been observed, that in a heavy storm and thunder gust, corn that is hilled will be broken down more than that which is not hilled. The ground which is kept level has also the advantage of more readily absorbing rain, rendering the crop less liable to suffer from drought. The field should have two or three regular hoeings, and the weeds be carefully kept under.

In harvesting the following will be found a good plan:—Let two hands take five rows, cutting the corn close to the ground. A hill should be left standing to form the centre of the shock, placing the stalks round it, so that they may not lie on the ground. After the shock is made of sufficient size, take a band of straw, and having turned down the tops of the stalks, bind them firmly, and the work is done.

Maize may be cut as soon as the centre of the grain is glazed, even if the stalks are green. There will be sufficient nutriment in the stalk to perfect the ear, and the fodder is much better than when it gets dry before it is cut. If the shocks are well put up, they may stand four or five weeks. The corn may then be knocked out, and the fodder secured for winter use.

The report of the Ohio Board of Agriculture for 1849, contains many interesting statements in reference to maize culture, made by the officers of numerous county agricultural societies. In Miami county, 2,030,670 bushels were grown, at an average yield of fifty-five bushels per acre. Three varieties are cultivated: the common gourd seed, for cattle; the yellow Kentucky, for hogs and distilling; and the white, for grinding and exportation. According to the returns from Green county, which produced 1,250,000 bushels of corn in 1849, "a regular rotation of clover, corn, wheat, and clover again, is best for corn; and no crop pays better for extra culture." The Harrison county Agricultural Society reports the pork crop at 4,800,000 pounds; and it gave its first premium for corn to Mr. S.B. Lukens, whose statement is as follows:—

"The ground had been in meadow ten years, was ploughed six inches deep about the middle of April, was harrowed twice over on the 9th May, and planted on the 11th four feet by two feet. It came up well, was cultivated and thinned when ten inches high; three stalks were left in a hill. About two weeks afterward it was again cultivated, and the suckers pulled off. About the last of June it was again cultivated, making three times the same way, as it was laid off but one way.

	d.	c.
Expense of culture, gathering, and cribbing, was	17	10
Produce of 374⅜ bushels, at 31¼ cents	117	10
Profit on three acres	100	00

The evidence on which a premium was awarded was such as should satisfy any one that 374 bushels were grown on three acres of land, and at a cost not exceeding 17 dollars 10 cents, delivered in the crib. This is producing corn at less than 5 cents a bushel.

Whether the statement be true to the letter or not, it shows conclusively the great value of a rich soil for making cheap corn. The Board of Agriculture estimates the crop of Ohio last year at 70,000,000 of bushels. Taking the United States as a whole, probably the crop of corn was never better than in the year 1849. One that has rich land needs only to plough it deep and well, plant in season, and cultivate the earth properly with a plough or cultivator, to secure the growth of a generous crop. On poor soils the case is very different.

To raise a good crop of corn on poor land, and at the least possible expense, requires some science and much skill in the art of tillage. Take the same field to operate in, and one farmer will grow 100 bushels of corn at half the cost per bushel that another will expend in labor, which is money. It unfortunately happens that very skilful farmers are few in number, in comparison with those who have failed to study and practice all attainable improvements. To produce cheap corn on poor land, one needs a clear understanding of what elements of the crop air and water will furnish, and what they cannot supply. It should be remembered that the atmosphere is precisely the same over ground which yields 100 bushels of corn per acre, that it is over that which produces only five bushels per acre. Now, the whole matter which forms the stems, leaves, roots, cobs, and seeds of corn, where the crop is 100 bushels per acre, is not part and parcel of the soil. A harvest equal to fifty bushels per acre can be obtained without consuming over ten per cent, of earth, as compared with the weight of the crop. No plant can imbibe more of the substance of the soil in which it grows, than is dissolved in water, or rendered gaseous by the decomposition of mould.

The quantity of matter dissolved, whether organic or inorganic, during the few weeks in which corn plants organise the bulk of their solids, is small. From 93 to 97 parts in 100 of the dry matter, in a mature, perfect plant, including its seeds, cob, stems, leaves, and roots, are carbon (charcoal) and the elements of water. It is not only an important, but an exceedingly instructive fact, that the most effective fertilisers known in agriculture are those that least abound in the elements of water and carbon. The unleached dry excrements of dunghill fowls and pigeons, have five times the fertilising power on all cereal plants that the dry dung of a grass-fed cow has, although the latter has five times more carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, per 100 pounds, than the former. Although it is desirable to apply to the soil in which corn is to grow as much of organised carbon and water as one conveniently can, yet, where fertilisers have to be transported many miles; it is important to know that such of the measure as would form coal, if carefully burnt, can best be spared. The same is true of those elements in manure which form vapor or water, when the fertiliser decomposes in the ground.

Carbonic acid and nascent hydrogen evolved in rotting stable manure are truly valuable food for plants, and perform important chemical offices in the soil; but they are, nevertheless, not so indispensable to the economical production of crops, as available nitrogen, potash, silica, magnesia, sulphur, and phosphorus. These elements of plants being less abundant in nature, and quite indispensable in forming corn, cotton, and every other product of the soil, their artificial supply in guano, night soil, and other highly concentrated fertilisers, adds immensely to the harvest, through the aid of a small weight of matter. In all sections where corn is worth 30 cents and over a bushel, great benefits may be realised by the skilful manufacture and use of poudrette. This article is an inodorous compound of the most valuable constituents of human food and clothing. It is the raw material of crops.

It is not necessary to restore to a cornfield all the matter removed in the crop to maintain its fertility. A part of each seed, however, ought to be carried back and replaced in the soil, to make good its loss by the harvest.

In every barrel of meal or flour sent to market (196 pounds), there are not far from 186 pounds of carbon (coal), and the elements of water. When a bird eats wheat or corn, I have reason to believe, from several experiments, that over 80 per cent, of the food escapes into the air through its capacious lungs in the process of respiration; and yet the 20 per cent, of guano left will re-produce as much wheat or corn as was consumed. Imported guano, which has been exposed to the weather for ages, often gives an increase in the crop of wheat equal to three pounds of seed to one of fertiliser; while it has given a gain of seven to one of corn, and fifty to one of green turnips.

Like other grains that have been long cultivated, Indian corn abounds in varieties. In Spain they count no less than 130, and in the United States the number is upwards of forty. The difference consists in size, color, period of maturation, and hardness and weight of grain. Of size there exists a considerable variety, from Zea Curagua of Chili, and the Egyptian or chicken corn, both extremely diminutive, to the large white flint, and ground seed corn of the United States. The differences in color are the red, yellow, and white. The period of maturation varies, apparently, very considerably; but it is questionable whether this variation is real, and independent of climate. In the Northern States of America, Indian corn ripens in a shorter period of time than it does in the South, owing, possibly, to the greater length of the summer day in those latitudes.

In selecting varieties, some experienced and judicious farmers prefer that which yields the greater number of ears, without regard to their size, or number of rows. Others prefer that which furnishes one or two larger ears, having from twelve to twenty-four rows. In the Northern States of America the yellow corn bears the highest price in the market, and is considered the most prolific and best suited to feed cattle and hogs. For bread, the white Button is preferred at the North, and the white ground seed is used for that purpose in other quarters. Preference, however, is most frequently given to white flint corn, which is unquestionably the heaviest, and contains the greatest proportion of farina.

In Mississippi many varieties are grown, principally those known as flint and bastard flint. The gourd-seed varieties are very objectionable in that climate, principally on account of their softness rendering them unfit for bread, and open to the attacks of insects in the field and the crib. They require a grain, white, hard, and rather flinty—white because of its great consumption in bread and hommony, in the preparation of both of which their cooks greatly excel. When meal is ground for bread, the mill is set rather wide, that the flinty part of the grain may not be cut up too fine, this being sifted out for "small hommony;" the farinaceous part of the grain is left for bread. This hommony is a beautiful and delicious dish. On most plantations the negroes have it for supper, with molasses or buttermilk. A hard flinty grain is necessary to head the weevil, with which not only the cribs but the heads of corn in the field are infested. These are the Calandra oryzæ, the true rice weevil, distinguished from his European cousin by the two reddish spots on each elytra or wing-cover, and known in America as the "black weevil;" also a little brown insect, not a true weevil, but a Sylvanus. This sylvanus, and another of the same genus, most probably the S. surinamensis, attack the corn in the field before it becomes hard, causing serious damage—but nothing to equal that occasioned by the black weevil.

I know of no generally successful method of staying or even checking the injury caused by the insects, though much might be written in the way of suggestion.

In Michigan, the dent variety in dry seasons produces the best crops on sandy loam, as its roots run deeper than the common eight-rowed yellow or white. In moist seasons the latter varieties usually do well. They are grown most generally in the Northern part of the State, while in the Southern section the Ohio dent is principally raised. The shuck and blade are much used as fodder for cattle, in the early part of winter.

Indian corn is very liable to change of character from soil and climate, growing smaller the farther North it is raised. The mixing of the eight-rowed yellow with the Ohio dent has, so far as my experience goes, been beneficial in increasing the yield. Sandy loam, or clay, is considered the soil best adapted to corn. It is usually planted in May, and harvested in September. The blade is not taken off there as at the South; some farmers cut up their corn when ripe, put it into shocks, and husk it late in the fall; others cut the stalks, bind them in sheaves, and stack them for winter in the fields, or put them away in barns or sheds; while others husk the corn on the hill without cutting the stalks, and late in the fall turn their cattle into the field to eat the fodder. Of these different modes the preference is usually given to cutting the stalks and putting them under cover after being well cured, and busting the corn on the hill. The corn is thought to ripen better in this way, and to keep better in the cribs. The Ohio dent, having a smaller ear containing less moisture than other varieties, ripens quicker and keeps better. This crop ranges from 25 to 65 bushels per acre, and the difference in the yield is to be attributed to the manner of cultivation. My experience shows that a crop of 45 bushels per acre costs 13 cents a bushel, including interest on land. Corn is principally raised in Michigan for home consumption, and the stalks and shucks, if well cured, are worths dollars per acre, compared with hay at 5 dollars per ton.

As much as 134 bushels per acre have been obtained, in some instances, in Massachusetts; till the last 20 years 35 bushels was considered an average crop, but by a due rotation of crops, and ploughing in long manure, at least 75 bushels to the acre are now raised. The kinds preferred there, are an eight-rowed variety, procured originally from Canada; the Cass corn, another eight-rowed variety, and the Dutton corn, each of which averages about 60 lbs. to the bushel.

Maize is a principal crop in the Connecticut River Valley, Western Vermont, and along the Lake shore; but in the high dividing ridge, and in the Northern counties bordering on Canada, the climate is too severe for its profitable cultivation.

"The kind mostly grown (observes Mr. Colburn, of Vermont) is the yellow eight-rowed, though some prefer the twelve and sixteen-rowed, known here by the name of the Button corn; but my experience in cultivating the different kinds for the last twenty-four years, has forced me to the conclusion that the common eight-rowed, mixed with a kind called the Brown corn, does the best; the kernel of the-latter bearing upon a chocolate hue, and the mixture of these two kinds of seed imparting a deep rich color to the whole, when they become blended, and enhancing the yield whenever the soil is in high tilth. Of this kind, the writer has raised, the past season, upon eleven acres on the Connecticut River alluvium, over eight hundred bushels shelled corn, four acres of which, with extra preparation, produced four hundred and sixteen bushels.

It will never do to carry seed corn from South to North, as it will not mature in a higher or colder climate than that from which it has been taken. Even half a degree of latitude sensibly affects the maturing of the blade, and renders it an uncertain crop in our high northern latitudes. To insure an extra yield of this valuable grain, the soil must be highly manured, deeply ploughed, thorough cultivated and hoed, and top-dressed with lime, house ashes, and plaster. This done, it is the most remunerative and profitable of all grain crops."

In Delaware there are many varieties, and everybody esteems his own kind the best. The grain varies from pure "flint" to pure "gourd seed"—of course the mixtures which are between these two varieties are most common—it inclines more to gourd seed than to flint. Mint weighs full standard fifty-six, the gourd seed from forty-nine to fifty-two pounds, and the mixtures range between. Flint ripens from ten days to two weeks earlier. It will not produce as many pounds per acre as the lighter gourd seed. Soil exerts its influence over the character of corn, a heavy soil tending to produce flint—light soil, gourd seed.

The corn is "cut up" in the fall, and after curing in the shuck, is husked; the shuck remaining on the stalk with the blades.

The average yield, on improved land, is fifty bushels; though crops of one hundred and twelve, and one hundred and sixty bushels per acre are reported to have been raised in the county, in 1849. The yield increases from year to year. A general and rapid improvement of the State is in progress, and in nothing is this seen more clearly than in the corn crop. Mossy "old sedge" fields, which have been laid out for years, are broken up, and will yield, if it be a good season, from five to ten bushels per acre; fence them, lime them with twenty to thirty bushels, and seed the oat crop with clover, and in two years the clover sod will return eighteen to twenty bushels of corn. Another dressing of lime, or its equivalent in marl, of which there is an abundance in the lower half of Newcastle County, will show thirty bushels of corn; and of wheat, if the farm manure be used on it, nine to twelve bushels will not be too much to expect.

In Arkansas, Indian corn is regarded as the "king of grains." It constitutes the chief food of every animal, from man down to the marauding rat, while its dried blade furnishes seven-tenths of the long food for working animals. The large white is the variety most esteemed, and most generally cultivated, for the reasons that it yields more grain and fodder, makes, when ground into meal, whiter and sweeter bread, and is less liable to injury from the weevils. The blade is usually esteemed the best long food for horses, exceeding in price the best Northern hay; the average price may be stated at about seventy cents per cwt. The shuck is fed to cows and young mules, they eat it, but with less relish than they do the blades, which are sweeter and more nutritious. The former are much used for mattresses, being preferred to moss, as they are cleaner, and easier manufactured. When mixed with coarse cotton, and properly prepared, they will make a mattress but little inferior to curled hair: price about fifty cents per cwt. The average price of this grain may be set down at forty cents per bushel; and the yield on upland in some parts of the State may be stated at thirty bushels per acre.

Five varieties of maize are grown in Peru. One is known by the name of chancayano, which has a large semi-transparent yellow grain; another is called morocho, and has small yellow grain of a horny appearance; amarello, or the yellow, has a large yellow opaque grain, and is more farinaceous than the two former varieties; blanco, white—this variety is large, and contains more farina than the former; and cancha, or sweet maize. The last is only cultivated in the colder climates of the mountains; it grows about two feet high, the cob is short, and the grains large and white; when green, it is very bitter, but when ripe and roasted, it is particularly sweet, and so tender that it may be reduced to flour between the fingers. In this roasted state it constitutes the principal food of the mountaineers of several provinces.

The natives remove the husk from the maize by putting it into water with a quantity of wood ashes, exposing it to a boiling heat, and washing the grain in running water, when the husk immediately separates from the grain.

In Jamaica I found maize to produce two crops in the year, and often three. It is usually grown there on the banks or ridges of the cane fields. It may be planted at any time when there is rain, and it yields from fifteen to forty bushels per acre, according to the richness of the soil, and the more or less close manner in which it is planted.

In the colony of New South Wales, including the district of Port Phillip, there were 20,798 acres under cultivation with maize in 1844, the produce from which was returned at 575,857 bushels; 27,058 bushels of maize were exported from Sydney in 1848.

Culture in the East Indies.—The growers on the hills of Nepaul reckon three kinds of maize: a white grained species, which is generally grown on the hill sides; a yellow grained one, grown in the low and hot valleys; and a smaller one, called "Bhoteah," or "Murilli Makii," which is considered the sweetest of the three, but from being less productive is not generally grown on good lands. Maize thrives best on a siliceous, well-drained, rich soil. A correspondent in my "Colonial Magazine," vol. ii. p. 309, says the finest Indian corn he ever saw was in the Himalayas of the Sikim-range, where the soil consists of a substratum of decomposed mica from the under or rocky stratum, with a superstratum of from three to six inches of decayed vegetable matter, from leaves, &c., of the ancient forests.

Throughout Hindostan, June is the usual time for sowing. In Behar, about two seers are usually sown upon a beggah; in Nepaul, twenty-four seers upon an English acre; in the vicinity of Poonah, one and a-half seer per beggah. Before the seed is sown the land is usually ploughed two or three times, and no further attention given to the crop than two hoeings. In Nepaul, where it is the principal crop cultivated, the seed is sown, after one delving and pulverisation of the soil, in the latter end of May and early part of June, in drills, the seeds being laid at intervals of seven or eight inches in the drills, and the drills an equal space apart. The drills are not raised as for turnip sowing, but consist merely of rows of the plant on a level surface. The seed is distributed in this manner with the view of facilitating the weeding of the crop, not for the purpose of earthing up the roots, which seems unnecessary. The Indian corn sowing resembles that of the gohya (or upland) rice, in the careful manner in which it is performed; the sower depositing each grain in its place, having first dibbled a hole for it five or six inches deep, with a small hand hoe, with which he also covers up the grain.

The after-culture of this crop is performed with great care in the valleys, but much neglected in the hills, especially on new and strong lands. In the former it undergoes repeated weeding during the first month of its growth, the earth being loosened round the roots, at each weeding, with the hand hoe. After the first loosening of the soil, which is performed as soon as the plants are fairly above ground, a top dressing of ashes or other manure is given. By this mode the crop gets the immediate benefit of the manure, which otherwise, from the extraordinary rapidity of its growth, could not be obtained by it. In three months from the time of sowing, the seed is ripe. The crop is harvested by cutting off the heads. In Nepaul these are either heaped on a rude scaffolding, near the cultivator's house, or, more commonly, they are suspended from the branches of the trees close by, where, exposed to wind and weather, the hard and tough sheath of the seed cones preserves the grain for many months uninjured.

Cattle are voraciously fond of the leaves and stems, which are very sweet, and even the dry straw, which Dr. Buchanan surmises may be the reason why it is not more generally cultivated by the natives, as the difficulty would be great to preserve the crop. So slow is the progress of changes in the regions of India, that near Kaliyachak, though the people give all other straw to their cattle, yet they burn that of maize as unfit for fodder. In Nepaul the stalks, with the leaves attached, often twelve feet long, cut by the sickle, are used as fodder for elephants, bedding for cattle, and as fuel. The maize crop within the hills of Nepaul suffers much from the inroads of bears, which are very numerous in these regions, and extremely partial to this grain. The average return from this crop is seldom below fifty seers, ranging frequently far above it.[42] Maize is increasing in cultivation in Java, and some of the Eastern islands. It is found to have the advantage there over mountain rice, of being more fruitful and hardy, and does not suffer from cold until the mean temperature falls to 45 deg. of Fahrenheit, and no heat is injurious to it. Several varieties of it are known, but for all practical purposes these resolve themselves into two kinds: one, a small grain, requiring five months to ripen, and a larger one, which takes seven to mature. In some provinces of Java it yields a return of 400 or 500 fold. Mr. Crawfurd found, from repeated trials, that in the soil of Mataram, in Java, an acre of land, which afforded a double crop, produced of the smaller grain 848½ lbs. annually.

RICE.

This is one of the most extensively diffused and useful of grain crops, and supports the greatest number of the human race. The cultivation prevails in Eastern and Southern Asia, and it is also a common article of subsistence in various countries bordering on the Mediterranean. It is grown in the Japan Islands, on all the sea coasts of China, the Philippine and other large Islands of the Indian Archipelago, partially in Ceylon, Siam, India, both shores of the Red Sea, Egypt, the shores of the Mozambique Channel, Madagascar, some parts of Western Africa, South Carolina, and Central America. Three species only are enumerated by Lindley:—Oryza sativa, the common rice, a native of the East; O. latifolia, a species having its habitat in South America; and O. Nepalensis, common in Nepaul. But there are a host of varieties known in the East; these, however, may for all practical purposes, be resolved into two kinds—the upland or mountain rice (O. Nepalensis, the O. mutica, of Roxburgh), and the lowland or aquatic species (O. sativa).

Zizania aquatica is exceedingly prolific of bland, farinaceous seeds, which afford a kind of rice in Canada and North-West America, where it abounds wild in all the shallow streams. The seeds contribute essentially to the support of the wandering tribes of Indians, and feed immense flocks of wild swans, geese, and other water fowl. Pinkerton says, this plant seems intended to become the bread-corn of the North. Two other species of Zizania are common in the United States of America.

Rice, the chief food, perhaps, of one-third of the human race, possesses the advantage attending wheat, maize, and other grains, of preserving plenty during the fluctuations of trade, and is also susceptible of cultivation on land too low and moist for the production of most other useful plants. Although cultivated principally within the tropics, it flourishes well beyond, producing even heavier and better filled grain. Like many other plants in common use, it is now found wild [it is to be understood that the wild rice, or water oat (Zizania aquatica), already referred to, which grows along the muddy shores of tide waters, is a distinct plant from the common rice, and should not be confounded with it], nor is its native country known. Linnæus considers it a native of Ethiopia, while others regard it of Asiatic origin.

The chief variety of this cereal is cultivated throughout the torrid zone, wherever there is a plentiful supply of water, and it will mature, under favorable circumstances, in the Eastern continent, as high as the 45th parallel of north latitude, and as far south as the 38th. On the Atlantic side of the Western continent, it will flourish as far north as latitude 38 degrees, and to a corresponding parallel south. On the Western coast of America, it will grow so far north as 40 or more degrees. Its general culture is principally confined to India, China, Japan, Ceylon, Madagascar, Eastern Africa, the South of Europe, the Southern portions of the United States, the Spanish Main, Brazil, and the Valley of Parana and Uruguay.

In 1834, 29,583 bags of rice were shipped from Maranham, but I am not aware what have been the exports since.

At the Industrial Exhibition in London, in 1851, there were displayed many curious specimens and varieties of rice, grown without irrigation, at elevations of three thousand to six thousand feet on the Himalaya, where the dampness of the summer months compensates for the want of artificial moisture. Among these American rice received not only honorable mention for its very superior quality, but the Carolina rice, exhibited by E.I. Heriot, was pronounced by the jury "magnificent in size, color, and clearness," and it was awarded a prize medal. The jury also admitted that the American rice, though originally imported from the Old World, is now much the finest in quality.

This grain was first introduced into Virginia by Sir William Berkeley, in 1647, who received half a bushel of seed, from which he raised sixteen bushels of excellent rice, most or all of which was sown the following year. It is also stated that a Dutch brig, from Madagascar, came to Charleston in 1694, and left about a peck of paddy (rice in the husk), with Governor Thomas Smith, who distributed it among his friends for cultivation. Another account of its introduction into Carolina is, that Ashley was encouraged to send a bag of seed rice to that province, from the crops of which sixty tons were shipped to England in 1698. It soon after became the chief staple of the colony. Its culture was introduced into Louisiana in 1718, by the "Company of the West."

The present culture of rice in the United States is chiefly confined to South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas. The yield per acre varies from twenty to sixty bushels, weighing from forty-five to forty-eight pounds when cleaned. Under favorable circumstances as many as ninety bushels to an acre have been raised.

Judge Dougherty, who resides near the borders of Henderson county, Texas, has raised a crop of several hundred bushels of upland rice. The crop averages thirty bushels to the acre. He thinks rice can be raised there as easily as Indian corn, and will be far more profitable.

Another variety is cultivated in America to a limited extent, called Cochin-China, dry, or mountain rice, from its adaptation to a dry soil, without irrigation. It will grow several degrees further north or south than the Carolina rice, and has been cultivated with success in the Northern provinces of Hungary, China, Westphalia, Virginia and Maryland; but the yield is much less than that already stated, being only fifteen to twenty bushels to an acre. It was first introduced into Charleston, from Canton, by John Brodly Blake, in 1772.

The American crop of rice in 1848, reached 162,058 tierces in market, and of these 160,330 tierces were exported from South Carolina. The largest rice crop grown in South Carolina for the past thirty years, was in 1847, when 192,462 tierces were raised; 140,000 to 150,000 is about the average, and it has only exceeded 170,000 on four occasions.

The amount of rice exported from South Carolina in 1724, was 18,000 barrels; in 1731, 41,957 barrels; in 1740, 90,110 barrels; in 1747-48, 55,000 barrels; in 1754, 104,682 barrels; in 1760-61, 100,000 barrels; from Savannah, in 1755, 2,299 barrels, besides 237 bushels of paddy or rough rice; in 1760, 3,283 barrels, besides 208 bushels of paddy; in 1770, 22,120 barrels, besides 7,064 bushels of paddy; from Philadelphia, in 1771, 258,375 pounds. The amount exported from the United States, in 1770, was 150,529 barrels; in 1791, 96,980 tierces; in 1800, 112,056 tierces; in 1810, 131,341 tierces; in 1820-21, 88,221 tierces; in 1830-31, 116,517 tierces; in 1840-41, 101,617 tierces; in 1845-46, 124,007 tierces; in 1846-47, 144,427 tierces; in 1850-51, 105,590 tierces.

According to the census of 1840, the rice crop of the United States amounted to 80,841,422 lbs.; in 1850, 215,312,710 lbs.

Rice being an aquatic plant, is best grown in low moist lands, that are easily inundated.

The ground is ploughed superficially, and divided into squares of from twenty to thirty yards in the sides, separated from each other by dykes of earth about two feet in height, and sufficiently broad for a man to walk upon. These dykes are for retaining the water when it is required, and to permit of its being drawn off when the inundation is no longer necessary. The ground prepared, the water is let on, and kept at a certain height in the several compartments of the rice field, and the seedsman goes to work. The rice that is to be used as seed must have been kept in the husk; it is put into a sack, which is immersed in the water until the grain swells and shows signs of germination; the seedsman, walking through the inundated field, scatters the seed with his hand, as usual; the rice immediately sinks to the bottom, and many even penetrate to a certain depth in the mud. In Piedmont, where the sowing takes place at the beginning of April, they generally use about fifty-five pounds of seed per acre. The rice begins to show itself above the surface of the water at the end of a fortnight; as the plant grows, the depth of the water is increased, so that the stalks may not bend with their own weight. About the middle of June this disposition is no longer to be apprehended; the rice is not so flexible as it was, so that the water can be drawn off for a few days to permit hoeing; after which the water is again let on, and maintained to the height of the plant. In July it is usual to top the stalks, an operation which renders the flowering almost simultaneous.

Rice generally flowers in the beginning of the month of August, and a fortnight later the grain begins to form. It is at this period especially that the stalks require to be supported, and this is effectually done by keeping the water at about half their height. The rice field is emptied when the straw turns yellow. The harvest generally takes place at the end of September. In the Isle of France rice is cultivated in very damp soils, upon which a great deal of rain falls, but which are not flooded, as in other tropical countries: but the process is not so certain nor the crop so great, as when inundation is employed. In Piedmont the usual return of a rice field is reckoned at about fifty for one. At Munzo, in New Granada, the paddy fields which are not inundated, under the influence of a mean temperature of 26 deg. centrigrade (79.0 deg. Fahrenheit), yield 100 for 1.—(Simmonds's "Colonial Magazine," vol. xi., p. 92.)

The rice now grown about New Orleans is as sweet, if not sweeter, than that imported from South Carolina, but it is deficient in hardness and brightness when ready for market, a defect owing entirely to two causes, neither of which is beyond the control of the planter. The one cause is the mode of culture, it being generally grown without due attention to the seed—seeded at too late a period of the season, and allowed to become rare-ripe upon the stalk. The other cause is the very imperfect mode of its preparation for market; this being invariably accomplished by the primitive pestle and mortar, or the old-fashioned "pecker mill." The same seed is planted in the same soil from year to year, a system which, it is generally conceded, will deteriorate the quality and production of any grain crop. A very large proportion of the rice grown in Carolina is prepared for market at the steam toll-mills, in the vicinity of Charleston; and a mill of this description near New Orleans, would remedy the greatest defect in the rice of the country, greatly increase the demand for the article, and undoubtedly yield a large return for the investment. The toll mills at and around Charleston are, and always have been, prosperous. The mills of Mr. Lucas, in England, erected to clean "paddy," i.e. "rough rice," sent there in bulk from Carolina, have succeeded also, and have increased the consumption of the article in that country. The "rough rice," "paddy," or grain, as it comes from the ear, is composed, first, of a rough, silicious outer covering, impervious to water, which is very useful in the neighbourhood of cities, for filling up low lots or pools, for horse beds, and for packing crockery and ice, being far better for the latter purpose than the sawdust used; second, a brown flour or bran, lying directly under the outer covering; and third, of the clean or white rice. There is no question that, as a common diet, it is better adapted to the climate of Louisiana than Indian corn; and it can be grown on the hitherto waste lands of the sugar plantations; it is always substituted by the physician, when practicable, as the food best adapted to the laborer, in seasons of diarrhœa and other similar diseases, is preferred before any other grain by the negro; and if the clean rice be ground and bolted, a meal is produced which can be made up into various forms of cake and other bread, of unrivalled sweetness and delicacy. The outer flour, or brown bran, which is separated from the chaff at the toll mill, is known as "rice flour," and corresponds to the "bran" of wheat, it is a most excellent food for horses, poultry, pigs and milch cows, and would always command a ready sale in New Orleans. It is used extensively for these purposes at and around Charleston, and is shipped thence, by the cargo, to Boston and other Northern ports.

No portion of the globe is better adapted to the growth of this grain than the delta of the Mississippi. The river is always "up and ready" to do the all-important duty of irrigation in March, April, May, and June, in which period of the year the crop ought to be made; and I am informed, and doubt not, that two cuttings can be obtained from the same plants, between March and the killing frosts of the succeeding November.

An interesting report by Dr. E. Elliot, on the Cultivation of Rice, was read before the Pendleton Farmer's Society, South Carolina, at a recent annual meeting, from which I shall make an extract.

In "Ramsay's History of South Carolina" it is stated:—"Landgrave Thomas Smith, who was Governor of the Province in 1693, had been at Madagascar before he settled in Carolina. There he observed that rice was planted and grew in low moist ground. Having such ground in his garden, attached to his dwelling in East Bay, Charleston, he was persuaded that rice would grow therein, if seed could be procured. About this time a vessel from Madagascar, being in distress, came to anchor near Sullivan's Island. The master inquired for Mr. Smith, as an old acquaintance. An interview took place. In the course of conversation Mr. Smith expressed a wish to obtain some seed rice to plant in his garden. The cook being called, said that he had a small bag of rice suitable for the purpose. This was presented to Mr. Smith, who sowed it in a low spot in Longitude Lane. From this small beginning did one of the great staple commodities of South Carolina takes its rise, which soon became the chief support of the colony, and its great source of opulence."

"Such is the historical account of the introduction of rice into South Carolina; and from that day to this, it has constituted one of her staple articles of production. Although the climate and soil were found admirably suited to the plant, the planters encountered incredible difficulty in preparing or dressing the rice for market. From the day of its introduction, to the close of the Revolution, the grain was milled, or dressed, partly by hand and partly by animal power. But the processes were imperfect, very tedious, very destructive to the laborer, and very exhausting to the animal power. The planter regarded a good crop as an equivocal blessing, for as the product was great so in proportion was the labor of preparing it for market. While matters stood thus, the planters were released from their painful condition by a circumstance so curious that it deserves a place in the history of human inventions. A planter from the Santee, whilst walking in King-street, Charleston, noticed a small windmill perched on the gable end of a wooden store. His attention was arrested by the beauty of its performance. He entered the store and asked who the maker was. He was told that he was a Northumbrian, then resident in the house—a man in necessitous circumstances, and wanting employment. A conference was held; the planter carried the machine to the Santee, pointed out the difficulties under which the planters labored, and the result was the rice pounding-mill. This man was the first Mr. Lucas, and to his genius South Carolina owes a large debt of gratitude. For what the cotton planter owes to Eli Whitney, the rice planter owes to Mr. Lucas. His mills were first impelled by water, but more recently by steam, and though much mechanical ingenuity and much capital have been expended in improving them, the rice pounding-mill of this day, in all essential particulars, does not differ materially from the mill as it came from the hands of Mr. Lucas.

This great impediment being removed, one formidable difficulty still remained in the way of the rice planters, and that was the threshing of the crop by flail. The labor requisite to accomplish this was so great, that we once heard a distinguished planter say, while having one large crop threshed out by flail, that he would regard another large crop as a calamity. Previous to 1830 threshing mills had been tried by various individuals, but with no apparent success. In that year the attempt was renewed, and we were present and witnessed the first trial of a thresher, constructed in New York, and which was tested on Savannah river, under the auspices of General Hamilton. The machinery was driven by apparatus similar to that employed for driving the cotton gin. The result was not very satisfactory, but there was ground for hope, and after an outlay of very large sums, and after many disappointments, the happy expedient was thought of, of testing the mill with steam instead of animal power. The experiment was completely successful, and it was manifest at once that the difficulties had not been in the imperfect construction, of the thresher, but in the insufficiency of the moving power.

It is now twenty years since we witnessed the working of the small mill alluded to, and the rice threshing-mill, with steam-engine attached, is now a splendid piece of operative machinery. The rice in sheaf is taken up to the thresher by a conveyor, it is threshed, the straw taken off, then thrice winnowed and twice screened, and the result in some cases exceeds a thousand bushels of clean rough rice, the work of a short winter day.

Humanity rejoices at these inventions—at this transfer to water and steam, of processes so slow and so exhausting to the human as well as to the animal frame—and in this feeling we are confident every planter deeply sympathises. Moreover, the relief they have afforded in other respects has been perfectly indescribable. Previous to these improvements all the finer portions of the winter were appropriated exclusively to the milling and the threshing of the crop with the flail, yet it is manifest they added not one particle to the value of the property; indeed, while going on, all other work, and all preparation for another crop had to be suspended, so that the condition of the plantation was not progressive, but retrograde.

A short recapitulation will show what has been accomplished by the enterprise of our planters in the last seventy years. At the close of the Revolution it is believed the rice fields were poorly drained, and when broken up were chiefly turned with the hoe, then trenched with the hoe; then came three or four hoeings and as many pickings. The rice was then cut with the sickle and carried in on the head, then threshed with the flail, then milled and dressed, in some cases wholly by human labor, and in others by a rude machine, called a pecker mill. Now, in 1852, the hoeing, the pickings, and the cutting with the sickle remain unchanged; but the lands are better drained, and in the turning the plough has superseded the hoe; the trenching, when, necessary, is done by animal power; the rice, when cut, is carried in on a flat and wagon, then threshed and milled by machinery, so perfect that it is difficult to imagine how it can be surpassed.

It is one hundred and fifty-nine years since the introduction of rice into Carolina, and there are grounds for supposing that our people have accomplished more during that period, in the cultivation and preparation of this grain, than has been done by any of the Asiatic nations who have been conversant with its growth for many centuries. We had the rare opportunity, a few years since, of seeing a Chinese book on rice planting, which contained many engravings. The language we could not read, but we comprehended a sufficient number of the engravings to institute a comparison between their system and our own, and the result was, in our method of irrigation we were their equals, while in economy of cultivation, and in the preparation of the grain for market and for use, we are greatly their superiors. Again, some six or seven years since the East India Company, of London, sent an agent to this country to procure American cotton seed, gins, and overseers, for the purpose of testing the practicability of raising cotton by our method in India. This agent, Captain Bayles, when in Savannah, was heard to say that he had especial directions from the Company to inform himself minutely of our system of rice culture. Here, then, was an embassage from the banks of the Ganges, a spot where rice has been cultivated probably for twenty centuries, to inquire into the method of cultivation and preparation, of a people amongst whom the grain had no existence one hundred and sixty years ago."

The following is the mode of culture for rice in Carolina:—It is sowed as soon as it conveniently can be after the vernal equinox, from which period until the middle, and even the last of May, is the usual time of putting it in the ground. It grows best in low marshy land, and should be sowed in furrows twelve inches asunder; it requires to be flooded, and thrives best if six inches under water; the water is occasionally drained off, and turned on again to overflow it, for three or four times.

When ripe the straw becomes yellow, and it is either reaped with a sickle, or cut down with a scythe and cradle, some time in the month of September; after which it is raked and bound, or got up loose, and threshed or trodden out, and winnowed in the same manner as wheat or barley.

Husking it requires a different and particular operation, in a mill made for that purpose. This mill is constructed of two large flat wooden cylinders, formed like mill-stones, with channels or furrows cut therein, diverging in an oblique direction from the centre to the circumference, made of a heavy and exceedingly hard timber, called lightwood, which is the knots of the pitch pine. This is turned with the hand, like the common hand-mills. After the rice is thus cleared of the husks, it is again winnowed, when it is fit for exportation.

A bushel of rice will weigh about sixty or sixty-six pounds, and an acre of middling land will produce twenty-five bushels.

Various machines have been contrived for cleaning rice, of which one secured by patent to Mr. M. Wilson, in 1826, and thus described by Dr. Ure, may be regarded as a fair specimen:—It consists of an oblong hollow cylinder, laid in an inclined position, having a great many teeth stuck in its internal surface, and a central shaft, also furnished with teeth. By the rapid revolution of the shaft, its teeth are carried across the intervals of those of the cylinder, with the effect of parting the grains of rice, and detaching whatever husks or impurities may adhere to them. A hopper is set above to receive the rice, and conduct it down into the clean cylinder. About eighty teeth are supposed to be set in the cylinder, projecting so as to reach very nearly the central shaft, in which there is a corresponding number of teeth, that pass freely between the former.

The cylinder may also be placed upright, or horizontal if preferred, and mounted in any convenient framework. The central shaft should be put in rapid rotation, while the cylinder receives a slow motion in the opposite direction. The rice, as cleaned by that action, is discharged at the lower end of the cylinder, where it falls into a shute, and is conducted to the ground. The machine may be driven by hand, or by any other convenient motive power.[43] The growth of rice in North America is almost wholly confined to two States; nine-tenths of the whole product, indeed, being raised in the States of South Carolina and Georgia. A little is grown in North Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

The aggregate crop, for 1843, amounted to 89,879,185 lbs., while in 1847 it had risen to 103,000,000 lbs.

Besides the rice which is raised in the water, there is also the dry, or mountain rice, which is raised in some parts of Europe on the sides of the hills. It is said to thrive well in Cochin China, in dry light soils, not requiring more moisture than the usual rains or dews supply. By long culture the German rice, raised by the aid of water, is stated to have acquired a remarkable degree of hardness and adaptation to the climate. The upland rice of the United States is thought by some to be only a modified description of the swamp rice. It will grow on high and poor land, and produce more than Indian corn on the same land would do, even fifteen bushels, when the corn is but seven bushels. The swamp rice was originally cultivated on high land, and is not so now, because it is more productive in the swamp, in the proportion, as is said, of twenty to sixty bushels per acre; and the use of water likewise, it is stated, makes it easier of cultivation, by enabling the planter to kill the grasses. It is thought that on rich high land, rice may be made to produce twenty-five or thirty bushels to an acre in a good season. A letter from a gentleman in North Carolina gives the following account of some rice raised there. He says:—

"I have planted it the two past years with a view to private consumption only; not, however, with the success of my neighbours, who are famous, and have the things under their own management. They make from forty to fifty, and some, sixty bushels to the acre, on fine land that produces ordinarily from ten to fifteen bushels of Indian corn or maize. It is a larger grain than the gold or swamp rice, and very white; hence it is commonly called here the 'white rice.' It is planted generally about the middle of March, or 1st of April, in small ridges two-and-a-half feet apart, in chops at intervals of about eighteen inches, on the top of the ridge, ten or twelve seeds in each chop. A season that will make Indian corn, will, if long enough, make this rice; but it requires about four or five weeks more than the corn to mature. It ought to be cut before quite ripe, as it threshes off very easily, and is liable to great waste. Instead of the flail, we take the sheaf in the hand, and whip it across a bench in a close room until the rice leaves the straw. It does not stand the pestle as well as the swamp rice, but breaks a good deal in the beating; this, however, I have heard attributed to the dry culture."

A new variety of rice is mentioned as having been discovered in South Carolina, in 1838, called the big-grained rice. It has been proved to be unusually productive. One gentleman, in 1840, planted not quite half an acre with this seed, which yielded forty-nine and a half bushels of clean winnowed rice. In 1842, he planted 400 acres, and in 1843, he sowed his whole crop with this seed. His first parcel when milled, was eighty barrels, and netted half a dollar per cwt. over the primest rice sold on the same day. Another gentleman also planted two fields in 1839, which yielded seventy-three bushels per acre. The average crop before from the same fields of fifteen and ten acres, had only been thirty-three bushels per acre.

The following were the returns of produce on some of the leading estates of South Carolina, in 1848:—

Plantation	Barrels Shipped		Barrels of 600 lbs.net	Weight	Average Net Produce per barrel.	Net Income Amount Dollars
	Whole	Half
1. Prospect Hill	1,387	10	1,495½	897,166	16 08/100ths	24,001
2. Springfield	737	5	801½	480,937	16 60/100ths	13,264
3. Brook Green	1,571	15	1,716	1,026,405	16 53/100ths	28,261
4. Longwood	1,113	4	1,227½	736,413	15 53/100ths	19,021
5. Alderly	484	6	533	319,912	16 68/100ths	8,851
Total	5,292	40	5,773½	3,460,833		93,398

Nos. 2 and 3 were sown with long grain rice, the others with small grain. These plantations were all on the river Waccamaw. The expenses of a well supplied rice plantation may be stated at 33⅓ per cent. on the net income.

A gentleman from the United States, named Colvin, proposes to establish the cultivation of rice in the colony of Demerara. This is no new experiment, rice having been already grown with success in several parts of the colony—for instance, in Leguan, up the Canje Creek, and elsewhere; and some of it is of superior quality, preferable, indeed, to that imported. If Mr. Colvin's object be not merely to demonstrate the practicability of rice being grown in British Guiana, but to promote its cultivation on such a scale as may tend to render it in time one of the staples of the colony, he is deserving of support, and I hope that his efforts will be crowned with complete success.

The editor of the Gazeta, a local paper, has been shown some sprigs of rice raised near Matanzas, in Cuba, the smallest of which contains at least three hundred grains, perfectly opened, and of a larger size than is usually produced on the island. He observes that this phenomenon is not limited to a certain number of sprigs, but that the whole crop is similar—that this excess of production is to be attributed to the extraordinary abundance of rain this year. "Here we have a specimen," says the editor, "of the enormous production that could be raised in our fields of this excellent and nutritious grain, if it were cultivated in places contiguous to the rivers, where it could be flowed during drought."

The experiment of cultivating rice in France appears to have succeeded perfectly. A piece of ground of 100 hectares in extent (250 acres) was sown with rice last year in the lands of Arcachon, near Bordeaux, and the crop proved a highly satisfactory one. The seed is sown about the middle of April, and almost immediately appears above ground.

Rice may be kept a very long period in the rough—I believe a lifetime. After being cleaned, if it be prime rice, and well milled, it will keep a long time in this climate; only when about to be used (if old) it requires more careful washing to get rid of the must, which accumulates upon it. Some planters—the writer among the number—prefer for table use rice a year old to the new. The grain is superior to any other provisions in this respect. If a laborer in the gold diggings, or elsewhere, takes with him two days' or a week's provisions, in rice, and his wallet happens to get wet, he has only to open it to the sun and air, and he will find it soon dries, and is not at all injured for his purpose. Rough rice may remain under water twenty-four hours without injury, if dried soon after.

Passing eastward, rice begins to be found cultivated in Egypt, becomes more general in Northern India, and holds undisputed rule in the peninsulas of India, in China, Japan, and the East India islands—shares it in the west coast of Africa with maize, which, on the other hand, is the exclusively cultivated corn plant of the greatest part of tropical America, with only some unimportant exceptions. On the coast of Africa rice ripens in three months; they put it under water when cut, where it keeps sound and good for some time.

Rice is now the staple commodity of Bourbon, and it produces about 26,000 quintals annually. It forms, together with maize and mandioc, the principal article of food amongst the negroes and colored people.

The Bhull rice lands of Lower Sind.—Like all large rivers which flow through an alluvial soil, for a very lengthened course, the Indus has a tendency to throw up patches of alluvial deposit at its mouth; and these are in Sind called bhulls, and are in general very valuable for the cultivation of the red rice of the country. These bhulls are large tracts of very muddy swampy land, almost on a level with the sea, and exposed equally to be flooded both by it and the fresh water; indeed on this depends much of the value of the soil, as a bhull which is not at certain times well covered with salt water, is unfit for cultivation. They exist on both sides of the principal mouths of the Indus, in the Gorabaree and Shahbunder pergunnas, which part of the province is called by the natives "Kukralla," and was in olden days, before the era of Goolam Shah Kalora, a small state almost independent of the Ameers of Sind. On the left bank of the mouths of the river these bhulls are very numerous and form by far the most fertile portion of the surrounding district. They bear a most dreary, desolate, and swampy appearance—are intersected in all directions by streams of salt and brackish water, and are generally surrounded by low dykes or embankments, in order to regulate the influx and reflux of the river and sea. Yet from these dreary swamps a very considerable portion of the rice consumed in Sind is produced; and the Zemindars, who hold them, are esteemed amongst the most respectable and wealthy in Lower Sind.

To visit a bhull is no easy matter. Route by land there is none, and the only way is to go by boat, in which it is advisable to take at least one day's provisions and water, as the time occupied in the inspection will be regulated entirely by the state of the tide and weather. Very difficult is it too, to land on any of these places, the mud being generally two or three feet deep, and it is only here and there that a footing can be secured, in the embankment surrounding the field.

Let me now describe the mode of cultivating these anomalous islands, floating as it were in the ocean, and deriving benefit both from it and the mighty river itself, whose offspring they are. Should the river during the high season have thrown up a bhull, the Zemindar selecting it for cultivation, first surrounds it with a low bund of mud, which is generally about three feet in height. When the river has receded to its cold weather level, and the bhull is free of fresh water (for be it remembered, that these bhulls being formed during the inundation, are often considerably removed from the river branches during the low season), he takes advantage of the first high spring tide, opens the bund and allows the whole to be covered with the salt water. This is generally done in December. The sea water remains on the land for about nine weeks, or till the middle of February, which is the proper time for sowing the seed. The salt water is now let out, and as the ground cannot, on account of the mud, be ploughed, buffaloes are driven over every part of the field, and a few seeds of the rice thrown into every footmark; the men employed in sowing being obliged to crawl along the surface on their bellies, with the basket of seed on their backs; for were they to assume an upright position, they would inevitably be bogged in the deep swamp. The holes containing the seed are not covered up, but people are placed on the bunds to drive away birds, until the young grain has well sprung up. The land is not manured, the stagnant salt water remaining on it being sufficient to renovate the soil. The rice seed is steeped in water, and then in dung and earth for three or four days, and is not sown until it begins to sprout. The farmer has now safely got over his sowing, and as this rice is not as in other cases transplanted, his next anxiety is to get a supply of fresh water; and for this he watches for the freshes which usually come down the river about the middle and end of February, and if the river then reaches his bhull, he opens his bund, and fills the enclosure with the fresh water. The sooner he gets this supply the better, for the young rice will not grow in salt water, and soon withers if left entirely dry.

The welfare of the crop now depends entirely on the supply of fresh water. A very high inundation does not injure the bhull cultivation, as here the water has free space to spread about. In fact the more fresh water the better. If, however, the river remains low in June, July, and August, and the south-west monsoon sets in heavily on the coast, the sea is frequently driven over the bhulls and destroys the crops. It is in fact a continual struggle between the salt water and the fresh. When the river runs out strong and full, the bhulls prosper, and the sea is kept at a distance. On the other hand, the salt water obtains the supremacy when the river is low, and then the farmer suffers. In this manner much bhull crop was destroyed in the monsoons of 1851 and 1852, during the heavy gales which prevailed in those seasons. The rice is subject to attacks also of a small black sea crab, called by the natives Kookaee, and which, without any apparent cause, cuts down the growing grain in large quantities, and often occasions much loss.

The crop when ripe, which, if all goes well will be about the third week in September, is reaped in the water by men, either in boats, or on large masses of straw rudely shaped like a boat, and which being made very tight and close, will float for a considerable time. The rice is carried ashore to the high land, where it is dried, and put through the usual harvest process of division, &c.: and the bhull is then on the fall of the river again ready for its annual pickling.

The process of preparing the field for rice culture, in the Kandian country, Ceylon, is very simple.

When the paddy is to be cultivated in mud, a piece of ground is enclosed in a series of squares or terraces, by ridges raised with mud and turf; a quantity of water is directed into the field from an adjacent stream or tank, and is allowed to remain on it for fifteen days; at the expiration of this time the field is ploughed with a yoke of buffaloes, which operation is repeated at the end of fifteen days more, when, by the rotting of the weeds and other matter, the field has become manured. After another interval of fifteen days the field is again ploughed and the broken ridges are repaired. Eight days after the field is harrowed, and subsequently rolled or levelled; and when the water has been let out the seed is sown, having in most instances been previously made to germinate, by being spread on platforms and kept wet.

The water is turned in during night, to prevent crabs and insects from destroying the seedlings, and let out during the day; and this they continue to do till the plants attain the height of one foot. Water is only retained in the field until the ears are half ripe, otherwise they would ripen indifferently and be destroyed by vermin. A variety of coast paddy, called "moottoo samboo," was introduced into the Kandian province in 1832, which was found to produce a more abundant crop, by one third, than the native. It is of six months growth.

In Kashmir rice is the staple of cultivation, and the practice adopted there is thus described by a writer in my "Colonial Magazine," vol. x. p. 130. It is sown in the beginning of May, and is fit to cut about the end of August. The grain is either sown broadcast in the place where it is intended to stand till it is ripe, or thickly in beds, from which it is transplanted when the blade is about a foot high. As soon as the season will admit after the 21st of March, the land is opened by one or more ploughings, according to its strength, and the clods are broken down by blows with wooden mattocks, managed in general by women, with great regularity and address; after which water is let in upon the soil, which for the most part of a reddish clay, or foxy earth, is converted into a smooth soft mud. The seed grain, put into a sack of woven grass, is submerged in a running stream until it begins to sprout, which happens sooner or later, according to the temperature of the water and of the atmosphere, but ordinarily takes place in three or four days. This precaution is adopted for the purpose of getting the young shoots as quickly as possible out of the way of a small snail, which abounds in some of the watered lands of Kashmir, but sometimes proves insufficient to defend it against the activity of this destructive enemy. When the farmer suspects, by the scanty appearance of the plants above the water in which the grain has been sown, and by the presence of the snail drawn up in the mud, that his hopes of a crop are likely to be disappointed, he repeats the sowing, throwing into the water some fresh leaves of the Prangos plant, which either poison the snails or cause them to descend out of the reach of its influence. The seed is for the most part thrown broadcast into about four or five inches of water, which depth is endeavoured to be maintained. Difference of practice exists as to watering, but it seems generally agreed that rice can scarcely have too much water, provided it be not submerged, except for a few days before it ripens, when a dried state is supposed to hasten and to perfect the maturity, whilst it improves the quality of the grain. In general the culture of rice is attended with little expense, although dearer in Kashmir than Hindostan, from its being customary in the former country to manure the rice-lands, which is never done in the latter. This manure, for the most part, consists of rice straw rejected by the cattle, and mixed with cow-dung. It is conveyed from the homestead to the fields by women, in small wicker baskets, and is set on the land with more liberality than might have been expected from the distance it is carried. Many of the ripe lands are situated much higher than might be thought convenient in Hindostan, and are rather pressed into this species of culture than naturally inviting, but still yield good crops, through the facility with which water is brought upon them from the streams which fall down the face of the neighbouring hills. In common seasons the return of grain is from thirty to forty for one, on an average, besides the straw.

The rice of Bengal, by the exercise of some care and skill, has recently been so far improved as nearly to equal that of the Carolinas. Dr. Falconer has introduced into India the numerous and fine varieties of rice cultivated in the Himalayas; of these some of the best sorts were at his suggestion distributed to cultivators along the Doab canal.

A species of hill rice grows on the edge of the Himalaya mountains. The mountain rices of India are grown without irrigation, at elevations of 3,000 to 6,000 feet on the Himalaya, where the dampness of the summer months compensates for the want of artificial moisture. The small reddish Assamese rices, which become gelatinous in boiling, and the large, flat-grained, soft, purple-black Ketana rice, of Java and Malacca, shown at the Great Exhibition, were curious.

The fertility of the province of Arracan is very great, its soil being fit for the culture of nearly all tropical productions; rice, however, is alone cultivated to any great extent; the low alluvial soil which extends over the whole country, from the foot of the mountains to the sea, being admirably suited for its growth. About 115 square miles are under culture with rice. The export trade in rice of the district, is seen by the following statistical return; and it gives employment to from 400 to 700 vessels, aggregating 60,000 to 80,000 tons.

QUANTITY OF PADDY AND RICE EXPORTED FROM AKYAB, THE PORT OF ARRACAN.
	Maunds of Paddy	Maunds of rice	Total value in Rupees	Average price per 100 baskets of 12 seers, in Rupees
				Rice	Paddy
1831-32	380,600	28,970	130,591	15.4 to 16.6	8 to 9
1832-33	502,740	175,560	232,915	16 to 17	7.5 to 8
1833-34	555,540	418,950	430,830	19 to 20	9 to 0
1834-35	127,050	260,650	176,717	18 to 19	8 to 9
1835-36	783,870	548,460	354,791	10 to 11	5 to 5.8
1836-37	1,737,841	641,010	666,732	10.8 to 12	5 to 6
1837-38	1,621,566	248,783	650,385	21 to 23	9 to 10.8
1838-39	1,364,100	332,380	821,168	24 to 25.1	8.8 to 11.12
1839-40	2,033,698	529,961	1,121,311	21.8 to 23	9.8 to 10
1840-41	2,212,068	446,941	1,131,087	20 to 21.8	10 to 11
1841-42	1,265,388	270,000	553,014	19 to 20	8 to 9
1842-43	1,310,900	393,900	472,889	14 to 15	7.8 to 8
1843-44	848,922	707,780	633,710	17 to 18	7 to 8
(" Colonial Magazine," vol. vi., p. 348.)

EXPORT OF RICE FROM MOULMEIN
	Baskets	Value
1840	67,318	38,708
1841	11,175	6,900
1842	64,055	40,034
1843	35,635	35,289
1844	71,822	44,529
1845	149,815	73,034
1846	193,267	101,465
—(Simmonds's "Colonial Magazine," vol. xii., p. 462.)

From Tavoy and Mergui rice was also exported, equal in value to 41,000 rupees, in 1846; 100 baskets of 12 seers each, are equal to 30 Bengal maunds. The basket of rice named above, is equal to 55½ lbs. English.

Paddy means rice in the husk—rice, the grain when unhusked—a distinction to be kept in mind.

The daily average consumption of rice in a family of five, is rated in the Straits' settlements at three and a quarter chupahs.

The Burmese and Siamese are the grossest consumers of rice. A common laboring Malay requires monthly 30 chupahs, or 56 pounds of rice, value 3s. 9d. or 4s. The Burmese and Siamese about 34 chupahs, or 64 pounds. Rice land in Penang yields a return which cannot be averaged higher than seventy-five fold—or nearly thirty guntangs of paddy for each orlong (1⅓ acres); but it has been considered advisable to rate it here at sixty fold only.

The rice land of Province Wellesley gives an average return of 117½ fold; the maximum degree of productiveness being 600 guntangs of paddy to an orlong of well flooded, alluvial land, or 150 fold, equal to 300 guntangs of clean rice, weighing nearly 4,520 English pounds. The present average produce has been very moderately estimated at 470 guntangs the orlong of paddy. The quantity of seed invariably allotted for an orlong of land is four guntangs. In Siam forty fold is estimated a good average produce. At Tavoy, on the Tenasserim coast, the maximum rate of productiveness of the rice land was, in 1825, and is still believed to be, nearly the same as the average of Siam; while their average was only twenty-fold.—(Low, on "Straits Settlements.")

Rice in Cochin-China is the "staff of life," and forms the main article of culture. There are six different sorts grown; two on the uplands, used for confectionery, and yielding only one crop annually; the other sorts affording from two to five crops a year; but generally two, one in April and another in October; or three when the inundations have been profuse.

The late Dr. Gutzlaff stated, at a meeting of the Statistical Society of London, that the population of China was about 367,000,000, and the returns of the land subject to tax as used in rice cultivation there, gave nearly half an acre to each living person; and he further stated that in the southern and well watered provinces, it is anything but uncommon to take two crops of rice, one of wheat, and one of pulse, from the same land in a single season. Rice is the only article the Chinese ever offer a bounty for; the price fluctuates according to the seasons, from one and three-quarter dollars to eight dollars per picul. Siam and the Indian Islands, particularly Bali and Lombok, supply the empire occasionally with large quantities.

The price of rice in China varies according to the state of the canals leading to the interior; if they are full of water the prices rise; if on the contrary they are low, prices fall in proportion at the producing districts. The amount of consumption is controlled, in a considerable degree, by the cost of transit; when this is cheap prices rise from the general demand; but when land-carriage to any extent has to be resorted to, they fall; it raises prices so much at any great distance, that rice must be used very sparingly, from its enhanced price. It is obvious that if the waters are sufficiently high to allow a boat to pass fully loaded, she does so at an expense of nearly 50 per cent, less than she would do, if, from want of water, she could only take half the quantity; when transport is cheap every one obtains a full supply; when it is dear the rice districts have more than they can consume.

At home we are so much accustomed to the facilities of transit offered by railroads, canal boats, &c., that we do not readily take into consideration, that in China, except by water, all articles are conveyed from one place to another on men's shoulders. Taking the population of Canton at the usual estimate of a million, and allowing to each a catty a day, the quantity of rice required for one day's consumption alone in that city would be 10,000 piculs, of 133 lbs. each = 1,340,000 lbs.

Java is the granary of plenty for all the Eastern Archipelago; and the Dutch East India Company occupies itself in this culture with solicitude, well persuaded that a scarcity of rice might be fatal to its power. Ordinances to encourage and increase this branch of agriculture, have been promulgated at different times by an authority called to watch over the physical well-being of many millions of inhabitants.

As an evident proof that the culture of rice, of which it would be difficult to fix the quantity produced annually, increases considerably, I may mention that the exportation from Java, in 1840, was 1,488,350 piculs of 125 Dutch lbs.

Rice is cultivated in Java in three systems. The name of sawah is given to the rice fields, which can be irrigated artificially; tepar, or tagal, are elevated but level grounds; and gagah, or ladang, are cleared forest grounds. The two last only give one crop; a second crop may be obtained from the sawah, which then most commonly consists of katjang, from which oil is extracted, in kapus or fine cotton, and in ubie, a kind of potato.

There are, says Mr. Crawfurd, two distinct descriptions of rice cultivated throughout the Indian islands, one which grows without the help of immersion in water, and another for which that immersion is indispensably requisite. In external character there is very little difference between them, and in intrinsic value not much. The marsh rice generally brings a somewhat higher price in the market. The great advantage of this latter consists in its superior fecundity. Two very important varieties of each are well known to the Javanese husbandman, one being a large productive, but delicate grain, which requires about seven months to ripen, and the other a small, hardy, and less fruitful one, which takes little more than five months. The first we constantly find cultivated in rich lands, where one annual crop only is taken; and the last in well watered lands, but of inferior fertility, where two crops may be raised.

Both of these, but particularly the marsh rice, is divided into a great number of sub-varieties, characterised by being awned or otherwise, having a long or round grain, or being in color black, red, or white. The most singular variety is the O. glutinosa, of Rumphius. This is never used as bread, but commonly preserved as a sweetmeat. The rudest, and probably the earliest practised mode of cultivating rice, consists in taking from forest lands a fugitive crop, after burning the trees, grass, and underwood. The ground is turned up with the mattock, and the seed planted by dibbling between the stumps of trees. The period of sowing is the commencement of the rains, and of reaping that of the dry season. The rice is of course of that description which does not require immersion.

The second description of tillage consists also in growing mountain or dry land rice. This mode is usually adopted on the common upland arable lands, which cannot conveniently be irrigated. The grain is sown in the middle of the dry season, either broadcast or by dibbling, and reaped in seven or five months, as the grain happens to be the larger or the smaller variety.

The culture of rice by the aid of the periodical rains forms the third mode. The grain being that kind which requires submersion, the process of sowing and reaping is determined with precision by the seasons. With the first fall of the rains the lands are ploughed and harrowed. The seed is sown in beds, usually by strewing very thickly the corn in the ear. From these beds the plants, when 12 or 14 days old, are removed into the fields and thinly set by the hand. They are then kept constantly immersed in water until within a fortnight of the harvest, when it is drawn off to facilitate the ripening of the grain.

The fourth mode of cultivating rice is by forcing a crop by artificial irrigation, at any time of the year; thus, in one field, in various plots, the operations of sowing, ploughing, transplanting, and reaping may be seen at the same period.

The fertile, populous, and industrious countries of the Eastern Archipelago export rice to their neighbours. The most remarkable of these are Java, Bali, some parts of Celebes, with the most fertile spots of Sumatra, and of the Malay Peninsula. Rice is generally imported to these western countries from those farther east, such as the Spice Islands. Java is the principal place of production for the consumption of the other islands, and the only island of the Archipelago that sends rice abroad. The rice of the eastern districts is generally superior to that of the western. The worst rice is that of Indramayu, which is usually discolored. The subdivision of the province of Cheribon, called Gabang, yields rice of fine white grain, equal to that of Carolina. The rice of Gressie preserves best. All Indian rice is classed, in commercial language, into the three descriptions of table rice, white rice, and cargo rice. From the limited demand for the first, it is only to be had in Java, in small quantity. For the same reason the second is not procurable in large quantity, unless bespoken some time before-hand; but the third may be had at the shortest notice in any quantity required. Java rice is inferior in estimation to that of Bengal or Carolina in the markets of Europe.

The following statistics show the extent and progress of the culture in Java:—

	In 1840.	In 1841.
No. of Residencies in which rice is cultivated	18	18
" Regencies	69	68
" Districts	414	414
" Desas or villages	39,931	36,296
Amount of the population who take a part in it, without distinction of caste	6,704,797	6,857,372
Number of families, &c.	1,466,845	1,475,675
" " families who devote themselves to the cultivation	1,150,406	1,146,083
Number of men bound to obligatory service	1,321,767	1,325,746
Cleared grounds in bahus, of 71 decametres	1,470,047	1,540,054
Upon this extent the population had cultivated for the government, inbahusof 71 decametres	78,182	74,277
Extent of fields which the population had cultivated on their own account, inbahus, &c.	1,286,139	1,381,216
Extent of land in fallow in bahus, &c.	105,726	84,561
Produce in piculs of fields cultivated by the population on its own account	21,273,278	23,810,573
Average produce of abahu	16½	17
Gross amount of the land tax of 1840	8,502,402 fl	9,030,761 fl.
Extent of rice fields newly cultivated inbahus	10,328	13,561

This comparative summary shows that the culture of rice increases yearly, and that the average produce of the fields is also continually increasing. These results have been obtained by the attention paid to the proper irrigation of the soil fit for this culture; and to the hydraulic works which the Government executes on its own account in the parts of the island where rice fields can be established, and where they are required to feed a population whose number is still increasing yearly.

I have seen, continues Mr. Crawfurd, lands which have produced, from time beyond the memory of any living person, two yearly crops of rice. When this practice is pursued, it is always the five-months grain which is grown. The rapid growth of this variety, has, indeed, enabled the Javanese husbandman, in a few happy situations, to urge the culture to the amount of six crops in two years and a half. Rice cultivated in a virgin soil, where the wood has been burnt off, will, under favorable circumstances, give a return of twenty-five and thirty fold. Of mountain rice, cultivated in ordinary upland arable lands, fifteen fold may be looked upon as a good return. In fertile soils, when one crop only is taken in the year, marsh rice will yield a return of twenty-five seeds. When a double crop is taken, not more than fifteen or sixteen can be expected. In the fine province of Kadu, an English acre of good land, yielding annually one green crop and a crop of rice, was found to produce of the latter 641 lbs. of clean grain. In the light sandy, but well watered lands of the province of Mataram, where it is the common practice to exact two crops of rice yearly without any fallow, an acre was found to yield no more than 285 lbs. of clean rice, or an annual produce of 570 lbs. —("History of the Indian Archipelago.")

The low estimation of Java rice is not attributable to any real inferiority in the grain, but to the mode of preparing it for the market. In husking it, it is, for the want of proper machinery, much broken, and, from carelessness in drying, subject to decay from the attack of insects and worms. When in the progress of improvement more intelligent methods are pursued in preparing the grain for the market, it will equal the grain of any other country. Machinery must be employed for husking the grain, and some degree of kiln drying will be necessary to ensure its preservation in a long voyage.

I know nowhere that rice is so cheap as in Java, except in Siam, whence it is exported at one-third less cost. A great deal of rice is exported from Siam to China by the junks, and also occasionally a little from Java.

The quantity exported from Java in	1830	was	13,521	coyans.
"	1835	"	25,577	"
"	1839	"	1,103,378	piculs
"	1841	"	676,213	"
"	1843	"	1,108,774	"

Rice is grown to some extent in the Dutch portion of Celebes; it yields at a minimum one hundred and fifty fold. The average annual delivery of rice to the Government, from 1838 to 1842, was 3,390,119 lbs. At present the Government pays sixty cents for a measure of forty pounds. That which is sold for the consumption of the inhabitants may be procured at the public warehouse for a guilder the 35½ lbs.; and that which is sold for export may be had at public auction for 125 florins the coyan of 3,000 lbs.

The following description of some varieties of rice cultivated in the Philippine islands, is given by Mr. Rich, botanist to the United States Exploring Expedition. The varieties are very numerous; the natives distinguish them by the size and shape of their grain:—

Binambang.—Leaves slightly hairy; glumes whitish; grows to the height of about five feet; flowers in December: aquatic.

Lamuyo greatly resembles the above; is more extensively cultivated, particularly in Batangas, where it forms the principal article of food of the inhabitants of the coast: aquatic.

Malagcquit.—This variety derives its name from its being very glutinous after bailing; it is much used by the natives in making sweet or fancy dishes; and also used in making a whitewash, mixed with lime, which is remarkable for its brilliancy, and for withstanding rain, &c.: aquatic.

Bontot Cabayo.—Common in Ilocos, where it is cultivated both upland and lowland; it produces a large grain, and is therefore much esteemed, but has rather a rough taste.

Dumali, or early rice.—This rice is raised in the uplands exclusively, and derives its name from ripening its grain three months from planting; the seed is rather broader and shorter than the other varieties; it is not extensively cultivated, as birds and insects are very destructive to it.

Quinanda, with smooth leaves.—This variety is held in great estimation by the people of Batangas, as they say it swells more in boiling than any other variety; it is sown in May, and gathered in October: upland.

Bolohan.—This variety has very hairy glumes; it is not held in much esteem by the natives, but it is cultivated on account of its not being so liable to the attacks of insects and diseases as most of the other upland varieties.

Malagcquit.—With smooth leaves, and red glumes (all the preceding are whitish); possesses all the qualities of the aquatic variety of the same name—that of being very glutinous after boiling. This rice is said to be a remedy for worms in horses, soaked in water, with the hulls on; it is given with honey and water.

Tangi.—Leaves slightly hairy, glumes light violet color. This upland variety is held in much esteem for its fine flavor.

435,067 arrobas of rice were exported from Manilla in 1847.

A simple but rude mill is in use in Siam, and many parts of India, for hulling paddy, which is similar to those used 4,000 years ago. It consists of two circular stones, two feet in diameter, resting one on the other; a bamboo basket is wrought around the upper one, so as to form the hopper. A peg is firmly set into the face of the upper stone, half way between its periphery and centre, having tied to it by one end a stick three feet long, extended horizontally, and attached by the other to another stick pending from the roof of the shed under which the mill is placed. This forms a crank, by which the upper stone is made to revolve on the other set firmly on the ground. The motion throws the rice through the centre of the stone, and causes it to escape between the edges of the two.

More starch is contained in this grain than in wheat. Braconnet obtained from Carolina rice 85.07, and from Piedmont rice 83.8 per cent. of starch. Vogel procured from a dried rice no less than 98 per cent. of starch. There are several patent processes in existence for the manufacture of rice-starch, which are accomplished chiefly by digesting rice in solutions, more or less strong, of caustic alkali (soda), by which the gluten is dissolved and removed, leaving an insoluble matter composed of starch, and a white substance technically called fibre. Under Jones's patent, the alkaline solution employed contains 200 grains of real soda in every gallon of liquor, and 150 gallons of this liquor are requisite to convert 100 lbs. of rice into starch. In manufacturing rice-starch on a large scale, Patna rice yields 80 per cent, of marketable starch, and 8.2 per cent. of fibre, the remaining 11.8 per cent. being made up of gluten, gruff, or bran, and a small quantity of light starch carried off in suspension by the solution.

Jones's process may be thus described:—100 lbs. of rice are macerated for 24 hours in 50 gallons of the alkaline solution, and afterwards washed with cold water, drained, and ground. To 100 gallons of the alkaline solution are then to be added 100 lbs. of ground rice, and the mixture stirred repeatedly during 24 hours, and then allowed to stand for about 70 hours to settle or deposit. The alkaline solution is to be drawn off, and to the deposit cold water is to be added, for the double purpose of washing out the alkali and for drawing off the starch from the other matters. The mixture is to be well stirred up and then allowed to rest about an hour for the fibre to fall down. The liquor holding the starch in suspension is to be drawn off and allowed to stand for about 70 hours for the starch to deposit. The waste liquor is now to be removed, and the starch stirred up, blued (if thought necessary), drained, dried, and finished in the usual way.[44] Rice is imported into this country in bags of 1½ cwt., and tierces of 6 cwt., not only for edible purposes, but, when ground into flour, for cotton manufactures, in aiding to form the weaver's dressings for warps. Rice-meal is commonly used for feeding pigs.

Imported.
	British Plantation.	Foreign.	Retained for home consumption of all kinds.
	Bags.	Bags.	Bags.
1843	136,319	35,125	60,965
1844	127,876	69,112	126,733
1845	173,794	5,713	114,933
	Tons.	Tons.	Tons.
1847	38,736	3,033	28,375
1848	21,226	4,631	15,468
1849	19,397	1,410	14,961

		Total imported.		Re-exported.
1849		976,196	cwts.	290,732	cwts.
"	in the husk	31,828	qrs.
1850		785,451	cwts.	248,136	"
"	in the husk	37,150	qrs.
1851		714,847	cwts.	345,677	"
"	in the husk	31,481	qrs.
1852		989,316	cwts.	414,507	"
"	in the husk	23,946	qrs.

The quantity of rice retained for home consumption, by the corrected returns, in 1850, was 401,018 cwts. and 35,119 quarters; in 1851, 399,170 cwts. and 31,481 quarters; in 1852, 574,809 cwts. and 23,946 quarters. The aggregate imports range from 40,000 to 80,000 tons annually, of which about 500 to 800 tons are in the husk.

Among culmiferous plants and legumes used in the East, are the Panicum italicum, P. miliaceum, Eleusine coracana (the meal of which is baked and eaten in Ceylon under the name of Corakan flour), and Paspalum of several varieties. The pigeon pea (Cytisus Cajan), and a very valuable and prolific species of bean, called the Mauritius black bean (Mucuna utilis), growing even in the poorest soil, is cultivated in India and Ceylon. Sorghum vulgare is the principal grain of Southern Arabia, and the stems are also used extensively for feeding cattle. The plant bears its Indian name of joar, or juri, and is cultivated throughout Western Hindostan. Job's tears (Croix lachryma) is another cereal grass, native of the East Indies.

MILLET.

Millet of different kinds is met with in the hottest parts of Africa, in the South of Europe, in Asia Minor, and in the East Indies. It is a small yellowish seed, growing in dense panicles or clusters, the produce of a grassy plant with large and compact seeds, growing to the height, in India, of seven or eight feet.

The millets, known to Europeans as petit mais, are tropical or sub-tropical crops. In India they hold a second rank to rice alone; and in Egypt, perhaps, surpass all other crops in importance. In Western Africa they are the staff of life. The red and white millets shown by Austria, Russia, and the United States, at the Great Exhibition, were beautiful, and Ceylon exhibited fair samples. Turkey abounds in small grains.

Panicum miliaceum and P. frumentaceum are the species grown in the East Indies. Loudon says there are three distinct species of millet; the Polish, the common or German, and the Indian. Setaria Germanica yields German millet. The plants are readily increased by division of the roots or by seed, and will grow in any common soil. The native West Indian species are P. fascisculatwm and oryzoides. Millet receives some attention in New South Wales. In 1844 there were 100 acres of land under cultivation with it, and the amount grown in some years in this colony has been about 3,500 bushels.

In the United States millet is chiefly grown for making hay, being found a good substitute for clover and the ordinary grasses. It is a plant which will flourish well on rather thin soils, and it grows so fast that when it is up and well set it is seldom much affected by drought. It is commonly sown there in June, but the time of sowing will vary with the latitude. Half a bushel of seed to the acre is the usual quantity, sown broadcast and harrowed in. For the finest quantity of hay, it is thought advisable to sow an additional quantity of three or four quarts of seed. The ordinary yield of crops may be put at from a ton to a ton and a half of hay to the acre. It should be cut as soon as it is out of blossom; if it stands later, the stems are liable to become too hard to make good hay. The variety known as German millet is that most common in North America. It grows ordinarily to the height of about three feet, with compact heads from six to nine inches in length, bearing yellow seed. There are some sub-varieties of this, as the white and purple-seeded.

The Italian millet, Setaria italica, is larger than the preceding, reaching the height of four feet in tolerable soil, and its leaves are correspondingly larger and thicker. The heads are sometimes a foot or more in length, and are less compact than the German, being composed of several spikes slightly branching from the main stem. It is said to derive its specific name from being cultivated in Italy, though its native habitat is India. It is claimed by some that this variety will yield more seed than any other, and the seed is rather larger, but the stalk is coarser, and would probably be less relished by stock.

If the greatest amount of seed is desired from the crop, it is best to sow it in drills, two to two-and-a-half feet apart, using a seed drill for the purpose. This admits of the use of a small harrow or cultivator between the rows, while the plants are small, which keeps out the weeds. The crop will ripen more uniformly in this way than broadcast, and enables the cultivator to cut it when there will be the least waste. The seed shatters out very easily when it is ripe, and when the crop ripens unequally it cannot be cut without loss, because either a portion of it will be immature, or, if left till it is all ripe, the seed of the earliest falls out. It should be closely watched, and cut in just about the same stage that it is proper to cut wheat, while the grain may be crushed between the fingers. It may be cut with a grain cradle, and, when dry, bound and shocked like grain; but it should be threshed out as soon as practicable, on account of its being usually much attacked by birds, many kinds of which are very fond of the seed. In particular localities they assail the crop in such numbers, from the time it is out of the "milk," till it is harvested and carried off the field, that it is no object to attempt to ripen it. This crop is sometimes sown in drills, when it is only intended for fodder, being cut and cured in bundles, as the stalks of Indian corn are. It is best to pass it through a cutting machine before feeding it to stock; indeed, all millet hay will be fed with less loss in this way, than if fed to animals without cutting.

The seed is used in various European countries as a substitute for sago, for which it is considered excellent. It is likewise a valuable food for poultry, particularly for young chickens, which from the smallness of the grain can eat it readily, and it appears to be wholesome for them.

In some countries millet seed is ground into flour and converted into bread; but this is brown and heavy. It is, however, useful in other respects, as a substitute for rice. A good vinegar has been made from it by fermentation, and, on distillation, it yields a strong spirit. Millet seed—the produce of H. saccharatum—is imported into this country from the East Indies for the purpose chiefly of puddings; by many persons it is preferred to rice. It is cultivated largely in China and Cochin-China. The stalks, if subjected to the same process that is adopted with the sugar-cane, yield a sweet juice, from which an excellent kind of sugar may be made.

Millet will grow best on light, dry soils. The ground being first well prepared, half a bushel of seed to the acre is ploughed in at the commencement of the rains, in India. The crop ripens within three months from the time of sowing. The usual produce is about 16 bushels to the acre. The Canary Islands export annually about 212,400 bushels of millet.

Great Indian Millet, or Guinea Corn.—This is a native of India (the Sorghum vulgare, the Andropogon Sorghum of Roxburgh), which produces a grain a little larger than mustard or millet seed. It is grown in most tropical countries, and has peculiar local names. In the West Indies, where it is chiefly raised for feeding poultry, it is called Guinea corn. In Egypt it is known as Dhurra, in Hindostan and Bengal as Joar, and in some districts as Cush.

In Lower Scinde joar is very extensively cultivated, as well as bajree (H. spicatus). It is harvested in December and January; requires a light soil, and is usually grown in the east, after Cynosurus corocanus.

Guinea corn is extensively cultivated in some parts of Jamaica. I did not, however, find it thrive on the north side of the island. It is best planted in the West Indies between September and November, and ripens in January. It ratoons or yields a second crop, when cut. The returns are from 30 to 60 bushels an acre, but the crops are uncertain.

Mr. C. Bravo tried Guinea corn at St. Ann's, Jamaica, as a green crop, sown broadcast, for fodder, and it answered admirably, the produce being very considerable. It was weighed, and yielded 14 tons of fodder per acre, and was found very palatable and nutritious for cattle. It was grown on a very poor soil, which had, previously to ploughing, given nothing but marigolds and weeds. The luxuriant growth of the corn completely kept under the weeds. A great number of the stalks were measured, and they averaged 10 feet from the root to the top of the upper leaf. It had been planted 10 weeks, and had, therefore, grown a foot a month. Mr. Bravo is of opinion, that sown broadcast it would answer either as a grain crop, as fodder, or ploughed in to increase the fertility of the soil.

Dr. Phillips, of Barbados, being of opinion that it might be advantageously employed as human food, requested Dr. Shier, the analytical chemist, of Demerara, to determine in his laboratory its richness in protein compounds (the muscle-forming part of vegetable food) in comparison with Indian corn. He, therefore, caused a sample of each to be burned for nitrogen, when the following results were obtained:—

	Indian corn.	Guinea corn.
Water, per cent.	12.81	13.76
In ordinary state—
Nitrogen, per cent.	1.83	1.18
Protein compounds	11.51	7.42
In dry state—
Nitrogen, per cent.	2.10	1.36
Protein compounds	13.20	8.60

According to these results, the Guinea corn is less rich in nitrogen or protein compounds than Indian corn, though not much less so than some varieties of English wheat.

Indian corn meal, analysed by Mr. Hereford, from two localities, gave in the ordinary state of dryness 11.53 and 12.48 per cent. of protein compounds—results which come very near to that obtained by Dr. Shier.

Sorghum avenaceum, or Holcus avenaceus, is a native of the Cape.

Several species and varieties of sorghum have been introduced, and more or less cultivated in the United States. It is often popularly termed Egyptian corn. It is closely allied to broom corn (S. saccharatum), the head being similar in structure, and the seed similar, except that in most varieties of sorghum, the outer covering does not adhere as in broom corn. The plant bears a strong resemblance, while growing, to maize or Indian corn. There is also some similarity in the grain, and it is extensively used as food by many oriental nations.

A variety, under the name of African purple millet, was some years since introduced into North America, and recommended for cultivation as a soiling crop; but this, as well as other varieties, do not possess any advantages over Indian corn.

The natives of Mysore reckon three kinds, known as white, green, and red. The red ripens a month earlier than the rest, or about four months from the time of sowing. Near Bengal, Bombay, and elsewhere, in Eastern India, sowing is performed at the close of May or early in June. A gallon and a third of seed is sown per acre, and the produce averages 16 bushels. This grain, though small, and the size of its head diminutive, compensates for this deficiency by the great hulk and goodness of its straw, which grows usually to the height of 8 or 10 feet. It is sometimes sown for fodder in the beginning of April, and is ready to cut in July. It is said to be injurious to cattle, if eaten as green provender, the straw is therefore first dried, and is then preferable to that of rice.

This grain is frequently fermented to form the basis, in combination with goor or half made sugar, of the common arrack of the natives, and in the hills is fermented into a kind of beer or sweet wort, drank warm.

Holcus spicatus, the Panicum spicatum of Roxburgh, is cultivated in Mysore, Behar, and the provinces more to the north. From one to four seers are sown on a biggah of land, and the yield is about four maunds per acre. It is sown after the heavy rains commence, and the plough serves to cover the seed. The crop is ripe in three months, and the ears only are taken off at first. Afterwards the straw is cut down close to the surface of the soil, to be used for thatching, for it is not much in request as fodder. Being a grain of small price, it is a common food of the poorer class of natives, and really yields a sweet palatable flour. It is also excellent as a fattening grain for poultry.

The Poa Abyssinicais one of the bread-corns of Abyssinia. The bread made from it is called teff, and is the ordinary food of the country, that made from wheat being only used by the higher classes. The way of manufacturing it is by allowing the dough to become sour, when, generating carbonic acid gas, it serves instead of yeast. It is then baked in circular cakes, which are white, spongy, and of a hot acid taste, but easy of digestion. This bread, carefully toasted, and left in water for three or four days, furnishes the bousa, or common beer of the country, similar to the quas of Russia.

BROOM CORN.

The production of broom corn is rapidly extending, and corn brooms are driving broom sedge, as an article for sweeping floors, out of every humble dwelling in the United States. There are about 1,000 acres of it under culture in one county (Montgomery) alone, and it brings 30 dollars per acre in the field.

Messrs. Van Eppes, of Schenectady, have been engaged in the broom manufactory business about eleven years. They have a farm of about 300 acres, 200 of which are Mohawk flats. A large portion of the flats was formerly of little value, in consequence of being kept wet by a shallow stream which ran through, it, and which, together with several springs that issue from the sandy bluff on the south side of the flats, kept the ground marshy, and unfit for cultivation. By deepening the channel of the stream, and conducting most of the springs into it, many acres, which were formerly almost worthless, have been made worth 125 dollars per acre. They have also, by deepening the channel, saving the water of the springs, and securing all the fall, made a water privilege, on which they have erected an excellent mill, with several run of stones, leaving besides sufficient power to carry saws for cutting out the handles of brooms, &c.

They have about 200 acres of the flats in broom-corn. The cultivation of this article has within a few years been simplified to almost as great a degree as its manufacture. The seed is sown with a seed-barrow or drill, as early in the spring as the state of the ground will admit, in rows 3½ feet apart. As soon as the corn is above ground, it is hoed, and soon after thinned, so as to leave the stalks two or three inches apart. It is only hoed in the row, in order to get out the weeds that are close to the plants, the remaining space being left for the harrow and cultivator, which are run so frequently as to keep down the weeds. The cultivation is finished by running a small, double mould-board plough, rather shallow, between the rows.

The broom corn is not left to ripen, as formerly, but is cut when it is quite green, and the seed not much past the milk. It was formerly the practice to lop down the tops of the corn, and let it hang some time, that the brush might become straightened in one direction. Now, the tops are not lopped till the brush is ready to cut, which, as before stated, is while the corn is green. A set of hands goes forward, and lops or bends the tops to one side, and another set follows immediately and cuts off the tops at the place at which they are bent, and a third set gathers the cut tops into carts or waggons, which take them to the factory. Here they are first sorted over, and parcelled out into small bunches, each bunch being made up into brush of equal length. The seed is then taken off by an apparatus with teeth, like a hatchet. The machine is worked by six horses, and cleans the brush very rapidly. It is then spread thin to dry, on racks put up in buildings designed for the purpose. In about a week, with ordinary weather, it becomes so dry that it will bear to be packed closely.

The stalks of the corn, after the tops have been cut off, are five or six feet high, and they are left on the ground, and ploughed in the next spring. It is found that this keeps up the fertility of the soil, so that the crop is continued for several years without apparent diminution. It should be observed, however, that the ground is overflowed every winter or spring, and a considerable deposit left on the surface, which is undoubtedly equivalent to a dressing of manure.

This may be inferred from the fact that some of the flats have been in Indian corn every year for forty or fifty years, without manure, and with good cultivation have seldom produced less than sixty bushels per acre, and with extra cultivation from eighty to ninety bushels have been obtained.

In case of need, the stalks would furnish a large amount of good food for cattle. They are full of leaves which are nutritive, and whether cut and dried for winter, or eaten green by stock turned on the ground where they grow, would be very valuable in case of deficiency of grass.

Messrs. Van Eppes employ twenty hands during the summer; and in autumn, when the brush is being gathered and prepared, they have nearly a hundred, male and female. They are mostly Germans, who come to Schenectady with their families during the broom corn harvest, and leave when it is over.

The manufacture of brooms is carried on mostly in the winter season. The quantity usually turned out by Messrs. Van Eppes is 150,000 dozen per annum.—("Albany Cultivator.")

CHENOPODIUM QUINOA.

About twenty-eight years ago this plant was introduced into Britain from Peru, where the seeds are used as food, under the name of petty rice. Attention was drawn to it by Loudon, in his "Gardener's Magazine," in 1834, and in 1836 it was cultivated on a large scale by Sir Charles Lemon. This plant and the lentil are two of the most promising exotics that have been recommended for field culture. There are two varieties of quinoa, the white and the red seeded; the red has bitter properties, and is only used for medicine. In North America the seeds of the former are used as a substitute for maize and the potato. A white meal is obtained from it, having a tinge of yellow. It contains scarcely any gluten, but, like oatmeal, makes very good porridge and cakes. Its nutritive qualities are proved by the analysis of Dr. Voelcker ("Journal of Agriculture of Scotland," October, 1850), which states it to yield 3.66 per cent. of nitrogen, equal to 2.87 per cent. of protein compounds. In this respect the meal appears to be superior to rye, barley, rice, maize, the plantain, and potato. It has long furnished the food of millions in South America; and in Scotland and Ireland the plant would find a congenial climate and rich soil.

FUNDI OR FUNDUNGI.

This is an hitherto undescribed species of African grain (probably the Paspalum exile), much cultivated and esteemed in Sierra Leone, and other places on the African coast, where it is known by the Foulahs, Joloffs, and other native tribes, under the local name of Hungry rice. It is a slender grass with digitate spikes, which have much of the habit of Digitaria, but which, on account of the absence of the small outer glume existing in that genus, Mr. Keppist, Librarian of the Linnean Society, of London, refers to Paspalum. It produces a semi-transparent cordiform grain, about the size of a mignionette seed; the ear consists of two conjugate spikes, the grain being arranged on the outer edge of either spike, and alternated; they are attached by a peduncle to the husk. The èpicarp, or outer membrane, is slightly rugous.

The ground is cleared for its reception by burning down the copse wood and hoeing between the roots and stumps. It is sown in the months of May and June, the ground being slightly opened, and again lightly drawn together over the seeds with a hoe. In August, when it shoots up, it is carefully weeded. It ripens in September, growing to the height of about 18 inches, and its stems, which are very slender, are bent to the earth by the mere weight of the grain. The patch of land is then either suffered to lie fallow, or is planted with yams or cassava in rotation. Experienced cultivators of this Lilliputian grain assert that manure is unnecessary, as it delights in light soils, and it is even raised on rocky situations, which are most frequent about Kissy. When cut down, it is tied up in small sheafs and placed in a dry situation within the hut; for if allowed to remain on the ground and to become wet, the grains are agglutinated to their coverings. The grain is trodden out with the feet, and is then parched or dried in the sun, to allow the more easy removal of the chaff in the process of pounding, which is performed in wooden mortars. It is afterwards winnowed with a kind of cane fanner or mats.

This grain could be raised in sufficient quantities to become an article of commerce, and I have no doubt would prove a valuable addition to the list of light farinaceous articles of food in use among the delicate or convalescent. In preparing this delicious grain for food, it is first put into boiling water, in which it is assiduously stirred for a few minutes; the water is then poured off, and the Foulahs, Joloffs, &c., add to it palm oil, butter, or milk; but Europeans and negroes connected with Sierra Leone prepare it as follows:—To the grain cooked as above mentioned, fowl, fish, or mutton, with a piece of salt pork for the sake of flavor is added, the whole being then stewed in a close saucepan. This makes a very good dish, and thus prepared resembles "Kous-kous." The grain is sometimes made into puddings, with the usual condiments, and eaten either hot or cold, with milk. By the few natives of Scotland in the colony, it is occasionally dressed as milk porridge.

The negroes also eat it in the same way as they do rice, with palaver sauce. Fundi ought to be well washed in cold water, and afterwards rewashed in boiling water. If properly prepared it will be white, and perfectly free from gritty matter.

Canary-seed, obtained from Phalaris canariensis, is grown rather largely in Kent, the Isle of Thanet, and other parts of the south of England, as much as 500 tons being annually consumed here for feeding singing birds. The produce is three to five quarters the acre, and it is sold at about £25 the ton. We receive foreign supplies of the seed from Germany and the Mediterranean, and the duty on imports is 2s. 6d. per bushel.

PULSE.

There are a variety of pulses and leguminous seeds extensively cultivated as food for both man and cattle, and which form an important article in the husbandry of tropical countries. The importance of peas and beans is well appreciated, both by the horticulturists and agriculturists in Europe and our temperate colonies, where, however, they are comparatively of less importance than the smaller pulses and grains are in various tropical countries, such as haricots in the Brazils and West Indies; ground or earth nuts in South America, and especially in Western Africa; beans of different kinds amongst the miners of Peru; gram (Ervum lens), and dholl (Cajanus), with innumerable varieties of beans and small lentils among the natives of India and Egypt; and the Carob bean, or St. John's bread (Ceratonia siliqua), in the Mediterranean countries.—("Jury Reports.")

Of leguminous grains there are various species cultivated and used by the Asiatics, as the Phaseolus Mungo, P. Max and P. radiatus, which contain much alimentary matter; the earth-nut (Arachis hypogæa), which buries its pods under ground after flowering.

The gram (Cicer arictinum) which is mentioned by Dr. Christie ("Madras Journal of Science," No. 13) as exuding oxalic acid from all parts of the plant. It is used by the ryots in their curries instead of vinegar. It is the chick pea of England, and chenna of Hindostan.

Among the most commonly cultivated leguminous plants are the lentil (Ervum lens), horse gram (Dolichos biflorus, Linn), various species of Cytisus and Cajanus, &c. Many of these are grown in India as fodder plants; others for their seeds, known as gram, dholl, &c. The Cajanus flavus, of Decandolle (Cytisus Cajan), is very generally cultivated along the Western coast of Africa, and continues to bear for three years. Several species of dolichos are used as food in various countries, as D. ensiformus in Jamaica, D. tuberosus in Martinique, D. bulbosus and D. lignosus in the East Indies.

The vessels of the North bring to Shanghae a great quantity of a dry paste, known under the name of tanping, the residuum or husk of a leguminous plant called Teuss, from which the Chinese extract oil, and which is used, after being pressed, as manure for the ground. Captain H. Biggs, in a communication to the Agri.-Hort. Soc. of India, in 1845, states that of the esculents a large white pea forms the staple of the trade of Shanghae, or nearly so, to the astonishing amount of two and a-half millions sterling. This he gives on the authority of the Rev. Mr. Medhurst, of Shanghae, and Mr. Thorns, British Consul at Ningpo. These peas are ground in a mill and then pressed, in a somewhat complicated, though, as usual in China, a most efficient press, by means of wedges driven under the outer parts of the framework with mallets. The oil is used both for eating and burning, more for the latter purpose, however, and the cake, like large Gloucester cheese, or small grindstones in circular shape, is distributed about China in every direction, both as food for pigs and buffaloes, as also for manure.

We import on the average about 20,000 quarters of beans, peas, &c., from Ireland, 450,000 quarters of beans and 200,000 quarters of peas from foreign countries.

The land under cultivation with pulse, and the crops raised, have been estimated as follows:—

	Acres.	Quarters.
England	500,000	1,875,000
Ireland	130,000	540,000
Scotland	50,000	150,000
	680,000	2,565,000

This is of course exclusive of garden cultivation. The average produce of beans per acre in England is 3¾ quarters, 3½ in Ireland, and three in Scotland.

The price of beans per quarter in the last ten years has ranged from 39s. to 27s. the quarter; peas from 40s. 6d. to 27s. 6d.

Algaroba beans.—The seed pods or bean of the carob-tree (Ceratonia siliqua, or Prosopis pallida?) a tree common in the Levant and South of Europe, are used as food. The pods contain a large proportion of sweet fecula, and are frequently used by singers, being considered to improve the voice. The name of St. John's Head has been applied to them, from the supposition that they were the wild honey spoken of in Scripture as the food of John the Baptist. About 40,000 quintals of these carobs are annually exported from Crete. During the Peninsular war, the horses of our cavalry were principally fed upon these algaroba seeds. The pods of the West India locust tree, Hymenæa courbaril, also supply a nutritious matter.

That well known sauce, Soy, is made in some parts of the East, from a species of the Dolichos bean (Soja hispida), which grows in China and Japan. In Java it is procured from the Phaseolus radiatus. The beans are boiled soft, with wheat or barley of equal quantities, and left for three months to ferment; salt and water are then added, when the liquor is pressed and strained. Good soy is agreeable when a few years old; the Japan soy is superior to the Chinese. Large quantities are shipped for England and America. The Dolichos bean is much cultivated in Japan, where various culinary articles are prepared from it; but the principal are a sort of butter, termed mico, and a pickle called sooja.

1,108 piculs of soy were shipped from Canton in 1844, for London, British India, and Singapore. 100 jars, or about 50 gallons of soy, were received at Liverpool in 1850. The price is about 6s. per gallon in the London market.

THE SAGO PALMS, BREAD-FRUIT, &c.

Sago, and starchy matter allied to it, is obtained from many palms. It is contained in the cellular tissue of the stem, and is separated by bruising and elutriation. From the soft stem of Cycas circinalis, a kind of sago is produced in the East and West Indies. The finest is, however, procured from the stems of Sagus lævis (S. inermis, of Roxburgh), a native of Borneo and Sumatra; and Arenga saccharifera, or Gomutus saccharifus, of Rumphius. The Saguerus Rumphii, or Metroxylon Sagus, which is found in the Eastern Islands of the Indian Ocean, yields a feculent matter. After the starchy substance is washed out of the stems of these palms, it is then granulated so as to form sago. The last-mentioned palm also furnishes a large supply of sugar. Sago as well as sugar, and a kind of palm wine, are procured from Caryota urens.

In China sago is obtained from Rhapis flabelliformis, a dwarfish palm; and some sago is made from it for native use in Travancore, Mysore, and Wynaad, and the jungles in the East Indies.

The trunk of the sago palm is five or six feet round, and it grows to the height of about 20 feet. It can only be propagated by seed. It flourishes best in bogs and swampy marshes; a good plantation being often a bog, knee deep. The pith producing the sago is seldom of use till the tree is fourteen or fifteen years old; and the tree does not live longer than thirty years. Mr. Crawfurd says there are four varieties of this palm; the cultivated, the wild, one distinguished by long spines on the branches, and a fourth destitute of these spines, and called by the natives female sago. This and the cultivated species afford the best farina; the spiny variety, which has a slender trunk, and the wild tree, yield but an inferior quality of sago. The farinaceous matter afforded by each plant is very considerable, 500 lbs. being a frequent quantity, while 300 lbs. may be taken as the common average produce of each tree.

Supposing the plants set at a distance of ten feet apart, an acre would contain 435 trees, which, on coming to maturity in fifteen years, would yield at the before-mentioned rate 120,500 lbs. annually of farinaceous matter. The sago meal, in its raw state, will keep good about a month. The Malays and natives of the Eastern Islands, with whom it forms the chief article of sustenance, partially bake it in earthenware moulds into small hard cakes, which will keep for a considerable time. In Java the word "saga" signifies bread. The sago palm (Metroxylon Sagus) is one of the smallest of its tribe, seldom reaching to more than 30 feet in height, and grows only in a region extending west to Celebes and Borneo, north to Mindanao, south to Timor, and east to Papua. Ceram is its chief seat, and there large forests of it are found. The edible farina is the central pith, which varies considerably in different trees, and as to the time required for its attaining proper maturity. It is eaten by the natives in the form of pottage. A farina of an inferior kind is supplied by the Gomuti palm (Borassus gomutus), another tree peculiar to the Eastern Archipelago growing in the valleys of hilly tracts.

At so great a distance it is difficult to decide as to which of these trees really produce the ordinary sagos of commerce, for there are several kinds. Planche, in an excellent memoir on the sagos, has described six species, which he distinguishes by the names of the places from which they come. Preferring to classify them according to their characters, M. Mayet distinguishes only three species.

The first he denominates Ancient sago, which comes from different parts, and varies much in color. It comprehends—1st, Maldivian sago of Planche, in spherical globules, of two or three millimetres in diameter, translucid, of an unequal pinkish white color, very hard and insipid. 2nd, New Guinea sago, of Planche, in rather smaller globules, of a bright red color on one side, and white on the other. 3rd. Grey sago of the Moluccas or brown sago of the English; of unequal globules, from one to three millimetres in diameter, opaque, of a dull grey color on one side, and whitish on the other. This grey color probably arises from long keeping and humidity. 4th. Large grey sago of the Moluccas, exactly resembling No. 3, only that the globules are from four to eight millimetres in diameter. 5th. Fine white sago of the Moluccas; entirely resembling No. 3, only that it is purely white, owing to the complete edulcoration of the fecula of which it is made.

Whatever may be the places of origin of these sagos, they all possess the following characters—

Rounded globules, generally spherical, all isolated, very hard, elastic, and difficult to break or powder. The globules put into water, generally swell to twice their original size, but do not adhere together.

Second sage.—This species corresponds with the pinkish sago of the Moluccas of Planche. It is in very small globules, less regular than those of the "first sago," and sometimes stuck together to the number of two or three. Soaked in water, it swells to double its volume.

Third Species.—Tapioca sago.—-This name has been applied to a species of sago now abundant in commerce, because it bears the same relation to the ancient or first sago, and even to the preceding sago, that tapioca bears to "Moussache," which is the fecula of the manioc, Janipha manihot (Manihot utilissima).

Whilst the two preceding species of sago, whatever may have been stated to the contrary, have been neither baked nor submitted to any heating process, as is proved by the perfect state of nearly all their grains of fecula, this species has been subjected to the action of heat while in a state of a moist paste. This sago is not in spherical globules, like the two preceding species, or at least there are but few of the globules of that form; it is rather in the form of very small irregular tubercular masses, formed by the adherence of different numbers of the primary globules. The facility with which this sago swells and is divided by water, has occasioned it to be preferred as an article of food to the ancient sago. It has been described by Planche under the name of the white sago of the Moluccas, and by Dr. Pereira under the name of pearl sago.

Bennet, in his work on "Ceylon and its Capabilities," (1843), states that sago is procured from the granulated pith of the talipot palm, Corypha umbraculifera.

The Sagus Rumphii, Willdenow, and S. farinifera, Gaertner.—Before maturity, and previous to the formation of the fruit, the stem consists of a thin hard wall, about two inches thick, and of an enormous volume of tissue (commonly termed the medulla or pith), from which the farina or sago is obtained. As the fruit forms, the farinaceous medulla disappears, and when the tree, attains full maturity, the stem is no more than a hollow shell. Sago occurs in commerce in two states, pulverulent and granulated. 1. The meal or flour as imported in the form of a fine amylaceous powder. It is whitish, with a buffy or reddish tint. Its odor is faint, but somewhat unpleasant and musty. 2. Granulated sago is of two kinds, pearl and common brown. The former occurs in small hard grains, not exceeding in size that of a pin's head, inodorous, and having little taste. They have a brownish or pinkish yellow tint, and are somewhat translucent. By the aid of a solution of chloride of lime they can be bleached, and rendered perfectly white. The dealers, it is said, pay £7 per ton for bleaching it. Common sago occurs in larger grains, about the size of pearl barley, which are brownish white.

Sago is an article of exportation to Europe, and is also shipped to India, principally Bengal, and to China. It is in its granulated form that it is usually sent abroad. The best sago is the produce of Siak, on the north coast of Sumatra. This is of a light brown color, the grains large, and not easily broken. The sago of Borneo is the next in value; it is whiter, but more friable. The produce of the Moluccas, though greatest in quantity, is of the smallest estimation. The cost of granulated sago, from the hands of the grower or producer, was, according to Mr. Crawfurd, only a dollar a picul. It fetches in the London market—common pearl, 20s. to 26s. the cwt., sago flour, 20s. the cwt. The Chinese of Malacca and Singapore have invented a process by which they refine sago, so as to give it a fine pearly lustre, and it is from thence we now principally derive our supplies of this article. The exports from Singapore in 1847 exceeded 6½ million pounds, but are now much larger.

The following is a description of the manufacture of this important article of commerce:—The tree being cut down, the exterior bark is removed, and the heart, or pith of the palm, a soft, white, spongy and mealy substance is gathered; and for the purpose of distant transportation, it is put into conical bags, made of plantain leaves, and neatly tied up. In that state it is called by the Malays Sangoo tampin, or bundles of sago; each bundle weighs about 30 lbs.

On its arrival at Singapore it is purchased by the Chinese manufacturers of sago, and is thus treated:—Upon being carried to the manufactory, the plantain-leaf covering is removed, and the raw sago, imparting a strong acid odor, is bruised, and is put into large tubs of cold spring water, where it undergoes a process of purification by being stirred, suffered to repose, and again re-stirred in newly-introduced water. When well purified thus, it is taken out of the tubs by means of small vessels; and being mixed with a great deal of water, the liquid is gently poured upon a large and slightly inclined trough, about ten inches in height and width; and in the descent towards the depressed end, the sago is deposited in the bottom of the trough, whilst the water flows into another large tub, where what may remain of sago is finally deposited. As the strata of deposited sago increases in the trough, small pieces of slates are adjusted to its lower end to prevent the escape of the substance. When by this pouring process the trough becomes quite full of sago, it is then removed to make room for a fresh one, whilst the former one is put out into the air, under cover, for a short time; and on its being well dried, the sago within is cut into square pieces and taken out to be thoroughly dried, under cover, to protect it from the sun. It has then lost the acid smell already noticed, and has become quite white. After one day's drying thus, it is taken into what may be called the manufactory, a long shed, open in front and on one side, and closed at the other and in the rear. Here the lumps of sago are broken up, and are reduced into an impalpable flour, which is passed through a sieve. The lumps, which are retained by the sieve are put back to be re-bruised, whilst that portion which has passed is collected, and is placed in a long cloth bag, the gathered ends of which, like those of a hammock, are attached to a pole, which pole being suspended to a beam of the building by a rope, one end of it is sharply thrown forward with a particular jerk, by means of which the sago within is shortly granulated very fine, and becomes what is technically termed "pearled." It is then taken out and put into iron vessels, called quallies, for the purpose of being dried. These quallies are small elliptical pans, and resemble in form the sugar coppers of the West Indies, and would each hold about five gallons of fluid. They are set a little inclining, and in a range, over a line of furnaces, each one having its own fire. Before putting in the sago to be dried, a cloth, which contains a small quantity of hog's-lard, or some oily substance, is hastily passed into the qually, and the sago is equally quickly put into it, and a Chinese laborer who attends it, commences stirring it with a pallit, and thus continues his labor during the few minutes necessary to expel the moisture contained in the substance. Thus each qually, containing about ten pounds of sago, requires the attendance of a man. The sago, on being taken off the fire, is spread out to cool on large tables, after which it is fit to be packed in boxes, or put into bags for shipment; and is known in commerce under the name of "pearl sago." Thus the labor of fifteen or twenty men is required to do that which, with the aid of simple machinery, might be done much better by three or four laborers. A water-wheel would both work a stirring machine and cause an inclined cylinder to revolve over a fire, for the purpose of drying the sago, in the manner used for corn, meal, and flour in America, or for roasting coffee and chicory in England. But the Chinese have no idea of substituting artificial means, when manual ones are obtainable.

A considerable quantity of sago is exported from Singapore in the state of flour. The whole quantity made and exported there exceeds, on the average, 2,500 tons annually. The quantity shipped from this entrepot is shown by the annexed returns, nearly all of which was grown and manufactured in the settlement. The estimated value for export is set down at 14s. per picul of 1¼ cwt.

EXPORTS FROM SINGAPORE.
		Piculs
1840-41	Pearl sago	41,146
"	Sago flour	33,552
1841-42	Pearl sago	46,225
"	Sago flour	7,447
1842-43	Pearl sago	25,306
"	Sago flour	4,838
1843-44	Pearl sago	14,266
"	Sago flour	14,067
1844-45	Pearl sago	18,472
"	Sago flour	36,141
1845-46	Pearl sago	19,333
"	Sago flour	26,925
1846-47	Pearl sago	40,765
"	Sago flour	9,025

Imports of sago into the United Kingdom, and quantity retained for home consumption:—

	Imports. Cwts.	Home consumption. Cwts.
1826	9,644	2,565
1830	2,677	3,385
1834	25,763	13,827
1838	18,627	28,396
1842	45,646	50,994
1846	38,595	45,671
1848	65,000
1849	83,711	72,741
1850	89,884	83,954

THE BREAD-FRUIT TREE.

Artocarpus incisa.—This tree is less cultivated than would be supposed from its useful properties. In the West Indies and the Indian Islands, where it has been introduced from its native place, the South Sea Islands, it is held in very little consideration, the graminea, tuberous roots, and farinaceous plants being more easily and readily cultivated. There are two or three varieties known in the Asiatic regions. The properties of this tree are thus enumerated by Hooker:—The fruit serves for food; clothes are made from the fibres of the inner bark; the wood is used for building houses and making boats; the male catkins are employed as tinder; the leaves for table cloths and for wrapping provisions in; and the viscid milky juice affords birdlime.

A. integrifoliais the Jack or Jacca, the fruit of which attains a large size, sometimes weighing 30 lbs., but is inferior in quality to the bread-fruit.

The nuts or fruit of Brosimum Alicastrum, an evergreen shrub, native of Jamaica, are nutritious and agreeable articles of food. When boiled with salt fish, pork or beef, they have frequently been the support of the negroes and poorer sorts of white people in times of scarcity, and proved a wholesome and not unpleasant food; when roasted it eats something like our common chesnut, and is called bread-nut.

Kafir Bread.—According to Thunberg, the Hottentots being very little acquainted with agriculture, or with the use of the cerealia, and subsisting principally upon wild bulbs and fruits, obtain food also from Encephalartos caffer, a species of Zamia, with a cylindrical trunk, the thickness of a man's body, and about seven feet high. Having cut down a tree, they took out the pith, that nearly fills its trunk, and which abounds in mucilage and an amylaceous fluid; after keeping this for some time buried under ground in the skin of an animal, they reduced it by pounding and kneading into a kind of paste; and then baked it in hot ashes, in the form of round cakes, nearly an inch thick. The Dutch colonists, in consequence of this practice of the natives, called the plant brood-boon, which signifies literally bread tree.

THE PLANTAIN AND BANANA.

The several varieties of the edible plantain which are known and cultivated throughout the West Indies, Africa, and in the East are all reducible to two classes, viz., the Plantain and the Banana (Musa Paradisiacaand sapientum). The difference between these two plants is even so slight as to be scarcely specific; it is therefore most probable that there was originally but one stock, from which they have, by cultivation and change of locality, been derived.

The tiger plantain (M. maculata) and the black ditto (M. sylvestris) are cultivated in Jamaica. The whole of the species and varieties of the tribe are what are called polygamous monœcious plants, each individual tree bearing the male and female organs of reproduction.

The plantain and its varieties invariably bear male, female and hermaphrodite flowers within the same spathe, all of them being imperfect and consequently unproductive of seed. An individual may, even from excess of culture, moisture, &c., be entirely incapable of flowering. During the prevalence of a disease or blight among the plantain walks of Demerara in the years 1844 and 1845, it was seriously proposed to introduce male plantains, or obtain fresh stock by seed.

It is, therefore, necessary to determine with exactness, if possible, whether the Plantain or Banana, (whichever be the parent stock) exists anywhere at present, or has been known to have existed as a perfect plant, that is bearing fertile seeds; or, whether it has always existed in the imperfect state, that is, incapable of being procreated by seed, the only state in which it at present exists in our colonies.

Whether Linnæus be right in his conjecture (Spec. Plant, 1763) that the "Bihai" (Heliconia humilis), a native of Caraccas, which produces fertile seeds, is the stock plant of the plantain, it is almost impossible to ascertain; but the absence of any description of a wild seed-bearing plantain, renders it highly probable that the cultivated species are hybrids produced long ago. The banana, from time immemorial, has been the food of the philosophers and sages of the East, and almost all travellers throughout the tropics have described these plants exactly as they are known to us, either as sweet fruit eaten raw, or a farinaceous vegetable roasted or boiled. It is remarkable that the plantain and banana should be indigenous, or at all events cultivated for ages both in the Old and New World. Numerous South American travellers describe some one of these plants as being indigenous articles of food among the natives, thus showing (if the plantain and its varieties be hybrids) a communication between the tropics of America, Asia and Africa, long before the time of Columbus. The older writers on the colony of Guiana, as Hartsinck, Bellin and others, consider the plantain to be a native. It is remarkable that Sir R. Schomburgk, during his travels, found a large species of edible plantain far in the interior. It appears, therefore, from all the investigations that have been made, that the plantain is either a hybrid, or its power of production from seed has been destroyed long ago by cultivation, and that it is not known to exist anywhere in a perfect state; in which case any attempt to improve the present stock by the introduction of suckers from elsewhere, must be totally futile. Mr. A. Garnett recommends the following system of cultivation, as calculated to prevent the blight. The walk or plantation is to be formed into beds 36 feet wide, divided by open drains 30 inches deep. Two rows of plantains to be planted upon each bed at 18 feet distance, both between and along the rows, to afford a clear ventilation to the enlarging plants, and so soon as the plantation has been established, the space of land between each row to be shovel-ploughed 12 inches deep; the same to be repeated annually, and upon the interspace may be planted maize, yams, sugar cane, or eddoes, and the whole kept clear at all times. Thus, with the conjoined principles of good tillage, free ventilation, and mixed crops, the blight may yet be successfully combated.

A great diminution in the cultivation of the plantain has been occasioned in British Guiana by this blight or disease, which first made its destructive appearance in Essequibo, upwards of thirty years ago, where its ravages increased with such fatal intensity as to render the profitable growth of the plant almost hopeless; and up to this hour no one has been able to discover the immediate or remote cause of this extraordinary vegetable endemic; whether arising from the action of insects among the sheathes of the petioles of the leaves, or in the soil, or from organic decay of the plant, remains without solution. The last-named cause seems to be rejected, by the fact that the fructification of the plant is as healthy and abundant in parts of the colony where the blight does not prevail, both in number and size of the fruit upon the spike, as at any former period. On the east coast of Demerara, both the plantain and banana have been grown for more than twenty years upon the same land, without any attack of the disease, and without any extraneous manure or even lime having been applied, and the plants still exhibit great luxuriance, and produce their former weight of fruit.

The foliage of the plantain affords food and bedding, and is used for thatch, making paper, and basket making; and from its petioles is obtained a fine and durable thread. The tops of the young plants are eaten as a delicate vegetable; the fermented juice of the trunk produces an agreeable wine.

The abundance and excellence of the nutritive food which the plants of this valuable genus supply are well known; but of the numerous uses to which they are applied I may mention, the following:—

The fruit is served up both raw and stewed; slices fried are also considered a delicacy. Plantains are sometimes boiled and eaten with salt meat, and pounded and made into puddings, and used in various other ways. In their ripe state these fruits contain much starchy matter. From their spurious stems, the fibres of the spiral vessels may be pulled out in such quantity as to be used for tinder. M. textilis yields a fibre which is used in India in the manufacture of fine muslins, and the coarser woody tissue is exported in large quantities from Manila, under the name of white rope or Manila hemp. Horses, cattle, swine, and other domestic animals are fed upon the fruit, leaves, and succulent trunks.

The same extent of ground which in wheat would only maintain two persons, will yield sustenance under the banana to fifty. That eminent naturalist and elegant writer, the Baron Von Humboldt, states ("Political Essay on New Spain," vol. ii.) that an acre of land cultivated with plantains produces nearly twenty times as much food as the like space sown with corn in Europe. He refers to a place in Venezuela, where the most careful tillage was rendered to a piece of land, yielding produce supporting a humble population residing in huts, each placed in the centre of an enclosure, growing the sugar cane, Indian corn, the Papaw tree, and the Musa—a tropical garden!—upon the elaborate culture of which a whole family relied for subsistence.

Although from the extensive plantain walks in our colonies—which are seldom cultivated with a garden-like care—so large an average proportion may not be obtained as twenty times the production of wheat in Europe, yet I have had practical experience of the prodigious quantity of farinaceous matter obtainable from an acre of tolerably well-cultivated plantains, and no esculent plant requires less labor in its culture upon land suitable for its production. They are readily increased by suckers, which the old plants produce in abundance.

Lindley enumerates ten species of Musa, some of which grow to the height of 25 or 30 feet, but that valuable species M. Cavendishii, does not grow more than four or five feet high.

The bananas of the family of the Musaceæ, appear to be natives of the southern portion of the Asiatic continent (R. Brown, "Bot. of Congo," p. 51). Transplanted at an unknown epoch into the Indian Archipelago and Africa, they have spread also into the, New World, and in general into all intertropical countries, sometimes before the arrival of Europeans.

According to Humboldt it affords, in a given extent of ground, forty-four times more nutritive matter than the potato, and 133 times more than wheat. These figures must be considered as only approximative, since nothing is more difficult than to estimate the nutritive qualities of different aliments.

Musa paradisiaca is cultivated in Syria, to latitude 34 deg. Humboldt says it ceases to yield fruit at a height of 3,000 feet, where the mean annual temperature is 68 deg., and where, probably, the heat of summer is deficient.

The banana seems, however, to be found no higher than 4,600 feet in a state of perfection.

No fruit is so easily cultivated as are the varieties of the plantain. There is hardly a cottage in the tropics that is not partly shaded by them; and it is successfully grown under other fruit trees, although it is independent of shelter. Its succulent roots and dew-attracting leaves render it useful in keeping the ground moist during the greatest heats. The plantain may be deemed the most valuable of fruits, since it will, in some measure, supply the place of grain in time of scarcity. To the negroes in the West Indian Islands the plantain is invaluable, and, like bread to the Europeans, is with them denominated the staff of life. In Jamaica, Demerara, Trinidad, and other principal colonies, many thousand acres are planted with these trees.

The vegetation of this tree is so rapid that if a line of thread be drawn across, and on a level with the top of one of the leaves, when it begins to expand, it will be seen, in the course of an hour, to have grown nearly an inch. The fruit when ripe is of a pale yellow, about a foot in length and two inches thick, and is produced in bunches so large as each to weigh 40 lbs. and upwards.

The soil best suited to the growth of the plantain is found in the virgin land most recently taken in from the forest, having a formation of clay and decomposed vegetable substances. A large portion of organic matter is required, as well as clay or other ponderous strata, to afford the greatest production of fruit. I have known good plantains produced in the West Indies, upon land considerably exhausted by the culture of cotton, but which was enriched by the application of a quantity of the decomposed seed of that shrub near the roots of the young plantains.

In the Straits' settlements of the East, the following are the most approved varieties:—The royal plantain, which fruits in eight months; one which bears in a year, the milk plantain, the downy plantain, and the golden plantain or banana. A species termed gindy has been lately imported from Madras, where it is in great request. It has this advantage over the other kinds, that it can be stewed down like an apple while they remain tough.

The Malays allege that they can produce new varieties, by planting three shoots of different sorts together, and by cutting the shoots down to the ground three successive times, when they have reached the height of nine or ten inches.

About 144 suckers of the plantain are set on an orlong (1⅓ acres), each of which spreads into a group of six or eight stems, of about six inches to one foot in diameter, which yield each a bunch of fruit, and are then cut down, when fresh shoots succeed. In very rich soils the plant will continue to bear for twenty years, but otherwise it is dug up after the seventh or eighth year. The cost of cultivating 100 orlongs of land exclusively with plantains, will be nearly 2,000 Spanish dollars until produce be obtained. About 43,200 bunches may be had afterwards yearly, which might give a return of 2,160 dollars, or, deducting the cost of cultivation and original expenses, a profit per annum of 1,450 dollars.

The plantain has frequently been suggested as an article of export from our colonies. A few bunches are occasionally brought over by the Royal West India Mail Company's steamers running to Southampton, but more as a curiosity than as articles of commerce.

In its ripe state no unexceptionable and sufficiently cheap method of preserving it has yet been suggested.

In some districts of Mexico it is, indeed, dried in the sun, and in this state forms a considerable article of internal commerce under the name of "plantado pasado."

It is sometimes so abundant and cheap in Demerara, Jamaica, Trinidad, and other of our colonies, that it might, if cut and dried, in its green state, be exported with advantage.

It is in the unripe state that it is so largely used by the peasantry of the colonies as an article of food. It has always been believed to be highly nutritive, but Dr. Shier states that, in any sample of the dried plantain which he analysed, he could not find a larger amount than 88 per cent of nitrogen, which corresponds with about 5½ per cent. of proteine compounds.

When dried, and reduced to the state of meal, it cannot, like wheat flour, be manufactured into maccaroni or vermicelli, or at least the maccaroni made from it falls to powder when put into hot water. The fresh plantain, however, when boiled whole, forms a pretty dense firm mass, of greater consistency and toughness than the potato. The mass, beaten in a mortar, constitutes the foo-foo of the negroes. The plantain meal cannot be got into this state unless by mixing it up with water to form a stiff dough, and then boiling it in shapes or bound in cloths.

Plantain meal is prepared by stripping off the husk of the plantain, slicing the core, and drying it the sun. When thoroughly dry it is powdered and sifted. It is known among the Creoles of the West Indies under the name of Conquin tay. It has a fragrant odour, acquired in drying, somewhat resembling fresh hay or tea. It is largely employed as the food of infants, children, and invalids. As food for children and convalescents, it would probably be much esteemed in Europe, and it deserves a trial on account of its fragrance, and its being exceedingly easy of digestion. In respect of nutritiveness, it deserves a preference over all the pure starches on account of the proteine compounds it contains.

The plantain meal would probably be best and freshest were the sliced and dried plantain cores exported, leaving the grinding and sifting to be done in Europe. The flavor of the meal depends a good deal on the rapidity with which the slices are dried; hence the operation is only fitted for dry weather, unless indeed, when there was occasion for it, resource were had to a kiln or stove. Above all, the plantain must not be allowed to approach too closely to yellowness or ripeness, otherwise it becomes impossible to dry it. The color of the meal is injured when steel knives are used in husking or slicing, but silver or nickel blades do not injure the color. On the large scale a machine, on the principle of the turnip slicer, might be employed. The husking could be greatly facilitated by a very simple machine. Were the plantain meal to come into use in England, and bear a price in any way approaching to that of Bermuda arrowroot, it would become an extensive and very profitable export. Full-sized and well-filled bunches give 60 per cent. of core to 40 of husk and top-stem, but in general it would be found that the core did not much exceed 50 per cent., and the fresh core will yield 40 per cent. of dry meal, so that from 20 to 25 per cent. of meal is obtained from the plantain, or 5 lbs. from an average bunch of 25 lbs.; and an acre of plantain walk of average quality, producing during the year 450 such bunches, would yield a ton and 10 lbs. of meal, which, at the price of arrowroot, namely, 1s. per lb., would be a gross return of £112 10s. per acre. A new plantain walk would give twice as much. Even supposing the meal not to command over half the price of arrowroot, it would still form an excellent outlet for plantains whenever, from any cause, the price in the colony sank unusually low.

In respect of the choice of a situation for establishing a plantain walk, with a mill, boiling-house and drying ground, it will be necessary to fix upon new land with plenty of moisture, and flat if possible, in order that there may be no difficulty in making roads to carry the trees; whilst a deep river traversing the land, where there is no tide or danger of salt water—where facility would be afforded in making the basins wherein to wash the fibre; where a sea port would be near at hand for shipping the produce—where workmen, provisions, and fuel would be readily obtained, and where the climate is particularly healthy, should be especially sought after.

The plantain grows in profusion between the tropics in all parts of the world; but as it is an object to have the London market available for the prepared fibre, the following places may be mentioned as best calculated to produce a good and constant supply, viz:—the West India Colonies, the British Colonies in Africa, the South American Republics, along the Mosquito shore, and other places on the Continent of America, including Porto Rico, Hayti, and Cuba. The advantages to the paper manufacturer in employing the prepared fibre instead of rags, will be numerous, for the fibre is equal in texture, clean, and aromatic; whilst rags are dirty, full of vermin, and very often pestilential.

A large stock of the plantain can always be secured, without fear of its being injured by keeping. The paper will be superior to that made of rags, and the process of making it will be more economical, inasmuch as the sorting of the material will not be required. Another advantage is, that a new article of commerce will be opened for the benefit of the colonial shipping interests, and a stimulus will be given to the cultivation of a fruit which is the favorite food of large masses of the population.

The following is a "specification" of articles requisite for making three tons of prepared fibre in a day:—

Four wooden boilers lined with lead, in the form of coolers, 7 feet deep by 6 in diameter. One hydraulic press, from 400 to 500 tons. One stout screw press, to compress the fibre before it is submitted to the hydraulic press. One iron mill with horizontal cylinders. Six waggons; twenty mules. Utensils, such as spatulas, cutlasses, hoes, rakes, &c. &c. One lever, to take out the fibre from the boilers. One steam boiler, equal to 12-horse power, to steam the four wooden boilers.

It being very desirable that the works should be in the immediate neighbourhood of a river, the machinery should be worked by water-power; but if this mode should be inconvenient, a steam engine in addition must be obtained, of about 8 or 10-horse power; or if one steam engine of 20-horse power were employed, it would be sufficient for all purposes. Thirty men are required to make three tons of fibre in a day.

Buildings.—A store, 100 feet long by 25 feet broad, in wood, covered with straw, to contain the dried fibre and the presses. One open shed of the same dimensions, covered with straw for the boilers.

Capital required.—It is ascertained that the following outlay will be sufficient:—

The materials will cost	£2,000
Buildings	500
Purchase of land	1,500
Working capital	1,000
	£5,000

The estimated expense in cultivating one quarree, or 5 1-5th English acres, in plantains, will be £30, as the work can be easily performed by one laborer in 300 days, at 2s. sterling per day.

A quarree will produce 18 tons of mill fibre, the cost of the preparation of which is as follows:—

For workmen's wages, soda, lime, and fuel, at £3 per ton	£54
Freight to Europe at £4 per ton	72
Managers	30
Duty, insurance, office fees, &c., at £1 per ton	18
	£174

Thus, making the total expense of producing 18 tons of fibre £174, or £9 13s. 4d. per ton. In 1848 Manila rope, or plantain fibre of good quality, was worth £38 per ton.

A correspondent in Jamaica, who has devoted much attention to the subject, has furnished me with some very valuable detailed information, the most complete and practical that has ever yet appeared:—

Cultivation.—The first care of a planter in superintending the cultivation of the banana tree, with the two-fold object of collecting both fibre and fruit, will be to study the nature of the tree to which he will give the preference. A number of experiments have been made upon different species of the banana with a view of obtaining therefrom the largest quantity and the best color of fibre, as well as the finest fruit. Those experiments were very tedious and minute, but were absolutely necessary, in order to arrive at the most economical and advantageous method of rendering the fibre into a state fit for shipment to Europe. At the same time, it was of the utmost importance to find out the best description of tree, for producing the strongest, the most abundant, and the most silky fibre—for containing the least quantity of juice, for producing the color sufficiently white to facilitate the operation of bleaching, for bearing fruit of the most esteemed quality, and, therefore, the most favorable for general consumption.

A banana tree, which seemed at first sight to possess all those good qualities—being of a large size, with whitish or flaxen colored fibre, and producing very savoury fruit, only gave 2 per cent, of fibre after preparation; that is to say, 100 lbs. in its raw state, only gave two pounds of fibre after it was boiled. In endeavoring to find out the cause of such a small result, it was discovered that this specimen of banana (commonly called the "pig banana,") contained a larger proportion of water than of fibre, compared with other sorts—that the heart was too large, and that the inside leaves were so tender that they almost dissolved in the process of boiling. These were the greatest inconveniences of this species of tree. There was also another disadvantage, in the quality of its fruit, which was yellow in color, and not so useful as those descriptions of banana which are generally eaten as a substitute for bread. The results of several experiments made upon various descriptions of banana, demonstrated the properties of each species, both as regarded fibre and fruit. The most profitable in both respects is undoubtedly the yellow banana, or common plantain. This tree grows to the height of about fifteen feet, it is nine or ten inches in diameter, its fibre is firm and abundant, and its fruit is used both in a green and ripe state. This plantain abounds on the continent of Spanish America and between the tropics, where the natives cultivate it as producing the most nutritious fruit of its kind. Cargoes of the fruit are frequently exported from Surinam and Demerara. On the Spanish part of the American continent, land is measured by fanegas, each fanega containing twelve quarrees, and each quarree five and one-fifth English acres. A quarree measures one hundred geometrical paces, or three hundred square feet.

In the first instance, the suckers of the plantain (the tree being propagated by cuttings or suckers which shoot up from the bulb), should be set at ten feet distance from each other; this proposition gives 300 plants on one line of trees, or 900 on the surface of one quarree of land. Each plant propagates itself and gives upon an average ten trees of the same size and bearing. On one quarree of land, therefore there would be 9,000 trees, yielding four pounds of fibre and one bunch of fruit each, which is 9,000 bunches of fruit, and 36,000 lbs. nett of fibre, in the whole. In good ground the same plant will last fifteen years without any further trouble. Flat lands ought to be cultivated in preference to any other. The plantain thrives with the root in the water, and the head to the sun. On the borders of the river Orinoco it grows to the height of twenty feet, is one foot in diameter, and the stalks of the branches are three inches in circumference.

Cutting.—The tree which has not produced its ripe fruit ought to be cut, for two reasons—first, that the fruit be not lost; and secondly, that the tree will not have arrived at its full growth and ordinary size, and the fibres will be too tender. In cutting it down, take it off six inches above the surface of the ground, then divide it longitudinally into four parts, take out the heart, which must be left to serve for manure, and if fermentation is decided upon, leave the pieces at the foot of the tree, otherwise take them to the mill to be crushed. The tree being very tender, may, on being bent down, be cut asunder with a single stroke of a hatchet, cutlass, or other convenient instrument. One man can cut down 800 trees, and split them in a day.

Carrying.—The trees being thus divided, may be immediately carried to the mill to be crushed, or may remain until the fermentation separates the juice of sap from the fibres and the pith. By fermenting the trees, their weight will be so much reduced as to render their carriage considerably lighter than if taken away when first cut down. A wagon, with oxen or mules, can carry about a ton per day, and one man can load the wagon and drive the cattle.

Crushing.—If the tree is carried from the plantation without being subjected to fermentation, it must be passed through a mill, the rollers of which, if made about three feet in length, and one foot in diameter, will be found a very convenient size. In this operation, care should be taken, first of all, to separate the tender from the harder or riper layers of fibre. The tree is composed of different layers of fibre, which may be divided into three sorts; those of the exterior, having been exposed to the atmosphere, possess a great degree of tenacity—whilst those of the interior, having been secluded from the air, are much more soft and tender. If, therefore, the layers of the plantain are passed indiscriminately through the mill, those which are hard or firm will not be injured by the pressure, whilst those which are soft will be almost reduced to pulp. Therefore, the rollers of the mill should be always placed horizontally, and upon passing the trees lengthways through the mill, the pressure will be uniform and the fibre uninjured. In this manner, pass the different sorts of layers separately, and the produce will be about four pounds of fibre from each tree. The stalks of the branches of the plantain give the best fibre, and a large quantity, as compared with the body of the tree; 100 lbs. of the stalk will give 15 lbs. nett of fibre. In general, if a tree will give 4 lbs. nett of fibre, the stalks will give 1 lb. out of the 4 lbs. The stalks ought also to be crushed separately, because they are harder than the exterior layers of the tree. About 3,000 trees may be passed through the mill in a day. Whilst the experiments were in progress it was ascertained that with a single horse, 100 plantain trees on an average were crushed in twenty minutes, giving five minutes rest for the horse.

Fermentation.—This operation may be performed in several ways. If the trees are allowed to ferment upon the spot after being cut, a great saving will occur in respect of carriage; this matter ought to be carefully studied, because, on an extensive scale of manufacture, it is of serious importance. It is found that the trees when cut and heaped up, are subject to a drainage of juice, which, having a tanning property, discolors those pieces which lie at the bottom; hence much time is consumed in afterwards restoring the fibre to its natural color. The cut plants should be removed from the stumps of the trees, and then placed in heaps, shaded from the sun by laying the leaves over them. They will take several weeks to ferment. To pursue this process in the immediate vicinity of the establishment, would give rise to many inconveniences, in consequence of the very large space of ground that would thereby be occupied. Fermentation requires a mean temperature. A tree cut down and exposed to the sun, would be nearly dry at about 30 deg. centigrade, showing a result quite different to that which ought to be obtained; whilst a tree placed on a wet soil, and open for the fresh air to circulate between the plants, covered at the same time with its own leaves, and shaded by the foliage of the plantation, would be decomposed at the desired point of about 22 degrees. The different modes of fermentation require the same proportions. If the cut plants be covered with a thick layer of earth, they will not decompose in six months; but if, on the contrary, they are covered slightly, so that they may receive the freshness of the earth, and the heat of the air, they will decompose in six weeks. It is the same with the fermentation of alkaline baths. Baths at only one degree will produce decomposition, whilst baths at three degrees will not produce any decomposition. The stuff after being passed through the mill, or after fermentation, will be put into the chemical baths, or vats, or chemical liquor, and the persons in charge of the mill and boilers will do this work. Fermentation may be advantageously used, in cases where the trees are grown at a distance from the establishment—but, where they are in the immediate vicinity of the works, it will be best to crush them by the mill. The principal saving that is occasioned by fermentation, will be found in the carriage, as the substance will be much reduced in weight by that process. In an establishment where the manufacture is carried on upon a very large scale, trees cut down at a distance can be fermented, whilst those produced near the mill can be crushed.

Chemical Agents.—For decomposing the gluten in the trees during the process of boiling, soda, carbonate of soda, and quick lime, are used. The proportions herein given, are those requisite for making three tons of fibre per day, upon which scale the cost price of the fibre in a prepared state for bleaching, is subsequently calculated. To make three tons of fibre per day, it is necessary to have four boilers of 800 gallons each, and give five boilings in a day, or 1,650 lbs. of nett fibre for each boiler, or 6,600 lbs. for the four boilers per day. After having put into the boiler a sufficient quantity of water to cover the material, wait until the water begins to boil, and then add the chemical agents.

	lbs.
To the first boiling of a copper, put of soda	60
To the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th boilings of the same copper, 15 lbs., each making	60
	120
Therefore the four boilings will take of soda	480
The same liquid will serve for two other days,by adding 15 lbs. to each fresh boiling, say, in the whole, 40 lbs., or	600
It will consume in soda for nine tons made in three days	1,080
Or 360 lbs. for three tons made in one day.

On the fourth day commence again in the same manner, and go on for the two remaining days as above, producing eighteen tons in the six days. The quick lime is to be employed in each of the boilings, in the proportion of one-third less than the quantity of soda. Crude soda may be used in the boilings, without previously discarbonising it, and quick lime reduced to lime water; but, to render the action of the chemical ingredients more quick and certain, it is better to discarbonise the soda before it is put into the boiler. This may be done by preparing in a small separate boiler the quantity of liquid necessary for a day's consumption, which is prepared in about an hour. The carbonisation is effected in the following manner:—

Ten parts of salt of soda.	}	In weight.
Six parts of quick lime.
Seventy parts of water (never less.)

Boiling.—This is a most important operation. By it the gluten and coloring matter are separated from the fibres, which separation is absolutely necessary, in order to prepare the fibre to receive the bleaching. It is necessary to observe that the three several sorts of layers which are found in the tree, and which, under the head of "crushing," are recommended to be pressed separately, should be also boiled separately, because the outermost layer has more coloring matter than the next under it, which again has more than the innermost layer. As they are boiled so will they be dried and shipped, and each sort will have a different price in the market; that fibre which is lightest in color bearing the preference, in consequence of its not requiring more than six hours to bleach—whilst the darkest will, probably from its greater tenacity, take twelve to eighteen hours. It is advisable to place over each boiler the means of lifting the mass of fibre when boiled, and suffering it to drain into the boiler before it is carried away to be washed. This is easily effected by a chain from the roof, to which may be hung a lever, having at that end over the boiler some hooks attached to it, whereby the mass is lifted out of the boiler, and the liquor thus preserved for the next boiling.

Washing.—It is absolutely necessary that the fibre should be well washed after being taken out of the boiler, in order that all extraneous matter may be separated therefrom. In choosing the site for an establishment of this kind, care must always be taken to make choice of a spot in the immediate neighbourhood of a large river, or other plentiful supply of fresh clean water. The machinery necessary for cleansing and washing the fibre may be of various descriptions; but, perhaps a selection from one of the three following sorts will be found to answer every purpose, viz., those used by paper manufacturers in England, and by coffee planters and arrowroot growers in the West Indies.

Drying.—The washed fibre, when hung over lines made of the twisted fibre, or any other convenient material, will be sufficiently dry in a few hours to be taken down, when more can be hung up, and then several batches can be dried in a day; and it will be necessary to have the drying ground as near the water as possible, in order to save weight in carriage.

Pressing.—When the fibre is perfectly dry, it must be well pressed, for the convenience of packing, carriage, and shipment. The hydraulic press is the best machine that can be used for the purpose; but in the absence of that, the lever and screw will make a large amount of pressure available. A hydraulic press of from 400 to 500 tons, will press bales of from four to five hundred weight each, which will not be too large for shipment."

STARCH-PRODUCING PLANTS INVESTIGATED.

Starch is one of the constituent parts in all mealy farinaceous seeds, fruits, roots, and other parts of plants, and is in large demand for domestic use, the arts, &c. Our common starch is made from wheat, and a good deal from potatoes. Pure fecula is separated by art from a variety of plants.

Of plants yielding starch we have the Indian arrowroot, which is the fecula in the rhizomata of several species of the Marantaceæ. In the West Indies it is obtained from the Maranta arundinacea, Allomyca and nobilis, and also from various species of Canna called Tous les mois, and in the East Indies from species of Curcuma, and from Maranta ramossissima in Silhet.

The bread fruit (Artocarpus incisa), already alluded to, yields a large quantity of starch; as do the sweet potato (Convolvulus Batatas, or Batatas edulis). The pith or farinaceous part of the trunk of the Caryota urens, is almost equal to the finest sago. In Assam the sago of this palm is much used.

The two varieties of the Cassava afford a very superior fecula, which is imported under the name of Brazilian arrowroot. 8,354 bags of tapioca and farina were imported from Maranham in 1834. Some excellent starch from Norfolk Island was shown at the Great Exhibition.

The Cycadaceous family yields much starchy matter, along with mucilage. From the soft stems of Cycas revoluta and C. circinalis, natives of China and the East Indies, a kind of sago is made. These plants are propagated by suckers. Zamia pumila, a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and other species of this remarkable genus of plants, which is nearly related to both ferns and palms, supply an amylaceous matter, which has been sold as arrowroot. A similar product is obtained from Alstrœmeria pallida, a perennial plant, with pink red flowers, growing in Chili. From the nuts of the Cycas circinalis, the Singalese prepare an inferior kind of starch, by pounding the fresh kernels. These are cut in slices, and well dried in the sun before they are fit for use, otherwise when eaten they are intoxicating, and occasion vomiting and purging.

The quantity of starch in a plant varies according to the period of growth. The results of examination on the comparative yield of starch in the potato, showed that while it abounded towards the latter part of the season, it decreased when the tubers began to germinate in the spring. It was found by Professor Balfour that 240 lbs. of potatoes left in the ground, contained of starch—

	lbs.				Per cent.
In August	23	to	25	or	9.6	to	10.4
September	32	"	38	"	13.3	"	16
October	32	"	40	"	13.3	"	16.6
November	38	"	45	"	16	"	18.7
April	38	"	28	"	16	"	11.6
May	28	"	20	"	11.6	"	8.3

The quantity of starch remained the same during the dormant state of winter, but decreased whenever the plant began to grow, and to require a supply of nourishment.

Mr. Harris, of Jamaica, some years ago, made experiments upon the nutritious qualities of the principal roots and vegetables of the West Indies. These being well washed and scraped, were grated, in each case into two gallons of clear rain-water, and the whole then filtered through a clean linen strainer, after which it was left to settle; when the amylaceous matter had wholly subsided the supernatant liquor was carefully decanted, and fresh water added, which process was repeated until every foreign substance appeared to be removed; the produce of these several operations was then carefully collected and dried with a temperature of about 110 deg. Fahrenheit, and, when dry, weighed. In this manner the results given in the following table were obtained:—

PRODUCE FROM FIVE POUNDS OF THE
	Oz.	Drms.	Centes. prop.
Root of the sweet cassava (Janipha Loeflingii)	14	1	17.27
Root of ocoes or taniers (Caladium esculentum)	11	17	14.29
Root of the bitter cassava (Janipha manihot), the Yucca amarga of the Spaniards	11	2	13.90
Full grown but unripe fruit of the plantain (Musa paradisiaca)	11	1	13.82
Root of the Guinea yam (Dioscorea bulbifera)	8	6	10.46
Root of the sweet potato (Batatas edulis)	8	6	10.46
Root of the arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea)	5	6	6.71
The full-grown but unripe fruit of the banana (Musa sapientum)	0	0	0.00

This table exhibits, no doubt, very unexpected results, since it places the sweet cassava at the very top, and the banana at the lowest place in the list, while the bitter cassava, which seems to be little more than a variety of the sweet, notwithstanding its being the staple material of West Indian bread, occupies two places lower down, and is followed by the plantain. The sweet potato and the yam, both of which are considered to be less nutritious than the arrowroot, rank above it in the centesimal proportion of their amylaceous produce. Upon what, then, do the nutritive properties of these various substances depend? Is it upon a gluten which was overlooked by Mr. Harris, in his experiments, or, if not, may we not suspect some inaccuracy in the proportion of starch assigned by him to each? It is to be wished that similar experiments were repeated with care in different quarters, and the list extended to other tropical products applicable to human sustenance, especially the roots which yield the farinaceous starch of the South Sea islanders, to the achira of Choco, &c.

I shall extract largely from a very valuable report drawn up by Dr. John Shier, agricultural chemist, of Demerara, and submitted to the Governor of that colony in 1847, on the starch-producing plants, which is deserving of more widely extended publicity than the merely local circulation it has received. The remarks and results of experiments are worthy of deep consideration; and although they were meant to apply specially to British Guiana, they are equally pertinent to the West India colonies generally, our African and Australian settlements, and many other of our foreign possessions.

For many reasons it is desirable that the number of the staples of cultivation and export of our colonies should be increased. It is the general experience of British agriculturists, that the mixed system of agriculture is more profitable to the farmer and safer for the land, than the continued cultivation of any single crop, or indeed of nearly allied crops; and although fewer valid objections can be urged against the continued cultivation of the sugar cane, when properly conducted, than against that of grain crops, it is nevertheless certain that a well-arranged alternation or rotation of crops would be better. When an efficient system of covered drainage is adopted in British Guiana, there can be no doubt that the sugar cane will be replanted at shorter intervals of time than at present, and that other crops, such as provender crops for cattle, and provision crops for the colonial and perhaps the home market, will be made to alternate in cultivation with the cane. When the cane rows are as far apart as they require to be, to admit of sufficient tillage with the plough and other implements, it will also be possible to intercalate crops of rapidly growing plants; and were this done, as it easily might, in such a manner as to prevent undue exhaustion of the land, or impoverishment of the sugar crop, the returns could not fail to be materially increased. It would then probably be found that the fluctuations in prices would be less felt, for they would not likely, at the same time, affect different crops in the same manner.

It has been ascertained, in regard to some plants at least, that a much larger return can be obtained in the colonies than can be grown in temperate countries, however fertile. This is partly owing to the greater fertility of the soil under powerful tropical atmospheric influences, and partly to the fact that vegetation is continuous throughout the year, so that slow growing plants can do more within the time, from their functions not being arrested by the chill of winter; and of many rapidly growing plants, two successive crops can be grown within the year.

Starch is a substance easily manufactured, and being largely used in several of the arts, as well as an article of diet, there consequently exists a considerable demand for it in England. It may be obtained from a great variety of plants, and many of the most productive of it are natives of the tropics.

The high prices commanded by grain and breadstuffs in Europe, renders the present a remarkably favorable time to ascertain what can be done in this branch of tropical agriculture; for should the potato disease return, or this root be less extensively planted than hitherto, starch must maintain a high price, and it will be worth ascertaining whether some of the superior starch-producing plants of the tropics might not be cultivated to such an extent as to supply the English market, and thus be at once profitable to the colonies and advantageous to the mother country.

Before entering on such a cultivation, however, various points require investigation. We ought to be able to answer such questions as the following:—

1. What differences exist between the characters of starch produced by different plants?

2. What are the qualities or properties that lead manufacturers—calico printers for example—to prefer one variety to another?

3. For culinary purposes, and as an article of diet, what qualities or characters obtain a preference?

4. Can the starches from different plants be distinguished from one another by distinct and well marked characters, so that the substitution of a less esteemed variety for a more esteemed one, or the adulteration of a high priced variety with a cheaper one, could be readily detected?

5. What plants produce the most esteemed varieties?

6. What plants produce it in the largest quantity?

7. What plants produce the largest yield per acre?

8. From what plants is it most easily manufactured?

9. Is the process attended with any particular difficulties that ought to deter the East and West India planters from engaging in it?

In the following observations (continues Dr. Shier) I shall be able to reply to several of these questions, especially those capable of being settled in the laboratory. On other points, particularly those relating to the returns per acre, I am at present but imperfectly informed, in consequence of the limited extent to which these plants have hitherto been cultivated in this colony (Demerara), and from the total absence of authentic data regarding the amount of yield.

Characters of starch produced from different plants.—Starches from different plants are best distinguished from one another by examination under a good miscroscope. The grains or globules may be examined either as transparent or opaque objects; and although in the same species there are considerable differences in size and form, the different kinds are, on the whole, quite distinguishable. One of the best ways of examining the form of the globules, under the microscope, is to lay them on a plate of glass and cover them with a drop of aqueous solution of iodine, which renders them gradually blue and opaque. When the difference in size and form between the globules of different species is considerable, as between the Tous les mois starch and cassava starch, or even between the arrowroot starch and cassava starch frequently used to adulterate it, it is not difficult, with a little practice, to detect the fraud.

TABLE ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE SIZE AND FORM OF THE STARCH GLOBULES OF VARIOUS PLANTS.

1. Tous-les-mois (Canna coccinea).—Grown in Grenada, 1-300 to 1-2,000 of an inch; general size, 1-500; form of the globules, large, elliptical and ovate, and remarkably transparent.

2. Ditto ditto (species unknown).—From a plant grown in the garden of the Hon. J. Croal, Georgetown, but gathered before the root was fully ripe; globules spherical, shortly ovate and elliptical; size, from 1-600 to 1-1,600; general size, 1-800.

3. Buck Yam (Dioscorea triphylla).—Grown on the banks of the Demerara River. Form of globules, elliptical, often truncated at one end, so as to be mullar-shaped, some pear-shaped; length, twice the width; size, 1-600 to 1-2,000; general size, 1-800.

4. Common Yam (D. sativa).—Grown on No. 1 Canal, Demerara River. Elliptical, some long elliptical; size, 1-700 to 1-2,000; general size, 1-1,000.

5. Guinea Yam (D. aculeata).—Grown in the same locality. Larger globules, elliptical; smaller ditto, spherical, often truncated; some shortly ovate, with the appearance of being flattened; general size and range, same as No. 4.

6. Barbados Yam, grown on banks of Demerara river. Globules, pear-shaped and mullar-shaped; range, 1-700 to 1-1,600; general size, 1-1,000.

7. Plantain (Musa paradisiaca).—Grown on the banks of the Demerara river. Globules long and narrow, generally long elliptical, often more acute at the ends than in any other species, some linear ended abruptly; length, often three times the width; range, from 1-400 to 1-4,000 of an inch; general size, 1-800.

8. Potato (Solanum tuberosum).—Irish tubers, from Belfast Sound. Globules, 1-600 to 1-2,000; general size, 1-1,200.

9. Potato (Commercial).—Locality unknown. Range from 1-600; globules generally same as former, but a few stray ones as large as 1-40 of an inch.

10. Sweet Potato (Convolvulus Batatas).—Grown at the Lodge, Demerara. Form of globules, spherical aggregated; range, 1-1,000 to 1-4,000; general size, 1-2,400.

11. Arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea).—Specimens from Bermuda, where the highest priced and best quality is prepared. Ovate and elliptical; length in the larger globules, twice the width; range, from 1-800 to 1-2,400; general size, 1-1,400.

12. Ditto ditto, grown on plantation Turkeyen, Demerara, by J.W. King. Size and description same as No. 11.

13. Ditto ditto, grown and prepared in Barbados. Characteristics the same, but globules more uniform in size.

14. Ditto ditto, grown on plantation Enmore; not quite so uniform in size.

15. Bitter Cassava (Janipha Manihot).—Grown on Haagsbosch plantation. A few globules occur as large as the 1-1,000 of an inch; these are ovate, the rest are spherical. The range is from 1-2,000 to 1-8,000; general size, 1-4,000.

16. Sweet Cassava (Janipha Loeflingii).—Grown on No. 1 Canal, Demerara River.

17. Tannia (Caladium sagittifolium).—Grown at the Lodge. Globules not so truly spherical as the foregoing, but range and size the same.

18. Wheat (Triticum sativum).—Locality unknown. Form of globules, spherical and slightly elliptical, some very small; range, 1-2,000 to 1-6,000, the former the general size.

19. Maize (Zea Mays).—Grown in the colony, but locality uncertain. Globules, approaching to spherical, much aggregated; range, 1-2,000 to 1-4,000; general size, 1-3,000.

From an inspection of this list, it does not appear that the species would be easily distinguishable, and it is not easy briefly to describe the differences; in practice, however, and especially when the observer has a number of pure and authentic specimens before him, to have recourse to as standards of comparison, the discrimination is by no means difficult.

Specific gravity of starch derived from various plants.—Of many bodies the determination of the specific gravity is one of the best modes of distinguishing the purity. With the view of ascertaining whether the different varieties of starch have all the same density, as has been asserted by some, trials were carefully made of as many specimens as I could procure. The results are embodied in the following table:—

TABLE No. I.—DENSITY OF STARCH DERIVED FROM VARIOUS PLANTS.
Names of Plants	Density	Tem. at time of Obs. °F.	Remarks
1. Bitter cassava	1.4773	87.	Grown in the colony and prepared in the Colonial Laboratory.
2. Tannia	1.4773	87.	Ditto ditto
3. Arrowroot	1.4772	86.25	Ditto ditto
4. Arrowroot	1.4748	86.25	Ditto ditto
5. Common yam	1.4733	83.25	Ditto ditto
6. Sweet potato	1.4718	85.75	Ditto ditto
7. Arrowroot	1.4717	82.75	St. Vincent's, commercial
8. Arrowroot	1.4701	84.75	Grown in the colony and prepared in C.L.
9. Tous les mois	1.4698	85.25	Ditto ditto
10. Sweet cassava	1.4692	86.5	Ditto ditto
11. Wheat starch	1.4632	85.	Commercial, of English manufacture
12. Plantain	1.4615	85.75	Grown in the colony and prepared in C.L.
13. Tous les mois	1.4611	84.25	Grenada, commercial
14. Barbados yam	1.4607	83.5	Grown in the colony and prepared in C.L.
15. Irish potato	1.4589	84.75	Tubers from Belfast; prepared in C.L.
16. Guinea yam	1.4581	84.2	Grown in the colony and prepared in C.L.
17. Potato	1.4561	84.	Commercial
18. Buck yam	1.4489	81.25	Grown in the colony and prepared in C.L.
19. Arrowroot	1.4443	85.5	Barbados, commercial
20. Arrowroot	1.4158	86.25	Bermuda, ditto
21. Maize	1.4109	85.5	Grown in the colony and prepared in C.L.

From this it will be seen that the order of density does not correspond with the order in any of the other tables. Probably those specimens prepared from dry seeds, such as wheat and maize starch, which, as commercial articles at least, are less pure than those prepared from recently dug roots, have also the lowest density.

Hygroscopic properties of starch produced from different plants.—Such of the specimens as are marked in the following table, as prepared in the colonial laboratory, were dried in the sun in shallow trays, to which they had previously been transferred in the wet state. When sun dried, the masses were broken down, and the starches freely exposed to the air in the shade for ten days. Any adherent masses were then rubbed to powder by light pressure in a glazed mortar, and the whole sifted. Portions of each of these starches, and of others for the sake of comparison, were then dried, at 212 degrees Fahrenheit, in a current of dry air, and the loss determined:—

TABLE No. II.—SHOWING THE HYGROSCOPIC WATER CONTAINED BY STARCH PRODUCED FROM DIFFERENT PLANTS.
	Percentage of water.	Remarks.
1. Potato	20.27	Commercial, locality unknown
2. Sweet potato	19.57	C., C.L.**
3. Buck yam	19.43	C., C.L.
4. Barbados yam	19.40	C., C.L.
5. Arrowroot	18.81	Bermuda, commercial
6. Irish potato	17.28	Tubers from Belfast, C.L.
7. Guinea yam	17.14	C., C.L.
8. Tous les mois	16.74	Grenada, commercial
9. Arrowroot	16.43	Barbados, ditto
10. Common yam	16.36	C., C.L.
11. Plantain	16.23	C., C.L.
12. Arrowroot	15.65	C., C.L.
13. Arrowroot	14.84	C., Plantation Enmore
14. Tous les mois	14.64	C., C.L.
15. Tannia	14.60	C., C.L.
16. Sweet cassava	14.30	C., C.L.
17. Maize	14.22	C., C.L.
18. Arrowroot	13.36	C., C.L.
19. Bitter cassava	11.88	C., C.L.
20. Wheat starch	11.16	Commercial, of English manufacture
[** The initial C. throughout these tables indicates that the plant was grown in the colony; C.L., that the starch was prepared in the colonial laboratory.]

That the extremes in this table should occur in the case of the starches of commerce, was, perhaps, to be expected; nevertheless the difference between the starch of the sweet potato and that of the bitter cassava is nearly as great, and both these specimens were prepared in the laboratory, by the same process, and subject to the same temperature and exposure.

Characters of the jellies formed by various starches.—Tenacity.—I have met with no very precise results on this subject, except the well-known fact that it takes a much larger quantity of some starches, the arrowroot for instance, to form a jelly of equal tenacity with that formed by others, such as the Tous les mois; and hence in the West Indies the latter is universally preferred to the cassava starches.

After trying various plans, the method which I found best fitted for comparing the tenacity of different starch jellies, was the following:—Of each of the kinds of starch, 24 grains were weighed out and mixed with 400 grains of distilled water, in a porcelain capsule of suitable size. The mixture was then heated and boiled briskly for three minutes, with constant stirring, and was immediately poured into a conical test-glass,[45] which the jelly nearly filled. The time at which each glass was filled was noted, and exactly two hours were allowed for the contents to cool in a current of air. The glass is then set on a plate of glass, supported on a ring of a retort stand, and the weight ascertained, which was necessary to force a metallic disc, of ascertained size, through the jelly. The most convenient way of doing this was by using a piece of apparatus of the form rudely represented on the margin. The rectangular frame is of thin brass wire, and the slightly cup-shaped disc, d d, is soldered to a wire, attached to the upper short side of the rectangle. From the opposite or lower side of the rectangle a small glass cup, c., is suspended, into which weights are put as soon as the disc has been made to rest on the surface of the jelly, pp is the plate of glass on which the test-glass is set. Whenever the disc tears the skin of the jelly and begins to sink in it, no further addition, of weights is made, and the weight of the disc, framework, and cup being known, we have an estimate of the tenacity of the jelly. This process is but approximative, and some practice is necessary before the operator succeeds in getting uniform results from the same series of specimens.

The following statement shows the results on such specimens as I could procure. The disc was exactly 7/10ths of an inch in diameter.

TABLE NO. III.—TENACITY OF STARCH IN JELLIES.
No.	Names of specimens.	Weight in grains required to break the jelly.
1.	Tous les mois, C., C.L.	2,446 *
2.	Tous les mois, Grenada, Commercial	1,742
3.	Maize, C., C.L.	955
4.	Barbados yam, C., C.L.	895
5.	Irish potato, from Belfast, C.L.	756
6.	Tannia, C., C.L.	630
7.	Bermuda arrowroot, finest Commercial	627
8.	Common yam, C., C.L.	657
9.	Guinea yam, C., C.L.	571
10.	Plantain, C., C.L.	467
11.	Potato starch, Commercial	467
12.	Arrowroot, C., C.L.	393
13.	Sweet potato, C., C.L.	368
14.	Arrowroot, C., C.L.	340
15.	Arrowroot, C.	301
16.	Arrowroot, St. Vincent's, Commercial	289
17.	Barbados arrowroot, Commercial	273
18.	Wheat starch, Commercial	183
19.	Buck yam, C., C.L.	151
20.	Bitter cassava, C., C.L.	150
21.	Sweet cassava, C., C.L.	78
[* In this instance the weight stated detached the jelly from the sideof the glass, but the skin of the jelly was not torn as in the other cases.]

From this list it is obvious that, in respect of tenacity, there is a very great difference between the jellies prepared from the different starches—greater, indeed, than exists in regard to any other character. At first I thought it probable that the tenacity of the jelly would bear some relation to the size of the globules, and it is true that we find the Grenada Tous les mois, the largest globule, next the top, and the cassava among the smallest, at the bottom of the scale. But, on the other hand, we have the Buck yam starch, a large sized globule, very high; together with many other exceptions.

As an article of diet, the most tenacious varieties of starch are preferred, on account of the economy of employing an article of which a less quantity will suffice; and the same is true when applied to starching linen, provided the jelly be not deficient in clearness.

Clearness of jellies.—When starch jelly is used for the purpose of starching, or glazing linen, or cotton goods, those varieties that are most transparent are understood to be preferred, provided, at the same time, they possess the requisite tenacity. This and other matters will be best determined by practical men in England; but having had occasion many times to prepare specimens for trying the tenacity, the opportunity was always taken of arranging the specimen of jellies in the order of their clearness, or, to speak more accurately, of their translucency. In this respect also they exhibit considerable differences, varying, when prepared according to the formula described under the head of tenacity, from very translucent approaching to opaque. The order is shown in the annexed list, which begins with the clearest.

TABLE NO. IV.—SHOWING THE ORDER OF CLEARNESS OR TRANSLUCENCY OFUNIFORMLY PREPARED STARCH JELLIES.
Order.	Names of specimens.
1.	St. Vincent Arrowroot, Commercial
2.	Arrowroot, C., C.L.
3.	Sweet cassava, C., C.L.
4.	Bitter cassava, C., C.L.
5.	Bermuda arrowroot, Coml.
6.	Arrowroot, C., C.L.
7.	Irish potato, C.L.
8.	Potato starch, Coml.
9.	Buck yam, C., C.L.
10.	Arrowroot, C.
11.	Plantain, C., C.L.
12.	Tannia, C., C.L.
13.	Sweet potato, C., C.L.
14.	Common yam, C., C.L.
15.	Tous les mois, Grenada, Cml.
16.	Barbados arrowroot, Coml.
17.	Tous les mois, C., C.L.
18.	Barbados yam, C., C.L.
19.	Guinea yam, C., C.L.
20.	Wheat starch, Coml.
21.	Maize, C., C.L.

On comparing this list with the former one, and taking a general view of the subject, it will be seen that the jellies that are most tenacious are generally the least translucent, and that the order of the two lists is more nearly the converse than occurs in regard to any other properties.

Percentage of starch yielded by different plants.—On this point no two writers do or can agree. The quantity of starch, even in the same plants, the potato for instance, varies with the season, the soil, climate, age, ripeness, length of time the roots have been out of the ground, &c.

In the following table I have given the result of a series of trials made in the Colonial Laboratory, Demerara. The roots were all fresh dug, and, with two exceptions, noticed in the remarks, were fair average specimens. The process was the common one. The grater or rasping machine was of copper, to avoid injuring the color of some of the starches, which an iron grater is liable to do:—

TABLE NO. V.—PERCENTAGE OF STARCH YIELDED BY DIFFERENT PLANTS.
No.	Names of plants.	Percentage of starch.
1.	Sweet cassava	26.92
2.	Bitter cassava	24.84
3.	Another sample	20.26
4.	A third	16.02
5.	Common yam	24.47
6.	Arrowroot (roots scarcely ripe)	21.43
7.	Another sample	17.28
8.	Barbados yam	18.75
9.	Tannia	17.05
10.	Another sample	15.35
11.	Guinea yam	17.03
12.	Plantain	16.99
13.	Sweet potato	16.31
14.	Buck yam	16.07
15.	Another sample	15.63
16.	A third, from a dark colored variety	14.83

From the foregoing list it appears that the sweet and bitter cassava merit attention as starch-producing plants. They are occasionally grown for this purpose in the colonies, and yield a large per centage of starch; but there exists an opinion, whether well or ill founded, that it is liable to rot linen, and the preference is given here to the starch of arrowroot. It remains to be seen, however, what estimate will be formed of this starch in England, for if it should prove an esteemed variety, there can be no doubt of its proving a highly profitable cultivation. Cassava grows readily in almost any soil, and when the drainage is tolerable, two crops of the sweet variety can, it is stated be grown in a year. I have seen it growing luxuriantly in the light soils of the interior, as well as in the stiff clay soils of the coasts. It is considered an excellent preparatory crop in new and stiff land, on account of its tendency to loosen the soil. Were the bitter variety fixed on, the preparation of Casareep might be combined with the preparation of starch; and as that substance is one of the most esteemed bases for the preparation of various sauces, it is probable that this might turn out the most profitable part of the produce. At all events, bitter cassava would have this advantage over all other starch-producing roots, that the juice of the roots could be turned, to account as well as the starch.

Of all the plants mentioned in the list, starch is most readily separated from the arrowroot, in consequence of the tissue being more fibrous, and yielding little or no cellular tissue requiring to be run off the starch. Time and water are thus saved in the process, and were the fibrous residue pressed and dried, it could probably be turned to good account in the manufacture of paper.

In respect of facility of preparation, the plantain starch, though of excellent quality, ranks lowest, for the flesh-colored tissue in which the starch is embedded is somewhat denser than the starch, and settles down under it, and it is not a little difficult to arrange the process so as completely to separate the finer parts of this matter from the starch, and hence its color is never perfectly white.

Yield of starch-producing plants per acre.—On this subject, as already remarked, I do not at present possess sufficiently accurate data.

In England ten tons of potatoes are not unfrequently produced per acre; now assuming 15 the per centage of starch, there would be a yield of one-and-a-half tons per acre, which, at the-lowest quotation, 28s. a cwt., would give £42 per acre; and were the starch to rank with that prepared from wheat, it would produce £40 per ton, or £60 per acre. In the thorough drained land of Demerara, and under a good system of cultivation, I have no doubt that ten tons of cassava could easily be grown, and if it yielded 25 per cent. of starch, it would be a return of 2½ tons, or of £62 10s. per acre, reckoned at the price of potato starch.

Of the yield of the plantain we possess much more accurate information. A new plantain walk in this colony (British Guiana) will yield 450 bunches, of 50 lbs. each, of which, as nearly as possible, 50 per cent. will be of core, containing 17 per cent. of starch, thus producing 17 cwt. of starch per acre. But an old plantain walk, even when free from disease, could not be reckoned to yield more than half this quantity, namely, 8½ cwt. per acre. Considering the value that is set on the plantain as an article of food, and the difficulties incident to the process of making starch from it, it is by no means probable that it will ever be used as a source from which to obtain starch.

Of the quantity of arrowroot that can be grown per acre, I have been able (continues Dr. Shier) to procure no information; but from the price it commands in the market, the facility with which it can be grown, and the ease with which the process of separating the starch can be carried on, it deserves a fair trial here. To cultivate it to advantage it ought to be done on thorough-drained and well-tilled land, planted at the proper season, and not dug till ripe and in dry weather.

Of the Tous les mois, I have only been able to procure a single plant, for which I am indebted to the kindness of the Hon. John Croal. As the root was immature, it would be unfair to deduce from the quantity of starch obtained, the per centage generally contained by the plant. Its immaturity was also indicated by the globules being smaller than in the specimen obtained from Grenada; in other respects, however, such as the tenacity of its jelly, it stands highest. It is altogether one of the most promising starch-producing plants, and obviously deserves a careful trial. It is a plant that expends a good deal of matter in maturing a considerable quantity of dense and bulky seeds, but as it propagates both by root and seed, it is probable that, as a root-crop, it would be highly advantageous to procure a variety that does not flower.

Both the tannia and the sweet potato can be readily grown, and the produce per acre is large; but from the foregoing tables it would appear that there are other plants whose starch is likely to be held in greater estimation.

Difficulties attendant on the process of preparing starch.—Were the manufacture of superior starch to be carried out in this colony (British Guiana) on a large scale and profitably, recourse would require to be had to all the well-known means of economising labor. In the cultivation as much as possible would require to be done by cattle and implement labor, and this would be the easier to accomplish, inasmuch as, to grow roots to great advantage, the land would require to be thorough drained. When the produce was brought to the buildings, machinery similar to what is already in use in Europe, for the purpose of washing and rasping roots, and of separating and washing starch, would suffice with comparatively little manual labor. An ordinary amount of judgment being exercised in determining the proper period of ripeness of the roots, and in selecting seasons when the weather is usually most suitable for conducting the process of manufacture, it does not appear that any unusual difficulty would have to be encountered by growers or manufacturers, unless as regards the obtaining of a sufficient supply of good water; for that is essential to the production of good starch.

The creek water of the colony is generally too brown, and the trench water too muddy, and contains often too much salt to produce starches of the finest color, hence recourse would require to be had to rain water, or Artesian water. The first is remarkably pure, and it certainly does not appear that were sufficiently capacious reservoirs built, or ponds dug, and protected from infiltration by the usual well-known means, there would be great difficulty in getting a sufficient supply of rain water. It is done in Bermuda, and why not here? On the other hand, almost all the Artesian wells in the colony contain a large quantity of oxide of iron held in solution by carbonic acid, and which separates as an ochrey deposit on free exposure to the air. Were this water used in the starch process, it would certainly injure the color materially; but by a chemical process, exceedingly simple, inexpensive, and easy of application, it is possible to purify the Artesian water, and render it almost as fit as rain water for the purpose of manufacturing starch.

In some of the other colonies a great deal of the best starch is produced by the holders of small lots of land, and many parts of the labor being light, and suited for women and children, it is one of the most desirable cultivations for small holders, and would be very beneficial for Demerara, where the lands of the peasantry too generally lie in a state of utter neglect; yet small holders could not be expected to be able to compete with those who should grow starch on the large scale, and prepare it with the best machinery.

Cassava meal, plantain meal, &c., as articles of export.—It may soon become an important question whether the plantain, or some of the edible roots grown in the tropics, might not be sent to Europe in a fresh state as a substitute for the potato. Many of them, the buck yam and the cassava, for instance, ought to be used when fresh dug, for every day they are out of the ground they deteriorate. This, however, is not so much the case with some of the larger yams. It is worth trying whether the finer sorts that deteriorate by keeping, might not, after being sliced and dried in the sun, become articles of export, either in that state or when ground to meal. For this purpose the bitter cassava, the plantain, and the buck yam are the most promising.

Of the bitter cassava mention has already been made as a substance from which the starch and casareep might be prepared. In this case, however, the woody and cellular tissue, with the small quantity of starch left in it by the ordinary starch process, would form far too poor an article of diet to constitute part of the food of man. But the roots might be used as a medium from which to prepare cassava meal, casareep, and the very small quantity of starch which is expressed along with the juice, leaving all the rest of the starch to form part of the meal. It is of such meal that the cassava cakes of the Indians are prepared; and although by no means so nutritive as Indian corn meal[46], there can be little doubt that in the Scotch and Irish markets the cassava meal would obtain a preference; and were it exported in quantity it would probably come into extensive use among all classes.

The process would be as follows:—After washing in a revolving apparatus, by which means the adherent earth would be got quit of, and almost the whole of the thin dark colored cuticle become detached, the roots could be reduced to pulp in a rasping-mill, without the use of water; the pulp might be compressed in bags by hydraulic pressure, whereby the juice, together with a small portion of the starch, would be expressed. After allowing the starch to subside, the juice should be concentrated to about the density of 1.4. The starch would be washed, purified, and dried. The contents of the bags would then be broken up and dried in the sun or in a current of air, after which the meal would be sifted through a coarse sieve to separate the coarser parts, which, if their amount was considerable, could be ground and added to the rest. In this state of rough meal it is fit for making the cassava cakes. If ground to flour it might be used to mix with wheat, rye, or barley flour.

The process is usually conducted as follows:—The squeezed pulp is broken up, sifted, and exposed to the sun on trays or mats till it is fully more than half dry. An iron hoop of the size and thickness of the cake to be made is then laid on a griddle or hot plate, and the space within the hoop is filled evenly with the somewhat moist meal, no previous kneading or rolling having been employed. As soon as the coarse meal coheres, the ring is lifted and the cake is turned and heated on the opposite side. The heat should not be sufficient to brown the cake. The cakes are finally dried by exposure to the sun. From the dry cassava meal cakes may be prepared by sprinkling it with as much cold water as to moisten it to the proper point, and then proceeding as above. Hot water cannot be employed, neither can kneading, or any considerable degree of compression be used, otherwise the water does not evaporate readily enough; the starch gets too much altered by the heat, and the cake becomes tough.

If an acre of well-tilled thorough-drained land yield 10 tons of fresh roots, and I have every reason to believe that such a return might be obtained, I have ascertained that the produce would be 3½ tons of meal, 598 lbs. of casareep, and 2 cwt. of starch; and estimating the meal at 1d. per lb., the casareep at 1s. 5d. per lb., and the starch at 40s. per cwt., the gross amount would be £78 13s. 4d. per acre. In ascertaining these proportions, very simple machinery was employed, and had the pulp been better pressed the quantity of casareep would have been considerably greater.

From the table given in a former note it will be seen that the cassava meal prepared in this way contains but a very small proportion of matter nutritive in the sense of contributing to the formation of blood, and that the expressed juice carries off fully one-half of the proteine compounds contained in the plant.

Lichenin is a variety of starch occurring in Cetraria islandica, or Iceland moss.

Indian corn starch.—The advance of science has recently brought to our knowledge the preparation and use of another article, not only important as food, but also essential in the arts. I have had occasion to mention the high value of the Indian corn, and I might with advantage allude to many of its uses and properties; at present I must confine my remarks to a product from this valuable grain, known as corn starch, and yet another as the fecula of maize. In the close of 1849, Mr. Willard and his associates, of Auburn, established extensive works at Oswego, for the preparation of these important products, their establishment covering an area of 49,000 square feet. As the proprietors have to some extent held unrevealed the process by which they produce a starch more pure than the starch of commerce, we may not indulge in speculative curiosity; yet I can hardly doubt their great success is mainly attributable to perfect machinery, guided by science and talent. The rapid and extended demand for these new products presents sufficient evidence of their character, as we are told that about three millions of pounds of this corn starch are demanded annually by the trade, notwithstanding the usual supply of wheat starch is undiminished. A remarkable feature of maize starch is the absence of impurities; upon being subjected to analysis, it is found that only 2 76-100 parts in 1000 are of other matter than pure starch. According to Dr. Ure, wheat yields only 35 to 40 per cent, of good starch, a material extensively used in arts and manufactures.

In addition to starch, the Oswego starch-factory produces from Indian corn a fecula, peculiarly adapted to culinary purposes, presenting to our domestic economy one of the most acceptable, pure, and nutritious articles of food. Already has it become an indispensable household article, and is consumed largely at home and abroad. The factory, though in its infancy, consumes annually 150,000 bushels of corn, equal to about nine millions of pounds in weight. Hitherto the quantities of starch used for laundry purposes and in the manufactories of America, have been produced from costly wheats, though it may be found in many vegetable substances, such as potatoes, the horse chesnut and other seeds. In England, where breadstuffs, particularly wheat, have been raised in quantities inadequate to the demand for food, attempts have been made to convert the viscid matter of lichens into a gum, for the use of calico printers, paper-makers, and ink makers; for the stiffening of silks, crapes, and the endless variety of dry goods, which, by means of these gums or starch, are made to appear of greater consistency. Most of these attempts had partial success, yet the making of starch from wheat has not been arrested.

The Oswego starch factory has happily introduced the use of Indian corn, as a grain producing a larger proportion of pure amylaceous properties than any other known vegetable substance, proffering to the American manufacturer another economic advantage, sustaining, in a most legitimate matter, sound rivalry and competition with all the world. I am not aware whether the Oswego factory has converted its starch into gum—a process easily accomplished by heat, and thus rendered soluble in cold water, which cannot be done while in its condition of starch. Here is another result of vast importance derivable from Indian corn; and we can well conceive that, in a short period of time, the advantages now derived from the production of corn starch, may have grown into a national benefit.

Rice (according to Prof. Solly) contains on an average about 84 per cent of starch; but till comparatively a few years ago, no starch was manufactured from it, notwithstanding its low price, and the large quantity of starch which exists in it. The reason of this was, that the old process of fermentation, by means of which starch is procured from grain, was not found to be applicable to rice; and hence the latter only became available as a source of starch in 1840, when Mr. Orlando Jones introduced his new process, for which he obtained a patent. This process consisted in macerating the rice for about 20 hours in a dilute solution of caustic potash, containing about 200 grains of the alkali in every gallon; the liquor is then drawn off, the rice dried, reduced to powder by grinding, then a second time digested in a similar alkaline lye for 24 hours, repeatedly agitated. After this it is allowed to settle, and well washed with pure cold water. A prize medal was awarded for this rice starch at the Great Exhibition.

Mr. S. Berger, of Bromley, also received a prize medal. He adopts a different mode of preparation. In place of employing a dilute solution of caustic potash to dissolve the gluten and other insoluble matters of the grain, Mr. Berger uses a solution of carbonate of soda, containing half a pound to the gallon. The rice is steeped, in cold water for 48 hours, levigated in a suitable mill, and the pulp thus formed is treated with the solution of carbonate of soda for 60 or 70 hours, being repeatedly stirred; it is then allowed to settle for some hours, the alkaline liquor is drawn off, and the starch is washed and purified. This process was patented by Mr. Berger, in December, 1841. A third process was patented in February, 1842, by Mr. J. Colman; he uses dilute muriatic acid for the same purpose as Messrs Jones and Berger.

ARROWROOT, EAST AND WEST INDIAN.

The genuine arrowroot of commerce is the produce of the tuberous rhizomata of Maranta arundinacea, a native of South America, and M. indica, indigenous to the West Indies, but also cultivated in the East. The best West Indian arrowroot comes from Bermuda. Its globules are much smaller and less glistening than those of Tous-les-mois, or potato starch.

The peculiar characteristics of the starch obtained from various plants has been particularised and described already in the elaborate investigation of the commercial yield and value of the starch-producing plants. Amylaceous matter of a similar kind to arrowroot is obtained from other species of Maranta, as from some species of Canna, well known under the popular name of Indian shot, from the similarity of their round black seeds.

The arrowroot plant (M. arundinacea) is a perennial, its root is fleshy and creeping, and very full of knots and numerous long white fibres. Arising from the root are many leaves, spear-shaped, smooth on the upper surface and hairy beneath. The length of the leaf is about six or seven inches, and the breadth about three towards their base, the color and consistence resembling those of the seed. From the root arise slender petioles upon which the leaves stand, and several herbaceous erect stalks come out between them, rising to the height of about two feet. A loose bunch of small white flowers is succeeded by three-cornered capsules, each containing one hard rough seed.

The propagation and culture of this plant are of the simplest kinds. The roots should be parted, and the most suitable soil is a rich loam.

In the Bermudas, a deep rich soil, or one in which marsh or peat prevail, is alone adapted for growing arrowroot in perfection.

A correspondent from the Bermudas, (where arrowroot forms the great staple crop of the islands), informs me that he ploughed up a small piece of land, twenty rods (or the eighth part of an acre), with a small plough and one horse. He ploughed it over three times, and the third time planted the arrowroot as he ploughed it. The land had not been turned up before for twenty years.

The expenses and profits stand thus:—

EXPENSE.
				£.	s.	d.
To the ploughman, harrowing and planting the arrowroot				1	0	0
Arrowroot plants					16	0
Digging it up	£1	0	0
Deduct half, as the land was planted for the next year	0	10	0	0	10	0
Balance carried down, being net profit				5	14	0
				8	0	0
PRODUCE.
By 2,000 lbs. of root at 8s. per 100 lbs.				8	0	0
By balance brought down as net profit				5	14	0

The above £5 14s. clear profit on the 20 rods, is at the rate of £45 12s. profit for one acre. Now, if a small cultivator were to plant three or four acres, and get only one-half of the above profit, it would give a good return, and would be well worth the trial.

Arrowroot requires a good rich red soil, of which there is still much lying waste. The best time for planting it is in April, but it can be planted in March, or indeed at any time after the first of the year, till May: though if taken up and planted before Christmas, you may depend it will not come to any perfection. Arrowroot can be planted in many ways; either in holes made with a hoe, ploughed under, or in drills like Irish potatoes. Now the way I prefer is to prepare the land, then strike the line at two feet apart, and make holes with a pointed stick or dibble six inches apart, putting in each hole one strong plant or two small ones, then cover them up. This is more trouble than the old way, but it gives an excellent crop. It can also be planted like Irish potatoes in drills, two feet apart in the rows, and six inches between the plants. It should be hand-weeded in the spring, because if it is hoed, most likely you will cut some of it off which may be springing under ground, and it will never come up so strong again. Arrowroot requires very strong ground and plenty of manure. Farm yard manure is the best; next to that green seaweed dripping with salt water—this is an excellent manure, and should be dug in the ground as the arrowroot is taken up. I have no doubt that it would be of great advantage to the planter, if he were to put a cask in a cart, fill it with salt water, and put it on the land a few weeks before it is planted. Some people say that arrowroot does not pay so well, because it has to stay in the ground a whole year; but then if you have onions you can plant them over it, and so obtain a crop which will pay much better than the arrowroot itself. If you have a large piece of arrowroot ground, take up one half early, and plant it out with Irish potatoes; then take up the other half later, and with the plants set out your potato ground, that is if you have taken up your potatoes; if not, plant the arrowroot between the rows, in holes; so that when you take up the potatoes, you clean the arrowroot and loosen the ground, which will give a good crop; or you can plant Indian corn very thin over the arrowroot ground (if you have nothing else), but be sure to cut it up before it ripens corn, or it will injure your arrowroot crop; or you may plant a few melon seeds over it, and you will have a fine crop of fruit.

In 1845 I planted, in the months of January and February, a quarter of an acre of good land, in arrowroot and onions.

The expense and profit stand as follow.—

EXPENSE
	£.	s.	d.
To digging the ground	1	0	0
Planting arrowroot	0	6	0
Twelve load of seaweed, at 1s.	0	12	0
Rotten manure for onions, 10 loads, at 2s.	1	0	0
One bottle onion seed	0	16	0
Sowing onion seed and keeping the plants clean	0	10	0
Planting out onions	1	0	0
Cleaning onions after set out	0	15	0
Tops and making basket	1	8	0
Pulling, cutting, and basketing	0	18	0
Carting and shipping	0	8	0
Digging arrowroot	2	0	0
	10	13	0
Clear profit on quarter acre	22	13	9
	33	6	9
PRODUCE
By onions sold	20	16	0
By arrowroot	12	10	9
	33	6	9

This is at the rate of £90 15s. clear profit per acre, which is more than double the worth of the land. I have not named the arrowroot plants, because I have planted my land with them again, but they might be fairly put to the credit of the account. The above statement shows what may be done with good land and good management; but even if a man can only clear £10 on an acre of land, he ought not to grumble.

Dr. Ure gives a most interesting and lucid account of the mode of manufacture in the island of St. Vincent, where the plant is now cultivated with great success, and the root manufactured in a superior manner.

It grows there to the height of about three feet, and it sends down its tap root from twelve to eighteen inches into the ground. Its maturity is known by the flagging and falling down of the leaves, an event which takes place when the plant is from ten to twelve months' old. The roots being dug up with the hoe, are transported to the washing-house, where they are thoroughly freed from all adhering earth, and next taken individually into the hand and deprived, by a knife, of every portion of their skins, while every unsound part is cut away. This process must be performed with great nicety, for the cuticle contains a resinous matter, which imparts color and a disagreeable flavor to the fecula, which no subsequent treatment can remove. The skinned roots are thrown into a large cistern, with a perforated bottom, and there exposed to the action of a copious cascade of pure water, till this runs off quite unaltered. The cleansed roots are next put into the hopper of a mill, and are subjected to the powerful pressure of two pairs of polished rollers of hard brass; the lower pair of rollers being set much closer together than the upper. The starchy matter is thus ground into a pulp, which falls into the receiver placed beneath, and is thence transferred to large fixed copper cylinders, tinned inside, and perforated at the bottom with numerous minute orifices, like a kitchen drainer. Within these cylinders, wooden paddles are made to revolve with great velocity, by the power of a water-wheel, at the same time that a stream of pure water is admitted from above. The paddle-arms beat out the fecula from the fibres and parenchyma of the pulp, and discharge it in the form of a milk through the perforated bottom of the cylinder. This starchy water runs along pipes, and then through strainers of fine muslin into large reservoirs, where, after the fecula has subsided, the supernatant water is drawn off, and fresh water being let on, the whole is agitated and left again to repose. This process of ablution is repeated till the water no longer acquires anything from the fecula. Finally, all the deposits of fecula of the day's work are collected into one cistern, and being covered and agitated with a fresh change of water, are allowed to settle till next morning. The water being now let off, the deposit is skimmed with palette knives of German silver, to remove any of the superficial parts, in the slightest degree colored; and only the lower, purer, and denser portion is prepared by drying for the market.

On the Hopewell estate, in St. Vincent, where the chief improvements have been carried out, the drying-house is constructed like the hot-house of an English garden. But instead of plants it contains about four dozen of drying pans, made of copper, 7½ feet by 4½ feet, and tinned inside. Each pan is supported on a carriage having iron axles, with lignum vitæ wheels, like those of a railway carriage, and they run on rails. Immediately after sunrise, these carriages, with their pans, covered with white gauze to exclude dust and insects, are run out into the open air, but if rain be apprehended they are run back under the glazed roof. In about four days the fecula is thoroughly dry and ready to be packed, with German silver shovels, into tins or American flour barrels, lined with paper, attached with arrowroot paste. The packages are never sent to this country in the hold of the ship, as their contents are easily tainted by noisome effluvia, of sugar, &c.

Arrowroot is much more nourishing than the starch of wheat or potatoes, and the flavor is purer. The fresh, root consists, according to Benzon, of 0.07 of volatile oil; 26 of starch (23 of which are obtained in the form of powder, while the other 3 must be extracted from the parenchyma in a paste, by boiling water); 1.48 of vegetable albumen; 0.6 of a gummy extract; 0.25 of chloride of calcium; 6 of insoluble fibrine; and 65.6 of water.

Arrowroot is often adulterated in this country with potato flour and other ingredients.

Dr. Lankester asserts that the value of arrowroot starch, as an article of diet, is not greater than that of potato starch, and that the yield of starch is not greater from the arrowroot than from potatoes; but this I must decidedly deny. Chemical analysis and experience are proofs to the contrary.

The analogy arrowroot has to potato starch, has induced many persons to adulterate the former substance with it; and not only has this been done, but I have known instances in which potato starch alone has been sold for the genuine foreign article. There is no harm in this, to a certain extent; but it certainly is a very great fraud upon the public (and one for which the perpetrators ought to be most severely punished), to sell so cheap an article at the same price as one which is comparatively costly. There is, moreover, in potato starch, a peculiar taste, bringing to mind that of raw potatoes, from which the genuine arrowroot is entirely free. This fraud, however, can be readily detected; arrowroot is not quite so white as potato starch, and its grains are smaller, and have a pearly and very brilliant lustre; and further, it always contains peculiar clotted masses, more or less large, which have been formed by the adhesion of a multitude of grains during the drying. These masses crush very readily when pressed between the fingers, and as before stated, arrowroot is free from that peculiar odor due to potato starch. This may be most readily developed by mixing the suspected sample with hot water; if it be genuine arrowroot, the mixture is inodorous, if potato starch, the smell of raw potatoes is immediately developed. If a mixture of arrowroot and potato starch be minutely observed by means of a good microscope, the grains of arrowroot may be readily detected; they are very small and exceedingly regular in shape, whilst those of potato starch are much larger, and very irregular in shape. But the most convenient and delicate test of all, is that proposed by Dr. Scharling, of Copenhagen. After mentioning the test by the microscope, he goes on to state that he has obtained more favorable results by employing diluted nitric acid; and that, if arrowroot or potato starch be mixed with about two parts of concentrated nitric acid, both will immediately assume a tough gelatinous state. This mass, when potato starch is employed, is almost transparent, and when arrowroot is used, is nearly opaque, as in the case above mentioned, in which hydrochloric acid is substituted. A mixture of nitric acid and water, however, operates very differently on these two kinds of starch. The glutinous mass yielded by the potato starch, becomes in a very brief period so tough that the pestle employed for stirring the mixture is sufficiently agglutinated to the mortar, that the latter may be lifted from the table by its means. Arrowroot, on the other hand, requires from twenty-five to thirty minutes to acquire a like tenacity.

The Lancet recently stated that, on a microscopical analysis of 50 samples of arrowroot, purchased indiscriminately of various London tradesmen, 22 were found to be adulterated. In 16 cases this adulteration consisted in the addition of a single inferior product much cheaper in price, such as potato flour, sago meal, or tapioca starch, while in other instances there was a combination of these articles, potato flour being usually preponderant. Ten of the mixtures contained scarcely a particle of the genuine Maranta or West India arrowroot, for which they were sold. One consisted almost wholly of sago meal; two of potato flour and sago meal; two of potato flour, sago meal, and tapioca starch; one of tapioca starch; and four of potato arrowroot, or starch entirely. The worst specimens were those which were done up in canisters especially marked as "Genuine West India arrowroot," or as being "warranted free from adulteration;" and one, which contained a considerable quantity of potato flour, was particularly recommended to invalids, and certified as the finest quality ever imported into this country. The profits to the vendors of the inferior compounds are to be estimated from the fact that the price of sago meal and potato starch is about 4d. per lb., while the genuine Maranta arrowroot is from 1s. to 3s. 6d. per lb.

The arrowroot of Bermuda has long borne a high reputation, being manufactured on a better principle and being therefore of superior quality to that produced in Antigua, St. Vincent, and other West Indian islands. The process is tedious and requires a good deal of labor. There is no doubt, however, that the quality of the water has a great deal of influence on the fecula. Bermuda arrowroot is necessarily made from rain water collected in tanks or reservoirs, and the lime and the deposit from houses, &c., may alter its properties. After the root is taken from the ground it is placed in a mill, and is thereby cleansed of its exterior excrescences; it is then thoroughly washed, when it is ready for the large machine, the principle of which is similar to the "treadmill." A horse is placed on something like a platform, and as he prances up and down, the machinery is set in play. A person stands at the end, and places the root in the wheel of the machine, which, after being ground, falls into a trough of water. After going through this process, it is rewashed and then placed in vessels to dry in the sun. It is packed in boxes lined with blue paper or tin, and sent to the markets in England and America, where it generally meets with ready sale.

At a meeting of the Agricultural Society of Bermuda, held in May, 1840, Mr. W.M. Cox submitted a new arrowroot strainer which he had invented. It consists of two cloth strainers fixed to hoops from 15 to 20 inches in diameter. The strainers working one within the other, are kept in motion by a lever, moved by hand. The whole apparatus is not an expensive one, and is well adapted for aiding the manufacture of arrowroot upon an expeditious and economical plan.

A simple method by which starch may be extracted from the fecula with much purity consists in enclosing the flour in a muslin bag and squeezing it with the fingers while submerged in clean water, by which process the starch passes out in a state of white powder and subsides. Two essential constituents of flour are thus separated from each other; a viscid substance remains in the bag, which is called gluten, and the white powder deposited is starch.

The principal quarters from whence the supply is derived, are the Bermudas, St. Vincent, Barbados and Grenada, in the West Indies; Ceylon, and some other parts of the East—and a few of our settlements on the West coast of Africa. The annual imports for home consumption average 500 tons.

The cultivation of arrowroot for the production of starch in St. Vincent has increased enormously of late years. In 1835, the island produced 41,397 lbs.; in 1845 it exported 828,842 lbs. The exports to 15th June, 1851, were, 2,934 barrels, 2,083 half barrels, 5,610 tins. The culture is year by year extending, and as, unlike that of the sugar cane, it may be carried on on a small scale with very little outlay of capital, we may reasonably anticipate a still further progressive extension for some years to come. Arrowroot, when once established in virgin soil, produces several crops with very little culture. In the first half of 1851, 25,027 lbs. were shipped from Montego Bay, Jamaica. The quantity of arrowroot on which duty of 1s. per cwt. was paid in the six years ending 1840, was as follows:—

	Cwts.
1835	3,581
1836	3,280
1837	2,858
1838	2,538
1839	2,264
1840	2,124

The imports in the last few years have been in

	Cwt.
1847	8,040
1848	10,580
1849	9,252
1850	15,980
1851

About 500 cwt. are re-exported.

East India arrowroot is procured in part from Curcuma angustifolia, known locally as Tikoor in the East, and a similar kind of starch is yielded by C. Zerumbet, C. rubescens, C. leucorhiza, and Alpinia Galanga, the Galangale root of commerce. C. angustifolia grows abundantly on the Malabar coast, and is cultivated about the districts of Patna, Sagur and the south-west frontier, Mysore, Vizigapatam, and Canjam, Cochin and Tellicherry. It was discovered but a few years ago growing wild in the forests extending from the banks of the Sona to Nugpore.

The particles of East India arrowroot are very unequal in size, but on the average are larger than those of West India arrowroot.

Dr. Taylor, in his Topography of Dacca, speaks of fecula or starch being obtained from the Egyptian lotus (Nymphæa lotus), which is used by the native practitioners as a substitute for arrowroot.

Chinese arrowroot is said to be made from the root of Nelumbium speciosum.

The original Indian arrowroot is extracted at Travancore, according to Ainslie, from the root of the Curcuma angustifolia. It is easily distinguished by its form, which is sometimes ovoid, sometimes elongated, of considerable size, rounded at one of the extremities, and terminating in a point at the other, often resembling a grain of rice.

The manufacture of arrowroot on the southern borders of the Everglades, at Key West, Florida, bids fair to become as extensive and as profitable as at Bermuda, whence, at present, we receive the bulk of our supplies. The wild root, which the Indians call Compti, grows spontaneously over an immense area of otherwise barren land. It is easily gathered, and is first peeled in large hoppers ingeniously contrived, and thrown into a cylinder and ground into an impalpable pulp. It is then washed and dried in the sun, baked and broken into small lumps, when it is ready for the market. The article is extensively used in the Eastern woollen and cotton establishments, as well as for family use. Arrowroot is cultivated in the interior of East Florida with great success. It is also cultivated to a considerable extent in Georgia, and is, I understand, a profitable crop.

The following is the process of manufacture:—The roots, when a year old, are dug up, and beaten in deep wooden mortars to a pulp; which is then put into a tub of clean water, well washed, and the fibrous part thrown away. The milky liquor being passed through a sieve or coarse cloth, is suffered to settle, and the clean water is drawn off; at the bottom of the vessel is a white mass, which is again mixed with clean water, and drained; lastly the mass is dried in the sun, and is pure starch. Arrowroot can be kept without spoiling for a very long time.

A considerable quantity of arrowroot is now produced in the Sandwich Islands. In 1841 arrowroot to the value of 3,320 dolls. was shipped, and in 1843, 35,140 lbs., valued at £1,405, was exported, principally to Tepic and San Blas, where it is used as starch for linen.

A kind of arrowroot of very good quality was sent to the Great Exhibition of 1851, by Sir R. Schomburgk, which is obtained in St. Domingo from the stems of a species of Zamia, called there Guanjiga; and the Zamia Australis, of Western Australia, yields even better fecula. The taste was unpleasant and salt, as if it had been immersed in lime. The other starch, from the Western Australian Zamia, in quality rivalled arrowroot. This fecula hangs together in chains, quite unlike the ordinary appearance of arrowroot when seen under the microscope.

The following figures show the exports of arrowroot from Bermuda:—

	lbs.	Value of the exports.
1830	18,174	—
1831	77,153	—
1832	34,833	—
1833	44,651	—
1834	54,471	—
1835	65,500	—
1836	—	—
1841	91,230	—
1842	136,610	—
1843	151,757	£8,682
1844	173,275	10,974
1845	224,480	8,084
1847	—	4,716
1848	—	4,747
1849	—	6,760
1850	854,329	—

In the spring of 1851, 201,130 lbs. were shipped from Bermuda.

In 1843 the quantity of arrowroot in the rough state made in Bermuda was 1,110,500 lbs.

ARROWROOT EXPORTED FROM ANTIGUA TO
	Great Britain	B. N. America	B.W. Indies
	Boxes	Boxes	Boxes
1835	1,075	20	—
1836	581	43	—
1837	100	42	—
1838	472	20	—
1839	682	—	32
1840	453	—	30
1841	289	—	10
1842	582	—	—
1843	744	—	—
1844	376	—	—
1845	402	5	—

Barbados exported in 1832, 16,814 lbs., value £469; in 1840, 387 packages; in 1843, 302; in 1844, 790 packages; in 1851, 306 packages; these average about 30 lbs. each.

Ceylon now produces excellent arrowroot. In 1842, 150 boxes were exported; in 1843, 200; in 1844, 300; in 1845, 600 boxes.

From Africa we now import a large quantity: 250 boxes were received in 1846. Not unfrequently arrowroot from Africa has been sent to the West Indies in the ships with the liberated Africans, and thence re-exported to England, as of St. Vincent or Bermuda growth. The duty on arrowroot, under the new tariff, is equalised on all kinds to 4½d. per lb.

The imports and home consumption of arrowroot have increased very largely, as may be seen from the following figures:—

	Imports	Retained for home consumption
	lbs.	lbs.
1826	318,830	358,007
1830	449,723	516,587
1834	837,811	735,190
1835	287,966	895,406
1838	404,738	434,574
1839	303,489	224,792
1840	408,469	330,490
1841	—	454,893
1842	890,736	846,832
1846	905,072	981,120
1847	1,185,968	1,211,168
1848	906,304	933,744
1849	1,036,185	1,032,992
1850	1,789,774	1,414,669
1851	2,083,681	1,848,778
1852	2,139,390	2,024,316

SALEP is the prepared and dried roots of several orchideous plants, and is sometimes sold in the state of powder. Indigenous salep is procured, according to Dr. Perceval from Orchis mascula, O. latifolia, O. morio, and other native plants of this order. On the continent it is obtained from O. papilionaceo, and militaris. Oriental salep is procured from other orchideœ. Professor Royle states that the salep of Kashmir is obtained from a species of Eulophia, probably E. virens. Salep is also obtained from the tuberous roots of Tacca pinnatifida, and other species of the same genus, which are principally natives of the East Indies and the South Sea Islands.

The large fleshy tubers of tacca, when scraped and frequently washed, yield a nutritious fecula resembling arrowroot.

Salep consists chiefly of bassorin, some soluble gum, and a little starch. It forms an article of diet fitted for convalescents when boiled with water or milk. The price of salep is about eight guineas per cwt. in the London market. A little is exported from Constantinople, as I noticed a shipment of 66 casks in 1842; excellent specimens from this quarter were shown in the Egyptian department of the Great Exhibition in 1851. It was formerly a great deal used, but has latterly been much superseded by other articles.

Major D. Williams ("Journal of the Agri. and Hort. Soc. of India," vol. iv., part I), states that the tacca plant abounds in certain parts of the province of Arracan, where the Mugs prepare the farina for export to the China market.

After removing the peel, the root is grated on a fish-skin, and the pulp having been strained through a coarse cloth, is washed three or four times in water, and then dried in the sun.

According to a recent examination of the plant by Mr. Nuttall ("American Journal of Pharmacy," vol. ix., p. 305), the Otaheite salep is obtained from a new species of tacca, which he names T. oceanica.

For many years we have obtained from Tahiti, and other islands of the South Seas, this fecula, known by the name of Tahiti arrowroot, probably the produce of Tacca pinnatifida. It is generally spherical, but also often ovoid, elliptic, or rounded, with a prolongation in the form of a neck, suddenly terminated by a plane.

The tacca plant grows at Zanzibar, and is found naturalised on the high islands of the Pacific. The art of preparing arrowroot from it is aboriginal with the Polynesians and Feejeeans.

At Tahiti the fecula is procured by washing the tubers, scraping off their outer skin, and then reducing them to a pulp by friction, on a kind of rasp, made by winding coarse twine (formed of the coco-nut fibre) regularly round a board. The pulp is washed with sea water through a sieve, made of the fibrous web which protects the young frond of the coco-nut palm. The strained liquor is received in a wooden trough, in which the fecula is deposited; and the supernatant liquor being poured off, the sediment is formed into balls, which are dried in the sun for twelve or twenty-four hours, then broken and reduced to powder, which is spread out in the sun further to dry. In some parts of the world cakes of a large size are made of the meal, which form an article of diet in China, Cochin-Caina, Travancore, &c., where they are eaten by the natives with some acid to subdue their acrimony.

Some twenty varieties of the Ti plant (Diacaena terminalis) are cultivated in the Polynesian islands. There is, however, but one which is considered farinaceous and edible. In Java the root is considered a valuable medicine in dysentery.

Within the last three or four years, considerable quantities of a feculent substance, called Tous les mois, have been imported from the West Indies. It is cultivated in Barbados, St. Kitts, and the French islands, and is said to be prepared by a tedious and troublesome process from the rhizomes of various species of Canna Coccinea, Achiras, glauca, and edulis. It approaches more nearly to potato starch than to any other fecula, but its particles are larger. Like the other amylaceous substances, it forms a valuable and nutritious article of food for the invalid.

The large tuberous roots of the Canna are equal in size to the human head. The plant attains in rich soils a stature of fourteen feet, and is identical, it is supposed, with the Achira of Choco, which has an esculent root highly esteemed; and my friend, Dr. Hamilton, of Plymouth, has named it provisionally, in consequence, Canna achira. The starch of this root, he asserts, is superior to that of the Maranta.

ROOT CROPS.

Amongst tuberous rooted plants, which serve as food for man in various quarters of the globe, the principal are the common potato, yam, cocoes or eddoes, sweet potatoes, taro, tacca, arrowroot, cassava, or manioc, and the Apios (Arracacha esculenta). There are others of less importance, which may be incidentally mentioned. The roots of Tropæolum tuberosum are eaten in Peru, those of Ocymum tuberosum in Java. In Kamschatka they use the root of the Lilium Pomponium as a substitute for the potato. In Brazil the Helianthus tuberosus. The rhizomæ and seed vessels of the Lotus form the principal food of the aborigines of Australia. As a matter of curious information, I have also briefly alluded to many other plants and roots, furnishing farinaceous substance and support in different countries.

The comparative amount of human food that can be produced upon an acre from different crops, is worthy of great consideration. One hundred bushels of Indian corn per acre is not an uncommon crop. One peck per week will not only sustain life, but give a man strength to labor, if the stomach is properly toned to the amount of food. This, then, would feed one man 400 weeks, or almost eight years! 400 bushels of potatoes can also be raised upon an acre. This would give a bushel a week for the same length of time; and the actual weight of an acre of sweet potatoes (Convolvulus batatas) is 21,344 lbs., which is not considered an extraordinary crop. This would feed a man (six pounds a day) for 3,557 days, or nine and two-third years!

To vary the diet we will occasionally give rice, which has been grown at the rate of 93 bushels to the acre, over an entire field. This, at 45 lbs. to the bushel, would be 4,185 lbs.; or, at 28 lbs. to the bushel when husked, 2,604 lbs., which, at two pounds a day, would feed a man 1,302 days, or more than three-and-a-half years!

POTATOES.

The common English or Irish potato (Solanum tuberosum), so extensively cultivated throughout most of the temperate countries of the civilised globe, contributing as it does to the necessities of a large portion of the human race, as well as to the nourishment and fattening of stock, is regarded as of but little less importance in our national economy than wheat or other grain. It has been found in an indigenous state in Chili, on the mountains near Valparaiso and Mendoza; also near Monte Video, Lima, Quito, as well as in Santa Fe de Bogota, and more recently in Mexico, on the flanks of Orizaba.

The history of this plant, in connection with that of the sweet potato, is involved in obscurity, as the accounts of their introduction into Europe are somewhat conflicting, and often they appear to be confounded with one another. The common kind was doubtless introduced into Spain in the early part of the sixteenth century, from the neighbourhood of Quito, where, as well as in all Spanish countries, the tubers are known as papas. The first published account of it we find on record is in "La Cronica del Peru," by Pedro de Cieca, printed at Seville, in 1553, in which it is described and illustrated by an engraving. From Spain it appears to have found its way into Italy, where it assumed the same name as the truffle. It was received by Clusius, at Vienna, in 1598, in whose time it spread rapidly in the South of Europe, and even into Germany. It is said to have found its way to England by a different route, having been brought from Virginia by Raleigh colonists, in 1586, which would seem improbable, as it was unknown in North America at that time, either wild or cultivated; and besides, Gough, in his edition of Camden's "Britannia," says it was first planted by Sir Walter Raleigh, on his estate at Youghal, near Cork, and that it was cultivated in Ireland before its value was known in England. Gerarde, in his "Herbal," published in 1597, gives a figure of this plant, under the name of Batata Virginiana, to distinguish it from the Batata edulis, and recommends the root to be eaten as a "delicate dish," but not as a common food. "The sweet potato," says Sir Joseph Banks, "was used in England as a delicacy, long before the introduction of our potatoes. It was imported in considerable quantities from Spain and the Canaries, and was supposed to possess the power of restoring decayed vigor." It is related that the common potato was accidentally introduced into England from Ireland, at a period somewhat earlier than that noticed by Gerarde, in consequence of the wreck of a vessel on the coast of Lancashire, which had a quantity on board. In 1663 the Royal Society of England took measures for the cultivation of this vegetable, with the view of preventing famine.

Notwithstanding its utility as a food became better known, no high character was attached to it; and the writers on gardening towards the end of the seventeenth century, a hundred years or more after its introduction, treated of it rather indifferently. "They are much used in Ireland and America as bread," says one author, "and may be propagated with advantage to poor people."

The famous nurserymen, Loudon and Wise, did not consider it worthy of notice in their "Complete Gardener," published in 1719. But its use gradually spread as its excellencies became better understood. It was near the middle of the last century before it was generally known either in Britain or North America, since which it has been most extensively cultivated.

The period of the introduction of the common potato into the British North American colonies, is not precisely known. It is mentioned among the products of Carolina and Virginia in 1749, and by Kalm as growing in New York the same year.

The culture of this root extends through the whole of Europe, a large portion of Asia, Australia, the southern and northern parts of Africa, and the adjacent islands. On the American continent, with the exception of some sections of the torrid zone, the culture ranges from Labrador on the east, and Nootka Sound on the west, to Cape Horn. It resists more effectually than the cereals the frosts of the north. In the North American Union it is principally confined to the Northern, Middle, and Western States, where, from the coolness of the climate it acquires a farinaceous consistence highly conducive to the support of animal life. It has never been extensively cultivated in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, probably from the greater facility of raising the sweet potato, its more tropical rival. Its perfection, however, depends as much upon the soil as on the climate in which it grows; for in the red loam, on the banks of Bayou Bœuf, in Louisiana, where the land is new, it is said that tubers are produced as large, savory, and as free from water as any raised in other parts of the world. The same may be said of those grown at Bermuda, Madeira, the Canaries, and numerous other ocean isles.

The chief varieties cultivated in the Northern States of America are the carter, the kidneys, the pink-eyes, the mercer, the orange, the Sault Ste. Marie, the merino, and Western red; in the Middle and Western States, the mercer, the long red, or merino, the orange, and the Western red. The yield varies from 50 to 400 bushels and upwards per acre, but generally it is below 200 bushels.

Within the last ten years an alarming disease, or "rot," has attacked the tubers of this plant, about the time they are fully grown. It has not only appeared in nearly every part of America, but has spread dismay, at times, throughout Great Britain and Ireland, and has been felt more or less seriously in every quarter of the globe.

To the greater uncertainty attending its cultivation of late years, must be attributed the deficiency of the United States crop of 1849, as compared with that of 1839. This is one of the four agricultural products which, by the last census, appears smaller than ten years since.—("American Census Reports for 1850.")

The crops in Ireland, where the potato is the principal object of culture, vary from 1½ to 10½ tons per acre, according to the season; but in the average of three years ending 1849, the annual growth of Great Britain and Ireland amounted to nine million tons, which, at £3 per ton, exhibits the value at £27,000,000 sterling. Ireland produced in 1847 a little over two million tons, the yield being 7¼ tons per acre. In 1848 the produce was 2,880,814 tons, averaging only four tons to the acre. In 1849, 4,014,122 tons, averaging 5½ tons to the acre. In 1850, 3,954,990 tons; and in 1851, 4,441,022 tons; the average yield per acre not stated. In many parts of Scotland 24 tons to the acre are raised. The sales of potatoes in the principal metropolitan markets exceed 140,000 tons a year, which are irrespective of the sales which take place at railway stations, wharfs, shops, &c. The imports into the United Kingdom average about 70,000 tons annually. Potatoes are exported to the West Indies, Mediterranean, and other quarters. For emigrant ships, preserved or dried potato flour is now much used.

The following quantities of potato flour were imported from France in the last few years:—

	Cwts.
1848	17,222
1849	3,858
1850	12,591
1851	2,631

We also imported the following quantities of potatoes in the last five years:—

	Cwts.
1848	940,697
1849	1,417,867
1850	1,348,867
1851	636,771
1852	773,658

Thoroughly dried potatoes will always produce a crop free from disease. Such is the positive assertion of Mr. Bollman, one of the professors in the Russian Agricultural Institution, at Gorigoretsky. In a very interesting pamphlet[47] by this gentleman, it is asserted, as an unquestionable fact, that mere drying, if conducted at a sufficiently high temperature, and continued long enough, is a complete antidote to the disease.

The account given by Professor Bollman of the accident which led to this discovery is as follows:—He had contrived a potato-setter, which had the bad quality of destroying any sprouts that might be "on the sets, and even of tearing away the rind. To harden the potatoes so as to protect them against this accident, he resolved to dry them. In the spring of 1850, he placed a lot in a very hot room, and at the end of three weeks they were dry enough to plant. The potatoes came up well, and produced as good a crop as that of the neighbouring farmers, with this difference only, that they had no disease, and the crop was, therefore, upon the whole, more abundant. Professor Bollman tells us that he regarded this as a mere accident; he, however, again dried his seed potatoes in 1851, and again his crop was abundant and free from disease, while everywhere on the surrounding land they were much affected. This was too remarkable a circumstance not to excite attention, and in 1852 a third trial took place. All Mr. Bollman's own stock of potatoes being exhausted, he was obliged to purchase his seed, which bore unmistakable marks of having formed part of a crop that had been severely diseased; some, in fact, were quite rotten. After keeping them about a month in a hot room, as before, he cut the largest potatoes into quarters, and the smaller into halves, and left them to dry for another week. Accidentally the drying was carried so far that apprehensions were entertained of a very bad crop, if any. Contrary to expectation, however, the sets pushed promptly, and grew so fast that excellent young potatoes were dug three weeks earlier than usual. Eventually nine times the quantity planted was produced, and although the neighbouring fields were attacked, no trace of disease could be found on either the herbage or the potatoes themselves.

This singular result, obtained in three successive years, led to inquiry as to whether any similar cases were on record. In the course of the investigation two other facts were elicited. It was discovered that Mr. Losovsky (living in the government of Witebsk, in the district of Sebege), had for four years adopted the plan of drying his seed potatoes, and that during that time there had been no disease on his estate. It was again an accident which led to the practice of this gentleman. Five years ago, while his potatoes were digging, he put one in his pocket, and on returning home threw it on the stove (poele), where it remained forgotten till the spring. Having then chanced to observe it, he had the curiosity to plant it, all dried up as it was, and obtained an abundant, healthy crop; since that time the practice of drying has been continued, and always with great success. Professor Bollman remarks that it is usual in Russia, in many places, to smoke-dry flax, wheat, and rye; and in the west of Russia, experienced proprietors prefer, for seed, onions that have been kept over the winter in cottages without a chimney. Such onions are called dymka, which may be interpreted smoke-dried.

The second fact is this:—Mr. Wasileffsky, a gentlemen residing in the government of Mohileff, is in the habit of keeping potatoes all the year round, by storing them in the place where his hams are smoked. It happened that in the spring of 1852 his seed potatoes, kept in the usual manner, were insufficient, and he made up the requisite quantity with some of those which had been for a month in the smoking place. These potatoes produced a capital crop, very little diseased, while at the same time the crop from the sets which were not smoke-dried was extensively attacked by disease. Professor Bollman is of opinion that there would have been no disease at all if the sets had been better dried.

The temperature required to produce the desired result is not very clearly made out. Mr. Bollman's room, in which his first potatoes were dried, was heated to about 72 degrees, and much higher. By way of experiment he placed others in the chamber of the stove itself, where the thermometer stood at 136 degrees, and more. He also ascertained that the vitality of the potato is not affected, even if the rind is charred. Those who have the use of a malt-kiln, or even a lime-kiln, might try the effect of excessive drying, for a month seems to be long enough for the process.—(Gardener's Chronicle.)

A Mr. Penoyer, of Western Saratoga, Illinois, publishes the following, which he recommends as a perfect cure and preventive of the potato rot, having tested it thoroughly four years with perfect success; while others in the same field, who did not use the preventive, lost their entire crop by the rot. It not only prevents the rot, but restores the potato to its primitive vigor, and the product is not only sound, but double the size, consequently producing twice the quantity on the same ground, and the vines grow much larger, and retain their freshness and vitality until the frost kills them. Aside from the cure of the rot, the farmers would be more than doubly compensated for their trouble and expense in the increase and quality of the crop. The remedy or preventive is as follows:—"Take one peck of fine salt and mix it thoroughly with half a bushel of Nova Scotia plaster or gypsum (the plaster is the best), and immediately after hoeing the potatoes the second time, or just as the young potato begins to set, sprinkle on the main vines, next to the ground, a tablespoon full of the above mixture to each hill, and be sure to get it on the main vines, as it is found that the rot proceeds from a sting of an insect in the vine, and the mixture coming in contact with the vine, kills the effect of it before it reaches the potato." I cannot but consider Professor Bollman's as the most important of the two remedies suggested.

The potato crop of the United States exceeds 100 million bushels, nearly all of which are consumed in the country; the average exports of the last eight years not having exceeded 160,000 bushels per annum.

According to the census returns of 1840, the quantity of potatoes of all sorts raised in the Union, was 108,298,060 bushels; of 1850, 104,055,989 bushels, of which 38,259,196 bushels were sweet potatoes.

Last year (1852) there was under cultivation with potatoes in Canada, the following extent of land:—

	Acres.		Bushels.
Upper Canada	77,672	Produce	498,747
Lower Canada	73,244	Produce	456,111

About 782,008 cwts. of potatoes are annually exported from the Canary Islands. In Prussia, 153 million hectolitres of potatoes were raised in 1849. In 1840 Van Diemen's Land produced 15,000 tons of potatoes, on about 5,000 acres of land.

The potato is not yet an article of so much importance in France, as in England or the Low Countries, but within the last twenty years its cultivation has increased very rapidly. It is mostly grown where corn is the least cultivated. The quantity raised in 1818, was 29,231,867 hectolitres, which had increased in 1835 to 71,982,814 hectolitres. About 2,000,000 hectolitres of chesnuts are also annually consumed in France, a portion of the rural population in some of the Central and Southern Departments living almost entirely on them for half the year.

In Peru dried potatoes are thus prepared:—Small potatoes are boiled, peeled, and then dried in the sun, but the best are those dried by the severe frosts on the mountains. In the Cordilleras they are covered with ice, until they assume a horny appearance. Powdered, it is called chimo. They will keep for any length of time, and when used required to be bruised and soaked. If introduced as a vegetable substance in long sea voyages, the potato thus dried would be found wholesome and nourishing. A large and profitable business is now carried on, in what is called "preserved potatoes," for ships' use, prepared by Messrs. Edwards and Co., which are found exceedingly useful in the Royal Navy, in emigrant ships, for troops and other services, from their portability, nutritious properties, and being uninjured by climate.

Few persons are probably aware of the quantity of potatoes used in England, America and the Continent, in the manufacture of starch, arrowroot, and tapioca, &c., A starch manufactory in Mercer, Maine, United States, grinds from 16,000 to 24,000 bushels annually of potatoes, and makes 140,000 to 240,000 lbs. of starch, which finds a ready market at Boston, at four dollars the hundred pounds. The New England manufacturers prefer it to Poland starch. Another starch manufacturer, in Hampden, America, consumes 2,500 bushels per day. In a single district in Bavaria, in Germany, 400,000 lbs. of sago and starch are manufactured from potatoes; 100 lbs. of potatoes are said to yield 12 lbs. of starch. From experiments made in America, with three varieties of potatoes, the long reds, Philadelphia, and pink-eyes, it was found that the former yielded the most starch, viz., about 6 lbs. to the bushel. A bushel of potatoes weighs about 64 lbs. The following table from Accum, gives the rate of starch and component parts per cent. in different varieties:—

Sort.	Fibrine.	Starch.	Vegetable Albumen.	Gum.	Acids and Salts.	Water.
Red potatoes	7.0	15.0	1.4	4.1	5.1	75.0
Ditto germinated	6.8	12.2	1.3	3.7	..	73.0
Potato sprouts	2.8	0.4	0.4	3.3	..	93.0
Kidney potatoes	8.8	9.1	0.8	..	..	81.3
Large red potatoes	6.0	12.9	0.7	..	..	78.0
Sweet potatoes	8.2	15.1	0.8	..	..	74.3
Potato of Peru	5.2	15.0	1.9	1.9		76.0
Ditto of England	6.8	12.9	1.1	1.7		77.5
Onion potato	8.4	18.7	0.9	1.7		70.3
Voigtland	7.1	15.4	1.2	2.0		74.3
Cultivated in the environs of Paris	6.8	13.3	0.9	3.3	1.4	73.1

The first six varieties were analysed by Einhoff, the next four by Lamped, and the last named by Henry.

YAMS.

The different species of yams have a wide range. In the West Indies there are several varieties, having distinctive names, according to quality, color, &c., as the white yam, the red yam, the negro yam, the creole yam, the afoo yam, the buck yam (Dioscorea triphylla), which is found wild in Java and the East; the Guinea yam, the Portuguese yam, the water yam, and the Indian yam, &c. The last is considered the most farinaceous and delicate in its texture, resembling in size the potato; most of the other sorts are coarse, but still very nutritive and useful. The common yam (Dioscorea sativa) is indigenous to the Eastern Islands and West Indies. The Guinea yam (D. aculeata) is a native of the East. The Barbados or winged yam (D. alata?) has a widely extended range, being common to India, Java, Brazil, and Western Africa. The yam species are climbing plants, with handsome foliage, of the simplest culture, which succeed well in any light, rich, or sandy soil, and are readily increased by dividing the tuberous roots. The Indian, Barbados, and red yams are planted in the West Indies early in May, and dug early in the January following. If not bruised, they will keep well packed in ashes, the first nine, and the second and last twelvemonths. The Portuguese and Guinea yams are planted early in January and dug in September. Creole yams and Tanias are dug in January. Sweet potatoes from January to March. In most of our colonies large crops of the finest descriptions of yams, cocos, &c., could be obtained, but the planting of ground provisions is too much neglected by all classes. From the tubers of yams of all sorts, and particularly the buck yam, starch is easily prepared, and of excellent quality. Some varieties of the buck yam are purple-fleshed, often of a very deep tint, approaching to black, and although this is an objection, because it renders more washing necessary, yet even from these the starch is at last obtained perfectly white.

As an edible root the buck yam, especially when grown in a light soil, is equal to the potato, if not superior to it. It does not, however, keep for any length of time, and therefore could not be exported to Europe, unless the roots were sliced and dried.

Yams and sweet potatoes thrive well in the northern parts of Australia; indeed the former are indigenous there, and constitute the chief article of vegetable food used by the natives. The yam was introduced into Sweden, where it succeeded well, and bread, starch, and brandy were made from it, but it prefers a warmer climate.

Yams are occasionally brought to this country. When cooked, either by roasting or boiling, the root is even more nutritious than the potato, nor is it possessed of any unpalatable flavor, the pecularity being between that of rice and the potato. Dressed in milk, or mashed, they are absolutely a delicacy; and from the abundance in which they are cultivated in the West Indies and other parts, they promise to become a most economical and nutritious substitute for the potato.

The yam frequently grows to the enormous size of forty or fifty pounds weight, but in this large state it is coarse-flavored and fibrous.

An acre of land is capable of producing 4½ tons of yams, and the same quantity of sweet potatoes, within the twelve months, or nine tons per acre for both, being nearly as much as the return obtained at home in the cultivation of potatoes; and I have the authority of all analytical chemists for saying that in point of value, as an article of food, the superiority is as two to one in favor of the tropical roots.

The kidney-rooted yam (D. pentaphylla), is indigenous to the Polynesian islands, and is sometimes cultivated for its roots. It is called kawaii in the Feejee islands. D. bulbifera, a native of the East, is also abundantly naturalised in the Polynesian islands, but is not considered edible.

There are seven or eight kinds of yams grown in India. Two are of a remarkably fine flavor, one weighing as much as eighteen pounds, the other three pounds. These are found in the Tartar country.

COCOS OR EDDOES

Arum esculentum.—This root has not hitherto been considered of sufficient importance to demand particular care in its cultivation, except by those who are engaged in agricultural pursuits, and derive their subsistence from the production of the soil. But though the cultivation of the root is almost unknown to the higher classes in society, and little regarded by planters in the colonies, it is a most valuable article of consumption. Amongst the laboring population it is the principal dependence for a supply of food. Long droughts may disappoint the hopes of the yam crop, storms and blight may destroy the plantain walks, but neither dry or wet weather materially injure the coco; it will always make some return, and though it may not afford a plentiful crop, it will yield a sufficiency until a supply can be had from other sources. For this reason the laborer in the West Indies always takes care to put in a good plant of cocos to his provision ground as a stand by, and knowing their value, is perhaps the only person who bestows any degree of care or attention upon them. Previous to their emancipation, whole families of negroes lived upon the produce of one provision ground, and the coco formed the main article of their support. Where the soil is congenial to the white and black Bourbon coco, the labor of one industrious person once a fortnight will raise a supply sufficient for the consumption of a family of six or seven persons. The coco begins to bear after the first year, and with common care and cultivation the same plant ought to give annually two or three returns for several years. In Jamaica, a disease something similar to that affecting the potato, has been found injurious to the coco root. This disease, which has baffled all inquiry as to its origin, affects the plants in and after the second year of their being planted. The first indication of it is the change in the leaves, which gradually turn to a yellow hue, have a sickly appearance, and at length drop off at the surface of the earth. The stock or "coco head," as it is called, below ground, having become rotten, nothing but a soft pulpy mass remains. In some fields every third or fourth root is thus affected, in others much greater numbers are destroyed, so much so that the field requires to be almost entirely replanted, by which not only an expense is entailed, but a heavy loss sustained, from the field being thrown out of its regular bearing. The black coco seems to suffer less than the white.

Another species, the Taro (Arum Colocasia, Colocasia esculenta and macrorhizon), is an important esculent root in the Polynesian islands. In the dry method of culture practised on the mountains of Hawaii, the roots are protected by a covering of fern leaves. The cultivation of taro is hardly a process of multiplication, for the crown of the root is perpetually replanted. As the plant endures for a series of years, the tuberous roots serve at some of the rocky groups as a security against famine. It is also extensively cultivated in Madeira and Zanzibar, and has even withstood the climate of New Zealand. It is grown also in Egypt, Syria, and some of the adjacent countries, for its esculent roots. A species is cultivated in the Deccan, for the sake of the leaves, which form a substitute for spinach. Farina is obtained from the root of Arum Rumphii in Polynesia.

SWEET POTATOES.

The batatas, or camote of the Spanish colonies (Convolvulus batatas, Linn; Batatas edulis, of Choisy, and the Ipomæa Batatas of other botanists), belongs to a family of plants which has been split into several genera. It is a native of the East Indies, and of intertropical America, and was the "potato" of the old English writers in the early part of the fourteenth century. It was doubtless introduced into Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia soon after their settlement by the Europeans, being mentioned as one of the cultivated products of those colonies as early as the year 1648. It grows in excessive abundance throughout the Southern States of America, and as far north as New Jersey, and the southern part of Michigan. The varieties cultivated there are the purple, the red, the yellow, and the white, the former of which is confined to the South.

The amount of sweet potatoes exported from South Carolina in 1747-48, was 700 bushels; that of the common potato exported from the United States, 1820-21, 90,889,000 bushels; in 1830-31, 112,875,000 bushels; in 1840-41, 136,095,000 bushels; in 1850-51, 106,342,000 bushels.

The sweet potato is cultivated generally in all the intertropical regions, for the sake of its roots, and as a legume in temperate countries. In the Southern States of North America, the culture ceases in Carolina under latitude 36 degs.; in Portugal and Spain it reaches to latitude 40 and 42 deg.; and as a legume its cultivation is attempted to the vicinity of Paris. In India it is a very common crop; its tubers are very similar to the potato, but have a sweeter taste, whence the common name; but it must not be confounded with the topinambur (Helianthus tuberosus), a native of Brazil, which is less cultivated. The root contains much saccharine and amylaceous matter.

Several marked varieties of the sweet potato are raised in the Polynesian groups. In some islands it forms the principal object of cultivation.

It is grown in the Northern districts of New Zealand, at Zanzibar, Monomoisy, Bombay, and other parts of the East Indies. They are raised on the bare surface of the rock in some parts of the Hawaiian islands, and a sourish liquor is procured from them. It was early cultivated on the Western Coast of Africa, for the Portuguese Pilot (who set out on his voyages to the colony at St. Thomas, in the Gulf of Guinea) speaks of this plant, and states that it is called "batata" by the aboriginals of St. Domingo. They are abundant at Mocha and Muscat. Sweet potatoes form a principal and important crop in the Bermudas.

A valuable addition has lately been made to the votaries of the sweet potato in Alabama, supposed to be from Peru. A letter describing it says:—"It is altogether different and equally superior to any variety of this root hitherto known. It is productive, and attains a prodigious size, even upon the poorest sandy land, and the roots remain without change from the time of taking them out of the ground until the following May. The plant is singularly easy of cultivation, growing equally well from the slip or vine, the top or vine of the full-grown plant being remarkably small; the inside is as white as snow. It is dry and mealy, and the saccharine principle contained resembles in delicacy of flavor fine virgin honey."

There is in general a great error in cultivating this root, as most people still plant in the old way, two or three sets in the hole, which is a great deal too close.

When a piece of land is to be planted in sweet potatoes, it should be top-dressed with some manure, to be dug or ploughed under a week or two before it is to be planted. Drills should be made two feet apart, and the potatoes placed in the drill about one foot asunder. From eight to twelve to the pound are the best size for planting. The "white upright" kind, when intended for sets, should be taken up early in March, and kept about a month, so as to be quite dry before planting. Abundant crops can rarely be raised from the stem of the "uprights;" the old potato, however, grows to a large size. I have planted a potato weighing about an ounce, and dug it up in August, weighing over two pounds. The drills can be made with a small plough to great advantage, when a person understands it.

The best manure for the sweet potato is anything green, such as fresh seaweed, green oats, bushes, or anything of the kind, put in in abundance.

Care should be taken to get early and good strong slips. A slip with about six joints is quite long enough; three or four joints to be put under ground, and the rest above. For slips, the land must be prepared as already described for the potatoes; this should be done before the slips are ready to cut.

The best way to plant slips is to drill, the same way as for the potatoes, only a little closer; then put the end of the slip in, leaving about two joints out of ground, placing them one foot apart. The drills can be made in dry weather, so as not to have any delay when it rains; by this means a great many can be planted in a day.

The best land for sweet potatoes is the light sandy kind; a rich friable black mould, or a rocky substratum; for hill sides, rocky ravines, and places which would be called barren and unprofitable for other crops, are found to yield a good return when planted with sweet potatoes. The best time to plant slips to get stock from, is the latter end of August or early in September, as the season may suit.

The sweet potato of Java, says Mr. Crawfurd, is the finest I ever met with. Some are frequently of several pounds weight, and now and then have been found of the enormous weight of 50 lbs. The sweetness is not disagreeable to the palate, though considerable, and they contain a large portion of farinaceous matter, being as mealy as the best of our own potatoes. In Java it is cultivated in ordinary upland arable, or in the dry season as a green crop in succession to rice.

A tuberous root (Ocymum tuberosum), an inhabitant of the hot plains, is frequently cultivated in Java. It is small, round, and much resembling in appearance the American potato, but has no great flavor. Its local name is kantang.

CASSAVA OR MANIOC.

Of this plant, which is a shrub about six feet high, extensively grown for its farinaceous root, there are several species, nearly all natives of America, principally of Brazil, whence it derives one of its common names of Manihot or Mandioc. Two species of Manihot have been found indigenous in South Australia. The varieties commonly cultivated for their roots, are the sweet and the bitter.

1. Sweet cassava (Janiphi (or Jatropha,) Loeflingii, Kunth; Manihot Aipi, of Pohl).—This species has a spindle-shaped root brown externally, about six or seven ounces or more in weight, which contains amylaceous matter, without any bitterness, and is used as food, after being rasped and washed, so as to cleanse it from the fibrous matter, in the same manner as arrowroot is prepared. It is distinguished from the bitter cassava by a tough ligneous fibre, which runs through the heart of the tuber. Manihot starch is sometimes imported into Europe under the name of Brazilian arrowroot. The cassava is known in Peru as yucca.

A dry mixed soil is best suited to its culture. So exhausting is this crop, that it cannot be raised more than two or three times successively on the same land. The roots arrive at maturity in eight or nine months after planting, but may be kept in the ground a much longer time without injury. Sweet cassava might be sliced, dried in the sun, and sent to Europe in that state. In dry weather the process succeeds remarkably well, and the dried slices keep for a considerable time. Dr. Shier ascertained that when these sliced and dried roots were first steeped and then boiled, they return to very nearly their original condition, and make an excellent substitute for the potato.

The plant thrives on even the poorest soil; the mode of planting is simple. It consists in laying cuttings a foot long in square pits a foot deep, and covering them with mould, leaving the upper ends open. From two to four pieces may be placed in each square. The planting ought to be in the rainy season. The cuttings must be made from the full-grown stem. A humid soil causes the root to decay, a dry soil is therefore more adapted for its cultivation. As blossoms are occasionally plucked from potato plants, so the manihot or cassava is deprived of its buds to increase the size of its roots. The raw root of the bitter species, when taken out of the ground, is poisonous—if exposed, however, to the sun for a short time, it is innocuous, and when boiled is quite wholesome.

The starch of the root of the manioc is prepared in the following manner, as described by Dr. Ure:—" The roots are washed and reduced to a pulp by means of a rasp or grater. The pulp is put into coarse strong canvas bags, and thus submitted to the action of a powerful press, by which it parts with most of its noxious juice. As the active principle of this juice is volatile, it is easily dissipated by baking the squeezed cakes of pulp upon a plate of hot iron. The pulp thus dried concretes into lumps, which become hard and friable as they cool. They are then broken into pieces, and laid out in the sun to dry. In this state they are a wholesome nutriment. These cakes constitute the only provisions laid in by the natives, in their voyages upon the Amazon. Boiled in water, with a little beef or mutton, they form a kind of soup similar to that of rice.

The cassava cakes sent to Europe are composed almost entirely of starch, along with a few fibres of the ligneous matter. It may be purified by diffusion in warm water, passing the milky mixture through a linen cloth, evaporating the straining liquid over the fire, with constant agitation. The starch, dissolved by the heat, thickens as the water evaporates, but on being stirred it becomes granulated, and must be finally dried in a proper stove.

2. Bitter cassava (Janipha Manihot, of Kunth; Jatropha Manihot, of Linnæus; and Manihot utilissima, Pohl).—This species has a knotty root, black externally, which is occasionally 30 lbs. in weight. In the root there is much starchy matter deposited, usually along with a poisonous narcotic substance, which is said to be hydrocyanic acid. The juice of the plant, when distilled, affords as a first product a liquor which, in the dose of thirty drops, will cause the death of a man in six minutes. It is doubted whether this acid pre-exists in the plant; some suppose it to be generated after it is grated down into a pulp. It can be driven off by roasting, and then the starch is used in the form of cassava bread. It is principally from the starch of the bitter cassava that tapioca is prepared by elutriation and granulating on hot plates. This serves to agglutinate it into the form of concretions, constituting the tapioca of commerce. This being starch very nearly pure, is often prescribed by physicians as an aliment of easy digestion. A tolerably good imitation of it is made by beating, stirring, and drying potato starch in a similar way.

The grated starch of the roots, floated in water, is spontaneously deposited, and when repeatedly washed and dried in the sun, forms cassava flour, called "Moussache" by the French.

The juice of the bitter cassava, mixed with molasses and fermented, has been made into an intoxicating liquor, which is much relished by the negroes and Indians.

The concentrated juice of the bitter cassava, under the name of cassareep, forms the basis of the West India dish, "pepper pot." One of its most remarkable properties is its highly antiseptic power, preserving meat that has been boiled in it for a much longer period than can be done by any other culinary process. Cassareep was originally an Indian preparation.

The manioc or cassava is cultivated in America, on both sides of the equator, to about latitude 30 degrees north and south. Among the mountains of intertropical America, it reaches to an elevation of 3,200 feet. It is cultivated also in great abundance on the island of Zanzibar, and among the negro tribes of Eastern Africa to the Monomoesy, inclusive; on the west coast of Africa, in Congo and Guinea. It appears not to have been introduced into Asia. The farina of the manioc is almost the only kind of meal used in Brazil, at least in the north, near the equator. An acre of manioc is said to yield as much nutriment as six acres of wheat. Meyen states, "It is not possible sufficiently to praise the beautiful manioc plant." The Indians find in this a compensation for the rice and other cerealia of the Old World. It has been carried from Brazil to the Mauritius and Madagascar.

The following quantities of Brazilian arrowroot, or tapioca, were imported in the undermentioned years:—

	Cwts.
1833	942
1834	888
1835	1,663
1836	3,735
1837	2,142
1838	462
1839	402
1840	983
1841	1,870
1843	2,325

St. Lucia grows a considerable quantity of manioc; it exported of cassava flour in—

	Barrels.
1827	8
1828	814
1829	279
1830	99
1831	59
1834	713

The cassava root grows abundantly in most of the West India islands and tropical America; the trouble of planting is inconsiderable, and the profit arising from its manufacture, even by the common process of hand-grating, is immense. I should be glad if I could induce the enterprising of our colonial settlers to give this a fair trial, as well as encourage the present growers to increase their crops and improve the quality of the article, so as to render it suitable for the English market. The manufacture of starch will one of these days become a productive source of colonial wealth. Since cassava was first grown in the West, its capabilities as a starch-producer have, to a certain extent, been known, and for that purpose it has been in limited use.

Mr. James Glen, of Haagsbosch plantation, Demerara, has recently tested its value as an article of export, and added it to the other industrial resources of that colony.

This gentleman, by erecting machinery on his plantation for grinding the root and preparing the starch of the bitter cassava, has already shipped the article in considerable quantities to Europe, and it has been sold at a price which puts the profit upon sugar cultivation completely to the blush. His agent in Glasgow writes, that any quantity (like that already shipped) can command a ready sale at 9d. per lb. Its use is co-extensive, or nearly so, with that of sugar. The productive capabilities of the soil are not perhaps generally known; nor is it necessary that, to pay the grower there, it should bring even half that price. A sample of a ton, which was prepared at Haagsbosch in 1841, was submitted for examination to Dr. Shier, at the colonial laboratory, Georgetown, who admitted it to be a beautiful specimen of starch, although it had undergone but one washing. The root from which it was made, was planted eight or nine months previously, upon an acre of soil, which had never undergone any preparation of ploughing, or been broken and turned up in any way. The plants were never weeded after they had begun to spring, nor were they tended or disturbed until they were ripe and pulled up. The expense of planting the acre was five dollars, and reaping this crop would, I suppose, amount to as much more, say £2 in all. The green cassava was never weighed, but the acre yielded fully a ton of starch—equal, at 9d. per lb., to £84.

The experimental researches of Dr. Shier have led him to believe that the green bitter cassava will give one-fifth its weight of starch. If this be the case the return per acre would, under favorable circumstances, when the land is properly worked, be enormous. On an estate at Essequibo, a short time ago, an acre of cassava, grown in fine permeable soil, was lifted and weighed; it yielded 25 tons of green cassava. Such a return as this per acre would enable our West India colonies to inundate Great Britain with food, and at a rate which would make flour to be considered a luxury. Dr. Shier is convinced that, in thorough drained land, where the roots could penetrate the soil, and where its permeability would permit of their indefinite expansion, a return of 25 tons an acre might uniformly be calculated upon. What a blessing, not only for those colonies, but for the world, would the introduction be of this cheap and nutritious substitute for the potato.

NEW TUBEROUS PLANTS RECOMMENDED AS SUBSTITUTES FOR THE POTATO.

In the present disturbed state of the grain markets of Europe, the advantage of cultivating plants which directly or indirectly can form a substitute for the potato, admits of no doubt. It appears to me, moreover, that when the way is once opened up, even under ordinary circumstances, the tropical colonies of Great Britain, without diminishing the quantity of sugar and coffee they produce, could advantageously supply the British market with the purest starches, and possibly also with various other articles of farinaceous food. Anything that will lead the planters to a more varied cultivation than the present uniform and persistent one, will be advantageous to our colonies; and the growth of farinaceous root crops for exportation, cannot fail to produce most beneficial effects on that class of the peasantry in the British possessions, who are owners of small lots of land, which at present they either totally neglect, or cultivate most imperfectly.

In 1846, Dr. A. Gesner, one of my correspondents, called attention, in my "Colonial Magazine," to two indigenous roots of North America, which he thought deserving special attention. These were Apios tuberosa, and Claytonia acutiflora, or Virginiana.

1. A. tuberosa (Boerhave), or Glycine Apios.—This plant is common throughout the Northern and Southern States of America, and is also met with in the lower British North American Provinces. It is known under the native name of Saa-ga-ban by the Micmac Indians, by whom the pear-shaped roots are used as an article of food. Like the Arachis hypogæa, it belongs to the Leguminosæ family. The fruit and flower resemble those of the wood vetch. It is thus described in Professor Eaton's "Manual of Botany for North America," published in 1836:—"Color of corolla, blue and purple; time of flowering, July (and August in Nova Scotia), perennial; stem, twining; leaves, pinnate, with seven lance-ovate leaflets; racemes shorter than the leaves, axillary; root, tuberous. Root very nutritive; ought to be generally cultivated."

The average size of the tubers is that of cherries, but a few are found of much larger dimensions. In their appearance they resemble the common potato, having apparently the peculiar indentations called eyes. The skin of the tuber is of a rusty or blackish brown color. The interior is very white, and the root has the taste and odor of the common potato. The Indians state that the roots, if kept either in a dry or moist state, will not suffer any decay for a lengthened period. They are very farinaceous, and contain a large per centage of starch, which resembles that of wheat; by being dried the tuber shrinks a little, but it immediately expands on being thrown into warm water. It contains much nutritive matter, is wholesome, and I have no doubt, if properly cultivated, it will prove to be very prolific. The tubers are situated a few inches below the surface of the soil, and are strung together like beads by a strong ligament.

A similar kind of earth-nut, or tuberous root, probably the Glycine subterranea of Linnæus, the Voandzou of Madagascar, is extensively cultivated in various parts of Africa.

2. Claytonia acutiflora or Virginiana, the Musquash of the Micmac Indians, is found throughout the Northern and Southern States of North America. It is thus described by Prof. Eaton, "Man. Bot. N.A."—"Color of corolla, white and red; situation, alpine, perennial; leaves, linear, lance-ovate; petals, obovate, retuse; leaves of the calyx, somewhat acute; root, tuberous. It blossoms in May. The seed is ripe in June, when the plant disappears."

These roots may be collected along the sea coasts and principal lakes and rivers of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward's Island, although they are not plentiful, for they are greedily devoured by some of the wild animals, and wherever swine have been permitted to run at large they have been destroyed.

Dr. Gesner shipped several bushels of the saa-ga-ban to the principal agricultural societies in Great Britain, also to Halifax, and Nova Scotia. The ordinary potato of this country does not yield more than 14 per cent. of starch, and it contains 76 per cent. of water. From the best saa-ga-ban Dr. Gesner obtained 21 per cent. of starch, and the quantity of water is reduced to 50 per cent. It also contains vegetable albumen, gum, and sugar. From these facts it is evident that the saa-ga-ban is much more nutritive than the potato, and the weight of the tubers, in their wild state, compared with the weight of the slender vine in the best samples, is equal in proportion to the common cultivated potato in its ordinary growth. The starch is very white, and closely resembles that made from the arrowroot. It is not improbable that the quantity of water in the tuber will be increased by cultivation; yet the fibrous parenchyma will be reduced, and taken altogether, the nutritive properties will be increased; if the plant improve as much by cultivation as the potato and many others have done, its success is certain.

The North American Indians have several wild roots which they dig up for sustenance when other food is exhausted. Among these are—1st, the mendo, or wild sweet potato; 2nd, the tip-sin-ah, or wild prairie turnip; 3rd, the omen-e-chah, or wild bean. The first is found throughout the valleys of the Mississippi and St. Peter's, about the basis of bluffs, in rather moist but soft and rich ground. The plant resembles the sweet potato, and the root is similar in taste and growth. It does not grow so large or long as the cultivated sweet potato, but I should have thought it the same, were it not that the wild potato is not affected by the frost. A woman will dig from a peck to half a bushel a day.

The Indians eat them, simply boiled in water, but prefer them cooked with fat meat.

The wild potato, of the north-west of America, is a general article of food; it is called by them wabessepin; it resembles the common potato, is mealy when boiled, and grows only in wet clay ground, about one and a half feet deep. The crane potato, called sitchauc-wabessepin, is of the same kind, but inferior in quality. The Indians use these for food as well as the memomine, and another long and slender root called watappinee. Probably it is the first of these that is referred to by Nicollet, as the prairie potato. "All the high prairies (he says) abound with the silver-leafed Psoralia, which is the prairie turnip of the Americans, the pomme des prairies of the Canadians, and furnishes an invaluable food to the Indians." There are several species of Psoralia, viz., esculenta, argophylla, cuspidata, and lanceolata.

The prairie turnip grows on the high dry prairies, one or two together, in size from that of a small hen's egg to that of a goose egg, and of the same form. They have a thick black or brown bark, but are nearly pure white inside, with very little moisture. They are met with four to eight inches below the surface, and are dug by the women with a long pointed stick, forced into the ground and used as a lever. They are eaten boiled and mashed like a turnip, or are split open and dried for future use. In this state they resemble pieces of chalk. It is said that when thus dried they may be ground into flour, and that they make a very palatable and nutritious bread. M. Lamare Picot, a French naturalist, has lately incurred a very considerable expense to obtain the seed, which he has carried to France, believing that it is capable of cultivation, and may form a substitute both for potato and wheat.

The wild bean is found in all parts of the valleys where the land is moist and rich. It is of the size of a large white bean, with a rich and very pleasant flavor. When used in a stew, I have thought it superior to any garden vegetable I had ever tasted. The Indians are very fond of them, and pigeons get fat on them in spring. The plant is a slender vine, from two to four feet in height, with small pods two to three inches long, containing three to five small beans. The pod dries and opens, the beans fall to the ground, and in spring take root and grow again. The beans on the ground are gathered by the Indians, who sometimes find a peck at once, gathered by mice for their winter store.

There are also several kinds of edible roots growing in the ponds or small lakes, which are gathered by the Indians for food.

The psui-cinh-chah, or swamp potato, is found in mud and water, about three feet deep. The leaf is as large as the cabbage leaf. The stem has but one leaf, which has, as it were, two horns or points. The root is obtained by the Indian women; they wade into the water and loosen the root with their feet, which then floats, and is picked up and thrown into a canoe. It is of an oblong shape, of a whitish yellow, with four black rings around it, of a slightly pungent taste, and not disagreeable when eaten with salt or meat.

The psui-chah, with a stem and leaf similar to the last, has a root about the size of a large hickory-nut. They grow in deep water, and being smaller are much more difficult to get, but the Indians prefer them; they have an agreeable taste, and are harder and firmer when cooked. Both these roots are found in large quantities in the musk-rat lodges, stored by them for winter use.

The ta-wah-pah, with a stem, leaf, and yellow flower, like the pond-lily, is found in the lakes, in water and mud, from four to five feet deep. The Indian women dive for them, and frequently obtain as many as they are able to carry. The root is from one to two feet in height, very porous; there are as many as six or eight cells running the whole length of the root. It is very difficult to describe the flavor. It is slightly sweet and glutinous, and is generally boiled with wild fowl, but is occasionally roasted.

In his exploring expedition into the interior of Guiana, in the region of the Upper Essequibo, Sir E. Schomburgk notices the discovery of a variety of Leguminosæ, whose tubers grow to an enormous size, fully equal to the largest yam. These roots were not, at the time he was there, in full perfection, but their taste was somewhat between the yam and the sweet potato. The Taruma Indians called them Cuyupa. The roots are considered fit for use when the herb above ground dies. Sir Robert brought a few of the seeds of the plant with him on his return to Demerara.

Two interesting productions have been recently introduced into the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, from the Ecuador, by M. Bourcier, formerly Consul-General of France in that country. One is the red and yellow ocas, which is of the form of a long potato, and has the taste of a chesnut; the other is the milloco, which has the taste and form of our best potatoes. These two roots, which are found in great abundance in the neighbourhood of Quito, grow readily in the poorest land. The oca is cultivated in the fields of Mexico, but only succeeds in the warmer districts. From the bulbous roots of the cacomite, a species of Tigridia, a good flour is also prepared there.

Stevenson ("Travels in South America," vol. ii., p. 55) says, a root called the oca is cultivated in several of the colder provinces of Peru. "This plant," he states, "is of a moderate size, in appearance somewhat like the acetous trefoil; the roots yellow, each about five or six inches long, and two in circumference. They have many eyes, and the roots, several of which are yielded by one plant, are somewhat curved. When boiled it is much sweeter than the camote or batata; indeed it appears to contain more saccharine matter than any root I ever tasted; if eaten raw it is very much like the chesnut. The roots may be kept for many months in a dry place. The transplanting of the oca (he adds) to England, where I am persuaded it would prosper, would add another agreeable and useful esculent to our tables."

The Brussels paper, L'Emancipation, mentions that a root has been discovered by the Director of the Museum of Industry, in that place, destined to take the place of the potato. It is the Lathyrus tuberosus, called by the peasants the earth mouse, on account of its form, and the earth chesnut on account of its taste. This plant exists only in some localities of Lorraine and Burgundy. The Lathyrus has never been cultivated, and it is thought that it will attain, with cultivation, the size of the potato. The French peasants have a prejudice against cultivating it, because they say it walks under ground, and leaves the place it is planted in to go into the neighbouring field. The fact is, that it grows in a chaplet, of which the bulbs are arranged along a root running horizontally, of which the two extremities are very rarely found, so that on taking up the hinder tubercles it continues its growth in front, which gives rise to the saying that if the plant had only time enough, it would make the tour of the world.

The bulb of Gastrodia sesamoides (R. Brown), a curious herbaceous species of orchis, native of New Holland, is edible, and preferred by the aborigines to potatoes and other tuberous roots. Some of my accredited informants believe it might be turned to profitable account, but being a parasitic plant, it could scarcely be systematically cultivated. It flourishes in its wild state on loamy soil in low or sloping grounds. The first indication of its vegetation in the spring, is the appearance of a whitish bulb above the sward, of an hemispherical shape, and about the size of a small egg. The dusky white covering resembles a fine white net, and within it is a pellucid gelatinous substance. Again within this is a firm kernel, about as large as a Spanish nut, and from this a fine fibrous root descends into the soil. It is known in Van Diemen's Land, and other parts of Australia, by the common name of native bread. Captain Hunter, in his Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson on the first settlement of the Convict Colony, speaks of finding large quantities of "wild yams," on which the natives fed, but the roots were not bigger than a walnut; therefore it was probably this plant.

Arracacha esculenta, of Bancroft and Decandolle (Conium Arracacha).—This perennial herb is a native of South America, which, from its salubrious qualities, is extensively cultivated in the mountains of Venezuela and other parts of tropical and Southern America, for culinary purposes. It is propagated by planting pieces of the tuberous root, in each of which is an eye or shoot. The late Baron de Shack introduced it into Trinidad, from Caraccas, and it has thence been carried to the island of Grenada. It throve there remarkably well, but has been unaccountably neglected. He also sent roots of this valuable plant to London, Liverpool, and Glasgow. Although it bears cold better than the potato, it requires a warmer and more equal temperature than most of the countries of Europe afford. It would, however, make an excellent addition to the culinary vegetables of many tropical countries, uniting the taste of the potato and parsnip, but being superior to both.

The arracacha has been introduced into the South of Europe, not as a substitute for, but as a provision against a failure of the potato crop. It is highly recommended by the Rev. J.M. Wilson, in the "Rural Encyclopædia."

Stevenson ("Travels in South America," vol. ii., p. 383) says the yucas (cassava), camotes (sweet potatoes), and yams cultivated at Esmeraldas and that neighbourhood, were the finest he ever saw. "It is not uncommon for one of these roots to weigh upwards of twenty pounds. At one place I saw a few plants of the yuca that had stood upwards of twenty years, the owner having frequently bared the bottom of the plants and taken the ripe roots, after which, throwing up the earth again, and allowing a sufficient time for new roots to grow, a continual succession of this excellent nutritious food was procured."

The Aipi grows in Brazil, and according to T. Ashe, may be eaten raw, and, when pressed, yields a pleasant juice for drink; or being inspissated by the heat of the sun, is kept either to be boiled and eaten, or dissolved and drank. The tapinambar grows in Chili, and is used by the Indians.

The tapioca, or bay rash, a plant which grows about the out-islands of the Bahamas group, was found of great use as a food plant to the inhabitants of Long Island, during a scarcity of food occasioned by the drought in 1843. This root grows in the form of a large beet, and is from twelve to sixteen inches in length. It is entirely farinaceous, and, when properly ground and prepared, makes good bread. It fetches there four to six cents a pound.

The root of the kooyah plant (Valeriana edulis) is much used by some of the North American Indians as food. The root is of a very bright yellow color, with a peculiar taste and odor, and hence is called "tobacco root." It is deprived of its strong poisonous qualities by being baked in the ground for about two days. A variety of other roots and tubers furnish them with food. Among these are kamas root (Camassia esculenta), which is highly esteemed; the bulb has a sweet pleasant flavor, somewhat of the taste of preserved quince. It is a strikingly handsome bulbous plant, with large beautiful purple flowers. Yampah root (Anethum graveolens) is a common article of food with the Indians of the Rocky Mountains.

The roots of a thistle (Cersium virginianium, or Carduus virginianus), which are about the ordinary size of carrots, are also eaten by them. They are sweet and well flavored, but require a long preparation to fit them for use.

The people of Southern India and Ceylon have for many hundred years been in the habit of eating the bulb or root, which is the first shoot from the Palmyra nut, which forms the germ of the future tree, and is known locally as Pannam kilingoes. It is about the size of a common carrot, though nearly white. It forms a great article of food among the natives for several months in the year; but Europeans dislike it from its being very bitter. Recent experiments have proved that a farina superior to arrowroot can be obtained from it, prepared in the same way; and 100 roots, costing 2½d., yield one and a-half to two pounds of the flour.

From the boiled inner bark of the Russian larch, mixed with rye flour, and afterwards buried a few hours in the snow, the hardy Siberian hunters prepare a sort of leaven, with which they supply the place of common leaven when the latter is destroyed, as it frequently is by the intense cold. The bark is nearly as valuable as oak bark. From the inner bark the Russians manufacture fine white gloves, not inferior to those made of the most delicate chamois, while they are stronger, cooler, and more pleasant for wearing in the summer.

The fruit of the Cycas angulata forms the principal food of the Australian aborigines during a portion of the year. They cut it into thin slices, which are first dried, afterwards soaked in water, and finally packed up in sheets of tea-tree bark. In this condition it undergoes a species of fermentation; the deleterious properties of the fruit are destroyed, and a mealy substance with a musty flavor remains, which the blacks probably bake into cakes. They appear also to like the fruit of the Pandanus, of which large quantities were found by Dr. Leichardt in their camps, soaking in water, contained in vessels formed of stringy bark.

The flour obtained from the seeds of Spurry (Spergula sativa), when mixed with that of wheat or rye, produces wholesome bread, for which purpose it is often used in Norway and Gothland. In New Zealand, before the introduction of the potato, the roots of the fern were largely consumed.

Many species of Bolitus are used as food by the natives in Western Australia, according to Drummond.

The thick tuberous roots of a climbing species of bean (Pachyrhizus angulatus, or Dolichos bulbosus) are cultivated and eaten in some parts of the Polynesian islands. The bulbous roots of some species of Orchideæ are eagerly sought after in New South Wales by the natives, being termed "boyams," and highly esteemed as an article of food for the viscid mucilage which they contain. The root of the Berar (Caladium costatum) is eaten by the natives of the Pedir coast (Achin), after being well washed.

The pignons or edible seeds of Pinus Pinea are consumed occasionally in Italy. In Chili the cone or fruit of the pehuen, or pino de la tierra, are considered a great delicacy. The pinones are sometimes boiled, and afterwards, by grinding them on a stone, converted into a kind of paste, from which very delicate pastry is made. The pine is cultivated in different parts of this province on account of its valuable wood and the pinones. The seeds from the cones of the Auracanean pine, collected in autumn, furnish the Pawenches (from pawen pine) and Auracanians with a very nutritious food. When cooked, the flavor is not unlike that of the chesnut, and as they will keep for some time, they constitute, when the gathering season has been favorable, a great part of their diet.

The seeds of the cones of the nut pine (Pinus monophyllus), a new species described by Dr. Torrey, and alluded to by Col. Fremont in his exploring expedition to the Rocky Mountains, are largely used by the North American Indians. The nut is oily, of a most agreeable flavor, and must be very nutritious as it constitutes the principal subsistence of many of the native tribes.

The cone of another magnificent pine (Auracaria Bidwillii), indigenous to the Eastern coast of Australia, about the Moreton Bay district, is frequently met with twelve inches in diameter, and containing 150 edible seeds as large as a walnut. The aborigines roast these seeds, crack the husk between two stones, and eat them hot. They taste something like a yam or hard dry potato. The trees bear cones only once in four years, during a period of six months. This season is held as a great festival by the aborigines of that locality, called by them Bunga Bunga, and they congregate in greater numbers than is known in any other part of Australia, frequently coming from a distance of 300 miles. They grow sleek and fat upon this diet. An Act has been passed by the legislature of the colony, prohibiting, under heavy pains and penalties, the demolition of those trees, being the natural food of the natives.

The common people eat the seeds of the red sandal wood (Adenanthera Pavonina) in the South of India. The pulp of the fruit of the Adansonia digitata, or monkey bread, is also used as an article of food.

SINGHARA OR WATER NUTS.—The large seeds of Trapa bicornis, a native of China, and of T. bispinosa and natans, species indigenous to India, are sweet and eatable, and the aquatic plants which furnish them are hence an extensive article of cultivation. In Cashmere and other parts of the East they are common food, and known under the name of Singhara nuts. In Cashmere the government obtains from these nuts £12,000 of annual revenue. Mr. Moorcroft mentions that Runjeet Sing derived nearly the same sum. From 96,000 to 128,000 loads of this nut are yielded annually by the lake of Ooller alone. The nut abounds in fecula. In China the kernel is used as an article of food, being roasted or boiled like the potato. The seeds of various species of Nelumbium, natives of the East Indies, Jamaica, and the United States, also form articles of food. The fruit of N. speciosum is supposed to be the Egyptian bean of Pythagoras. The petioles and peduncles contain numerous spiral vessels, which have been used for wicks of candles. The fruit of Willughbeia edulis, a native of the East, as its name implies, is eatable. The kernel of the mango can be reduced to an excellent flour for making bread.

Not only from the Lichen tribe, but also from the Algæ, fungi, mosses and ferns man derives nutriment and valuable products. Some of the cryptogamic plants form considerable articles of commerce, particularly as food plants, affording gelatinous and amylaceous matter, and being useful in medicine and the arts.

Nostoe eduli is used in China as food; Gelidium corneum enters into the formation of the edible swallows' nests of the Japanese islands. Agar-agar moss is shipped from Singapore to the extent of 13,000 tons a-year. Irish moss, Iceland moss, Ceylon moss, and some others, are also of some importance. Iodine and kelp are prepared to a considerable extent from sea weeds; one species (Fucus tenax) furnishes large supplies of glue to the Canton market, and the orchilla weed is of great importance to the dyer. It is principally as food that I have to speak of them in this section.

In some of the islands off the Scotch coasts, sea-wrack (Fucus vesiculosus) forms the chief support of horses and cattle in the winter months. F. serratus is similarly employed in Norway.

The Laminaria saccharina is interesting from the fact of its containing sugar. It is highly esteemed in Japan, where it is extensively used as an article of diet, being first washed in cold water and then boiled in milk or broth.

CARRAGEEN, or IRISH ROCK MOSS, Sphæroccus (Chondus) crispus, abounds on the Western Coast of Ireland, round the Orkneys, Hebrides, Scilly Islands, &c. It is purplish white, and nearly transparent, and is largely imported to feed cattle and pigs in Yorkshire. It is also used for dressing the warp of webs in the loom, and mixing with the pulp for sizing paper in the vat. It swells up like tragacanth in water; and, by long decoction, affords a considerable quantity of a light, nutritious, but nauseous jelly. It is sometimes sold as pearl moss, and is employed in the place of gelatine or isinglass for preparing blanc-manges, jellies, &c. It fetches about £7 the ton.

AGAR-AGAR, a sort of edible seaweed, or tripe de roche, is found growing on the rocks about the eastern islands that are covered by the tide. It is much used for making a kind of jelly, which is highly esteemed both by Europeans and natives for the delicacy of its flavor. The first quality is worth about 30s. the picul (133 lbs.). An inferior kind is collected on the submerged banks in the neighbourhood of Macassar (Celebes), by the Bajow Laut, or Sea Gipsies. It is also collected on the rocks about the settlement of Singapore, for export to China, where it is much used as a size for stiffening silks and for making jellies. It constitutes the bulk of the cargoes of the Chinese junks on their return voyage. The quantity shipped from Singapore is about 10,000 piculs (12,500 tons) annually.

ICELAND MOSS (Cetraria islandica) combines valuable alimentary and medicinal properties. It is imported in bags and barrels from Hamburg and Gothenburg, and is said to be the produce of Norway and Iceland. The quantity consumed varies; in 1836, 20,599 lbs. paid duty; in 1840, 6,462 lbs. In Carniola, swine, oxen, and horses, are fattened on it. Boiled in water or milk, and flavored to the palate with sugar, wine, and aromatics, it forms a very agreeable diet for invalids.

CEYLON MOSS (Gracelaria, or Gigartina, lichenoides), a small and delicate fucus, is well known for the amylaceous property it possesses, and the large proportion of true starch it furnishes. The fronds are filiform; the filaments much branched, and of a light purple color. It grows abundantly in the large lake or back-water which extends between Putlam and Calpentyr, Ceylon. It is collected by the natives principally during the south-west monsoon, when it becomes separated by the agitation of the water. The moss is spread on mats and dried in the sun for two or three days. It is then washed several times in fresh water, and again exposed to the sun, which bleaches it, after which it is collected in heaps for exportation.

Professor O'Shaughnessy has given the best analysis of this moss, which he described under the name of Fucus amylaceus; 100 grains weight yielded the following proportions:—

Vegetable jelly	54.50
True starch	15.00
Ligneous fibre	18.00
Sulphate and muriate of soda	6.50
Gum	4.00
Sulphate and phosphate of lime	1.00
Total	99.00
With a trace of wax and iron.

I observe among the imports into New Orleans, 911 bushels of Spanish moss in 1849, and 1,394 bushels in 1848. I do not know precisely its use, or from whence derived, but I believe it is chiefly used for stuffing cushions, mattresses, &c.

FERN.—The rhizome of Pteris esculenta is used as food in Australia, and that of Marattia alata in the Sandwich Islands. The trunks of the Alsophila, or tree fern, of the western side of Van Diemen's Land, and of the common tree fern, Cibotium Billardieri (the Dicksonia antarctica, of Labillardiere), contain the edible pith or bread-fruit eaten by the natives. Many other species of ferns are esculent. Typha bread is prepared in Scinde from the pollen of the flowers of the Typha elephantina, and in New Zealand from another species of bulrush (Typha utilis).

"It must not be supposed, as some have believed, that the fern root, wherever it grows, is fit for food. On the contrary, it is only that found in rich loose soils which contains fecula in sufficient quantity for this purpose: in poorer ground the root contains proportionally more fibre. We were now encamped on an alluvial flat in the valley of the river, thirty or forty feet below the general level of the plain; and I observed that, even in this favourable spot, a great deal of discrimination was used in selecting the best roots, which was discoverable by their being crisp enough to break easily when bent: those which would not stand this test being thrown aside. Here a quantity sufficient for several days was procured, and was packed in baskets, to last till another spot equally favourable could be reached.

"The process of cooking fern root is very simple; for it is merely roasted on the fire, and afterwards bruised by means of a flat stone similar to a cobbler's lap-stone, and a wooden pestle. The long fibres which run like wires through the root are then easily drawn out; and the remainder is pounded till it acquires the consistence of tough dough, in which state it is eaten, its taste being very like that of cassava bread. Sometimes it is sweetened with the juice of the 'tutu.'

"The natives consider that there is no better food than this for a traveller, as it both appeases the cravings of hunger for a longer period than their other ordinary food, and renders the body less sensible to the fatigue of a long march. It is in this respect to the human frame, what oats or beans are to the horse. They have a song in praise of this root, which I have once or twice heard chanted on occasions of festivals, by a troop of young women who carry baskets of the food intended for the guests."—("Shortland's New Zealand.")

I ought not to omit noticing the Tuber cibarium, a plant of the mushroom family, growing under ground, which furnishes the famous truffle, so celebrated in the annals of cooking, of which immense quantities are imported, chiefly from the South of France. It is common also in Italy and Germany, and is often found in Northamptonshire, and some other of our own counties. The "kemmayes," a desert plant of the truffle kind, is a great favorite with the Arabs.

In Terra del Fuego the only vegetable food of the natives, besides a few berries of a dwarf arbutus, is a species of globular bright yellow fungus (Cyttaria Darwinii), which grows in vast numbers on the beech trees. In its tough and mature state it is collected in large quantities by the women and children, and eaten uncooked. It has a slightly sweet mucilaginous taste, with a faint smell like that of a mushroom.

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SECTION III.

SPICES, AROMATIC CONDIMENTS, FRAGRANT WOODS, &c.

The various spices and condiments which form so large an item in our commercial imports, are obtained from the barks, the dried seeds, the fruit, flower-buds, and root-stocks, of different plants. The chief aromatic barks comprise the cinnamon, cassia lignea, cascarilla, and canella alba. The medicinal barks will be noticed elsewhere. The seeds and fruits include pepper, pimento, cardamoms, anise, nutmegs, chillies. The flower-buds of some furnish cloves and cassia buds; the roots supply ginger, galangale, turmeric, and ginseng. A few other useful substances, such as vanilla, the costus, or putchuk, mace, soy, and some of the odoriferous woods I have included under this section.

CINNAMON.

The true cinnamon of commerce is obtained from the inner bark of Cinnamonum verum, R. Brown; or C. zeylanicum; the Laurus cinnamonum, of Linnæus, a handsome looking tree, native of the East Indies. The island of Ceylon is the chief seat of its cultivation, and for a long time the Dutch depended solely for their supply of this bark for the home market on the produce of the wild cinnamon trees in the King of Kandy's territories there. At last, from the increasing demand, they resorted to the growth and more careful culture of the tree themselves. About the year 1794, the cultivation had succeeded so well that they were enabled to meet the demand for the spice from trees of their own growth, independent of any supplies from the Kandian monarch's territory.

In 1796, when this island fell into our hands, the local government endeavoured, after the former fashion of the Dutch, to restrain the production of this article of commerce within due bounds, by destroying all above a certain quantity.

General Maitland, in 1805, and his successors in the government, seeing the folly of such a ridiculous policy, very wisely fostered and promoted the extended cultivation of cinnamon plantations.

In the island of Java, and in Cochin-China, cinnamon culture has within the last few years made considerable progress.

The leaves of the cinnamon tree are more or less acuminated, from five to eight inches long, by about three broad, growing in pairs opposite each other. They have three principal ribs, which come in contact at its base, but do not unite. The leaves, when first developed, are of a bright red hue, then of a pale yellow, and lastly of a dark shining green; when mature, they emit a strong aromatic odor if broken or rubbed in the hands, and have the pungent taste of cloves. The young twigs of the true cinnamon tree are not downy, like those of the cassia bark. The plant blooms in January and February, and the seeds ripen in July and August.

The blossoms grow on slender foot-stalks, of a pale yellow color, from the axillæ of the leaves and the extremity of the branches. They are numerous clusters of small white flowers, having a brownish shade in the centre, about the same size as the lilac, which it resembles. The fruit is a drupe, about the size of a small hedge strawberry, containing one seed, and of the shape of an acorn, which when ripe is soft and of a dark purple color.

The roots are fibrous, hard, and tough, covered with an odoriferous bark; on the outside of a greyish brown, and on the inside of a reddish hue. They strike about three feet into the earth, and spread to a considerable distance. Many of them smell strongly of camphor, which is sometimes extracted from them.

The trees in their wild state will grow ordinarily to the height of 30 feet. The trunk is about three feet in circumference, and throws out a great number of large spreading horizontal branches, clothed with thick foliage. When cultivated for their bark, the trees are not permitted to rise above the height of ten feet.

The true cinnamon tree (according to Mr. Crawfurd) is not a native of the islands of the Eastern Archipelago; but Marshall, in his description and history of the tree ("Annals of Philos," vol. x.) assigns very extensive limits to its cultivation. He asserts that it is found on the Malabar coast, in Cochin-China, and Tonquin, Sumatra, the Soolo Archipelago, Borneo, Timor, the Nicobar and Philippine Islands. It has been transplanted, and grows well in the Mauritius, Bourbon and the eastern coast of Africa; in the Brazils, Guiana, in South America, and Guadaloupe, Martinique, Tobago, and Jamaica; but produces in the West a bark of very inferior quality to the Oriental.

Rumphius has remarked, that the trees which yield cinnamon, cassia, and clove bark (Cinnamonum Culilaban), though so much alike, are hardly ever found in the same countries.

The term clove bark has been applied to the barks of two different trees belonging to the natural order Laurineæ. One of these barks is frequently called "Culilaban bark." It consists of almost flat pieces, and is obtained from Cinnamonum Culilaban, a tree growing in Amboyna, and probably other parts of the Moluccas.

The other bark, known as clove bark, occurs in quills, which are imported from South America. Murray says it is produced by the Myrtus carophyllata, a tree termed by Decandolle Syzgium carophyllæum. It appears, however, that this is an error, for both Nees and Von Martius declare it to be the produce of Dicypellium caryophyllatum; and the last quoted authority states that this tree is the noblest of all the laurels found in the Brazils, where it is called "Pao Cravo." It grows at Para and Rio Negro.

Cinnamon may be propagated by seeds, plants, or layers; roots also, if carefully transplanted, will thrive in favorable localities, and yield useful shoots in twelve months. It is usually cultivated from suckers, which should not have more than three or four leaves, and require continual watering. If raised from seed, the young plants are kept in a nursery for a year or two, and then transplanted; but the trees from seeds are longer arriving at maturity. The plants are kept well earthed about the roots to retain the moisture, and coco-nut husks are placed above them, which in time form an excellent compost.

A cinnamon plantation, even in a favorable locality, seldom yields much return until eight or nine years have elapsed.

The mode of cultivation pursued by the natives differs from that followed in the plantations of the Europeans. The native system is to allow the cinnamon to grow large before cutting; the European practice is to cut it young. The result is that the native produces quantity, but coarse; the European produces quality, but less in quantity. I have found, in conversation with the native growers, that they consider the bush or tree decidedly weakened by its being kept down by constant cutting twice a year; and that their plants are stronger and better. It is not absolutely an original opinion, but I think the two systems might be judiciously blended. In cutting the cinnamon sticks for peeling, as the Europeans do it twice a year, there is always risk of losing much valuable young wood, which is destroyed in slashing into the bushes with catties (bill-hooks) to take out that which is in a fit state for peeling, all of which is so much loss from the next cutting; and on this ground I should be inclined to advocate cutting once a year. There are, I know, other considerations than the mere growth of the sticks to be taken into account. Of these may be named the time when the bark peels best from the stick, which of course must depend upon age as well as season, the excited or unexcited state of the shoots, and their several effects upon the quality of the spice.

Weeding the plantations does not seem to be of so much consequence, if the shrub gets plenty of free air all round it.

Cinnamon land continues to yield abundantly crop after crop, not for years, but for scores of years. The greater portion of the late preserved plantations in Ceylon were planted by the Dutch, one hundred years ago, and the bushes are stated to be as vigorous as ever, and quite likely to go on yielding crops till the year 2000. This productiveness can only be accounted for on Liebig's principle of returning to the soil a portion of what we take from it. In the operation of peeling cinnamon, the tops and lateral branches are cut off, and left by the peelers on the ground close to the bushes. These, no doubt, furnish a considerable quantity of manure to the plants.

The general appearance of the plantation is that of a copse, with laurel leaves and stems, about the thickness of hazel; occasionally a tree may be seen which, having been allowed to grow for seed, has reached a height of forty or fifty feet, with a trunk eighteen inches in diameter. When in full bloom, the cinnamon bushes have a very beautiful appearance, the small white petals affording a most agreeable contrast with the flame-colored extremities of the upper, and the dark green of the inferior foliage, with the blossoms of various lovely parasitical plants.

The cinnamon tree flourishes only in a small portion of the island of Ceylon. It is chiefly confined to the south-west angle, formed by the sea coast, from Tangalle in the south to Chilaw on the west. It is in a climate of agreeable temperature, which is at once hot and moist; hot from its tropical position, and moist from the frequency and plentifulness of rains. The general level of the country is low, in the midst of fresh-water lakes, divided from the sea by a narrow riband of land. And the water in the soil of the cinnamon gardens is of extraordinary purity, so as to be for that reason much in request in the neighbouring city as a beverage. This exact combination of influences does not occur anywhere else in the island, at least not in the same degree.

The cultivation principally centres round Colombo, the capital and principal port.

On the hills and valleys, in the neighbourhood of Kandy, which have a temperate climate, the tree flourishes well; a rather elevated situation, with shelter, contributing to the luxuriance of the plants. The best soil for it appears to be a pure quartz sand, which in some places rests on black moss or mould. From the surface to the depth of a few inches, this sand is as fine in its nature and as pearly white in its appearance as the best table salt; but below that depth, and near the roots of the bushes, the sand is greyish.

A specimen of this soil being carefully dried by Dr. Davy, was found to consist of 98.5 silicious sand, 0.5 vegetable matter, and 1.1 water—in 100 parts. This circumstance impresses one very strongly on visiting the cinnamon gardens; it seems so strange to see a plain of pure quartz sand whitened in the sun, and yet covered over with a luxuriant growth of trees. In richer soils the aroma does not seem to develop itself in the same concentrated form.

A mixture of loam and peat, with sand, is said, however, to form a good soil in some localities. These plantations may well suggest a doubt as to the truth of the proposition so unqualifiedly laid down by some authors, that "earth destitute of organic matter cannot sustain vegetation." Certainly it is not organic matter which supports the cinnamon trees of Colombo.

Peeling.—The best cinnamon is obtained from the stalks or twigs, which shoot up in a cluster of eight or ten together from the roots, after the parent bush or tree has been cut down. These shoots are cut once in about three years, close to the ground. Great care is requisite, both as to the exact size and age; for if the bark is too young, it has a green taste, if too old it is rough and gritty. These shoots yield an incomparably fine cinnamon bark. When cut for peeling they are of various sizes and lengths, depending on the texture of the bark. These rods afford the hazel-like walking-sticks so much esteemed by strangers, and which, though difficult to be procured during the prevalence of the oppressive cinnamon regulations, may now be very easily obtained from proprietors of grounds producing that spice. Cinnamon is barked at two periods of the year, between April and December. Those suckers which are considered fit for cutting, are usually about three-fourths of an inch in diameter, and five feet or more long. The first operation is to strip them of the outside pellicle of bark. The twigs are then ripped up lengthwise with the point of a knife, and the liber or inner bark gradually loosened, till it can be entirely taken off. While drying they are cut up into long narrow rolls, called "quills," then stuck into one another, so as to form pipes about three or four feet long, which are afterwards made up in round bundles.

During the first day the cinnamon is suspended under shelter upon open platforms, and on the second day it is placed on wicker-work shelves, and exposed to the sun until sufficiently dry to be examined and sorted for shipment.

It is brought home in bags or bales of 80 or 90 lbs. weight, and classed before export into three sorts; first, second, and third quality. The different kinds of cinnamon bark may be thus classified, according to quality—

1. That which ranks above all others in quality, is known by the Singhalese name of penne or rasse kuroondu, sharp sweet, or honey cinnamon.

2. Naya kuroondu, snake cinnamon.

3. Kapoorn kuroondu, camphorated cinnamon, from the very strong smell of camphor which it possesses. This variety is principally obtained from the plantations of the interior.

4. Kahate or canalle kuroondu, astringent cinnamon. In this species the bark peels off very easily, and smells agreeably when fresh, but it has a bitter taste.

5. Savel kuroondu, mucilaginous or glutinous cinnamon. This sort acquires a very considerable degree of hardness, which the chewing of it sufficiently proves. It has otherwise little taste, and an ungrateful smell; but the color is very fine, and it is often mixed with the first and best sort; the color being much alike, excepting only that in the good sort some few yellowish spots appear towards the extremities.

6. Dawool kuroondu, or drum cinnamon. The wood of this tree, when grown hard, is light and tough, and the natives make some of their vessels and drums of it. The bark is of a pale color.

7. Nika kuroondu, wild cinnamon, whose leaf resembles that of the nicasol (Vitex Negundo). The bark of this tree has neither taste or smell when peeled, and is made use of by the natives only in physic, and to extract an oil from to anoint their bodies.

8. Mal kuroondu, flowering cinnamon, because this tree is always in blossom. The substance of the wood never becomes so solid and weighty in this as in the other named species, which are sometimes nine or ten feet in circumference. If this ever-flowering cinnamon be cut or bored, a limpid water will issue out of the wound; but it is of use only for the leaves and bark.

9. Toupat kuroondu, trefoil cinnamon, of which there are three varieties, which grow in the mountains and valleys of the interior about Kandy.

10. We kuroondu, white ant's cinnamon.

The first-named four of these are, however, alone varieties of the Cinnamonum verum.

Good cinnamon is known by the following properties:—It is thin and rather pliable; it ought to be about the substance of royal paper, or somewhat thicker. It admits of a considerable degree of pressure, and bends before it breaks; the fracture is then splintering. It is of a light color, approaching to yellow, bordering but little upon the brown; it possesses a sweetish taste, at the same time it is not stronger than can be borne without pain, and is not succeeded by any after-taste. The more cinnamon departs from these characteristics, the coarser and less serviceable it is esteemed; and it should be rejected if it be hard, and thick as a half-crown piece; if it be very dark colored or brown; if it be very pungent and hot on the tongue, with a taste bordering upon that of cloves, so that it cannot be suffered without pain. Particular care should be taken that it is not false-packed, or mixed with cinnamon of a common sort.

The following remarks, by Mr. Dunewille, of Malacca, as to the suitability of the Straits' Settlements for cinnamon culture, are interesting, although in some instances a repetition of previous observations:—

It appears, from experience, that the soil of Ceylon is more favorable to the growth of cinnamon than to that of any other aromatic plant, and I find the climate of Ceylon, if at all, differs but in a very slight degree from that of the Straits. I therefore conclude that the spice, if cultivated in the Straits, will prove superior to that of Ceylon, if one may judge from the various spices that grow here almost wild, and it would moreover yield a better return than in Ceylon. My supposition is confirmed from having seen the spice which was prepared last year in Pringet by the Honorable Resident Councillor of Malacca, and which I found to be equally as good in every respect as that grown and cultivated in the maritime provinces in Ceylon.

A sandy soil is that which is generally selected for cinnamon, but other soils may be chosen also, such as a mixture of sandy with red soil, free from quartz, gravel, or rock, also red and dark brown soils. Such land in a flat country is preferable to hilly spots, upon which, however, cinnamon also grows, and are known by the name of the "Kandyan Mountains." The soil that is rocky and stony under the surface is bad, and not adapted for the cultivation of cinnamon, as the trees would neither grow fast, nor yield a remunerative return.

When a tract of land of the above description is selected, the whole of the ground should be cleared, leaving a few trees for shade, to which the laborers might return for rest and relaxation; these may be from 50 to 60 feet apart. The trees felled should be well lopped, burnt and cleared away, the stumps should be removed with roots, after which they may be allowed to remain, in order to save expense of carriage, merely by observing some degree of order in the disposition, by forming regular rows, of which the intervening spaces are planted with cinnamon. The ground being thus cleared, holes may be dug at eight to ten feet apart, and of one foot square; the distance from each plant will depend upon the nature of the soil—that is, the poorer the soil, the nearer to each other should the trees be planted, and vice versa.

When this operation is over, should the holes be intended for cinnamon roots, or stumps, the latter must be carefully removed with as much earth as can be carried up with them and placed in the holes, taking care not to return the earth removed originally in digging the holes, which are to be filled with the soil scraped from the surface, which has been previously burnt, exposed, and formed into manure. Should no rain have fallen after the placing of the roots in the holes, the stumps should be well covered, and watered morning and evening, until such time as the sprouts shoot out fresh buds, which will be in a fortnight or so from the time they were transplanted, when the watering may be discontinued. In a month the new shoots will be three or four inches high; this much depends upon the weather.

If the holes be intended for young plants or seedlings, the plants must be removed with boles of earth from the nurseries, and placed in the holes, taking the same care as with the stumps, both in watering and covering, in the event of its being dry weather. When the seedlings take root, the coverings should not be removed until the plants throw out a new pair of leaves from the buds, which is a sign of their having taken root.

When a plantation is formed of old stumps, all the branches should be cut down within six inches from the ground; this should be done with one stroke of a sharp instrument, in order to avoid the splitting of the stem. From these stumps cinnamon may be cut and peeled within eighteen months from the time of transplanting. Often this is done after the lapse of twelve months from the time of transplanting.

From seedlings one cannot expect to gather a crop before two or three years from the time the plants were transplanted, when there will be but one or a single tree, which, when cut down as already shown, four or six inches to the ground, ought to be covered with fresh earth gathered from the space between the rows, and formed in a heap round the plant. The next crop will be three or four times as much as the first, from the number of sprouts the stem will throw out, and so on every year, the crop increasing according to the number of sprouts each stem will throw out yearly from the cuttings. In the course of seven or eight years, the space left between the rows will only admit the peelers and others to go round the bushes, weed, clear and remove cuttings, as the branches from each bush will almost touch each other at their ends.

It is essentially necessary to take every care not to allow any creepers or other weeds to grow, the former interfere with the growth of the bushes by entangling, because it not only takes out so much of the support feeding the cinnamon trees, but interferes with the peelers during the cutting season, and prevents the branches growing up straight with a free circulation of air. The plantation ought to be kept clean and free from weeds; the cinnamon requires no manuring, but when the plantation is weeding the bushes should be covered with the surface soil and raising the ground round the bush by making a heap of the earth, which answers well in lieu of manure. This operation must be attended to as soon as the cinnamon sticks are removed for peeling. The plantation requires weeding three or four times a year during the first two or three years, then twice a year will answer the purpose; as by that time the trees will form into bushes and destroy the seeds of the weeds on the ground.

The forming of a nursery is necessary, for which a space of ground, say an acre, should be selected in a rich bit of soil free from stones. Clear the whole brushwood, only leaving the large trees for shade, remove all stones, stumps, and roots, dig the place well six or eight inches deep, then form into long beds of three or four feet wide, put the seeds down nine or twelve inches apart, cover them eight or twelve inches above the ground by a platform, and water them every other day until the seeds grow up and give one pair of leaves, then leave off watering (unless great dry weather prevail, then it ought to be continued) but not uncover until the plants grow up six or eight inches high, and can bear the sun; these seedlings will be ready for transplanting after three months from the time they were sown.

The forming of nurseries is done at the close of the year, before December. When this is done first, the party commences clearing and preparing the land during the dry season, which is from the beginning of December up to the end of March following. April will set in with heavy rain (it is generally so in Ceylon), and it will continue wet weather till the end of August, very often till September and October, and you have the benefit of four or five months rain.

The cinnamon seeds are to be gathered when they are fully ripe, they must be heaped up in a shady place, to have the outside red pulp rotted, when it turns quite black, then have the seeds trampled or otherwise freed from the decomposed pulp, without injuring the seeds, and well washed in water (just as is done to cherry coffee, before they are made into parchment in the whole shell). Finally, have the seeds[48] well dried in the air without exposing them to the sun, and then put them in on the ground prepared for their reception. In washing the seeds, those that float on the surface should be rejected.

There are five different sorts of cinnamon, viz.:—

1st	is called	Panny	Meers	Carundoo.
2nd		Tittha	"	"
3rd		Kahatte	"	"
4th		Wallee	"	"
5th		Savell	"	"

Of these, the first kind is the best of all, the 2nd and 3rd, although inferior, are peeled likewise, the 4th and 5th are spurious.

The distinction in the cinnamon can be known both by taste, the shape of the leaves on the tree, and an experienced "Challya" man will judge the cinnamon by first sight.

The quality of the bark depends upon its situation in the branch, that peeled from the middle of the bush or branch being the most superior, and classed as 1st sort, that taken from the upper end is the 2nd quality, while the bark removed from the base of the branch, or the thickest end, is the inferior, and called the 3rd sort.

From the cinnamon bark refused in the sorting store of all kinds, in separating the first, second and third qualities and in making bales for exportation, the refuse is collected, and by a chemical process cinnamon oil is extracted, which sells very high, with an export duty of 3s. or l½ rupees on each ounce, exclusive of the British duties payable in England for importation, which is at present one shilling and three pence per pound.[49] Of the cinnamon roots camphor is made, which sells well both in Ceylon and other parts of the world.

Cinnamon, as a medicine, is a powerful stimulant, but it is not much used alone. It is generally united with other tonics and stimulants, but its ordinary use is to mask the disagreeable odor and taste of other medicines. The oil of cinnamon is prepared by being grossly powdered and macerated in sea water for two days and two nights, and both are put into the still. A light oil comes over with the water, and floats on its surface; a heavy oil sinks to the bottom of the receiver, four hours before the light oil separates from the water, and whilst the heavy oil continues to be precipitated for ten, twelve, or sometimes fourteen days. The heavy oil, which separates first, is about the same color as the light oil, but sometimes the portion which separates last has a browner shade than the supernatant oil. The same water can be used advantageously in a second distillation. Professor Duncan informs us that 80 lbs. of newly-prepared cinnamon yield about 2½ ozs. of oil, which floats upon the water, and 5½ of heavy oil. The same quantity of cinnamon, if kept in store for many years, yields 2 ozs. of light oil and 5 ozs. of heavy oil.

Cinnamon oil is obtained from the fragments of bark which remain after peeling, sorting, and packing. It is distilled over with difficulty, and the process is promoted by the addition of salt water, and the use of a low still. The oil thus obtained by distillation is at first of a yellow color, but soon assumes a reddish brown hue. It has an odor intermediate between that of cinnamon and vanilla, but possesses in a high degree both the sweet burning taste and the agreeable aromatic smell of cinnamon. It is heavier than water, its specific gravity being 1.035.

The ripe fruit of this tree yields a concrete oil called cinnamon suet, which was formerly employed to make candles for the Kandian kings. An oil, called clove oil, is also distilled from the leaf, which is said to be equal in aromatic pungency to that made from the clove at the Moluccas.

The following were the quantities sold, and the average prices realised during the Dutch rule in Ceylon:—

			s.	d.
1690	3,750	bales sold at	4	8	all round.
1709	3,750	"	4	6	"
1710	3,500	"	4	4	"
1720	5,000	"	4	4	"
1740	4,000	"	9	3	"
1760	5,000	"	8	5	"
1780	2,500	"	12	6	"
1784	2,500	"	17	4	"

The last quotation appears to have been the highest ever obtained for cinnamon, for 17s. 8d. average would give about 22s. for the first sort. In later years we find the deliveries and prices to have been as follows:—

			s.	d.
1824	5,934	bales sold at	6	6	all round.
1828	3,918	"	6	0	"
1830	5,849	"	7	8	"
1842	1,018	"	—		"
1845	3,245	"	—		"

The comparative exports of cinnamon from Ceylon in the first six months of 1853, as compared with the same period last year, are as follows:—

		1853. lbs.	1852. lbs.
Quarter ending	5th January	99,778	93,291
"	5th April	73,815	135,248
Total		173,593	228,539

The diminished export was caused by the prospective abolition of the export duty, which came into operation on the 1st July last. The quantity that will be sent to the English market by the close of the year (1853) will be something prodigious compared with the average consumption. From October 10, 1852, to July 22, 1853, the shipments were 406,326 lbs.

RETURN OF CINNAMON EXPORTED FROM CEYLON,
SHOWING THE QUANTITY AND VALUE.

	Quantity.	Value.
Year.	lbs.	£
1836	724,364	—
1837	558,110	—
1838	398,198	—
1839	596,592	—
1840	389,373	—
1841	317,919	24,857
1842	121,145	15,207
1843	662,704	66,270
1844	1,057,841	105,784
1845	408,211	40,821
1846	491,656	49,165
1847	447,369	44,736
1848	491,688	49,168
1849	733,782	73,378
1850	644,857	64,485
1851	500,518	50,051
1852	427,667	42,766

The question of the export duty on cinnamon has, during the last twenty years, occupied a considerable space in Ceylon correspondence and the Island journals. This duty was first imposed in 1832, on the abolition of the Grovernment monopoly, and was then fixed at the rate of 3s. per lb. on all qualities. From the 19th April, 1835, it was fixed at 3s. per lb. on the best, and 2s. on the second quality. It was reduced in January, 1837, to 2s. 6d. on the first and second sorts, and 2s. on the third; and in June, 1841, to 2s. on all qualities; in 1843, to 1s.; and in September, 1848, to 4d. per lb. Such a rate of export duty could be maintained only on an article for which there was a considerable demand, and which could not be supplied from other places, and this was for a long time the case. The circumstances are now different, and the abolition of the duty, which has so repeatedly been brought under the notice of the Treasury, has at length been determined on. The quantity of cinnamon, &c., taken for consumption in the United Kingdom, scarcely amounts to 2,800 bales per annum. The sale and consumption is nearly stationary, and cinnamon is only in demand for those finer purposes for which cassia, its competitor, cannot be used. Whilst we imported the large amount of 700,095 lbs. in 1850, only 28,347 lbs. went into consumption. The consumption has declined in the last two years to about 21,500 lbs. Cinnamon is now imported into the United Kingdom duty free.

The land under cultivation with cinnamon in Ceylon is about 13,000 acres, principally in the western and southern provinces. The number of gardens being eleven at Kaderane, seven at Ekelli, seven at Morotto, six at Marandham, and two at Willisene. Several enterprising planters have recently commenced the cultivation of this spice at Singapore and Malacca. The plants already promise well. Indeed there can be little doubt of its thriving, as the tree has been long grown in gardens and pleasure grounds in those settlements, as an ornamental plant, and has always flourished.

The Ceylon article is being supplanted in the continental markets by a cheaper one, of China and Malabar growth. The Javanese, tempted by the fatally high prices caused by the excessive duties on our Colonial spice, smuggled a quantity of seed, and with it a cinnamon cultivator, out of the island, and have since paid considerable attention to its growth. The Dutch have at present more than five millions of plants, equal to upwards of 5,000 acres, the greater part of which are in tolerably full bearing.

The cinnamon trees in Java begin to blossom in the month of March. They do not all flower at the same time, but in succession. The fruit begins to ripen in October in the same manner, so that the crop lasts from October to February. In Ceylon the blossom begins to appear in November. The seeds when plucked ought to be fully ripe, and after being separated from the outer pulpy covering, should be dried in the shade. They can be kept for two or three months in dry sand or ashes, but must not be exposed to the sun, as they would split, and thus be rendered useless.

The plants in nurseries must be well sheltered from the sun and heavy rains, but the plants are strengthened by the covers being removed at night when heavy rains are not expected to fall, and in the day time when only light rains prevail. The mode of planting out, cultivation, preparing the bark, &c., appears to be the same in Java as that practised in Ceylon. The only difference is, that while in Ceylon the cinnamon, when ready for market, is packed in "gunny" or canvass bags, in Java it is put into boxes, made of wood free from any smell or flavor which would injure the spice. The inferior cinnamon, however, is packed in straw mats.

The following is a return of the extent of cinnamon culture in Java :—

	In 1840.	In 1841.
Residencies in which cinnamon is cultivated	10	10
Number of plantations	48	49
Number of families devoted to this culture	7,901	9,688
Number of paidbudjans	294	345
Extent of ground occupied by the cultivation, in bahus of 71 decametres	1,690	1,880
Cinnamon trees of which the bark can be taken	1,106,566	1,407,213
Young trees in the parks	2,478,427	2,565,774
For renewing	307,000	86,800
Total	3,891,998	4,059,787
Cinnamon crop, in Dutch lbs.	57,074	38,219
Cinnamon refuse	23,283	82,803

The number of trees peeled in 1842 was taken at 1,824,599, and the crop reckoned at 108,905 lbs.

In the residency of Bantam, four trees suffice to produce a pound of cinnamon, whilst in the other residencies eleven trees must generally be stripped to furnish the same quantity; in 1839 one pound could scarcely be obtained from thirteen trees.

This cultivation increases each year, and the quality of the produce improves, whilst the expenses diminish. However, the Dutch Government has judged it proper not to extend it, although the soil of Java appears favorable to this culture.

From 200,000 to 300,000 lbs. of true cinnamon, not freed from its epidermis, is exported annually from Cochin-China.

JAVA CINNAMON SOLD IN HOLLAND.

		lbs.
In	1835	2,200
"	1836	1,300
"	1837	1,600
"	1838	2,100
"	1839	4,700
"	1840	7,900
"	1841	23,900
"	1842	13,000
"	1843	23,000
"	1844	101,400
"	1845	134,500
"	1848	250,550

STATISTICS OF PACKAGES IN LONDON.

	1842.	1843.	1844.	1845.
Imported	2,196	4,458	9,197	8,909
Exported	3,661	3,964	6,712	6,081
Duty paid	838	738	801	1,012
Stock	2,709	2,622	4,230	5,549

CASSIA BARK.

Cinnamonum Cassia, or aromaticum, the Laurus cassia of Linnæus, seems to be the chief source of the "cassia lignea" of commerce. It differs from the true cinnamon tree in many particulars. Its leaves are oblong-lanceolate; they have three ribs, which coalesce into one at the base; its young twigs are downy, and its leaves have the taste of cinnamon.

Malabar cassia appears to be the produce of another species of Cinnamonum, probably C. eucalyptoides, or Malabatrum.

Dr. Wight, of the Madras Medical Service, in a report to the East India Company, expresses his belief that the cassia producing plants extend to nearly every species of the genus. "A set of specimens (he observes) submitted for my examination, of the trees furnishing cassia on the Malabar coast, presented no fewer than four distinct species; including among them the genuine cinnamon plant, the bark of the older trees of which, it would appear, are exported from the coast as cassia. Three or four more species are natives of Ceylon, exclusive of the cinnamon proper, all of which greatly resemble the cinnamon plant, and in the woods might easily be mistaken for it and peeled, though the produce would be inferior. Thus we have from Western India and Ceylon alone, probably not less than six plants producing cassia; add to these nearly twice as many more species of Cinnamonum, the produce of the more eastern states of Asia, and the Islands of the Eastern Archipelago, all remarkable for their striking family likeness; all, I believe, endowed with aromatic properties, and probably the greater part, if not the whole, contributing something towards the general result, and we at once see the impossibility of awarding to any one individual species the credit of being the source whence the Cassia lignea of commerce is derived; and equally the impropriety of applying to any one of them the comprehensive specific appellation of cassia, since all sorts of cinnamon-like plants, yielding bark of a quality unfit to bear the designation of cinnamon in the market, are passed off as cassia."

The cassia tree, according to Mr. Crawfurd, is found in the more northern portion of the Indian isles, as in the Philippines, Majindanao, Sumatra, Borneo, and parts of Celebes. It is also grown on the western coast of Africa. The principal seat of its culture is, however, the Malabar coast, and the provinces of Quantong and Kingse, in China.

The famous cassia of China is incomparably superior in perfume and flavor to any spice of its class. Its native place is unknown, though supposed to be the interior provinces of China. The market price is said to be £5 per lb.

The Malabar sort brought from Bombay is thicker, darker colored, and coarser than that from China, and is more subject to foul packing. A small quantity of cassia is brought from Mauritius and Brazil, and a large amount from the Philippine Islands.

Cassia bark fetches from 80s. to 105s. per cwt. in the London market, according to quality. The imports appear on the decline. In 1843 and 1844 we imported nearly two millions of pounds. The quantity imported and retained for home consumption in the past four years are shown in the following figures:—

	Imported. lbs.	Retained for consumption. lbs.
1848	510,247	76,152
1849	472,693	83,500
1850	1,050,008	97,178
1851	267,582	82,467

The cheaper Indian barks, as well as the cinnamon of the East, seemed at one time to be fast driving out of the market the superior class cinnamon of Ceylon.

In 1841 Java exported 400 cwts. of cinnamon; and the quantity of cassia imported into the United Kingdom from India and the Philippine Islands, in the five years ending with 1844, was—

	lbs.
1840	329,310
1841	1,261,648
1842	1,312,804
1843	2,470,502
1844	1,278,413

40,000 lbs. were received from India in 1848; and 3,795 arrobas of cassia were exported from Manila in 1847. In 1852, 2,806 cwts. of cassia were received at Singapore from China, and 1,380 cwts. exported from that settlement to the Continent, against 903 cwts. shipped in the previous year.

What the Ceylon spice-grower wants, is an extended field of operation—a larger class of consumers to take off his cinnamon, and this can only be obtained by bringing it within the means of the great mass of cassia buyers.

Look at the quantity of cinnamon exported by the Dutch in the middle of the eighteenth century. Eight or nine thousand bales a year were exported, and now, after a lapse of a hundred years, Ceylon hardly sends away half that quantity. Yet the consumption of spice must have kept pace with the increased population of countries using it, and so it has. But the difference is made up, and more than made up, by cassia from China, Java, Sumatra, Malabar Coast, &c., and though the new article is not equal to the cinnamon of Ceylon, yet the vast difference in the price obtains for it the preference. Now what the Ceylon planter wants, is to be allowed to produce a spice on equal terms, and of a superior quality to cassia, which might be done under an ad valorem export duty of 5 per cent. Spice of this description of course could not afford the high cultivation bestowed on the fine qualities, neither would it be required. In fact little or no cultivation need be given it. At present anything inferior to the third sort is not worth producing, because it cannot stand the shilling export duty. But under a more enlightened system of things, with a low duty such as I suggest, myriads of bushes would spring up on those low, sandy, and at present unprofitable wastes that skirt the sea-coast of the western province, around Negombo and Chilaw.

The difference of duty would be more than made up by the diffusion of capital in planting, the employment of vast numbers of laborers, the purchase from Government of many thousand acres of now valueless flats, and all the attendant benefits arising out of the development of a new field of operation for the colonial industrial resources.[50] The cassia tree grows naturally to the height of 50 or 60 feet, with large, spreading, horizontal branches. The peelers take off the two barks together, and separating the rough outer one, which is of no value, they lay the inner bark to dry, which rolls up and becomes the Cassia lignea of commerce. It resembles cinnamon in taste, smell and appearance. The best is imported from China, either direct from Canton, or through Singapore, in small tubes or quills, sometimes the thickness of the ordinary pipes of cinnamon and of the same length; but usually they are shorter and thicker, and the bark itself coarser. It is of a tolerably smooth surface and brownish color, with some cast of red, but much less so than cinnamon. The exports from China are said to be about five million pounds annually; price about 32s. per cwt. In 1850, 6,509 piculs of cassia lignea (nearly one million pounds), valued at 87,850 dollars, were shipped from the single port of Canton. Cassia bark is of a less fibrous texture, and more brittle, and it is also distinguished from cinnamon by a want of pungency, and by being of a mucilaginous or gelatinous quality.

CASSIA BUDS are the dried flower buds (perianth and ovary) of the cassia tree, and are mostly brought from China. They bear some resemblance to a clove, but are smaller, and when fresh have a rich cinnamon flavor. They should be chosen round, fresh, and free from stalk and dirt. They are used chiefly in confectionery, and have the flavor and pungency of cassia. The exports from Canton in 1844 were 21,500 lbs.; in 1850, 44,140 lbs., valued at 7,400 dollars. The average quantity of cassia buds imported into the United Kingdom, in each of the thirteen years ending with 1842, was 40,231 lbs.; the average quantity entered for home consumption in these years was 6,610 lbs., and the average annual amount of duty received was £312.

Cassia bark yields a yellow volatile oil, called oil of cassia, the finer kind of which differs but little in its properties from that of cinnamon, for which it is generally substituted; it has a specific gravity of 1071. The best is manufactured in China, where the wood, bark, leaves and oil are all in request. The cassia oil is rated at 150 dollars per picul, and the trade in this article reaches about 250,000 dollars.

CANELLA ALBA, or wild cinnamon, is a valuable and ornamental tree, growing about fifteen feet high, which is cultivated in South America and the West Indies for its pungent bark, which is shipped to this country in bales or cases, in long quills and flat pieces, something like cinnamon. Large old cuttings root readily in the sand. It is grown chiefly in the Bahama Islands, from whence we derive our supplies.

By the Caribs, the ancient natives of the West Indies, and the negroes, it was first employed as a condiment. In this country it is chiefly used as an aromatic stimulant and tonic, ranking between cinnamon and cloves. The bark possesses, however, no other quality than its hot spicy flavor and strong aromatic odor when exposed to the action of heat.

CASCARILLA BARK is obtained chiefly from the Croton cascarilla, a small shrub growing at St. Domingo, the Bahama Islands, and the Antilles. The chief portion comes from Eleuthera. In Hayti a pleasant kind of tea is made from the leaves. Other species of the family supply some of the bark of commerce.

From its strong and aromatic properties it has been found very efficacious in all febrile diseases, and vies with the Jesuits' bark; as a tonic it has very wholesome qualities, a pleasant and strong bitterness, and was for some time held in considerable repute among the faculty.

About twenty years ago, large shipments were made from the Bahamas. It was found, upon adulteration with hops, to reduce the cost of that article, and for the encouragement of the hop grower a prohibitory impost was laid upon it by the Home Government, consequently it became an unsaleable product.

The sea-side balsam, or sweet wood (Croton Eleuteria), from which some cascarilla bark is obtained, grows in the Bahama Islands and Jamaica, but almost all the bark imported comes from Nassau, New Providence. In 1840, 15,000 lbs. were imported for home consumption.

This bark produces the combined effect of an aromatic and of a moderately powerful tonic; but it does not possess any astringency. It has been employed as a substitute for cinchona. When burned it gives out a musky odor, and is often used in pastiles.

The value of this bark ranges, according to quality, from 17s. 6d. to 43 s. per cwt.

CLOVES.

The cloves of commerce are obtained from the flower buds of Caryophyllus aromaticus (Eugenia caryophyllata), which was originally a native of the Moluccas, but is now cultivated in several parts of the East and West Indies. They have the form of a nail, and when examined are seen to consist of the tubular calyx with a roundish projection, formed by the unopened petals. It is a very handsome tree, growing to the height of about twenty feet. The trunk is straight, and rises four or five feet before it throws out branches. The bark is smooth, thin, of a grey color, and the wood of the trunk too hard for ordinary cabinet work.

The leaves are opposite, smooth, narrow, pointed, of a rupous color above, and green on the under side. They have a very aromatic odor when bruised between the fingers. The flowers produced in branched peduncles, at the extremity of the bough, are of a delicate peach color. The elongated calyx, forming the seed vessel, first changes to yellow, and, when ripe, red, which is from October to December, and in this state it is fit to gather. If left for a few weeks longer on the trees, they expand, and become what are termed "mother cloves," fit only for seed or for candying. The ground under the tree is first swept clean, or else a mat or cloth is spread. The nearest clusters are taken off with the hand, and the more distant by the aid of crooked sticks. Great care should be taken not to injure the tree, as it would prevent future bearing.

The cloves are then prepared for shipment by smoking them on hurdles near a slow wood fire, to give them a brown color, after which they are further dried in the sun. They may then be cut off from the flower branches with the nails, and will be found to be purple colored within, and fit to be baled for the European market. In some places they are scalded in hot water before being smoked, but this is not common. The tree may be propagated either from layers or seed. Layers will root in five or six months if kept moist.

A strong dark loam, a gravelly, sandy, or clayey soil, but one not retentive of moisture, seems that best suited for its successful culture.

It does not thrive well near the sea, nor in the higher mountains, the spray of the sea and the cold being found injurious. The plants at first require the shade of other trees, such as the mango, coco-nut, &c. Although generally a hardy plant, it suffers from excessive drought. They should be planted about twenty feet apart. In its native country the tree begins to yield fruit in the sixth year, but a crop can seldom be looked for in other quarters under eight years. It is very long lived, sometimes attaining the age of 130 years.

There appears, according to Mr. Crawfurd, to be five varieties of the clove, viz.—the ordinary cultivated clove; a kind called the female clove by the natives, which has a pale stem; the kiri or loory clove; the royal clove, which is very scarce, and the wild clove. The three first are equally valuable as spices, the female clove being considered fittest for the distillation of essential oil. The wild clove, having scarcely any aromatic flavor, is valueless.

The produce which may be expected from the tree seems to be uncertain; it may, however, be averaged at five or six pounds. A clove tree, well weeded and taken care of, will produce from five to twenty pounds. On the other hand, a tree that is neglected will not give above two or three pounds. At intervals of from three to six years they usually produce one extraordinary crop, but then a year now and then intervenes, when they yield none at all; in others they will afford a double harvest.

The clove tree was originally confined to the five principal Molucca islands, and chiefly to Machean. From these it was conveyed to Amboyna, a very short time only before the arrival of the Portuguese. By them the cultivation was strictly restricted to Amboyna, every effort being made to extirpate the plant elsewhere.

It has now, however, spread to Java, Singapore, and the Straits' Settlements, Ceylon, the Mauritius and Seychelles, Bourbon, Zanzibar, Cayenne, Dominica, Martinique, St. Kitts, St. Vincent, and Trinidad.

Cloves contain a volatile oil, associated with resinous, gummy, and astringent matter, which is yielded in larger proportion than by any other plant. Neuman obtained by distillation two ounces and two drachms from sixteen ounces of cloves. On an average cloves yield from 17 to 22 per cent. of oil, including the heavy and light oils. The oil is aromatic and acrid, and has been used as a condiment and a stimulant carminative. It is also extensively used by distillers and soap makers.

It is said that the clove does not thrive well on the soil of Java, the plantations of which trial had been made not having succeeded to the extent expected, although they were directed by skilled persons from Amboyna; the places they made choice of did not differ materially as to soil and climate from those of the Moluccas.

M. Teysman, Director of the Botanical Gardens at Batavia, seems to have bestowed much attention on the subject. The exports however from the island have been considerable. In 1830, there were 803 piculs shipped; in 1835, 4,566; in 1839, 2,334; in 1843, 2,027 piculs of 133 lbs.

M. Buee, who introduced the culture of the clove in the island of Dominica, about 1789, thus describes the results of his experience, which may be useful to other experimental cultivators. He obtained a few plants from Cayenne, and raised 1,600 trees from seed, which, in a year from the first sowing, were transplanted. The seeds were sown at about six inches apart from each other, in beds; over these beds small frames were erected about three feet from the ground, and plantain leaves were spread on the top, in order to shelter the young plants from the sun. The leaves were allowed gradually to decay, and at the end of nine months the young plants, which by that time were strong, were permitted to receive the benefit of the sun; but if not protected from it when very young, they were found to droop and die.

When transplanted, the trees were placed at sixteen feet apart from each other. They grew very luxuriantly, and at the end of fifteen months after their removal, attained the height of from three to four feet. The ground wherein they were planted had been a coffee plantation during forty years. The coffee trees had decayed, and an attempt had been made to replace them; but they refused to grow; whereas the clove plants flourished as if on congenial soil, and a crop was gathered on some of them when they were not more than six years old, which period is two or three years earlier than the usual time for gathering.

The cloves sent from St. Vincent to England in 1800, were obtained from trees eight feet high, having a stem only two inches in diameter. Trial was made in that island of the relative growth of the plant on different soils; it grew sickly on land which was not manured, but on land which had received this preparation it flourished.

In Singapore, about ten years ago, there were then about 15,000 clove trees planted out, a few of which only had come in bearing. If these plantations had proved equally productive with those of the sister settlement of Pinang, it would have been able to export 60,000 lbs. of cloves, its own produce; but this expectation, it will be seen, has not been realised. In the season of 1841-42, there was 1000 piculs of cloves shipped from Pinang, but none were exported in the two previous years.

The quantity of land under cultivation with cloves there, in 1843, was 463 orlongs in Prince of Wales Island, and 517 in Province Wellesley. The number of trees planted out in the former island was 72,779; in the latter province 7,639. There were in the island 25,161 plants in nursery.

The trees in bearing were—In Prince of Wales Island, 28,739; not bearing, 44,040; produce in 1843, 87 piculs, 50 catties; gross value, 3,399 dollars; estimated produce of cloves for 1844, 469 piculs. In Province Wellesley—Trees in bearing, 1,073; not bearing, 6,566; produce in 1843, 1 picul, 13 catties; gross value 45 dollars.

The export of cloves from Pinang was, in 1849, 24,000 lbs.; in 1850, 52,400; in 1851, 27,866; in 1852, 45,087.

From tabular statements drawn up in 1844, by Mr. F.S. Brown, Chairman of the Pinang Chamber of Commerce, it appears that there were, in 1843, in that island and Province Wellesley adjoining, 96 clove plantations, containing 80,418 clove trees; besides many young trees in nurseries ready to be planted out. The produce of cloves there, in 1842, was 11,813 lbs., and this was a very short crop, it having that year proved a complete failure; the average crop for some years previous had been 46,666 lbs. Pinang only began to export this spice in 1832. Of the clove trees in Pinang there were then only 29,812 in bearing, leaving 75,767 in that settlement alone to come to maturity; estimated to yield about 300,000 lbs.

No success has attended repeated trials of cloves in Singapore. Until the trees reach the age of bearing, they grow and look extremely well; but any expectation of a crop that may have been raised by their hitherto fine condition, ends in disappointment, for just then the trees assume the appearance of sudden blight, as if lightning-stricken, and then die. 125 clove plants and 350 seedlings were sent to Singapore from Bencoolen, by Sir T. Raffles, in the close of 1819; but although every care was paid them—while the nutmegs which accompanied them throve amazingly well—little or no progress has been made with clove culture. Two or three hundred-weight were shipped in 1845, but since then hardly any mention is made of the spice.

In a petition presented by the spice planters of Pinang and Province Wellesley, to the authorities at home, in 1844, praying that the duty on British Colonial nutmegs, mace, and cloves might be reduced to 1s. 9d., 1s. 3d., and 3d. respectively, on importation into England, in order to compete with foreign produce, it was stated that a few years hence Prince of Wales Island might be expected to produce 600,000 lbs. of nutmegs, 200,000 lbs. of mace, and 300,000 lbs. of cloves; whilst Singapore, if equally successful in the culture of the same, would yield yearly 137,000 lbs. of nutmegs, 45,000 lbs. of mace, and 60,000 lbs. of cloves. In short, the planters needed only encouragement to produce in the course of a few years a full supply of those valuable spices for the whole consumption of Great Britain.

Dr. Ruschenberger, who visited Zanzibar in 1835, thus speaks of the clove plantations there:—"As far as the eye could reach over a beautifully undulated land, nothing was to be seen but clove trees of different ages, varying in height from five to twenty feet. The form of the tree is conical, the branches grow at nearly right angles with the trunk, and they begin to shoot a few inches above the ground. The plantation contains nearly four thousand trees, and each tree yields on an average six pounds of cloves a year; they are carefully picked by hand, and then dried in the shade; we saw numbers of slaves standing on ladders gathering the spice, while others were at work clearing the ground of dead leaves. The whole is in the finest order, presenting a picture of industry and of admirable neatness and beauty. They were introduced into Zanzibar in 1818, from Mauritius, and are found to thrive so well that almost everybody in the island is now clearing away the cocoa nut to make way for them. The clove bears in five or six years from the seed; of course time enough has not yet elapsed for the value and quantity of Zanzibar cloves to be generally known; they are worth, however, in the Bombay market, about 30s. the Surat maund of 39¼ lbs.; the price for Molucca cloves in the Eastern market is from 28 to 30 dollars per picul of 133 lbs.; for those of Mauritius, 20 to 24 dollars per picul."

The average annual consumption of cloves in the United Kingdom, in the four years ending 1841, was 49,000 lbs. The largest quantity of cloves imported during the past twenty-five years was 1,041,171 lbs., in 1847. The quantities imported and entered for home consumption in the last five years have been as follows:—

	Imports. lbs.	Home consumption. lbs.
1848	117,433	126,691
1849	274,713	133,713
1850	749,646	159,934
1851	253,439	138,132
1852	313,949	175,287

In 1848 we received 60,000 lbs. of cloves from British India.

THE NUTMEG.

Myristica moschata, M. officinalis, or aromatica.—This tree is of a larger growth than the clove, attaining a height of thirty feet, and has its leaves broader in proportion to their length; the upper surface of these is of a bright green, the under of a greyish color. It is a diœcious plant, having male or barren pale yellow flowers upon one tree, and female or fertile flowers upon another. The fruit is drupaceous, and opens by two valves when ripe, displaying the beautiful reticulated scarlet arillus, which constitutes mace. Within this is a hard, dark brown, and glossy shell, covering the kernel, which is the nutmeg of the shops.

The kernels of M. tomentosa are also used as aromatics, under the name of wild or male nutmegs.

Lindley describes two other species, M. fatua, a native of Surinam, with greenish white flowers, and M. sebifera or Virola sebifera, a native of Guiana, with yellowish green flowers.

By expression, nutmegs are made to yield a concrete oil, called Adeps Myristicæ, or sometimes erroneously oil of mace. A volatile oil is also procured by distillation. Nutmegs and mace are used medicinally as aromatic stimulants and condiments. In large doses they have a narcotic effect. The fleshy part of the fruit is used as a preserve.

Dr. Oxley has given such an admirable account of the nutmeg and its cultivation, as the result of 20 years experience in Singapore, that I shall draw largely from his valuable paper, which is contained in the second volume of "The Journal of the Indian Archipelago," page 641.

The nutmeg tree, like many of its class, has a strong tendency to become monœcious, and planters in general are well pleased at this habit, thinking they secure a double advantage by having the male and female flowers on the same plant. This is, however, delusive, and being against the order of nature, the produce of such trees is invariably inferior, showing itself in the production of double nuts and other deformities. It is best, therefore, to have only female trees, with a due proportion of males.

The female flowers, which are merely composed of a tripid calyx and no corolla, when produced by a tree in full vigor are perfectly urceolate, slightly tinged with green at the base, and well filled by the ovary, whereas the female flowers of weakly trees are entirely yellow, imperfectly urceolate, and approach more to the staminiferous flowers of the male.

The shape of the fruit varies considerably, being spherical, oblong, and egg-shaped, but the nearer they approach sphericity of figure, the more highly are they prized.

There is also a great variety in the foliage of different trees, from elliptic, oblong and ovate, to almost purely lanceolate-shaped leaves. This difference seems to indicate in some measure the character of the produce; trees with large oblong leaves appearing to have the largest and most spherical fruit, and those with small lanceolate leaves being in general more prolific bearers, but of inferior quality.

Whilst its congener the clove has been spread over Asia, Africa, and the West Indies, the nutmeg refuses to flourish out of the Malayan Archipelago, except as an exotic, all attempts to introduce it largely into other tropical countries having decidedly failed. The island of Ternate, which is in about the same latitude as Singapore, is said to have been the spot where it was truly indigenous, but no doubt the tree is to be found on most of the Moluccas. At present the place of its origin is unproductive of the spice, having been robbed of its rich heritage by the policy of the Dutch, who at an early period removed the plantations to the Banda isles for better surveillance, where they still remain and flourish. But although care was formerly taken to extirpate the tree on the Moluccas, the mace-feeding pigeons have frustrated the machinations of man, and spread it widely through the Archipelago of islands extending from the Moluccas to New Guinea. Its circle of growth extends westward as far as Pinang, or Prince of Wales Island, where, although an exotic, it has been cultivated as a mercantile speculation with success for many years. Westward of Pinang there are no plantations, looking at the subject in a mercantile point of view. The tree is to be found, indeed, in Ceylon, and the West Coast of India, but to grow it as a speculation out of its indigenous limits, is as likely to prove successful as the cultivation of apples and pears in Bengal.

In the Banda Isles, where the tree may be considered as indigenous, no further attention is paid to its cultivation than setting out the plants in parks, under the shade of large forest trees, with long horizontal branches, called "Canari" by the natives. There it attains a height of 50 feet and upwards, whereas from 20 to 30 feet may be taken as a fair average of the trees in the Straits' Settlements; but notwitstanding our pigmy proportions (adds Dr. Oxley), it does not appear, from, all I could ever learn, that we are relatively behind the Banda trees, either in quantity or quality of produce, and I am strongly impressed with the idea that the island of Singapore can compete with the Banda group on perfectly even terms. Our climate is quite unexceptionable for the growth of the nutmeg, being neither exposed to droughts or high winds; and although we may lose by comparison of soils, we again gain by greater facilities of sending our products to market, by the facility of obtaining abundant supplies of manure, and any amount of free and cheap labor.

A nutmeg plantation, well laid out and brought up to perfection, is one of the most pleasing and agreeable properties that can be possessed. Yielding returns, more or less daily, throughout the year, there is increasing interest, besides the usual stimulus to all agriculturists of a crop time, when his produce increases to double and quadruple the ordinary routine.

Trees having arrived at fifteen years growth, there is no incertitude or fear of total failure of crop, only in relative amount of produce, and this, as will be seen, is greatly in the planter's own power to command. It is against reason to suppose that a tree in flower and fruit will not expend itself if left to unaided nature: it must be supplied with suitable stimuli to make good the waste, therefore he who wants nuts must not be sparing of manure.

The first requisite for the planter is choice of location. It is true that the nutmeg tree, aided by manure, will grow in almost any soil where water does not lodge, but it makes a vast difference in the degree of success, whether the soil be originally good, or poor and improved by art. The tree does not thrive in white or sandy soils, but prefers the deep red and friable soils formed by the decomposition of granite rocks and tinged with iron, and the deeper the tinge the better. I am therefore inclined to think, that iron in the soil is almost necessary for the full development of the plant. If under the before-mentioned soil there be a rubble of iron-stone at four or five feet from the surface (a very common formation in Singapore), forming a natural drainage, the planter has obtained all that he can desire in the ground, and needs only patience and perseverance to secure success. The form of the ground ought to be undulating, to permit the running off of all superfluous water, as there is no one thing more injurious to the plant than water lodging around its roots, although, in order to thrive well, it requires an atmosphere of the most humid sort, and rain almost daily. Besides the form of the ground, situation is highly desirable, particularly as regards exposure. A spot selected for a nutmeg plantation cannot be too well sheltered, as high winds are most destructive to the tree, independently of the loss occasioned by the blowing off of fruit and flower.

At present there is abundant choice of land in Singapore, the greater portion of the island being as yet uncultivated, and much answering to the above description. The land can be purchased from Government at the rate of from 10s. to 20s. per acre in perpetuity. I would advise the man who wishes to establish a plantation, to select the virgin forest, and of all things let him avoid deserted gambier plantations, the soil of which is completely exhausted, the Chinese taking good care never to leave a spot until they have taken all they can out of it. A cleared spot has a great attraction for the inexperienced, and it is not easy to convince a man that it is less expensive to attack the primitive forest, than to attempt to clear an old gambier plantation, overrun with lalang grass; but the cutting down and burning of large forest trees is far less expensive than the extirpation of the lalang, and as the Chinese leave all the stumps of the large trees in the ground, it is almost more difficult to remove them in this state than when you have the powerful lever of the trunk to aid you in tearing up the roots, setting aside the paramount advantage that, in the one case you possess a fresh and fertile soil, in the other an effete and barren one.

Forest land, or "jungle," as it is called in the East, can be cleared for about 25 to 30 dollars (£5 to £6) per acre, by contract, but the planter had better be careful to have every stump and root of tree removed, ere he ventures to commence planting, or the white ants, attracted by the dead wood, will crowd into the land, and having consumed the food thus prepared for them, will not be slow in attacking the young trees. Whilst the planter is thus clearing the ground, he may advantageously at the same time be establishing nurseries; for these the ground ought to be well trenched and mixed with a small quantity of thoroughly decomposed manure and burned earth, making up the earth afterwards into beds of about three feet wide, with paths between them for the convenience of weeding and cleaning the young plants. Of course if the planter can obtain really good plants, the produce of well-selected seed, it will be a great saving of time and expense to him, but unless the seed be carefully chosen, I would prefer beginning my own nurseries, and in the selection of seed would recommend the most perfectly ripe and spherical nuts. Oval long nuts are to be rejected, particularly any of a pale color at one end.

The planter having selected his seed, which ought to be put in the ground within twenty-four hours after being gathered, setting it about two inches deep in the beds already prepared, and at the distance of twelve to eighteen inches apart, the whole nursery to be well shaded both on top and sides, the earth kept moist and clear of weeds, and well smoked by burning wet grass or weeds in it once a week, to drive away a very small moth-like insect that is apt to infest young plants, laying its eggs on the leaf, when they become covered with yellow spots, and perish if not attended to speedily.

Washing the leaves with a decoction of the Tuba root is the best remedy I know of, but where only a few plants are affected, if the spots be numerous, I would prefer to pluck up the plant altogether, rather than run the risk of the insect becoming more numerous, to the total destruction of the nursery. The nuts germinate in from a month to six weeks, and even later, and for many months after germination the seed is attached to the young plant, and may be removed apparently as sound as when planted, to the astonishment of the unlearned, who are not aware of the great disproportion in size between the ovule and albumen, the former of which is alone necessary to form the plant. The plant may be kept in nursery with advantage for nearly two years. Should they grow rapidly, and the interspaces become too small for them, every second plant had better be removed to a fresh nursery; and set out at a distance of a couple of feet from each other. When transplanted, either in this way or for their ultimate position in the plantation, care should be taken to remove them with a good ball of earth, secured by the skin of the plantain, which prevents the ball of earth falling to pieces. The nurseries being established, the ground cleared and ready, the next proceeding is to lay out and dig holes about 26 or 30 feet apart, and as the quincunx order has so many advantages, it is the form I would recommend for adoption. The holes should be at least six feet in diameter, and about four feet deep, and when refilled the surface soil is to be used, and not that which is taken out of the hole. Each hole should be filled up about one foot higher than the surrounding ground, to allow for the settling of the soil and the sinking of the tree, which, planted at this height, will in a few years be found below the level. Over each hole thus filled up, a shed, made of Attap leaves or other shelter, closed on two sides, east and west, and proportioned to the size of the plant, is to be erected. It is not a bad plan to leave an open space in the centre of the top of each shed, about twelve inches wide, by which the young plant can obtain the benefit of the dew and gentle rains, which more than compensates for the few rays of sun that can only fall upon it whilst that body is vertical. After the sheds have been completed, each hole should have added to it a couple of baskets of well decomposed manure, and an equal quantity of burned earth, when all is ready for the reception of the plant, which, having been set out, if the weather be dry will require watering for ten days or a fortnight after, in fact until it takes the soil.

The planter having set out all his trees must not deem his labors completed, they are only commencing. To arrive thus far is simple and easy, but to patiently watch and tend the trees for ten years after, requires all the enthusiasm already mentioned. About three months after planting out, the young trees will receive great benefit if a small quantity of liquid fish manure be given them. In the first six years they ought to be trenched round three times, enlarging the circle each time, the trenches being dug close to the extremities of the roots, which generally correspond to the ends of the branches, and each new trench commencing where the old one terminated. They must of course greatly increase in size as the circle extends, requiring a proportionate quantity of manure, but the depth ought never to be less than two feet.

The object of trenching is to loosen the soil and permit the roots to spread, otherwise the tree spindles instead of becoming broad and umbrageous. Manure is beyond all other considerations the most important to the welfare of the estate; it is that which gives quantity and quality of produce, and without it a plantation cannot be carried on. The want of it must limit the cultivation in the Straits' Settlements, and will arrest many a planter, who, having got his plantation to look well up to the eighth year with very little manure, thinks he can go on in the same manner. The nutmeg tree likes well all sorts of manures, but that which is best suited for it seems to be well-rotted stable and cow-yard manure, mixed with vegetable matter, and when the tree is in bearing the outer covering of the nut itself is about one of the very best things to be thrown into the dung-pit. Dead animals buried not too near the roots, also blood, fish, and oil cakes are beneficial. Guano is of no use.

But although manuring is the chief element in successful cultivation, there are many other matters for the planter to attend to during the period that the trees are growing. All obnoxious grasses must be carefully kept out of the plantation, at least from between the trees, and the harmless grasses rather encouraged, as they keep the surface cool. The trunk of the tree ought to be carefully washed with soap and water once a year to keep it clear of moss; this has been ridiculed as a work of supererogation, but let those who think so omit the operation.

Parasitical plants of the genus Loranthus are very apt to attach themselves to the branches, and if not removed do great injury.

The insect enemies of the tree are not very numerous, but it has a few, white ants among the number. They seldom attack a vigorous plant; it is upon the first symptoms of weakness or decay that they commence their operations. Their nests may be dislodged from the roots of the plant by a dose of solution of pig dung, to which they have a great aversion.

There are several species of insects which lay their eggs on the leaves, and unless carefully watched and removed, they commit great havoc amongst the trees. For this purpose it is necessary to wash the leaves with a decoction of Tuba root, and syringe them by means of a bamboo with lime and water, of the consistence of whitewash; this adheres to the leaves, and will remain even after several heavy showers.

Another nuisance is the nest of the large red ant; these collect and glue the leaves together, forming a cavity for the deposition of their larvæ. The best mode of destroying them is to hang a portion of some animal substance, such as the entrails of a fowl, fish, &c., to the end of a pole, thrust through and protruding from the branches; the ants will run along the pole and collect in immense quantities around the bait, when, by a lighted faggot, they can be burned by thousands. This repeated once or twice a day for a week or so, will soon rid the tree of the invaders.

The number of men to be kept on an estate to preserve it in first-rate order after it has come into bearing, must depend of course upon the size of the plantation, but in general one man for every one hundred trees will be found sufficient, provided there be some four or five thousand trees. On a small scale the proportion must be greater.

The nutmeg planter is under the necessity of keeping up nurseries throughout the whole of his operations for the replacement of bad plants and redundant males. Of the latter ten per cent. seems to be about the best proportion to keep, but I would have completely diœcious trees. No person can boast to get a plantation completely filled up and in perfect order much sooner than fifteen years. Of the first batch planted, not more than one-half will turn out perfect females, for I do not take into account monœcious trees, which I have already condemned. The tree shows flower about the seventh year, but the longer it is before doing so, the better and stronger will it be. I cannot refrain from a smile when a sanguine planter informs me with exultation that he has obtained a nut from a tree only three or four years planted out; so much the worse for his chance of success, too great precocity being incompatible with strength and longevity.

The best trees do not show flower before the ninth year, and one such is worth a score of the others. This will be evident when it is stated that I have seen several trees yield more than 10,000 nuts each in one year, whereas I do not believe that there is a plantation in the Straits' that averages 1,000 from every tree. This very great disparity of bearing shows plainly that the cultivation of the plant is not yet thoroughly understood, or greater uniformity would prevail, and I think it clearly enough points out that a higher degree of cultivation would meet its reward.

The tree has not been introduced into the Straits' sufficiently long to determine its longevity, but those introduced and planted in the beginning of the present century, as yet show no symptoms of decay. The experiment of grafting the trees, which at first view presents so many advantages, both in securing the finest quality of nut and the certainty of the sex, has still to be tried in this cultivation. Some three years ago (continues Dr. Oxley), I succeeded in grafting several plants by approach; these are not sufficiently old for me to decide whether it be desirable or not, for although the plants are looking well and growing, they as yet have thrown out their branches in a straggling irregular manner, having no leaders, and consequently they cannot extend their branches in the regular verticles necessary for the perfect formation of the tree, without which they must ever be small and stunted, and consequently incapable of yielding any quantity of produce. The grafts have succeeded so far as stock and scion becoming one, and in time a perpendicular shoot from the wood may appear. If after that it should increase in size and strength, so as to form a tree of full dimensions, the advantage gained would be worth any trouble, the quality of some nuts being so far above that of others, it would make a difference beyond present calculation; in short, 1,000 such picked trees at the present prices would yield something equivalent to £4,000 a year, for £4 per tree would be a low estimate for such plants. If this ever does occur, it will change the aspect of cultivation altogether, and I see no good reason why it should not, except that those possessing trees of the quality alluded to, would not very willingly permit others to graft from them, so it is only the already successful planter who can try the experiment properly.

An acre of land contains on an average 92 trees, and it is calculated an outlay of 300 dollars is required upon every acre to bring the tree to maturity; but as not more than one-half of the trees generally turn out females, and as many others are destroyed by accident and diseases to which this plant is very liable, it makes the cost of each tree, by the time it yields fruit, about eight dollars. The nutmeg tree begins to bear when about eight years old, but it gives no return for several years longer; and therefore to the expense of cultivation must be added the interest of the capital sunk. The plant being indigenous in the Moluccas, the expense of cultivation there is greatly less, and this consequently forms a strong ground of claim to the British planter for protective duties to their spices from the British Government.

The planter having his tree arrived at the agreeable point of producing, has but slight trouble in preparing his produce for market. As the fruit is brought in by the gatherers, the mace is carefully removed, pressed together and flattened on a board, exposed to the sun for three or four days, it is then dry enough to be put by in the spice-house until required for exportation, when it is to be screwed into boxes, and becomes the mace of commerce. The average proportion of mace yielded in Singapore is one pound for every 433 nuts.

The nutmeg itself requires more care in its curing, it being necessary to have it well and carefully dried ere the outer black shell be broken. For this purpose the usual practice is to subject it for a couple of months to the smoke of slow fires kept up underneath, whilst the nuts are spread on a grating about eight or ten feet above. The model of a perfect drying-house is easily to be obtained. Care should be taken not to dry the nuts by too great a heat, as they shrivel and lose their full and marketable appearance. It is therefore desirable to keep the nuts, when first collected, for eight or ten days out of the drying-house, exposing them at first for an hour or so to the morning sun, and increasing the exposure daily until they shake in the shell. The nuts ought never to be cracked until required for exportation, or they will be attacked and destroyed by a small weasel-like insect, the larvæ of which is deposited in the ovule, and, becoming the perfect insect, eats its way out, leaving the nut bored through and through, and worth less as a marketable commodity. Liming the nuts prevents this to a certain extent, but limed nuts are not those best liked in the English market, whereas they are preferred in that state in the United States. When the nuts are to be limed, it is simply necessary to have them well rubbed over between the hands with powdered lime. By the Dutch mode of preparation, they are steeped in a mixture of lime and water for several weeks. This no doubt will preserve them, but it must also have a prejudicial effect on the flavor of the spice.

After the nuts are thoroughly dried, which requires from six weeks to two months smoking, they cannot be too soon sent to market. But it is otherwise with the mace; that commodity, when fresh, not being in esteem in the London market, seeing that they desire it of a golden color, which it only assumes after a few months, whereas at first when fresh it is blood red; now red blades are looked upon with suspicion, and are highly injurious to the sale of the article.

This is one of those peculiar prejudices of John Bull, which somewhat impugns his wisdom; but it must be attended to, as John is very ready to pay for his caprice; therefore those who provide for him have no right to complain, although they may smile.

The nutmeg tree was sent from Bencoolen to Singapore, the latter end of 1819, so that thirty-four years have elapsed since its first introduction. Sir Stamford Raffles shipped to the care of the resident commandant, Major Farquhar, 100 nutmeg plants, 25 larger ditto, and 1,000 nutmeg seeds, which were committed to the charge of Mr. Brooks, a European gardener, who was specially engaged by the East India Company to look after their embryo spice plantations here. Some of these plants were set out in rather a bad soil and locality, but several of them are at present, and have been for the last ten years, fine fruitful trees. 315 of the trees in the Government garden yielded, in 1848, 190,426 nuts, or at the average of 604 for each tree; but of these not over 50 were of the old stock, most having been planted since 1836; so that a planter may safely calculate on having a better average than is here set forth, provided he attends to his cultivation, and his trees are brought up to the age of fifteen years. If a plantation be attended to from the commencement after the manner I have endeavoured to explain, and the trees be in a good locality, the planter will undoubtedly obtain an average of 10 lbs. of spice from each tree from the fifteenth year; this, at an average price of 2s. 6d. per lb., is 25s. per annum. He can have about seventy such trees in an acre, so that there is scarcely any better or more remunerative cultivation when once established. But the race is a long one, the chances of life, and a high rate of interest in the country, make it one of no ordinary risk, and it is one that holds out no prospect of any return in less than ten years.

A person commencing and stopping short of the bearing point, either by death or want of funds, will suffer almost total loss, for the value of such a property brought into a market where there are no buyers must be purely nominal. Again, if the property has arrived at the paying point, almost any person of common honesty can take charge of and carry it on, for the trees after twelve years are remarkably hardy, and bear a deal of ill treatment and neglect; not that I would recommend any person to try the experiment. But it is some consolation for the proprietor to know that stupidity will not ruin him, and that even at the distance of thousands of miles he can give such directions, as, if attended to, will keep his estate in a flourishing and fruitful state.

The total number of nutmeg trees in Singapore in 1848 was 55,925, of which 14,914 only were in bearing. The produce of that year was 4,085,361 nutmegs, or 33,600 lbs. in weight. The greater number of the trees, it will be perceived, have not come into full bearing, but the produce is increasing rapidly, and in 1849 it amounted to fully 66,670 lbs.

Among the principal growers in that island are Dr. Oxley, Mr. C.R. Prinsep, and Mr. W. Montgomerie, who have each large plantations, with from 2,000 to 5,000 bearing trees on them. Others, as Sir. J. d'Almeida, Mr. Nicol, and one or two more, have planted extensively, but have not yet got their trees to the bearing point.

A large supply of nutmeg and clove plants arrived at Pinang in 1802, from the Molucca Islands. There were 71,266 nutmeg and 55,264 clove plants; allowing one half of the former to have been male trees, there would only have been 35,633 useful nutmeg plants. It is believed that a mere fraction of these ever reached maturity, but they served to introduce the cultivation permanently. Plants were likewise sent to Ceylon and Cape Comorin. It does not appear that the climates of these two localities suit the nutmeg tree, as it requires rain, or at least a very damp climate throughout the year. The East India Company's spice plantations in Pinang were sold in 1824, and the trees were dispersed over the island.

The spice cultivators of the Straits' Settlements have for some time sought a further protective duty on nutmegs, and the extension of a similar protection to mace and cloves, the produce of these settlements; for singularly enough the present tariff affords no protection to mace, the growth of British possessions. From tabular statements, furnished by the Chamber of Commerce of Pinang, drawn up apparently with great care, it appears that in 1843 there were 3,046 acres cultivated with spice trees in Pinang and province Wellesley, containing 233,995 nutmegs, and 80,418 clove trees, besides 77,671 trees in nurseries ready to be planted out; and by a similar statement from Singapore, which is however not so complete, that 743 acres are cultivated, containing 43,544 nutmeg trees. The island of Pinang is estimated to contain 160 square miles, nearly the whole of which, with the exception perhaps of summits of the hills, is well adapted to spice growing. Province Wellesley is of much greater extent, and the soil of it has already been proved to be equally well fitted for that kind of cultivation; and the settlements of Malacca and Singapore are said to be admirably suited, in many places, for that species of produce, the latter of which has already several plantations fast approaching to maturity.

The cultivation is capable of great extension; encouragement is only required to be held out, and new plantations will be rapidly formed in these settlements. The same tables show that the produce in 1842 was, in Pinang and Province Wellesley, 18,560,281 nutmegs, 42,866 lbs. of mace, and 11,813 lbs. of cloves[51]; and in Singapore, 842,328 nutmegs, and 1,962 lbs. of mace. Thus making the produce from the two settlements 19,408,608 nutmegs in number (or in weight 147,034 lbs.), 44,822 lbs. of mace, and 11,813 lbs. of cloves. Now the consumption of these spices in Great Britain was, on an average of four years ending 1841, as follows:—Nutmegs, 121,000 lbs.; mace, 18,000 lbs.; cloves, 92,000 lbs. Showing, therefore, that the Straits' Settlements already produce more than sufficient of the two former to supply the home market.

In the course of four or five years more, Pinang alone will more than double the present quantity of nutmegs and mace produced in the Straits, and the produce of cloves will be more than tripled.

I have been able, from several elaborate papers in my "Colonial Magazine," to condense details, showing the progress of spice plantations in Prince of Wales Island and Province Wellesley. In the close of 1843 there were 64,902 nutmeg trees in bearing in the island; 39,209 male trees, 103,982 not bearing; making a total of 208,093 trees planted out, besides 52,510 plants in nursery. The quantity of ground under cultivation was 2,282 orlongs. The produce in 1842 was 15,116,591 good nuts, 1,461,229 inferior nuts, and 38,260 lbs. of mace. The gross value of the produce in 1843, reckoning the good nuts at five dollars per thousand, and the inferior at one dollar, was 76,944 dollars. The estimated number of nuts in 1843 was 12,458,762; in 1844, 25,429,000.

In Province Wellesley there were 247 orlongs under cultivation with the nutmeg, on which were 10,500 bearing trees, 8,095 male trees, and 7,307 not yet bearing, making in all 25,902 trees planted out. The produce was in 1842, 1,969,619 good nuts, 18,842 inferior ditto, and 4,500 lbs. of mace. The value of the produce of nutmegs was 9,867 dollars. The estimated number of nuts in 1843 was 1,980,000; in 1844, 2,958,000. There were in all 423 nutmeg plantations on the island and main land.

There were annually exported in the four years ending 1850, 48,000 lbs. of nutmegs from Pinang, and 57,400 lbs. of mace.

The French at an early period cultivated the nutmeg at the Mauritius, and from thence they carried it to Cayenne. In Sumatra it appears to have been grown successfully, and according to Sir S. Raffles, there was in 1819 a plantation at Bencoolen of 100,000 nutmeg trees, one-fourth of which were bearing. Attempts have been made in Trinidad and St. Vincent to carry out the culture, but for want of enterprise very little progress seems to have been made in the matter.

Under the new duties which came into operation this year, nutmegs, instead of standing at 1s. per pound all round, have been classified, and the so-called "wild" nutmegs of the Dutch islands are to pay only 5d per pound. This deprives the Straits' produce of its last protection against that of the Banda plantations, where the tree grows spontaneously, while it gives the long Dutch nut a high protection. If an alteration in this suicidal measure is not speedily obtained, the Straits' planters will be ruined. The Dutch have the power of inundating the market with the long aromatic nut. If the original plan of putting all British and all foreign nutmegs on the same footing had been adhered to, the Straits' planters would not have complained, as they would have trusted to their superior skill and care to compensate for the grand advantage the Dutch have in their rich soils.

On observing this alteration of duty, Mr. Crawfurd and Mr. Gilman immediately prepared the following memorandum for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which however failed to influence that Minister:—

"MEMORANDUM ON THE DUTIES ON NUTMEGS.

"The duty proposed to be levied on nutmegs is 1s. per pound for cultivated, and 5d. per pound for those commonly called wild. The ground on which this distinction is founded, is said to be that the market value of the one is but half that of the other, and that the Customs can readily distinguish between them.

Now it is admitted, on all sides, that there is but one species of culinary nutmeg, the Myristica Moschata of botanists, although at least a score of the same genus, all unfit for human food. The parent country of the aromatic nutmegs extends from the Molucca Islands to New Guinea, inclusive. In this they grow with facility and even in the Banda Islands, where there are parks of them, they hardly undergo any cultivation, and may truly be said, even there, to be a wild product. It is only when grown as exotics, as in the British settlements of Pinang and Singapore, that they require cultivation, and that a more careful and expensive one than any other produce of the soil.

Aromatic nutmegs are sometimes large and sometimes small—sometimes round, sometimes oblong, and sometimes long, and this will be found the case whether cultivated or uncultivated. How, then, the Customs are able to distinguish them it is difficult to understand. In the ordinary Prices Current no mention whatever is made of the wild and cultivated, the lowest quality being quoted in the most recent at 2s. per pound, and the highest at 3s. 10d.,—the best of what are called wild fetching a higher price than the lower qualities of what are called cultivated.

But suppose the distinction could be made with the most perfect certainty, to make it would be a palpable departure from the principle adopted with every other commodity, of charging a uniform rate of duty on quality. To give an example, the present price of black pepper is 3⅝d. to 4d. per pound, while that of white pepper is 8½d. to 1s. 2d. per pound, both paying the same duty of 6d.; yet nothing can be more easily distinguished than these two commodities, which, except as to curing, are the same article.

Tea is a still more striking example. The duty is the same on all qualities, though prices range from 1l½d. to 3s. 6d. per pound. It was the very circumstance of the difficulty of distinguishing between the different kinds of tea, especially between Bohea and Congou, which, after an eighteen months trial, overthrew the system of rated duties of 1s. 6d., 2s., and 3s., adopted on the abolition of the East India Company's monopoly in 1833.

Unless the duty on nutmegs is equalised there will be no end of trouble and disputes, and however expert the Customs may be, they will certainly be outwitted, and long-shaped and small nutmegs, although really cultivated, will be introduced at the lower duty, by unscrupulous traders, as wild ones.

It may be added that duties of 12d. and 5d. do not, even if a departure from the principle of charging on quality were justifiable, represent the just proportional rates which ought to be levied upon what are supposed to be, respectively, cultivated and wild, as they are represented in the ordinary Price Current by the highest and lowest prices, which are 3s. 10d. and 2s. The just proportional duty ought to be on the lowest, not 5d., but 7d. The duty, as first proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, of 1s. per pound on nutmegs, without distinction, was perfectly satisfactory to the planters, merchants, and the trade in general.

It is a mistake to suppose that a duty of 1s. would exclude the so-called wild nutmegs. They would be imported in large quantities, as the cost is low. In quantity it was 17 Spanish dollars per picul, and there is no reason to suppose it would be more now. The finest picked cost say 34 Spanish dollars.

In Pinang and Singapore for cultivated the price is 65 to 70 dollars.

The planters for the most part do not sell on the spot, but consign here for sale on their own account.

London, May 23rd, 1853.

NUTMEGS IMPORTED AND EXPORTED TO AND FROM SINGAPORE.

	Imported. piculs.	Exported. piculs.	Growth of Singapore.	Value of the native growth. £
1841	227½	412	184½	3,323
1842	258	809	551	9,897
1843	150½	249	98½	1,760
1844	52	282	230	4,131
1845	41	383	342	6,143
1846	79	331	252	4,526
1847	139	416	277	4,275

NUTMEGS EXPORTED FROM JAVA.

	Nutmegs. piculs.	Mace. piculs.
1830	1,304	177
1835	5,022	1,606
1839	5,027	1,581
1843	2,133	486

IMPORTS INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM.

NUTMEGS, WILD AND CULTIVATED.			MACE.
	Imports. lbs.	Home consump. lbs.		Imports. lbs.	Consumption. lbs.
1847	367,936	150,657	1847	60,265	18,821
1848	336,420	167,143	1848	47,572	19,712
1849	224,021	178,417	1849	45,978	20,605
1850	315,126	167,683	1850	77,337	21,997
1851	358,320	194,132	1851	77,863	21,695
1852	357,940	239,113	1852	61,697	21,480

MACE EXPORTED—ACTUAL GROWTH OF SINGAPORE.

	Quantity—piculs.	Value—£
1841	25½	583
1842	72	1,616
1843	40¾	943
1844	16½	359
1845	71	1,616
1846	8	179
1847	75	1,661

109 piculs of imported mace were also re-shipped in 1847.

40,000 lbs. of mace were imported into the United Kingdom from India in 1848.

GINGER, GALANGALE, AND CARDAMOMS.

The rhizome of Zingiber officinale (Amomum Zingiber), constitutes the ginger of commerce, which is imported chiefly from the East and West Indies. It is also grown in China. In the young state the rhizomes are fleshy and slightly aromatic, and they are then used as preserves, or prepared in syrup; in a more advanced stage the aroma is fully developed, their texture is more woody, and they become fit for ordinary ginger. The inferior sorts, when dried after immersion in hot water, form black ginger. The best roots are scraped, washed, and simply dried in the sun with care, and then they receive the name of white ginger. The rhizome contains an acid resin and volatile oil, starch and gum. It is used medicinally as a tonic and carminative, in the form of powder, syrup, and tincture.

The root stocks of Alpinia racemosa, A. Galanga, and many other plants of the order, have the same aromatic and pungent properties as ginger.

The consumption of ginger is about 13,000 or 14,000 cwt. a year. Of 16,004 cwt. imported in 1840, 5,381 came from the British West Indies, 9,727 from the East India Company's possessions and Ceylon, and 896 cwt. from Western Africa.

The difference between the black and white ginger of the shops is ascribed by Dr. P. Browne and others to different methods of curing the rhizomes; but this is scarcely sufficient to account for them, and I cannot help suspecting the existence of some difference in the plants themselves. That this really exists is proved by the statements of Rumphius ("Herb. Amb.," lib. 8, cap. xix., p. 156), that there are two varieties of the plant, the white and the red. Moreover Dr. Wright ("Lond. Med. Journal," vol. viii.) says that two sorts are cultivated in Jamaica, viz., the white and the black; and, he adds, "black ginger has the most numerous and largest roots."

The rhizome, called in commerce ginger root, occurs in flattish-branched or lobed palmate pieces, called races, which do not exceed four inches in length. Several varieties, distinguished by their color and place of growth, are met with. The finest is that brought from Jamaica. A great part of that found in the shops has been washed in whiting and water, under the pretence of preserving it from insects.

The dark colored kinds are frequently bleached with chloride of lime. Barbados ginger is in shorter flatter races, of a darker color, and covered with a corrugated epidermis. African ginger is in smallish races, which have been partially scraped, and are pale colored. East India ginger is unscraped; its races are dark ash colored externally, and are larger than those of the African ginger. Tellichery ginger is in large plump races, with a remarkable reddish tint externally.

Jamaica black ginger is not frequently found in the shops. The Malabar dark ginger is in unscraped short pieces, which have a horny appearance internally, and are of a dirty brown color both internally and externally.

Ginger is imported in bags weighing about a hundred-weight.

The Malabar ginger exported from Calicut is the produce of the district of Shernaad, situated in the south of Calicut; a place chiefly inhabited by Moplas, who look upon the ginger cultivation as a most valuable and profitable trade, which in fact it is. The soil of Shernaad is so very luxuriant, and so well suited for the cultivation of ginger, that it is reckoned the best, and in fact the only place in Malabar where ginger grows and thrives to perfection. Gravelly grounds are considered unfit; the same may be said of swampy ones, and whilst the former check the growth of the ginger, the latter tend in a great measure to rot the root; thus the only suitable kind of soil is that which, being red earth, is yet free from gravel, and the sod good and heavy. The cultivation generally commences about the middle of May, after the ground has undergone a thorough process of ploughing, harrowing, &c.

At the commencement of the monsoons, beds of ten or twelve feet long by three or four feet wide are formed, and in these beds small holes are dug at three-fourths to one foot apart, which are filled with manure. The roots, hitherto carefully buried under sheds, are dug out, the good ones picked from those which are affected by the moisture, or any other concomitant of a half-year's exclusion from the atmosphere, and the process of clipping them into suitable sizes for planting performed by cutting the ginger into pieces of an inch and a half to two inches long. These are then buried in the holes, which have been previously manured, and the whole of the beds are then covered with a good thick layer of green leaves, which, whilst they serve as manure, also contribute to keep the beds from unnecessary dampness, which might otherwise be occasioned by the heavy falls of rain during the months of June and July. Rain is essentially requisite for the growth of the ginger; it is also however necessary, that the beds be constantly kept from inundation, which, if not carefully attended to, the crop is entirely ruined; great precaution is therefore taken in forming drains between the beds, and letting water out, thus preventing a superfluity. On account of the great tendency some kinds of leaves have to breed worms and insects, strict care is observed in the choosing of them, and none but the particular kinds used in manuring ginger are taken in, lest the wrong ones might fetch in worms, which, if once in the beds, no remedy can be resorted to successfully to destroy them; thus they in a very short time ruin the crop. Worms bred from the leaves laid on the soil, though highly destructive, are not so pernicious to ginger cultivation as those which proceed from the effect of the soil. The former kind, whilst they destroy the beds in which they once appear, do not spread themselves to the other beds, be they ever so close, but the latter kind must of course be found in almost all the beds, as they do not proceed from accidental causes, but from the nature of the soil. In cases like these, the whole crop is oftentimes ruined, and the cultivators are thereby subjected to heavy losses.

Ginger is extensively diffused throughout the Indian isles, it being especially indigenous to the East, and of pretty general use among the natives, who neglect the finer spices. The great and smaller varieties are cultivated, and the sub-varieties distinguished by their brown or white colors. There is no production which has a greater diversity of names. This diversity proves, as usual, the wide diffusion of the plant in its wild state. The ginger of the Indian Archipelago is however inferior in quality to that of Malabar or Bengal. In the cultivation of ginger great improvement may be adopted and expense saved. The garden plough and small harrow should be used.

The present mode of preparing the land for this crop in the West Indies, is by first carefully hoeing off all bush and weeds from the piece you intend to plant; the workmen are then placed in a line, and dig forward the land to the full depth of the hoe, cutting the furrow not more than from five to six inches thick. The land is then allowed to pulverise for a short time; you then prepare it for receiving the plants by opening drills with the hoe, from ten to twelve inches apart, and the same in depth, chopping or breaking up any clods that may be in the land. Two or three women follow and drop the plants in the drills, say from nine to ten inches apart. The plants or sets are the small knots or fingers broken off the original root, as not worth the scraping. The plants are then covered in with a portion of the earth-bank formed in drilling. It requires great care and attention in keeping them clean from weeds until they attain sufficient age. It throws out a pedicle or foot stalk in the course of the second or third week, the leaves of which are of similar shape to that of the Guinea grass.

Ginger is a delicate plant, and very liable to rot, particularly if planted in too rich a soil, or where it may be subject to heavy rains. The general average of yield is from 1,500 to 2,000 lbs. per acre in plants, although I have known as much as 3,000 lbs. of ginger cured from an acre of land. The planting season generally commences in Jamaica in February and March, and the crop is got in in December and January, when the stalks begin to wither. The ginger is taken from the ground by means of the hoe, each laborer filling a good-sized basket, at the same time breaking off the small knots or knobs for future planting.

A good scraper of ginger will give you from 30 to 40 lbs. of ginger per day. It is then laid on barbacues (generally made of boards) to dry. It takes from six to ten days to be properly cured. The average yield in weight is about one-third of what is scraped. When intended for preserving, the roots must be taken up at the end of three or four months, while the fibres are tender and full of sap.

The ginger grown in the West Indies is considered superior in quality to that of the East, doubtless because more care is paid to the culture and drying of the root, but it is of less importance to commerce. The quantities imported from these two quarters is however becoming more equal, and Africa is coming into the field as a producer, 1,545 casks and packages having arrived from the western coast in 1846. The annual average export of ginger from Barbados between the years 1740 and 1788, was 4,667 bags; between 1784 and 1786, 6,320 bags; in 1788, 5,562 cwt. were shipped; in 1792, 3,046 bags and barrels. In 1738, so widely was the culture of this root diffused in Jamaica, that 20,933 bags, of one cwt. each, and 8,864 lbs. in casks were shipped. The exports may now be taken on an average at 4,000 cwt.; but, like all the other staple products of the island, this has fallen off one-half since the emancipation of the negro population.

In the three years which preceded the abolition of slavery, 5,719,000 lbs. of ginger were shipped from Jamaica. In the three years ending with 1848, the quantity shipped had decreased 2,612,186 lbs., as will be seen by the following returns:—

GINGER SHIPPED.
	lbs		lbs.
1830	1,748,800	1846	1,462,000
1831	1,614,640	1847	1,324,480
1832	2,355,560	1848	320,340
	5,719,000		3,106,820

In 1843 there were shipped from Jamaica 3,719 casks and bags; in 1844, 3,692 casks and 1730 bags; in 1845, 3,506 casks, valued at £4 10s. each, and 1,129 bags, valued at £2 each, equal in all to £18,037. From the island of Hayti 8,769 lbs. of ginger were exported in 1835, and 15,509 lbs. in 1836. 39 packages of ginger were shipped from Barbados in 1851.

In Maranham and one or two other provinces of Brazil, ginger of an excellent quality is grown, and a good deal is exported. It was very early an article of culture in South America. According to Acosta, it was brought to America by one Francisco de Mendoza, from Malabar, and so rapidly did its cultivation spread, that as far back as 1547, 22,053 cwt. were shipped to Europe. Southey, in his "History of Brazil" (vol. i., p. 320), says, "Ginger had been brought from the island of St. Thomas, and throve so well that in the year 1573, 4,000 arrobas of 25 lbs. each were cured; it was better than what came from India, though the art of drying it was not so well understood. Great use was made of this root in preserves, but it was prohibited, as interfering with the Indian trade in that wretched species of policy which regards immediate revenue as its main object."

Ginger was worth in the London market 25s. to 60s. the cwt. in bond; middling and fine qualities, 80s. to 160s. The duty is 5s. per cwt.

Amount of imports of ginger into the United Kingdom, with the quantities entered for home consumption:—

	West India ginger. cwts.	Entered for home consumption. cwts.	East India ginger. cwts.	Entered for home consumption. cwts.
1831	3,551	4,709	849	79
1832	5,947	6,795	2,508	213
1833	6,064	6,570	10,049	1,099
1834	9,913	9,918	10,004	1,638
1835	8,321	8,982	4,489	1,647
1836	10,226	6,304	13,589	3,524
1837	10,933	9,905	23,876	3,386
1838	13,366	9,944	25,649	1,431
1839	8,996	7,213	29,624	914
1840	5,381	7,935	9,719	1,568
1841	4,446	5,523	5,292	1,177
1842	4,671	5,068	3,680	1,956
1843	4,013	5,953	4,106	3,254
	casks, &c.	casks.	bags.	bags.
1844	4,619	3,128	5,101	6,964
1845	6,033	4,000	8,165	7,938

	Total	Retained for
	ginger imported.	home consumption.
	cwts.	cwts.
1846	24,370	15,937
1846	20,010	15,163
1847	12,995	9,744
1848	13,748	10,454
1849	28,015	12,880
1850	33,953	16,543
1851	35,678	19,855
1852	20,297	18,691

GALANGALE ROOT is a good deal used in China, and forms an article of commerce, fetching in the London market 12s. to 16s. per cwt. in bond. It is the rhizoma of Alpinia Galanga. Its taste is peppery and aromatic. Externally the color of the root-stocks is reddish brown, internally pale reddish white.

1,280 cwt. of galangale root, valued at 2,880 dollars, was exported from Canton in 1850.

CARDAMOMS.

Cardamoms are the production of various species of plants of the same tribe as the ginger, and might be profitably cultivated with that aromatic root, as well as the Turmeric (Curcuma longa), which see.

Various species of Alpiniæ, Amomum, Elettaria, and Renealmia, appear to furnish the cardamoms of the shops, which consist of the oval, trivalvular capsules containing the seeds. The bright yellow seeds are used in medicine as aromatic tonics and carminatives; and for curries, ketchups, soups, &c. Their active ingredient is a pungent volatile oil. The least dampness injures the finer sorts. About 688 cwts. of cardamoms, and 5,000 cwts. of bastard cardamoms are annually exported from Siam, "We imported about 300 tons in 1849. The price ranges from 1s. 6d. to 3s. the pound. The estimated value of the cardamoms and pepper shipped from Ceylon in the past few years was as follows:—1846, £208; 1847, £246; 1848, £205; 1849, £454; 1850, £960; 1851, £771; 1852, £590. The" following are some of the plants from which cardamoms are procured.

1. Amomum Cardamomum, a Java plant, supplies the round cardamoms. It has pale brown flowers. The fruit varies in size from that of a black currant to a cherry.

2. A. angustifolium (Pereira), a plant having red blossoms; furnishes the large Madagascar cardamoms, and also supplies some of the seeds called "Grains of Paradise," which are, however, larger than those imported under that name.

This species is found in Abyssinia, according to my friend Mr. Chas. Johnston, author of "Travels in Abyssinia," who favored me with some specimens. The seeds are pale olive brown, devoid of the fiery peppery taste of the grains of paradise.

3. A. maximum, the great winged amomum, produces the Java cardamoma of the London market, and is also grown extensively in Ceylon, the Malay islands, Nepaul, Sumatra, and other islands of the Eastern Archipelago. There were exported from Ceylon in 1842, 5,364 lbs.; in 1843, 9,632 lbs.; 1844, 7,280 lbs.; and in 1845, 11,812 lbs. The pods are large and long, and dark colored, approaching to black, the taste nauseous and disagreeable, not the least resembling that of the Malabar cardamoms. It is propagated by cuttings of the rhizoma. The plants yield in three years, and afterwards give an annual crop. They are not used here, but sent to the continent.

4. Alpinia Cardamomum.—This is the source of the clustered cardamoms, and furnishes the best known sort. Its produce is in great request throughout India, fetching as much as £30 the candy of 600 Lbs. About 192 candies are grown annually in Travancore, and the usual crop in Malabar is reckoned at 100 candies annually. It flourishes on the mountainous parts of the Malabar coast, and among the western mountains of Wynaad. The bulbous plants, which grow three or four feet high, are produced in the recesses of the mountains by felling trees, and afterwards burning them, for wherever the ashes fall in the openings or fissures of the rocks, the plant naturally springs up. In the third year the plants come to perfection, bearing abundantly for a year or two, and then die. In Soonda Balagat, and other places where cardamoms are planted, they are much inferior to those grown in the wild state. It may be propagated by cuttings or divisions of the roots. Not more than one-hundredth part of the cardamoms raised in Malabar are used in the country. They are sent in large quantities to the ports on the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf, up the Indus to Scinde, to Bengal and Bombay. The price of Malabar cardamons at Madras, in June, 1853, was about £3 the maund of 25 lbs. They fetch in the Bombay market £4 10s. the maund of 40 lbs. Cardamoms form a universal ingredient in curries, pillaus, &c. The seed capsules are gathered as they ripen, and when dried in the sun are fit for sale. They should be chosen full, plump, and difficult to be broken; of a bright yellow color, and piercing smell; with an acrid bitterish, though not very unpleasant taste, and particular care should be taken that they are properly dried.

5. Amomum Grana-Paradisi, which is indigenous to the islands of Madagascar and Ceylon, yields an inferior sort of cardamoms, known by the names of grains of paradise, or Meleguetta pepper. These are worth in the English market only from 1s. 2d. to 1s. 4d. per pound, while the long and Malabar cardamoms fetch 2s. 8d. to 3s. 3d. the pound. This plant is a native of Guinea, and the western parts of Africa about Sierra Leone. We imported from thence in 1841, 7,911 pounds.

The taste of these Guinea grains is aromatic and vehemently hot or peppery. They are imported in casks from Africa, and are principally used in veterinary medicine, and to give an artificial strength to spirits, wine, beer, &c. The average quantity on which duty was paid in the six years ending with 1840, was 16,000 lbs. per annum. They are esteemed in Africa the most wholesome of spices, and generally used by the natives to season their food.

Dr. Pereira, from a careful examination and close inquiry, is of opinion that the Amomum Grana-Paradisi of Smith, and the Amamum Melegueta of Roscoe, are identical species.

In the second volume of the "Pharmaceutical Journal," Dr. Pereira states that the term "grains of paradise," or Melegueta, has been applied to the produce of no less than six scitamineous plants. At the present time, and in this country, the term is exclusively given to the hot acrid seeds imported into England from the coast of Guinea, and frequently called Guinea grains; and by the Africans Guinea pepper.

Elettaria Cardomomum, Don.—The fruit of this species constitutes the true, small, officinal Malabar cardamoms. It is an ovate oblong, obtusely triangular capsule, from three to ten lines long, rarely exceeding three lines in breadth, coriaceous, ribbed, greyish or brownish yellow. It contains many angular, blackish or reddish brown rugose seeds, which are white internally, have a pleasant aromatic odor, and a warm agreeable taste. 100 parts of the fruit yield 74 parts of seeds, and 26 parts of pericarpal coats.

This seems to be identical with Amomum Cardamomum.

Elettaria major, is a perennial, native of Ceylon, which grows in shady situations in a rich mixed soil. The dried capsules are known in commerce as wild or Ceylon cardamoms, and are of less value in the market than those of Malabar (Elettaria Cardamomum, Maton). It is chiefly grown about the Kandyan district; and in the eight years ending with 1813, the average export was nine and a-half candies per annum. The seeds in taste resemble our carraways, and are used for seasoning various dishes.

Ceylon cardamoms are now worth in the London market (Sept., 1853) 1s. to 1s. 3d. per lb.; Malabar ditto, 2s. 3d. to 3s.

PEPPER.

The black pepper of commerce is obtained from the dried unripe fruit (drupes) of Piper nigrum, a climbing plant common in the East Indies, and of the simplest culture, being multiplied with facility by cuttings or suckers. The ripe fruit, when deprived of its outer fleshy covering by washing, forms the white pepper of the shops. The dried fruiting spikes of P. longum, a perennial shrub, native of Malabar and Bengal, constitute long pepper. The fruit of Xylopia aromatica is commonly called Ethiopian pepper, from being used as pepper in Africa. The seeds of some species of fennel-flower (Nigella sativa and arvensis), natives of the south of Europe, were formerly used instead of pepper, and are said to be still extensively employed in adulterating it. In Japan, the capsules of Xanthoxylum piperitum, or Fagara Piperita, are used as a substitute for pepper, and so is the fruit of Tasmannia aromatica in Van Diemen's Land. According to Dr. Roxburgh, P. trioicum is cultivated in the East, and yields an excellent pepper.

The pepper vine rises about two feet in the first year of its growth, and attains to nearly six feet in the second, at which time, if vigorous and healthy, the petals begin to form the corolla or blossom. All suckers and side shoots are to be carefully removed, and the vines should be thinned or pruned, if they become bushy at the top. Rank coarse weeds and parasitical plants should be uprooted. The vine would climb, if permitted, to the elevation of twenty feet, but is said to bear best when kept down to the height of ten or twelve feet. It produces two crops in the year. The fruit grows abundantly from all the branches, in long small clusters of from 20 to 50 grains; when ripe it is of a bright red color. After being gathered, it is spread on mats in the sun to dry, when it becomes black and shrivelled. The grains are separated from the stalks by hand rubbing. The roots and thickest parts of the stems, when cut into small pieces and dried, form a considerable article of commerce all over India, under the name of Pippula moola.

Almost all the plants of the family Piperaceæ have a strong aromatic smell and a sharp burning taste. This small group of plants is confined to the hottest regions of the globe; being most abundant in tropical America and in the East Indian Archipelago, but more rare in the equinoctial regions of Africa. The common black pepper, P. nigrum, represents the usual property of the order, which is not confined to the fruit, but pervades, more or less, the whole plant. It is peculiar to the torrid zone of Asia, and appears to be indigenous to the coast of Malabar, where it has been found in a wild state. From this it extends between the meridians of longitude 96 deg. and 116 deg. S. and the parallels of latitude 5 deg. S. and 12 deg. N., beyond which no pepper is found. Within these limits are the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, with the Malay peninsula and part of Siam. Sumatra produces by far the greatest quantity of pepper. In 1842, the annual produce of this island was reckoned at 30,000,000 lbs., being more than the amount furnished by all the other pepper districts in the world.

A little pepper is grown in the Mauritius and the West India Islands, and its cultivation is making some progress on the Western Coast of Africa, as we imported from thence 2,909 bags and casks in 1846, and about 110,000 lbs. in 1847.

Mr. J. Crawfurd, F.R.S., one of the best authorities on all that relates to the commerce and agriculture of the Eastern Archipelago, recently estimated the produce of pepper as follows:—

	lbs.
Sumatra (West Coast)	20,000,000
Sumatra (East Coast)	8,000,000
Islands in the Straits of Malacca	3,600,000
Malay Peninsula	3,733,333
Borneo	2,666,667
Siam	8,000,000
Malabar	4,060,000
Total	50,000,000
If we add to this
Western Coast of Africa and B.W. Indies	53,000
Java	4,000,000
Mauritius and Ceylon	80,000
It gives	54,133,000
as the total produce of the world

Black pepper constitutes a great and valuable article of export from the Indian Islands; which, as we have seen, afford by far the largest portion of What is consumed throughout the world. In the first intercourse of the Dutch and English with India, it constituted the most considerable and important staple of their commerce. The production of pepper is confined in a great measure to the western countries of the Eastern Archipelago, and among these to the islands in the centre and to the northern quarter, including the Peninsula. It is obtained in the ports on both sides of the coast of the latter, but particularly the north-eastern coast. The principal quarters (according to Mr. Crawfurd, my authority on this subject), are Patani, Tringanu, and Kalantin. In the Straits a large quantity is produced in the island of Singapore, and above all in Pinang, where the capital of Europeans and the skill and industry of the Chinese have been successfully applied to its culture. The western extremity of Sumatra, and the north-west coast of that island, are the most remarkable situations in it for the production of pepper, and here we have Acheen, Tikao, Bencoolen, Padang, and the country of the Lampungs. The production of the eastern extremity of Sumatra or Palembang is considerable, but held of inferior quality. In the fertile island of Java, the quantity of pepper grown is inconsiderable, nor is it remarkable for the goodness of its quality.

The province of Bantam has always furnished, and still continues to produce, the most pepper; but the culture of this creeper is fast giving place in Java to staples affording higher profits and requiring less care. The exports were, in the following years:—

	piculs.
1830	6,061
1835	11,868
1839	11,044
1841	13,477
	lbs.
1843	3,737,732
1848	461,680
1851	95,037
1852	135,690

The number of pepper vines in the district of Bencoolen, in the close of last year, 1852, was as follows:—1,571,894 young vines; 2,437,052 bearing ditto; total, 4,008,946.

Up to the end of September there had been delivered to the Government 1,145 piculs white pepper, and 1,128 piculs black pepper, while of the harvest of 1852 there were still probably to be received 330 piculs white, and 4,967 piculs black pepper.

The south, the west, and the north coasts of the great island of Borneo produce a large quantity of pepper; as early as 1721 it was a staple commodity of this island. Banjarmassin is the most productive place on the south coast, and the State of Borneo Proper on the north coast. The best pepper certainly does not grow in the richest soils, for the peppers of Java and Palembang are the worst of the Archipelago, and that of Pinang and the west coast of Sumatra are the best. Care in culture and curing improves the quality, as with other articles, and for this reason chiefly it is that the pepper of Pinang is more in esteem than that of any other portion of the Archipelago. From the ports and districts of Siam 3,500 to 4,000 tons are exported annually.

The duty at present levied on pepper in England is 6d. per lb., while the wholesale price for that of Pinang, Malabar, and Sumatra is about 4d. per lb. White pepper ranges from 9d. to 1s. 6d. per lb. The prime cost in Singapore is not more than 1½d. per lb.

About 70,000 or 80,000 piculs of pepper are annually exported from Singapore, of which between 30,000 and 40,000 piculs have, until within the last two years, gone on to Great Britain. More than one-half of the pepper exported from Singapore is grown in the island by Chinese settlers.

The low selling price of the article in the English market, the high duty levied upon it, and the large freight paid for its carriage to Great Britain, now leave so small a price to the cultivator in Singapore, that the cultivation ceases to be remunerative, and is carried on at a loss; and has consequently within the last year or two begun to decrease rapidly, involving the Chinese growers, who are generally of the poorest class, and without capital, in great distress. A reduction in the duty on pepper has always been followed by a very large increase in the consumption of the article, as will appear from the following table, showing the importation and consumption in Great Britain during some of the first and last years of the different rates of duty:—

	Quantity	Duty		Singapore price
Year	consumed	s.	d.	s.	d.		s.	d.
1811	1,457,383	1	10½	0	7½	to	0	7¾
1814	941,569	1	10½	0	11	"	1	1
1820	1,404,021	2	6	0	6½	"	0	6¾
1824	1,447,030	2	6	0	4¾	"	0	5½
1826	2,529,027	2	0	0	4	"	0	4½
1836	2,749,491	1	0	0	0	"	0	0
1837	2,625,075	0	6	0	0	"	0	0
1845	3,210,415	0	6	0	2¼	"	0	4¾

In a memorial from the mercantile community of Singapore, sent home in 1848, it is asserted that a reduction in the duty of pepper being always attended by a large increase in the consumption, would not lead to any serious loss in the revenue, while it would confer a great boon on the poorer classes, to whom it has now become a necessary article of life. The reduction would also be of great advantage to British manufacturers, as well as to our Indian possessions, by giving rise to an increased demand or British goods and productions, and of the highest benefit to the agricultural settlers in the island of Singapore, by enabling them to procure for their labor an honest means of livelihood.

The pepper vines, which are allowed to climb poles or small trees, are tolerably productive at Singapore; and pepper planting is esteemed by the Chinese to be a profitable speculation, particularly if they are enabled to evade the payment of quit-rent. An acre of pepper vines will yield 1,161 lbs. of clean pepper. In Sumatra a full grown plant has been known to produce seven pounds; in Pinang the yield is much more. The average produce of one thousand vines is said, however, to be only about 450 lbs.

Colonel Low, in his "Dissertation on Pinang," published at Singapore some years ago, gives an interesting account of the culture:—

"Pepper was, during many years, the staple product of Pinang soil, the average annual quantity having been nearly four millions of pounds; but previous to the year 1810, the above amount had decreased to about two-and-a-half millions of pounds, which was the result of the continental system.

The price having fallen at length to three and three-and-a-half dollars the picul—with only a few occasional exceptions of rises—the cultivation of this spice was gradually abandoned, and the total product at this day does not exceed 2,000 piculs. The original cost, when pepper was at a high price, together with charges of transporting it to Europe, amounted to £36,357 for every five hundred tons, and the loss by wastage was estimated at £5,405. In 1818 there remained on the island 1,480,265 pepper vines in bearing, and the average value of exports of pepper from Pinang, including that received from other places, was averaged at 106,870 Spanish dollars.

As might have been foreseen, the fall of prices has so greatly diminished the cultivation of pepper to the eastward, that a reaction is likely to take place; and has in fact partly shown itself already. Some Chinese in Pinang and Province Wellesley seem to be preparing to renew the cultivation. There is abundant scope for the purpose on both sides of the harbour, and every facility is at hand for carrying it on.

The pepper plant or vine requires a good soil, the richer the better, but the red soil of the higher hills is not congenial, the Chinese think, to it. The undulations skirting the bases of the hills, and the deep alluvial lands, where not saturated with water, or liable to be overflowed, are preferred.

The Chinese have always been the chief cultivators, and when the speculation flourished they received advances from the merchants, which they paid back in produce at fixed rates.

When pepper was extensively cultivated on Prince of Wales Island, the European owner of the land had the forest cleared by contract, and the vines planted by contract, and when the vines came into bearing the plantation was farmed to the Chinese from year to year, on payment of a specific quantity of pepper. Any other plan would have ruined the capitalist, as the culture is almost entirely in their hands in the Straits' Settlements, and they will not work so well for others as when they are specially interested.

The plants are set out at intervals, every way, of from seven to twelve feet, according to the degree of fertility of the soil, so that there are from 800 to 1,000 vines in one orlong of land; to each vine is allotted a prop of from ten to thirteen feet high, cut from the thorny tree called dadap, or where that is scarce, from the less durable boonglai; these props take root, thus affording both shade and support to the plant. The plant may be raised from seed pepper, but the plan is not approved of, cuttings being preferable, as they soonest come into bearing. The pits in which these cuttings are set should be a foot-and-a-half square, and two feet in depth; manure is not often applied, and then it is only some turf ashes. However unpicturesque a pepper plantation may be, still its neat and uniform appearance renders the landscape lively, and there can be little doubt that the island has suffered in its salubrity since the jungle usurped the extensive tracts formerly under pepper cultivation.

When the vine has reached the height of three or four feet, it is bent down and laid in the earth, and about five of the strongest shoots which now spring up are retained and carefully trained up the prop, to which they are tied by means of ligatures of some creeping plants.

One Chinese, after the plantation has been formed, can take care of two orlongs of land. The usual mode is this:—an advance is made by the capitalist to the laborer for building a house, and for agricultural implements; he then receives two dollars monthly to subsist on, until the end of the third year, when the estate or plantation is equally divided betwixt the contracting parties.

The Chinese and even European cultivators used formerly to engage the Chinese who had just arrived from China; they paid off their passage-money, and then allowed them two dollars monthly, for provisions, for one year; with a suit of clothes, by which means the cost of the labor of one man averaged about three dollars monthly; but this plan is attended with risks.

The cost attendant on the cultivation of two orlongs of land, with pepper, for three years—the Chinese laborer receiving the usual hire of five Spanish dollars monthly—will be nearly as follows:—

	Spanish dollars.
Price of land, clearing, and planting	40
Quit rent, at 75 cents per annum per orlong	9
Two thousand plants	4
Two thousand dadap props	6
Implements	6
House	10
Labor	200
Interest, loosely calculated at	30
Total Spanish dollars	305

In a very good soil a pepper vine will yield about one-eighth of a pound of dry produce at the end of the first year; at the end of the second, about a quarter of a pound; and at the expiration of the third, probably one pound; at the end of the fourth, from three to three-and-a-half pounds; ditto fifth, from eight to ten pounds. After the fifth year up to the fifteenth, or even the twentieth year, about ten pounds of dry merchantable produce may be obtained from each vine, under favorable circumstances. The Chinese speculator used to rent out his half-share of a new plantation for five years, to his cultivating partner, after the expiration of the first three years, at the rate of thirty piculs per annum; the total produce of these five years giving about fifty-six piculs annually as an average.

A pepper plantation never survives the thirtieth year, unless in extremely rich soil, and then it is unproductive; nor will the young vine thrive on an old worn out pepper land, a peculiarity which is applicable to the coffee tree. The chief crop lasts from August to February. Four pounds of dry produce, for ten of green, is considered a fair estimate. Great care is requisite in the management of the vine, and especially in training and tying it on the props. It is subject to be injured by the attacks of a small insect. The green pepper dries in two or three days, and if it is intended that it shall be black, it is pulled before it is quite ripe. To make white pepper, the berry is allowed to remain somewhat longer on the vine; it is, when plucked, immersed in boiling water, by means of which process and subsequent friction, before drying, the husk is separated.

The exports of pepper from Pinang in the last four years have been—In 1849, 2,591,233 lbs.; in 1850, 6,397,733 lbs.; in 1851, 2,366,933 lbs.; in 1852, 2,112,133 lbs."

A small quantity of pepper seems to be annually exported from Ceylon, which I presume is the growth of that island; thus there were:—

54	cwts.	shipped in	1842
83	"	"	1843
102	"	"	1844

In the Customs' returns of Ceylon, it is classed with cardamoms, and 160 to 170 cwt. of the two were shipped in each of the years 1850 and 1851. Last year the quantity was smaller.

Pepper cultivation has been introduced into the Mauritius, and in 1839 more than 500,000 lbs. were imported from thence, but as the shipments have since decreased, I presume it has given place to the more profitable staple sugar. I have been able to glean no information as to the progress it has made in the West Indies. In Cayenne it has been successfully carried on for many years; and large shipments of pepper have been made thence to France.

BLACK PEPPER EXPORTED FROM SINGAPORE.

		Piculs.	Value in rupees.
1841	Total Exports	66,810
"	Growth of Singapore	21,231	47,674
1842	Exports	74,228
"	Growth of Singapore	32,277	72,473
1843	Exports	57,883
"	Growth of Singapore	35,585	79,900
1844	Exports	67,148
"	Growth of Singapore	42,995	386,152
1845	Exports	65,892
"	Growth of Singapore	39,019	350,443
1846	Exports	56,709
"	Growth of Singapore	35,712	——
1847	Exports	60,994
"	Growth of Singapore	36,565	328,397

Pliny, the naturalist, states that the price of pepper in the market of Rome in his time was, in English money, 9s. 4d. a pound, and thus we have the price of pepper at least 1,774 years ago. The pepper alluded to must have been the produce of Malabar, the nearest part of India to Europe that produced the article, and its prime cost could not have exceeded the present one, or about 2d. a pound. It would most probably have come to Europe by crossing the Indian and Arabian ocean, with the easterly monsoon, sailing up the Red Sea, crossing the desert, dropping down the Nile, and making its way along the Mediterranean by two-thirds of its whole length. This voyage, which in our times can be performed in a month, most probably then took eighteen. Transit and customs duties must have been paid over and over again, and there must have been plenty of extortion. All this will explain how pepper could not be sold in the Roman market under fifty-six times its prime cost. Immediately previous to the discovery of the route to India by the Cape of Good Hope, we find that the price of pepper in the markets of Europe had fallen to 6s a pound, or 3s. 4d. less than in the time of Pliny. What probably contributed to this fall, was the superior skill in navigation of the now converted Arabs, and the extension of their commerce to the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, which abounded in pepper. After the great discovery of Vasco de Gama, the price of pepper fell to about 1s. 3d. a pound, a fall of 8s. 1d. from that of the time of Pliny, and of 4s. 9d. from that of the Mahommedan Arabs, Turks, and Venetians.

In 1826, 14,000,000 lbs. of pepper were imported into the United Kingdom, of which about 5,500,000 were re-exported. In 1841, 15,000,000 lbs. were imported, of which 6,500,000 were re-shipped to other countries.

The home consumption, it will be seen, now averages about 3,250,000 lbs.:—

	Imports lbs.	Home consumption lbs.
1845	9,852,984	3,209,718
1846	5,906,586	3,299,955
1847	4,669,930	2,966,022
1848	8,125,545	3,185,337
1849	4,796,042	3,257,911
1850	8,028,319	3,170,883
1851	3,996,496	3,303,403
1852	6,641,699	3,524,501

The following return shows the number of bags of pepper imported into the United Kingdom, with the quantity retained for home consumption:—

	Imports.		Retained for home consumption.
	Black. bags	White. bags	Black. bags	White. bags
1843	37,840	3,861	21,163	2,257
1844	60,705	2,123	23,525	2,122
1845	80,600	3,208	30,294	2,861
1847	37,194	1,236	28,768	2,654
1848	65,518	3,042	31,665	3,950
1849	43,651	2,616	32,246	3,859

CHILLIES AND CAYENNE PEPPER.

Chillies or capsicum are long roundish taper pods, divided into two or three cells, full of small whitish seeds. When this fruit is fresh, it has a penetrating acrid smell; to the taste it is extremely pungent, and produces a most painful burning in the mouth. They are occasionally imported dry, and form the basis of Cayenne pepper; put in vinegar when green or ripe, they are an acceptable present in Europe. In Bengal the natives make an extract from the chillies, which is about the consistence and color of treacle.

The consumption of chillies in India is immense, as both rich and poor daily use them, and it is the principal ingredient in all chutnies and curries; ground into a paste, between two stones, with a little mustard, oil, ginger, and salt, it forms the only seasoning which the millions of poor in that country can obtain to eat with their insipid rice. They are worth in the Bombay market about 40s. the candy of 600 lbs.

Immense quantities of the capsicum are used by the native population of the West Indies, Africa, and Mexico; the consumption as a condiment being almost universal, and perhaps equal in quantity to salt. Ten barrels of these peppers were shipped from Montego Bay, Jamaica, in the first six months of 1851.

The wholesale price of chillies in the London market is from 15s. to 25s. the cwt., and there is a duty of 6d. per pound on them. Cayenne fetches 9d. to 2s. the pound.

Chilli is the Mexican name for all varieties of Capsicum. They are natives of the East and West Indies, and other hot climates. C. annuum is the species commonly noticed, but there seems to be numerous varieties, which by many are reckoned species. Thus, C. frutescens is a shrubby plant, which, along with C. minimum, supplies the variety called bird-pepper, it grows to a larger and more bushy size; C. baccatum has a globular fruit, and furnishes cherry or berry capsicum. They are all of the simplest culture, and may even be grown with very little care in England. Culture appears to increase the size, but to diminish the pungency of the fruit. In capsicums irritant properties prevail so as to obscure the narcotic action. Their acridity is owing to an oleaginous substance called capsicin. Cayenne pepper is used in medicine chiefly in the form of tincture, as a rubefacient and stimulant, especially in cases of ulcerated sore throat. It acts on the stomach as an aromatic condiment, and when preserved in acetic acid it forms chilli vinegar.

Red pepper may be considered one of the most useful vegetables in hygiene. As a stimulant and auxiliary in digestion it has been considered invaluable, especially in warm countries. A kind called the tobacco red pepper, is said to possess the most pungent properties of any of the species. It yields a small red pod, less than an inch in length, and longitudinal in shape, which is so exceedingly hot that a small quantity of it is sufficient to season a large dish of any food. Owing to its oleaginous character, it has been found impossible to preserve it by drying, but by pouring strong boiling vinegar on it a sauce or decoction can be made, which possesses in a concentrated form all the essential qualities of the vegetable. A single drop of this sauce will flavor a whole plate of soup or other food.

The "wort" or Cayenne pottage may be termed the national dish of the Abyssinians, as that, or its basis "dillock," is invariably eaten with their ordinary diet, the thin crumpet-like bread of teff or wheat flour. Equal parts of salt and the red cayenne pods are well powdered and mixed together with a little pea or bean meal to make a paste. This is called "dillock," and is made in quantities at a time, being preserved in a large gourd-shell, generally suspended from the roof. The "wort" is merely a little water added to this paste, which is then boiled over the fire, with the addition of a little fat meat and more meal to make a kind of porridge, to which sometimes is also added several warm seeds, such as the common cress or black mustard, both of which are indigenous in Abyssinia.—("Johnston's Abyssinia.")

A great quantity of Agi or Guinea pepper is grown in Peru, the natives being very fond of this condiment. It is not uncommon for an American Indian to make a meal of twenty or thirty pods of capsicum, a little salt, and a piece of bread, washed down by two or three quarts of chica, the popular beverage.

PIMENTO.

The pimento, Eugenia Pimento (Myrtus Pimenta), is a native of Mexico, and the West Indies. It flourishes spontaneously and in great abundance on the north side of the island of Jamaica; its numerous white blossoms mixing with the dark green foliage, and with the slightest breeze diffusing around the most delicious fragrance, give a beauty and a charm to nature rarely equalled, and of which he who has not visited the shady arbors and perfumed groves of the tropics can have little conception. This lovely tree, the very leaf of which when bruised emits a fine aromatic odor, nearly as powerful as that of the spice itself, has been known to grow to the height of from 30 to 40 feet, exceedingly straight, and having for its base the spinous ridge of a rock, eight or ten feet above the surface of the hill or mountain. A single tree has frequently produced 150 lbs. of the raw, or 100 lbs. of the dried fruit.

The fruit has an aromatic odor, and its taste combines that of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves; hence its common name of allspice. The fruit of Eugenia acris is used for pimento.

The trunk is of a grey color, smooth and shining, and altogether destitute of bark. It is luxuriantly clothed with leaves of a deep green, somewhat like those of the bay tree, and these leaves are, in the months of July and August, beautifully contrasted and relieved by an exuberance of white flowers. The leaves yield by distillation a delicate odoriferous oil, which is said to be sometimes passed off for oil of cloves.

The berries are gathered before they are ripe, and spread on a terrace, exposed to the sun for about a week, during which time they lose their green color, and acquire that reddish brown tint which renders them marketable. Some planters kiln-dry them. Like many of the minor productions of the tropics, pimento is exceedingly uncertain, and perhaps a very plenteous crop occurs but once in five years.

In 1800 there were 12,759 bags and 610 casks of pimento imported from Jamaica; in 1824 there were 33,308 bags and 599 casks shipped from the island; in 1829 the quantity exported was 6,069,127 lbs.

In the year ending October 1843, the export of pimento from Jamaica was 29,322 bags and 156 casks; in the year ending October 1844, 12,055 bags and 88 casks; in the year ending October 1845, 233 casks, valued at 30s. each, and 59,494 bags, valued at 20s.

From 1st January to 1st August, 1851, 128,277 lbs. pimento were shipped from the port of Montego Bay, Jamaica.

There was a very considerable pimento plantation made in Tobago, some years ago, by a Mr. Franklin, but it was abandoned by his sons, that they might attend the more exclusively to sugar culture.

Jamaica exported nearly two millions of pounds of pimento less, in the three years ending 1848, than she did in the three previous to the emancipation of the slaves. The number of pounds shipped annually, in these periods, is shown by the following figures:—

Year.	lbs.
1830	5,560,620
1831	3,172,320
1832	4,024,800
1846	2,997,060
1847	2,800,140
1848	5,231,908

Pimento is imported into this country in bags of about 100 lbs. each. The imports have been:—

Year.	Imports.	Home consumption.
	cwts.	cwts.
1848	20,773	4,230
1849	24,994	3,419
1850	20,448	3,467
1851	14,840	3,935
1852	22,708	3,872

The following is a statement of the imports from the West Indies, and the consumption of the United Kingdom, in pounds:—

Year.	Imports.	Entries for home consumption.
	lbs.	lbs.
1831	1,801,355	305,739
1832	1,366,183	296,197
1833	4,770,255	330,890
1834	1,389,402	320,719
1835	2,536,353	343,942
1836	3,230,978	400,941
1837	2,026,128	383,401
1838	892,974	383,997
1839	1,071,511	309,078
1840	999,068	338,969
1841	797,757	297,201
1842	1,643,318	450,683
1843	2,028,658	378,096

The imports have been, in—

	bags.
1843	18,649
1844	2,408
1845	21,092
1847	9,649
1848	18,196
1849	14,108

Pimento is worth in the London market 6d. to 7d. per lb. The duty is 5s. per cwt.

VANILLA.

The fleshy, pod-like, odoriferous fruit of different species of Epidendrum constitute the substance called vanilla, which is used in confectionery for giving a delicious perfume to chocolate, liqueurs, &c. As an aromatic it is much sought after by confectioners, for flavoring ices and creams; and also by perfumers, liqueurists, and distillers. The best comes from the forests round the village of Zurtila, in the intendancy of Oaxaca, on the eastern slopes of the Cordillera of Anahuac, between the parallels of 19 deg. and 20 deg. N. All the vanilla which is used in Europe is imported from Mexico, Venezuela, and Vera Cruz.

It is a native of tropical America, and grows wild in Brazil, Peru, the banks of the Orinoco, and all places where heat, shade, and moisture prevail. There are many species indigenous to the Bahamas, Trinidad, Jamaica, Cuba, Dominica, Martinique and St. Vincent, which would produce considerable gain to the inhabitants if they would give themselves the trouble of cultivating or collecting its fruit.

This parasitical plant has a trailing stem, not unlike the common ivy, but not so woody, by which it attaches itself to the trunks of trees, and sucks the moisture which their bark derives from the lichens and other cryptogamia, but without drawing nourishment from the tree itself, like the misletoe and loranthus. The Indians in Mexico propagate it by planting cuttings at the foot of trees selected for that purpose. It rises to the height of 18 or 20 feet; the flowers are of a greenish yellow, mixed with white. The plant is subcylindrical about eight or ten inches long, of a yellow color when gathered, but dark brown or black when imported into Europe. It is one-celled siliquose, and pulpy within, wrinkled on the outside, and full of a vast number of seeds like grains of sand, having when properly prepared, a peculiar and delicious fragrance. It should be gathered before it is fully ripe.

Different species of vanilla are natives of Guiana, and it is found in large quantities along the banks of its rivers, and in the wooded districts which intersperse the savannahs. The oily and balsamic substance which the minute seeds possess, may be found to have medicinal qualities. Its cultivation can be connected with no difficulties; it needs only to plant the slips among trees, and to keep them clear of weeds. It would prove therefore a great addition to a cocoa plantation. In 1825 the price was, in Germany, sixty-six dollars (equal to £9) per pound, and twenty-five to thirty dollars are paid for it in Martinique.

Humboldt states that the annual value of vanilla exported from the state of Vera Cruz was 40,000 dollars, £8,000 sterling. Some vanilla is exported from Maranham. The cultivation of vanilla, which was introduced into Java in the year 1847, is said to have made considerable progress, there being now no fewer than thirty plantations.

The fruit of this orchideous plant is entirely neglected in the province of Caracas, though abundant crops of it might be gathered on the humid coast between Porto Cabello and Ocumare, especially at Turiamo, where the pods attain the length of nearly a foot. The English and American merchants often seek to make purchases at the port of La Guayra, but with difficulty procure it in small quantities.

In the valleys that descend from the chain of coast towards the Caribbean sea, in the province of Truxillo, as well as in the mission of Guiana, near the cataracts of the Orinoco, a great quantity of the vanilla pods might be collected, the produce of which would be still more abundant, if, according to the practice of the Mexicans, the plant were disentangled from time to time from the other creepers, with which it is intertwined and stifled.

When collected to prepare it for the market, about 12,000 of the pods are strung like a garland by their lower end, as near as possible to their foot-stalk; the whole are plunged for an instant into boiling water to blanch them; they are then hung up in the open air and exposed to the sun for a few hours. By some they are wrapped in woollen cloths to sweat. Next day they are lightly smeared with oil, by means of a feather or the fingers, and are surrounded with oiled cotton to prevent the valves from opening. As they become dry, on inverting their upper end they discharge a viscid liquor from it, and they are pressed several times with oiled fingers to promote its flow. The dried pods, like the berries of pepper, change color under the drying operation, grow brown, wrinkled, soft, and shrink to one-fourth of their original size. In this state they are touched a second time with oil, but very sparingly, because with too much oil they would lose some of their delicious perfume.

They are then packed for the market in small bundles of 50 or 100 in each, enclosed in lead foil, or tight metallic cases.

There are four local varieties, all differing in price and excellence; viz., the vanilla fina, the zacate, the rezacate, and the vasura.

One pod of vanilla is sufficient to perfume a pound and a half of cacao. It is with difficulty reduced to fine particles, but it may be sufficiently attenuated by cutting it into small bits, and grinding these along with sugar.

As it comes to us, vanilla is a capsular fruit, of the thickness of a swan's quill; straight, cylindrical, but somewhat flattened, truncated at the top, thinned off at the ends, glistening, wrinkled, furrowed lengthwise, flexible, from five to ten inches long, and of a reddish brown color. It contains a pulpy parenchyma, soft, unctuous, very brown, in which are embedded black, brilliant, very small seeds.

The kind most esteemed in France is called leq vanilla; it is about six inches long, from one-fourth to one-third of an inch broad, narrowed at the two ends and curved at the base; somewhat soft and viscid, of a dark reddish color, and of a most delicious flavor, like that of balsam of Peru. It is called vanilla giorees, when it is covered with efflorescences of benzcoin acid, after having been kept in a dry place, and in vessels not hermetically closed.

The second sort, called vanilla simarona, or bastard, is a little smaller than the preceding, of a less deep brown hue, drier, less aromatic, destitute of efflorescence. It is said to be the produce of the wild plant, and is brought from St. Domingo.

A third sort, which comes from Brazil, is the vanillon, or large vanilla of the French market; the vanilla pamprona or bova of the Spaniards. Its length is from five to six inches, its breadth from one-half to three-fourths of an inch. It is brown, soft, viscid, almost always open, of a strong smell, but less agreeable than the leq. It is sometimes a little spoiled by an incipient fermentation. It is cured with sugar, and enclosed in tin plate boxes, which contain from 20 to 60 pods[52]. The average annual import of vanilla into Havre, in the five years ending 1841, was about 16 boxes; in 1842 it was 30 packages.

TONQUIN BEANS.—The seeds of the Tongo tree (Dipterix odorata), a native of Guiana, are the well-known tonquin beans used to give a pleasant flavor to snuff.

TURMERIC.

This article of commerce is furnished by the branches of the rhizome or root-stock of the Curcuma longa, and C. rotunda, plants which are natives of Eastern Asia, but have been grown in England and the West Indies. They thrive well in a rich light soil, and are readily increased by offsets from the roots.

In the East Indies, where it is known as Huldee, turmeric is much employed in dyeing yellow, principally silks, but the color is very fugitive. It is also used medicinally as an aromatic carminative, and as a condiment; it enters into the composition of curry sauce or powder, and many other articles of Indian cookery. It is cordial and stomachic, and considered by the native doctors of India an excellent application in powder for cleansing foul ulcers.

It is grown in, and exported chiefly from, Bengal and Malabar, Madras, Java, and China. The turmeric of Java is in high estimation in the European markets, ranking next to that of China, and being much superior to that of Bengal. The seeds of Anethum Sowa, from their carminative properties, form an ingredient in curry powder.

The price of turmeric in London is from 12s. to 20s. per cwt., according to quality. The entries for home consumption are about 4,000 to 5,000 cwts. annually. It is better shipped in casks or cases than in bags.

A kind of arrowroot is prepared from C. angustifolia, another species of this tribe of plants.

Amaranthus gangiticus, and another species, are much cultivated by the Hindoos for their stews and curries.

The quantity and value of the curry stuff imported into Ceylon, chiefly from India, has been in the last few years as follows:—

	Quantity.
Years.	cwts.	packages.	Value.
1847	—	—	6,866
1848	—	—	9,981
1849	26,347	109	9,664
1850	24,396	300	7,267
1851	32,550	—	9,446
1852	—	—	9,039

What is comprised under the term "curry stuff," I am not aware, but it appears to be a bulky article, for it was imported to the extent of 32,000 cwt. in 1852.

There are two varieties of turmeric usually sent into Europe from the East (whence all the turmeric imported into Europe is obtained), the "long" turmeric (Curcuma longa), and the "round," or as it is better known the "Chinese turmeric." The latter description is very rare, the former is the common article of commerce. According to one of my correspondents, Mr. Hepburn, chemist, of Falmouth, Jamaica, the common or long turmeric is indigenous to that island, growing luxuriantly in the mountainous districts, in rather damp soils, its locality being in the vicinity of rivers, water-courses and springs. In this respect it differs from ginger, which requires a rather dry soil for its culture. I am not aware that this plant possesses the property of impoverishing the soil like the ginger. From the general habits of the plant in its natural state, we may gather the following rules for our guidance in its culture. The plants should be laid down in rows of five or six inches distant from each other, in a soil moderately damp, of an aluminous or clayey nature, and free to a great extent of the more soluble alkalies, potash and soda, as these, by absorption, may destroy the coloring matter of the plant, and so diminish its value as a dye-stuff. Finally, in preparing the roots for exportation, they should be cleansed from all earthy particles, exposed for drying in the shade, and without any further preparation bagged for shipment.

The coloring matter of turmeric is of an orange yellow color exceedingly delicate and capable of change, either from the action of light or of alkalies, which turn it to a dark brown color. It is slightly soluble in water, and readily soluble in an alkaline solution, becoming dark brown. Alcohol extracts the coloring matter. The uses to which turmeric is applied are two: as an ingredient in the curry powder and paste, and as a dye for silk. It was some time ago used as a medicine; but though retained in the "Pharmacopœias" of the present day, it is entirely discarded by the practitioner as a curative agent. The best Bengal and Malabar turmeric fetches a price nearly as high as that of ginger, and I see no reason why the West India planter could not send it into the British market quite as cheap as the East India trader. According to Dallas, 397 bags of turmeric were exported from Jamaica in 1797.

Turmeric is grown about the city of Patna and Behar. It is much cultivated about Calcutta and all parts of Bengal. One acre yields about 2,000 lbs. of the fresh root. It is also grown on the central table land of Afghanistan. The exports from Calcutta in 1841 were 11,000 Indian maunds, and 28,137 in 1842. The value of that exported from Madras in 1839 was 40,000 rupees, or £4,000; in 1840, £4,200. The quantity shipped from that Presidency in 1850 was 6,877 bags.

In the neighbourhood of Dacca about 200 lbs. of seed is sown to the beegah, measuring 80 cubits by 80, and the yield is from 640 to 800 lbs.

140 tons were imported into Liverpool in 1849, for dyeing and for curries; 414 tons in 1850; 11,554 bags and packages in 1851; and only 3,595 ditto in 1852. The price in January 1853 was, for Bengal, 10s. to 12s.; China, 12s. to 14s., and Malabar 9s. to 12s. the cwt. The imports into London were 18 tons in 1848, 191 in 1849, and 980 in 1850. The deliveries for consumption, 192 tons in 1848, 270 in 1849, and 870 tons in 1850.

In China turmeric is used with Prussian blue in coloring and facing tea.

GINSENG

The produce of this plant, as an article of commerce, is confined to our transatlantic neighbours, who have the monopoly of the supply to China.

The root of Panax quinquefolium, the American ginseng, is much esteemed by the Chinese, for certain supposed beneficial effects upon the nerves, and for other presumed virtues; but our physicians have not discovered any proofs of its efficacy in Europe. The plant is an herbaceous perennial, growing upon the confines of Tartary and China, near the great wall. It is found wild, flourishing in moist situations, and attains the height of from two to three feet; it is also now produced largely in the northern, middle, and western States of the Union, particularly Virginia, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania, and a considerable trade is carried on with it to China. A variety of the plant was discovered, a few years ago, in the Himalaya mountains, and small quantities have been thence sent to Canton. It is also found growing in Canada. The root is about three or four inches in length, and one inch in thickness. It resembles a small carrot, but not so taper at the end, and is sometimes single, sometimes divided into two branches. The stem is striated, without branches, and of a red color near the root. The leaves, from four to six of which surround the stem where they form sheaths (bracteal), are simply pinnate. The flower stalk is long and green, the inflorescence a simple umbel. The fruit is a berry of a red color, and contains two seeds of the size of mustard seed. The officinal root differs in appearance, according to the country from which it is brought. In Korea and China it is white, corrugated when dry, and covered with a powder resembling starch. In Mandscharia and Dauria it is yellow, smooth and transparent, and when cut resembles amber. The taste of the root is bitter. Crude ginseng now sells in the Canton market at 70 to 80 dollars per picul of 133 lbs., and cured or clarified root at 130 to 140 dollars.

The stem of the plant, which is renewed every year, leaves, as it falls off, an impression upon the neck of the root, so that the number of these rings or marks indicates the age of the plant, and the value of the root increases accordingly. The Chinese government were formerly in the habit of sending out annually 30,000 Tartar soldiers to search for the plant, and each was obliged to bring home two ounces of the root gratis, and for all above that quantity he was paid its weight in silver. The Asiatic ginseng is said to be obtained from the root of P. Schinseng of Nees von Esenbeck, P. Pseudo ginseng of Wallich. This root might be procured in Prince Edward's Island and some of the other British North American colonies.

I have been able to trace, after some labor and research, the progressive exports of this curious article of trade from the United States.

In 1790, 813 casks, of the value of 47,025 dollars, were exported; and in 1791, 29,208 lbs. From 1803 to 1807, the annual value of ginseng shipped was about 123,000 dollars, and from 1820 to 1830, it averaged 157,000 dollars.

The following figures show the value of the article in subsequent years:—1831, 115,921 dollars; year ending 30th September, 1835, 94,960 dollars; 1837, 212,899 lbs., valued at 108,548 dollars; 1840, 22,728 dollars; 1841, 437,245 dollars.

The quantity shipped in 1839, from Philadelphia alone, was 317,443 lbs. In 1841, 637,885 lbs. were exported from the United States.

The value of that exported in the years ending 30th June, was 1844, 95,008 in dollars, and in 1845, 117,146 dollars; 110,000 lbs. were collected at Toledo, Ohio, in 1845. The value of the exports in the following years, ending June 30th, were—1847, 64,466 dollars; 1849, 162,640; 1849, 182,966; 1850, 122,916 dollars.

CORIANDER, CARRAWAY, AND OTHER SEEDS.

The fruits of anise, carraway, coriander, &c., (erroneously called seeds,) are in demand for various purposes.

CARRAWAY SEED is imported to the extent of 500 tons annually from Germany and Holland, the price being about 33s. per cwt. It is also now much grown in Essex and Kent. In the years 1848 and 1849, 7,000 cwt. of this seed was imported, of which nearly the whole quantity was retained for home consumption.

CORIANDER SEED is chiefly used by distillers, to produce an aromatic oil. The quantity imported annually does not exceed 50 tons, and it is brought principally to the port of Hull. It is also cultivated in Suffolk, Essex and Kent.

Of MUSTARD SEED the aggregate quantity imported annually is about 2,000 tons for home consumption, and the flour is used as a well-known condiment to food, &c., and in medicine; the average price being about 9d. per pound.

ANISE.—The fruit of Pimpinilla anisum, under the name of aniseed, is principally imported from Alicant and Germany (the first is preferred), but some is also brought from the East Indies. It is an annual plant, largely cultivated in Spain, Malta, and various parts of Germany, and also in the island of Scio, Egypt, and parts of Asia. The imports are not large; 192 cwts. paid duty in 1833, and 315 cwts. in 1840. About 60 cwts. are annually received at Hull from Germany. It is used to flavor liqueurs, sweetmeats, and confectionery of various kinds. Oil of aniseed is obtained by distillation from the fruit, and 1,544 lbs. were imported in 1839. About two pounds of oil are obtained from one hundred-weight of seed.

STAR ANISE, Illicum anisatum, is a native of the countries extending from 23½ deg. to 35 deg. of north latitude, or from Canton to Japan. The capsules constitute in India a rather important article of commerce, and are sold in all the bazaars. Large quantities are also used in Europe in the preparation of liqueurs. 695 piculs of star aniseed were exported from Canton in 1850, valued at 8,200 Spanish dollars. 81 piculs of oil of aniseed were exported from Canton in 1845, and 105 piculs in 1850, valued at 11,900 dollars. 3,000 piculs of aniseed are exported annually from Cambodia.

PUTCHUK, OR COSTUS.

The substance called costus was highly prized by the ancients, and specimens may be met with at a few of the London drug-houses. It has been shown by Dr. Falconer to be the produce of a genus of the thistle tribe, to which he has given the name of Aucklandia. The root of A. Costus is supposed to be the Costus Arabicus, on the following grounds:—It corresponds with the descriptions given by the ancient authors, and is used at the present day for the same purposes in China, as costus was formerly applied to by the Greeks. The coincidence of the names—in Cashmere the root is called koot, and the Arabic synonym is said to be koost. It grows in immense abundance on the mountains which surround Cashmere. It is a gregarious herb, about six or seven feet high, with a perennial thick branched root, with an annual round smooth stem, large leaves and dark purple flowers. The roots are dug up in the months of September and October, when the plant begins to be torpid; they are chopped up into pieces, from two to six inches long, and are exported without further preparation. The quantity collected, according to Dr. Falconer, is very large, amounting to about two million pounds per annum. The cost of its collection and transport to a mercantile depot in Cashmere, is about 2s. 4d. the cwt. The commodity is laden on bullocks and exported to the Punjaub, whence the larger portion goes down to Bombay, where it is shipped for the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and China; a portion of it finds its way across the Sutlej and Jumna into Hindostan Proper, whence it is taken to Calcutta, and bought up there with avidity under the name of putchuk. The value is enhanced at Jugadree, on the Jumna, to about 16s. 9d. or 23s. 4d. per cwt. In the Chinese ports it fetches nearly double that price the cwt. The Chinese burn the roots as an incense in the temples of their gods, and they also attach great efficacy to it as an aphrodisiac. The imports into Canton in 1848 were 414 piculs; in 1850, 854 piculs; valued at 5,150 dollars. In Cashmere it is chiefly used for the protection of bales of shawls from insects. The exports from the port of Calcutta were, in 1840-41, 19,660 maunds; in 1841-42, 12,847; in 1847-48, 2,050¼; in 1848-49, 2,110¾;—worth about £1,500 annually.

Specimens of amboyna wood, the odoriferous sandal wood from Timor, clove wood, and other choice woods from the Moluccas and Prince of Wales Island, were sent home to the Great Exhibition in 1851.

LIGNUM ALOES, the eagle wood and Calambak of commerce, yielding an aromatic perfume, is furnished by the Aquilaria malaccensis, and agallocha, in Silhet, an ornamental evergreen shrub. A very high artificial value is placed on the better qualities of this product by the natives of the East; the best quality being worth about £14 the picul of 133 lbs.

This fragrant wood is probably the lign aloes of the Bible.

Incense to the value of nearly one million and a quarter francs was exported from Alexandria in 1837.

Calambak or eagle wood, the true lignum aloes so highly esteemed in the East as a perfume or incense, is said to be produced by the Alœxylum agallochum, Lour. This remarkable wood contains a large quantity of an odoriferous oleo-resin; when heated it undergoes a sort of imperfect fusion, and exhales a fragrant and very agreeable odor. Its price in Sumatra is about £30 per cwt. Inferior specimens are obtained at Malacca. Eagle wood is also obtained from several other trees. The true eagle wood is however very scarce.

---

SECTION IV.

DYES AND COLORING STUFFS, AND TANNING SUBSTANCES.

Of the several classes of materials collected at the Industrial Exhibition in Hyde Park, in 1851, few possessed so much importance in the eyes of the textile and leather manufacturer and chemist as the different products used in the arts and manufactures for coloring and tanning purposes. These were in a great measure lost sight of by the public at large, being scattered about in small quantities in a great number of directions; and, from the minute samples shown, were in many instances overlooked altogether. Besides furnishing some novel and general statistical facts, which may prove interesting, I propose also in this section to draw attention more prominently to some of these products, which are at present little known or appreciated.

Coloring substances for staining and dyeing are obtained indifferently from the animal, mineral, and vegetable kingdoms, but it is of the last alone that I shall have to speak. The importance of a more careful consideration of this subject will be admitted, if we consider how much the prosperity and extent of our cotton, silk, woollen, and leather manufactures depends on a liberal and cheap supply of dyes and tannin, to give beauty and color to the fabrics, and substance and utility to the skins. Even oil colors, for painters' purposes, which do not come within the scope of my remarks, form an item in our yearly exports of the value of £250,000, and when we calculate the large amount of cotton, silk and wool worked up, most of which requires various coloring agents, gums, starches, and mordants;—that nearly 30,000 tons of hides are annually imported, exclusive of those obtained from our now slaughter-houses, besides goat, seal, and other skins—and that the exports of our various manufactures of cotton, linen, silk, wool and leather in 1852, setting aside our home consumption, amounted to nearly fifty millions sterling, we shall be able to form a better estimate of the importance of the various subjects we are about to notice.

Great Britain does not pay less than £600,000 annually for the dried carcasses of the tiny cochineal insect, while the produce of another small insect, that which produces the lac dye, is scarcely less valuable. Then there are the gall nuts used for dyeing and making black ink. Upwards of £3,000,000 is paid for barks of various kinds for tanners' purposes, about one million for other tanning substances and heavy dye woods, besides about £200,000 for various extracts of tannin, such as Gambier, Cutch, Divi-divi, and Kino. The aggregate value of the dye stuffs and gum it is difficult to estimate.

The beautiful specimens of materials imported from China, India, New Zealand, the Continent, and other countries, and exhibited at the Crystal Palace, proves to us that we have yet much to learn from other nations in the art of fixing colors and obtaining brilliant dyes. The French are much our superiors in dyeing and the production of fast and beautiful colors. Their chemical researches and investigations are carried out more systematically and effectively than our own. Russia imports dyewoods and dye-stuffs to the value of five millions and a half of silver roubles annually.

It was well observed by the Jury Reporters at the Great Exhibition, that "a vast number of new coloring materials have been discovered or made available, and improved modes have been devised of economically applying those already in use; so that the dyer of the present time employs many substances of the very existence of which his practical predecessors were wholly ignorant. From the increased use of many of the vegetable colors, and from the improved modes of applying the coloring matters, a demand has naturally sprung up for various dye stuffs; and at the present time, many of the dyeing materials of distant countries are beginning to excite the attention of practical men; for though they have been acquainted with many of these substances, it is only recently that the progress of the art has rendered their use desirable or even practicable."

It would be quite impossible, within the limits which I have assigned myself, to make even a bare enumeration of the various plants and trees from which coloring substances and dye stuffs can be obtained, I must, therefore, be content to specify only a few.

The roots of some species of Lithospermum afford a lac for dyeing and painting. Dried pomegranates are said to be used in Tunis for dyeing yellow; the rind is also a tanning substance.

Sir John Franklin tells us that the Crees extract some beautiful colors from several of their native vegetables. They dye a beautiful scarlet with the roots of two species of bed-straw, Galium tinctorium and boreale. They dye black, with an ink made of elder bark and a little bog-iron ore dried and powdered, and they have various modes of producing yellow. They employ the dried roots of the cowbane (Cicuta virosa), the bruised buds of the Dutch myrtle, and have discovered methods of dyeing with various lichens.

In the "Comptes Rendus," xxxv., p. 558, there is an account by M.J. Persoz, of a green coloring matter from China, of great stability, from which it appears that the Chinese possess a coloring substance having the appearance of indigo, which communicates a beautiful and permanent sea green color to mordants of alumina and iron, and which is not a preparation of indigo, or any derivative of this dyeing principal. As furnished to M. Persoz by Mr. Forbes, the American consul at Canton, it was in thin plates of a blue color, resembling Japanese indigo, but of a finer grain, differing also from indigo in its composition and chemical properties. On infusing a very small quantity of it in water, this fluid soon acquired a deep blue color with a greenish tinge; upon boiling and immersing a piece of calico on which the mordants of iron and alumina had been printed, it was dyed a sea green color of greater or less intensity according to the strength of the mordant—the portions not coated remaining white.

A berry called Makleua grows on a large forest tree at Bankok, which is used most extensively by the Siamese as a vegetable black dye. It is merely bruised in water, when a fermentation takes place, and the article to be dyed is steeped in the liquid and then spread out in the sun to dry. The berry, when fresh, is of a fine green color, but after being gathered for two or three days it becomes quite black and shrivelled like pepper. It must be used fresh, and whilst its mixture with water produces fermentation. The bark of Datisca cannabina also dyes yellow. It contains a bitter principle, like quassia.

A coloring matter is prepared from the dried fruit of the Rottlera tinctoria, by the natives of the East, to dye orange, which is a brilliant and tolerably permanent dye. It is apparently of a resinous nature.

A small quantity of Alkanet root (Anchusa tinctoria), is imported from the Levant and the south of France, and is used to color gun stocks, furniture, &c., of a deep red mahogany and rosewood color. It is brought over in packages weighing about two cwt., the price being 40s. or 50s. per cwt.

Turmeric is now imported to the extent of upwards of 800 tons, a portion of this is used in dyeing. The culture and commerce has been already noticed in Section III.

The bark and roots of the berberry are used in the East to dye yellow; the color is best when boiled in ley. Some of the species of Symplocos, as S. racemosa, known as lodh about the Himalaya mountains, and S. tinctoria, a native of Carolina, are used for dyeing. The scarlet flowers of Butea frondosa (the Dhaktree), and B. superba, natives of the Indian jungles, yield a beautiful dye, and furnishing a species of kino (Pulas kino), are also used for tanning. Althea rosea, the parent of the many beautiful varieties of hollyhock, a native of China, yields a blue coloring matter equal to indigo. Indigo of an excellent quality has been obtained in the East from a twining plant, Gymnema tingens or Asclepias tingens.

The juice of the unripe fruit of Rhamnus infectorius, catharticus and virigatius, known as Turkey or French berries, is used for dyeing leather yellow. When mixed with lime and evaporated to dryness, it forms the color called sap-green. A great quantity of yellow berries are annually shipped from Constantinople; 115 tons were imported into Liverpool last year. The average annual imports into the United Kingdom are about 450 tons. They come from the Levant in hair bales weighing three and a quarter cwt., or in tierces of four to five cwt., and are used by calico printers for dyeing a yellow color. They are sometimes called Persian berries.

It is a subject of surprise that the common betel-nut of the East has never been introduced for dyeing purposes. The roots of the awl tree of Malabar and other parts of India, Morinda citrifolia, and of M. tinctoria, found abundant in all the Asiatic islands, are extensively used as a dye stuff for giving a red color. It is usually grown as a prop and shade for the pepper vine and coffee tree. The coloring matter resides principally in the bark of the roots, which are long and slender, and the small pieces are the best, fetching 8s. to 10s. a maund. It is exported in large quantities from Malabar to Guzerat, and the northern parts of Hindostan, but seldom finds its way to Europe.

The wood and roots of another species, M. umbellata, known in the eastern islands as "Mangkudu," are used extensively for their red dye, in Celebes and Java. Specimens of all these, and of the Lopisip bark, bunchong bulu wood, and the gaju gum (from undescribed plants), have been introduced into England. They are said to furnish excellent dyes in the Asiatic islands. Native dyes from Arracan have also been imported, viz., thit-tel and the-dan yielding red dyes, ting-nget and reros, affording dark purple dyes; and thit-nan-weng, a chocolate dye. These would be worth enquiry, and particulars of the plants yielding them, the quantities available, and the prices might be procured. Dyes and colors from the following plants are obtained in India: several species of Terminalia, Sinecarpus Anacardium, Myrica Sapide, Nelumbium speciosus, Butea frondosa, and Nyctanthes arboretristis. The bunkita barring, obtained from an undescribed plant in Borneo, produces a dark purple or black dye. A species of ruellia, under the name of "Room," is employed in its raw state by the Khamptis and Lingphos to dye their clothes of a deep blue. It is described by the late Dr. Griffiths as "a valuable dye, and highly worthy of attention." It might, perhaps, be usefully employed as the ground for a black dye. In Nepaul they use the bark of Photinia dubia or Mespilus Bengalensis for dyeing scarlet. The bark of the black oak, Quercus tinctoria and its varieties, natives of North America, are used by dyers under the name of quercitron.

In the south of Europe, Daphne Gnidium is used to dye yellow. The root of reilbon, a sort of madder in Chili, dyes red. A purple tint or dye is obtained from the bark of an undescribed tree, known under the name of "Grana ponciana," growing about Quito; and Stevenson (Travels in South America) says, "if known in Europe, it would undoubtedly become an article of commerce." Another much more expensive species of coloring matter (red) is obtained in various parts of South America from the leaves of the Bignonia Chica, a climbing evergreen shrub, native of the Orinoco country, with large handsome panicles of flowers. The coloring substance is obtained by decoction, which deposits, when cool, a red matter; this is formed into cakes and dried. Dr. Ure thinks it might probably be turned to account in the arts of civilization. The order of plants to which it belongs, contains a vast number of species, all natives of tropical regions, and their value for the production of coloring substances may be worth investigation.

It is met with in British Guiana, and the Indian tribes of that district prepare the pigment with which they stain their skin from it; it is called by them "Caraveru." The coloring matter is used as a dye in the United States, and for artistical purposes would rival madder. Sir Robert Schomburgk thinks it might form an article of export if it were sufficiently known, as its preparation is extremely simple. The leaves are dried in the sun, and at the first exposure, after having been plucked from the vine which produces them, they show the abundant feculent substance which they contain.

LANA DYE.—A beautiful bluish-black color, known as "Caruto," is procured in Demerara and Berbice from the juice of the fruit of the Genipa Americana, Linn.—a tree very common in the colony. The Indians use it for staining their faces and persons. The Lana dye was honorably mentioned by the jurors at the Great Exhibition in 1851. The bluish-black color obtained from it is remarkably permanent, a fact which has very long been known, though hardly any attempt appears to have been made to introduce it to the notice of European dyers. Another pigment is prepared by them from arnotto, mixed with turtle oil, or carap oil, obtained from the seeds of the Carapa guianensis (Aubl.). The wild plantain (Urania guianensis) and the cultivated plantain (Musa paridisiaca), the Mahoe (Thespesia populnea), and the pear seed of the Avocado (Persea gratissima), furnish dyes in various parts of the West Indies; specimens of many of these have been imported from British Guiana and Trinidad.

Russia produces good specimens of the wood of Statice coriaria, the leaves and bark of sumach, the bark of the wild pomegranate, yellow berries, Madia sativa, saffron, safflower and madder roots for dyeing purposes.

Avicenna tomentosa, a species of mangrove, is very common about the creeks of Antigua, Jamaica, and other West India islands, where it is used for dyeing and tanning.

In New Zealand, the natives produce a most brilliant blue-black dye from the bark of the Eno, which is in great abundance. Some of the borders of the native mats, of a most magnificent black, are dyed with this substance. It has been tried in New South Wales; but, as with other local dyes, although found well suited for flax, hemp, linen, or other vegetable productions, it could not be fixed on wools or animal matter. Dr. Holroyd, of Sydney, some time since, imported a ton of it for a friend near Bathurst. It is of great importance that chemical science should be applied to devise some means of fixing this valuable dye on wool. As the tree is so common, the bark could be had in any quantity at about £3 10s. a ton; and our tweed manufacturers are in great want of a black dye for their check and other cloths.

The principal heavy woods used for dyeing are fustic, logwood, Nicaragua wood, barwood, camwood, red Sanders wood, Brazil wood, and sappan wood. All the dyewoods are nearly £2 per ton higher than last year.

Common Spanish fustic which in September, 1852, was only £3 10s. per ton, now fetches £6 10s. in the Liverpool market; and there is a great demand for all kinds of dyewoods. Tampico and Puerto Cabello fustic are now worth £6 10s. to £7 the ton, Cuba ditto, £9 10s. to £10.

Sappan wood is £4 higher than last year; barwood has risen cent per cent; logwoods are £2 per ton higher.

The following were the prices of the different dyewoods in the Liverpool market, on the 1st September, 1853, per ton:—

	£	s.	d.		£	s.	d.
FUSTIC, common Spanish	5	10	0	to	6	10	0
Tampico	6	10	0	"	7	0	0
Puerto Cabello	6	10	0	"	7	10	0
Cuba	8	0	0	"	9	10	0
LOGWOOD, Jamaica	5	0	0	"	5	5	0
St. Domingo	5	5	0	"	5	10	0
Campeachy, direct	7	12	6	"	8	0	0
I ndirect and Tobasco	6	10	0	"	7	0	0
NICARAGUA. WOOD.
Rio de la Hache, solid	9	0	0	"	11	10	0
Rio de la Hache, small	6	0	0	"	6	10	0
Lima	12	0	0	"	14	10	0
BARWOOD, Angola Gaboon	7	0	0		—
CAMWOOD	25	0	0	"	30	10	0
RED SANDERS WOOD	5	15	0	"	6	10	0
SAPPAN WOOD	10	0	0	"	15	0	0

RED SANDERS WOOD (Pterocarpus santalinus), which is hard and of a bright garnet red color, is employed to dye a lasting reddish brown on wool. It only yields its color to ether or alcohol. The tree, which is a lofty one, is common about Madras and other parts of India; it is also indigenous to Ceylon, Timor, and other Eastern islands. The exports of this wood from Madras in one year have been nearly 2,000 tons.

The imports of red Sanders wood from Calcutta and Bombay chiefly into London are to the extent of 700 or 800 tons a year, worth £6 to £9 per ton.

Of FUSTIC we import from 1,500 to 2,000 tons annually. We derive our supplies from Brazil, Tampico, Puerto Cabello, Cuba, and Jamaica. The best is obtained from Cuba; for while the common white fustic from Jamaica and the Spanish Main fetches only £5 10s. to £6 10s. the ton, that of Cuba realizes from £8 to £9 10s. the ton.

SAPPAN WOOD (Cæsalpinia Sappan) is an article of considerable commerce in the East. It is the bukkum wood of Scinde, and is procured in Mergui, Bengal, the Tenasserim Provinces, Malabar and Ceylon. In 1842 as much 78,000 cwts. were shipped from Ceylon, but the export from thence has decreased. This island, however, ships dyewoods annually to the amount of £2,000. A large quantity is exported from Siam and the Philippine Islands; as much as 200,000 piculs annually from the former, and 23,000 piculs from Manila. 3,524 piculs were shipped from Singapore in 1851, and 4,074 piculs in 1852. The picul is about one cwt. and a quarter. Sappan wood yields a yellowish color, like that of Brazil wood (C. brasiliensis) but it does not afford of dye matter so much in quantity or so good in quality.

It forms a large export from Ceylon: the shipments from thence were, in 1842, 77,694 cwt.; in 1843, 1,692; in 1844, 2,592; in 1845, 2,854. I have no detailed returns at hand, but in 1837, 23,695 piculs of sappan wood, and 2,266 piculs of roots of ditto were shipped, and in the first six months of 1843, 22,326 piculs were exported from Manila; a large portion of this comes to Europe, but some goes to China, the United States, Singapore, &c. 15,500 piculs were shipped from Manila in 1844, 5,250 ditto in 1845; and 1,210 tons in 1850. About 3,000 piculs of sappan wood and the same quantity of other dye-stuffs are annually imported into Shanghae. The price of straight sappan wood at Shanghae in July, last year, was thirty dollars per picul.

In Calcutta, in June last year, 4,000 piculs of the root of Manila sappan wood sold freely at about 7s. 6d. per factory maund, Siam ditto 6s.

75 tons were imported into Liverpool in 1849; and 120 tons in 1850, from Calcutta. The imports of sappan wood into the United Kingdom, in 1850, amounted to 3,670 tons, worth £8 to £12 the ton, and this continued the price in January 1853.

Camwood, red sanders wood, barwood, and other dye woods, are found in great quantities in many parts of Africa. The dyes of Africa are found to resist both acids and light, properties which no other dyes seem to possess in the same degree. About thirty miles east of Bassia Cove, in the republic of Liberia, is the commencement of a region of unknown extent, where scarcely any tree is seen except the camwood. This boundless forest of wealth, as yet untouched, is easily accessible from that settlement; roads can be opened to it with little expense, and the neighbouring kings would probably give their co-operation to a measure so vastly beneficial to themselves. It is impossible to ascertain the exact amount of export of these commodities to Europe and the United States, but it is very great, and employs a large amount of vessels. One Liverpool house imported 600 tons in a single year, worth £9,000.

In 1841 upwards of 3,000 tons of dye woods were imported into Liverpool from the western coast of Africa.

CAMWOOD (Baphia nitida) is used as a mordant and for producing the bright red color seen in English bandana handkerchiefs. The imports from Sierra Leone to Liverpool in 1849 were 216 tons, worth £20 to £25 per ton.

Gaboon barwood is another variety of this dyewood which is imported from the west coast of Africa, in straight flat pieces, from three to, five feet in length; the average annual import being about 2,000 tons, of the value of £4 a ton.

The imports of barwood into Liverpool were in—

	Tons.
1835	2,000
1836	1,000
1837	1,150
1838	650
1839	350
1841	2,012
1850	1,710

	Dyewoods imported in 1850.	Re-exported.
Logwood	32,930	4,332
Fustic	9,808	1,771
Nicaragua	7,909	112
Barwood	1,896	1,229
Sappan	3,670	—
Green Ebony, and Cocuswood	1,457	—
Red Sanders	656	—
Camwood	416	—
Brazil and Brazillito	309	—
	59,051	7,444

Thus we perceive the annual consumption of heavy dyewoods in this country, in dyeing cotton, linen, woollen and silk goods, &c., exceeds in weight 51,000 tons.

ARNOTTO.—The plants of this family are chiefly natives of the warmest parts of South America, the East and West Indies, and Africa. In America the seeds are called achote or roucou. From the port of Barcelona, in Venezuela, about 2,000 quintals are annually exported. The species grown for its dye is the Bixa orellana. It is used to impart a bright orange color to silk goods, and to afford a deeper shade to simple yellows. The dry hard paste is also found to be the best of all ingredients for giving a golden tint to cheese or butter. A convenient liquid preparation is now sold to dairymen. The Spanish Americans mix it with their chocolate, to which it gives a beautiful rich hue.

It is of two sorts, viz.:—

1. Flag or cake arnotto, which is by far the most important article in a commercial point of view, is furnished almost wholly by Cayenne. It is imported in square cakes, weighing two or three pounds each, wrapped in banana leaves, packed in casks.

2. Roll arnotto is principally brought from Brazil. The rolls are small, not exceeding two or three ounces in weight. It is hard, dry, and compact, brownish on the outside, and of a beautiful red color within.

The dye is usually prepared by macerating the pods in boiling water for a week or longer. When they begin to ferment, the seeds ought to be strongly stirred and bruised with wooden pestles to promote the separation of the red skins. This process is repeated several times, till the seeds are left white. The liquor passed through close cane sieves, pretty thick, of a deep red color, and a very bad smell, is received into coppers. In boiling, it throws up its coloring matter to the surface in the form of scum, which is taken off, saved in large pans, and afterwards boiled down to a due consistence, and then made up, when soft, into balls or cakes of two or three pounds weight.

The following description of the manufacture is from Dr. Ure:—

"The pods of the tree being gathered, their seeds are taken out and bruised; they are then transferred to a vat, which is called the steeper, where they are mixed with as much water as covers them. Here the substance is left for several weeks or even months; it is now squeezed through sieves placed above the steeper, that the water containing the coloring matter in suspension may return into the vat. The residuum is preserved under the leaves of the pine-apple shrub, till it becomes hot by fermentation. It is again subjected to the same operation, and this treatment is continued till no more color remains.

"The substance thus extracted is passed through sieves, in order to separate the remainder of the seeds, and the color is allowed to subside. The precipitate is boiled in coppers till it be reduced to a consistent paste; it is then suffered to cool, and dried in the shade. Instead of this long and painful labor, which occasions diseases by the putrefaction induced and which affords a spoiled product, Leblond proposes simply to wash the seeds of arnotto till they be entirely deprived of their color, which lies wholly on their surface; to precipitate the color by means of vinegar or lemon juice, and to boil it up in the ordinary manner, or to drain it in bags as is practised with indigo.

"The experiments which Vauquelin made on the seeds of arnotto imported by Leblond, confirmed the efficacy of the process which he proposed; and the dyers ascertained that the arnotto obtained in this manner was worth at least four times more than that of commerce; that, moreover, it was more easily employed; that it required less solvents; that it gave less trouble in the copper, and furnished a purer color."—("Dict. of Arts.")

Our imports of arnotto for home consumption are from 200,000 to 300,000 lbs. per annum. The plant is grown in Dacca and other parts of India, and the eastern Archipelago. At the Hawaiian Islands, Tongataboo, Rio Janeiro, Peru and Zanzibar, the arnotto is an indigenous shrub which rises to the height of seven or eight feet, producing oblong heavy pods, somewhat resembling those of a chesnut. Within these there are generally thirty or forty irregularly-formed seeds, which are enveloped in a pulp of a bright red color, and a fragrant smell.

The imports of arnotto have been as follows:—

	lbs.	Retained for home consumption.
1834	252,981	—
1835	163,421	—
1839	303,489	224,794
1840	408,469	330,490
1847	270,000	296,821
1849	162,400	145,824
1850	301,504	231,280

The price of flag arnotto in the London market, in June 1853, was 1s. per lb.

We imported from France, in 1850, 1,924 cwt. of roll or flag arnotto, of the official value of £21,499; and in 1851, 1,253 cwt., worth £13,968.

Wood dye exported from Ceylon—

	Value	Quantity
	£	cwts.
1848	1,359	—
1849	2,035	—
1850	1,766	5,206
1851	259	776
1852	770	2,396

CHAY-ROOT.—There is a plant called chay, the Oldenlandia umbellata, which is extensively cultivated as a dye plant in the East, especially on the coasts of Coromandel, Nellore, Masulipatam, Malabar, and other parts of India. The outer bark of the roots furnishes the coloring matter for the durable red for which the chintzes of India are famous. Chay-root forms a considerable article of export from Ceylon. The wild plant there is considered preferable; the roots, which are shorter, yielding one-fourth part more coloring matter, and the right to dig it is farmed out. It grows spontaneously on light, dry, sandy ground on the sea coast; the cultivated roots are slender, with a few lateral fibres, and from one to two feet long. The dye is said to have been tried in Europe, but not with very advantageous effect. Dr. Bancroft suspects it may be injured by the long voyage, but he adds that it cannot produce any effect which may not be more cheaply obtained from madder.

This red dye, similar to Munjeet, is used to a great extent in the southern parts of Hindostan by the native dyers.

It is not held in very good estimation in Europe but seems to deserve a better reputation than it at present possesses. Attention was drawn to it as a dye-stuff in 1798, by a special minute of the Board of Trade recommending its importation; but Dr. Bancroft, who made some experiments with a sample of damaged chay-root, considered it inferior to madder and hence discouraged its further importation.

The bark and root of various species of Morinda (M. citrifolia and tinctoria) are used in different parts of the East Indies, and considered a very valuable red dye. The colors dyed with it are for the most part exceedingly brilliant, and the coloring matter is far more permanent than many other red colors are, with improved management it would probably rival that of madder, and is, therefore, worthy more attention from dyers.

MANGROVE BARK (Rhizophora mangle), is used to dye a chocolate color in the East and West Indies. This was one of the colors introduced by Dr. Bancroft, and for the exclusive use of which he obtained an Act of Parliament. It is procured in plenty at Arracan, Malabar, and Singapore in the East.

SHUMAC or SUMACH, sometimes called young fustic, is the powder of the leaves, peduncles, and young branches of a small deciduous plant (Rhus coriaria), native of the South of Europe, but which is also grown in Syria and Palestine, for its powerful astringent properties, which renders it valuable for tanning light-colored leather, and it imparts a beautiful bright yellow dye to cottons, which is rendered permanent by proper mordants. It is principally imported from the Ionian Islands and the Morea. The species grown for the purpose in Spain, Portugal, and Italy is R. Cotinus, a shrub with pale purple flowers, whereas R. coriaria has greenish yellow blossoms. They may be propagated by cuttings of the roots and layers. R. typhina, and R. glabia, with their varieties, are North American species, which are also used for tanning purposes. In Montpellier and the South of France the twigs and leaves are known under the name of redoul or roudo. They are gathered every year, and the shoots are chipped or reduced to powder by a mill.

The imports into the United Kingdom were in 1846,10,256 tons; in 1847, 11,975 tons; in 1848, 9,617 tons; in 1849, 12,590 tons; in 1850, 12,929 tons, and in 1852, 9,758; which were all retained for consumption. In 1841, we received about 9,000 tons from the port of Leghorn. There were exported from Sicily in 1842, 123,305 tons, valued at £68,894. It is imported in packages of about a cwt., wrapped in cloth. America takes a large quantity of sumach. The imports into the port of Boston alone, were 19,070 bags in 1847; 34,524 in 1848; and 30,050 in 1849.

The prices in Liverpool, duty paid, in the close of this year, are per cwt.:—

		s.	d.		s.	d.
Sicily,	Messina	10	0	to	10	6
"	Palermo	12	0	"	13	0
"	Trieste	7	0	"	7	6
"	Verona	5	6	"	6	6
"	Tyrolese	8	0	"	9	0

SAFFLOWER.—The dried flowers of Carthamus tinctorius yield a pink dye, which is used for silks and cottons, and the manufacture of rouge; the color, however, is very fugitive. It is an annual plant, cultivated in China, India, Egypt, America, Spain, and some of the warmer parts of Europe; and is indigenous to the whole of the Indian Archipelago. A large quantity is grown in and exported from Bali. The Chinese safflower is considered the best, and that from Bombay is least esteemed. The annual quantity exported from the district of Dacca averages about 150 tons. The shipments from Calcutta exceed 300 tons to various quarters. Our imports are on the decline, and are now only about 1,200 cwt. per annum. Safflower was shown in the Great Exhibition from Celebes, Assam, the vicinity of Calcutta, Dacca, the states of Rajpootana, and other places.

There are two species: C. tinctorius, which has small leaves and an orange flower; and C. oxyacantha, with larger leaves and a yellow flower, a native of Caucasus. The former is cultivated in Egypt, the Levant, &c., where it forms a considerable article of commerce. 6,633 cwts. of safflower were imported into the United Kingdom in 1835, of which about one-half was retained for home consumption. Of 5,352 cwts. imported in 1840, nearly the whole came from our possessions in the East. In 1847, about 405 tons were imported; in 1848, 506 tons; in 1849, 407 tons; in 1850, 522 tons. The price of safflower varies from £1 to £8 per cwt., according to quality. That from Bombay is least esteemed, fetching only 20s. to 30s.

The annual quantity of safflower, according to Dr. Taylor, exported from the district of Dacca for eight years ending with 1839, amounted to 4,000 maunds, or about 149 tons. The exports through the Calcutta Custom House are occasionally large: in 1824-25 there were about 316 tons; 8,500 Indian maunds were shipped from Calcutta in each of the years 1841 and 1842.

The prices in the Liverpool market, in January 1853, were for Bengal, good and fine, £6 to £7 10s. per cwt.; middling, £4 to £4 10s.; inferior and ordinary, £2 10s. to £3.

GAMBOGE is extensively used as a pigment, from its bright yellow color. There are two kinds known in commerce, the Ceylon and the Siam. The former is procured from the Hebradendron Cambogoides, Graham; a tree which grows wild on the Malabar and Ceylon coasts, and affords the coarsest kind. The pipe gamboge of Siam is said to be obtained from the bruised leaves and young branches of Stalagmites cambogoides. The resinous sap is received into calabashes, and allowed to thicken, after which it is formed into rolls. Several other plants, as the Mangostana Gambogia, Gaertner, and the Hypericum bacciferum and Cayanense, yield similar yellow viscid exudation, hardly distinguishable from gamboge and used for the same purpose by painters. The Garcinia elliptica, Wallich, of Tavoy and Moulmein, affords gamboge, and approaches very closely in its characters to Graham's Hebradendron. In like manner the Mysore tree bears an exceedingly close resemblance to that species. It is common in the forests of Wynaad in the western part of Mysore, and has been named by Dr. Christison Hebradendron pictorium. Another gamboge tree has recently been found inhabiting the western Burmese territories. Both these seem to furnish an equally fine pigment. As it can be obtained in unlimited quantity, it might be introduced into European trade, if the natives learn how to collect it in a state of purity, and make it up in homogenous masses in imitation of pipe gamboge, the finest Siam variety. It seems to possess more coloring matter, more resin and less gum than the ordinary gamboge of commerce. Gamboge owes its color to the fatty acid. The resin must be regarded as the chief constituent, and is most abundant in that imported from Ceylon, which contains about 76 per cent., and is therefore best adapted for painting. Gamboge also has its medicinal uses.

Various species of Lecanora, particularly L. tartarea, known as cudbear, are used in dyeing woollen yarn. The Rocella tinctoria and fusiformis furnish the orchil, or orchilla weed of commerce, which is sometimes sold as a moist pulp, but usually in the form of dry cakes, known under the name of litmus; it produces a fine purple color. Our imports, which have amounted to 6,000 or 7,000 cwts. annually, are derived chiefly from the Canary, Azores, and Cape Verd Islands. Rock orchilla was shown at the Exhibition, from the Berlingen Isles, from Angola, Madeira and the Cape de Verds. Orchilla weed is very plentiful about the shores of the islands of New Zealand, some being sent from thence to the Exhibition; but from a want of knowledge as to the time at which it should be gathered, and the mode of preparing it for the market, it has not yet become a saleable commodity there. The rich varieties of lichens on the rocks and plains of Australia have not been tested, as they ought to be, with Helot's lichen test. Various lichens, and Rocella tinctoria, from Tenasserim and other parts of India, have been introduced by the East India Company. In the Admiralty instructions given to Capt. Sir James C. Ross, on his Antarctic voyage, a few years ago, his attention was specially called to the search and enquiry for substitutes for the Rocella, which is now becoming scarce. A prize medal was awarded, in 1851, to an exhibitor from the Elbe for specimens of the weed, and an extract of red and violet orchil. Specimens of varieties of the lichens used in the manufacture of cudbear, orchil and litmus, and of the substance obtained, were also shown in the British department, which were awarded prize medals.

The beauty of the dyes given by common materials, in the Highlands of Scotland, to some of the cloths which were exhibited, should lead our botanists and chemists to examine, more closely than they have hitherto done, the dye-stuffs that might be extracted from British plants. Woad (Isatis tinctoria) and the dyers' yellow woad (Reseda lutea), are both well known. A piece of tweed, spun and woven in Ross-shire, was dyed brown and black, by such cheap and common dyes as moss and alder bark, and the colors were unexceptionable.

Sutherlandshire tweed and stockings, possessing a rich brown color, were produced with no more valuable dye than soot; in another piece, beautifully dyed, the yellow was obtained from stoney rag, brown from the crops of young heather, and purple from the same, but subjecting the yarn to a greater action of the dye than was necessary to produce brown. There is very little doubt but that beautiful and permanent dyes, from brown to a very rich purple, might be cheaply procured by scientific preparations of the common heather (Genista tinctoria). The inhabitants of Skye exhibited cloth with a peculiarly rich dye, obtained from the "crobal" moss. In the Spanish department, specimens of vegetable dyes from many cultivated and wild plants were furnished by the Agricultural Board of Saragossa, and of several of these it would be important to obtain descriptions and particulars.

Gums are of essential importance to the dyer, and the imports of these, therefore, are large, averaging about 8,000 tons.

INDIGO.

The plants which afford this dye grow chiefly in the East and West Indies, in the middle regions of America, in Africa and Europe. They are all species of the genera Indigofera, Isatis and Nerium. Indigofera tinctoria or cœrulea, furnishes the chief indigo of commerce, and affords in Bengal, Malabar, Madagascar, the Isle of France, and St. Domingo, an article of middling quality, but not in large quantity. The Indigofera disperma, a plant cultivated in the East Indies and America, grows higher than the preceding, is woody, and furnishes a superior dye-stuff. The Guatamela indigo comes from this species.

Indigofera Anil grows in the same countries, and also in the West Indies. The Indigofera Argentea, which flourishes in Africa, yields little indigo, but it is of an excellent quality. I. pseudotinctoria, cultivated in the East Indies, furnishes the best of all. I. glauca is the Egyptian and Arabian species. There are also the cinerea, erecta (a native of Guinea), hirsuta, glabra, with red flowers, species common to the East, and several others.

The Wrightia tinctoria, of the East Indies, an evergreen, with white blossoms, affords some indigo, as does the Isatis tinctoria, or, Woad, in Europe, and the Polygonum tinctorium, with red flowers, a native of China. Baptisia tinctoria furnishes a blue dye, and is the wild indigo of the United States.

SOURCES OF SUPPLY.—Indigo is at present grown for commercial purposes in Bengal, and the other provinces of that Presidency, from the 20th to the 30th deg. of north latitude; in the Province of Tinnevelly; in the Madras Presidency; in Java, in the largest of the Philippine islands, in Guatemala, Caraccas, Central America and Brazil. Bengal is, however, the chief mart for indigo, and the quantity produced in other places is comparatively inconsiderable. It is also still cultivated in some of the West India islands, especially St. Domingo, but not in large quantities. Indigo grows wild in several parts of Palestine, but attention seems not to have been given to its cultivation or collection. On most parts of the eastern and western coasts of Africa, it is indigenous; at Sierra Leone, Natal, and other places it is found abundant.

In our settlements of Honduras, Demerara, and various portions of the American continent, it would amply reward the labor of the cultivator; several inferior sorts of Indigofera being found there indigenous, and only requiring care and culture to improve them.

The quality of indigo depends upon the species of the plant, its ripeness, the soil and climate of its growth, and the mode of manufacture. The East India, and Brazilian indigo arrives here packed in chests, the Guatemala in ox-hides, called serons.

The indigo imported from the western hemisphere was for some time considered superior in quality to that of the East. Its cultivation, however, has been neglected, and the Bengal indigo is preferred at present to any imported from South America, where it is now only cultivated by the Brazilians and Colombians. If proper attention were paid to the cultivation of the plant, and to the preparation of the dye, it is very likely part of that important trade would be brought back. It thrives best in a moist climate, and the interior of Guiana, chiefly newly-cleared land, would be well adapted for it.

The late Mr. Dunlop ("Travels in Central America") gives an interesting description, which, at the risk of repetition in some points, I shall give entire.

"Several vessels generally arrive at the Union from South America at the time of the periodical fairs, where nearly all the indigo (the only produce of any importance), is disposed of; formerly it reached 10,000 bales, but at present it does not at most exceed 3,000 bales of 150 lbs. each.

The indigo well known in Europe by the name of Guatemala indigo, was never cultivated in that province (in the same manner as not a grain of the Honduras cochineal is grown there), being entirely grown in the state of San Salvador, in the vicinity of San Miguel, San Vicenti, and the City of Salvador, with the exception of a small quantity of very superior quality grown in the state of Nicaragua, and a few bales in Costa Rica, which is all consumed in the State. Under the government of Spain, the produce of the state of San Salvador alone had reached 10,000 bales, and that of Nicaragua 2,000; the produce of San Salvador in 1820, two years before its independence, being 8,323 bales. But since 1822 the annual produce had gradually declined, and in 1846 it did not exceed 1,000 to 1,200 bales, nearly all the indigo estates being abandoned, partly, no doubt, from the great fall in the price of the article, but more on account of the impossibility of getting laborers to work steadily.

The plant cultivated in Central America for the manufacture of indigo, is the triennial plant, supposed to be a native of America; but there is also an indigenous perennial plant, abounding in many parts of Central America, which produces indigo of a very superior quality, but gives less than half the weight which is produced by the cultivated species. The ground for sowing the indigo seed is prepared in April,—a piece of good forest land near one of the towns being selected, a part is cut to make a rude fence, and the remainder burnt, which is easily accomplished, as everything is very dry at that season; and the ground is afterwards scratched with two sticks, fastened crosswise, to resemble somewhat the shape of a plough, and the seed scattered over it by hand. The rainy season always commences early in May, and the indigo is ready for cutting about the middle of July, taking about two and a half months to come to perfection. The growing crop somewhat resembles lucerne, and is in the best state for making indigo, when it becomes covered with a sort of greenish farina.

The crop of the first year is small, and sometimes not worth manufacturing; that of the second year is the best, and the third is also very good, if it has been carefully weeded; but many indigo fields have lasted more than ten years without being re-sown, as the seed which falls naturally springs up again, and where the land is good yields nearly as large a crop as a new sown field. When the plant is ready for manufacturing, a number of men are collected, each of whom is either provided with, or brings his own mule or horse, if he has one. Two men always go together, cut the plant, then about the height of full-grown red clover, and take it to the vats, which are large tanks made of brick and lime, holding at least 1,000 gallons, and some as much as 10,000. Into these the plant is thrown till they are nearly full, when weights are put above it to prevent its floating; and the vats filled with water till it covers the mass of the indigo plant. After remaining from twelve to twenty-four hours, according to the state of the plant, weather, and other circumstances (the time required being determined by the color which the water assumes), the herb is taken out, and the water beaten with paddles in the very small vats, and by a wheel suspended above and turned by men or horses in the larger ones, till it changes from a green color, which it has acquired ere the removal of the herb, to a fine blue, when it is allowed to stand for some hours, till the coloring matter has settled to the bottom of the tank, a process which is generally hastened by throwing in an infusion of certain herbs to facilitate its settlement, or as the natives term it curdle (cuajar) the colored water. As soon as all the color has settled, the water is drawn off, and the blue, which is of the consistency of thick mud, is taken out of the vat and spread upon cotton, or coarse woollen cloth, and dried in the sun. The color in a great measure depends upon removing the herb exactly at the proper time, and upon properly beating the water, neither too long, or too short. Unless these processes are properly performed, the indigo will not be of first-rate quality; but some estates will never produce the best indigo, whatever care may be bestowed on the manufacture.

A mansana, of 100 yards square, which is nearly two British statute acres, produces generally about 100 to 120 lbs. of indigo, the carriage and cutting of the herb costing about twenty dollars, and the cleaning of the field and all other expenses connected with it, including the manufacture of the indigo, about as much more.

The indigo of Central America is not put into moulds when drying, as that of Bengal, but is allowed to remain in the rough shape in which it dries, and without further preparation is ready for baling and exportation.

The bales are generally made up in 150 lbs. each, and the quality is classed by numbers, from 1 to 9; Nos. 1 to 3 being of the quality called cobres in Europe; Nos. 4 to 6 of that called cortes, and Nos. 7 to 9 of that called flores; Nos. 1 to 6 do not at present pay the expenses of manufacture, and are never intentionally made. No doubt, with a little more skill in the manufacture, the whole might, as in Bengal, be made of the quality called flores; but such improvements cannot be expected till a new race of people inhabit Central America. At present about one-half of the indigo produced is under No. 7, and as the cultivation is said not to pay at the present prices—and, indeed, hardly can be supposed to compete with Bengal, a country where labor is so much cheaper, and capital abundant—it is probable, that the cultivation will shortly be entirely abandoned, unless the price should again rise in Europe." In 1846, 21,933 lbs. of indigo were exported from Angostura.

The following particulars were contributed to my "Colonial Magazine," by the late Dr. Edward Binns, of Jamaica:—

The species generally cultivated is the I. tinctoria, which requires a rich moist soil and warm weather. The seed, which is at first sight not unlike coarse gunpowder, is sown three or four inches deep, in straight lines, twelve or fifteen inches apart. The shoots appear above ground in about a week; at the end of two months the plant flowers, when it is fit for cutting, which is done with a pruning knife. It must be mentioned that great care is requisite in weeding the indigo field when plants first shoot through the earth. In the State of St. Salvador, large vats made of mahogany, or other hard wood, are constructed for the reception of the plant, where it is allowed to undergo maceration and fermentation. In a short time the water becomes greenish, and emits a strong pungent smell, while carbonic acid gas is freely evolved. In about twenty-four hours it is run off into large flat vessels, and stirred about until a blue scum appears, when additional water is added, and the blue flakes sink to the bottom. The supernatant water has now acquired a yellowish tinge, when it is run off carefully, and the blue deposit or sediment put into bags to drain. It is subsequently dried in the shade, or sometimes in the sun, then placed in cotton bags and carried to the indigo fair, or forwarded to the city of Guatemala.

The East Indian mode of manufacturing the indigo differs materially, and many suppose it preferable to the Salvador. It consists in steaming the fermented mass in large pipes enclosed in huge boilers. I am inclined to believe this to be the most economical, if not the best way of manufacturing indigo. From Guatemala alone, it is computed that from 6,000 to 8,000 serons of indigo are exported annually; while San Miguel, Chalatenaugo, Tejulta, Secatecolnea, St. Vincent, Sensuntepepe, not only, it is said, produce a larger quantity, but the four last-mentioned places have the advantage as to quality. The Belize Advertiser stated, some time since, that the value of this dye from one State in 1830 produced 2,000,000 dollars, the minimum of an immense sum which has been most unjustly and unwisely wrested from the people of Jamaica, and the West India islands.

Bridges ("Annals of Jamaica," p. 584, Append.), speaking of the vast returns of an indigo plantation, says, "The labour of a single negro would often bring to his owner £30 sterling per annum clear profit,—a sum which was at the time the laborer's highest price. It continued the staple of Jamaica till an intolerable tax oppressed it, while its price was lowered by the competition of other colonies.

Its cultivation immediately declined throughout them all, but nowhere so rapidly as here. The financial error was quickly discovered,—a remedy was attempted by a bounty; but it came too late, the plantations were thrown up, and the planters, attracted by the temporary gain, abused the tardy boon, by introducing, as of their own growth, large quantities of foreign indigo." As Bridges may be said in this passage to be merely a commentator on Edwards, who has entered more largely upon the subject, I shall condense from the latter, statements connected with the manufacture and decay of this branch of industry, once the staple of Jamaica.

Edwards ("West Indies," vol. ii., p. 275, 2nd edition) reckons three kinds of indigo—the wild, Guatemala, and French. The first is the hardest, and the dye extracted from it of the best quality as regards color and grain; but one or other of the two species is commonly preferred by the planter, as yielding a greater return. Of these the French surpasses the Guatemala in quantity, but yields to it in fineness of grain and beauty of color. The indigo thrives almost on any land, though the richest soils produce the most luxuriant plants, and the longest dry weather will not kill it. The cultivation and manufacture our author thus describes:—"The land being prepared, trenches, two or three inches in depth, are made by the hoe. These are ten or twelve inches asunder. The seeds are then strewed in the trenches by the hand, and slightly covered with mould. When the plants shoot, they are carefully weeded, and kept constantly clean, until they rise high enough to cover the ground. A bushel of seed is sufficient for four or five acres. The best season for planting is March; but if the land be good, it may be sown at any time, and in three months the plants attain maturity. In seasonable situations, they have four cuttings in the year. The subsequent growths from the plants ripen in six or eight weeks; but the produce diminishes after the second cutting, so that the seeds should be sown every second year. A species of grub, or worm, which infests the plant on the second year is avoided by changing the soil; or, in other words, by a rotation of crops. The produce per acre of the first cutting is about 60 lbs. It is nearly as much in North America; but when the thermometer falls to sixty, the returns are very uncertain, that degree of heat being too low for the necessary vegetation, maceration, and fermentation. The yieldings for the subsequent cuttings somewhat diminish; but in Jamaica and St. Domingo, if the land is new, about 300 lbs. per acre of the second quality may be expected annually from all the cuttings together; and four negroes are sufficient to carry on the cultivation of five acres, besides doing other occasional work, sufficient to reimburse the expenses of their maintenance and clothing."

The process for obtaining the dye, according to the same author, was conducted through the means of two cisterns, the one elevated above the other, in the manner of steps. The higher, which was also the longer, was named the sleeper—its dimensions sixteen feet square and two and a half in depth. The second, into which the fluid was discharged, was called the battery; it was about twelve feet square, and four and a half in depth. These cisterns were of stone; but strong timber answered remarkably well. There was also a lime-vat, six feet square and four feet deep, the plug of which was at least eight inches from the bottom. This was for the purpose of permitting the lime to subside, before the lime-water was withdrawn. The plants then being ripe, or fit for cutting, were cut with reaping-hooks, or sickles, a few inches from the ground—six was the minimum—and placed by strata in the sleeper, until it was about three parts full. They were then pressed with boards, either loaded with weights or wedged down, so as to prevent the plants from floating loosely; and as much water was admitted as they would imbibe, until it covered the mass four or five inches deep. In this state it was allowed to ferment until the water had extracted the pulp. To know when this had been thoroughly effected, required extreme attention and great practical knowledge; for if the fluid were drawn off too soon, much of the pulp was left behind; and if the fermentation continued too long, the tender tops of the plants were decomposed, and the whole crop lost. When the tincture or extract was received in the battery, it was agitated or churned until the dye began to granulate, or float in little flakes upon the surface. This was accomplished at one period in Jamaica by paddles, worked by manual labor, and, in the French islands, by buckets or cylinders, worked by long poles; but subsequently—that is, at the time Edwards wrote—convenient apparatus was constructed, the levers of which were worked by a cog-wheel, kept in motion by a horse or mule. When the fluid had been churned for fifteen or twenty minutes, a small quantity was examined in a cup or plate, and if it appeared curdled or coagulated, strongly impregnated lime-water was gradually added, not only with a view to promote separation, but to prevent decomposition. Browne remarks ("Civil and Nat. Hist. of Jamaica," art. "Indigo"), the planters "must carefully distinguish the different stages of this part of the operation also, and attentively examine the appearance and color as the work advances,—for the grain passes gradually from a greenish to a fine purple, which is the proper color when the liquor is sufficiently worked,—too small a degree of agitation leaving the indigo green and coarse, while too vigorous an action brings it to be almost black." The liquor being then, as we shall suppose, properly worked, and granulation established, it was left undisturbed until the flakes settled at the bottom, when the liquor was drawn off, and the sediment (which is the indigo) placed in little bags to drain, after which it was carefully packed in small square boxes, and suffered to dry gradually in the shade.

Such is the account, nearly word for word, which Edwards gives of the mode of manufacturing indigo. I shall now quote his remarks upon the outlay and gain upon the article verbatim.—"To what has been said above of the nature of the plant suiting itself to every soil, and producing four cuttings in the year, if we add the cheapness of the buildings, apparatus, and labor, and the great value of the commodity, there will seem but little cause for wonder at the splendid accounts which are transmitted down to us concerning the great opulence of the first indigo-planters. Allowing the produce of an acre to be 300 lbs., and the produce no more than 4s. per pound, the gross profit of only twenty acres will be £1,200, produced by the labor of only sixteen negroes, and on capital in land and buildings scarce deserving consideration." Yet, notwithstanding this statement, the author informs us afterwards that he knew, in the course of eighteen years' residence in the West Indies, upwards of twenty persons who tried to re-establish indigo manufactories, but failed. This appears strange, since it is plain that what has once been done can be done again, but especially in the manufacture of an article requiring a capital so very small in proportion to the profits as almost to tempt the most cautious and the most timid man to embark in it.

I quote the following passage from the same author, for the purpose of showing the very loose manner in which statements are made on the authority of others, who are as incompetent to decide the merits of a question as the party himself chronicling their opinion. Speaking of the twenty unfortunate indigo-planters, our author thus writes:—"Many of them were men of foresight, knowledge, and property. That they failed is certain; but of the causes of their FAILURE I confess I can give no satisfactory account. I was told that disappointment trod close upon their heels at every stop. At one time the fermentation was too long continued, at another the liquor was drawn off too soon; now the pulp was not duly granulated, and now it was worked too much. To these inconveniences, for which practice would doubtless have found a remedy, were added others of a much greater magnitude—the mortality of the negroes, from the vapour of fermented liquor (an alarming circumstance, that, I am informed, both by the French and English planters, constantly attends the process), the failure of the seasons, and the ravages of the worm. These, or some of these evils, drove them at length to other pursuits, where industry might find a surer recompense."—(p. 283.)

The fallacy of much of this requires no comment, as it must strike even the most careless reader,—for if the so-called indigo-growers did not know the process of manufacturing the commodity, then it could not be surprising that they failed. Thus the cause of their failure required no comment, and no explanation. Were a ploughman taken from the field and placed at the helm of a ship, and the vessel in consequence wrecked, would any one be astonished but at the folly of those who placed him there? This was the case with the indigo-growers,—they attempted what they did not understand, and, consequently, lost their labor and their money. The mortality of the negroes employed, stated as another reason for abandoning the attempt, requires a somewhat more lengthy notice.

I can briefly say, that I have learned that in the Central States of America, deaths among indigo-laborers are not more frequent than in other branches of tropical industry; and I never heard or have read that the original growers complained of the mortality attending the progress. The truth is, that this statement is not founded on fact. There is nothing whatever in the manufacture of indigo, either in the cultivation or the granulation, or even the maceration and fermentation of the plant, which is directly or indirectly, per se, injurious to human life. I have certainly never seen the indigo plant macerated on a large scale; but I have myself steeped much of it in water, and allowed it even to rot, and found nothing in the mass differing in any marked degree from decomposed vegetable matter. It seems to me that this idea of the manufacture of indigo being especially inimical to human life, is as unfounded as the belief, even by Humboldt, up to a very recent period, that none of the Cerealia would grow in tropical climates. In conversing with an old gentleman in Jamaica, some twelve years since, who had tried the manufacture of indigo, and with every prospect of success, but abandoned it, as he confessed, for the cultivation of the sugar cane, since it was then more profitable, he suggested the solution, that as the manufacture was light work, probably aged and debilitated, in place of youthful and vigorous slaves, were too frequently employed in the process—hence the mortality. This may be correct to a certain extent; but I am also inclined to think that another cause of mortality might be found in the mode and manner in which the negro was fed and clothed, and not because aged persons were exclusively engaged in the manufacture. I believe I may state, without fear of contradiction, that the real cause of the decline and consequent abandonment of the indigo plant was the monstrous duty levied upon it by the English government. Indeed, this has been already stated in the extract from Bridges; while the cause of the failure of the attempt to renew it, over and above the reasons we have given, was the greater temptation to embark capital in sugar plantations,—the West Indies enjoying a monopoly in this article, while they had competitors in the Southern States of America in the other. I have, therefore, no hesitation in saying, that, with a trifling capital, under prudent management, indigo might be cultivated to a very great extent, and with considerable profit, even now, in Jamaica. But the adventurer is not to expect to count his gains, as the original growers did, by thousands; he must be content with hundreds, if not fifties; for at the present day every branch of industry is laden with difficulties, encumbered by taxation, and obstructed by competition. There are two objections, however, which I have not removed,—I allude to "the failure of the seasons and the ravages of the worm." Very little need be said to combat these. Seasons are mutable, and the same heaven that frowns this year on the labors of the husbandman, may smile the next; while a remedy for the "ravages of the worm" may be found in the mutation of the soil, the destruction of the grub, or the rotation of crops,—accessories to success which seem not to have entered into the vocabularies of the twenty pseudo indigo-growers, "many of them men of knowledge, foresight and property."

The following passage from Bryan Edwards will corroborate much that I have endeavored to enforce. It furnishes not only a solution which has been hinted at before, of the enigma why indigo ceased to be cultivated in Jamaica, but also an incentive to re-introduce the culture. He says (p. 444), "It is a remarkable and well-known circumstance, after the cultivation of indigo was suppressed by an exorbitant duty of near £20 the hundred-weight, Great Britain was compelled to pay her rivals and enemies £200,000 annually for this commodity, so essential to a great variety of her most important manufactures. At length, the duty being repealed, and a bounty some time after substituted in its place, the States of Georgia and South Carolina entered upon, and succeeding in the culture of this valuable plant, supplied at a far cheaper rate than the French and Spaniards (receiving too our manufactures in payment) not only the British consumption, but also enabled Great Britain to export a surplus at an advanced price to foreign markets."—It is therefore plain that the manufacture of indigo was lost to Jamaica, not from any difficulty in growing the plant, or from any loss of life attending the process of manufacturing it, but from the ruinously heavy duty of £20 the hundred-weight—and that now, when no duty exists, it might be again cultivated with great advantage.

The cultivation of indigo has been repeatedly attempted in Cuba, but never with much success; although the shrub called the Xiquilite, from which it is extracted, grows wild in several districts of the island, but more especially towards the eastern extremity. The first anileria, or manufactory of indigo, was established in 1795, under the patronage of the Ayuntamento of the Havana, who made an advance of 3,500 dollars, without interest, to the party engaging in the speculation, in order to encourage the enterprise; but the undertaking proved unsuccessful, and the same fate has befallen every subsequent attempt to introduce this branch of industry. In 1827, the whole produce amounted only to 56 arrobas. In 1837 the imports of indigo greatly exceeded the exports; the former having amounted to 121,350 lbs., and the latter to 82,890 lbs. In 1833, 5,184 lbs. reached the United Kingdom from the Havana, and in 1843, 62,675 lbs.

In 1826 British Honduras exported 358,552 lbs.; in 1830, 2,650 serons; in 1844, 1,247 serons; and in 1845, 1,052 serons.

The indigo shrub is one of the most common bushes in Trinidad, where it grows wild on almost all the indifferent soils. In 1783, there were several plantations and manufactories of indigo established in Trinidad; these were subsequently abandoned, on account of a supposition that they were unhealthy. Prior to 1783, the colonists had a kind of simple process by which they extracted sufficient coloring matter to serve domestic consumption. This process is at present unknown, hence all the indigo used there is imported from Europe, although the plant from which it can be made vegetates in every direction.

In 1791 Hayti imported 930,016 lbs. of indigo, while in 1804 the export had dwindled to 35,400 lbs.

Indigo, as I have already stated, was once a most important crop in South Carolina, some attention has recently again been given to it by an individual or two in Louisiana, and the enterprise is said to promise success; enough might undoubtedly be raised in the United States to supply the home market. Some indigo produced at Baton Rouge was pronounced to have been equal to the best Caraccas, which sells at two dollars per pound; and the gentleman who cultivated it remarks, that one acre of ground there, well cultivated, will yield from 40 to 60 lbs.; that it requires only from July to October for cultivating it; that there is not connected with it one-third of the expense or time that is generally required for the cultivation of cotton.

I take the following from Smyth's "Tour in the United States."

"This plant is somewhat like the fern when grown, and when young is hardly distinguishable from lucern grass, its leaves in general are pinnated, and terminated by a single lobe; the flowers consist of five leaves, and are of the papilonaceous kind, the uppermost petal being longer and rounder than the rest, and lightly furrowed on the side, the lower ones are short and end in a point; in the middle of the flower is formed the style, which afterwards becomes a pod containing the seeds.

"They cultivate three sorts of indigo in Carolina, which demand the same variety of soils. First, the French or Hispaniola indigo, which striking a long tap root will only flourish in a deep rich soil, and therefore, though an excellent sort, is not so much cultivated in the maritime parts of the State, which are generally sandy, but it is produced in great perfection one hundred miles backwards; it is neglected too on another account, for it hardly bears a winter so sharp as that of Carolina. The second sort, which is the false Guatemala, or true Bahamas, bears the winter better, is a more tall and vigorous plant, is raised in greater quantities from the same compass of ground, is content with the worst soil in the country, and is therefore more cultivated than the first soil, though inferior in the quality of its dye.

"The third sort is the wild indigo, which is indigenous here; this, as it is a native of the country, answers the purposes of the planter best of all, with regard to the hardiness of the plant, the easiness of the culture, and the quantity of the produce. Of the quality there is some dispute not yet settled amongst the planters themselves; nor can they distinctly tell when they are to attribute the faults of their indigo to the nature of the plant, to the seasons, which have much influence upon it, or to some defect in the manufacture.

"The time of planting the indigo is generally after the first rains succeeding the vernal equinox; the seed is sown in small straight trenches, about eighteen or twenty inches asunder; when it is at its height, it is generally eighteen inches tall. It is fit for cutting, if all things answer well, in the beginning of July.

"Towards the end of August a second cutting is obtained, and if they have a mild autumn, there is a third cutting at Michaelmas. The indigo land must be weeded every day, the plants cleansed from worms, and the plantation attended with the greatest care and diligence. About twenty-five hands may manage a plantation of fifty acres, and complete the manufacture of the drug, besides providing their own necessary subsistence and that of the planter's family.

"Each acre yields, if the land be very good, 60 or 70 lbs. weight of indigo, at a medium the produce is 50 lbs. This however, is reckoned by many skilful planters but a very indifferent crop.

"When the plant is beginning to blossom it is fit for cutting, and when cut great care ought to be taken to bring it to the steeper without pressing or shaking it, as great part of the beauty of the indigo depends upon the fine farina, which adheres to the leaves of this plant. The apparatus for making indigo is inconsiderable and not expensive, for besides a pump, the whole consists only of vats and tubs of cypress wood, common and cheap in this country.

"The indigo, when cut, is first laid in a vat, about twelve or fourteen feet long and four feet deep, to the height of about fourteen inches, to macerate and digest; then this vessel, which is called the steeper, is filled with water; the whole having laid from about twelve to sixteen hours, according to the weather, begins to ferment, swell, rise, and grow sensibly warm. At this time spars of wood are run across, to mark the highest point of its ascent; when it falls below this mark, they judge that the fermentation has attained its due pitch, and begins to abate; this directs the manager to open a cock, and let off the water into another vat, which is called the beater; the gross matter that remains in the first vat is carried off to manure the ground, for which purpose it is excellent, and new cuttings are put in, as long as the harvest of the weed continues. When the water, strongly impregnated with the particles of indigo, has run into the second vat or beater, they attend with a sort of bottomless buckets, with long handles, to work and agitate it, when it froths, ferments, and rises above the rim of the vessel that contains it. To allay this violent fermentation, oil is thrown in as the froth rises, which instantly sinks it. When this beating has continued for twenty, thirty, or thirty-five minutes, according to the state of the weather (for in cool weather it requires the longest continued beating), a small muddy grain begins to be formed; the salts and other particles of the plant united, dissolved, and before mixed with the water, are now re-united together, and begin to granulate. To discover these particles the better, and to find when the liquor is sufficiently beaten, they take up some of it from time to time on a plate, or in a glass; when it appears in a hopeful condition, they let loose some lime water from an adjacent vessel, gently stirring the whole, which wonderfully facilitates the operation; the indigo granulates more fully, the liquor assumes a purplish color, and the whole is troubled and muddy; it is now suffered to settle; then the clearer part is permitted to run off into another succession of vessels, from whence the water is conveyed away as fast as it clears on the top, until nothing remains but a thick mud, which is put into bags of coarse linen. These are hung up and left for some time until the moisture is entirely drained off.

"To finish the drying, this mud is turned out of the bags, and worked upon boards of some porous timber, with a wooden spatula; it is frequently exposed to the morning and evening sun, but for a short time only; and then it is put into boxes or frames, which is called the curing, exposed again to the sun in the same cautious manner, until, with great labor and attention the operation is finished, and the valuable drug fitted for the market. The greatest skill and care is required in every part of the process, or there may be great danger of ruining the whole; the water must not be suffered to remain too short or too long a time, either in the steeper or beater; the beating itself must be nicely managed, so as not to exceed or fall short; and in the curing the exact medium between too much or too little drying is not easily attained. Nothing but experience can make the overseers skilful in these matters. There are two methods of trying the goodness of indigo; by fire and by water. If it swims it is good, if it sinks it is inferior, the heavier the worse; so if it wholly dissolves in water it is good. Another way of proving it, is by the fire ordeal; if it entirely burns away it is good, the adulterations remain untouched."

Indigo to the extent of 220,000 lbs. per annum is grown in Egypt. The leaves are there thrown into earthen vessels, which are buried in pits and filled with water; heat is applied, and the liquid is boiled away until the indigo becomes of a fit consistence, when it is pressed into shape and dried. Many Armenians have been invited from the East Indies to teach the fellahs the best mode of preparation, and, in consequence, nine indigo works have been established belonging to the government.

The indigo plant is found scattered like a weed abundantly over the face of the country in the district of Natal, Eastern Africa. It is said that there are no less than ten varieties of the plant commonly to be met with there. Mr. Blaine submitted, in 1848, to the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, a small specimen of this dye-stuff, which had been extracted by a rude process from a native plant, which was pronounced by good authority to be of superior quality, and worth 3s. 4d. per pound. Mr. W. Wilson, a settler at Natal, in a letter to the editor of the Natal Witness, thus speaks of the culture:—

"My attention was first forcibly drawn to the cultivation of indigo by some seed imported by Mr. Kinlock, from India. This seed, on trial, I found to grow luxuriantly; and after a few experiments I succeeded in manufacturing the dye. The success which thus attended my first attempts has encouraged me to try indigo planting on a more extensive scale. For this purpose I am allowing all the plants of this season to run to seed, and intend to plant equal quantities of Bengal and native indigo.

While my attention was engaged in these preliminary experiments, I observed that the country abounded in a variety of species of indigo, and by a series of experiments found it rich and abundant, and have since learnt that it is known and in use among the natives, and called by them Umpekumbeto.

This of course induced further inquiry, and on consulting different works I find that the Cape of Good Hope possesses more species of indigo than the whole world besides. Now I take it for granted that if Providence has placed these materials within our reach, it was evidently intended that we should, by the application of industry, appropriate them to our use. It becomes, then, a matter of necessity that indigo must thrive, this being its native soil and climate; and the experiments I have successfully made, go to support me in the opinion that the cultivation of indigo will bring an ample reward. Indeed it seems contrary to the laws of nature that it should be otherwise.

I have obtained from the 140th part of an acre the proportion of 300 lbs. of indigo per acre. That the plant will cross successfully, I have also ascertained."

Cultivation in India.—During the nine years which preceded the opening of the trade with India in 1814, the annual average produce of indigo in Bengal, for exportation, was nearly 5,600,000 lbs. But since the ports were opened, the indigo produced for exportation has increased fully a third; the exports during the sixteen years ending with 1829-30, being above 7,400,000 lbs. a year.

The consumption in the United Kingdom has averaged, during the last ten years, about 2,500,000 lbs. a year.

In 1839-40 the export of indigo from Madras amounted to 1,333,808 lbs. A small quantity is also exported from the French settlement of Pondicherry. In 1837 the export from Manila amounted to about 250,000 lbs. The export from Batavia in 1841 amounted to 913,693 lbs., and the production in 1843 was double that amount. The annual exports of indigo, from all parts of Asia and the Indian Archipelago, were taken by M'Culloch, in 1840, to be 12,440,000 lbs. The imports are about 20,000 chests of Bengal, and 8,000 from Madras annually, of which 9,000 or 10,000 are used for home consumption, and the rest re-exported.

The total crop of indigo in the Bengal Presidency has ranged, for the last twenty years, at from 100,000 to 172,000 factory maunds; the highest crop was in 1845. The factory maund of indigo in India is about 78 lbs.

In the delta of the Ganges, where the best and largest quantity of indigo is produced, the plant lasts only for a single season, being destroyed by the periodical inundation; but in the dry central and western provinces, one or two ratoon crops are obtained.

The culture of indigo is very precarious, not only in so far as respects the growth of the plant from year to year, but also as regards the quantity and quality of the drug which the same amount of plant will afford in the same season.

The fixed capital required, as I have already shown, in the manufacture of indigo, consists simply of a few vats of common masonry for steeping the plant, and precipitating the coloring matter; a boiling and drying house, and a dwelling for the planter. Thus a factory of ten pair of vats, capable of producing, at an average, 12,500 lbs. of indigo, worth on the spot £2,500, will not cost above £1,500 sterling. The buildings and machinery necessary to produce an equal value in sugar and rum, would probably cost about £4,000.

The indigo of Bengal is divided into two classes, called, in commercial language, Bengal and Oude; the first being the produce of the southern provinces of Bengal and Bahar, and the last that of the northern provinces, and of Benares. The first class is in point of quality much superior to the other. The inferiority of the Oude indigo is thought to be more the result of soil and climate, than of any difference in the skill with which the manufacture is conducted. The indigo of Madras, which is superior to that of Manila, is about equal to ordinary Bengal indigo. The produce of Java is superior to these.

Large quantities of indigo, of a very fine quality, are grown in Scinde. I have to acknowledge the receipt, from the Indian Government, of an interesting collection of documents on the culture and manufacture of indigo in Upper Scinde. The papers are chiefly from the pen of Mr. Wood, Deputy Collector of Sukkur, though there are several others, perhaps of much value, from various other of the revenue officers of Scinde.

Mr. Wood is of opinion that Scinde is much better suited than Bengal for the production of this dye-stuff—the alluvial soil on the banks of the Indus is equal in richness to that on those of the Ganges, and the climate seems equally well suited for the growth of the plant. But in two years out of three, the crops of the Bengal planter are injured by excessive inundations, while the work of gathering and manipulation is necessarily performed, during the rainy season, under the greatest imaginable disadvantages. In Scinde, on the other hand, the inundation of the river is produced almost solely from the melting of the snows in the Himalayas, and it is not liable to those excessive fluctuations in amount, or that suddenness in appearance peculiar to inundations chiefly arising from falls of rain. The Granges sometimes rises ten feet in four-and-twenty hours, and at some part of its course its depth is at times forty feet greater during a flood than in fair weather, while the Indus rarely rises above a foot a day, its extreme flood never exceeding fifteen feet, the limits and amount of the inundation being singularly uniform over a succession of years. Moreover, as rain hardly ever falls in Scinde, and when it does so only continues over a few days, and extends to the amount of three or four inches, no danger or inconvenience from this need be apprehended. Mr. Wood mentions that hemp may be grown in profusion on the indigo grounds, and that were the production of the dye once introduced, it would bring hundreds of thousands of acres now barren into cultivation, and secure the growth or manufacture of a vast variety of other commodities for which the country is eminently fitted. An experimental factory might, it is believed, be set up for from two to three thousand pounds, but this appears to be an amount of adventure from which the Government shrinks.

The districts of Kishnagar, Jessore, and Moorshedabad, in Bengal, ranging from 88 to 90 degs. E. latitude, and 22½ to 24 degs. N. longitude, produce the finest indigo. That from the districts about Burdwan and Benares is of a coarser or harsher grain. Tirhoot, in latitude 26 degs., yields a tolerably good article. The portion of Bengal most propitious to the cultivation of indigo, lies between the river Hooghly and the main stream of the Ganges.

In the East Indies, after having ploughed the ground in October, November, and the beginning of December, they sow the seed in the last half of March and the beginning of April, while the soil, being neither too hot nor too dry, is most propitious to its germination. A light mould answers best; and sunshine, with occasional light showers, are most favorable to its growth. Twelve pounds of seed are sufficient for sowing an acre of land. The plants grow rapidly, and will bear to be cut for the first time at the beginning of July; nay, in some districts so early as the middle of June. The indications of maturity are the bursting forth of the flower buds, and the expansion of the blossoms; at which period the plant abounds most in the dyeing principle. Another indication is taken from the leaves, which, if they break across when doubled flat, denote a state of maturity. But this character is somewhat fallacious, and depends upon the poverty or richness of the soil. When much rain falls, the plants grow too rapidly, and do not sufficiently elaborate the blue pigment. Bright sunshine is most advantageous to its production.

The first cropping of the plants is the best; after two months a second is made; after another interval a third, and even a fourth; but each of these is of diminished value.

Culture in India.—For the following excellent account of the modes of culture, and practice, &c., in Bengal, and other parts of India, I am indebted to Mr. G. W. Johnson, one of the correspondents of my "Colonial Magazine." Mr. Johnson, besides his own Indian experience, has consulted all the best authorities, and the opinions of contributors to the leading periodicals of Calcutta on this important subject:—

When America became known to Europeans, its indigo became to them a principal object of cultivation, and against their skill the native Hindostanee had nothing to oppose, but the cheapness of his simple process of manufacture. The profit and extent of the trade soon induced Europeans to brave the perils of distance and climate to cultivate the plant in Hindostan; but these obstacles, added to the superior article manufactured by the French and Spaniards in the West Indies, would long have held its produce in India in subordination, if the anarchy and wars incident to the French Revolution, especially when they reached St. Domingo, had not almost annihilated the trade from the West, and consequently proportionally fostered that in the East. The indigo produce of St. Domingo was nearly as large as that of all the other West India islands together. From the time that the negroes revolted in that island, the cultivation of indigo has increased in Hindostan, until it has become one of its principal exports, and the quality of the article manufactured is not inferior to that of any other part of the world.

The most general mode of obtaining the necessary supply of weed, as it is called by the planter, is as follows:—The land attached to the factory is parcelled out among the ryots or farmers, who contract to devote a certain portion of their farm to the cultivation of indigo, and to deliver it, for a fixed price per bundle, at the factory; a sum of money, usually equal to half the probable produce, has to be advanced to the ryot by the planter, to enable him to accomplish the cultivation, and to subsist upon until the crop is ready for cutting.

If, as is generally the case, sufficient land is not attached to the factory to supply it with plant, the owner obtains what he requires by inducing the ryots in his vicinity to cultivate it upon a part of their land. Yet it is with them far from a favorite object of cultivation; and, indeed, if it were not for the money advanced to each ryot by the planter, to provide seed, &c., and which gives him a little ready money, bearing no interest, it is doubtful whether he would engage in the cultivation at all. Even this advance of money does not induce him to appropriate it to any but the worst part of his farm, nor to bestow upon it more than the smallest possible amount of labor. The reasons for this neglect are valid, for the grain crops are more profitable to the ryot, and indigo is one of the most precarious of India's vegetable products.

In Bengal the usual terms of contract between the manufacturer and the ryot are, that the latter, receiving at the time a certain advance of money, perhaps one rupee (2s.) per biggah, with promise of a similar sum at a more advanced period of the season, undertakes to have a certain quantity of land suitably and seasonably prepared for sowing, to attend and receive seed whenever occasion requires, and to deliver the crop, when called upon, at the factory, at a specified price per bundle or 100 bundles. The particular conditions of these contracts vary generally in Bengal; they amount to advancing the ryot two rupees for every biggah of land, furnishing him with seed at about one-third its cost, on an engagement from him to return whatever his lands may produce (which, as has been said, is generally none at all), at the price charged, and receiving the plant from him at six, seven, eight, or sometimes nine bundles for a rupee—much oftener the former than the latter rates. A ryot cultivating alluvial lands, and having no seed, can hardly ever repay his advances; but it does not follow that he has been a loser, for he, perhaps, could not value his time, labor, and rent altogether at half the amount; and as long as this system is kept within moderate bounds, it answers much better than private cultivation to the manufacturer, and has many contingent advantages to the cultivator.

In Tirhoot similar engagements are entered into with the ryots, who are there called Assamees. These engagements with Assamees are generally made in the month of September, on a written instrument called a noviskaun, by which they agree for a certain quantity of land, for five years, to be cultivated with indigo plant, and for which they are to be paid at the rate of six rupees per biggah, for every full field of plant measured by a luggie or measuring-rod. The luggie, it must be observed, varies in size throughout the district. In the southern and eastern divisions of Tirhoot and Sarun it is eight-and-a-half to ten feet long; and in the northern and western from twelve to fourteen feet. The Assamee receives, on the day of making his bundobust, or settlement, three rupees advance on each biggah he contracts for, another rupee per biggah when the crop is fit to weed, and the remaining two rupees at the ensuing settlement of accounts. Exclusive of the price of his maul or plant, the Assamee is entitled to receive two or three rupees per biggah (as may be agreed on) for gurkee, or lands that have failed, as a remuneration for his trouble, and to enable him to pay his rent. The foregoing are the principal stipulations of the noviskaun, but the Assamee further engages to give you such land as you may select, prepare it according to instructions from the factory, sow and weed as often as he is required, cut the plant and load the hackeries at his own cost, and in every other respect conform to the orders of the planter or his aumlah (managing man). The Assamee is not charged for seed, the cartage of his plants, or for the cost of drilling. I should mention that a penalty is attached to the non-fulfilment of the Assamees engagements, commonly called hurjah, viz., twelve rupees for every biggah short of his agreement, and this for every year that the noviskaun has to run. This is, however, seldom recoverable, for if you sue the Assamee in court and obtain a decree (a most expensive and dilatory process), he can in most instances easily evade it by a fictitious transfer of his property to other hands.

The planter generally finds it his interest to get the Zemindar of the village in which he proposes cultivating, to join in the noviskaun, as a further security; or he engages with a jytedar, or head Assamee, having several others subordinate to him, and for whose conduct he is responsible. But a still better system is lately gaining ground in this district, I mean that of taking villages in ticka, or farm, by far the best and cheapest plan that has ever been resorted to for the cultivation of indigo.

When the planter cultivates the ground himself, it is called in Tirhoot Zerant cultivation. Zerants, or Neiz, are taken on a pottah or lease for five years, at the average rent of three rupees per biggah. The heavy cost attending this cultivation has occasioned its decrease in most factories in Tirhoot and particularly since the fall in prices. About a third, I believe, was the proportion it formerly bore to the whole cultivation of the district, but of late such factories only have retained it as cannot procure sufficient good land under the Assamewar system; but now that the plan of taking villages in farm is becoming more and more prevalent here, it is very likely that Zerants will be entirely abandoned. From all the information I have been able to collect, the cost of a biggah of Zerant (ten feet luggie) may be estimated at sixteen rupees; that of Assamewar is generally twenty-five per cent. less, both exclusive of interest, agents' charges, and private expenses.

It can only be the reluctance of the ryot to cultivate indigo that induces a manufacturer to grow it himself, for it has been found an expensive plan, profitable only when the dye is at its highest rate, and even then scarcely furnishing an adequate return. They not only could not cultivate so cheaply as the native laboring husbandman, but ordinarily had to engage extensive tracts of land, much of which was not suitable for their purpose, or, perhaps, for any other, and consequently, although the average rate of rent was even low on the whole, it constituted a very heavy charge on the portion from which they obtained their return.

In Oude there are three systems of obtaining a supply of the plant, viz., Kush Kurreea, Bighowty, and Nij; but the latter is a mere trifle in proportion to the others, and is, therefore, not worth mentioning. On the Bighowty system, which prevails chiefly in the Meerut and Mooradabad districts, the planter advances for a biggah of Jumowah (irrigated sowings) nine rupees, and for a biggah of Assaroo (rain sowings) five rupees four annas. The next year's plant, or khoonti, becomes his on an additional payment of eight annas per biggah. He also supplies the seed at the rate of six seers per biggah, being almost double the quantity made use of in Bengal, but which is necessary to make up for the destruction of the plant the year following by the frost, white ants, hot winds, grass cutters, and, I may add, the village cattle, which are let loose to graze on the khoonte during the latter period, when not a blade of grass or vegetation is to be seen anywhere left.

The Bighowty system is a sadly ruinous one, as, independently of the attempts to assimilate Assaroo, at five rupees four annas, with Jumowah, at nine rupees per biggah, which is very easily effected if the planter is not very vigilant, he is obliged to maintain an extensive and imposing establishment of servants, not only to enforce the sowings, weeding, and cutting, but also to look after his khoonte, and protect it from being destroyed by bullocks and grass cutters, or from being ploughed up clandestinely by the Zemindars themselves.

The Kush Kurreea system again has its evils, as the planter never gets plant for the full amount of his advances, and hence often leads to his ruin.

Soils.—Indigo delights in a fresh soil; new lands, of similar staple to others before cultivated, always surpass them in the amount and quality of their produce. Hence arises the superior productiveness of the lands annually overflowed by the Ganges, the earthy and saline deposits from which in effect renovate the soil. The further we recede from the influence of the inundation, the less adapted is the soil for the cultivation of indigo. The staple of the soil ought to be silicious, fertile, and deep. Mr. Ballard, writing on the indigo soils of Tirhoot, says that high "soomba," or light soils, are generally preferred, being from their nature and level less exposed to the risk of rain or river inundation; but they are difficult to procure, and, moreover, require particular care in the preparation. Next in estimation is "doruss," a nearly equal mixture of light earth and clay; a soil more retentive of moisture in a dry season than any other. "Muttyaur," or heavy clay soils, are generally avoided, although in certain seasons, with mild showers of rain, they have been known to answer. The safest selection I should conceive to be an equal portion of soomba and doruss. In a country, however, interspersed with jheels and nullahs, it is difficult to form a cultivation without a considerable mixture of low lands, more or less, according to the situation of the Assamee's fields. Great care should be taken, at all events, to guard against oosur lands, or such as abound with saltpetre; these can be most easily detected in the dry months. Puchkatak, that is, lands slightly touched with oosur, have been known to answer, as partaking more of the nature of doruss soil; but the crop is generally thin, although strong and branchy.

There is another description of land that should be cautiously avoided. It goes by the name of jaung, and is a light soil, with a substratum of sand from six to twelve inches below the surface. The plant generally looks very fine in such fields till it gets a foot high, when the root touching the sand, and having no moisture to sustain it, either dies away altogether, or becomes so stunted and impoverished as to yield little or nothing in the cutting. Of the daub or dearab (alluvial) land, says Mr. Ballard, there is scarcely any in the district except what falls to the lot of my own factories, being situated on the banks of the Ganges and Great Gunduck. Of bungur, a stiff reddish clay soil, there is little in Tirhoot; it pervades the western provinces, and is best adapted for Assaroo sowings, which do not succeed in Tirhoot.

Preparation of the soil.—The root of the indigo plant being fusiform, and extending to about a foot in length, requires the soil to be loosened thoroughly to that depth at least. Experience teaches that the fineness of the tilth to which the soil is reduced previously to the seed being committed to it, is one very influential operation for the obtaining a productive crop. Yet in some districts of Bengal, particularly about Furudpore, the sowing is performed without any previous ploughing. This is where the river, when receded, has left the soil and deposit so deep, that about October, or a little later, the seed being forcibly discharged from the sower's hand, buries itself, and requires no after covering by means of the rake or harrow.

In Tirhoot they are indefatigable in this first step of the cultivation. Mr. Ballard says, that the preparation of indigo lands should commence in September, as soon as the cessation of the rains will permit; and as we do not rely on rain for our sowings (as is the custom in Bengal and elsewhere, and irrigation is never resorted to, from the heavy expense attending it), our principal aim is to preserve as much moisture in the fields as possible. They should receive, for this purpose, not less than eight ploughings, besides a thorough turning up with the spade, after the fourth ploughing, to clear the field from stubble, grass and weeds. It is absolutely indispensable to get all this done on our light soils, especially before the end of October, and have the land carefully harrowed down, so as to prevent the moisture escaping.

Should there be heavy rains between the interval of preparing and sowing, it will be necessary to turn the fields up with either one or two ploughings, and harrow them down as before. If only a slight shower, running the harrow over them will be sufficient to break the crust formed on the surface, and which, if allowed to remain, would quickly exhaust the moisture. This, with the occasional use of the weeding-hook, is all that the lands will require till the time of sowing.—("Transactions of the Agri.-Hort. Society of Calcutta," vol. ii., p. 22.)

Sowing.—The time when the seed is committed to the soil varies in different parts of India, and, even in the same place, admits of being performed at two different seasons. The periods of sowing in Bengal are first immediately after the rains, from about the latter end of October. The rivers are then rapidly retiring within their beds, and as soon as the soft deposit of the year has drained itself into a consistency, though not solid enough to keep a man from sinking up to his knees in it, they begin to scatter the seed broadcast. This is continued until the ground has become too hard for the seed to bury itself; the plough is then used to loosen the crust, and the sowing continued to about the middle, or even the end of November, from which period the weather is considered too cold, until February. These autumnal sowings are called October sowings, from the month in which they generally commence. Much of the plant perishes during the months of December and January, and more again in the spring, unless there are early and moderate showers. The crop that remains is not so productive ordinarily in the vat, as that obtained from spring sowings, and some think the quality of the produce inferior. But there is no expense of cultivation, and the liabilities of the crop to failure are such a discouragement to cost and labor in rearing it, that the October sowing is followed by most planters who can obtain suitable land. The second period of sowing is the spring, with the first rains of March, or even the end of February. The land having been measured and placed under its slight course of tillage during the two or three preceding mouths, is sown broadcast as soon as the ground has been well moistened, or even in prospect of approaching rain. The quantity of seed used for this autumn sowing is generally more than what is considered requisite for spring sowing; six seers at the former and four at the latter season per biggah, in Bengal, is the quantity usually allowed.

Some cultivators commence the autumn sowing as early as at the close of September, or as soon as the low lands are in a state to permit the operation after the inundation has subsided. This seed time may be said to continue until the end of December, and the crops from these sowings often yield an average produce, if the lands are not very low and wet. If they are, the sowing had better be delayed until January, or even February, for the crops from these latter sowings are usually the most productive, and the dye obtained from them the finest. The object for thus delaying the sowing is, that the young plants may have a more genial season for vegetation. Those who prefer sowing earlier, and yet are aware of the importance of saving the young plants as much as possible from the comparative low temperature of the season, sow some other crop with their indigo. Til, the country linseed, is good for this purpose in high lying soils. But I never knew an intermixture of crops that was not attended by inconveniences and injuries more than was compensated by the advantages gained.

The success of sowings during March and April is very doubtful. It depends entirely upon the occurrence of rain, which in those months is proverbially uncertain. If the season should be sufficiently wet, the sowing may be performed in May; but a June sowing is very rarely remunerating. The rains setting in during the latter part of this month so promote the growth of weeds, that the young plants are choked and generally destroyed. The exceptions only occur in high lands, in unusually propitious seasons, and ought never to be relied upon except when the earlier sowings have failed. To protract the manufacturing season, some planters begin sowing upon low lying lands in the hot season, for the chance of a crop at the commencement of the rains; and they sow at the close of the rains with the hope of, as it were, stealing another in the next year. In the western provinces sowing necessarily occurs in the dry weather, usually in March and April, though occasionally either a little earlier or later.

In Tirhoot the sowings commence about the latter end of February or the beginning of March, if by that time there is sufficient warmth in the atmosphere to ensure a healthy vegetation. Light soils are sown on one close ploughing; heavy soils on two, with from four to eight seers of seed, in proportion to the size of the biggah. After strewing the seed, the field should be harrowed down by two turns of the harrow, and then again by two turns more after the third day. In case of rain before the plant appears (which it ought to do on the sixth or seventh day), if a slight shower, the harrow should be used again; if very heavy, it were best to turn up the ground and re-sow. If rain fall after the appearance of the plant, and before it has got past four leaves, and attained sufficient strength to resist the hard crust before alluded to, immediate recourse must be had to drilling. In fact, the closest attention is required to watch the state of the young crop for a month at least after the sowings; if it yield the least, or assume a sickly appearance, drills are the only resource. These, if applied in time, in all March, for instance, or before the middle of April at latest, are generally successful, not only in restoring plants, but recovering such as may have become sickly from want or excess of moisture, or any other cause. In dry seasons they have been known to give a crop when broadcast sowings have failed. Each drill, with a good pair of bullocks, should do five biggahs a day. They are regulated to throw from three to four seers per biggah, but the quantity can be increased or diminished at pleasure. The natives do not employ them in their grain sowings, but commonly adopt a contrivance with their own plough for sowing in furrows, whenever their fields are deficient in moisture. The drill employed in Tirhoot resembles considerably the implement known by that name in England. It is found not only to effect a great saving of seed, ten seers being there sown broad-cost on a biggah of 57,600 feet square, and only seven seers by this drill; but also materially to improve the quality and regularity of the growth of the plant. Experience has demonstrated, that the more lateral room the plants have, the more abundant is their produce of leaves, in which the coloring matter chiefly resides. The seed employed should always be as new as possible, for though, if carefully preserved, it vegetates when one year old, and even when nearly two years old has produced a moderate crop, yet this has been under circumstances of an unusually favorable season and soil. The plants from old seed rarely attain a height of more than a foot before they wither and die. As frauds are very likely to be practised by giving old seed the glossiness and general appearance of new, great circumspection should be shown by the planter, who does not grow his own, in obtaining seed from known parties.

Planters in the lower provinces are induced to use up-country seed, because, coming from a colder climate, it vegetates, and the plants ripen rapidly, so as to be harvested more certainly before the annual inundation, but they employ one-fourth more. Three seers per Bengal biggah are sufficient, if it is "Dassee" seed; but four is not too much if it is up-country seed. A Bengal biggah is only a third of the size of that of Tirhoot. If the weather is dry, the seed very often does not germinate until the occurrence of rain, and it has been known in a dry, light soil, to remain in the ground without injury for six weeks. If seasonable showers occur, the plants make their appearance in four days, or even less; and they must be watched, in order that they may be weeded on the earliest day that they are sufficiently established to allow the operation to be safely performed. In dry weather, it must not be done while they are very young, otherwise many of the seedlings will have their roots disturbed, and perish from the drought. However, not more than a fortnight should be allowed to pass, after the seedlings have appeared, before the weeds are carefully removed, and this clearing should be frequently repeated until the plants so overshadow the ground that they of themselves keep back the advance of the weeds. The first weeding is best performed immediately after a shower of rain.

Irrigation is rarely adopted for the indigo crops in the lower provinces of Bengal, unless they happen to be grown in some situation very favorable to the operation, such as the bank of a river. It is much more attended to in the western provinces, and in Oude, the water being obtained from wells, which are dug in nearly every cultivated plot. In Oude, Mr. Ballard says that a biggah of land employs three persons to irrigate it, and occupies never less than six days. The ryot, or cultivator, requires for the work a pair of bullocks, which cost him at least 32s., a bucket made of a white bullock hide, at 2s., and a rope for 2s. more, both of which do not last him above a year. He never pays less than 8s. for the rent of a biggah of land near a well.

In Bengal the plant requires three months to attain its highest state of perfection for manufacturing, but is often cut, from necessity, within half that time; for the approach of the river compels the premature removal of the crop, unless, indeed, its growth has been so retarded that it would not pay the expense of working. Most indigo factories have consequently to begin in June, or early in July, whenever they may have effected their spring sowings, and the labors of the season are commonly terminated by the middle or end of August.

When the plants begin to flower is considered the best time for cutting them, and this is just what the botanist would have suggested, because then the proper sap of all plants is most abundant, and most rich in their several peculiar secretions. A vividly green, abundant and healthy foliage, downy at the back, is the surest intimation of the plants being rich in indigo. Plants that are ready for cutting in July and August, are usually the most productive.

In the western provinces from sixteen to twenty maunds of plant is considered a good produce per biggah. In the upper provinces the produce of the best crop, which is sown directly the rains commence, is not more then ten maunds per biggah. The factory maund is equal to about seventy-eight pounds. One thousand maunds of plant are considered as producing quite an average quantity of indigo if this amounts to four maunds. Adopting another mode of estimate, Mr. Ballard says, that in Bengal an average crop may he considered to be from ten to twelve bundles, over an extensive cultivation, in a good season, from each Bengal biggah; the sheaf or bundle being measured by a six-feet cord or chain. Speaking of the produce in Tirhoot, the same gentleman says the "luggie," or measuring rod, varies throughout the district. The common Tirhoot biggah, is, I believe, equal to two-and-a-half or three Bengal biggahs (about an English acre). Its produce varies according to the size of the luggie, the fertility of the soil, and accidents of season; eight to ten hackery loads, however, is generally considered a good average return. South and east of Tirhoot, one hundred maunds from six hundred biggahs, including "khoonti," or a second cutting, is reckoned a successful result. In another part of the district, including Sarun, where the "luggie" is larger, the average produce is about one-third better. As we measure our plant on the ground (he adds), the bundle system is unknown here; but, I believe, forty-five or fifty Tirhoot hackery loads of plants (estimated to yield a maund of dry indigo), will be found equal to two hundred Bengal bundles.—("Trans. Agri. Hort. Soc., vol. ii. p. 23.")

In Oude the jamowah, or crop sown in May, yields on an average twenty maunds, or say thirteen bundles, per biggah (160 feet square). The "assaroo," or rain sowings, producing a very inferior plant, the average return is not more than three maunds, or two bundles. The "khoonti," or crop of the next year from the same plants, averages fifteen maunds, or ten bundles per biggah.

In Central and Western India, the plants are allowed to produce the second and even the third year, according to some statements; but in Bengal the same stocks are rarely suffered to yield a second crop: being nearly all on lands that are under water in the height of the inundation, the stock is rotted in the ground. Mr. Ballard, speaking of the duration of the plant, says that, as for three years' plant and "khoonti," it is a mere chimera, like the many others with which the planters have hitherto deluded themselves, and which it only requires a little reflection to overthrow. A biggah may be cut here and there, on an extensive cultivation, but it can never be relied upon as forming a part of the cultivation.

The uncertainty of the indigo crop has been already noticed, and is, indeed, as proverbial as that from the hop plant in England. In Bengal the crop is particularly subject to be destroyed by the annual inundation of the river, if it occurs earlier than usual. A storm of wind, accompanied by rain and hail, as completely ruins the crop as if devoured by the locust; neither from this latter scourge is the crop exempt.

This proneness to injury extends throughout its growth. The seedlings are liable to be destroyed by an insect closely resembling the turnip-fly, as well as by the frog. Caterpillars feed upon the leaves of older plants, and the white ant destroys them by consuming their roots. To these destructive visitations are to be added the more than ordinary liability of the plant to injury, not merely from atmospheric commotions, but even from apparently less inimical visitations. Thus not only do storms of wind, heavy rains, and hail, destroy the indigo planter's prospects, but even sunshine, if it pours out fervently after showers of rain, is apt, as it is properly termed, to scorch the plants; and if it occurs during the first month of their growth, is most injurious to their future advance. The reason of this effect appears to be the violent change from a state of imbibing to a rapid transpiration of moisture. No human invention or foresight can preserve the crop from the atmospheric visitations. To destroy and drive away the little coleopterous insects which attack the seedlings, it would be a successful method to spread dry grass, &c., over the surface intended to be cultivated, and to burn the litter immediately before the sowing. The heat and smoke produced has been found perfectly efficacious against the turnip-fly in England. To destroy the caterpillar, slacked lime dusted over the leaves, while the dew is upon them, is an effectual application. The white ants may be driven away or destroyed by frequent hoeings, which is the best preventive of the scorching, for hoeing preserves the soil in an equable and fitting state of moisture.

The great supply of seed for Bengal cultivation is obtained from the western provinces, and forms an article of trade of no inconsiderable magnitude. The stubble in the low lands of Bengal is generally submerged before it has time to throw out fresh shoots, on which the blossom and subsequent seed-pod are formed. There are, however, some high tracts reserved for that purpose, and on these the plant is found well in flower in September, and the seed fit to gather in November or early in December.

Two methods are pursued to extract the indigo from the plant; the first effects it by fermentation of the fresh leaves and stems; the second, by maceration of the dried leaves; the latter process being most advantageous. They are thus described by Dr. Ure, in his "Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures:"—

1. From the recent leaves.—In the indigo factories of Bengal, there are two large stone-built cisterns, the bottom of the first being nearly upon a level with the top of the second, in order to allow the liquid contents to be run out of the one into the other. The uppermost is called the fermenting vat, or the steeper; its area is twenty feet square, and its depth three feet; the lowermost, called the beater or beating vat, is as broad as the other, but one-third longer. The cuttings of the plant, as they come from the field, are stratified in the steeper, till this be filled within five or six inches of its brim. In order that the plant, during its fermentation, may not swell and rise out of the vat, beams of wood and twigs of bamboo are braced tight over the surface of the plants, after which water is pumped upon them till it stands within three or four inches of the edge of the vessel. An active fermentation speedily commences, which is completed within fourteen or fifteen hours; a little longer or shorter, according to the temperature of the air, the prevailing winds, the quality of the water, and the ripeness of the plants. Nine or ten hours after the immersion of the plant, the condition of the vat must be examined; frothy bubbles appear, which rise like little pyramids, are at first of a white colour, but soon become grey, blue, and then deep purple red. The fermentation is at this time violent, the fluid is in constant commotion, apparently boiling, innumerable bubbles mount to the surface, and a copper colored dense scum covers the whole. As long as the liquor is agitated, the fermentation must not be disturbed, but when it becomes more tranquil, the liquor is to be drawn off into the lower cistern. It is of the utmost consequence not to push the fermentation too far, because the quality of the whole indigo is deteriorated; but rather to cut it short, in which case there is, indeed, a loss of weight, but the article is better. The liquor possesses now a glistening yellow color, which, when the indigo precipitates, changes to green. The average temperature of the liquor is commonly 85 deg. Fahr.; its specific gravity at the surface is 1.0015; and at the bottom 1.003.

As soon as the liquor has been run into the lower cistern, ten men are set to work to beat it with oars, or shovels four feet long, called busquets. Paddle wheels have also been employed for the same purpose. Meanwhile two other laborers clear away the compressing beams and bamboos from the surface of the upper vat, remove the exhausted plant, set it to dry for fuel, clean out the vessel, and stratify fresh plants in it. The fermented plant appears still green, but it has lost three-fourths of its bulk in the process, or from twelve to fourteen per cent. of its weight, chiefly water and extractive matter.

The liquor in the lower vat must be strongly beaten for an hour and a half, when the indigo begins to agglomerate in flocks, and to precipitate. This is the moment for judging whether there has been any error committed in the fermentation, which must be corrected by the operation of beating. If the fermentation has been defective, much froth rises in the beating, which must be allayed with a little oil, and then a reddish tinge appears. If large round granulations are formed, the beating is continued, in order to see if they will grow smaller. If they become as small as fine sand, and if the water clears up, the indigo is allowed quietly to subside. Should the vat have been over-fermented, a thick fat-looking crust covers the liquor, which does not disappear by the introduction of a flask of oil. In such a case the beating must be moderated. Whenever the granulations become round, and begin to subside, and the liquor clears up, the beating must be discontinued. The froth or scum diffuses itself spontaneously into separate minute particles, that move about the surface of the liquor, which are marks of an excessive fermentation. On the other hand, a rightly fermented vat is easy to work; the froth, though abundant, vanishes whenever the granulations make their appearance. The color of the liquor, when drawn out of the steeper into the beater, is bright green; but as soon as the agglomerations of the indigo commence, it assumes the color of Madeira wine; and speedily afterwards, in the course of beating, a small round grain is formed, which, on separating, makes the water transparent, and falls down, when all the turbidity and froth vanish.

The object of the beating is three-fold; first, it tends to disengage a great quantity of carbonic acid present in the liquor; secondly, to give the newly-developed indigo its requisite dose of oxygen by the most extensive exposure of its particles to the atmosphere; thirdly, to agglomerate the indigo in distinct flocks or granulations. In order to hasten the precipitation, lime water is occasionally added to the fermented liquor in the progress of beating, but it is not indispensable, and has been supposed capable of deteriorating the indigo. In the front of the beater a beam is fixed upright, in which three or more holes are pierced, a few inches in diameter. These are closed with plugs during the beating, but two or three hours after it, as the indigo subsides, the upper plug is withdrawn to run off the supernatant liquor, and then the lower plugs in succession. The state of this liquor being examined, affords an indication of the success of both the processes. When the whole liquor is run off, a laborer enters the vat, sweeps all the precipitate into one corner, and enters the thinner part into a spout which leads into a cistern, alongside of a boiler, twenty feet long, three feet wide, and three feet deep. When all this liquor is once collected, it is pumped through a bag, for retaining the impurities, into the boiler, and heated to ebullition. The froth soon subsides, and shows an oily looking film on the liquor. The indigo is by this process not only freed from the yellow extractive matter, but is enriched in the intensity of its color, and increased in weight. From the boiler the mixture is run, after two or three hours, into a general receiver called the dripping vat, or table, which, for a factory of twelve pairs of preparation vats, is twenty feet long, ten feet wide, and three feet deep, having a false bottom two feet under the top edge. This cistern stands in a basin of masonry (made water-tight with Chunam, hydraulic cement), the bottom of which slopes to one end, in order to facilitate the drainage. A thick woollen web is stretched along the bottom of the inner vessel, to act as a filter. As long as the liquor passes through turbid, it is pumped back into the receiver; whenever it runs clear, the receiver is covered with another piece of cloth to exclude the dust, and allowed to drain at its leisure. Next morning the drained magma is put into a strong bag, and squeezed in a press. The indigo is then carefully taken out of the bag, and cut with a brass wire into bits, about three inches cube, which are dried in an airy house, upon shelves of wicker work. During the drying a whitish effloresence comes upon the pieces, which must be carefully removed with a brush. In some places, particularly on the coast of Coromandel, the dried indigo lumps are allowed to effloresce in a cask for some time, and when they become hard they are wiped and packed for exportation.

2. Indigo from dried leaves.—The ripe plant being cropped, is to be dried in sunshine from nine o'clock in the morning till four in the afternoon, during two days, and threshed to separate the stems from the leaves, which are then stored up in magazines till a sufficient quantity he collected for manufacturing operations. The newly dried leaves must be free from spots, and friable between the fingers. When kept dry, the leaves undergo, in the course of four weeks, a material change, their beautiful green tint turning into a pale blue-grey, previous to which the leaves afford no indigo by maceration in water, but subsequently a large quantity. Afterwards the product becomes less considerable.

The following process is pursued to extract indigo from the dried leaves:—They are infused in the steeping vat with six times their bulk of water, and allowed to macerate for two hours, with continual stirring, till all the floating leaves sink. The fine green liquor is then drawn off into the beater vat, for if it stood longer in the steeper, some of the indigo would settle among the leaves and be lost. Hot water, as employed by some manufacturers, is not necessary. The process with dry leaves possesses this advantage, that a provision of the plant may be made at the most suitable times, independently of the vicissitudes of the weather, and the indigo may be uniformly made; and, moreover, that the fermentation of the fresh leaves, often capricious in its course, is superseded by a much shorter period of simple maceration.

PRODUCTION OF INDIGO IN INDIA.

	maunds.
1840	120,000
1841	162,318
1842	79,000
1843	143,207
1844	127,862
1845	127,862
1846	101,328
1847	110,000
1848	126,565
1849	126,000

Average of the ten years 126,744 maunds.

The yield from the different districts in 1849, was nearly as follows:—

	maunds.
Bengal	84,500
Tirhoot	24,500
Benares	9,500
Oude	6,500
	125,000

In 1790 the general object of cultivation in Mauritius was indigo, of which from four to five crops a year were procured. One person sent to Europe 30,000 lbs., in 1789, of very superior quality.

CEYLON.—Indigo, though indigenous in Ceylon, is still imported from the adjoining continent, but its growth in this island would be subject to none of the vicissitudes of climate, that in the course of a single night have devastated the most extensive plantations in Bengal, and annihilated the hopes and calculations of the planter at a time when they had attained all the luxuriance of approaching maturity.

The district of Tangalle, in the southern province, is the best adapted to the culture and manufacture of indigo for various reasons, such as the abundance of the indigenous varieties of the plant, the similarity of the climate to that of the coast of Coromandel, where the best indigo is produced; facility of transport by water to either of the ports of export, Galle or Colombo, during the south-east, or to Trincomalee by the south-west monsoon; every necessary material is at hand for building a first rate indigo factory, including drying yards, leaf godowns (stores), steeping vats and presses, except roof and floor tiles—which may be obtained in any quantity from Colombo, during the south-west monsoon, at a moderate rate, compared with their cost at home.

In 1817 an offer was made to the Grovernment to introduce the cultivation of indigo, on condition of a free grant of the land required for the purpose and freedom from taxation for thirty years, after which the usual tax was to be levied; and in case the cultivation were abandoned, the land was to revert to the Crown. But whether from the disturbed state of the colony at the time or from incredulity on the part of the Government, as to the capability of the colony in this respect, the application was unheeded. A subsequent proposal, emanating from a Swedish gentleman of great ability, skill and enterprise, was defeated by his death, although a company was on the point of formation to carry out the scheme. It would not be difficult, says Mr. Barrett, to select 500,000 acres, the property of the Crown, which at a comparatively small expenditure might be brought into a proper state of cultivation for the reception of indigo seed; for very little would be required to be done beyond clearing the land of weeds, burning the grass, and then lightly ploughing and levelling the ground; and whenever manure might be requisite, the fecula of the leaf affords one of the richest that could be employed. Ceylon produces two other plants from which a very valuable blue dye may be obtained by a similar process to that of making indigo. The Singhalese head men of the Tangalle district have long been anxious for the establishment of an indigo plantation there, and would readily take shares in a company established for that purpose. Indigo would seem to have been exported by the Dutch from Ceylon so late as 1794. The wild varieties of indigo which grow on the sea-shore are used by the dobies (washermen).

Indigo grows in a wild state in Siam, and all the dye used in the country is manufactured from these plants. The extensive low grounds are admirably suited for the cultivation of this plant.

A large quantity is raised in Manila, but I have no full details of the cultivation in the Philippines. However, in the first six months of 1843, 1,039 piculs of indigo were shipped to Europe, and about 650 to other quarters—equal in all to about 226,000 lbs. in the half year. In the year 1847 the exports of indigo were 30,631 arrobas, equal to about 7,658 cwt.; in 1850 the total exports from Manila were 4,225 quintals.

JAVA.—The cultivation of indigo was introduced into Java in the time of the company. It was so much neglected during the administration of Governor Daendels, that the exportation ceased. It however revived subsequently, and in 1823 the exports were close upon 17,000 lbs. In 1826 it had risen to 46,000 lbs. In the single province of Westbaglen, about 60 square miles in extent, 86 indigo factories were established in the course of seven or eight years. In 1839, the exports of this dye-stuff from Java were 588,764 kilogrammes, valued at 7½ million francs.

It has been found by experience that a good soil is essentially necessary for the plant, and the indigo transplanted from elevated grounds to the rice fields succeeds better and yields more coloring matter than when raised direct on the spot from the seed. The residencies of Cheribon, Baglen and Madura, are those in which the crop succeeds best. From being so exhausting a crop, and finding it prejudicial to their rice grounds, they are gradually abandoning indigo culture in Java, and about two-thirds of the indigo plantations have within the, last year or two been replaced with sugar.

The value of the Java indigo is set down at 250 rupees (£25) per maund. If this be the average price, and it cannot be manufactured lower, Bengal has little to fear from Javanese competition. The product of indigo rose from 276 maunds in 1825, to 28,000 in 1842, and the quantity sold by the Dutch Trading Company in the last-named year was 10,500 chests, of about the same dimensions as those usually exported from Calcutta.

Some further statistics of the culture in Java are shown in the following returns of the quantity exported:—

	lbs.
1830	22,063
1835	535,753
1839	595,818
1841	913,693
1843	1,890,429
1851	769,580
1852	838,288

The produce in 1848 was 1,151,368 lbs.

	1840.	1841.
Residencies in which this culture is introduced	9	10
Number of factories	728	728
Families occupied with this culture	197,085	192,159
Extent of fields where the cutting has been made in bahas of 71 decametres	40,844	38,829
Quantity of bahus planted before the gathering	317	538
Quantity of indigo crop in pounds	2,032,097	1,663,427
Quantity of average pounds per bahu	49¾	43

The extent of fields destined for the crop of 1842 was 37,970 bahus, and the amount of the crop was calculated by approximation at 1,862,000.

The gradual increase of the export in the eighteen years ending 1842, is shown as follows:—

	Maunds.
1825	76
1826	126
1827	109
1828	310
1829	600
1830	480
1831	563
1832	2,213
1833	2,861
1834	3,310
1835	7,023
1836	5,365
1837	10,822
1838	9,788
1839	15,680
1840	27,946
1841	24,044
1842	28,000

Total imports of indigo into the United Kingdom, and quantity retained for home consumption:—

	Imports.	Home consumption.
	cwts.	cwts.
1848	59,127	9,032
1849	81,449	12,270
1850	70,482	16,374
1851	89,994	27,947
1852	83,565	16,381

IMPORTS OF INDIGO.

	East Indies.	Mexico and the ports of South America.
	lbs.	lbs.
1831	6,996,062	—
1832	6,196,080	66,363
1833	6,315,529	125,264
1834	3,595,697	64,638
1835	3,861,853	88,306
1836	7,218,991	198,003
1837	5,706,896	365,091
1838	6,578,352	142,739
1839	4,651,542	363,148
1840	6,940,192	124,766
1841	7,451,653	247,031
1842	8,931,112	155,003
1843	6,319,294	130,836

Entered for home consumption about two millions and a half pounds annually. (" Parl. Returns No. 656, September 1843, and 426, September 1844.")

The consumption of indigo in Europe and North America in round numbers, estimated from authentic sources, is thus set down by Mr. Macculloch in 1849:—

			chests.
In	Great Britain	for home consumption	9,820
"	France total	for ditto	10,400
"	American ports from	London and Liverpool	2,500
"	"	Calcutta	700
"	"	Holland, &c.	400
Other	European countries	export from London and Liverpool.	21,530
"	"	export from Holland	4,270
"	"	export from Calcutta	120
"	"	export from France	300
			50,040

MADDER.

This substance, which is so extensively used in dyeing red, is the product of the long slender roots of the Rubia tinctorum, a plant of which there are several varieties. Our principal supplies of this important article of commerce are obtained from Holland, Belgium, France, Turkey, Spain, and the Balearic Isles, the Italian States, India, and Ceylon.

The plant is generally raised from seed, and requires three years to come to maturity. It is, however, often pulled in eighteen months without injury to the quality; the quantity only is smaller. A rich soil is necessary for its successful cultivation, and when the soil is impregnated with alkaline matter, the root acquires a red color; in other cases it is yellow. The latter is preferred in England, from the long habit of using Dutch madder, which is of this color, but in France the red sells at two francs per cwt. higher, being used for the Turkey-red dye. Madder does not deteriorate by keeping, provided it be kept dry. It contains three volatile coloring matters, madder purple, orange, and red. The latter is in the form of crystals, having a fine orange red color, and called Alizaine. This is the substance which yields the Turkey-red dye. The chay root is employed in the East Indies as a substitute for madder, and so is the root of Morinda citrifolia, under the name of Sooranjee.

Turkey madder roots realise about 30s. per cwt. About 1,100 tons are annually shipped from Naples, worth about £30 per ton.

Madder has become an article of great request, on account of the fine scarlet color produced from its roots, and is so essential to dyers and calico printers that without it they cannot carry on their manufactures. It is cultivated extensively in Holland, from whence it is imported in large quantities into both England and France, though it is cultivated to some extent in both countries. It has also been raised as a soiling crop, but the coloring matter is of so penetrating and subtile a character, that the flesh, milk, and even the bones of animals fed upon it are said to be tinged to a considerable degree with it. The soils best adapted, and which should be selected for its cultivation, are dry, fertile, and deep sandy loams; the roots are long and fibrous, and descend to a depth of from two to three feet. It may be propagated by seed, which, by some, is thought the best method, but the more usual mode is by the division of, and transplanting, the roots. The ground should be thoroughly and deeply pulverised, clean, and well-manured for the preceding crop, that the manure may be thoroughly rotted and incorporated with the soil: in April or May the suckers will be fit for taking from the older plantations—those of two or three years producing the best. The sets should have roots four or five inches long. Mark out rows two feet apart, with a line, and set the plant with a dibble, one foot apart in the rows. The roots should be dipped in a puddle of fine rich earth and water, beaten to the consistence of cream, previous to planting; let the crown of the plant be clearly over ground, and secure the earth well around the root, to keep out drought. The plantation requires nothing more but to be kept perfectly clean and well-hoed during the summer months; and after the top decays in the autumn, to be earthed up by the plough for the winter, each year, till the plants are three years old, when they are of the proper size and age for lifting, which must be done by trenching the land two feet deep—several hands accompanying the digger to pick out the roots, which must be thoroughly cleaned and dried on a kiln till they are so brittle as to break across, when they are fit to be packed in bags, and sold to the dye-stuff manufacturers who grind and reduce them to powder for use. The produce is variable; usually from eight to twenty cwt. per acre, but as much as 3,000 to 6,000 lbs. is frequently obtained. The forage amounts to about 15,000 lbs. the first year, and 7,500 lbs. the second year. In a new and good soil manure may be dispensed with for the first crop. Some cultivators interline and grow other crops between the rows, but the best cultivators state that such a practice is objectionable. The breadth of land under this crop in England is much reduced, in consequence of the reduction in price from the competition of the Dutch growers.

Madder is extensively grown on the central table land of Afghanistan, forming one of the leading products of Beloochistan.; and, according to Mr. Pottinger, it sells in the Kelat Bazaar at about 10 lbs. for 2s. The cultivation there pursued is as follows:—The ground is repeatedly ploughed, and laid out finally in small trenches, in which the seed is sown, covered slightly with earth, and then the whole is flooded. Whilst thus irrigated, the trenches are filled with a mixture of rich manure and earth. The plants appear in about ten days, and attain a height of three or four feet during the first summer. They are cut down in September and used as fodder for cattle. Subsequently, and until spring arrives, the ground is manured and repeatedly flooded. During the second year's growth, the plants which are intended to produce seed are set apart, but the stems of the remainder are cut every four or six weeks, in order to increase the size and goodness of the roots.

Madder is said to repay a nett profit of 200 dollars to the acre, when properly managed. It produced on the farm of a gentleman, who has devoted some attention to this product in Ohio, at the rate of 2,000 lbs. per acre, and it may be made to produce 3,000 lbs., which is a greater yield than the average crops of Germany and Holland. Nine acres were planted by another person in the United States, in 1839, which he harvested in 1842. The labor required is said to be from 80 to 100 days work per acre.

In the third year the stems are pruned as in the two preceding, and in September the roots are dug up. The roots are fusiform and thin, without any ramifications, and usually from three to five feet long. As soon as raised, they are immediately cut into small pieces and dried, and are then merchantable.

Mr. Joseph Swift, an enterprising American farmer, of Erie county, Ohio, who occupies about 400 acres of choice land, mostly alluvial, in the valley of the Vermilion river, seven miles from Lake Erie, has detailed his practice in the "New Genesee Farmer" (an agricultural periodical), for March, 1843. His directions must be understood as intended for those who wish to cultivate only a few acres, and cannot afford much outlay of capital. Those who desire to engage in the business on an extensive scale, would need to adopt a somewhat different practice:—

Soil and preparation.—" The soil should be a deep, rich, sandy loam, free from weeds, roots, stones, &c., containing a good portion of vegetable earth. Alluvial "bottom" land is the most suitable, but it must not be wet. If old upland is used, it should receive a heavy coating of vegetable earth, from decayed wood and leaves. The land should be ploughed very deep in the fall, and early in the spring apply about one hundred loads of well-rotted manure per acre, spread evenly, and ploughed in deeply; then harrow till quite fine and free from lumps. Next plough the land into beds four feet wide, leaving alleys between three feet wide, then harrow the beds with a fine light harrow, or rake them by hand, so as to leave them smooth and even with the alleys; they are then ready for planting.

Preparing sets and planting.—Madder sets or seed roots are best selected when the crop is dug in the fall. The horizontal uppermost roots (with eyes) are the kind to be used; these should be separated from the bottom roots, and buried in sand in a cellar or pit. If not done in the fall, the sets may be dug early in the spring, before they begin to sprout. They should be cut or broken into pieces, containing from two to five eyes each; i.e., three to four inches long. The time for planting is as early in the spring as the ground can be got in good order, and severe frosts are over, which in this climate (America) is usually about the middle of April. With the beds prepared as directed, stretch a line lengthwise the bed, and with the corner of a hoe make a drill two inches deep along each edge and down the middle, so as to give three rows to each bed, about two feet apart. Into these drills drop the sets, ten inches apart, covering them two inches deep. Eight or ten bushels of sets are requisite for an acre.

After culture.—As soon as the madder plants can be seen, the ground should be carefully hoed, so as to destroy the weeds and not injure the plants; and the hoeing and weeding must be repeated as often as weeds make their appearance. If any of the sets have failed to grow, the vacancies should be filled by talking up parts of the strongest roots and transplanting them; this is best done in June. As soon as the madder plants are ten or twelve inches high, the tops are to be bent down on the surface of the ground, and all except the tip end covered with earth, shovelled from the middle of the alleys. Bend the shoots outward and inward in every direction, so as in time to fill all the vacant space on the beds, and about one foot on each side. After the first time covering, repeat the weeding when necessary, and run a single horse plough through the alleys several times to keep the earth clean and mellow. As soon as the plants again become ten or twelve inches high, bend down and cover them as before, repeating the operation as often as necessary, which is commonly three times the first season. The last time may be as late as September, or later if no frosts occur. By covering the tops in this manner, they change to roots, and the design is to fill the ground as full of roots as possible. When the vacant spaces are all full, there is but little chance for weeds to grow; but all that appear must be pulled out.

The second year.—Keep the beds free from weeds; plough the alleys and cover the tops, as before directed, two or three times during the season. The alleys will now form deep and narrow ditches, and if it becomes difficult to obtain good earth for covering the tops, that operation may be omitted after the second time this season. Care should be taken, when covering the tops, to keep the edges of the beds as high as the middle; otherwise the water from heavy showers will run off, and the crop suffer from drought.

The third year.—Very little labor or attention is required. They will now cover the whole ground. If any weeds are seen, they must be pulled out; otherwise their roots will cause trouble when harvesting the madder. The crop is sometimes dug the third year; and if the soil and cultivation have been good, and the seasons warm and favorable, the madder will be of a good quality; but generally it is much better in quality, and more in quantity, when left until the fourth year.

Digging and harvesting.—This should be done between the 20th of August and the 20th of September. Take a sharp shovel or shovels, and cut off and remove the tops with half an inch of the surface of the earth; then take a plough of the largest size, with a sharp coulter and a double team, and plough a furrow outward, beam-deep, around the edge of the bed; stir the earth with forks, and carefully pick out all the roots, removing the earth from the bottom of the furrow; then plough another furrow beam-deep, as before, and pick over and remove the earth in the same manner; thus proceeding until the whole is completed.

Washing and drying.—As soon as possible after digging, take the roots to some running stream to be washed. If there is no running stream convenient, it can be done at a pump. Take large round sieves, two-and-a-half or three feet in diameter, with the wire about as fine as wheat sieves; or if these cannot be had, get from a hardware store sufficient screen wire of the right fineness, and make frames or boxes, two-and-a-half feet long and the width of the, wire, on the bottom of which nail the wire. In these sieves or boxes, put half a bushel of roots at a time, and stir them about in the water, pulling the branches apart so as to wash them clean; then, having a platform at hand, lay them onto dry. (To make the platform, take two or three common boards, so as to be about four feet in width, and nail deals across the under side). On these spread the roots about two inches thick for drying in the sun. Carry the platforms to a convenient place, not far from the house, and place them side by side, in rows east and west, and with their ends north and south, leaving room to walk between the rows. Elevate the south ends of the platforms about eighteen inches, and the north ends about six inches from the ground, putting poles or sticks to support them—this will greatly facilitate drying. After the second or third day's drying, the madder must be protected from the dews at night, and from rain, by placing the platforms one upon another to a convenient height, and covering the uppermost one with board. Spread them out again in the morning, or as soon as danger is over. Five or six days of ordinarily fine weather will dry the madder sufficiently, when it may be put away till it is convenient to kiln-dry and grind it.

Kiln-drying,—The size and mode of constructing the kiln may be varied to suit circumstances. The following is a very cheap plan, and sufficient to dry one ton of roots at a time. Place four strong posts in the ground, twelve feet apart one way, and eighteen the other; the front two fourteen feet high, and the other eighteen; put girts across the bottom, middle, and top, and nail boards perpendicularly on the outside as for a common barn. The boards must be well seasoned, and all cracks or holes should be plastered or otherwise stopped up. Make a shed-roof of common boards. In the inside put upright standards about five feet apart, with cross-pieces to support the scaffolding. The first cross-pieces to be four feet from the floor; the next two feet higher, and so on to the top. On these cross-pieces lay small poles, about six feet long and two inches thick, four or fire inches apart. On these scaffolds the madder is to be spread nine inches thick. A floor is laid at the bottom to keep all dry and clean. When the kiln is filled, take six or eight small kettles or hand-furnaces, and place them four or five feet apart on the floor (first securing it from fire with bricks or stones), and make fires in them with charcoal, being careful not to make any of the fires so large as to scorch the madder over them. A person must be in constant attendance to watch and replenish the fires. The heat will ascend through the whole, and in ten or twelve hours it will all be sufficiently dried, which is known by its becoming brittle like pipe stems.

Breaking and grinding.—Immediately after being dried, the madder must be taken to the barn and threshed with flails, or broken by machinery (a mill might easily be constructed for this purpose), so that it will feed in a common grist-mill. If it is not broken and ground immediately, it will gather dampness so as to prevent its grinding freely. Any common grist-mill can grind madder properly. When ground finely it is fit for use, and may be packed in barrels like flour for market.

Amount and value of product, &c.—Mr. Swift measured off a part of his ground, and carefully weighed the product when dried, which he found to be over two thousand pounds per acre, notwithstanding the seasons were mostly dry and unfavorable. With his present knowledge of the business, he is confident that he can obtain at least three thousand pounds per acre, which is said to be more than is often obtained in Germany. The whole amount of labor he estimates at from eighty to one hundred days' work per acre. The value of the crop, at the usual wholesale price (about fifteen cents per pound), from three to four hundred dollars. In foreign countries it is customary to make several qualities of the madder, which is done by sorting the roots; but as only one quality is required for the western market, Mr. Swift makes but one, and that is found superior to most of the imported, and finds a ready sale.

Madder is produced in Middle Egypt to some extent, for the consumption of the country, principally for dyeing the tarbouche or skull caps which are universally worn. Its culture was introduced in 1825. In 1833, 300 acres in Upper Egypt, and 500 in the Delta and the Kelyout, were devoted to madder roots.

New South Wales is eminently suited to the culture of this valuable root, and as the profits upon its cultivation are very large, I would strongly recommend it to the attention of agriculturists there. The article produces to France an annual sum of one million sterling; the price of the finest quality in the English market being £60 per ton. Its yield varies from £40 to £50 per acre, and the expenses upon its proper culture should not exceed one-half that amount. The colonists would find it to their interest to turn their attention to such articles as this, for which there is an extensive demand at home, instead of confining themselves exclusively to the commoner and bulkier products, which they export at a much less profit, and which when once the market is fully supplied, may fall to a price at which they cannot afford to sell.

The following is a calculation of the expenses generally supposed to attend a crop according to the mode of cultivation practised in Vaucluse:—

				£ s.	d.
Rent per hectare (2½ English acres), 3 years, at 165 francs				19	17	6
Manure, 440 francs	£17	12	6
Carriage of ditto, 132 francs	3	5	10
				22	18	4
				£42	15	10
These expenses may almost be dispensed with in our colonies, as the soil at Vaucluse has long been exhausted.
Two and a-half acres require 170 lbs. seed, at 2½d. per pound, which, with the labor afterwards bestowed, including the cost of spade trenching, will be				30	0	0
				£72	15	10

The average produce per hectare is 77 cwt., which, at £1 4s. 2d. per cwt. (the price on the spot), is £93. The price is now much lower, but still it is clear a most profitable return would be derived from the first crop, and a proportionably larger one afterwards.

A considerable portion of the madder roots, instead of being ground and exported in that form, as heretofore, is now exposed, after being invested with dilute sulphuric acid, to a boiling heat by means of steam, by which the coloring matter is considerably altered and improved in quality for some dyeing processes, while the quantity rendered soluble in water is greatly increased. The madder so prepared is known as "garancine," and forms an important branch of manufacture in the south of France, which was well illustrated at the Great Exhibition in 1851, by a collection of specimens supplied by the Chamber of Commerce of Avignon. The spent madder, after being used in dyeing, is now also converted by Mr. H. Steiner, of Accrington, into a garancine (termed garanceuse by the French) by steaming it with sulphuric acid in the same manner as the fresh madder, and thus a considerable quantity of coloring matter is recovered and made available which was formerly thrown away in the spent madder. Both varieties of garancine give a more scarlety red than the unprepared madder, and also good chocolate and black, without soiling the white ground, but are not so well fitted, particularly the garancine of spent madder, for dyeing purples, lilacs, and pinks. The value of the garancine imported from France in 1848 was £59,554, and of that imported in 1851 £93,818. This preparation of ground madder is imported into Liverpool to the extent of from 500 to 600 tons annually from Marseilles, for the use of calico printers in the manufacturing districts. The price is £7 to £8 the ton.

This important root is already cultivated to a considerable extent in Russia but not nearly in sufficient quantity to meet the local demand; so that large quantities are imported from Holland and elsewhere, every year.

The quantity of madder, madder-root, and garaneine annually imported into the United Kingdom is exceedingly large, over 15,000 tons, as is shown by a reference to the following figures:—

	Madder.	Madder roots.	Garancine.	Total.
	cwts.	cwts.	cwts.	cwts.
1848	81,261	139,463	5,955	276,679
1849	92,736	161,986	4,969	259,691
1850	100,248	161,613	5,845	267,706
1851	92,925	202,091	9,382	304,398
1852	84,385	179,813	—	—

We imported from France, duty free, the following:—

	Madder.	Official value.	Madder-root.
	cwts.	£	cwts.	£
1848	54,084	122,851	25,068	70,749
1849	57,108	131,059	23,459	81,274
1850	54,559	123,628	13,693	55,263
1851	65,577	151,502	34,017	167,721

The price in the Liverpool market, in June 1853, for Bombay madder-roots was £1 18s. to £2 14s. the cwt.

INDIAN MADDER.—Rubia cordifolia, or Munjestha, a variety with white flowers, a native of Siberia, is cultivated largely in the East, particularly about Assam, Nepaul, Bombay, Scinde, Quitta, China, &c., for its dye-stuff, and is known as Munjeet. A small quantity is exported from China and India; about 338 Indian maunds were shipped from Calcutta in 1840, and 2,328 in 1841. It fetches in the London and Liverpool markets from 20s. to 25s. and 30s. per cwt., duty free; 405 tons were imported into Liverpool from Bombay and Calcutta, in 1849, and 525 tons in 1850, but none was imported in 1851 and 1852.

It was remarked by the Jury in 1851, at the Great Exhibition, that this is a valuable dye-stuff, and hitherto not so well appreciated as it deserves, for some of the colors dyed with it are quite as permanent as those dyed with madder, and even more brilliant. Its use however is gradually increasing, and it is unquestionably well worthy the attention of dyers.

LOGWOOD.—The logwood of commerce is the red heart wood, or duramen, of a fine lofty growing tree (Haematroxylon Campechianum), growing in Campeachy and the bay of Honduras, and which is also now common in the woods of Jamaica and St. Domingo. It is principally imported as a dye wood, cut into short lengths. We chip, grind, and pack it into casks and bags, ready for the dyers, hatters, and printers' use, who esteem it as affording the most durable deep red and black dyes. It is sometimes used in medicine as an astringent. That grown in Jamaica is least valued that of Honduras, Tobasco, and St. Domingo, fetches a somewhat higher price; but that imported from Campeachy direct, is the most esteemed. The annual imports into Liverpool are about 1,300 tons from Honduras, 100 from Tobasco, and 1,800 from Campeachy.

It thrives best in a damp tenacious soil, with a small proportion of sand. It is imported in logs, which are afterwards chipped, and is of great commercial importance from its valuable dyeing properties. Old wood is preferred; it is so hard as almost to be indestructible by the atmosphere. The albumen is of a yellowish color, and is not imported. The bark and wood are slightly astringent. The imports of logwood into the United Kingdom, were 23,192 tons in 1848, 23,996 tons in 1849, and 34,090 tons in 1850, of which 3,484 tons were re-exported in 1848, and 2,307 tons in 1849. The imports in the past two years of 1852 and 1853, have averaged 20,000 tons, of which about 3,000 tons were re-exported. It is increasing in use, for in 1837, the quantity retained for home use was only 14,677½ tons. The price varies according to quality from £4 to £7 per ton.

We received from Honduras 5,401 tons in 1844; and 55,824 tons in 1845. From Montego Bay, Jamaica, 398 tons were shipped between January and July 1851.

FUSTIC.—This is the common name of a species of dye wood in extensive use, which is obtained from Maclura tinctoria, or Broussonitia tinctoria, Kunth, a large and handsome evergreen tree, growing in South America and the West Indies. The wood is extensively used as an ingredient in the dyeing of yellow, and is largely imported for that purpose. The quantity entered for home consumption in the United Kingdom was 1,731 tons in 1847, 1,653 in 1848, and 1,842 tons in 1849.

Ninety-one tons were shipped from Montego Bay, Jamaica, in the first six months of 1851.

QUERCITRON.—-This bark furnishes a yellow dye, of which about 3,500 tons are annually imported in hogsheads of from half a ton to a ton. 296 tons were imported into Liverpool from Philadelphia in 1849, and 514 tons in 1850.

BRAZIL WOOD.—This very ponderous wood is obtained in Brazil from the Cæsalpina Braziliensis, which yields a red or crimson dye, when united with alum or tartar, and is used by silk dyers. It is imported principally from Pernambuco, 1,200 quintals having been shipped to London in 1835, but about 500 tons, worth about £4 a ton, were imported from Costa Rica in 1845.

The tree is large, crooked, and knotty, and the bark is thick, and equals the third or fourth of its diameter.

The imports may be stated at about 600 tons annually, the average price being £50 per ton.

Brazil wood is found in the greatest abundance and of the best quality, in the Province of Pernambuco, but being a government monopoly it has been cut down in so improvident a manner, that it is now seldom seen within several leagues of the coast.

Among the Cuba dye woods is Copey (Clusia rosea, Linn).

Braziletto, obtained from C. Crista, is one of the cheapest and least esteemed of the red dye woods, imported from Jamaica and other West India islands to the extent of 150 tons per annum, fetching £6 to £8 per ton. 2,361 tons of Nicaragua wood were imported in 1848, 2,701 tons in 1849, and 6,130 tons in 1850.

Spain exhibited various vegetable dyes obtained from cultivated and wild plants furnished by the Agricultural Board of Saragossa.

LICHENS.

The chief lichens employed in the manufacture of orchil and cudbear are the following:—

Angola weed (Ramalina furfuracea).

Mauritius weed (Rocella fusiformis), which comes also from Madagascar, Lima, and Valparaiso, and then bears the distinctive commercial name of the port of shipment.

Cape weed (Rocella tinctoria), from the Cape de Verd Islands.

Canary Moss (Parmelia perlata).

Tartareous Moss (Parmelia tartarea).

Pustulatus Moss (Umbilicaria pustulata).

Velvet Moss (Gyrophora murina).

The last three are imported from Sweden.

Of these lichens, the first, which is the richest in coloring matter, grows as a parasite upon trees; all the remainder upon rocks.

Rocella corallina, Variolaris lactea and dealbata, have been also resorted to.

About 130 tons of cudbear are imported annually from Sweden.

These lichens are found on rocks, on the sea coast. The modes, of treating them for the manufacture of the different dyes is the same in principle, though varying slightly in detail. They are carefully cleaned and ground into a pulp with water, an ammoniacal liquor is from time to time added, and the mass constantly stirred in order to expose it as much as possible to the air. Peculiar substances existing in these plants are, during this process, so changed by the combined action of the atmosphere, water, and ammonia, as to generate the coloring matter, which, when perfect, is pressed out, and gypsum, chalk, or other substances, are then added, so as to give it the desired consistency; these are then prepared for the market under the forms of cudbear or litmus.

HENNA (Lawsonia inermis), is an important dye-stuff, and the distilled water of the flowers is used as a perfume. The Mahomedan women in India use the shoots for dyeing their nails red, and the same practice prevails in Arabia. In these countries the manes and tails of the horses are stained red in the same manner. The Genista tomentosa yields red petals used in dyeing, and containing much tannic acid.

ORCHILLA WEED.—The fine purple color which the orchilla weed yields, is in use as an agent for coloring, staining, and dyeing. About 30,000 lbs. is obtained annually in the island of Teneriffe. 460 arrobas (or 115 cwt.) of orchilla were exported from the Canary Isles in 1833. In 1839, 6,494 cwts. paid duty, and 4,175 cwts. in 1840. The average imports of the three years ending with 1842, was 6,050 cwt. A little comes in from Barbary and the islands of the Archipelago.

Dr. W.L. Lindley, in a very interesting paper, read before the Botanical Society of London, in December, 1852, on the dyeing properties of the lichens, stated—

The subject of the colorific and coloring principles of the lichen has, within the last few years, attracted a due share of that attention which, has been increasingly devoted to organic chemistry. Since 1830, Heeren, Kane, Schunck, Rochleder and Heldt, Knop, Stenhouse, Laurent and Gerhardt, have published valuable papers on these principles; but, here again, we have to regret the great discrepancy in the various results obtained, and there is therefore, here also, imperatively demanded re-investigation and correction before any of the results already published can he implicitly relied upon, and before we can have safe data from which to generalise. I have no doubt that a great proportion of the obscurity overhanging this subject depends on the circumstance that many of the chemists, who have devoted attention to the color-educts and products of the lichens, were not themselves botanists, and have therefore probably, in some cases at least, analysed species under erroneous names, and also because their investigations have comprehended a much too limited number of species.

Their utility in the arts, and especially in dyeing—including the collection of a series of the commercial dye lichens, i.e., those used by the manufacturers of London, &c., in the making of orchil, cudbear, litmus, and other lichen dyes. While investigating the dyeing properties of the lichens, I made experiments, with a view to test their colorific power, on as many species as I could obtain in sufficient quantity, to render it at all useful to operate on—that number, however, being very limited (between forty and fifty).

Dr. Lindley adds, many parties may be able to aid his investigations, by furnishing information on their economic uses, and on their special applications in dyeing and other arts—(particularly on their employment, as dye agents, by the natives of Britain and other countries)—with specimens of the lichens so used, and their common names—specimens of fabrics dyed therewith—notes of the processes employed for the elimination of the dyes, &c. Parties resident in, or travelling through our western Highlands and Islands, the northern Highlands, Ireland, Wales, Norway, Iceland, and similar countries, are most likely to be able to afford this description of information—many native lichens being still used by the peasantry of these countries to dye their homespun yarn, &c.

He proceeded to treat—1. The vast importance of this humble tribe of plants in the grand economy of nature, as the pioneers and founders of all vegetation. 2. Their importance to man and the lower animals, as furnishing various articles of food. 3. Their importance in medicine, and especially in its past history, at home and abroad. 4. Their importance in the useful and fine arts, and especially in the art of dyeing. 5. Their affinities and analogies to other cryptogamic families, and to the Phanerogamia. 6. Their value as an element of the picturesque in nature; and, 7. Their typical significance.

He then adverted more especially to the subject of his communication, under the ten following heads:—

I. The colors of the Thallus and apothecia of Lichens—their causes, and
the circumstances which modify and alter them.
II. History of the application of their coloring matters to the art of dyeing.
III. Chemical nature and general properties of these coloring matters.
IV. Tests and processes for estimating qualitatively, and quantitatively the
colorific powers of individual species—with their practical applications.
V. Processes of manufacture of the Lichen-dyes, on the large and small
scale in different countries—with the principles on which they are founded.
VI. Nomenclature of the dye-Lichens, and of the Lichen-dyes.
VII. Botanical and commercial sources of the same.
VIII. Special applications of the Lichen-dyes in the arts.
IX. Commercial value of the dye-Lichens, and their products.
X. Geographical distribution of the dye-Lichens—with the effect of climate;
situation, &c., on their colorific materials.

Of the four first sections of his paper, the following is a very short summary or synopsis:—

Under the first head, the author spoke of chlorophylle and various organic and inorganic substances, which enter into the formation of the colors of the thallus and apothecia of lichens, and of the modifications of these colors depending on various degrees of—1. Exposure to air and light. 2. Temperature. 3. Moisture, &c. 4. Atmospheric vicissitudes. 5. Season of the year. 6. Nature of the Gonidic reproduction (i.e., gemmation). 7. Nature of habitat. 8. Organic decomposition. 9. Coalescence of parts, monstrosities, &c.

Under the second section, he traced historically the manufacture of Lichen-dyes, and the native use of Lichens as dye agents, among different nations, from the times of Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and Pliny, down to the present day, sketching briefly the ancient end modern history of orchil, cudbear, and litmus, and specifying the native use of lichen-dyes in different, countries of Europe, Asia, and America. He alluded more particularly to their application to the dyeing of yarns, &c., by the Scotch Highlanders, under the name of "Crottles." "The process of the manufacture of the various crottles, generally consisted in macerating the powdered lichen for two or three weeks, in stale urine, exposing the mass freely to the air by repeated stirring, and adding lime, salt, alum, or argillaceous and other substances, either to heighten the color or impart consistence. To such an extent did this custom at one time prevail, that, in several of our northern counties each farm and cottage had its tank or barrel of putrefying urine, a homely but perfectly efficient mode of generating the necessary amount of ammonia. In the county of Aberdeen, in particular, every homestead had its reservoir of "Graith,"[53] and the "Lit-pig,"[54] which stood by every fireside, was as familiar an article of furniture in the cots of the peasantry, as the "cuttie-stool," or the "meal girnel." So lately as 1841 (and I presume the practice continues to the present day), Mr. Edmonston stated that, of four or five native dyes, used by the Shetlanders to color cloth and yarns, two at least were furnished by lichens, viz., a brown dye from Parmelia saxatilis, under the name of "Scrottyie," and a red one from Lecanora tartarea, under that of "Korkalett." It is very probable, however, that steam and free trade have gradually dispelled this good old custom, even in the remoter corners of our island; machinery-made articles being now readily supplied, at a rate so extraordinarily cheap, as to render it absolutely expensive (as to time, if not also as to money) to prepare colors, even by a process so simple and inexpensive as that just mentioned."

Under the third head, he examined, in a general way, the chemistry of the colorific and coloring matters of the lichens and the results to which it has led, avoiding as much as possible the technicalities inseparable from such a subject, and giving a short vise of the researches of Heeren, Kane, Rochleder, and Heldt, Stenhouse, Schunck, Laurent, and Gerhardt, and others. "Our untaught senses should undoubtedly lead us to expect the lichens, whose thallus exhibits the brightest tints, to yield the finest dyes, and these, too, of a color similar to that of the thallus, but experience teaches us that the beautiful reddish or purplish coloring-matters are producible in the greatest abundance by the very species from which we should least expect to derive any, viz., in those most devoid of external color. This, though at first sight very remarkable, is easily explicable, when we remember that, in most of the so-called dye-lichens, colorific principles exist in a colorless form, and only become converted into colored substances under a peculiar combination of circumstances.

"Some lichens contain coloring matters, ready formed, and these exhibit themselves in the tint of the thallus of the plants, e.g. chrysophanic [or parietinic] acid in Parmelia parietina, and vulpinic acid in Evernia vulpina. In other species we find principles, which, while in the plant, and unacted on by chemical re-agents, are colorless, but which, when the lichens are exposed to the combined influence of atmospheric air, water, and ammonia, yield colored substances. This series of colored products is usually comprehended more for convenience sake than on account of chemical identity, under the generic term orceine."

The whole subject of the chemistry of these bodies is at present in a most unsatisfactory condition, demanding fresh investigation and research, in illustration of which, the author exhibited tables of the colorific and coloring principles, so far as they are at present known, showing their chemical formulæ and the authority therefor, and various relative information. "It is highly probable that when the chemistry of the lichens has been more fully studied, and the whole subject of their color-educts and products better understood, we shall begin to reduce the present confused mass of complex substances, and find the same principles more extensively diffused through different lichen species." Dr. L. entered somewhat minutely on the chemical reactions of the better known colorific and coloring principles, and their derivatives, so far at least as these throw any light on the production and transmutation of the red or purple colors extracted from what may be termed par excellence, the dye-lichens. After a few remarks on the chemical constitution of orchil and litmus, as given by Kane, Gelis, Pereira, and others, he discussed the subject of decolorisation of weak infusions of orchil and litmus by exclusion of atmospheric air, and by various deoxidising agents, and the different theories as to the causation of this phenomenon. "I have repeatedly had occasion to notice that, when weak infusions of these substances are excluded for some time from atmospheric air, in a bottle, with a tightly fitting cork, they gradually lose color, but rapidly regain it on re-exposure. It is curious that both orchil and litmus are what are called transient or false colors, i.e., they slowly lose their bloom and tint by long exposure to the atmosphere; the coloring matter, therefore, appears to be decolorised both by exposure to, and exclusion from the air, phenomena apparently of very opposite characters. The cause of the latter phenomenon has never, so far as I am aware, been quite satisfactorily explained; but it has been variously supposed to be due:—

1. To the mere negation of oxygen.

2. To the development, in the liquids, of various substances, capable of exerting a decolorising influence on the coloring matter.

3. To deoxidation of the coloring matter by substances, which have a great tendency to become oxidised or peroxised; e.g. hydrogen, in the case of decolorisation by sulphuretted hydrogen, nascent hydrogen, and the protoxides of iron and tin, &c.

4. To the fixation of an additional amount of hydrogen in a new colorless body, formed by the union of the sulphuretted hydrogen or other substances with the coloring matter of the liquid. This view is chiefly supported by Kane, who says, "that precisely as the coloring matters combine with water, to form different shades of red-colored bodies—with ammonia to produce a series of bodies, which are blue and purple—so they combined with sulphuretted hydrogen to form colorless compounds in solution, which, if solid, very probably would be white." He supposes, in a word, that for every colored substance existing in orchil and litmus, there is a corresponding white one, producible by the action of sulphuretted hydrogen, &c.; and, in proof of this theory, he mentions having obtained from Azolitmine and Betaorceine colorless bodies, to which he gave the respective names of Leuco-litmine and Leuco-orceine.

The author then gave a short summary of Dr. Westring's experiments on the dyeing powers of the Swedish lichens, which he found might be conveniently divided into four classes, according to the degree of heat employed in their maceration, viz.:—

1. Lichens, whose coloring matter was easily extractable by cold water alone.

2. Those which required for the elimination of their coloring matter, maceration in tepid water (i.e. below 258 degs. Swedish thermometer).

3. Those which required maceration in warm water (i.e.between 50 and 60 degs. Swedish thermometer).

4. Those requiring boiling water alone, or with the aid of solvents.

"It must be admitted that our knowledge of the true nature of the colorofic and coloring principles of the lichens is, as yet, very imperfect and confused, and one great cause of the dubity and obscurity overhanging the subject, is the fact that different analysts have arrived at most opposite results, even in the examination of the same species. For instance, in Rocella tinctoria, which has, of all the dye-Lichens, been most frequently selected for analytical investigation, on account of its important product orchil, the discrepancies between the results obtained are very striking. In it Heeren discovered his Erythrine; Kane his Erythriline; Schunk his Erythric acid; and Stenhouse three different substances in as many varieties of the plant; all of these bodies differing more or less from each other in composition and properties (at least, if we are to assume, as correct, the descriptions given of them by their respective discoverers").

"I have already hinted that there is no ratio between the external and internal color or structure of a lichen, and the kind or amount of coloring matter it will be found to yield. It is exceedingly natural to suppose that such a ratio should exist; but, proceeding for some time on this supposition, I was frequently disappointed in my results—the most showy and brilliantly colored lichens often furnishing the dullest and most worthless colors. For instance, the bright yellow thallus of Parmelia parietina, and the beautiful scarlet apothecia of Scyphophorus cocciferus, instead of producing a rich yellow in the one case, and a deep crimson in the other, yielded, respectively, only dirty greenish-yellow and brownish colors. As a general rule I should almost be inclined to say that the finer the color of the thallus of any given lichen, the more is that lichen to be suspected of poverty in valuable coloring matters; and that, on the other hand, the palest pulverulent or crustaceous species, especially such as are saxicolous, may be expected to yield the most beautiful and valuable pigments (e.g. the Rocellas and Lecanoras). In such circumstances it is necessary to have some test, of easy applicability, of the kind and amount of colorific properties of any lichen, and this fortunately is readily attainable."

The fourth section of the paper was devoted to the consideration of the various tests of colorific power, which have been recommended by different authors. "Of these, the greater number proceed on the principle of developing the coloring matter by some alkali, in conjunction with the decomposing action of atmospheric oxygen and water; others are founded on the reaction between colorific principles of certain of the dye lichens and some of our ordinary chemical re-agents." The author noticed in particular—

1. Helot's test,	} }qualitative. }
2. Westring's tests,
3. Stenhouse's test,
4. Stenhouse's test,	quantitative.

Helot's test consists in digesting the dried and powdered lichen or a few hours, at a temperature of 130 degs., in a weak solution of ammonia, sufficiently strong, however, to be tolerably pungent. One that is fit for the dyer will yield a rich violet red liquor.

Dr. Westring recommended simply macerating three or four drachms of the lichen in cool spring water, assisting, perhaps, the solvent action of the water by minute quantities of common salt, nitre, quicklime, sulphate of copper or iron, or similar re-agents. If these means failed, after a sufficient length of time had been allowed for the development of color, he digested a fresh portion of the pulverised lichen in water, containing small quantities of sal-ammoniac and quicklime [in the proportion of 25 parts of water, 1-10th lime, and 1-20th sal-ammoniac for every part of lichen], for a period varying from eight to fourteen days, and by this process, he says, he never failed to develop all the color which the plant was capable of yielding.

Dr. Stenhouse, of London, one of our latest and best authorities on the chemistry of the lichens, adds to an alcoholic infusion of the lichen, a solution of common bleaching powder (chloride of lime), whereby, if it contain certain colorific principles capable of developing, under the joint action of air, water, and ammonia, red coloring matters, a fugitive but distinct blood-red color will be exhibited. The amount of this colorific matter may be estimated quantitatively by noting the quantity of the chloride of lime solution required to destroy this blood-red color in different cases: or the same result may be obtained by macerating for a short period in milk of lime—filtering—precipitating the filtered liquor by acetic or muriatic acid—collecting this precipitate on a weighed filter—drying at ordinary temperatures and again weighing.

The author entered into a full analysis of these tests and processes—pointing out their respective advantages and disadvantages—and showing their practical value and applications. He stated that he had made use of these, and various other tests, in upwards of 300 experiments, and the one which he employed to the greatest extent, because most uniformly applicable, was Helot's ammonia test. The following combination is that most favorable for the development of the coloring matter of the lichens—viz., the presence

1.	Of water as a solvent menstruum.
2.	Of atmospheric oxygen.
3.	Of ammonia, in the state of vapor or in solution, and
4.	Of a moderate degree of heat;

And according as the proportion of these combining elements varies, so do the kind and amount of color educed by them. This combination is the foundation of all the processes for the manufacture of the lichen dyes throughout the world, however different these may appear to be in detail or results.

I believe it may come to be a matter of great commercial importance to discover, at home or abroad, some cheap and easily-procurable substitute for the Roccellas, which are gradually becoming scarce, and consequently valuable in European commerce, having sometimes fetched, in times of scarcity, no less than £1,000 per ton. No plants can be so easily collected and preserved as lichens—requiring merely to be cleaned, dried, pulverised, and packed; and if their bulk be an objection to transport, their whole colorific matter may be collected in the way I have already mentioned. Ascending to the verge of eternal snows, and descending to the ocean level—with a geographical diffusion that is co-extensive with the surface of our earth, it is difficult to say where lichens shall not be found. There are myriads of small rocky islets in the boundless ocean, and there are thousands of miles of barren rocky coast and sterile mountain range in every part of the world, which, though at present unfit to bear any of the higher members of the vegetable kingdom, are yet carpeted and adorned with a rich covering of lichens, and of those very species too, which I have already spoken of as prolific in colorific materials. I sincerely believe, therefore, that a more general attention to the very simple tests just enumerated, would ultimately result in a greatly extended use of the lichens as dye agents. What renders it very probable that efforts in this direction are likely to meet with success is the great similarity of species found all over the world. It has been repeatedly noticed that the European species, which, of course, are best known, differ little from those of North America. Dr. Robert Brown remarked the same fact with regard to New Holland species, and Humboldt also recognised the similarity in natives of the South American Andes. Of a large collection made by Professor Royle, in the Himalayas, Don pronounced almost every one to be identical with European species. From examining the raw vegetable products, sent by different countries to the Great Exhibition of 1851, I am satisfied that, even now, there are many fields open for the establishment of an export trade in Roccellas and other so-called orchella weeds." I there saw specimens of good dye lichens from almost every part of the world, including our own young colonies; and as a single instance of their probable value, I may introduce here the copy of a note appended to a specimen of orchella weed from the island of Socotra, contained in the Indian collection of that exhibition, "abundant, but unknown as an article of use or commerce. Also abundant on the hills around (Aden) and might be made an article of trade." Roccellas from this source are estimated as worth £190 to £380 per ton. I believe that a similar statement might be made with regard to the countless islands of the broad Atlantic and Pacific, which may, at some future period, perhaps not far distant, be found to be rich depots of orchella weeds, just as some of them are, at present, rich fields of guano, and may, as such, become new nuclei of British commerce and enterprise. Even at home, in the immediate vicinity of Edinburgh, or, to restrict our limits still more narrowly, within the compass of Arthur's Seat, there are not a few very good dye-lichens, which require merely to be scraped with an old knife or similar instrument, from the rocks to which they adhere, and subjected to the ammonia process already mentioned. Of twelve specimens thus collected at random one morning, I found no less than three yielded beautiful purple-red colors, apparently as fine as orchil or cudbear, while the others furnished rich and dark tints of brownish-red, brown and olive-green.

Dr. Lindley's communication was illustrated with specimens of coloring matters yielded by various lichens collected in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, &c.

BARKS FOR TANNING.

Let us now take a brief review of the sources from whence tanning materials may be obtained, which will also enable us to form a fair estimate of the prospect of future supplies. Only one medal was awarded, at the Great Exhibition, for tanning substances, viz., to Messrs. Curtis, Brothers (United Kingdom, No. 126), but honorable mention was made of the following competitors:—One from Tunis, one from Van Diemen's Land, one from New Zealand, one from Belgium, one from the Cape of Good Hope, one from Canada, and one from the United Kingdom.

The substance from which pure tannin is most frequently obtained for chemical purposes is nutgalls, for tannin constitutes above 40 per cent, of their weight. It may be procured also from several other sources, such as oak, horse chestnut, sumach, and cinchona barks, catechu, kino, &c.

The basis of the skins of animals is composed of a substance to which the name of gelatine is given. One of the properties of this substance is, that when combined with tannin, it forms the compound of tannate of gelatine, or leather, a substance which is so useful to mankind. From time immemorial, the substance employed to furnish the tannin to the hides of animals, in order to convert them into leather, has been oak bark. But as the purpose for which oaks are grown is their timber, and not their bark, the supply of oak bark cannot be calculated upon, and this is, perhaps, one of the causes why tanning as an art is in such a backward state.

The consumption of tannin required in the leather manufacture may be estimated from the fact that more than 672,000 cwts. of raw hides were imported in 1851, besides the hides of the cattle, &c., consumed in the United Kingdom. On the Continent and in the United States the consumption of bark for this purpose is also considerable.

The imports of bark for the use of tanners and dyers has amounted yearly to the very large quantity of 380,674 cwt., besides what we obtain at home. Oak bark contains usually the largest proportion of tannin, and according to Davy's experiments eight-and-a-half pounds of oak bark are equivalent for tanning purposes to two-and-a-quarter of galls, three of sumach, seven-and-a-half of Leicester willow, eleven of Spanish chesnut, eighteen of elm, and twenty-one of common willow bark. Tannin obtained from these sources, however, differs materially in some of its characters. The tannin of nutgalls, which is that generally employed for chemical purposes, is sometimes called gallo-tannic acid, to distinguish it from other species.

Notwithstanding the number of different substances which have from time to time been introduced for the use of tanners, it is, nevertheless, pretty generally acknowledged that there is nothing superior, or even equal, to good oak bark, and that all attempts to hurry the process beyond a certain point by the use of concentrated solutions of tan, &c., are for the most part failures, as the manufacture of good leather, to a great extent, depends on the process being conducted in a slow and gradual, but—at the same time—thorough and complete matter.

Oak bark is, however, by no means the only astringent bark well suited to the use of the tanner, and in various parts of the world other similar substances are used with very great success. All these tanning materials, though they may not be considered by the English tanner equal to the best oak bark, are, nevertheless, of great value to him; they may be employed in conjunction with oak bark, or even as a substitute in times of scarcity, or when the price of oak bark is high; in fact the very existence of such substances tends to keep down and equalise the price of bark, and to prevent it from undergoing those great fluctuations in value which would necessarily occur were it the only tanning material available to our manufacture—("Prof. Solly in Jury Reports of Great Exhibition.")

There are a vast number of bark and other substances useful for tanning purposes, which are found in the tropics, that are comparatively unknown or little regarded in Europe; but which might be readily obtained in large quantities and at a trifling cost. The bark of many species of Acacia furnishes the tanning principle in a great degree, particularly that of A. arabica, which, under the name of Babul wood, is largely used about Scinde, Biliary, Gruzerat, and other parts of India; where it is regarded as a powerful tonic. The fruit of A. vera, termed Egyptian and Senegal "bablah," has been employed in tanning and dyeing. Numerous species of this tribe are found abundant in New South Wales and the Cape Colony, and these, particularly the wattle bark of Australia, are in common use for tanning, from their astringent properties. The bark and rind of the fruit of the pomegranate (Pumica Granata) have similar properties.

The bark of Avicenna tomentosa is in great use in the Brazils for tanning. So are the curved pods of Cæsalpinia Coriari, in the East and West Indies, under the name of Divi-divi. Coriaria myrtifolia is not only used in tanning leather, but also for staining black. It is worth £9 to £10 per ton. Pterocarpus marsupium furnishes about Tellicherry the concrete exudation called kino, a powerful astringent used for tanning.

The plants of the mangrove tribe, Rhizophora Mangle, and other allied species, have frequently an astringent bark, which is in many cases used for tanning and dyeing black. This tree is very common in most tropical countries, where it forms dense thickets on the muddy banks of rivers and the sea shores. The bark of Bauhinia variegata, is made use of in Scinde and other parts of Asia. The bitter astringent bark and the galls of several of the Tamarisk tribe are also well suited for the purpose.

Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum, one of the numerous indigenous species of the Cape, is used in making morocco leather.

The extract procured from the bark of the Butea, that of the Buchanania latifolia, the Scyzgium (Calyptranthes), Jambolana, &c., are likely to be of consequence to the tanners, and could be produced in India in large quantities. Specimens of these, and of the bark of the Saul tree, of Nychanthes arbortrista, Terminalia angustifolia, and of the gaub fruit (Diospyros glutinosa), were shown by the East India Company. The bark of the hemlock tree is extensively employed for tanning in New Brunswick.

The bark of yellow hercules (Xanthoxylum ochroxylon), and the pods of Acacia tortuosa are used for tanning in the West Indies.

In the instructions given by the Admiralty to Sir James Boss, when proceeding on his Antarctic Expedition, his attention was particularly called to the astringent substances adapted for tanning, and to the various extracts of barks, &c., imported into England from our Australian settlements, and which are employed by the tanner. Little sterling information has as yet been obtained as to the qualities of the astringent gums, barks, and dyes, yielded in such abundance by the trees of those colonies, and the proportion of tannin they contained.

In 1846, 563 tons of bark for tanning were exported from Port Phillip.

A large quantity of tannin is extracted from various species of Eucalyptus, the gigantic gum trees in Australia and Van Diemen's Land (of which quarter all the species are natives), and sent to the English market; it is said to be twice as powerful in its operations as oak bark. Some of these trees attain a height of 200 feet. Their bark separates remarkably into layers. A sort of kino gum, an astringent resinous-like substance, is also extracted from E. resinifera, the brown gum-tree of New Holland, which is sold in the medicine bazaars of India. It exudes in the form of red juice from incisions in the bark. A single tree will often yield 60 gallons. In Brazil they use the bark of Luhea panicata, an evergreen climber, for tanning leather; and in Peru the bark of some species of Weinmaunia serve the same purpose. Among other powerful astringents I may notice the root of a species of Sea Lavender (Statice Caroliniana), Myrica cerifera, and Heuchera Americana, all natives of North America. Also the petals of Hibiscus Rosa-sinensis, a native of Asia.

The sea-side grape (Coccolaba uvifera) yields an astringent substance, known as Jamaica kino.

The bark of the Cassia auriculata, and the milky juice of the Asclepias gigantea, are used for tanning in India.

The red astringent gum obtained from Butea frondosa, a middling size tree, common in Bengal and the mountainous parts of India, is used by the natives for tanning. English tanners, however, object to its use on account of the color which it communicates to the leather.

The barks of the Mora excelsa, Benth; Courida (Avicenna nutida), cashew (Anicardium occidentale), guava and hog-plum (Spondius lutea, Linn.), have all been successfully used for tanning in Demerara and the West India Islands, where they are very abundant. Specimens were sent from British Guiana.

The root of the Palmetto palm (Chaemaerops Palmetto) is stated to be valuable for the purposes of tanning. The leaves of Nerium Oleander contain tannic acid. The bark of a species of Malphigia is much used by the Brazilians.

The panke (Gunnera scabra) is a fine plant, growing in Chili, on the sandstone cliffs, which somewhat resembles the rhubarb on a gigantic scale. The inhabitants eat the stalks, which are subacid, tan leather with the roots, and also prepare a black dye from them. The leaf is nearly circular, but deeply indented on its margin. Mr. Darwin measured one which was nearly eight feet in diameter, and therefore no less than twenty-four in circumference. The stalk is rather more than a yard high, and each plant sends out four or five of these enormous leaves, presenting together a very noble appearance.

The barks replete with the tanning principle should be stripped with hatchets and bills from the trunk and branches of trees in spring, when their sap flows most freely. The average quantity of oak bark obtained from our forests is estimated at 150,000 tons annually, of which Ireland and Scotland furnish but a very small quantity.

The following table, given by Dr. Ure, shows the quantity of extractive matter and tannin yielded by different substances:—

	In 480 parts	In 100 parts
	by Davy.	by Cadet.
Sicilian sumach	78	—
Malaga ditto	79	—
Souchong tea	48	—
Green tea	41	—
Bombay catechu	261	—
Bengal ditto	231	—
Nutgalls	127	46
Bark of pomegranate	—	32
Bark of Virginian sumach	—	10
Bark of Carolina sumach	—	5

Catechu and Gambier are very valuable for tanning, and are alluded to under the heads GAMBIER and ARECA PALM.

CATECHU is obtained from the Acacia Catechu, an arboreous tree growing from fifteen to twenty feet high, with a brown and scabrous bark. The interior wood is brown, dark red or blackish, and the exterior white, one or two inches thick. It inhabits various parts of the East Indies, of which it is a native, and is also now common in Jamaica. It bears whitish or pale yellow flowers.

The catechu obtained from this tree in Pegu, is celebrated throughout India, and fetches £4 to £5 more per ton than gambier and other astringent extracts. When of good quality, catechu is more powerful as an astringent than kino. Of all the astringent substances we know, catechu appears to contain the largest proportion of tannin, and Mr. Purkis found that one pound was equivalent to seven or eight of oak bark for tanning leather.

The term catechu, observes Dr. Pereira, is applied to various astringent extracts imported from India and the neighbouring countries. A few years ago the terms catechu, terra japonica, and cutch were employed synonymously; they are now, however, for the most part used in trade somewhat distinctively, though not uniformly in the same sense. The manufacture of catechu from the Acacia catechu as practised in Canara and Behar, has been described by Mr. Kerr ("Med. Obs. and Inquiries," vol. v.), and Dr. Hamilton ("Journey through Mysore," &c., vol. iii.), while Professor Royle has explained the process followed in Northern India. According to the last-mentioned gentleman, "the kutt manufacturers move to different parts of the country in different seasons, erect temporary huts in the jungles, and selecting trees fit for their purpose, cut the inner wood into small chips. These they put into small earthen pots, which are arranged in a double row, along a fireplace built of mud; water is then poured in until the whole are covered; after a considerable portion has boiled away, the clear liquor is strained into one of the neighbouring pots, and a fresh supply of the material is put into the first, and the operation repeated until the extract in the general receiver is of sufficient consistence to be poured into clay moulds, which, in the Kheree Pass and Doon, where I have seen the process, are generally of a quadrangular form. This catechu is usually of a pale red color, and is considered there to be of the best quality. By the manufacturers it is conveyed to Saharunpore and Moradabad, whence it follows the course of commerce down the Ganges, and meets that from Nepaul, so that both may be exported from Calcutta."

GAMBIER.

The Gambier plant (Uncaria Gambler, Roxburgh, Nauclea Gambir, Hunter), has been described by Rumphius under the name of Funis uncatus. It is a stout, scandent, evergreen shrub, which strongly resembles the myrtle. It is generally cultivated in the same plantation with pepper, as the leaves and shoots, after undergoing the process by which their juice is extracted, to furnish a kind of catechu, are found to be an excellent manure for the pepper vines. The leaves and young shoots of the gambier plant are collected as soon as they have attained a sufficient size, and boiled in iron pans until the juice acquires the consistence of treacle. The decoction is poured out into narrow troughs, dried, and afterwards cut up into small cakes, and packed in baskets for exportation. The gambier extract, which is of a yellowish brown color, and has the consistence of hard cheese, is much esteemed by the Malays for mixing with the preparation of betel, which they are in the habit of chewing; and considerable quantities have lately been imported to this country, where it is used for dyeing colors, and for tanning leather. The demand for gambier here is on the increase; and when better known to our chemists, it will probably be found applicable to many other purposes than those to which it is at present applied.

There were, in 1850, 400 gambier and pepper plantations on the island of Singapore; each measures or occupies on an average an area of 500 fathoms square, and employs eight to ten hands to cultivate and manufacture the gambier and pepper. There are some pepper plantations in addition, and they have been found to answer very well without any gambier being cultivated with them. Gambier cultivation is generally a losing undertaking, but it is adopted to obtain the refuse of the leaves for manuring the pepper vines, and also to employ the people in the plantations; it besides affords the proprietors the means of getting monthly sums to carry on the cultivation of pepper, which affords two crops yearly. There were formerly 600 plantations in Singapore, but the reason already assigned, and the formation of spice plantations contiguous have caused the abandonment of all those near the town. Each plantation must have an equal extent of forest land to that cultivated with gambier and pepper, to enable the manufacture of the gambier being carried on, and each gambier plantation, of 500 fathoms square, contains about 3,500 pepper vines, which yield on an average two catties per vine, or 70 piculs of pepper, and about 170 piculs of gambier annually;—a good plantation will, however, yield sometimes as much as 120 piculs of pepper, and 200 piculs of gambier, and a bad one as little as 40 to 50 piculs of pepper, and 60 to 80 piculs of gambier. Were it not for the enormous commission charged by the agents of these plantations, from whom the cultivators get all the advances, it would prove a profitable cultivation. The rates of commission charged generally are as follows:—Per picul of gambier, fifteen to twenty-five cents; per picul of pepper, thirty to forty cents; and if the price of the former is below one-and-a-half dollars, and the latter below three-and-a-half dollars per picul, a small reduction is made in the rates of commission. On every picul of rice supplied to the planters twenty to twenty-five cents commission is charged; this includes the interest of money advanced, which is never charged. A gambier and pepper plantation is valued or estimated at about 400 dollars on an average. The following is supposed to be a correct estimate, on an average, of the yearly expenditure and returns of a gambier and pepper plantation of 500 fathoms square, viz:—

EXPENDITURE.
	drs.	c.	men.	drs.	c.
Eight men at 3½ dollars and 7 Java rupees per month, wages for headman and labourers respectively	22	70	.. 12 ..	272	.40
Five piculs of rice, including commission, say	6	50	.. 12 ..	81	60
Fish, &c.	5	00	.. 12 ..	60	00
Boat or cart hire to carry rice and produce	1	75	.. 12 ..	21	00
				435	00
PRODUCE.
170 piculs of gambier, valued at l dollar 45 cents per picul, less 15 cents commission chargeable, nett	221	30		—	—
70 piculs of pepper, at 4½ dollars, less 40 cents per picul commission, nett	287	00		508	00
Yearly profit, 73 dollars, or about £15.

Several gambier and pepper plantations have been abandoned in Singapore, partly from the ground being impoverished, but more particularly from the exhaustion of the forest adjacent to their estates. The exhaustion of the trees by yearly consumption deprives the planters of the necessary fire wood which is used for the boiling down of the gambier. A gambier plantation gets exhausted in fifteen years, either from the want of firewood or the land getting impoverished.

There are about 200 plantations at Johore, and the produce of gambier for the season of 1851 was calculated at 30,000 piculs.

This shrub was, at one period, cultivated with success at Pinang and other places to the eastward, but as Java was the principal market for the produce, and the Dutch had levied a duty of twelve Java rupees per picul on it, the cultivation at the former island did not repay its cost, and it was accordingly abandoned. Prices have been lately advancing, and the Chinese are talking of trying it again. The plant is partial to hilly land or slopes at the skirts of hills. Two hundred plants are usually placed on one orlong of land, being six feet asunder. They are raised from seed, and are topped to eight or ten feet, when the gambier is to be prepared. The Chinese dry the seed slightly, and sow in rainy weather.

The seeds vegetate in forty days, and are planted out in the second or third month afterwards.

At the expiration of fourteen months, the first cutting of the branches, with the leaves on, is made. These are put into a boiler, and when the juice has been extracted, the branches and refuse are thrown away, and the boiling is continued until the liquor has obtained the proper consistence, when it is put into shallow troughs, dried, and cut into slices for sale. The second cutting takes place eight months subsequently to the first. The plant now grows strong and admits of frequent cropping, and it will endure for twenty years. No manure is used, but the plantation is kept clean.

Estimated cost of cultivating ten orlongs, about 13 acres, according to Colonel Low:—

	Spanish dollars.
Value of cleared land, ten orlongs	200
Six laborers per annum	360
Quit rent	7
Boilers, firewood, and implements	20
Houses	50
Incidental	30
Total first year	667
Second year	397
	1,064

The six laborers on the plantation will, after the above period, be constantly employed in cutting and preparing the gambier: the average product will be 15 piculs monthly, which, at two dollars per picul, will be 30 dollars monthly, or 360 dollars per annum. This is the account obtained by collating different Chinese statements.

The Nauclea Gambir is placed by Jussieu under the natural order Rubiaceæ; it is a shrub attaining the height of six to eight feet, branchy; the leaves are ovate, pointed, smooth, waving, distinctly veined transversely underneath, of dark green color, and, when chewed, they have a bitter astringent taste, leaving however, afterwards, a sweetish taste in the mouth, not unlike liquorice; the flowers are aggregate, globular, composed of numerous florets, crowded on a globular naked receptacle; tubes of the corolla of a pinkish color; the upper part of the corolla fine, cleft, and of a greenish yellow color; the staminæ are five in number, and short; the pistil is longer than the corolla; the flowers are destitute of fragrance; the capsules (as correctly stated by Mr. Hunter) are stalked oblong, incrusted, and crowned with a calyx; tapering to a point below; two celled, two valved, the valves adhering at the apex, splitting at the sides; seeds very numerous, oblong, very small, compressed, furnished at both ends with a membraneous pappus.

The gambier plant is propagated either by seeds or cuttings, but the latter are preferred. It is cultivated to some extent at Singapore, but it is said that the gambier can be imported cheaper from the islands in the vicinity, more especially at the Dutch settlement at Rhio. The extract is used extensively by the natives of India, Eastern Archipelago, Cochin-China, and Cambodia, as a masticatory, wrapped up with the betel.

There are three different qualities of extract; the first and best is white, brittle, and has an earthy appearance when rubbed between the fingers (which earthy appearance gave it the name of Terra Japonica, being supposed, at first also, to come from Japan), and is formed into very small round cakes. This is the dearest sort, and most refined, but it is not unfrequently adulterated with sago; this kind is brought in the greatest quantity from the island of Sumatra. The second quality is of a brownish yellow color, is formed into oblong cakes, and, when broken, has a light brown earthy appearance; it is also made into a solid cube form; it is sold in the bazars in small packets, each containing five or six. The third quality contains more impurities than the preceding, is formed into small circular cakes, and is sold in packages of five or six in the bazar.

The method employed in preparing the extract is thus correctly related by Finlayson:—"The leaves are collected three or four times a year; they are thrown into a large cauldron, the bottom of which is formed of iron, the upper part of bark, and boiled for five or six hours, until a strong decoction is obtained; the leaves are then withdrawn, and allowed to strain over the vessel, which is kept boiling for as many hours more, until the decoction is inspissated; it is then allowed to cool, when the catechu subsides, The water is drawn off; a soft soapy substance remains, which is cut into large masses; these are further divided by a knife into small cubes, about an inch square, or into still smaller pieces, which are laid in frames to dry. This catechu has more of a granular, uniform appearance than that of Bengal; it is, perhaps, also less pure."

The younger leaves of the shrub are said to produce the whitest and best gambier; the older, a brown and inferior sort. There are other species of Nauclea indigenous to Singapore, but they do not produce any extract.

Dr. Bennett has particularised four qualities of gambier:—

1. Small round cakes, about the size of a small lozenge. Color pale, purplish, yellowish, white.

2. Cubes, in which shape it is principally imported into England, and square prisms, or oblong pieces.

3. Circular discs, or short cylindrical pieces.

4. Cubical amylaceous pieces, of a darker brown than the other kinds.

Gambier is one of the most powerful of the pure astringents.

The chief places of manufacture are Saik, Malacca, Singapore, and Rhio or Bintang. Bennett, in his "Wanderings," says there are 60,000 plantations of gambier on this island. After that of Rhio, the next best gambier is that of Lingin. That used by the Malays, with the leaves of betel, in the same manner as cutch in other parts of India, is the finest and whitest; the red being stronger tasted and rank, is exported to Batavia, China, and England, for the purposes of tanning and dyeing. It is frequently adulterated with sago powder, but it may be detected by solution in water.

Large quantities of gambier are imported, under the corrupted name of cutch, into Calcutta, from Pegu. The quantity of gambier produced in Rhio, by the Chinese settlers, amounts to about 4,600 tons a year, about 2,000 of which are exported for the consumption of Java, the rest being sent to Cochin-China and other neighbouring countries.

Two methods of obtaining gambier are described. One consists in boiling the leaves in water, and in inspissating the decoction; the other, which yields the best gambier, consists in infusing the leaves in warm water, by which a fecula is obtained, which is inspissated by the heat of the sun, and formed into cakes.

The injudicious practice adopted by the Land Office in Singapore, of granting indiscriminate licenses, or "cutting papers" as they are formed, seems open to objection, and is driving many of the Chinese cultivators to the neighbouring island of Johore, where they readily obtain permission to cultivate, without obstruction, this important article of commerce. Parties of 300 or 400 at a time left in 1846. It appears that, under his permissive license, the squatter obtains permission to clear as much land as he possibly can, but the order does not define any extent beyond which no cutting should take place. The squatter clears as much land as the means at his disposal will allow, in the hope and expectation that the jungle contiguous to the cleared ground will be at his command for fuel—a supply of fuel, easy of access, and adequate to the number of plants grown, being indispensable to the culture and manufacture of gambier. When the time for gathering the leaves arrives, another squatter (perhaps from motives of envy or malice) obtains a "cutting paper," and commences clearing in close proximity to the already-formed gambier plantation; obviously depriving the owner of the fuel he has reasonably calculated upon. The established planter cannot of course eject the intruder from the land, since the latter possesses an equal right to it, in virtue of his "cutting paper," which, as it specifies no limits, leaves him the disposer or destroyer of the crop of the industrious planter. Instead of the present system, a better practice ought to be introduced, defining the boundaries to be included in a "cutting paper," and effectually preventing a trespass on the fuel-land of the industrious planter. This might easily be effected by specifying the number of acres, as well as the direction, in every clearing paper granted.

The average produce of gambier in Singapore is between 7,000 and 8,000 piculs monthly. The ordinary price is about 1¼ dollars per picul. A deficiency of rain, labor, or other causes, will occasionally reduce the annual produce from 90,000 or 100,000 piculs, to 60,000 or 70,000, and this diminished supply will raise the market price of the article probably 35 cents per picul. But, in addition to the effect occasioned by a deficient supply, there are other causes in operation exercising a powerful influence in reducing prices. Gambier was first exported in 1830, from Singapore, to the extent of 2,587 piculs, at 4½ dollars per picul. As a rival to bark it failed at so costly a price to meet with encouragement; the culture and manufacture consequently declined until 1834, when 1,858 piculs were shipped to England at a somewhat lower rate. The demand then became active, the exportations were at first multiplied, then doubled every succeeding year, until they reached, in 1846-47 no less than 173,117 piculs. The price has gradually declined to 1¼ dollars per picul, at which rate it displaces its rival, bark. This price, however, is unremunerative to the grower, so that, unless more encouragement offers, the supply will decline.

The number of Chinese employed in the cultivation, &c., of gambier and pepper in Singapore is about 11,000. Their rate of wages fluctuates with the price of gambier. If a picul of gambier realizes 1½ dollars, the monthly pay will be about three dollars; if gambier fetches two dollars, their pay will amount to four dollars in the month. The workmen who clean the plantation always receive a dollar less than those who cut and boil the gambier.

A good deal of gambier seems now to be grown in Java, for 58,305 piculs were exported from that island in 1843. A small quantity is taken by the Chinese ports, but whether as a masticatory or for tanning and dyeing I am not aware.

VALUE OF THE TERRA JAPONICA IMPORTED INTO CEYLON.

	£
1840	611
1841	1,053
1842	768
1843	471
1844	1,153
1845	537
1846	824
1847	1,549
1848	1,095
1849	896
1850	265
1851	386

In the Customs' returns of imports to this country, two articles are enumerated, under the separate names of cutch and terra japonica; the former is catechu and the latter the produce of the gambier plant. The imports of gambier were, in 1836, 970 tons; 1837, 2,738 tons; 1838, 1,600 tons; 1839, 5,213 tons.

		Cutch.	Terra Japonica.
		tons.	tons.
1848	Imported to the United Kingdom	1,186	5,623
"	Retained for home consumption	765	5,102
1849	Imported	1,636	6,851
"	Retained for home consumption	869	5,400
1850	Imported	1,172	4,585
"	Home consumption	787	3,655
1851	Imported	2,401	4,783
"	Home consumption	2,020	4,431
1852	Imported	2,236	3,244
"	Home consumption	1,708	3,003

Catechu, imported under its Indian name of cutch, is brought over in bales or baskets of from one to four cwt., the price being £18 to £25 per ton. About 450 cwt. of terra japonica or gambier is annually imported into Hull from the East Indies. The imports of the two substances into Liverpool is about 900 tons. Gambier is only worth £13 to £14 the ton; a few years ago it fetched 26s. the cwt. The imports into the port of London average 1,500 tons annually.

4,679 bales, and 14,436 baskets of terra japonica were imported into Liverpool in 1851, and 14,000 bales and baskets in 1852. The imports of cutch were 10,290 bags, and 2,592 baskets, in 1851, and 11,873 bags and baskets in 1852; the prices, which were from 16s. 6d. to 18s. per cwt. for each article, in 1851, were rapidly run up in Liverpool, in 1853, owing to short supplies, to 25s. for gambier, and 22s. to 24s. per cwt. for cutch, or catechu.

EXPORTS OF GAMBIER FROM SINGAPORE, WITH THE OFFICIAL VALUE IN RUPEES.

	Piculs.	Value in rupees.
1840-41	Exported	79,508	457,560
	"	Growth of Singapore	59,325
1841-42	Exported	93,340	470,790
	"	Growth of Singapore	47,696
1842-43	Exported	148,746	548,281
	"	Growth of Singapore	110,151
1843-44	Exported	139,050	584,449
	"	Growth of Singapore	121,791
1844-45	Exported	157,654	539,978
	"	Growth of Singapore	134,528
1845-46	Exported	110,766	425,643
	"	Growth of Singapore	75,797
1846-47	Exported	173,117	591,943
	"	Growth of Singapore	143,795

The exports of gambier from Singapore were as follows:—

	To England.	To the Continent.	Total.
	piculs.	piculs.	piculs.
1849	134,546	6,121	140,667
1850	87,611	16,166	103,777
1851	68,365	11,639	80,004
1852	68,045	9,006	77,051

The exports of cutch from Pinang, in the last four years, have been:—1849, 3,693 piculs; 1850, 900; 1851, 4,143; 1852, 3,880; or, on an average, 197 tons.

DIVI-DIVI is the commercial name for the curved pod of a leguminous shrub, Cæsalpinia coriaria, which is sometimes imported from Carthage. Its tannin differs materially from that of nutgalls. The quantity of mucilage which it contains precludes it from the use of dyers; but, as it furnishes nearly 50 per cent. of tannin, it is largely used by curriers. It is imported into Liverpool from Rio de la Hacha, Maracaibo, and Savanila. 400 tons of the seed pods and bark of the Algaroba, or Locust-tree (Prosopis pallida) were imported in 1849 into Liverpool from Valparaiso, as a substitute for divi-divi in tanning. 3,200 lbs. of divi-divi were exported from the port of Augostara, in 1846.

Specimens of divi-divi which had been raised at Calcutta were shown in the Indian department of the Great Exhibition.

Dr. Hamilton states that, according to some admirably conducted experiments of Mr. Rootsey, of Bristol, undertaken at his request, the pods of divi-divi contain above 50 per cent. of tannin. It appears also, from trials made, that one part of divi-divi is sufficient for tanning as much leather as four parts of bark, and the process occupies but one-third of the time.

The average produce of pods from a full-grown tree has been estimated at 100 lbs. weight, one-fourth of which consists of seeds or refuse, leaving about 75 lbs. of marketable matter.

At an interval of six feet apart, an acre of ground will contain 1,210 trees, yielding an average of 810 cwts., and 30 pounds, or above 40½ tons of marketable matter, worth, at only £5 per ton, £200. Should the interval between the trees be extended two feet more, we shall still have 680 to the acre, the produce of which would not improbably be increased by the increased space given for the extension of the branches.

The ground in which this tree admits of being cultivated is that which is least adapted to the staple products of tropical agriculture; guinea grass may be profitably raised beneath its shade and as with the exception of the three years which precede the commencement of its bearing, there is hardly any deduction to be made from its returns, it promises to be among the most valuable objects of a planter's attention.

Jacquin describes the Cæsalpinia coriaria as a handsome branching tree, of about fifteen feet in stature, covered with a dark spotted bark. Its leaves are doubly pinnate, and the leaflets of twelve pair without a terminal one; they are oblong, obtuse, smooth, very entire. The flowers are disposed in spikes issuing from the extremities of the branches; they are small, yellowish, and slightly fragrant. To these succeed oblong, compressed, somewhat obtuse pods, curved laterally, the inner side being concave and the other convex. The seeds rarely exceed three or four in each pod, and are of a brownish color.

Divi-divi resembles a dried pea-shuck curled up, filled with yellow powder, and a few dark brown seeds. The price ranges from £8 to £13 per ton.

The imports into the United Kingdom in 1844, were 3,900 tons; in 1845 and 1846, about 1,400 tons each year; during the subsequent three years the imports were merely nominal, but in 1850 a renewed demand seems to have sprung up, for 2,770 tons were imported into Liverpool, and a few tons into London.

CORK-TREE BARK (Quercus suber) has been imported into Ireland to a considerable extent, frequently to the amount of 1,500 tons annually. The quantity of cork imported annually into the United Kingdom is about 3,000 tons. It is brought from Spain, Italy, and Barbary. Oak bark and valonia being very cheap and plentiful, the price of cork hark is only nominal, being, for Spanish cork-tree bark, £7 10s. to £8 per ton; Leghorn ditto, £6 to £7 per ton. It is less astringent than oak bark, and is more generally useful for stoppers of bottles and bungs for casks. 160 tons of cork-tree bark were imported into Liverpool from Rabat in 1849, and 150 tons in 1850.

1,867 cwts. of bark for tanning were imported from Chili in 1844, of which 292 were Quillai bark.

MIMOSA BARK.—The bark of the Mimosa decurrens, which abounds in Australia and Van Diemen's Land, is found to be a very powerful tanning agent.

The first shipment of tannin was made from Sydney to England as far back as 1823, in the shape of an extract of the bark of two species of mimosa, which was readily purchased by the tanners at the rate of £50 per ton. One ton of bark had produced four cwts. of extract of the consistency of tar.

In 1843, 3,078 tons of mimosa bark was shipped from Port Phillip to Great Britain. The price then realised in the London market was £12 to £14 per ton, but it has since declined to £8 a ton. The quantity of this bark to be procured in the colony is quite inexhaustible. The price of chopped mimosa bark in Australia, for export, in the close of 1846, was £2 5s. per ton. Bark valued at £912 was exported from Van Diemen's Land in 1848.

The imports of mimosa bark have only been to a limited extent within the last few years, reaching 350 tons in 1850, against 110 tons in 1849, 230 tons in 1848, and 600 tons in 1847. The prices realised were £10 to £11 for chopped, £12 to £12 10s. for ground, and £8 to £9 per ton for unchopped bark. Whilst the imports were 3,900 tons in 1814, they dwindled to less than 400 tons in 1850.

From an experiment, conducted by Professor Brandt, the strength of the mimosa bark, as compared with that of young English oak bark, is found to be in the proportion of 57 to 39, so that the mimosa bark is half as strong again as the best English bark.

Mr. Samuel Mossman, in a communication to the Botanic Society of Edinburgh, in 1851, stated that the bark of A. dealbata pays to ship to England, notwithstanding the distance, from the fact of its containing a greater per centage of tannin than any other bark. It is a handsome tree, from fifteen to thirty feet high, forming luxuriant groves on the banks of streams, most abundant in Port Phillip and Twofold Bay, between the parallels of latitude 34 and 30 degrees.

New Zealand is rich in barks and dyes. The bark of the Tanahaka (Phyllodadus trichomanoides, of Don) is used by the natives as a red dye for the ornamental parts of their kaitahas, their best border garments. There is also another red dye, called Tawaivwai, the bark of which is very profuse. A black dye is procured from the hinau. They are of a rich hue, and exceedingly fast colors. The barks are to be found all over the colony. The hinau and tanahaka are employed in tanning, all the leather used in the colony being tanned either at the Bay of Islands or Port Nicholson.

The bark of the Rimu or red pine (Dacrydium Cupressinum, of Solander), a very common tree, possesses tanning qualities far superior to any of the Australian barks. One pound of the bark yields 85 grains of extract.

The native tanning barks of New Zealand are various and easily obtained. Specimens of the bark and dye, &c., of most of these trees were sent home to the Great Exhibition. One pound of the Tanahaka bark is said to yield 63 grains of tannin. The sails of boats are dyed with it to preserve them. The Towai (Licospermum racemosum, of Don, Weinmaunia racemosa, Decandole), is supposed to be valuable for the purposes of the tanner, and is said to yield 104 grains of tannin for every pound of bark. The bark of the Pohutu kawa of the natives, the Metrosideros tomentosaof Richard, and Callistemon ellipticum of Allan Cunningham, would also be useful for tanning, one pound of it furnishing about 60 grains of tannin.

The bark of the Hino tree, the Elæocarpus hinau of Cunningham, the Dicera dentata of Forster, is used by the natives for dyeing black.

The black mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) is a tree attaining an altitude of from 30 to 50 feet, and occupying marshy situations in the vicinity of the sea. Almost every part of the mangrove—the bark, roots, and the fruit more particularly—abounds in an astringent principle, which is successfully applied to the purposes of tanning. As the tree is so abundant within the tropics, it might be worth the while of some practical speculator to make an extract on the spot, and introduce it into the English market, for the use of tanners and dyers. For tanning, the mangrove is said to be infinitely superior to oak bark, completing in six weeks an operation which with the latter occupies at least six months, and the sole-leather so tanned is said to be more durable than any other. The bark and leaves, which contain nearly as much tannin as the oak, are made use of in the West Indies, as well as in Scinde and other parts of Asia.

3,713 piculs of mangrove bark, valued at £819, were shipped from Shanghae, one of the Chinese ports, in 1849.

MYROBALANS.—This is a name applied to the almond-like kernels of a nut or dried fruit of the plum kind, of which there are several sorts known in the East. They are the produce of various species of Terminalia, as T. Bellerica, chebula, citrina, and angustifolia. They vary from the size of olives to that of gall nuts, and have a rough, bitter, and unpleasant taste. Many of the trees of this tribe, which are all natives of the tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and America, are used for tanning, and some for dyeing. They are highly valued by dyers, creating, when mixed with alum, a durable dark brown yellow. Myrobalans fetch in the Bombay market 8s. to 26s. the Surat candy of 821 lbs. The bark and leaves of T. Catappa yield a black pigment, with which Indian ink is made; the seeds are eaten like almonds. A milky juice is said to flow from T. angustifolia, which, when dried, is fragrant, and, resembling Benzoin, is used as a kind of incense in the Catholic churches in the Mauritius. The fruit of T. Bellerica, and of T. Chebula, both useful timber trees, indigenous to the East Indies, are used medicinally as a tonic and astringent. 117 cwts. of myrobalans were shipped from Ceylon in 1845.

The annual imports of myrobalans into Hull, amount to about 1,600 cwts. The quantity which arrived at Liverpool was 185 tons in 1849, 851 tons in 1850; 27,212 bags in 1851, and 19,946 bags in 1852; they come from Calcutta and Bombay, and are also used for dyeing yellow and black. The price in January, 1853, was 6s. to 12s. per cwt. The average annual imports into the United Kingdom may be taken at 1,200 tons.

KINO.—The Kino, of Botany Bay and Van Diemen's Land, is the produce of the iron bark tree, Eucalyptus resinifera. White ("Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales"), says this tree sometimes yields, on incision, 60 gallons of juice. Kino is imported in boxes. The tincture of kino is used medicinally, but an inconvenience is frequently found to arise, from its changing to the gelatinous form. Dr. Pereira seems to think this species of kino consists principally of pectin and tannic acid. That chiefly used as East Indian kino, is an extract formed by inspissating a decoction of the branches and twigs of the gambler plant. Vauquelin analysed it, and found it to consist of, tannin and peculiar extractive matter, 75; red gum, 24; insoluble matter, 1.

The East Indian kino, imported from Bombay and Tellicherry, is the produce of Pterocarpus marsupium, a lofty, broad-spreading forest tree, which blossoms in October and November. The bark is of a greyish color, and is upwards of half an inch in thickness on the trunk. When cut, a blood-red juice speedily exudes and trickles down; it soon thickens, and becomes hard in the course of fifteen or sixteen hours. The gum is extracted in the season when the tree is in blossom, by making longitudinal incisions in the bark round the trunk, so as to let the gum ooze down a broad leaf, placed as a spout, into a receiver. When the receiver is filled it is removed. The gum is dried in the sun until it crumbles, and then filled in wooden boxes for exportation.

P. erinaceus, a tree 40 to 50 feet in height, a native of the woods of the Gambia and Senegal, furnishes kino, but none is collected in or exported from Africa. Butea frondosa, or the dhak tree of the East Indies, furnishes a similar product, in the shape of a milky, colored, brittle, and very astringent gum. Kino is used as a powerful astringent, and is administered in the form of powder and tincture. Some specimens of Butea kino, analysed by Prof. Solly, after the impurities had been separated, yielded 73¼ per cent. of tannin.

VALONIA is the commercial name of the cupula or cup of the acorn, produced by the Quercus ægilops and its varieties, the Balonia or Valonia oak, natives of the Levant, from whence, and the Morea, they form a very considerable article of export; containing abundance of tannin they are largely used by tanners. The tannin differs materially from that of nutgalls. The bark of Q. tinctorea, a native of North America, yields a yellow dye.

The quantity of valonia imported for home consumption, in 1836, was 80,511 cwts., of which Turkey furnished 58,724 cwts., and Italy and the Ionian islands 7,209 cwts. Of 163,983 cwts. imported in 1840, 143,095 cwts. were brought from Turkey, 15,195 cwts. from Italy, and the residue from Greece and the Ionian Islands. The entries for home consumption in the three years ending with 1842, amounted to about 8,200 tons a year. The increase since has been considerable, the imports having been, in 1848, 10,237 tons; in 1849, 16,671 tons; in 1850, 12,526 tons; in 1851, 10,639 tons; in 1852, 13,870 tons. We receive about 14,000 to 20,000 cwts. annually from Leghorn. The imports into the port of Hull are 3,900 cwts. per year.

The prices of Smyrna valonias are from £13 to £14 per ton; those of picked Morea, £10 per ton. The duty received on valonias imported in 1842 was about £4,000.

The annual produce is sufficient to meet the wants of all Europe. It can be had in Turkey to any extent and at all periods. Many cargoes are sent to Dublin, and the German markets. A little valonia is exported from Manila, the shipments having been about 150 tons per annum.

Camata and Camatina are two varieties of very young valonias, which are found more valuable for some processes of tanning than the common kinds.

Extensive as has been the enumeration of the vegetable substances used in the various branches of art and manufacture which have formed the principal subjects of this section, it is probable that with the progress of knowledge, of scientific experiment, and of investigation into the properties of given commodities, the list will be indefinitely increased. What I have stated will suffice to give the reader an idea of the surprising variety of sources from which we receive the raw materials which enable us to perfect some of the most elegant processes of manufacturing skill and ingenuity, and will further afford some criterion—though, of course, not a perfect one—for estimating the relative importance of the tanning and dyeing substances.

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SECTION V.

OLEAGINOUS PLANTS, AND THOSE YIELDING FIXED OR ESSENTIAL OILS.

Few cultivators are probably aware of the great importance of oil to this country, and the number of purposes for which it is employed in the arts and manufactures. It is extensively used for candle and soap making, for burning in lamps, for diminishing friction in machinery of all kinds, and especially for locomotives—in wool-dressing, in the manufacture of paints and varnishes, as an article of food, for medicinal purposes, &c.

So important are vegetable oils deemed, that the Society of Arts, in its prize list for 1851, offered gold medals for the importation or introduction into this country of any new plants or trees from China, India, or elsewhere, producing oils or fatty substances, such as can be used as food, or are applicable to manufacturing purposes; and also to the person who shall manufacture and import the finest specimen of oil, not less than ten gallons, the produce of olives grown in any British colony in Africa or Australasia.

The time of burning of equal quantities of the following oils has been found to be—

		Hours.
Oil of	poppy	14
"	sunflower	13
"	rape	11
"	mustard	11½
"	flax seed	10
"	gold of pleasure (Camelina sativa)	9½
"	olives	9
"	hemp seed	8
"	tallow	10½

FOREIGN VEGETABLE OILS IMPORTED.

	1821.	1845.	1850.
	tuns.	tuns.	tuns.
Coco-nut oil	—	2,148	98,040
Olive oil	1,900	12,315	20,783
Palm oil	3,200	25,285	448,589 cwts.
Rape seed oil	800	3,973	—
Linseed oil	10,500	38,634	—
	16,400	82,355
Fish oils	32,356	22,626	21,328

The total quantity of all kinds of wool annually consumed in England and Wales, in 1843, was estimated at 801,566 packs. Now, five gallons of olive, rapeseed or other oils, being used in the preparation of every pack of wool, for cloth (independent of the quantity used in soap, applicable to the woollen manufactures), it follows that five gallons on 801,566 packs are equal to 4,007,830 gallons, or 15,904 tuns; and adding for olive or sperm oil used in machinery 1-11th of the whole, 1,446 tuns, the total quantity consumed is 17,350 tuns.—("Enderby on the South Whale Fishery.")

Fixed oils are found in the cells and intercellular spaces of the fruit, leaves, and other parts of plants.

Some of these are drying oils, as linseed oil, from Linum usitatissimum; some are fat oils, as that from olives (fruit of Olea sativa or Europæa); whilst others are solid, as palm oil.

The solid oils or fats procured from plants are, butter of cacao, from Theobroma cacao; of cinnamon from Cinnamomum verum; of nutmeg, from Myristica moschata; of coco-nut, from Cocos nucifera; of laurel, from Laurus nobilis; of palm oil, from Elais guianiensis; Shea butter, from Bassia Parkii; Galam butter, or Ghee, from Bassia butyracea; and vegetable tallow, from Stillingia sebifera in China, from Vateria indica in Canara and China, and from Pentadesma butyracea in Sierra Leone, and from the almond. These oils contain a large amount of stearine, and are used as substitutes for fat. Some of them are imported in large quantities, and enter into the composition of soap, candles, &c.

Castor oil, from the seeds of Ricinus communis, differs from other fixed oils in its composition.

Decandolle states the following as the quantity of oil obtained from various seeds:—

	Per cent. in weight.
Hazel-nut	60
Garden cress	57
Olive	50
Walnut	50
Poppy (Papaver somniferum)	48
Almond	46
Caper-spurge (Euphorbia Lathyris)	41
Colza (Brassica oleracea)	39
White mustard (Sinapis alba)	36
Tobacco	34
Plum	33
Woad	30
Hemp	25
Flax	22
Sunflower	15
Buckwheat	14
Grapes	12

The following table, quoted from Boussingault, shows the results of some experiments made by M. Grauzac, of Dagny:—

	Seed produced per acre.			Oil obtained per acre, in lbs.		Oil per cent.	Cake per cent.
	cwts.	qrs.	lbs.	lbs.	ozs.
Colewort	19	0	15	875	4	40	54
Rocket	15	1	3	320	8	18	73
Winter rape	16	2	18	641	6	33	62
Swedish turnips	15	1	25	595	8	33	62
Curled colewort	16	2	18	641	6	33	62
Turnip cabbage	13	3	19	565	4	33	61
Gold of pleasure	17	1	16	545	8	27	72
Sunflower	15	3	14	275	0	15	80
Flax	15	1	25	385	0	22	69
White poppy	10	1	18	560	8	46	52
Hemp	7	3	21	229	0	25	70
Summer rape	11	3	17	412	5	30	65

The subjoined list will serve to exhibit the richness of the produce of different Indian seeds, from which varieties of oil are extracted; it gives the proportion of oil per cent. in weight:—

Sesame oil (Sesamum indicum)	46.7
Black til, coloured variety of ditto (Verbesena sativa)	46.4
Gingelie oil (S. orientale)	46.7
Ground nuts, produced byArachis hypogœa	45.5
Wounded seeds obtained from the Poonnay-tree (Calophyttum Inophyllum), a bitter lamp oil	63.7
Karunj seeds, from thePongamia glabra	26.7
Ram til, the seeds of the nuts Ellu, orGuizotia oleifera	35
Poppy seeds (Papaver somniferum)	43 to 58
Silaam, an oil seed from Nepaul	41
Rape seed (Brassica napus)	33

The foregoing are not all the seeds from which oil is extracted by the natives of the East. In addition to this there are cottonseed oil, used for their lamps. Castor oil and Argemone seed, similarly used. Oil obtained from the fruit of Melia Azadriachta, for medicine and lamps. Apricot oil in the Himalayas, sunflower oil, oil of cucumber-seed for cooking and lamps, oil of colocynth seed, a lamp oil.

The seeds of bastard saffron (Carthamus tinctorius) yield oil.

Mustard oil, the produce of various species of Sinapis, &c. Shanghae oil, from Brassica Chinensis. Illiepie oil, from Bassia longifolia, which is used for frying cakes, &c., in Madras; and Muohwa oil, from another species of the same genus in Bengal, B. latifolia. Oil is expressed from the seeds of Cæsalpina oleosperma, a native of the East. The neem tree seeds afford a very clear or bitter oil, used for burning.

Wood oil is a remarkable substance, obtained from several species of Dipterocarpus, by simply tapping the tree.

The horse-eyes and cacoons of Jamaica (Fevillea scandens) yield a considerable quantity of oil or fat, as white and hard as tallow. It has been employed for similar purposes on the Mosquito shores.

The seeds of the Argemone mexicana, and of the Sanguinaria canadensis, also contain a bland, nutritious, colorless, fixed oil. The mass from which the seed is expressed is found to be extremely nutritious to cattle.

The Camelina sativa is cultivated in Europe, for the extraction of an oil used only by the soap makers, and for lamps.

A solid oil, of a pale greenish color, a good deal resembling the oils of the Bassia in character, though rather harder, and approaching more in properties to myrtle wax, was shown at the Great Exhibition, from Singapore. It is supposed to be the produce of the tallow tree of Java, called locally "kawan," probably a species of Bassia. It is very easily bleached; indeed, by exposure to air and light, it becomes perfectly white; if not too costly, it promises to become a valuable oil.

According to Mr. Low, there are several varieties of solid oil commonly used in the Islands of the Archipelago, and obtained from the seeds of different species of Dipterocarpus.

Piney tallow is obtained from the fruit of the Vateria Indica, a large and quick-growing tree, abundant in Malabar and Canara. It is a white solid oil, fusible at a temperature of 97 degrees, and makes excellent candles, especially when saponified and distilled in the manner now adopted with palm oil, &c. It has one great advantage over coco-nut oil, that the candles made of it do not give out any suffocating acrid vapors when extinguished, as those made with the latter oil do.

An oil is produced from the inner shell of the cashew-nut (Anacardium occidentale var. indicum), in the East.

In Japan a kind of butter, called mijo, is obtained from a species of the Dolichos bean (Dolichos soya).

The kernel of the seeds of the tallow tree of China, Stillingia sebifera, an evergreen shrub, contains an oil, which, when expressed, consolidates through the cold to the consistence of tallow, and by boiling becomes as hard as bees' wax. The plant also yields a bland oil. A similar fatty product is obtained from a shrub in British Guiana, the Myristica (Virola) sebifera.

Oil is obtained in South America from the sand box tree (Hura crepitans), and from the Carapa guianensis.

A fatty oil is obtained in Demerara from the seeds of the butter tree, Pekea (?) Bassia butyrosa, and also from the Saouari (P. tuberculosa).

The fleshy seeds contained in the woody capsules of the Monkey pot (Lecythis Tabucajo), which derive their generic name from their similarity to an oil jar, are common in the West India Islands and South America, and yield a considerable quantity of oil.

The seeds of the plants of the cucumber family frequently supply a bland oil, which is used in the East as a lamp oil and for cooking. Among the vegetable oils imported into Ningpo, and other Chinese ports, from Shantong, Leatong, and Teisin, are oil of teuss, obtained from green and dried peas; black oil of the fruit of the tree kin (?) and oil from the pea of suchau.

The seeds of Spergula saliva, a large, smooth-seeded variety of the common cow spurrey, which is cultivated in Flanders as a pasture grass and green crop, afford, on expression, a good lamp oil.

A pale brownish yellow oil is obtained from the seeds of Carthamus tinctorius, in Bombay; the seeds contain about 28 per cent. of oil.

Excellent oil is expressed in various parts of India from the seeds of different species of Sinapis, especially from the black mustard seed. S. glauca, S. dichotorna, and S. juncea are extensively cultivated in the East for their oil. The Erysimum perfoliatum is cultivated in Japan for its oil-seeds.

A beautiful pale yellow oil is procured from the seeds of the angular-leaved physic nut, Jatropha curcas, a shrub which is often employed in the tropics as a fence for enclosures. It is used by the natives in medicine and as a lamp oil. About 700 tons of this oil was imported into Liverpool in 1850 from Lisbon, for the purpose of dressing cloth, burning, &c.

A rich yellow oil, perfectly clear and transparent, is obtained from the seeds of Bergera koenigii.

RAPE OIL.—The imports of rape oil, from Brassica napus, into Liverpool, are about 15 to 20 tuns annually.

Rape oil has been found to be better suited than any other oil for the lubrication of machinery, when properly purified from the mucilage, &c., which it contains in the raw state. Rape oil is now used extensively for locomotives, for marine engines, and also for burning in lamps. It is stated that a locomotive consumes between 90 and 100 gallons of oil yearly; and the annual consumption of oil by the London and North-Western Railway, for this purpose alone, is more than 40,000 gallons. The oil obtained from good English rape seed is purer and of superior quality to that from foreign or colonial seed; and as an acre of land yields nearly five quarters of seed, which is worth at present 50s. per quarter, it is a profitable crop.

Rape seed is now largely imported for expressing oil. The imports, which in 1847 were but 87,662 quarters, weighing 17,532 tons, had reached, in 1851, 107,029 quarters, weighing 21,606 tons. The price of new seed is £25 to £27 the last of ten quarters. The oil is £34 per tun.

The refuse cake, after the seed is crushed for oil, is in demand as food for cattle, being worth £4 the ton.

We imported in 1851, from Trance, 289 tuns of rapeseed oil, worth about £17,000, on which there was no duty levied.

There are exported annually from Hesse Darmstadt, 34,660 cwts. of poppy and rape oils.

The oil of the colza is much used in Europe, and highly prized. In France it has been adopted for all the purposes of lighthouses. In this country it has lately come into extensive domestic use, for burning in the French moderateur lamps, being retailed at from 3s. 4d. to 4s. the gallon.

DOMBA OIL.—The Poonay or Palang tree (Calophyllum Inophyllum), the Alexandrian laurel, is a beautiful evergreen, native of the East Indies, which flourishes luxuriantly on poor sandy soils, in fact where scarcely anything else will grow. The seeds or berries contain nearly 60 per cent. of a fragrant, fixed oil, which is used for burning as well as for medicinal purposes, being considered a cure for the itch. As commonly prepared it has a dark green color. It is perfectly fluid at common temperatures, but begins to gelatinise when cooled below 50 degrees.

THE EARTH-NUT (Arachis hypogæa, or hypocarpogea).—This very singular plant has frequently been confounded with others, partly through the carelessness of travellers, and by the improper use of names, which tended to mislead and confuse. Its common appellative, the earth-nut, has led to the conclusion that it was a species of nut, such as is known in England under the name of "pig nut," "hawk nut," and "ground nut." This, as well as the "earth chesnut," belongs to a totally different genera. On the Continent and in the East Indies a similar confusion had long existed by the appellation of "ground pistachio," which caused the fruit to be confounded with the nut of the tree Pistacia vera. Some resemblance, on the other hand, existing between these—as well as from their being eaten by different nations, and used as an article of food, and also for producing oil—rendered the true description still more difficult. Botanists are, however, no longer at a loss, having well established the nature and character of all these plants. The Arachis "nut" partakes of the nature of the pea or bean of our own country, and is a low annual plant of the order Diadelphia decandria of Linn.; originally from Africa, but now extensively cultivated in every quarter of the globe. It has been naturalised in Europe, and with the climate of the South of France it may be turned to good account.

It has been said to be indigenous in Florida, Peru, Brazil, and Surinam; but the plant may be grown on a light sandy soil, under a moderate heat, equal to that of Italy or the South of France. The class to which it belongs approaches to the pea tribe; but its remarkable difference to this, as to the pulse we know as a bean, is the circumstance of its introducing its fruit or pod—if we may so call it—into the earth, for the purpose of ripening its seed. The Arachis, or earth nut, has obtained its name from this operation. The flowers, leaves, and stems are produced in the ordinary manner we see in the pea tribe. When the yellow flower has withered and the seed fertilised, there is nothing left but the bare stem which had supported it. This stem, in which is the germ of the future fruit and pod, now grows rapidly in a curved manner, with a tendency to arrive shortly on the surface of the ground, into which it penetrates this now naked stem, and sinks into the earth several inches. It is in this obscure position that the fruit takes its ripened form, and is either gathered from its hiding place or left to the future season, when its time of rising into new existence calls it from what was thought its unnatural position.

When mature, it is of a pale yellow color, wrinkled, and forms an oblong pod, sometimes contracted in the middle; it contains generally two seeds. The nuts or peas are a valuable article of food in the tropical parts of Africa, America, and Asia. They are sweetish and almond-like, and yield an oil, when pressed, not inferior in use and quality to that obtained from the olive. The leaf resembles that of clover, and, like it, affords excellent food for cattle. The cake, after the oil is expressed, forms an excellent manure.

The Arachis is usually sown in dry, warm weather, from May to June, and are placed at the distance of eighteen inches from each other. Insects are fond of them; and if the season is cold and unfavorable to them, or the growth retarded, they become musty and bad, or are eaten by insects.

The mode of obtaining the oil is nearly the same as for other pulse or seeds; and under favorable circumstances the Arachis will produce half its weight of oil. When heated and pressed the quantity is very considerably increased. This oil is good for every purpose for which olive or almond oil is used. For domestic purposes it is esteemed, and it does not become rancid so quickly as other oils. Experiments have been made on its inflammable properties, and it is proved that the brilliancy of light was superior to that of olive oil, and its durability was likewise proved to be seven minutes per hour beyond the combustion of the best olive oil, with the additional advantage of scarcely any smoke. In Cochin-China and India it is used for lamps. It is known as Bhoe Moong or Moong Phullee in Bengal, and as Japan or Chinese pulse in Java.

From China this plant was probably introduced into the continent of India, Ceylon, and the Malayan Archipelago, where it is generally cultivated.

In South Carolina the seed is roasted and used as chocolate. The leaves are used medicinally.

It is grown in Jamaica, and there called Pindar nut.

That the culture of the Arachis in warm climates, or even in a temperate one, under favorable circumstances, should be encouraged, there can be but one opinion. And when it is considered that its qualities are able to supersede that of the olive and the almond, which are but precarious in their crops—to which may be added, that as a plant it is greedily devoured in the green state by cattle—how much may it not serve to assist the new settler in regions of the world which have a climate suited to it.

It is known by various local names—such as mani manoti by the Spaniards, and has obtained also that of cacahuete in some countries. It has the additional term hypogea attached to it, which literally signifies subterranean. This is apt to mislead; for the plant grows above ground as other pulse, whereas only its seed and pericarp are inserted, after blooming, into the earth. Hence the better term hypocarpogea.

It appears to form an important article of cultivation along the whole of the west coast of Africa, and probably on the east coast, on several parts of which it was found by Loureiro ("Flor. Cochin," p. 430). It was doubtless carried from Africa to various parts of equinoctial America, for it is noticed in some of the early accounts of Peru and Brazil. 800 quarters of this nut were imported into Liverpool from the West Coast of Africa, in 1849, for expressing oil, and about half that quantity in 1850.

Eighty to 90 tuns of the expressed oil are now annually imported. The seeds contain about 44 per cent. of a clear pale yellow oil, which is largely used in India as food, and for lamps, particularly at Malwa and Bombay, &c. Two varieties are grown in Malacca, the white seed and the brown seed, and also in Java, in the vicinity of sugar plantations; the oil cake being used as manure. It is there known as katjang oil.

This plant, which seems to be a native of many parts of Asia, has within the last ten years been much cultivated about Calcutta. The seeds contain abundance of fixed oil, have a faint odor, and very mild agreeable taste; 1,950 parts of seed, separated from their coverings and blanched, give 1,405 of kernels, from which, by cold pressure, 703 parts of oil are procured. The seeds are consumed as a cheap popular luxury, being half roasted, and then eaten with salt. The oil is calculated to serve as an efficient and very cheap substitute for olive oil, for pharmaceutical purposes. It burns with little smoke, with a clear flame, and affords a very full bright light, answering perfectly in Argand lamps.

The oil cake affords, also, an excellent food for cattle.

The ground nut has of late become of considerable importance as an article of exportation, by English houses; yet more so by French houses at Ghent, Rouen, and Bordeaux; some of whom have contracted with the merchants of the African colonies for large quantities, sending shipping for the cargoes. One house alone contracted for 60,000 bushels in the years 1844 and 1845. This nut oil is so very useful to machinery that the naval steam cruisers on the coast have adopted it. A ground-nut oil factory exists in the colony of Sierra Leone; but from the want of steam power and proper machinery, and from bad management, together with the inferior attainments of the African artisan, when compared with the European mechanic, and their facilities in quantity or quality, there is abundant scope for improvement. The price in the colony is 4s. 6d. per gallon. It is capable of being refined so as to answer the purpose of a salad oil; the nut is prolific, and eaten by the natives and Europeans, boiled, roasted, or in its raw state; and frequently introduced at the table as we do the Spanish Barcelona nut at dessert. It grows in the rainy season, and is collected in the dry, and sold in the colony for one shilling to eighteen-pence per bushel, in goods and cash. Form of the nut, long, light shell, contains two kernels covered with a brown rind, when shelled white in appearance.

It is a low creeping plant, with yellow flowers; after they drop off, and the pods begin to form, they bury themselves in the earth, where they come to maturity. The pod is woody and dry, containing from one to three peas, or nuts, as they are called, hence the common names, ground-nut or pea-nut. They require to be parched in an oven before they are eaten, and form a chief article of food in many parts of Africa.

From a narrow strip of land, extending about 40 miles northerly from Wilmington (North Carolina), comes nearly the entire quantity of earth nuts (known as pea-nuts) grown in the United States for market. From that tract and immediate vicinity, 80,000 bushels have been carried to Wilmington market in one year.

The plant has somewhat the appearance of the dwarf garden-pea, though more bushy. It is cultivated in hills. The pea grows on tendrils, which put out from the plant and take root in the earth, where the nut is produced and ripened. The fruit is picked from the root by hand, and the vines are a favorite food for horses, mules, and cattle. From 30 to 80 bushels are produced on an acre. There are some planters who raise from 1,000 to 1,500 bushels a year.—("Hunt's Merchant's Magazine," vol. xv., p. 426.)

The ground-nut is exceedingly prolific, and requires but little care and attention to its culture, while the oil extracted from it is quite equal to that yielded by the olive. Almost any kind of soil being adapted for it, nothing can be more simple than its management. All that is required is the soil to be turned over and the seed sown in drills like potatoes; after it begins to shoot it may be earthed with a hoe or plough. In many parts of Western Australia they are now grown in gardens for feeding pigs, the rich oil they are capable of yielding being entirely overlooked. In regard to their marketable value at home, I will give a copy of a letter of a friend of mine, received from some London brokers, largely engaged in the African trade:—

"Wilson and Rose present compliments to Mr. N., and beg to inform him the price of African ground nuts is as under:—Say for River Gambia, £11 per ton here. Say for Sierra Leone, £10 per ton here. For ground nuts free on board at the former port, £8 per ton is demanded; these are the finest description of nut, the freight would be about £4 per ton; the weight per bushel imperial measure, and in the shell, is about 25 lbs."

The following, also, is an extract from a letter written in 1842, by Mr. Forster (the present M.P. for Berwick), an eminent African merchant. Speaking of the staple of Africa, he says:—

"I have lately been attempting to obtain other oils from the coast, and it was only yesterday I received from the hands of the oil presser the result of my most recent experiment on the ground nut, which I am happy to say is encouraging. I send you a sample of the oil extracted from them. They are from the Gambia. It is a pure golden colored oil, with a pleasant flavor, free from the frequent rancidity of olive oil."

Since then the cultivation has gone on, and the exportation largely increased. The French also have entered into the trade, and several vessels are exclusively employed in exporting this product from the river Gambia, conveying it to oil factors on the continent, who extract its oil. Seeing, then, the many advantages the cultivation of such a product bestows, and its adaptation to the soil and climate of Australia, I cannot refrain from expressing a hope that some of the influential landowners in the cultivated districts will give the matter their consideration.

I am informed by an American merchant that he cleared 12,000 dollars in one year, on the single article of ground or pea nuts obtained from Africa. Strange as it may appear, nearly all these nuts are transhipped to France, where they command a ready sale; are there converted into oil, and thence find their way over the world in the shape of olive oil; the skill of the French chemists enabling them to imitate the real Lucca and Florence oil, so as to deceive the nicest judges. Indeed, the oil from the pea nuts possesses a sweetness and delicacy that cannot be surpassed.

Advices from the West Coast of Africa to the 16th August, 1853, report that the ground nut season had closed; the quantity shipped during the season having exceeded 900,000 bushels. The yield has increased 20 per cent, each year for the last three years, and it is expected the increase will be still greater in the forthcoming season.

TEUSS OIL.—The Chinese use what is called teuss or tea oil, for food and other purposes. I have alluded to it under the head of pulse, at page 312. It is obtained, however, from a species of the ground nut, and is sold in Hong Kong, at 2s. 6d. the gallon, being imported from the main land. By a local ordinance it is imperative on every householder at Victoria, Hong-Kong, to have a lamp burning over his door at night. When burning, this oil affords a clear, bright light, and is not so offensive to the smell as train and other common lamp oils.

TOBACCO SEED OIL.—A discovery, which may prove of some commercial importance, appears to have been made by a British resident in Russia, namely, that the seed of the tobacco plant contains about fifteen per cent. of an oil possessing peculiar drying properties, calculated to render it a superior medium, especially for paints and varnishes. The process employed for the extraction of the oil is to reduce the seed to powder, and knead it into a stiff paste with quantum sufficit of hot water, and then submit it to the action of strong fires. The oil thus obtained is exposed to a moderate heat, which, by coagulating the vegetable albumen of the seed, causes all impurities contained in the oil to form a cake at the bottom of the vessel employed, leaving the oil perfectly limpid and clear.

POPPY OIL.—About 80 cwt. of poppy seed is imported annually into Hull, and small quantities come into other ports to be crushed into oil. The seeds of the poppy yield, by expression, 56 per cent. of a bland and very valuable oil, of a pale golden color, fluid to within ten degrees of the freezing point of water. It dries easily, is inodorous, and of an agreeable flavor like olive oil.

Dr. J.V.C. Smith, writing from Switzerland, to the editor of the "Boston Medical Journal," says:—

"Immense crops are raised here of articles wholly unknown to the American farmers, and perhaps the kinds best fitted to particular localities where grain and potatoes yield poorly under the best efforts. One of these is poppies. Thousands of acres are at this moment ready for market—which the traveller takes for granted, as he hurries by, are to be manufactured into opium. They are not, however, intended for medical use at all, but for a widely different purpose. From the poppy seed a beautiful transparent oil is made, which is extensively used in house painting. It is almost as colorless as water, and possesses so many advantages over the flax seed oil that it may ultimately supersede that article. Where flax cannot be grown poppies often can be, in poor sandy soil. Linseed oil is becoming dearer, and the demand for paint is increasing. With white lead, poppy oil leaves a beautiful surface, which does not afterwards change, by the action of light, into a dirty yellow. Another season some one should make a beginning at home in this important branch of industry. The oil may be used for other purposes, and even put in the cruet for salads."

TALLICOONAH or KUNDAH OIL, is obtained from the seeds of the Carapa Touloucouna (of the Flore de Senegambie). The tree grows to the height of 40 feet; the fruit is a large, somewhat globular five-celled capsule. The seeds (of which there are from 18 to 30 in each capsule), vary in size from that of a chesnut to a hen's egg. They are three-cornered, of a brownish or blackish red color. It is found abundantly in the Timneh country, and over the colony of Sierra Leone. It is manufactured in the following manner:—The nuts having been well dried in the sun, are hung up in wicker racks or hurdles, and exposed to the smoke of the huts, after which they are roasted and subjected to trituration in large wooden mortars, until reduced to a pulp. The mass is then boiled, when the supernatant oil is removed by skimming. The natives principally prepare the oil to afford light; the leaves are used by the Kroomen as a thatch. It is held in high estimation as an anthelmintic. The oil is sold in Sierra Leone at 2s. a gallon, and could be procured in abundance from the coast as an article of commerce.

CARAP or CRAB OIL (Carapa guianensis).—This is a sort of vegetable butter, being sometimes solid and sometimes half fluid, which is obtained from the seed of a large tree abundant in the forests of Guiana, and also found in Trinidad. It is said to turn rancid very soon when exposed to the air, but this is probably caused by the presence of impurities, arising from the crude and imperfect way in which it is prepared by the natives, who boil the kernels, leave them in a heap for a few days, then skim them, and lastly reduce them into a paste in a wooden mortar, which is then spread on an inclined board, and exposed to the heat of the sun, so that the oil may melt and gradually trickle down into a vessel placed below to receive it. A prize medal was awarded for this oil at the Great Exhibition in 1851.

Carap oil in Trinidad is highly esteemed as an unguent for the hair, and also for applying to the wounds of animals, for destroying ticks and other insects which infest cattle—also for the cure of rheumatism. An oil called Carap oil is also obtained in the East, from the almonds of Xylocarpus granatum, or Carapa Molluccensis, of Lanark, which is used by the natives to dress the hair and anoint the skin, so as to keep off insects.

Cacao fat, the butter-like substance obtained from the seeds of Theobroma cacao, is esteemed as an emollient.

The nuts of the Great Macaw tree (Acrocomia fusiformis), a majestic species of palm, furnishes much oil. This tree is the Cocos fusiformis, of Jacquin, and other intertropical botanists. It is a native of Trinidad and Jamaica, and is found also very commonly in South America.

The method of extracting the oil is as follows:—The nut or kernel is slightly roasted and cleaned, then ground to a paste, first in a mill, and then on a livigating stone. This paste, gently heated and mixed with 3-10ths of its weight of boiling water, is put into a bag, and the oil expressed between two heated plates of iron; it yields about 7-10ths or 8-10ths of oil. If discolored it can be purified, when melted, by filtration. It is then of the consistence of butter, of a golden yellow hue, the odor that of violets, and the taste sweetish. If well preserved it will keep several years without spoiling, which is known to have taken place by the loss of its golden hue and delightful aroma.

It is frequently sold in the shops as palm oil, and of late has entered largely into the composition of toilet soaps. As an emollient it is said to be useful in some painful affections of the joints; the negroes deem it a sovereign remedy in "bone ache." The nut itself is sometimes fancifully carved by the negroes, and is highly ornamental, being of a shining jet black, and susceptible of a very high polish. This tree may be increased from suckers.

A. sclerocarpa is the Macahuba palm of Brazil.

THE AGAITI, as it is called by the Portuguese, or napoota by the natives and Arabs (Didynamia Gymosperma?), much cultivated in all Eastern Africa for its oil, which is considered equal to that of olives, and fetches as high a price in the Indian market. The plant, which is as tall and rank as hemp, and equally productive, having numerous pods throughout the stems, is found everywhere in a wild as well as cultivated state.

The "Cape Shipping Gazette," of August, 1850, says:—

"The attention of the George Agricultural and Horticultural Society having been drawn to the fact that an excellent oil, equal to the olive oil of Italy, can be extracted from the kernel of the fruit known by the name of "T Kou Pijte" and "Pruim Besje," they have offered a reward of £10 for the best sample, not less than a half aum of this oil—and £15 if it shall be adjudged equal to the best oil of Italy. This fact is deserving of notice, as an instance of the advantages which are likely to result from the attention now being devoted to the natural productions of the colony."

Madia sativa is a handsome annual plant, native of Chili, which has been naturalised in Europe. It grows about two feet high, and produces flowers in July and August, of a pale yellow color.

The whole plant is viscid and exhales a powerful odor, which is somewhat like heated honey. It requires rather a rich soil, of a ferruginous character. The root is fusiform, the stem cylindrical, and furnished with sessile, three to five longitudinally-nerved leaves, which are apposite on the lower portion of the stem, and alternate on the upper. M. Victor Pasquier, who has written on the culture of the plant, analysed the seed, and found 100 parts to consist of 26.5 of testa, and 73.5 of kernel; 100 parts of the latter yielded 31.3 of vegetable albumen, gum, and lignine, 56.0 of fixed oil, and 12.5 of water. In dry seasons the oil is both more abundant and better than in damp seasons. The produce of oil, compared with that of the poppy, is equal; with colza, as 32 to 28; with linseed, 32 to 21; with the olive, 32 to 16.

The leaves and stems of this plant are rejected by cattle; but the oil-cake, which always contains a considerable portion of the oil, forms a nutritive food, of which they are very fond. The oil expressed without heat is transparent, of a golden yellow color, inodorous, rather fatter than the oil of rape or olives, and of a soft, agreeable, nutty taste. It is fit to be employed in the preparation of food, in salads, and for all the purposes of the best and mildest fixed oils. It burns with a brilliant, reddish-white flame, and leaves no residue. It is little liable to become rancid, and is completely decolorised by animal charcoal.

The oil of the seeds of this plant, now extensively cultivated in France, will yield, according to the observations of Braconnet, a solid soap, similar to that made from olive oil. Boussingault obtained from the oil a solid, as well as a fluid acid. The solid one is probably palmic acid, it fuses at exactly 140 degrees of Fahrenheit. The fluid acid in its properties resembles the oleic acid discovered by Chevreul, and seems to dry easily.

The following is the composition of each, as determined by his analysis:—

	Solid acid.	Fluid acid.
Carbon	74.2	76.0
Hydrogen	12.0	11.0
Oxygen	13.8	13.0
	100.	100.

COCUM OIL, or butter, is obtained from the seeds of a kind of mangosteen (Garcinia purpurea), and used in various parts of India to adulterate ghee or butter. It is said to be exported to England for the purpose of mixing with bears' grease in the manufacture of pomatum. It is a white, or pale greenish yellow, solid oil, brittle, or rather friable, having a faint but not unpleasant smell, melting at about 95 degrees, and when cooled after fusion remaining liquid to 75 degrees.

An excellent solid oil, of a bright green color, is obtained from Bombay, having a consistence intermediate between that of tallow and wax, fusible at about 95 degrees, and easily bleached; it has a peculiar and somewhat aromatic odor. There is some uncertainty as to the plant from which it is obtained. It was referred to the Salvadora persica, and to the Vernonia Anthelminticea, a plant common in Guzerat and the Concan Ghats.

A pale yellow clear oil is obtained from the seed of Dolichos biflorus(?). Oil is also expressed in India from the seed of the Argemone mexicana, which is used for lamps and in medicine; and from the seeds of the cashew nut (Anacardium occidentale), from Sapindus marginatus, and the country walnut (Aleurites triloba.) The fruit of the Chirongia sapinda, (or Buchanania latifolia,) yields oil. From the seeds of the Pongamia glabra, or Galidupa arborea, a honey brown and almost tasteless oil is procured, which is fluid at common temperatures, but gelatinises at 55 degrees.

Other sources of oil are the Celastrus paniculatus (?) Balanites Egyptictca and the saul tree (Shorea Robusta).

THE CANDLE-TREE or PALO BE VELAS, (Parmentiera cereifera, Seemann.)—This tree, in the valley of the Chagres, South America, forms entire forests. In entering them a person might almost fancy himself transported into a chandler's shop. From all the stems and lower branches hang long cylindrical fruits, of a yellow wax color, so much resembling a candle as to have given rise to the popular appellation. The fruit is generally from two to three, but not unfrequently four feet long, and an inch in diameter. The tree itself is about 24 feet high, with, opposite trifoliated leaves, and large white blossoms, which appear throughout the year, but are in greatest abundance during the rainy season. The Palo de Velas belongs to the natural order Crescentiaceae, and is a Parmentiera, of which genus hitherto only one species, the P. edulis, of De Candolle, was known to exist. The fruit of the latter, called Quauhscilote, is eaten by the Mexicans, while that of the former serves for food to numerous herds of cattle. Bullocks especially, if fed with the fruit of this tree, guinea-grass, and Batatilla (Ipomœa brachypoda, Benth.), soon get fat. It is generally admitted, however, that the meat partakes in some degree of the peculiar apple-like smell of the fruit, but this is by no means disagreeable, and easily prevented, if, for a few days previous to killing the animal, the food is changed. The tree produces its principal harvest during the dry season, when all the herbaceous vegetation is burned up, and on that account its cultivation in tropical countries is especially to be recommended; a few acres of it would effectually prevent that want of fodder which is always most severely felt after the periodical rains have ceased.—("Hooker's Journal of Botany.")

CINNAMON SUET is extracted by boiling the fruit of the cinnamon. An oily fluid floats on the surface, which on cooling subsides to the bottom of the vessel, and hardens into a substance like mutton suet. The Singhalese make a kind of candles with it, and use it for culinary purposes. It emits a very pleasant aroma while burning. According to the analysis of Dr. Christison, it contains eight per cent, of a fluid not unlike olive oil; the remainder is a waxy principle.

CROTON OIL is obtained by expression from the seeds or nuts of Croton Tiglium, an evergreen tree, 15 to 20 feet in height, belonging to the same order as the castor oil plant, producing whitish green flowers, and seeds resembling a tick in appearance, whence its generic name. It is a native of the East Indies. 100 parts of seeds afford about 64 of kernel. 50 quarters of croton nuts for expressing oil were imported into Liverpool from the Cape Verd Islands, in 1849.

The Croton Tiglium grows plentifully in Ceylon, and the oil, if properly expressed, might be made an article of trade. The best mode of preparing it is by grinding the seeds, placing the powder in bags, and pressing between plates of iron; allow the oil to stand for fifteen days, then filter. The residue of the expression is triturated with twice its weight of alcohol, and heated on the sand-bath from 120 to 140 degs. Fahrenheit, and the mixture pressed again. In this step the utmost caution is necessary in avoiding the acrid fumes. One seer of seed furnishes by this process rather more than eleven fluid ounces of oil, six by the first step, and five by alcohol.

The oil acts as an irritant purgative in the dose of one drop. In large doses it is a dangerous poison. When applied externally it produces pustules.

In 1845, eight cases of croton oil and six cases of the seed were exported from Ceylon.

Other species of Croton, as C. Pavana, a native of Ava and the north-eastern parts of Bengal, and C. Roxburghii, yield a purgative oil. The bark of C. Eleuteria, C. Cascarilla, and other species is aromatic, and acts as a tonic and stimulant. It forms the cascarilla bark of commerce already spoken of. When bruised, it gives out a musky odor and is often used in pastilles.

The oil obtained from the seeds of Jatropha curcas, a native of South America and Asia, is purgative and emetic, and analagous in its properties to croton oil. It is said to be a valuable external application in itch. In India it is used for lamps.

OIL OF BEN, known as Sohrinja in Bengal, and Muringo in Malabar is obtained from the seeds or nuts of the horseradish tree, Moringa pterygosperma, Burmann; the Hyperanthera Moringa, of Linnæus. This clear limpid oil having no perceptible smell, is much esteemed by watchmakers and perfumers; it is expensive and not often to be procured pure, consequently the oil would be a very profitable export. It grows rapidly and luxuriantly everywhere in Jamaica, particularly on the north side of the island—as well as Trinidad and other quarters of the West. It is easily propagated either by cuttings from the tree (the branches) or by seeds, and bears the second year. The produce of each tree may be estimated at from one to two gallons. From the flowers a very pleasant perfume might be easily distilled.

The following account I derive from my friend Dr. Hamilton—

"It is a small tree, of about twenty feet in height, of most rapid growth, coming into flower within a few months after it has been sown, and continuing to produce seeds and blossoms afterwards throughout the year. The tree is now naturalised in the West Indies. The timber is said to dye a fine blue, and the gum, which, exudes from wounds in the bark, bears a strong resemblance to that obtained from the Astragalus tragacantha, for which it might, no doubt, be substituted.

The numerous racemes of white blossoms with which the tree is constantly loaded, are succeeded by long triangular pods, somewhat tourlose at the ends, and about two feet in length, when arrived at the full growth. These pods, while yet young and tender, are not unfrequently cooked and served up at the planter's tables like asparagus, for which they are not a bad substitute. The pods, when full grown, contain about fifteen seeds; each considerably larger than a pea, with a membraneous covering expanding into three wings, whence the specific name of pterygosperma. On removing the winged envelope the seeds appear somewhat like pith balls; but upon dividing them with the nail, they are found to abound in a clear, colorless, tasteless, scentless oil, of which the proportion is so large that it may be expressed from good fresh seeds by the simple pressure of the nail. Geoffry informs us, that he obtained 30½ ounces of oil from eight pounds of the decorticated seeds, being at the rate of very nearly 24 lbs. of oil from 100 lbs. of seed.

Notwithstanding the great value of its oil, and the facility with which it can be obtained in the West Indies, the moringa has been hitherto valued merely as an ornamental shrub, and cultivated for the sake of its young pods or the horseradish of its roots, as luxuries for the table.

The oil is peculiarly valuable for the formation of ointments, from its capability of being kept for almost any length of time without entering into combination with oxygen. This property, together with the total absence of color, smell, and taste, peculiarly adapts it to the purposes of the perfumer, who is able to make it the medium for arresting the flight of those highly volatile particles of essential oil, which constitute the aroma of many of the most odoriferous flowers, and cannot be obtained by any other means, in a concentrated and permanent form. To effect this, the petals of the flowers, whose odor it is desired to obtain, are thinly spread over flakes of cotton wool saturated with this oil, and the whole enclosed in air tight tin cases, where they are suffered to remain till they begin to wither, when they are replaced by fresh ones, and the process thus continued till the oil has absorbed as much as was desired of the aroma; it is then separated from the wool by pressure, and preserved under the name of essence, in well stopped bottles.

By digesting the oil thus impregnated in alcohol, which does not take up the fixed oil, a solution of the aroma is effected in the spirit, and many odoriferous tinctures or waters, as they are somewhat inaccurately termed, prepared. By this process most delicious perfumes might be obtained from the flowers of the Acacia tortuosa, Pancratium carribeum, Plumeria alba, Plumeria rubra, and innumerable other flowers, of the most exquisite fragrance, which abound within the tropics, blooming unregarded, and wasting their odors on the barren air."

THE OIL PALM.

There are several species of this genus of beautiful palms of the tribe Cococinæ, but that chiefly turned to account is Elais guineensis, a native of the Coast of Guinea to the south of Fernando Po, which furnishes the best oil.

There are three other varieties—E. melanococca, a native of New Granada, E. Pernambucana, common on the coast of Brazil, and J. occidentalis, indigenous to Jamaica. All the species grow well in a sandy loam and may be increased by suckers.

The value of the oil of this palm, as an article of commerce, is exemplified by the large annual imports, averaging more than 516,000 cwt. for many years past.

Our supplies of palm oil are almost wholly derived from the West Coast of Africa, of which it is the staple article of export.

Palm oil has the greatest specific gravity of any of the fixed vegetable oils. It is used principally in this country for making yellow soap. But the inhabitants of the Guinea coast employ it for the same purposes that we do butter.

The trade in palm oil has almost driven out the slave trade from the Bight of Benin, which was a few years ago one of its principal seats. The old slave traders at Whydah have generally gone into the palm oil trade, and are carrying it on to a very great extent. In August 1849, no less than twelve vessels were lying at that port taking in oil; whilst, only three years before, it was rare to see three vessels there at once, and of those in all probability two would be slavers.

This palm is called Maba by the natives about the Congo river. It is moneocious, which indeed Jacquin, by whom the genus was established, concluded it to be, although first described as diœcious by Gaertner, whose account has been adopted, probably without examination, by Schroder, Willdenow, and Persoon.

The average imports of this oil into Liverpool alone, have now been for some years upwards of 18,000 tons, worth nearly £800,000 sterling, and giving employment to upwards of 30,000 tons of shipping; thus proving that the natives who formerly exported their brethren as a matter of traffic, now find, at least, an equally profitable trade in the exportation of the vegetable products of their native soil.

Palm oil is produced by the nut of the tree, which grows in the greatest abundance throughout Western Africa. The demand for it, both in Europe and America, is daily increasing, and there is no doubt it will, ere long, become the most important article of African trade.

IMPORTS INTO LIVERPOOL.
	casks.	tons.
1835	28,500	9,500
1836	33,500	11,000
1837	26,000	9,900
1838	27,520	10,320
1839	36,500	14,300
1852 about	—	23,500

In the colony of Liberia, I notice the manufacture of a new article of African production, which is called "Herring's Palm Kernel Oil or African Lard." It is thus spoken of in the newspapers of that Republic :—

We had been for a long time impressed with an idea that the oil contained in the kernel of the palm nut, was superior both in quality and appearance to that of palm oil, which is obtained from the exterior part.

On making an effort to extract the oil from the kernel (which was by means of a little machine, of our own invention and contrivance), we found that our thoughts upon the matter were correct, that the oil possessed admirable beauty in its appearance, with a taste, when used for cooking purposes, unexcelled by that of the best lard.

After being made and set by, it assumes a consistence like that of hard butter, and has to be cut out with a knife or spoon; its appearance in this state is very beautiful, presenting such richness, clearness, and adaptedness to table purposes, that one would not suppose that this oil is obtained from the same tree from which palm oil is, for there is as much disparity both in their appearance and taste as there is between lard and butter.

The exquisite transparency which the kernel oil bears in a liquid state, especially when undergoing the purifying process, is a cause of admiration. On showing some of it to several foreigners, I was asked in two instances which was the oil and which the water, or whether it was oil or water; thus you may have an idea of its clearness. We make two qualities of this oil, differing however in taste only, the one being for table uses and the other for exportation and for whatever use they may choose to put it to abroad.

There have been many conjectures in respect to the uses to which this oil might he put in foreign countries; but that it will be a useful article, and especially in our trade, when made more extensively, there can be no doubt, for the quantity in which it might be had would undoubtedly introduce it to a respectable rank among the other commodities of our productive country so eagerly sought after.

There is nothing, to my knowledge, that can be turned to as good account and at the same time so abundant and easily obtained, as the palm kernel, for they are as common as the pebbles of stony land, especially in this section of the country, where we have palm orchards of spontaneous growth for miles together, and interspersing the surrounding country in almost innumerable numbers.

According to statistical ascertainment, there is on an average exported from this port, thirty thousand gallons of palm oil annually, from which fact we ascertain demonstratively that the palm kernels which are thrown away here (leaving out the whole leeward coast of our possessions) are sufficient to make thirty thousand gallons of oil, more or less. This is not at all a problematical speculation of ours, but we feel authorised to advance this assertion from the fact that one bushel of kernels, completely worked up, will make two gallons of oil. But to work them up is the thing, plentiful as they are; we however, hesitate not to say, that it can be done and probably will be.

Having now so far conquered the difficulties attending the manufacture of this oil, as that we can safely vouch a reasonable supply for home consumption, we most cheerfully recommend it to the citizens of this Republic, whose demands for it, for eating purposes, we doubt not can be supplied, and on very reasonable terms.

We will assure our customers that there will not be an ounce of dirt or sediment in a hundred pounds of our oil.

The recent abolition of the soap duty, by stimulating the demand for palm oil, will have an instant effect on the trade and commerce of Western Africa, by confirming the suppression of the slave trade, and giving an additional impetus to negro improvement. It will also increase the production for England of ground nuts, whence the oil so largely used in making continental soaps is expressed. "When (observes a recent writer) the Portuguese first treated with that coast, they found palm oil and ground nuts articles of native food, and so they remained down to a period within living memory. So used, they neither required any cultivation nor gave rise to any notions of property. Though whole tracts of country are crowded by the oil-palm tree, little care was taken of what was, in fact, superabundant; and as for ground nuts, they were simply dug up as prudence or necessity dictated. Some thirty years ago a cask or two of palm oil was sent home from the Gold Coast; it met so ready a sale that it was further inquired after, and the total amount now imported into England ranges from 25,000 to 30,000 tons annually. The exportation of ground nuts is even larger; but, owing to our excise on soap, they had heretofore gone principally to France—-to Marseilles especially.

"Of these two articles, it is to be observed, the Western Coast of Africa appears to have a monopoly; and with respect to palm oil, it is further to be remarked, that it is exactly behind those ports and up those rivers, which were formerly the great nests of the slave trade, that its production is largest; and just as the slave trade there has been crushed, a commerce in palm oil has sprung up and replaced it. There are men alive who recollect the slave trade flourishing on the Gold Coast; it has long been extinct there, and palm oil is now largely exported. It is but a very few years ago since that traffic appeared to be irrepressible at the mouths of the Niger: it is now expelled, and thence Liverpool obtains, instead, its supplies of palm oil. So also, later still, at Whydah, and the other ports of the kingdom of Dahomy, and along the Lagoon, which connects Dahomy with the Benin River, there the Spanish slave dealers are themselves inaugurating a commerce in palm oil. Already the trade in that quarter is considerable, and it would have extended much more rapidly than it has done, were it not that disorder and warfare in the interior have been promoted and prolonged by the indiscreet zeal of some of our own naval officers and by the desire of some of our missionaries to rule at Abeeokutu, at Lagos, and at Badagray. When, however, order and tranquillity are restored, a most important trade will undoubtedly arise there. A generation ago, when palm oil was merely an article of food, there was, we have said, no property in palm trees. Since, however, a large foreign demand has arisen for this oil, the plantations, as already they are called, begin to be cared for; and lately the title to some of them has been disputed in our courts on the Gold Coast: a contention which constitutes the first evidence we have received of the value of land, not actually under their own cultivation, being recognised by the natives. Thus the feeling of property and the desire for accumulation are springing up out of the palm oil trade; and they are everywhere the germs of nascent civilisation. It is no light question, therefore, thus involved in an increased demand for this article; it may produce African consequences of incalculable importance to the whole human race. It is in France hitherto that the great consumption of ground nut oil has occurred. It is there used in the manufacture of soaps, which, though preferred abroad, are little used in England—very much because of the Excise laws. The specific gravity of the soap made out of ground nut oil is higher than those laws permitted; in consequence we could neither make it for our own use nor for foreign exportation; and thus France has substantially the soap trade of the world. By the repeal of the duty, England will be enabled to compete—in this, as in all other trades—with France abroad."

The price, in Liverpool, for palm oil, in October, 1853, was £38 10s. to £39 per ton.

We export annually nearly four million gallons of oil made from linseed, hemp seed, and rape seed.

PALM OIL RETAINED FOR HOME CONSUMPTION

	cwts.
1835	242,733
1836	234,357
1837	211,919
1838	272,991
1839	262,910
1840	314,881
1841	300,770
1842	353,672
1843	377,765
1844	363,335
1848	510,218
1849	493,331
1850	448,589
1851	493,598
1852	408,577

The quantity of the four principal vegetable oils annually imported into Great Britain, is shown by the following figures:—

	Palm oil.	Coco-nut oil.	Castor oil.	Olive oil.
	cwts.	cwts.	cwts.	tuns.
1848	510,218	85,463	4,588	10,086
1849	493,331	64,452	9,681	16,964
1850	448,589	98,040	—	20,738
1851	608,550	55,995	—	11,503
1852	623,231	101,863	—	8,898

THE OLIVE-TREE (Olea Europea).—There are several varieties of this plant, two of which have been long distinguished—the wild and the cultivated. The former is an evergreen shrub or low tree, with spiny branches and round twigs; the latter is a taller tree, without spines, and with four-angled twigs. The fruit is a drupe about the size and color of a damson. Its fleshy pericarp yields by expression olive oil, of which the finest comes from Provence and Florence. Spanish or Castile soap is made by mixing olive oil and soda, while soft soap is made by mixing the oil with potash.

The wild olive is indigenous to Syria, Greece, and Africa, on the lower slopes of Mount Atlas. The cultivated species grows spontaneously in Syria, and is easily reared in Spain, Italy and the South of France, various parts of Australia and the Ionian Islands. Wherever it has been tried on the sea-coasts of Australia, the success has been most complete. There are several fine trees near Adelaide, some of them fourteen feet high, bearing fruit in abundance. Unfortunately no one has attempted to cultivate the plant on a large scale, but in a few years Australia ought to suply herself with olive oil.

The olive tree is also grown in Hong-Kong.

There are five or six varieties of O. Europœa, or sativa, grown in the south of Europe, of which district they are for the most part natives.

The entire exports of olive oil from the kingdom of Naples have been estimated at 36,333 tuns a year, which, taken at its mean value when exported at £62 per tun, is equivalent to the annual sum of £2,252,646.

There are one or two distinct species, natives of the East Indies and the Cape of Good Hope. This genus of plants, besides their valuable products of oil and fruit, are also much admired for the fragrance of their white flowers. There is a yellow-blossomed variety, native of China, O. fragrans, the Lan-hoa of the Chinese, which is used to perfume their teas.

Olive oil now forms an article of export from Chili, being grown in most parts of that republic, particularly in the vicinity of St. Jago, where trees of three feet in diameter, and of a proportionate height, are common. The olive was first carried from Andalusia to Peru in 1560, by Antonio de Ribera, of Lima. Frezier speaks of the olive being used for oil in Chili, a century and a half ago.

The culture of the olive has been recommended for Florida and most of the Southern States of America. Formerly, on account of its slow growth, the olive was not considered very useful; but some years since a new variety was introduced into France, and into some parts of Spain and Portugal, which yields an abundant crop of fruit the second year after planting. They are small trees or rather shrubs, about four or five feet high. The fruit is larger than the common olive, is of a fine green color when ripe, and contains a great deal of oil, The advantages accruing from this new mode of cultivating the olive tree, are beyond all calculation. By the old method an olive tree does not attain its full growth, and consequently does not yield any considerable crop under thirty years; whereas the new system of cultivating dwarf trees, especially from cuttings, affords very abundant crops in two or three. An acre of land can easily grow 2,500 trees of the new variety, and the gathering of the fruit is easy, as it can be done by small children. At Beaufort, South Carolina, the olive is cultivated from plants which were obtained in the neighbourhood of Florence, Italy.

A gentleman in Mississippi is stated, by an American agricultural journal, to have olive trees growing, which at five years from the cutting bore fruit, and were as large at that age as they usually are in Europe at eight years old. The olive then, it is added, will yield a fair crop for oil at four years from the nursery, and in eight years a full crop, or as much as in Europe at from fifteen to twenty years of age.

The lands and climate there are stated to be as well adapted to the successful cultivation of the olive for oil, pickles, &c., as any part of Europe. Some hundreds of the trees are grown in South Carolina, and the owner expressed his conviction that this product would succeed well on the sea-coast of Carolina and Georgia. The frosts, though severe, did not destroy or injure them, and in one case, when the plant was supposed to be dead, and corn was planted in its stead, its roots sent out shoots. It is well known to be a tree of great longevity, even reaching to 1,000 or 1,200 years; so that, when once established, it will produce crops for a great while afterwards. The expense of extracting the oil is also stated to be but trifling.

The olive is of slow growth; trees 80 years of age measure only from 27 to 30 inches in circumference at the lower part of their trunks. An olive tree is mentioned by M. Decandolle as measuring above 23 feet in circumference, which, judging from the above inferences, may be safely estimated at 700 years old. Two other colossal olives are recorded, one at Hieres, measuring in circumference 36 feet, and one near Genoa, measuring 38 feet 2 inches. The produce in fruit and oil is regulated by the age of the trees, which are frequently little fortunes to their owners. One at Villefranche produces on an average, in good seasons, from 200 to 230 pounds of oil. The tree at Hieres, above-mentioned, produces about 55 imperial gallons.

The olive is found everywhere along the coast of Morocco, but particularly to the south. The trees are planted in rows, which form alleys, the more agreeable because the trees are large, round, and high in proportion. They take care to water them, the better to preserve the fruit. Oil of olives might be here plentifully extracted were taxation fixed and moderate; but such has been the variation it has undergone, that the culture of olives is so neglected as scarcely to produce oil sufficient for domestic consumption.

Olive oil might form one of the most valuable articles of export from Morocco. It is strong, dark, and fit only for manufacturing purposes. This is, perhaps, not so much the fault of the olive as of the methods by which it is prepared. No care is taken in collecting the olives. They are beaten from the trees with poles, as in Portugal and Spain, suffered to lie on the ground in heaps until half putrified, then put into uncleaned presses, and the oil squeezed through the filthy residuum of former years. Good table oil might be made, if care were taken, as in France and Lucca, to pick the olives without bruising them, and to press only those that were sweet and sound. But such oil would ill suit the palate of a Maroqueen, accustomed to drink by the pint and the quart the rancid product of his country.

The olive is the great staple of Corfu, which has, in fact, the appearance of an extensive olive grove. It produces annually about 200,000 barrels. Olive oil is also produced for the purposes of commerce, and for local consumption, by France, Algiers, Tuscany, Spain, Sardinia, Portugal, Madeira, and South Australia.

Olive plantations are extending considerably both in Upper and Lower Egypt. Large quantities of trees were planted under the direction of Ibrahim Pasha.

The olive tree might be expected to be quickly matured at the Cape. The native olive, resembling the European, is of spontaneous growth and plentiful, so that if the Spanish or Italian tree were introduced, there is no doubt of its success. The wood of the olive is exceedingly hard and heavy, of a yellowish color, a close fine grain, capable of the highest polish, not subject to crack nor to be affected by worms. The root, in consequence of its variety of color, is much used for snuff-boxes and similar bijouterie.

The wood is beautifully veined, and has an agreeable smell. It is in great esteem with cabinet makers, on account of the fine polish of which it is susceptible.

The sunny slopes of hills are best suited to its natural habits. Layering is the most certain mode of propagating this fruit, although it grows freely from the seed, provided it has first been steeped for twelve hours in hot water or yeast.

Olives intended for preservation are gathered before they are ripe. In pickling, the object is to remove their bitterness and preserve them green, by impregnating them with a brine. For this purpose various methods are employed. The fruit being gathered are placed in a lye, composed of one part of quicklime to six of ashes of young wood sifted. Here they remain for half a day, and are then put into fresh water, being renewed every 24 hours; from this they are removed into a brine of common salt dissolved in water, to which add some aromatic plants. The olive will in this manner remain good for twelve months. For oil, the ripe fruit is gathered in November; the oil, unlike other plants, being obtained from the pericarp, and immediately bruised in a mill, the stones of which are set so wide as not to crush the kernel. The pulp is then subjected to the press in bags made of rushes; and, by means of a gentle pressure, the best or virgin oil flows first. A second, and afterwards a third quality of oil is obtained, by moistening the residuum, breaking the kernel, &c., and increasing the pressure. When the fruit is not sufficiently ripe, the recent oil has a bitterish taste, and when too ripe it is fatty.

The following are the present market prices of olive oil in Liverpool, (October, 1853,) and they are 40 per cent, higher than a few years ago:—Galipoli, per tun of 252 gallons, £68; Spanish, £64; Levant, £60. French olives, in half barrels of two gallons, are worth £3 to £4; Spanish, in two gallon kegs, 9s. to 10s.

The preserved or pickled olives, so admired as an accompaniment to wine, are, as we have seen the green unripe fruit, deprived of part of their bitterness by soaking them in water, and then preserved in an aromatised solution of salt.

The marc of olives after the oil has been expressed, indeed, the refuse cake of all oil plants, is most valuable, either as manure or for feeding cattle.

More than 29,000 acres are under culture with the olive in the Austrian empire, Venice, Dalmatia, Lombardy, Carinthia, and Carniola. The climate of Dalmatia is highly suitable for the olive, and the oil is better than that produced in most parts of Italy. Nearly 17,000 cwt. are annually obtained.

In 1837 there were 11,526 acres of ground under cultivation with olives in Southern Illyria, which yielded 261,800 gallons. Olives and sumach form the principal crops of the landholder. I have not been able to get any recent correct statistics of the culture and produce. The oil of Istria is considered equal to that of Provence. The stones and refuse are used there for fuel. The olive is also extensively cultivated in the Quarnero Islands, especially Veglia and Cherso, and in Corfu. There were in 1836, 219,339 acres under cultivation in the Ionian Islands, producing 113,219 barrels. The olive is gathered there in December. The average price of the barrel of olive oil was 48s. 3d. Nearly two millions of gallons of olive oil were exported from Sicily in 1842. Naples alone shipped five millions of gallons in 1839, and about 2,500 cwts. of oil is shipped annually from Morocco. Russia imports about 500,000 poods (40 lbs. each) of olive oil annually.

"Provence oil, the produce of Aix, is the most esteemed. Florence oil is the virgin oil expressed from the ripe fruit soon after being gathered; it is imported in flasks surrounded by a kind of network formed by the leaves of a monocotyledonous plant, and packed in half chests; it is that used at table under the name of salad oil. Lucca oil is imported in jars holding nineteen gallons each. Genoa oil is another fine kind. Galipoli oil forms the largest portion of the olive oil brought to England, it is imported in casks. Apulia and Calabria are the provinces of Naples most celebrated for its production; the Apulian is the best. Sicily oil is of inferior quality; it is principally produced at Milazzo. Spanish oil is the worst. The foot deposited by olive oil is used for oiling machinery, under the name of' droppings of sweet oil.'"—("Pereira's Materia Medica.")

The manufacture of olive oil in Spain has undergone very considerable improvement during the last few years; in particular, the process for expressing the oil has been rendered more rapid and effectual by the introduction of the hydraulic press, and thus the injurious consequences which resulted from the partial fermentation of the fruit are avoided.

There are four different kinds of oil known in the districts where it is prepared.

1. Virgin oil—A term which is applied, in the district Montpellier, to that which spontaneously separates from the paste of crushed olives. This oil is not met with in commerce, being all used by the inhabitants, either as an emollient remedy, or for oiling the works of watches. A good deal of virgin oil is, however, obtained from Aix.

2. Ordinary oil.—This oil is prepared by pressing the olives, previously crushed and mixed with boiling water. By this second expression, in which more pressure is applied than in the previous one, an oil is obtained, somewhat inferior in quality to the virgin oil.

3. Oil of the infernal regions.—The water which has been employed in the preceding operation is in some districts conducted into large reservoirs called the infernal regions, where it is left for many days. During this period, any oil that might have remained mixed with the water separates and collects on the surface. This oil being very inferior in quality, is only fit for burning in lamps, and is generally locally used.

4. Fermented oil is obtained in the departments of Aix and Montpellier, by leaving the fresh olives in heaps for some time, and pouring boiling water over them before pressing the oil. But this method is very seldom put in practice, for the olives during this fermentation lose their peculiar flavor, become much heated, and acquire a musty taste, which is communicated to the oil.

The fruity flavor of the oil depends upon the quality of the olives from which it is pressed, and not upon the method adopted in its preparation,"—(French "Journal de Pharmacie.")

The price of olive oil is sufficiently high to lead to its admixture with cheaper oils. The oil of poppy seeds is that which is usually employed for its adulteration, as it has the advantage of being cheap, of having a sweet taste, and very little smell. M. Gobley has invented an instrument which he calls an areometer, to detect this fraud. It is founded on the difference between the densities of olive oil and oil of poppies.

The imports, which in 1826 were only 742,719 gallons, had risen in 1850 to 5,237,816 gallons. The following figures show the progressive imports and consumption:—

	Imported. gallons.	Retained for home consumption. gallons.
1827	1,028,174	1,070,765
1831	4,158,917	1,928,892
1835	606,166	554,196
1839	1,793,920	1,806,178
1843	3,047,688	2,516,724
1847	2,190,384	—
1848	2,541,672	—
1849	4,274,928	—
1850	5,860,806	—
1851	2,898,756	2,749,572
1852	2,242,296	1,066,400

The imports of olive oil into the port of Liverpool were 9,815 tuns in 1849, and 10,038 tuns in 1850. It was brought from Manila, Malaga, and Corfu, but chiefly from Barbary, Palermo, Gallipoli, and the Levant. In 1850 we imported from France 259,646 imperial gallons of olive oil, officially valued at £34,638; the average in ordinary years is only about 20,000 gallons from the continent.

ALMOND OIL.—To the south of the Empire of Morocco there are forests of the Arzo tree, which is thorny, irregular in its form, and produces a species of almond exceedingly hard. Its fruit consists of two almonds, rough and bitter, from which an oil is produced, very excellent for frying. In order to use this oil it requires to be purified by fire, and set in a flame, which must be suffered to die away of itself; the most greasy particles are thus consumed, and its arid qualities wholly destroyed. "When the Moors gather these fruits they drive their goats under the trees, and as the fruit falls the animals carefully nibble off the skins, and then greedily feed.

The oil of almonds is more fluid than olive oil, and of a clear, transparent, yellowish color, with a very slight odor and taste. It is occasionally employed for making the finer kinds of soap, and also in medicine.

In manufacturing it the fruit are first well rubbed or shaken in a coarse bag or sack, to separate a bitter powder which covers their epidermis. They are then pounded to a paste in mortars of marble, which paste is afterwards subjected to the action of a press, as in the case of the olive.

About 80 tuns of almond oil are annually imported into this country, the price being about 1s. per pound. Five-and-a-half pounds of almond oil will yield by cold expression one pound six ounces of oil, and three-fourths of a pound more if the iron plates are heated.

SESAME OR TEEL.—Of this small annual plant there are two or three species. Sesamum orientale, the common sort; and S. indicum, a more robust kind, cultivated at a different season, are both natives of the East Indies. S. indicum bears a pale purple flower, and S. orientals has a white blossom. It is the latter which is chiefly grown, and the seeds afford the Gingellie oil or suffed-til, already extensively known in commerce in the East. The expressed oil is as clear and sweet as that from almonds, and probably the Behens oil, used in varnish, is no other. It is called by the Arabs "Siriteh," and the seed, "bennie " seed, in Africa. S. orientals is grown in the West Indies under the name of "wangle." It is said to have been first brought to Jamaica by the Jews as an article of food. 1,050 bags of gingelly teel, or sesame seed, were imported into Liverpool, in 1849, from the East, South America, and Africa, for expressing oil, and 3,700 bags in 1850. There are two kinds of seed, light and dark, and it is about the same size as mustard seed, only not round.

A hectare of land in Algeria yields 1,475 kilogrammes of seed, which estimated at 50 cents the kilogramme, amounts to 737 francs, whilst the cost of production is only 259 francs, leaving a profit of 478 francs (nearly £20). The oil obtained from this seed is inferior to good olive oil, but is better adapted for the manufacture of soap.

This plant is not unlike hemp, but the stalk is cleaner and semi-transparent. The flower also is so gaudy, that a field in blossom looks like a bed of florist's flowers, and its aromatic fragrance does not aid to dispel such delusion. It flourishes most upon land which is light and fertile. The fragrance of the oil is perceptibly weaker when obtained from seed produced on wet, tenacious soils. A gallon of seed seems to be the usual quantity sown upon an acre. In Bengal, S. orientale is sown during February, and the crop harvested at the end of May; but S. indicum is sown on high, dry soil, in the early part of the rains of June, and the harvest occurs in September. About Poonah it is sown in June and harvested in November. In Nepaul two crops are obtained annually; one is sown as a first crop in April and May, and reaped in October and November; the other as an autumn crop, after the upland rise in August and September, and reaped in November and December.

In Mysore, after being cut it is stacked for a week, then exposed to the sun for three days, but gathered into heaps at night; and between every two days of such drying, it is kept a day in the heap. By this process, the pods burst and shed their seeds without thrashing.

The seeds contain an abundance of oil, which might be substituted for olive oil; it is procured from them in great quantities, in Egypt, India, Kashmir, China, and Japan, where it is used both for cooking and burning. It will keep for many years and not acquire any rancid smell or taste, but in the course of a year or two becomes quite mild, so that when the warm taste of the seed, which is in the oil when first expressed, is worn off, it is used for all the purposes of salad oil. It possesses such qualities as fairly entitle it to introduction into Europe; and if divested of its mucilage, it might perhaps compete with oil of olives, at least for medicinal purposes, and could be raised in any quantity in the British Indian Presidencies. It is sufficiently free from smell to admit of being made the medium for extracting the perfume of the jasmine, the tuberose, narcissus, camomile, and of the yellow rose. The process is managed by adding one weight of flowers to three weights of oil in a bottle, which being corked is exposed to the rays of the sun for forty days, when the oil is supposed to be sufliciently impregnated for use. This oil, under the name of Gingilie oil, is used in India to adulterate oil of almonds.

The flour of the seed, after the oil is expressed, is used in making cakes, and the straw serves for fuel and manure.

The oil is much used in Mysore for dressing food, and as a common lamp oil. From 200 to 400 quarters under the name of Niger seed are imported annually into Liverpool for expressing oil.

Three varieties of Til are extensively cultivated throughout India, for the sake of the fine oil expressed from their seeds, the white seeded variety, the parti-colored, and the black. It is from the latter that the sesamum or gingelly oil of commerce is obtained. Sesamum seed contains about 45 per cent. of oil. Good samples of the oil were shown at the Great Exhibition from Vizianagram, Ganjain, Hyderabad, Tanjore, the district of Moorshedabad, and Gwalior. The gingelly seed is stated to be worth about £4 per ton in the North Circars.

An oil resembling that of sesamum is obtained from the seed of Guizotea oleifera and Abyssinica, a plant introduced from Abyssinia, and common in Bengal. The ram til, or valisaloo seeds, yield about 34 per cent, of oil. The oil is generally used for burning, and is worth locally about 10d. per gallon.

BLACK TIL (Verbesena sativa).—This is known as kutsela or kala til, in the Deccan. It is chiefly cultivated in Mysore and the western districts of Peninsular India, as well as in the Bombay presidency.

About Seringapatam, as soon as the millet crop has been reaped the field is ploughed four times, and the seed sown, a gallon per acre, during the month of July or August, after the first heavy rain. No manure or weeding is required, for the crop will grow on the worst soils. It is reaped in three months, being cut close to the ground, and stacked for a week. After exposure to the sun for two or three days, the seed is beaten out with a stick. The crop in Mysore rarely yields two bushels per acre, but about Poonah the produce is much larger. The seed is sometimes parched and made into sweetmeats, but is usually grown for its oil. This is used in cooking, but it is not so abundant in the seed, nor so good as that of the sesame. Bullocks will not eat the stems unless pressed by hunger.

About 5,000 maunds are exported annually from Calcutta. 3,703 bags were imported into Liverpool in 1851. The price per quarter of eight bushels, in January, 1853, was from 30s. to £2; of teel oil, in tins, weighing 60 to 100 pounds, £2 to £2 4s.

Bombay linseed was worth £2 11s. to £2 12s. the quarter of eight bushels, in January, 1853. Bengal ditto 2s. less. The imports into Liverpool were 68,468 bags and 54,834 pockets in 1851, and 14,490 bags and 33,700 pockets in 1852. About 9,000 bags of mustard seed and from 18,000 to 20,000 bags of rape seed are also imported thence. The price of the latter is about £2 the quarter.

NATIVE OIL MILLS.—The principal native oil mill of India, of which, however, there are some varieties, consists of a simple wooden mortar with revolving pestle. It is in common use in all Belgaum and Bangalore. Two oxen are harnessed to the geering, which depends from the extremity of the pestle,—a man sits on the top of the mortar, and throws in the seeds that may have got displaced. The mill grinds twice a day; a fresh man and team being employed on each occasion. When sesame oil is to be made, about seventy seers measure, or two and a half bushels of seeds are thrown in; to this ten seers, or two quarts and three-quarters of water, are gradually added; this on the continuance of the grinding, which lasts in all six hours, unites with the fibrous portion of the seeds, and forms a cake, which, when removed, leaves the oil clean and pure at the bottom of the mortar. From this it is taken out by a coco-nut shell cup, on the pestle being withdrawn. Other seed oils are described by Dr. Buchanan, as made almost entirely in the same way as the sesamum. The exceptions are the hamlu, or castor oil, obtained from either the small or large varieties of Ricinus. This, at Seringapatam, is first parched in pots, containing something more than a seer each. It is then beaten in a mortar, and formed into balls; of these from four to sixteen seers are put in an earthenware pot and boiled with an equal quantity of water, for the space of five hours; frequent care being taken to stir the mixture to prevent it from burning. The oil now floats on the surface, and is skimmed off pure. The oil mill made use of at Bombay, and to the northward, at Surat, Cambay, Kurrachee, &c., differs a little from that just described, in having a very strong wooden frame round the mouth of the mortar; on this the man who keeps the seeds in order sits. In Scinde a camel is employed to drive the mill instead of bullocks.

Castor oil seed is thrown into the mill like other seeds, as already described; when removed it requires to be boiled for an hour, and then strained through a cloth to free it from the fragments of the seed.

It is a curious fact, and illustrative of the imperfect manner in which the oil is separated from the seeds, that while the common pressman only obtained some 26¼ per cent., Boussingault, in his laboratory, from the same seeds, actually procured 41 per cent. When the oil cakes are meant for feeding stock, this loss is of little consequence, inasmuch as the oil serves a very good purpose, but when the cake is only intended to be used as a manure, it is a great loss, inasmuch as the oil is of little or no use in adding any food for crops to the soil.

The chief oil made on the sea board of India, is that yielded by the coco-nut palm. The nut having been stripped of the husk or coir, the shell is broken, and the fatty lining enclosing the milk is taken out. This is called cobri, copra, or copperah in different localities. Three maunds, or ninety pounds of copperah, are thrown into the mill with about three gallons of water, and from this is produced three maunds, or seven and three-quarter gallons of oil. The copperah in its unprepared state is sold, slightly dried in the market. It is burned in iron cribs or grates, on the top of poles as torches, in processions, and as means of illumination for work performed in the open air at night. No press or other contrivance is made use of by the natives in India for squeezing out or expressing the oil from the cake, and a large amount of waste, in consequence of this, necessarily ensues.—Bombay Times, June 5, 1850.

Oil, of the finest kind, is made in India by expression from the kernels of the apricot. It is clear, of a pale yellow color, and smells strongly of hydrocyanic acid, of which it contains, usually, about 4 per cent.

"On inquiring into the use made of the sunflower, we were given to understand that it is here (in Tartary) raised chiefly for the oil expressed from it. But it is also of use for many other purposes. In the market places of the larger towns we often found the people eating the seeds, which, when boiled in water, taste not unlike the boiled Indian corn eaten by the Turks. In some districts of Russia the seeds are employed with great success in fattening poultry; they are also said to increase the number of eggs more than any other kind of grain. Pheasants and partridges eat them with great avidity, and find the same effects from them as other birds. The dried leaves are given to cattle in place of straw; and the withered stalks are said to produce a considerable quantity of alkali."—Bremner's Interior of Russia.

658 barrels linseed oil were brought down to New Orleans from the interior in 1849, and 1009 in 1848.

During the period of the Great Exhibition special enquiry was made by many manufacturers as to the different oils of Southern India, suitable for supplying the place of animal fat in the manufacture of candles, and generally adapted for various other purposes. Enquiries should be directed to the specific gravity, the boiling point, the per centage of pure oil in the seeds, and the means of obtaining a regular supply. The demand for vegetable oils in European commerce has been steadily on the increase for several years past, and the quantities consumed are now so large that the oleaginous products of India and the colonies must sooner or later have a considerable commercial importance, from the value which they are likely to acquire. Indeed some have already established a footing in the home market, and Drs. Hunter, Cleghorn, and others in India, have specially directed the attention of the natives and merchants to the subject.

MARGOSE, OR NEEM OIL.—From the pericarp or fleshy part of the fruit of the Melia Azederachta, the well known Margosa oil is prepared; which is cheap and easily procurable in Ceylon. Dr. Maxwell, garrison surgeon of Trichinopoly, states that he has found this oil equally efficacious to cod-liver oil in cases of consumption and scrofula. He began with half-ounce doses, morning and evening, which were gradually reduced.

ILLEPE OIL.—The seeds of three species of Bassia, indigenous to India, yield solid oils, and are remarkable for the fact, that they supply at the same time saccharine matter, spirit, and oil, fit for both food and burning in lamps. The Illepe( B. longifolia) is a tree abundant in the Madras Presidency, the southern parts of Hindostan generally, and the northern province of Ceylon. In Ceylon the inhabitants use the oil in cooking and for lamps. The oil cake is rubbed on the body as soap, and seems admirably adapted for removing the unctuosity of the skin caused by excessive perspiration, and for rendering it soft, pliable, and glossy, which is so conducive to health in a tropical climate. The oil is white and solid at common temperatures, fusing at from 70 to 80 degrees. It may be advantageously employed in the manufacture of both candles and soap; in Ceylon and some parts of India this oil forms the chief ingredient in the manufacture of soap.

Mahower (B. latifolia) is common in most parts of the Bengal Presidency. The oil a good deal resembles that last described, obtained from the Illepe seeds; and may be used for similar purposes. It is solid at common temperatures, and begins to melt at about 70 degrees.

Vegetable butter is obtained from the Choorie (B. butyracea). This tree, though far less generally abundant than the other two species, is common in certain of the hilly districts, especially in the eastern parts of Kumaon; in the province of Dotee it is so abundant that the oil is cheaper than ghee, or fluid butter, and is used to adulterate it. It is likewise commonly burnt in lamps, for which purpose it is preferred to coco-nut oil. It is a white solid fat, fusible at about 120 degrees, and exhibits very little tendency to become rancid when kept.

Shea, or galam butter, is obtained in Western Africa from the Bassia Parkii, or Pentadisma butyracea, a tree closely resembling the B. latifolia, and other species indigenous to Hindostan. According to Park, the tree is abundant in Bambara, the oil is solid, of a greyish-white color, and fuses at 97 degrees. Its product is used for a variety of purposes—for cooking, burning in lamps, &c.

This tree has much of the character of the laurel, but grows to the height of eighteen or twenty feet. Its leaf is somewhat longer than the laurel, and is a little broader at the point; the edges of the leaf are gently curved, and are of a dark sap green color. The nut is of the form and size of a pigeon's egg, and the kernel completely fills the shell. When fresh it is of a white drab color, but, if long kept, becomes the color of chocolate. The kernel, when new, is nearly all butter, which is extracted in the following manner:—The shell is removed from the kernel, which is also crushed, and then a quantity is put into an earthen pot or pan, placed over the fire with a portion of water and the nut kernels. After boiling slowly about half an hour the whole is strained through a grass mat into a clean vessel, when it is allowed to cool. Then, after removing the fibrous part from it, it is put into a grass bag and pressed so as to obtain all the oil. This is poured into the vessel along with the first-mentioned portion, and when cold is about the consistence of butter.

The nuts hang in bunches from the different boughs, but each nut has its own fibre, about seven or eight inches long, and about the thickness and color of whip-cord. The nut is attached to the fibre in a very singular manner. The end of the fibre is concealed by a thin membrane, about half an inch wide and three-quarters of an inch long. This membrane is attached to the side of the nut, and, when ripe, relinquishes its hold, and the nut falls to the ground, when it is gathered for use. A good-sized healthy tree yields about a bushel of nuts, but the greater number are not so prolific. The trees close to the stream present a more healthy appearance, probably on account of being better watered, and the fire being less powerful close to the stream.

THE CANDLE NUT TREE (Aleurites triloba, of Foster) grows in the Polynesian Islands, and is also met with in some parts of Jamaica and the East Indies. In the latter quarter it is known as the Indian Akhrowt. A very superior kind of paint oil is produced from the nut, and the cake, after the expression of the oil, forms an excellent food for cattle, and a useful manure. 31½ gallons of the nut yield ten gallons of oil, which bears a good price in the home markets.

The yearly produce of this oil in the Sandwich Isles, where it is called kukui oil, is about 10,000 gallons. It has been shipped to the markets of Chili, New South Wales, and London, but not as yet with much profit. It realized about £20 per imperial ton in the port of London. In 1843, about 8,620 gallons were shipped from Honolulu, valued at 1s. 8d. per gallon.

In Ceylon the oil is known as kekune oil, and a good deal of it might be obtained there from the district of Badulla. From the trials made it appears that it cannot be used as a drying oil, but will probably answer best as a substitute for rape oil. Samples have been sent to several clothiers, and the nature and quality of the oil renders it most applicable to their purposes.

COLZA (Brassica oleracea), a variety of the common cabbage, is much grown in the South of Europe and other parts, for the oil obtained by pressure from its seeds, and which is used for lamps and other purposes. The plant will not thrive on sand or clay, but requires a rich light soil. After the ground has been well ploughed and manured, the seed should be sown in July, in furrows eight or ten inches asunder. The plants are transplanted about October. When ripe the stalks are reaped with a sickle, and the seeds threshed out with a flail. The cake, after the oil is expressed, is an excellent food for cattle.

Like all the oleaginous plants cultivated for their seed, colza greatly impoverishes the soil.

In Peru the caoutchouc is used as a substitute for candles. A roll of it (which is generally about a yard long and three inches in diameter) is cut lengthways into four parts, but before it is lighted the piece is rolled up in a green plantain leaf, to prevent it from melting or taking fire down the sides. The natives of Peru also bruize the beans of a species of wild cacao after they have been well dried, and use the substance instead of tallow in their lamps.

Mr. Dearman, writing from Dacca, to Dr. Spry, Secretary to the Agricultural and Horticultural Societies of India, in 1839, says—"I will send you some seeds from a tree, which resemble chestnuts. One of these seeds, after taking off the shell, being stuck on the point of a penknife, and lighted at a candle flame, will burn without the least odor for four or five minutes, giving a light equal to two or three candles. From the flower of the tree (he adds), I am told, is distilled a delightful scent." [I presume this must be the candle-nut tree.]

At the Feejee and Hawaian islands, the seeds of the castor oil plant and of the candle-nut tree (Aleurites triloba) are strung together and used for candles. Species of torches are also made from the candle wood in Demerara.

THE CANDLEBERRY MYRTLE (Myrica cerifera) abounds in the Bahama Islands. The shrub produces a small green berry, which, like the hog plum, puts out from the trunk and larger limbs. Much patient labor is required in gathering these berries, and from them is obtained a beautiful green wax, which burns very nearly, if not fully, as well as the spermaceti, or composition candles imported from abroad. Not long since Mr. Thos. B. Musgrove, of St. Salvador (or Cat Island), obtained about 80 lbs. of this wax, and made some excellent candles of it. The method of procuring this wax is by boiling the berries in a copper or brass vessel for some time. Iron pots are found to darken and cloud the wax. The vessel after a sufficient time is taken from the fire, and when cool the hardened wax, floating on the top of the water, is skimmed off.

MYRTLE WAX.—According to the experiments of M. Cadet and Dr. Bostock, myrtle wax differs in many respects from bees' wax, Specimens of it assume shades of a yellowish green color. Its smell is also different; myrtle wax, when fresh, emitting a fragrant balsamic odor. It has in part the unctuosity of bees' wax, and somewhat of the brittleness of resin. Its specific gravity is greater, insomuch that it sinks in water, whereas bees' wax floats upon it; and it is not so easily bleached to form white wax. The wax tree of Louisiana contains immense quantities of wax.

Mr. Moodie ("Ten Tears in South Africa") says,—

"I occasionally employed my people, at spare times, in gathering wax berries that grow in great abundance upon small bushes in the sand hills, near the sea, and yield a substance partaking of the nature of wax and tallow, which is mixed with common tallow, and used by the colonists for making candles. The berry is about the size of a pea, and covered with a bluish powder. They are gathered by spreading a skin on the sand, and beating the bush with a stick. When a sufficient quantity of the berries are collected, they are boiled in a great quantity of water, and the wax is skimmed off as fast as it rises; the wax is then poured into flat vessels and allowed to cool, when it becomes hard and brittle, and has a metallic sound when struck. The cakes thus formed are of a deep green color, and are sold at the same price as tallow. The wild pigs devour these berries when they come in their way, and seem very fond of them."

A good specimen of myrtle, or candleberry wax, accompanied by candles made from it in the crude unbleached state in New Brunswick, was shown at the Great Exhibition.

Vegetable wax was also sent from Shanghae, in China; from St. Domingo, in the northern parts of which the plant is indigenous; and a remarkable specimen from Japan. This substance, from its high melting point and other physical characteristics, has of late attracted a good deal of attention; it is admirably suited as a material for the manufacture of candles.

At a meeting of the Central Board, at Cape Town, in March, 1853, the members voted about £300, to employ some 20 or 30 men, in gathering berries from the Downs, and making wax during the winter months, that is, from the beginning of May to the end of September. The wax fetches a good price in the Cape market.

In the annual report of the Cape of Good Hope Agricultural Society, in May, 1853, a very fine sample of myrtle, or terry wax, grown on the Cape Flats, was exhibited by Mr. Feeny, Superintendent of the Road Plantation, by direction of the Commissioners of the Central Road Board, in different stages of purification, from green to white, as also some candles; and it being conceived by the meeting that this article might ultimately become one of considerable importance for purposes of export, a letter of thanks was addressed to Mr. Feeny; and Nathaniel Day, the constable who assisted him, was presented with the sum of £5, as a remuneration for his trouble in assisting to purify and prepare the wax. On reference to the juror's report on the Great Exhibition, it will be gratifying to find that the berry wax, forwarded by this Society, had attracted peculiar notice, and a prize medal been awarded for it; the following reference is therein made to it: "some fine specimens of myrtle or berry wax, from the Cape of Good Hope, are exhibited by J. Lindenberg, of Worcester. This is an excellent material for the manufacture of candles, when employed in conjunction with other solid fats. The jury awarded a prize medal for these specimens."

Your Committee would suggest every possible attention being drawn to this subject, in which they are gratified to state, the Commissioners of the Central Road Board have evinced a readiness to co-operate, by offering to place at the Society's disposal the sum of £10 10s., "to be given as a premium for the best information respecting the wax berry plant, the soils and situations in which it is found to grow most luxuriantly: the best mode of propagating and cultivating it, of collecting the berries, and extracting and preparing the wax, &c." And from a letter received from the Secretary to the Central Road Board, it appears that the Board had authorised the shipment to England of 2,561 lbs. of the wax, by the Queen of the South in November last, which, from the account sales lately received from Messrs. J.R. Thomson & Co., realised as follows, viz.:—

4 cases weighing nett 856 lbs. à 8d.	£28	10	8
4 cases weighing nett 1040 lbs. à 9d.	39	0	0
3 cases weighing nett 745 lbs. à 11d.	34	2	11
3 cases weighing nett 6 lbs. à 11d.	0	5	6
	£101	19	1
Discount 2½ per cent.	2	11	0
				£99	8	1
CHARGES.
Warehouse Entry 3s. 6d. Fire Insurance 2s., Ports 2s. 6d	£0	8	0
Freight	7	3	3
Primage	0	14	4
Dock Charges	3	9	6
Sale Expenses	0	9	0
Brokerage	1	0	6
	£13	4	7
Commission at 2½ per cent	2	11	0
Carried forward				£16	15	7
Brought forward				£16	15	7
				£83	12	6
Deduct Bills of Lading, &c.				0	9	6
				£82	13	0
Deduct the Board's expenses for gathering and preparing, &c.				28	8	7
Leaving a clear profit of				£54	4	5

This statement shows that from a plant, which is indigenous to the colony, and might he cultivated to almost any extent, and mostly on soils unavailable for other purposes, an article of great export could be derived at a comparatively small expense; it is with that view that I desire to direct public attention more prominently to it.

In the Museum of the Royal Botanic Gardens, at Kew, wax is shown as scraped from the trunk of the wax palm (Ceroxylon andicola), and candles made from it, as also some made of acorns and closely resembling common tallow. Concrete milk and butter made from the Shea butter tree, and others growing in Para, are also exhibited.

Wax candles have been made from the seeds of Myrica macrocarpa in Colombia, and also from vegetable wax in Java. Some of these are to be seen in the Museum of the Pharmaceutical Society of London.

CASTOR OIL PLANT.

Castor oil is expressed from the seeds of Ricinus communis (Palma Christi), a plant with petale-palmate leaves, which is found native in Greece, Africa, the South of Spain, and the East Indies, and is cultivated in the West Indies, as well as in North and South America. In the temperate and northern parts of Europe, the plant is an herbaceous annual, of from three to eight feet high; in the more southern parts it becomes scrubby and even attains an height of twenty feet; while in India it is often a tree thirty to forty feet high. The best oil is obtained by expression from the seeds without heat, and is hence called "cold drawn oil." A large quantity of oil may be produced by boiling the seeds, but it is less sweet and more apt to become rancid than that procured by expression.

The Palma Christi grows continuously for about four years, and becomes a large tree in constant bearing, ripening its rich clusters of beans in such profusion, that 100 bushels may be obtained annually from an acre, and their product of oil two gallons per bushel.

There are several species, all of which yield oil of an equally good quality. A shrubby variety is common in South Australia, and other parts of New Holland. Ricinus lividus is a native of the Cape of Good Hope. It is a hardy plant, of the easiest culture, and will thrive in almost any soil, whether in the burning plains or the coldest part of the mountains. The seed should be planted in the tropics in September, singly, and at the distance of 10 or twelve feet apart. They will bear the first season, and continue to yield for years. When the seed-pods become brown, they are in a fit state to pluck. It is often grown in the East intermixed with other crops. The primitive mode of obtaining the oil is to separate the seeds from the husks, and bruise them by tying them up in a grass mat. In this state they are put into a boiler amongst water, and boiled until all the oil is separated, which floats at the top, and the refuse sinks to the bottom; it is then skimmed off, and put away for use. The purest oil is obtained, as before-mentioned, by crushing the seeds (which are sewed up in horsehair bags), by the action of heavy iron beaters. The oil, as it oozes out, is caught in troughs, and conveyed to receivers, whence it is bottled for use.

Castor oil is used for lamps in the East Indies, and the Chinese have some mode of depriving it of its medicinal properties, so as to render it suitable for culinary purposes.

That which we import from the East Indies comes from Bombay and Calcutta, and is obtained at a very low price. It is exceedingly pure, both in color and taste.

In the West Indies the shrub grows about six feet high. The stalks are jointed, and the branches covered with leaves about eighteen inches in circumference, forming eight or ten sharp-pointed divisions, of a bluish green color, spreading out in different directions. The flowers contain yellow stamina; the seed is enclosed in a triangular husk, of a dark brown color, and covered with a light fur, of the same color as the husk. When the capsule is thoroughly ripened by the sun, it bursts, and expels the seeds, which are usually three in number.

In Jamaica this plant is of such speedy growth, that in one year it arrives at maturity, and I have known it to attain to the height of twenty feet. A gallon of the seed yields by expression about two pounds of oil.

The wholesale price in Liverpool, in October, 1853, was 3d. to 5d. per lb.

It is brought over from the East Indies in small tin cases, soldered together and packed in boxes, weighing about 2 cwt. each.

In Ceylon castor oil is obtained from two varieties of the plant, the white and the red.

The native mode of preparing the oil is by roasting the seed; this imparts an acridity to the oil, which is objectionable. By attending to the following directions, the oil may be prepared in the purest and best form. The modes of preparation are—1. By boiling in water. 2. By expression. 3. Extraction by alcohol. In the first the seeds are slightly roasted to coagulate the albumen, cleaned of the integuments, bruised in a mortar, and the paste boiled in pure water. The oil which rises on the surface is removed, and treated with an additional quantity of fresh water; 10,000 parts of clean seed give by this process (in Jamaica) 3,250 of oil, of good quality, though amber-colored. 2. Expression is the simplest and most usually adopted process; the cleaned kernels are well bruised, placed in cloth bags, and compressed in a powerful lever and screw press. A thick oil is obtained, which must be filtered through cloth and paper to separate the mucilage. In Bengal the manufacturers boil the oil water, which coagulates some albumen, and they subsequently filter through cloth, charcoal, and paper. 3. The extraction by alcohol is practised by some druggists. Each pound of paste is triturated with four pounds of alcohol, specific gravity 8.350, and the mixture subjected to pressure. The oil dissolved by the alcohol escapes very freely: one half is recovered by the distillation of the spirit, the residue of the distillation is boiled in a large quantity of water. The oil separates and is removed, and gently heated to expel any adherent moisture; then filtered at the temperature of 90 deg. Fahrenheit; 1,000 parts of the paste have by this process given 625 of colorless and exceedingly sweet oil.

The cultivation of the Palma christi, and the manufacture of castor oil, is extensively carried on in some parts of the United States, and continues on the increase. A single firm at St. Louis has worked up 18,500 bushels of beans in four months, producing 17,750 gallons of oil, and it is stated that 800 barrels have been sold, at 50 dollars per barrel. The oil may be prepared for burning, for machinery, soap, &c., and is also convertible into stearine. It is more soluble in alcohol than lard-oil.

American castor oil is imported for the most part from New York and New Orleans, but some comes from our own possessions in North America. In the United States, according to the "American Dispensatory," the cleansed seeds are gently heated in a shallow iron reservoir, to render the oil liquid for easy expression, and then compressed in a powerful screw press, by which a whitish oily liquid is obtained, which is boiled with water in clean iron boilers, and the impurities skimmed off as they rise to the surface. The water dissolves the mucilage and starch, and the heat coagulates the albumen, which forms a whitish layer between the oil and water. The clear oil is now removed, and boiled with a minute portion of water until aqueous vapors cease to arise: by this process an acrid volatile matter is got rid of. The oil is put into barrels, and in this way is sent into the market. American oil has the reputation of being adulterated with olive oil. Good seeds yield about 25 per cent. of oil. A large proportion of the drug consumed in the eastern section of the Union is derived by way of New Orleans from Illinois and the neighbouring States, where it is so abundant that it is sometimes used for burning in lamps.

In Jamaica the bruised seeds are boiled with water in an iron pot, and the liquid kept constantly stirred. The oil which separates swims on the top, mixed with a white froth, and is skimmed off. The skimmings are heated in a small iron pot, and strained through a cloth. When cold it is put in jars or bottles for use.

	Castor oil imported. lbs.	Retained. lbs.
1826	263,382	453,072
1831	393,191	327,940
1836	981,585	809,559
1841	871,136	732,720
1846	1,477,168	—
1849	1,084,272	—
1850	3,495,632	—

The imports of castor oil come chiefly from the East India Company's possessions, and were as follows, nearly all being retained for home consumption:—

	lbs.
1830	490,558
1831	343,373
1832	257,386
1833	316,779
1834	685,457
1835	1,107,115
1836	972,552
1837	957,164
1838	837,143
1839	916,370
1840	1,190,173
1841	869,947
1842	490,156
1843	717,696

In 1841, 12,406 Indian maunds of castor oil were shipped from Calcutta alone, and 7,906 ditto in 1842.

In 1842, 8 cases were shipped from Ceylon, 10 in 1843, 24 in 1844, and 14 in 1845.

1,439 barrels were shipped from New Orleans in 1847. The quantity brought down to that city from the interior was 1,394 barrels in 1848, and 1,337 barrels in 1849.

Within the last year or two, an attempt has been made to introduce the cake obtained in expressing the seeds of the castor oil plant as a manure, which is deserving attention, both because it is in itself likely to prove a serviceable addition to the list of fertilizers which may be advantageously employed, and because it may lead to the use of similar substances, which are at present neglected, or thrown aside as refuse.

The castor oil seed resembles in chemical composition the other oily seeds. It consists of a mixture of mucilaginous, albuminous, and oily matters; and the former two of these are identical in constitution and general properties with the substances found in linseed and rape cake, while the oil is principally distinguished by its purgative properties. The cake obtained is in the form of ordinary oil-cake, but is at once distinguished from it by its color, and by the large fragments of the husk of the seeds which it contains. It is also much, softer, and may be easily broken down with the hand. I have analysed two samples of castor cake, stated to have been obtained by different processes; and though I have not been informed of the exact nature of these processes, I infer, from the large quantity of oil, that one must have been cold-drawn. The first of the following analyses is that of the sample which I believe the cold-drawn. It is the most complete of the two, and contains a determination of the amount of oil. In the other analysis this was not done, but there was no doubt on my mind that its quantity was much smaller.

	No. 1.	No. 2.
Water	8.32	16.31
Oil	24.32	—
Nitrogen	3.05	3.35
Ash	7.22	4.95
The ash contains—
Siliccous matters	1.96	—
Phosphates	3.36	2.27
Excess of phosphoric acid	0.64	—

In order to give a proper idea of the value of this substance as a manure, I shall quote here, for comparison sake, the average composition of rape cake, as deduced from the analyses contained in the Transactions of the Highland Society of Scotland:—

Water	10.68
Oil	11.10
Nitrogen	4.63
Ash	7.79
The ash contains—
Siliccous matters	1.18
Phosphates	3.87
Excess of phosphoric acid	0.39

It will be at once seen that there is a close general resemblance between these two substances, although there is no doubt that the castor cake is inferior to rape cake; still I believe that this inferiority is fully counterbalanced by the difference in price, which is such that, compared with rape cake, the castor cake is really a cheap manure. There is only one of its constituents which it contains in larger quantity, and that is the oil. No weight is, however, to be attached to the quantity of oil in a manure. In a substance to be used as food, it is of very high importance; but so far as we at present know, its value as manure is extremely problematical. Whale, seal, and other coarse oils have been used as manures, and by some few observers benefits have been derived from their application, but the general experience has not been favorable to their use, nor should we chemically be induced to expect any beneficial effect from them. We have every reason to believe that the oils which are found in plants are produced there as the results of certain processes which are proceeding within the plant, and there is no evidence to show that any part of it is ever absorbed in the state of oil by the roots when they are presented to them. On the other hand, the oils are extremely inert substances, and undergo chemical changes very slowly; so that there is no likelihood of their being converted into carbonic acid, or any other substance which may be useful to the plant; and as they contain no nitrogen, and consist only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, they can yield only those elements of which the plant can easily obtain an unlimited supply. I can conceive cases in which the oil might possibly produce some mechanical effect on the soil, but none in which it could act as a manure, in the proper sense of the term.

KANARI on.—Mr. Crawfurd, in his "History of the Indian Archipelago," speaks most favorably of an oil obtained from the "Kanari," a tree which, he says, is a native of the same country as the sago palm, and is not found to the westward, though it has been introduced to Celebes and Java. I have not been able to distinguish its botanical name; but Mr. Crawfurd describes it as a large handsome tree, and one of the most useful productions of the Archipelago. It bears a nut of an oblong shape, nearly the size of a walnut, the kernel of which is as delicate as that of a filbert, and abounds with oil. The nuts are either smoked and dried for use, or the oil is expressed from them in their recent state. It is used for all culinary purposes, and is purer and more palatable than that of the coco-nut. The kernels, mixed up with a little sago meal, are made into cakes and eaten as bread.

THE COCO-NUT PALM.

This palm (Cocos nucifera) is one of the most useful of the extensive family to which it belongs, supplying food, clothing, materials for houses, utensils of various kinds, rope and oil; and some of its products, particularly the two last, form important articles of commerce. An old writer, in a curious discourse on palm trees, read before the Royal Society, in 1688, says, "The coco nut palm is alone sufficient to build, rig, and freight a ship with bread, wine, water, oil, vinegar, sugar, and other commodities. I have sailed (he adds) in vessels where the bottom and the whole cargo hath been from the munificence of this palm tree. I will take upon me to make good what I have asserted." And then he proceeds to describe and enumerate each product. Another recent popular writer speaks in eloquent terms of the estimation in which it is held, and the various uses to which it is applied.

"Its very aspect is imposing. Asserting its supremacy by an erect and lofty bearing, it may be said to compare with other trees, as man with inferior creatures. The blessings it confers are incalculable. Year after year the islander reposes beneath its shade, both eating and drinking of its fruit; he thatches his hut with its boughs, and weaves them into baskets to carry his food; he cools himself with a fan plaited from the young leaflets, and shields his head from the sun by a bonnet of the leaves; sometimes he clothes himself with the cloth-like substance which wraps round the base of the stalks, whose elastic rods, strung with filberts, are used as a taper. The larger nuts, thinned and polished, furnish him with a beautiful goblet; the smaller ones with bowls for his pipes; the dry husks kindle his fires; their fibres are twisted into fishing-lines and cords for his canoes. He heals his wounds with a balsam compounded from the juice of the nut; and with the oil extracted from its pulp embalms the bodies of the dead. The noble trunk itself is far from being valueless. Sawn into posts, it upholds the islander's dwelling; converted into charcoal, it cooks his food; and, supported on blocks of stones, rails in his lands. He impels his canoe through the water with a paddle of the wood, and goes to battle with clubs and spears of the same hard material. In Pagan Tahiti, a coco-nut branch was the symbol of regal authority. Laid upon the sacrifice in the temple, it made the offering sacred; and with it the priests chastised and put to flight the evil spirits which assailed them. The supreme majesty of Oro, the great god of their mythology, was declared in the coco-nut log from which his image was rudely carved. Upon one of the Tonga Islands there stands a living tree, revered itself as a deity. Even upon the Sandwich Islands the coco palm retains all its ancient reputation; the people there having thought of adopting it as the national emblem."

Besides the foregoing and following uses, I am aware of several scents and spirituous liquors being procured from the flowers and pulp of the coco-nut.

This palm tree is one of the finest objects in nature. Its stem is tall and slender, without a branch; and at the top are seen from ten to two hundred coco-nuts, each as large as a man's head: over these are the graceful plumes, with their green gloss, and beautiful fronds of the nodding leaves. Nothing can exceed the graceful majesty of these intertropical fruit trees, except the various useful purposes to which the tree, the leaf, and the nut are applied by the natives.

1. The stem is used for—Bridges, posts, beams, rafters, paling, ramparts, loop-holes, walking sticks, water butts, bags (the upper cuticle), sieves in use for arrowroot.

2. The coco-nut is used for—milk, a delicious drink; meat from the scraped nut, for various kinds of food; jelly, kora, pulp, nut, oil, excellent and various food for man, beast, and fowl.

The shell for vessels to drink out of, water pitchers, lamps, funnels, fuel, panga (for a game).

The fibre for sinnet, various cordage, bed stuffing, thread for tying combs, scrubbing-brushes, girdle (ornamental), whisk for flies, medicines, various and useful.

3. The leaf is used for—Thatch for houses, lining for houses, takapau (mats), baskets (fancy and plain), fans, palalafa (for sham fights), combs (very various), bedding (white fibre), tafi (brooms), Kubatse (used in printing), mama (candles), screen for bedroom, waiter's tray.

Here are no less than forty-three uses of which we know something; and the natives know of others to which they can apply this single instance of the bounty of the God of nature. For house and clothes, for food and medicine, the coco-nut palm is their sheet anchor, as well as their ornament and amusement, who dwell in the torrid zone.

This fine palm, which always forms a prominent feature in tropical scenery, is a native of Southern Asia. It is spread by cultivation through almost all the intertropical regions of the Old and New Worlds; but it is cultivated nowhere so abundantly as in the Island of Ceylon, and those of Sumatra, Java, &c. On the shores of the Red Sea it advances to Mokha, according to Niebuhr; but it does not succeed in Egypt. It is cultivated in the lower and southern portions of the Asiatic Continent, as on the coasts of Coromandel and Malabar, and around Calcutta. In the island of Ceylon, where the fruit of this tree forms one of the principal aliments of the natives, the nuts are produced in such quantities that in one year about three millions were exported, besides the manufactured produce in oil, &c. According to Marshall it requires a mean temperature of 72 deg. Its northern limit, therefore, is nearly the same as the southern limit of our cereals.

Rumphius enumerates thirteen varieties of this palm, but many of these have now been placed under other genera, and Lindley resolves them into three species—C. nucifera, the most generally diffused species, a native of the East Indies; and C. flexuosa and plumosa, natives of Brazil. The trunk, which is supported by numerous, small fibrous roots, rises gracefully, with a slight inclination, from forty to sixty feet in height; it is cylindrical, of middling size, marked from the root upwards with unequal circles or rings, and is crowned by a graceful head of large leaves. The terminal bud of this palm, as well as that of the cabbage palm (Euterpe montana), is used as a culinary vegetable. The wood of the tree is known by the name of porcupine wood. It is light and spongy, and, therefore, cannot be advantageously employed in the construction of ships or solid edifices, though it is used in building huts; vessels made of it are fragile and of little duration. Its fruit, at different seasons, is in much request; when young, it is filled with a clear, somewhat sweet, and cooling fluid, which is equally refreshing to the native and the traveller. When the nut becomes old, or attains its full maturity, the fluid disappears, and the hollow is filled by a sort of almond, which is the germinating organ. This pulp or kernel, when cut in pieces and dried in the sun, is called copperah, and is eaten by the Malays, Coolies, and other natives, and from it a valuable species of oil is expressed, which is in great demand for a variety of purposes. The refuse oil cake is called Poonae, and forms an excellent manure.

A calcareous concretion is sometimes found in the centre of the nut, to which peculiar virtues have been attributed.

Along the Gulf of Cariaco there are many large coco walks. In moist and fertile ground it begins to bear abundantly the fourth year; but in dry soils it does not produce fruit until the tenth. Its duration does not generally exceed 80 or 100 years, at which period its mean height is about 80 feet. Throughout this coast a coco tree supplies annually about 100 nuts, which yield eight flascos of oil. The flasco is sold for about 1s. 4d. A great quantity is made at Cumana, and Humboldt frequently witnessed the arrival there of canoes containing 3,000 nuts.

Throughout the South Sea Islands, coco-nut palms abound, and oil may be obtained in various places. Some of the uninhabited islands are covered with dense groves, and the ungathered nuts, which have fallen year after year, lie upon the ground in incredible quantities. Two or three men, provided with the necessary apparatus for pressing out the oil, will, in the course of a week or two, obtain enough to load one of the large sea canoes. Coco nut oil is now manufactured in different parts of the South Seas, and forms no small part of the traffic carried on with trading vessels. A considerable quantity is annually exported from the Society Islands to Sydney. They bottle it up in large bamboos, six or eight feet long, and these form part of the circulating medium of Tahiti. The natives use the bruised fronds of Polypodium crassifolium to perfume this oil. Evodia triphylla, a favorite evergreen plant with the natives of the Polynesian Islands, is also used for this purpose.

The most favorable situation for the growth of the coco palm is the ground near the sea-coast, and if the roots reach the mud or salt water, they thrive all the better for it. The coco-nut walks are the real estates of India, as the vineyards and olive groves are of Europe. I have seen these palms growing well in inland situations, remote from the sea, but always on plains, never upon hills or very exposed situations, where they do not arrive to maturity, wanting shelter, and being shaken too violently by the wind. The stems being tall and slight, and the whole weight of leaves and fruit at the head, they may not unaptly be compared to the mast of a ship with round top and topmast without shrouds to support it. Ashes and fish are good manures for it.

The coco-nut is essentially a maritime plant, and is always one of the first to make its appearance on coral and other new islands in tropical seas, the nut being floated to them, and rather benefiting than otherwise by its immersion in the salt water. Silex and soda are the two principal salts which the coco-nut abstracts from the soil, and hence, where these do not exist in great abundance, the tree does not thrive well. I do not know myself what is the practice in Ceylon, but in Brazil, Dr. Gardner tells me, salt is very generally applied to the coco-nut when planted. Far in the interior, he states, he has seen as much as half a bushel applied to a single tree, and that too when it cost about 2s. a pound, from the great distance it had to be brought. That the application, therefore, of salt, of seaweed, and saline mud, does more than supply soda, must be very evident, if we only recollect how difficult it is to dry any part of our dress that has been soaked in salt water, and what effect damp weather has on table salt, which, in a balance, has often been made use of as an hydrometer. Moisture is always attracted by salt, and the more sea mud and other such little matters that coco-nut planters can apply round the roots of their trees, there will most assuredly be the less occasion for watering them in the dry season. Sea weed contains but very little fibrous matter, being chiefly composed of mucilage and water; and the experiments of Sir J. Pringle and Mr. C. W. Johnson, prove that salt in small quantities assists the decomposition of both animal and vegetable substances. Decomposed poonac, or oil-cake, is one of the best manures that can be applied, as it returns to the soil the component parts of which it has beau deprived to form the fruit.

The primary direction of the planter's industry will be to the establishment of a nursery of young plants. In Ceylon, for this purpose, the nuts are placed in squares of 400, covered with one inch of sand, or salt mud; are watered daily till the young shoots appear, and are planted out after the rains in September. Sand and salt mud are to be found on almost all the coasts where it would be desirable to plant nuts, and if they are put into the ground at the commencement of the rainy season, artificial watering will scarcely be necessary. Any period, when there are showers, would answer for transplanting them. I should say from the middle to the end of January would be best, when they are placed in the nursery in October and November; and in October when they are planted in June.

It is said that they should be allowed from 20 to 30 feet space apart, but I will calculate their return when planted 27 feet apart every way. This will give 58 coco-nut trees per acre. If manured, for the first two years, with seaweed and salt mud, and supplied with water in dry weather, there need be no loss, and the plants will thrive the better. The land must be kept clear of weeds till the plants are matured, in order to permit them abundance of air and light. In five years, when well cared for, the flower may be expected, but the plants will not be in full bearing before the seventh or eighth year. From 50 to 80 nuts are the annual crop of a tree; but I will calculate at the lowest rate. One hundred nuts will yield, when the oil is properly expressed, at least two gallons and a half. I shall not take into account the making of jaggery sugar and toddy, or spirit from the sap, as I do not consider that the manufacture would be remunerative; and it must be attended with much trouble, besides requiring a great deal of care and some skill.

Take the case now of a plantation of 100 acres in extent. This would give us 5,800 trees, which, at 50 nuts per tree, 290,000 nuts, at 2½ gallons of oil per hundred, would yield 7,250 gallons of oil, the value of which any person may calculate, but which, at the low rate of 3s. over charges, would furnish, as the gross plantation return in oil, a sum of £1,087 10s. sterling. If the cultivator, instead of making his produce into oil, were to sell it in its natural state, his gross return in the West Indies would be nearly £600 sterling, at the rate of ten dollars per thousand.

Either of these sums would be a handsome return from 100 acres of any land, requiring no cultivation or care whatever, after the fourth year, and yielding the same amount for upwards of half a century! But this is not all. An outlay of a few pounds will secure other advantages, and ought to enable the owner of a coco-nut plantation to turn his gross receipts for oil into nett profits. The coir made from the husk of the nut is calculated to realise nearly one-fourth of the proceeds of the oil, but if we put it down at one-fifth, we shall have, in addition to the value of the oil, £217 10s., thus making a total of £1,305 sterling. If we obtained 60 nuts from each tree, the return would be £1,566 sterling, and if 75, £1,957 8s. sterling; and this from 100 acres of sea side sand! But even this does not exhibit the whole return of this article of culture. Each nut may be calculated to give a quarter of a pound of poonac, or oil-cake, being the refuse after expression, fit for feeding all kinds of stock, which may be estimated as worth £10 per ton. We must, therefore, add on this account to our first calculation, the sum of say £325; to the second, £390; and to the third, £485. This would give, in round numbers, the entire returns of the 100 acres planted:—At 50 nuts per tree, £1,630; at 60 ditto, £1,957; at 75, ditto, £2,446.

These are striking results, and may appear exaggerated; but I will, to show how very moderate has been my calculation, give two returns, with which I have been favored from Ceylon. These, it will be seen, differ materially, but the latter I can rely on as a practical result, from a plantation in Jaffna, the peninsula of the northern portion of the island. After estimating the expense of establishing the plantation, the first writer sets down his return thus:—

"The produce, calculating 90 trees to an acre, and 75 nuts to a tree, sold at £2 per 1,000, would yield 675,000 nuts, worth £1,350; or if converted into oil, calculating 30 to give one gallon, it would produce 22,500 gallons, or about 90 tons from 100 acres."

From Jaffna, the following is an abridged estimate of return of 100 acres in full bearing:—"At 27 feet apart, 58 trees per acre, 5,800 trees, at 60 nuts per tree, 3,480 nuts per acre, 100 acres, 348,000 nuts, at 40 nuts per imperial gallon, 8,700 gallons of oil, at 2s. per gallon, netted £8 14s. per acre. The poonac left will pay the expense of making the oil. If shipped to England, at the present time (close of 1848), the selling price there being 55s. per cwt., measuring 12 imperial gallons, say, 4s. 7d. per gallon, and the cost and charges of sending it home and selling it being 23s., it would leave 3s. per gallon, or £13 per acre." This sum is nett proceeds.

It will be seen by the above, that I have been extremely moderate in my computation of the return which may be anticipated, for there is no doubt that planters can, in favorable localities, on the coasts of most of our colonies, cultivate this palm with as much success as attends its culture in Ceylon. By the first of the calculations I have cited from, that island, the gross return appears thus:—

22,500 gallons at 4s. 7d	£5,156	5
Coir—one-fifth of value	1,031	4
Cake from 675,000 nuts, say ¼ lb. each, 75 tons at £10	750	0
Total gross return from 100 acres	6,937	9

According to the other calculation, the return will stand thus:—

8,700 gallons at 4s. 7d	£1,993	15
Coir	398	15
Cake from 348,000 nuts, 34 tons	340	0
Total gross return from 100 acres	2,732	10

It will be seen that in my calculation I have set down the return lower than it is rendered in the less favorable statement from Ceylon by a sum of upwards of £1,000 sterling. But even supposing one-half of the amount of the lower Ceylon estimate could be realised, we should have a return of £1,366 5s. sterling from 100 acres of sea side sand.

I now proceed to point out the very small outlay required to obtain these results. In places where the coco-nut would be grown, there is generally no heavy woodland requiring great labor with axe and fire, and consequently one able-bodied man should get through the felling and clearing away bush, on an acre of the land to be prepared for the plant, in a short period,—say, on an average, four days. I will calculate, that for wages and rations, each hand employed will cost sixteen dollars per month, an outside price. Let us then say that ten laborers shall be at work. They fell two acres and a half per diem. In one month there should be nearly 70 acres felled; but I will say that the 100 acres will occupy them two months in felling and stacking the wood. During this period our planter may be considered to have had the aid of two more hands, engaged in the preparation, planting out, and care of the nursery of young plants. Two more hands must also be occupied in the construction of tanks and sheds, except where there is a stream of fresh water. For grubbing up the roots, if not very large size, the assistance of about a dozen cattle would be required, a labor which would be performed by means of the common grubbing machine, an implement in the form of a claw. We will consider that all hands are occupied another month in this manner, and in removing and re-stacking the wood, and turning up the land. The planting out would require but little time and labor. At the end of three months then, one-half of the hands, besides those engaged in the nursery and tanks, might be discharged. We must make an allowance for provision for the fodder of the cattle. Six thousand nuts would be required.

Let us now see what are the planter's expenses; making ample allowance on account of each item:—

	dollars.
6,000 picked nuts at 10 dollars per 1,000	60
Hire and rations of 12 hands, at 16 dollars for 3 months	676
Two hands at nursery, for same period	96
Purchase of 12 cattle at 20 dollars	240
Foddering cattle one month	32
Hire of two extra hands, making tanks and sheds 3 months	96
Hire of 6 hands for 9 months	864
Tools (including plough)	100
Total	2,064

About £415 sterling for expenses for the first year.

Where fencing is required, we must add for making about three miles of fence, say £30 sterling. Two carts would also have to be provided, which will cost, say £20 more. In all we may compute the first year's expenditure at £460 sterling.

Second year's expenditure: ploughing land, or hoeing it twice, watering plants, manuring, repairing fences, and supplying plants, say hire of eight men for six months, about £150 sterling. The same for the third.

Fourth year's expenditure: hire of six hands for three months, cleaning land, and manuring plants, about £60 sterling, and the like, at the cultivator's option, for the fifth year.

SUMMARY OF EXPENSES.
	£
First year	460
Second year	150
Third year	150
Fourth year	60
Fifth year	60
Total expenditure	880
Add for buildings	80

And we have a grand total of £960 sterling expended; for what purpose? To secure a net income of at least £1,200 sterling per annum for at least 50 years!

In the first year's expenses many items might be cut down, but I leave the calculation as one to be considered by a party with small capital, intending to establish a coco-nut plantation. I have allowed nothing for the cost of land, as it is impossible to compute that. In general it would cost next to the nothing mentioned. I have, by careful calculation, arrived at the conclusion that by combining the cultivation of provisions with the gradual but steadily progressive establishment of a coco-nut plantation, any man of energy and perseverance may, with the aid of but four hands, clear, fence, and plant, in a favorable locality, 50 acres of coco-nuts within the year, yet have a balance in his pocket at its close. Such a person would, ere doing anything beyond putting in his nursery plants, establish a provision ground, of considerable extent, for the purpose of supplying himself and his laborers with bread kind, and vegetables, and of enabling him, by the disposal of the surplus produce in the market, to raise a sufficient sum of money to furnish the wages and rations of the men. I need not enter into a calculation to show how this could be done, as every one must be aware of an easy method of following out so simple a suggestion. Of course he would have to bear in mind that the provision ground is of secondary importance, and limit his exertions in that line accordingly; devoting to the coco-nut plantation the strictest daily attention.

The cultivation of this tree deserves much more attention than has hitherto been paid to it, particularly in the East, where it not only forms part of the daily food of all classes of the community, but is an exportable article to neighbouring regions, the oil which it yields having of late years become in great demand in England, for the manufacture of composite candles and soap, and there is no doubt of its continually extended application to such purposes. Supposing, nevertheless, the result of an increased cultivation of the coco-nut should be such as to cause a fall in price, and sink the nett return in England to 2s. per gallon; this being clear profit, would make this kind of plantation a safe and sure investment for both capital and labor in the Colonies.

A kind of sugar made from the sap is called "jaggery," and the sap when fermented forms an intoxicating beverage known as toddy. The fibrous outer covering, or husk of the nut, when macerated and prepared, is termed "coir," and is spun into yarn and rope. It is extensively shipped from Ceylon, in coils of rope, bundles of yarn, and pieces of junk.

The coco-nut is usually planted as follows:—Selecting a suitable place, you drop into the ground a fully ripe nut, and leave it. In a few days a thin lance-like shoot forces itself through a minute hole in the shell, pierces the husk, and soon unfolds three pale green leaves in the air; while, originating in the same soft white sponge which now completely fills the nut, a pair of fibrous roots pushing away the stoppers which close two holes in an opposite direction, penetrate the shell, and strike vertically into the ground. A day or two more, and the shell and husk, which in the last and germinating stage of the nut are so hard that a knife will scarcely make any impression, spontaneously burst by some force within; and, henceforth, the hardy young plant thrives apace, and needing no culture, pruning, or attention of any sort, rapidly arrives at maturity. In four or five years it bears; in twice as many more it begins to lift its head among the groves, where, waxing strong, it flourishes for near a century. Thus, as some voyager has said, the man who but drops one of these nuts into the ground, may be said to confer a greater and more certain benefit upon himself and posterity, than many a life's toil in less genial climes. The fruitfulness of the tree is remarkable. As long as it lives it bears, and without intermission. Two hundred nuts, besides innumerable white blossoms of others, may be seen upon it at one time; and though a whole year is required to bring any one of them to the germinating point, no two, perhaps, are at one time in precisely the same stage of growth.

Coco-nuts form a considerable article of export from many of the British colonies: 375,770 were exported from Honduras in 1844, and 254,000 in 1845; 105,107 were shipped from Demerara, in 1845; 3,500,000 from Ceylon in 1847.

They are very abundant on the Maldive Islands, Siam, and on several parts of the coast of Brazil. Humboldt states, that on the south shores of the Gulf of Cariaco, nothing is to be seen but plantations of coco-nut trees, some of them containing nine or ten thousand trees.

Ceylon is one of the localities where the greatest progress has been made in this species of culture.

In 1832 several Europeans settled at Batticaloa, expressly for the purpose of cultivating this palm to a large extent. They planted cotton bushes between the young trees, which were found to ripen well, and nurse and shade them.

There are now an immense number of coco-nut topes, or walks, on the coasts of the island, and about 20,000 acres of land are under cultivation with this tree.

The value of this product to Ceylon, may be estimated by the following return of its exports in 1847, besides the local consumption:—

	£
Declared value of nuts	5,485
Ditto of Coir	10,318
Kernels, or Copperah	6,503
Shells	210
Oil	19,142
Arrack	11,657
Total	£53,315

The annually increasing consumption of the nuts holds out a great inducement to the native proprietors to reclaim all their hitherto unproductive land. The fruit commands a high price in the island, (ranging from ¾d. to 3d. per nut), owing to the constant demand for it as an article of food, by both Singhalese and Malabars; there is not so much, therefore, now converted into copperah for oil making. In the maritime provinces of the island, it has been estimated that the quantity of nuts used in each family, say of five persons, amounts to 100 nuts per month, or 1,000 per annum. It needs only a reduction in the cost of transit, to extend the consumption in the interior of the island to an almost unlimited extent.

In 1842, Ceylon exported but 550 nuts, while in 1847 she shipped off to other quarters three millions and a half of nuts, valued at £5,500. The average value of the nuts exported may be set down at £7,000.

In Cochin China the cultivation of the coco-nut tree is much attended to, and they export a large quantity of oil. At Malacca and Pinang it shares attention with the more profitable spices. Since the palm has been acclimatised in Bourbon, about 20,000 kilogrammes of oil have been produced annually. About 8,000 piculs of oil are exported annually from Java.

A correspondent, under date December, 1849, has furnished me with the following particulars of coco-nut planting in Jaffna, the northern district of Ceylon, in which the culture has only recently been carried on; the facts and figures are interesting:—

The Karandhai estate, the property of the late Mr. J. Byles, was sold last month for £2,400, part of it bearing. It consisted of 303 acres, of which 228 are planted with coco nuts—about half the trees six years old.

The Victoria estate, in extent 170 acres, planted and part in bearing, and about seventy acres of jungle, was also sold for £1,500. Mr. G. Dalrymple was the purchaser of the latter, and Mr. Davidson of the former. Both lots were cheap. The properties are among the best in the district, the latter, especially, is a beautiful estate.

About two-thirds of the estates planted are looking well, and the remainder but indifferently, in fact, ought never to have been planted, and I believe will never give any return. About 7,000 acres are now under cultivation here, and clearing is still going on. Estates can now be put in for about one half what they cost formerly, viz., about £4 or £5 per acre, and can be kept in order, inclusive of all charges, for about 15s. to 20s. per acre for the first two years, and about half that afterwards. Estates, in some instances, have been put in for about £3 per acre.

Elephants have almost disappeared; now and then a stray one comes. Figs are still a great nuisance, but the greatest anxiety among planters is regarding beetles. You will be sorry to hear that the first year the trees showed fruit or flower, one-tenth of them were destroyed by the beetle; the insects still go on destroying, and hardly a tree attacked ever recovers.

This is a very serious evil, and upon which the fortunes of all those involved in coco-nut planting depend. The trees come into bearing but very slowly, and I consider no estate will give any return over its current expenses under twelve years. It takes twelve months from the formation of the flower, till the fruit ripens. On an estate, perhaps one of the oldest and best in this district, out of 120 acres, part seven and eight years old, about 12 per cent, are in flower or in bearing, and give a return of about twenty-four nuts per tree, on an average, yearly. On the next oldest, the return is not near so great. But few of the estates here will, I think, pay interest on the money laid out, and many will never pay anything over the expense of keeping them up, even after coming into bearing. I doubt if any estate in this district, however economically managed, will ever give a net return of more than £2, or perhaps of £2 10s. per acre, at least without there is a great increase in the consumption of oil in Europe. The consumption of this oil, in Europe, is under 5,000 tons. If the beetles do not destroy half the trees, the estates here when in bearing, if they yield anything, will give half that quantity; and it must be borne in mind that coco-nut oil is not a strong oil, like palm oil, and that soap boilers will never use it to any extent, for it will allow but little admixture of rosin, &c.; its use in Europe will be principally for candles and fancy soaps; but as by refining and compression they can now purify tallow, and make of it candles fully equal to those made from coco-nut oil, the consumption of the latter is not likely to increase. The consumption of candles is always limited on the continent of Europe, liquid oil being preferred, and in many instances gas is now being used where candles formerly were.

The return of land planted with coco-nut trees in Ceylon, in 1851, was 22,500 acres; but this refers only to regular estates recently opened and cultivated chiefly by Europeans. Let us suppose that the natives possess besides, twenty millions of trees; Butollac in his time estimated the number at thirteen millions. At 100 trees to the acre, twenty millions of trees give 100,000 acres, so that the total amount of land planted with coco-nut trees would be 122,500 acres.

An hydraulic press, for the manufacture of coco-nut oil, 1,200 horse power and weighing twenty-three tons, was cast at the Ceylon Iron Works, in 1850, by Messrs. Nelson and Son.

In the island of Singapore there are now many extensive plantations in a very flourishing condition, holding out favorable prospects to the proprietors. Hitherto the island has been supplied almost wholly from abroad with nuts and oil for its consumption, which will, before long, be obtained exclusively from its own soil. In 1846 there were 10,000 coco-nut trees in bearing in Singapore.

I have omitted to notice, in the foregoing observations, a very mistaken notion which prevails in many quarters, that it is best to let the trees drop their fruit, and not to pick the nuts when ripe. Nature directs differently. As soon as the husk of the nut is more brown than green it should be picked. It then makes better oil and better coir, than when left to shrivel up and fall from the tree.

Colonel Low, in his "Dissertation on Pinang," gives some interesting details and statistics on coco-nut planting:—

On a rough estimate—for an actual enumeration has not been lately taken—the total number of bearing trees in Pinang may be stated at 50,000, and those in Province Wellesley at 20,000; but very large accessions to these numbers have of late years been made. The tree is partial to a sandy soil in the vicinity of the sea, and Province Wellesley offers, therefore, greater facilities, perhaps, for its cultivation than Pinang does, as its line of clear beach is longer, and has many narrow slips of light or sandy land lying betwixt the alluvial flats inland. There are several kinds of this tree known here; one has a yellowish color, observable both on the branches and unripe fruit; its branches do not droop much. A second has green spreading branches, more drooping than the former, the fruit being green colored until ripe; this is, perhaps, the most prolific; it also bears the soonest, if we except the dwarf coco-nut, which fruits at the second or third year, before the stem has got above one foot high. This last kind was brought from Malacca; it attains in time to the height of the common sort. Its fruit is small and round, and of course less valuable than the other sorts. There is also a coco-nut so saturated with green, that the oil expressed from its kernel partakes of that color.

It is a mistaken supposition that the coco-nut tree will flourish without care being taken of it. The idea has been induced by the luxuriant state of trees in close proximity to houses and villages, and in small cove's where its roots are washed by the sea. In such circumstances, a tree, from being kept clear about the roots, from being shaded, and from occasional stimuli, advances rapidly to perfection; but in an extended plantation, a regular and not inexpensive system of culture must be followed to ensure success.

The nuts being selected, when perfectly ripe, from middle-aged trees of the best sorts, are to be laid on the ground under shades, and after the roots and middle shoots, with two branches, have appeared, the sooner they are planted the better. Out of 100 nuts, only two-thirds, on an average, will be found to vegetate. The plants are then to be set out at intervals of thirty or forty feet—the latter if ground can be spared—and the depth will be regulated by the nature of the soil, and the nut must not be covered with earth. The plants require, in exposed situations, to be shaded for one and even two years, and no lalang grass must be permitted to encroach on their roots. A nursery must be always held in readiness to supply the numerous vacancies which will occur from deaths and accidents. The following may be considered the average cost of a plantation, until it comes into bearing:—

FIRST COST—100 ORLONGS OF LAND.
	Spanish dollars.
Purchase money of land, ready for planting	1,000
7,000 nuts at 1½ dollars, per 100	105
Houses of coolies, carts, buffaloes, &c., &c.	100
Spanish dollars	1,205
YEARLY COST OF SEVEN YEARS.
First year, 10 laborers at 3 dollars per month, including carts, &c.	360
Wear and tear of buildings, carts, and implements	50
Overseer, at 7 dollars per month	84
Quit rent, average	50
Nursery and contingencies	50
Total per annum	594
Seven years at the rate will be	4,158
Total, Spanish dollars	4,752

To this sum interest will have to be added, making, perhaps, a sum total of 6,000 Spanish dollars, and this estimate will make each tree, up to its coming into bearing, cost one Spanish dollar at the lowest. The young tree requires manure, such as putrid fish and stimulating compounds, containing a portion of salt. On the Coromandel coast, the natives put a handful of salt below each nut on planting it.

The cultivators of Kiddah adopt a very slovenly expedient for collecting the fruit. Instead of climbing the tree in the manner practised by the natives on the Coromandel coast, by help of a hoop passing round the tree and the body of the climber—and a ligature so connecting the feet as will enable him to clasp the tree with them—the Malays cut deep notches or steps in the trunk, in a zig-zag manner, sufficient to support the toes or the side of the foot, and thus ascend with the extra, aid only of their arms. This mode is also a dangerous one, as a false step, when near the top of a high tree, generally precipitates the climber to the ground. This notching cannot prove otherwise than injurious to the tree. But the besetting sin of the planter of coco-nuts, and other productive trees, is that of crowding. Coco-nut trees, whose roots occupy, when full grown, circles of forty to fifty feet in diameter, may often be found planted within eight or ten feet of each other; and in the native campongs all sorts of indigenous fruit trees are jumbled together, with so little space to spread in, that they mostly assume the aspect of forest trees, and yield but sparing crops.

The common kinds of the coco-nut, under very favorable circumstances, begin to bear at six years of age; but little produce can be expected until the middle or end of the seventh year. The yearly produce, one tree with another, may be averaged at 80 nuts the tree; where the plantation is a flourishing one—assuming the number of trees, in one hundred orlongs, to be 5,000—the annual produce will be 400,000 nuts, the minimum local market value of which will be 4,000 Spanish dollars, and the maximum 8,000 dollars. From either of these sums 6 per cent. must be deducted for the cost of collecting, and carriage, &c. The quantity of oil which can be manufactured from the above number of nuts will be, as nearly as possible, 834 piculs of 133⅓ lbs.

The average price of this quantity, at 7 dollars per picul	5,838
Deduct cost of manufacturing, averaged at one-fourth, and collecting, watching, &c.	2,059
Profit, Spanish dollars	3,779

The Chinese, who are the principal manufacturers of the oil, readily give a picul of it in exchange for 710 ripe nuts, being about 563 piculs of oil out of the total produce of the plantation of 100 orlongs. The price of coco-nut oil has been so high in the London market as £35 per tun, or about an average of ten dollars per picul. It is said that English casks have not been found tight enough for the conveyance of this oil to Europe, but if the article is really in great demand, a method will no doubt be discovered to obviate this inconvenience.

So long, however, as the cultivator can obtain a dollar and a half, or even one dollar for 100 nuts, he will not find it profitable to make oil, unless its price greatly rises.

Soap is manufactured at Pondicherry from this oil, but it is not seemingly in repute; the attempt has not been made in Pinang with a view to a market.

There is scarcely any coir rope manufactured at this island, so that the profit which might (were labor cheaper) arise from this application of the coco-nut fibre, is lost. The shell makes good charcoal; the leaves are scarcely put to any purpose, the nipah or attap being a superior material for thatching.

The coco-nut tree is extremely apt to be struck by lightning, and in such cases it is generally destroyed. It is a dangerous tree, therefore, to have close to a house. If the trees are widely planted, coffee may be cultivated under their shade. It is generally believed that the extracting of toddy from this tree hastens its decline. The Nicobar and Lancavi Islands used partly to supply the Pinang market with this indispensable article; but their depopulation has greatly reduced the quantity.

On the whole it may be said that there is no cultivation which insures the return of produce with so much certainty as that of the coco-nut tree; and as Rangoon, the Tenasserim coast, and Singapore will, probably, always remain good markets for the raw nut, there appears to be every chance of the value of the produce affording ample remuneration to the planter.

Coco-nut beetle.—The chief natural enemy of this tree is a destructive species of elephant-beetle (Oryctes Rhinoceros), which begins by nibbling the leaves into the shape of a fan; it then perforates the central pithy fibre, so that the leaf snaps off; and lastly, it descends into the folds of the upper shoot, where it bores itself a nest, and if not speedily extracted or killed, will soon destroy the tree. At Singapore, on account of the depredations of this beetle, the difficulties have been considerable.

In Pinang and Province Wellesley it has only been observed within the last two years, and it is believed to have come from Keddah. A similar kind of beetle is, however, found on the Coromandel coast. The natives of Keddah say that this insect appears at intervals of two, three, or more years.

Its larvæ, which are also very formidable insects or grubs, about three inches long, with large reddish heads, are found in decaying vegetable matter. It is when the tree has made considerable progress, however, that the parent insect does most mischief. When they are from one to two years old, throwing out their graceful branches in quick succession with the greatest vigor, and promising in three or four years more to yield their ruddy fruit, this destructive enemy begins to exercise his boring propensities; and, making his horn act as an auger, he soon penetrates the soft and yielding fibre of the young tree, and if not discovered in time, destroys the leading shoot or branch. The only remedy which has been adopted in Ceylon, is the following:—Several intelligent boys are provided each with an iron needle or probe, of about a foot long, with a sharp double barbed point, like a fish-hook, and a ring handle; they go through the plantation looking narrowly about the trees, and when they perceive the hole in the trunk, which indicates that the enemy is at work, they thrust in the barbed instrument and pull him out. Sometimes he may only have just commenced, when his capture is more easily effected, but even should he have penetrated to the very heart of the tree, the deadly needle does not fail in its errand, but brings the culprit out, impaled and writhing on its point. This is the only known way of checking the ravages of this beetle, except destroying its larvæ. Some cultivators, however, think pouring salt water or brine on the top of the tree, so as to descend among the folds of the upper shoots, a good plan to get rid of the larvæ.

Nearly two million coco-nuts are shipped annually from Bahia.

From Ceylon, 114,600 coco-nuts were shipped in 1851, and 70,185 in 1852.

Coco-nut oil; 98,159 gallons were shipped from Ceylon in 1852; 359,233 gallons in 1851.

The prices of Ceylon oil have ranged from £31 to £33 10s. per tun; of Cochin oil, £34 to £35, within the last two years. The price per leaguer in Colombo, without casks, has been £8 10s. to £9.

Copperah is the name, given by the natives to the kernel of the ripe nut after it has been exposed to the sun on mats, until it has become rancid and dissolved. It has recently been shipped to England in this state for the purpose of converting into oil. The exports of copperah from Ceylon were, in 1842, 115 cwts.; in 1843, 2,194; in 1844, 2,397; and in 1852, 39,174 cwts.

The returned value of the copperah or kernels exported from Ceylon, as entered in the Custom House books, is—

1840	2,508
1841	1,460
1842	3,022
1843	5,795
1844	6,194
1845	3,282
1846	5,517
1847	6,503
1848	12,639
1849	7,819
1850	4,166
1851	9,678
1852	13,325

632 cwts. of poonac (being the refuse or cake, after expressing the oil) were exported from Ceylon in 1842. It is worth there about £10 the ton.

The oil from the nut is obtained for culinary purposes by boiling the fresh pulp, and skimming it as it rises. That for exportation is usually obtained by pressing the copperah in a simple press turned by bullocks. Recently, however, steam power has been applied in Colombo, with great advantage. About 2½ gallons of oil per 100 nuts, are usually obtained. It is requisite that care should be taken not to apply too great and sudden a pressure at once, but by degrees an increasing force, so as not to choke the conducting channels of the oil in the press.

In many of the colonies the oil is expressed by the slow and laborious hand process of grating the pulp.

The quantity shipped from Ceylon was 2,250 tuns, in 1842; 3,985 in 1843; 2,331 in 1844; 1,797 in 1845. The quantity in gallons shipped since, was 101,553 in 1846; 197,850 in 1847; 300,146 in 1848; 867,326 in 1849; 407,960 in 1850; 442,700 in 1851; and 749,028 in 1852.

The duty on importation is of and from British possessions, 7d. and ⅞ths. per cwt.; if the produce of foreign possessions, 1s. 3¾ d, per cwt. In the close of 1852, the price of coco-nut oil in the London market was, for Ceylon, £32, £33, to £33 10s. per ton; Cochin, middling to fine, £34 to £35.

The following return shows the Custom House valuation of the oil shipped from Ceylon for a series of years, and which is of course much below its real value:—

1839	£26,597
1840	32,483
1841	24,052
1842	34,242
1843	43,874
1844	24,067
1845	15,945
1846	7,939
1847	19,142
1848	24,839
1849	34,831
1850	35,035
1851	31,444
1852	58,045

Among the coco-nut oil exported from Ceylon, in 1849, there were 47,427½ gallons, valued at £3,595, the whole of which, I believe, was Cochin oil; the raw material of this kind not being, like the copperah generally in Ceylon, subjected to the action of fire, the product is finer, and fetches a better price in the London market.

Amongst the imports from British possessions in Asia, were 2,600 cwts., of copperah (dried coco-nut kernels, from which oil is expressed), valued at £1,100; amongst the imports re-exported to Great Britain, we find 870 cwts. of the same article, valued at £300. Of the oil exported a quantity of 11,000 gallons was shipped for the United States. About 600,000 piculs of coco-nut oil are annually exported from Siam.

A large quantity of oil is made in Trinidad, chiefly on the east coast, where, in one locality, there is an uninterrupted belt of coco-nut palms fourteen miles in extent. They usually bear when five years old.

The cultivation of the coco-nut in a proper soil presents a very profitable speculation for small capitalists. Whether sold at the rate of a dollar per hundred in their natural state, to captains of ships, who freely purchase them, or manufactured into oil, they are a very remunerative product. Each tree in the West Indies is calculated to produce nuts to the value of one dollar yearly. There is one thing to which we would draw the attention of chemists and other scientific men.

For twenty-four or even forty-eight hours after its manufacture this oil is as free from any unpleasant taste as olive oil, and can be used in lieu of it for all culinary purposes, but after that time it acquires such a rancid taste as to be wholly unpalateable. If any means could be discovered of preventing this deterioration in quality, and preserving it fresh and sweet, it could compete with olive oil, and the price and consumption would be largely raised.

COCO-NUT OIL IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM.

	Imports. cwts.	Retained for home consumption. cwts.
1835	19,838	14,015
1836	26,058	26,062
1837	41,218	28,641
1838	—	38,669
1839	—	15,153
1840	—	37,269
1841	—	26,528
1842	—	26,225
1843	—	29,928
1844	—	42,480
1848	85,453	54,783
1849	64,451	14,622
1850	98,040	46,494
1851	55,995	2,333
1852	101,863	27,112

A London coco-nut oil soap was found, on analysis by Dr. Ure, to consist of:—

Soda	4.5
Coco-nut lard	22.0
Water	73.5
	100.0

This remarkable soap was sufficiently solid; but it dissolved in hot water with extreme facility. It is called marine soap, because it washes linen with sea water.

Of the six principal vegetable oils, namely—palm, coco-nut castor, olive, linseed, and rape, the first four are imported in the state of oil only; the two last chiefly as seed. The proportion in which they were imported is shown in the following tables; and if to these quantities are added about a million and a half cwt. of tallow, and nearly twenty thousand tuns of whale oil and spermaceti, they will nearly represent the total quantity of oil imported into Great Britain.

IMPORTS IN 1846.
	Palm oil. cwts.	Olive oil. cwts.	Castor oil. cwts.
Western Africa	475,364	1	—
United States	13,349	—	290
Naples and Sicily	14	9,661	—
East Indies	—	—	6,315
Canary Islands	3,719	—	—
Malta	—	2,237	—
Turkish Empire	—	1,712	—
Tuscany	—	832	—
Spain	—	753	—
Brazil	525	—	—
Ionian Islands	—	506	—
Morocco	—	368	—
Madeira	353	—	—
Sardinia	—	333	11
Miscellaneous	7	471	65
Total	493,331	16,864	9,681
IMPORTS IN 1850
	Linseed. quarters.	Rape seed. quarters.
Russia	482,813	3,235
Sweden	870	—
Norway	268	—
Denmark	37	3,092
Russia	87,273	645
Hanse Towns	1,153	2,872
Holland	7,734	201
Naples	1,476	—
Austrian Territories	40	2,580
Greece	—	1,637
Wallachia and Moldavia	910	1,280
Egypt	17,517	—
East Indian Empire	26,142	13,126
Miscellaneous	262	922
Total	626,495	29,495

OIL-CAKE.—It has been observed by Evelyn that one bushel of walnuts will yield fifteen pounds of peeled kernels, and these will produce half that weight of oil, which the sooner it is drawn is the more in quantity, though the drier the nut the better its quality. The cake or marc of the pressing is excellent for fattening hogs and for manure.

Oats contain, as a maximum, about seven per cent. of oil, and Indian corn nine per cent. The cake of the gold of pleasure contains twelve per cent. Indeed the most valuable oil-cakes are those of the Camelina sativa, poppies and walnuts, which are nearly equal; next to these are the cakes of hemp, cotton, and beech-mast. In France the extraction and purification of oil from the cotton seed is a recent branch of labor, the refuse of which is likely to prove useful in agriculture; its value as a manure being nearly ten times greater than that of common dung. Oil is obtained from maize or Indian corn in the process of making whiskey. It rises in the mash tubs and is found in the scum at the surface, being separated either by the fermentation or the action of heat. It is then skimmed off, and put away in a cask to deposit its impurities; after which it is drawn off in a pure state, fit for immediate use. The oil is limpid, has a slight tinge of the yellow color of the corn, and is inoffensive to the taste and smell. It is not a drying oil, and therefore cannot be used for paint, but burns freely in lamps and is useful for oiling machinery.

Among the various seeds used in the manufacture of oil-cake, flour of linseed is the most important. Rape seed is also employed, but is considered heating. In Lubeck, a marc, called dodder cake, is made from the Camelina sativa. Inferior oil-cake is made from the poppy in India. Cotton-seed cake has lately been recommended on account of its cheapness, being usually thrown away as refuse by the cotton manufacturers. It is extensively used as a cattle food, in an unprepared state, in various parts of the tropical world, and to a limited extent in this country.

The cost of seed, freight included, was 2d. per lb. from Charlestown to Port Glasgow. Cotton oil-cake is now ordered at the same price as linseed cake. The produce of oil-cake and oil from cotton seed, is two gallons of oil to one cwt. of seed, leaving about 96 lbs of cake; 8 lbs. is the daily allowance for cattle in England.

Cotton seed oil, very pure, is manufactured to a considerable extent at Marseilles, by De Gimezney, from Egyptian seed; and he received a prize medal at the Great Exhibition.

Account of the export of linseed and rapeseed cakes from Stettin, principally to England, in—

	cwts.
1834	33,518
1835	27,038
1836	56,581
1837	70,643
1838	119,540
1839	115,416
1840	162,457
1841	143,816
1842	119,814

The quantity of oil-seed cakes imported into the United Kingdom was in—

	tons.
1849	59,462
1850	65,055
1851	55,076
1852	53,616

Cargoes of oil-cake, to the value of £22,207, were exported from the port of Shanghae, in China, in 1849.

2,467 tons of oil-cake were brought down to New Orleans from the interior in 1848, and 1,032 tons in 1849.

Seven samples of American oil-cake gave the following results:—

Oil	11.41
Water	7.60
Nitrogen	4.74
Ash	6.35

From the above figures, the scientific farmer will see that the manure formed by 100 lbs. of oil-cake is more than that derived from 300 lbs. of Indian corn. 300 lbs. of corn contain about l¼ lbs. phosphoric acid; 100 lbs. oil-cake contain about 2½ lbs.

VOLATILE OR ESSENTIAL OILS occur in the stems, leaves, flowers and fruit of many odoriferous plants, and are procured by distillation along with water. They are called "essences," and contain the concentrated odor of the plant. They usually exist ready-formed, but occasionally they are obtained by a kind of fermentation, as oil of bitter almonds and oil of mustard. Some of them consist of carbon and hydrogen only, as oil of turpentine, from Juniperus communis; oil of savin, from Juniperus Sabina; oil of lemons and oranges, from the rind of the fruit; and oil of nerole, from orange flowers. A second set contain oxygen in addition, as oil of cinnamon, from Cinnamonum verum; otto or attar of roses, from various species of rose, especially Rosa centifolia; oil of cloves, from Caryophyllus aromaticus.

Those principally obtained from tropical shrubs and plants are citronella, oil of oranges and lemons, from the rind of the fruit oil of cinnamon and cloves, croton oil, &c.

The oil of Sandal or Sanders wood (Santalum album), grown on the Malabar coast, is much esteemed as a perfume. Keora oil, from Pandanus odoratissimus, in Bengal. Oil of spikenard, so highly prized, on account of its perfume, by the ancients, may be procured in Sagur, Nepaul, and the mountains of the Himalaya.

956 lbs. of essential oils were imported into Hull in 1850. There were exported from Ceylon in 1842, 902 cases; in 1843, 138; in 1844, 20; in 1845, 25 cases of essential oils, and in the last two years as follows :—

	1852. cases.	1851. cases.
Cinnamon oil	17	23
Citronella oil	110	87
Essential oil	72	35

Of chemical, essential, and perfumed oils imported from France, the quantity is about 35,000 lbs. annually, worth £10,000. The duty is 1s. per lb. We also imported from France, in 1851, 9,596 cwt. of oil or spirit of turpentine, worth £14,197, on which a duty of 5s. 3d. per cwt. is levied.

From Western Australia some distilled oil of the Liptospermum was shown at the Exhibition, which it is stated may be obtained in any quantity, and a similar oil produced, by distillation, from the Eucalyptus piperita, a powerful solvent of caoutchouc, evidently very similar, if not altogether identical, with the oil of cajeput. The characters of these two oils are much alike and without some care it is difficult to distinguish them from one another by the odor; the liptospermum oil has a slight tinge of yellow, its specific gravity is 0.9035; the eucalyptus oil is colorless, and has a density of 0.9145. It is probable that these oils might be used with great advantage in the manufacture of varnish, they readily dissolve copal, and when its solution is spread over any surface the oil soon evaporates, and leaves a hard, brilliant and uniform coating of the resin. These oils, according to Prof. Solly, are specially worthy of attention.

Dr. Bennett, in his "Wanderings in New South Wales," states that a large quantity of camphorated oil, which closely resembles the cajeputi, is produced from the foliage of several species of Eucalyptus. Some of the leaves, which are of a bluish green, contain it in such abundance as to cover the hand with oil when one of the leaves is gently rubbed against it.

From the odorous leaves of the Arbor alba is extracted a portion of the aromatic cajeput oil. This celebrated medicinal oil is principally made in the island of Borneo, one of the Moluccas.

The leaf of the Melaleuca minor yields, by distillation, the volatile oil of cajeputi, well known as a powerful sudorific, and a useful external application in chronic rheumatism. It is an evergreen shrub, with white flowers like a myrtle, native of the East Indies, principally flourishing on the sea coasts of the Moluccas and other Indian islands. Two sacks full of the leaves yield scarcely three drachms of the oil, which is limpid, pellucid, and of a green color.

Oil of cinnamon and oil of cassia, according to Mulder, have the same composition. When fresh they are pale yellow, but become brown on exposure to the air. On exposure they rapidly absorb cinnamic acid, two resins and water.

More than 22,000 lbs. of essence of bergamot was imported in 1848. It is obtained by distillation or pressure from the rind of the fragrant citron.

Andropogon calamus aromaticus, of Royle, A. nardoides, of Nees v. Esenb., according to some yields the grass oil of Namur.

The fruits of Carum carui, a hardy biennial British plant, popularly known as caraway seeds, supply a volatile oil, which is carminitive and aromatic. Oils of a similar kind are obtained from Coriandrum sativum, from anise (Pimpinella Anisum), and cumin (Cuminum Cyminum), a native of Egypt.

The production of cinnamon, clove, and cassia oils, have already been noticed in speaking of those spices.

In Malabar, a greenish sweet-smelling oil is obtained, by distillation, from the roots of Unona Narum, an evergreen climber, which is used medicinally as a Stimulant.

OIL OF PEPPERMINT.—Mr. De Witt C. Van Slyck, of Alloway, Wayne county, New York, furnished me with the following particulars on the cultivation of peppermint, in December, 1849, which may appropriately be introduced in this place:—

"As an agricultural production, the culture of peppermint in the United States is limited to few localities; this county and the adjoining ones, Seneca and Ontario, comprise the largest bed. In the year 1846 about 40,000 lbs. of oil were produced. In Lewis county, in this state, it is grown, though to a less extent; the amount of oil produced there in 1846 was estimated at 4,500 lbs. In Michigan about 10,000 lbs. are annually produced; Ohio furnishes about 3,000 lbs. and Indiana 700 lbs. per annum. The entire crop in the United States, in the year 1846, is estimated in round numbers at 58,000 lbs.

The above comprises all the localities of any importance in the United States, and the above estimates of the annual product of oil were made from correct data for the year 1846, since which time the cultivation of mint has rapidly decreased in consequence of a speculative movement by a New York company, who in the spring of 1847 purchased nearly all the mint then growing in this State, and stipulated with the growers not to raise it for two years thereafter, which condition was generally observed on the part of the growers. The present year (1849), on account of the drought, has not realised the expectations of those engaged in its culture, although the amount of oil produced is much larger than the product of the two preceding years. In this mint district, 8,000 lbs. have been raised; Lewis county furnishes 1,000 lbs.; Michigan, 8.000 lbs.; Ohio, 1,000 lbs., and Indiana 500 lbs. So that the entire crop of 1849 will not materially vary from 18,500 lbs.

I have consulted several of the principal dealers in mint oil, whose opportunities have been ample to form a tolerably correct estimate of the amount of oil annually consumed, and their opinion fixes the total consumption, for the various purposes for which it is used in the United States and in Europe, at from 20,000 to 30,000 lbs. annually.

The price of mint oil is extremely fluctuating. Like other unstaple commodities, the value of which depends upon their scarcity or abundance, it never has assumed a constant and standing value, but its price has generally been deranged by speculation and monopoly. It has happened that the amount of oil produced was for several years greater than the annual consumption, producing an accumulation in the market, and reducing the price to the very low rate of 75 cents per pound; on the other hand, when the article was scarce, it readily sold for 5 dollars 25 cents per pound. The average price for fifteen vears has been about 2 dollars 50 cents, per pound. This year (1849) it readily sells for 1 dollar 50 cents., (6s. 6d.).

Peppermint began to be cultivated in this vicinity as an agricultural product about the year 1816, but for several years the want of a proper knowledge of its culture, and the expense and difficulty of extracting the oil, prevented its extension beyond a few growers, who, however, realised fortunes out of the enterprise. Almost any kind of soil that will successfully rear wheat and maize is adapted to the growth of mint. Rich alluvions, however, seem to be most natural, as would be inferred from the fact that the wild herb is almost uniformly found growing upon the tertiary formations on the margins of streams. The rich bottom lands along our rivers and the boundless prairies of the West are eminently adapted for its successful culture. It is believed by those best acquainted with the subject, that its cultivation must be ultimately confined to the western prairies, where it will grow spontaneously, and where the absence of noxious weeds and grasses, incident to all older settled lands, renders the expense of cultivation comparatively light, and where the low price of land will be an important item in the amount of capital employed, the expense of marketing being slight in comparison to that of the more bulky products of agricultural industry.

The method of cultivation is nearly uniform. The mode of propagation is by transplanting the roots, which may be done in autumn or spring, though generally the latter, and as the herb is perennial, it does not require replanting till the fourth year. To ensure a good crop and obviate the necessity of extra attendance the first season, the ground intended for planting should be fallowed the preceding summer, though this is not necessary if the land is ordinarily clean. The ground should be prepared as for maize, as soon as possible in the spring furrowed, and roots planted in drills twenty inches apart, and covered with loose earth, two inches deep, the planter walking upon the drill and treading it firmly. The proper time to procure roots is when the herb is a year old, when from six to eight square rods of ordinary mint will yield a sufficient quantity of roots to plant an acre, and the crop from which the roots are taken will not be deteriorated, but rather benefited by their extraction. As soon as the herb makes its appearance it requires a light dressing with a hoe, care being taken not to disturb the young shoots, many of which have scarcely made their appearance above the ground. In the course of a week or two the crop requires a more thorough dressing, and at this stage of growth the cultivator may be used with advantage, followed by the hoe, carefully eradicating weeds and grass from the drills, and giving the herb a light dressing of earth. Another dressing a week or two later is all the crop requires.

The two following years no labor is bestowed upon the crop, though it is sometimes benefited by ploughing over the whole surface, very shallow, in the autumn of the second year, and harrowing lightly the following spring, which frequently renews the vigor of the plant and increases the product.

The mint should be cut as soon as it is in full bloom, and the lower leaves become sere; the first crop will not be fit to cut as early as the two succeeding ones. It is then to be hayed and put in cock, and is then ready for distillation.

I have consulted many mint growers, who have cultivated it for a series of years, in regard to the average yield per acre, and have arrived at the following estimate, which I think is low, provided the land is suitable, and is properly cultivated. I estimate the average yield per acre for the first year at 18 lbs.; the second year at 14 lbs.; and the third year at 8 lbs.—making the product for three years 40 lbs., which I think will not materially vary from the actual result, though growers aver they have raised from 30 to 40 lbs. per acre the first season.

Several years since, the only method of extracting the oil then known was by distilling the herb in a copper kettle, or boiler, and condensing in the usual manner; a slow and tedious process, by which about 12 or 15 pounds of oil could be separated in a day. But recently steam, that powerful agent, which has wrought such immense changes in our social and national economy, has been applied to this subject with its usual attendant success. The present method consists in the use of a common steam-boiler, of the capacity of from 100 to 150 gallons, from which the steam is conveyed by conductors into large wooden air-tight tubs, of 200 gallons capacity, containing the dried herb; from which it is conveyed, charged with the volatile principle of the plant, into a water-vat, containing the condenser. The water collected at the extremity of the condenser, although it does not readily commingle with the oil, is highly tinctured with it, and is used to feed the boiler. Two tubs are necessary, in order that when the "charge" is being worked off in one, the other can be refilled. The oil is then to be filtered, and is ready for market. The expense of a distillery is estimated at 150 dollars, which, with the labor of two men, and a cord of dry wood, will run 40 lbs. of oil per day. The usual price for distilling is 25 cents per pound.

The cost of production is of course greatly modified by circumstances. If grown on rich bottom lands, or prairie, unusually free from weeds and grass, the labor required will be comparatively trifling. From information derived from the principal mint growers in this vicinity, I have prepared the following estimate of the cost of production of an acre of mint for three years:—

FIRST YEAR.
	Dollars.
Rent of an acre of land one year	8.00
One day plough and drag, one hand and team	2.00
Half day furrowing, digging roots, one hand and horse	1.00
Three days planting, at 75 cents	2.25
Two days dressing with hoe, at 75 cents	1.50
Two days with cultivator and hoe, 1.00	2.00
Two days with cultivator and hoe (third dressing)	1.50
One and a-half days cutting new mint, at 75 cents	1.13
Curing and drawing to distillery	1.50
Distilling 18 lbs. oil, at 25 cents	4.50
Can for oil	.25
	25.63
SECOND YEAR.
Rent of an acre of land one year	8.00
Cutting one acre of old mint	.75
Curing and hauling to distillery	1.50
Distilling 14 lbs. oil, at 25 cents	3.50
Can for oil	.25
	14.00
THIRD YEAR.
Rent of an acre of land one year	8.00
Cutting, curing, &c.	2.25
Distilling 8 lbs. of oil, at 25 cents, and can	2.25
	12.50
Total expenses for three years	52.13
Forty pounds of oil, at dollars 1.37½ per pound	55.00
Deduct expenses	52.13
Net profit	2.87

In the above estimate I have omitted the expense of roots, for the reason that the crop will yield as many as are required for planting. The price of roots is about 50 cents per square rod, and if they are in demand, the profit of the crop will be greatly enhanced by selling them at that, or even a lower price.

It will be readily perceived that the culture of peppermint promises no great return of profit in sections of country where land is valuable, and where the expense of production is nearly double what it is in newly-settled districts. It is a fact that in Michigan, and other Western States, the actual expense of production is about one-half less than the above estimate, and the yield is a fourth greater; the greater distance from market, which is usually New York city, not being taken into account, the freight on oil being comparatively trifling. Another consideration in favor of prairie cultivation is, that the mint will endure for years by simply ploughing over the surface every second year, which seems to invigorate the herb, and obviates the necessity of replanting every second or third year, as must be done in older settled localities."

In India the perfumed oils are obtained in the following manner:—The layers of the jasmine, or other flowers, four inches thick and two inches square, are laid on the ground and covered with layers of sesamum or any other oil yielding seed. These are laid about the same thickness as the flowers, over which a second layer of flowers like the fruit is placed. The seed is wetted with water, and the whole mass covered with a sheet, held down at the end and sides by weights, and allowed to remain for eighteen hours in this form. It is now fit for the mill, unless the perfume is desired to be very strong, when the faded flowers are removed and fresh ones put in their place. The seed thus impregnated is ground in the usual way in the mill and the oil expressed, having the scent of the flower. At Ghazipoor the jasmine and bela are chiefly employed; the oil is kept in the dubbers, and sold for about 4s. a seer.

The newest oils afford the finest perfume. In Europe a fixed oil, usually that of the bean or morerja nut, is employed. Cotton is soaked in this, and laid over layers of flowers, the oil being squeezed out so soon as impregnated with perfume. Dr. Johnson thus describes the culture and manufacture:—

Cultivation of Roses.—Around the station of Ghazipoor, there are about 300 biggahs (or about 150 acres) of ground laid out in small detached fields as rose gardens, most carefully protected on all sides by high mud walls and prickly pear fences, to keep out the cattle. These lands, which belong to Zemindars, are planted with rose trees, and are annually let out at so much per biggah for the ground, and so much additional for the rose plants—generally five rupees per biggah, and twenty-five rupees for the rose trees, of which there are 1,000 in each biggah. The additional expense for cultivation would be about eight rupees eight annas; so that for thirty-eight rupees eight annas you have for the season one biggah of 1,000 rose trees.

If the season is good, this biggah of 1,000 rose trees should yield one lac of roses. Purchases for roses are always made at so much per lac. The price of course varies according to the year, and will average from 40 to 70 rupees.

Manufacture of Rose-water.—The rose trees come into flower at the beginning of March, and continue so through April. Early in the morning the flowers are plucked by numbers of men, women, and children, and are conveyed in large bags to the several contracting parties for distillation. The cultivators themselves very rarely manufacture.

The native apparatus for distilling the rose-water is of the simplest construction; it consists of a large copper or iron boiler well tinned, capable of holding from eight to twelve gallons, having a large body with a rather narrow neck, and a mouth about eight inches in diameter; on the top of this is fixed an old dekchee, or cooking vessel, with a hole in the centre to receive the tube or worm.

This tube is composed of two pieces of bamboo, fastened at an acute angle, and it is covered the whole length with a strong binding of corded string, over which is a luting of earth to prevent the vapour from escaping. The small end, about two feet long, is fixed into the hole in the centre of the head, where it is well luted with flower and water. The lower arm or end of the tube is carried down into a long-necked vessel or receiver, called a bhulka. This is placed in a handee of water, which, as it gets hot, is changed. The head of the still is luted on to the body, and the long arm of the tube in the bhulka is also well provided with a cushion of cloth, so as to keep in all vapour. The boiler is let into an earthen furnace, and the whole is ready for operation. There is such a variety of rose-water manufactured in the bazar, and so much that bears the name, which is nothing more than a mixture of sandal oil, that it is impossible to lay down the plan which is adopted. The best rose-water, however, in the bazar, may be computed as bearing the proportion of one thousand roses to a seer of water; this, perhaps, may be considered as the best procurable.

From one thousand roses most generally a seer and a half of rose-water is distilled, and perhaps from this even the attar has been removed. The boiler of the still will hold from eight to twelve or sixteen thousand roses. On eight thousand roses from ten to eleven seers of water will be placed, and eight seers of rose-water will be distilled. This after distillation is placed in a carboy of glass, and is exposed to the sun for several days to become pucka (ripe); it is then stopped with cotton, and has a covering of moist clay put over it; this becoming hard, effectually prevents the scent from escaping. The price of this will be from twelve to sixteen rupees. This is the best that can be procured.

Attar of Roses.—To procure the attar, the roses are put into the still, and the water passes over gradually, as in the case of the rose-water process; after the whole has come over, the rose-water is placed in a large metal basin, which is covered with wetted muslin, tied over to prevent insects or dust getting into it; this vessel is let into the ground about two feet, which has been previously wetted with water, and it is allowed to remain quiet during the whole night. The attar is always made at the beginning of the season, when the nights are cool; in the morning the little film of attar which is formed upon the surface of the rose-water during the night is removed by means of a feather, and it is then carefully placed in a small phial; and, day after day, as the collection is made, it is placed for a short period in the sun, and after a sufficient quantity has been procured, it is poured off clear, and of the color of amber, into small phials. Pure attar, when it has been removed only three or four days, has a pale greenish hue; by keeping it loses this, and in a few weeks' time it becomes of a pale yellow. The first few days distillation does not produce such fine attar as comes off afterwards, in consequence of the dust or little particles of dirt in the still and the tube being mixed with it. This is readily separated, from its sinking to the bottom of the attar, which melts at a temperature of 84 degrees. From one lac of roses it is generally calculated that 180 grains, or one tolah, of attar can be procured; more than this can be obtained if the roses are full-sized, and the nights cold to allow of the congelation. The attar purchased in the bazar is generally adulterated, mixed with sandal oil, or sweet oil; not even the richest native will give the price at which the purest attar alone can be obtained, and the purest attar that is made is sold only to Europeans. During the past year it has been selling from 80 to 90 rupees the tolah; the year before it might have been purchased for 50 rupees.

General Remarks.—Native stills are let out at so much per day or week, and it frequently occurs that the residents prepare some rose-water for their own use as a present to their friends, to secure their being provided with that which is the best. The natives never remove the calices of the rose-flowers, but place the whole into the still as it comes from the garden.

The best plan appears to be to have these removed, as by this means the rose-water may be preserved a longer time, and is not spoiled by the acid smell occasionally met with in the native rose-water. It is usual to calculate 100 bottles to one lac of roses. The rose-water should always be twice distilled; over ten thousand roses water may be put to allow of sixteen or twenty bottles coming out; the following day these twenty bottles are placed over eight thousand more roses, and about eighteen bottles of rose-water are distilled. This may be considered the best to be met with. The attar is so much lighter than the rose-water, that, previous to use, it is better to expose the rose-water to the sun for a few days, to allow of its being well mixed; and rose-water that has been kept six months is always better than that which has recently been made.

At the commencement of the rose season, people from all parts come to make their purchases, and very large quantities are prepared and sold. There are about thirty-six places in the city of Ghazeepore where rose-water is distilled. These people generally put a large quantity of sandal oil into the receiver, the oil is afterwards carefully removed and sold as sandal attar, and the water put into carboys and disposed of as rose-water. At the time of sale a few drops of sandal oil are placed on the neck of the carboy to give it fresh scent, and to many of the natives it appears perfectly immaterial whether the scent arises solely from the sandal oil or from the roses. Large quantities of sandal oil are every year brought up from the south and expended in this way.

6. The chief use the natives appear to make of the rose water, or the sandal attar as they term it, is at the period of their festivals and weddings. It is then distributed largely to the guests as they arrive, and sprinkled with profusion in the apartments. A large quantity of rose water is sold at Benares, and many of the native Rajahs send over to Ghazipoor for its purchase. Most of the rose water, as soon as distilled, is taken away, and after six months from the termination of the manufacture there are not more than four or five places where it is to be met with.

I should consider that the value of the roses sold for the manufacture of rose water may be estimated at 15,000 to 20,000 rupees a year; and from the usual price asked for the rose water, and for which it is sold, I should consider there is a profit of 40,000 rupees. The natives are very fond of using the rose water as medicine, or as a vehicle for other mixtures, and they consume a good deal of the petals for the conserve of roses, or goolcond as they call it.

The roses of Ghazipoor, on the river Ganges, are cultivated in enormous fields of hundreds of acres. The delightful odor from these fields can be scented at seven miles distance on the river. The valuable article of commerce known as attar of roses is made here in the following manner:—On 40 pounds of roses are poured 60 pounds of water, and they are then distilled over a slow fire, and 30 pounds of rose water obtained. This rose water is then poured over 40 pounds of fresh roses, and from that is distilled at most 20 pounds of rose water; this is then exposed to the cold night air, and in the morning a small quantity of oil is found on the surface. From 80 pounds of roses, about 200,000, at the utmost an ounce and a-half of oil is obtained; and even at Ghazipoor it costs 40 rupees (4l.) an ounce.

Five guineas have been often paid for one ounce of attar of roses. The most approved mode of ascertaining its quality is to drop it on a piece of paper; its strength is ascertained by the quickness with which it evaporates, and its worth by its leaving no stains on the paper. The best otto is manufactured at Constantinople.

A volatile oil, erroneously called oil of spikenard, is met with in the shops, which is obtained from a plant which has been named by Dr. Royle, the Andropogon Calamus aromaticus.

The true spikenard of the ancients is supposed to have been obtained from the Nardostachys Jatamansi, a plant of the Valerian family. Dr. Stenhouse describes rather minutely ("Journal Pharm. Soc." vol. iv. p. 276) a species of East India grass oil, said to be the produce of Andropogon Ivaracusa, which he believes to be what is usually called the oil of Namur. It has a very fragrant aromatic odor, slightly resembling that of otto of roses, but not nearly so rich. Its taste is sharp and agreeable, approaching that of oil of lemons. It has a deep yellow color, and contains a good deal of resinous matter.

LEMON GRASS (Andropogon schœnanthus).—This fragrant grass, which is now cultivated very generally throughout the West Indies, in the gardens of the planters, as an elegant and powerful diaphoratic, was doubtless introduced from the East. The active principle of the leaves seems to reside in the essential oil which they contain. Lemon grass oil forms an important article of export from Ceylon, amounting in value to nearly £7,000 annually.

The Andropogon schœnanthus, which may be seen covering all the Kandian hills, is the best possible pasture for cattle—at least as long as it is young. This species of grass is very hard, and grows to the height of seven feet, and sometimes higher, and has a strong but extremely pleasant acid taste. It derives its name from having, when crushed, an odor like that of the lemon, so strong, that after a time it becomes quite heavy and sickening, although grateful and refreshing at first. It covers the hills in patches—those, at least, that are not overgrown with jungle and underwood—and it is to be found nowhere but in the Kandian district. Spontaneous ignition frequently takes place, and the appearance of the burning grass is described as most magnificent. A few days after, from the midst of this parched, blackened, and apparently dead ground, lovely young green shoots begin to arise—for the roots of this extraordinary grass have not even been injured, far less destroyed, by the fire; and in a very short time the whole brow of the mountain is again overspread with tufts of beautiful green waving grass.—("Journal of Agriculture.")

Otto of khuskhus or scented grass, from another species, A. digitalis, obtained at Ulwar in the States of Rajpootanah, was shown at the Great Exhibition in 1851, and Newar oil (from A. maritima) from Agra.

CITRONELLA OIL.—In the Southern province of Ceylon some half dozen estates about Galle are cultivated with citronella grass. The exports of this oil from Ceylon in the last three years have been as follows:—1850, 86,048 oz., valued at £3,344; 1851, 114,959 oz., valued at £3,742; in 1852, 131,780 oz., valued at £2,806.

PATCHOULY.—Under this name are imported into this country the dried foliaceous tops of a strongly odoriferous labiate plant, growing three feet high in India and China, called in Bengalee and Hindu, pucha pat. About 46 cases, of from 50 to 110 lbs. each, were imported from China, by the way of New York, in 1844. The price asked was 6s. per pound. Very little is known of the plant yielding it. Mr. George Porter, late of the island of Pinang, stated that it grows wild there and on the opposite shores of the Malay peninsula. Dr. Wallich says, that it obviously belongs to the family Labiatæ. Viney, in the "French Journal of Pharmacy," suggests that it is the Plectranthus graveolens of R. Brown. It forms a shrub of two or three feet in height. It is the Pogostemon patchouly. The odor of the dried plant is strong and peculiar, and to some persons not agreeable. The dried tops imported into England are a foot or more in length. In India it is used as an ingredient in tobacco for smoking, and for scenting the hair of women. In Europe it is principally used for perfumery purposes, it being a favorite with the French, who import it largely from Bourbon. The Arabs use and export it more than any other nation. Their annual pilgrimship takes up an immense quantity of the leaf. They use it principally for stuffing mattrasses and pillows, and assert that it is very efficacious in preventing contagion and prolonging life. It requires no sort of preparation, being simply gathered and dried in the sun; too much drying, however, is hurtful, inasmuch as it renders the leaf liable to crumble to dust in packing and stowing on board. The characteristic smell of Chinese or Indian ink is owing to an admixture of this plant in its manufacture. M. de Hugel found the plant growing wild near Canton. By distillation it yields a volatile oil, on which the odor and remarkable properties depend. This oil is in common use in India for imparting the peculiar fragrance of the leaf to clothes among the superior classes of natives. The origin of its use is this:—A few years ago, real Indian shawls bore an extravagant price, and purchasers could always distinguish them by their odor; in fact, they were perfumed with Patchouly; the French manufacturers at length discovered this secret, and used to import the plant to perfume articles of their make, and thus palm off homespun shawls as real India! Some people put the dry leaves in a muslin bag, and thus use it as we do lavender, scenting drawers in which linen is kept; this is the best way to use it, as this odor, like musk, is most agreeable when very dilute.—("Gardeners' Chronicle.")

The root of some parasitical plant, under the name of kritz, is used in Cashmere to wash the celebrated shawls, soap is used only for white shawls.

From the flowers of the Bengal quince (Ægle marmemolos) a fragant liquid is distilled in Ceylon known as marmala water, which is much used as a perfume for sprinkling by the natives.

Jasmine oil is distilled from Jasminum sambac and grandiflora.

SAPONACEOUS PLANTS.—Many plants furnish abroad useful substitutes for common soap. The aril which surrounds the seed and the roots of Sapindus Saponaria, an evergreen tree, I have seen used as soap in South America and the West Indies under the name of soap berries. The seed vessels are very acrid, they lather freely in water and will cleanse more linen than thirty times their weight of soap, but in time they corrode or burn the linen. Humboldt says that proceeding along the river Carenicuar, in the Gulf of Cariaco, he saw the Indian women washing their linen with the fruit of this tree, there called the parapara. Some other species of Sapindus and of Gypsophila have similar properties. The bruised leaves and roots of Saponaria officinalis, a British species, form a lather which much resembles that of soap, and is similarly efficacious in removing grease spots. The bark of many species of Quillaia, as Q. saponaria, when beaten between stones, makes a lather which can be used as a substitute for soap, in washing woollens and silk clothes, and to clean colors in dyeing, in Chili and Brazil, but it turns linen yellow. The fruit of Bromelia Pinguin is equally useful. A vegetable soap was prepared some years ago in Jamaica from the leaves of the American aloe (Agave Americana) which was found as detergent as Castile soap for washing linen, and had the superior quality of mixing and forming a lather with salt water as well as fresh. Dr. Robinson, the naturalist, thus describes the process he adopted in 1767, and for which he was awarded a grant by the House of Assembly:—"The lower leaves of the Curaca or Coratoe (Agave karatu) were passed between heavy rollers to express the juice, which, after being strained through a hair cloth, was merely inspissated by the action of the sun, or a slow fire, and cast into balls or casks. The only precaution necessary was to allow no mixture of any unctuous materials, which destroyed the efficacy of the soap. A vegetable soap, which has been found excellent for washing silk, &c. may be thus obtained. To one part of the skin of the Ackee add one and a half part of the Agave karatu, macerated in one part of boiling water for twenty-four hours, and with the extract from this decoction mix four per cent. of rosin. In Brazil, soap is made from the ashes of the bassura or broom plant (Sidu lanceolata) which abounds with alkali. There are also some soap barks and pods of native plants used in China. Several other plants have been employed in different countries as a substitute for soap. The bark of Quillaia saponaria renders water frothy and is used as a detergent by wool dyers. Saponaria vaccana is common in India. The pericarp of Sapindus emarginatus mixed with water froths like soap. Saponaceous berries are found in Java.

The soap-worts to which the genus Sapindus belongs are tropical plants. The fruit of many species of Sapindus is used as a substitute for soap, as Sapindus acuminata, Laurifolius emarginatus and detergens, all East Indian plants.

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SECTION VI.

PLANTS YIELDING DRUGS, INCLUDING NARCOTICS AND OTHER COMMON MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES.

The chief plants furnishing the drugs of commerce, and which enter largely into tropical agriculture, are the narcotic plants, especially tobacco, the poppy for opium, and the betel nut and leaf; as masticatories—but there are very many others to which the attention of the cultivator may profitably be directed. I have already trenched so largely upon my space, that I cannot do that justice to the plants coming under this section I could have wished. There are very many, however, of which I must make incidental mention. Some few medicinal plants have been already alluded to in former sections, particularly in that on dye-stuffs, &c.

THE COCA PLANT grows about four or five feet high, with pale bright green leaves, somewhat resembling in shape those of the orange tree. The leaves are picked from the trees three or four times a year, and carefully dried in the shade; they are then packed in small baskets. The greatest quantity is grown about 30 leagues from Cicacica, among the Yunnos on the frontiers of the Yunghos. Some is also cultivated near to Huacaibamba.

The natives in several parts of Peru chew these leaves as Europeans do tobacco, particularly in the mining districts, when at work in the mines or travelling; and such is the sustenance that they derive from them, that they frequently take no food for four or five days. I have often (observes Mr. Stevenson) been assured by them, that whilst they have a good supply of coca they feel neither hunger, thirst, nor fatigue, and that without impairing their health they can remain eight to ten days and nights without sleep. The leaves are almost insipid, but when a small quantity of lime is mixed with them, they have a very agreeable sweet taste. The natives generally carry with them a leather pouch containing coca, and a small calabash holding lime or the ashes of the molle to mix with them.

Cocculus indicus, or Indian berries.—This is the commercial name for the berries or fruit of the Menispermum Cocculus of Linnæus, M. heteroclitum of Roxburgh, Animerta paniculata of Colebrooke, A. Cocculus of Wright and Arnot, and Cocculus suberosus of Decandolle. It is a strong climbing shrub or tree, native of Malabar, Ceylon, and the Eastern Islands. The seeds or drupes contain a bitter poisonous acid, and are used for the purpose of stupefying fish, and, in the form of a black extract, for fraudulently increasing the intoxicating power of malt liquors; one pound of the berries, it is said, will go as far in brewing as a sack of malt. The berry is kidney-shaped, with a white kernel. Whilst the imports in 1846 were but 246 bags, in 1850 they had increased to 2,359 bags of about 1 cwt. each. The price is 19s. to 24s. the cwt.

A crystalline, poisonous, narcotic principle called picrotoxin, has been detected in these seeds, and occasionally employed externally in some cutaneous diseases. Cocculus crispus is used in intermittent fevers and liver complaints.

The annual imports now average 250 tons, and nearly the whole is consumed for illegal purposes by brewers. Though the practice is nominally discountenanced by the Legislature under the penalty of £200 upon the brewer and £500 upon the seller, yet under the recent tariff great encouragement is given to the introduction of these berries, the duty having been reduced from 7s. 6d. to 5s. the cwt.

The capsules and seeds of Xanthoxylum hostile are also employed for the same purpose as cocculus indicus. The bark of Walseria piscidia, a native of the Circar mountains, also intoxicates fish.

About 250 tons of Nux vomica, another species of dried flat seed possessing intoxicating properties, are also imported annually for the same purposes, and they fetch about 6s. to 8s. the cwt.

BETEL LEAF.—Piper Betel, a scandent species of the shrubby evergreen tribe of plants belonging to the pepper family, furnishes the celebrated betel leaf of the Southern Asiatics, in which they enclose a few slices of the areca nut and a little shell lime; this they chew to sweeten the breath, and to keep off the pangs of hunger, and it acts also as a narcotic.

Such is the immense consumption of this masticatory, termed Pan, in the East, that it forms nearly as extensive an article of commerce as that of tobacco in the West. The tax on the leaf forms a considerable portion of the local revenue of Pinang; in 1805, the tax yielded as much as 5,400 dollars.

Rumphius describes six species of this vine, besides several wild and cultivated varieties. It is very easily reared in the Indian islands, but in the countries of the Deccan requires manuring, frequent watering and great care, and in the northern parts of Hindostan it becomes an exotic very difficult to rear. The vine affords leaves fit for use in the second year, and continues to yield for more than thirty, the quantity diminishing as the plants grow older.

ARECA PALM (Acacia Catechu).—This is a fine, slender, graceful tree, rising from 20 to 30 feet high, which, being a native of the East, is found abundant in many of the forests of India, from 16 to 30 degs. of latitude. The principal places of its growth are the Burmese territories, a large province on the Malabar coast called the Concan, and the forests skirting the northern parts of Bengal, under the hills which divide it from Nepaul, the south and west coasts of Ceylon, the south of China, &c., the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and the Eastern islands, it produces fruit at five years old, and continues bearing till about its twenty-fifth year, when it withers and dies. It thrives at a greater distance from the sea, and in more elevated regions than the coco-nut palm. In Prince of Wales Island some hundreds of thousands of these palms are cultivated.

The seeds or nuts form a chief ingredient in the celebrated eastern masticatory called Pan and which seems to owe its stimulating properties to the leaves of the Piper Betel. When prepared for use, the nut is cut into slices and wrapped in the fresh leaves of the betel pepper vine, together with a quantity of quicklime (Chunam) to give it a flavor. The flavor is peculiar, between an herbaceous and an aromatic taste.

All classes, male and female, chew it; they say it sweetens the breath, strengthens the stomach, and preserves the teeth, to which it gives a reddish hue; there is probably less objection to its use than tobacco or opium, and its taste is more pleasant; but, if taken to excess, it will produce stupor like other narcotics, and even intoxication. The nuts grow in large bunches at the top, and when ripe are red and have a beautiful appearance; they resemble the nutmeg in shape and color, but are larger and harder. When gathered they are laid in heaps until the shell be somewhat rotted, and then dried in the sun, after which the process of shelling commences. The trees vary in their yield from 300 to 1,000 nuts, averaging about 14 lbs.; which the cultivators sell at about half a dollar (2s.) a picul of 133 lbs. As these palms are planted usually at the distance of 7½ feet, it follows that the produce of an acre is about 10,841 lbs. The tree bears but once in a year generally, but there are green nuts enough to eat all the year long. Betel nut is a staple article of import into China; 25,000 piculs annually is the amount returned, but there is an immense quantity imported in Chinese junks from Hainan, of which there is no account kept. In the single port of Canton alone, 15,565 piculs were imported in 1844, and about 400 to Ningpo. 3,005 piculs of betel nuts, valued at 8,700 dollars, were imported into Canton in 1850, and as much as 4,000 tons of areca nuts are shipped annually from Ceylon.

The astringent extract obtained from the seeds of the Areca-palm constitutes two (or perhaps more) kinds of the catechu of the shops. According to Dr. Heyne ("Tracts Hist. and Statist. on India"), it is largely procured in Mysore, about Sirah, in the following manner:—

The nuts are taken as they come from the tree and boiled for some hours in an iron vessel. They are then taken out, and the remaining water is inspissated by continual boiling. This process furnishes Kassu, or most astringent terra japonica, which is black and mixed with paddy criu, husks, and other impurities. After the nuts are dried, they are put into a fresh quantity of water, boiled again; and this water being inspissated, like the former, yields the best or dearest kind of catechu, called Coony. It is yellowish brown, has an earthy fracture, and is free from the admixture of foreign bodies.

Most of the betel nuts imported into China come from Java, Singapore, and Pinang. Betel nut is not so generally used in the South of China as among the Southern Islands, and in the north of China it is a luxury, as the pepper does not grow freely there. Formerly there was a considerable trade in betel nuts with the Coromandel coast, from whence the natives brought back manufactured goods and other necessaries in return, but this has ceased for some time. The common price was 20,000 for a dollar. These nuts are seldom imported into England, though they might be of use as a dye in some manufactures.

The natives of the East chew the fruit of Elate sylvestris, (which is something like a wild plum), in the same manner as the areca nut, with the leaf of the betel pepper and quick lime.

The inner wood furnishes a kind of Catechu or Cutch, which contains much tannin and is a powerful astringent. It is obtained by the simple process of boiling the heart of the wood for a few hours, when it assumes the appearance and consistency of tar. It hardens by cooling, and when formed into small squares and dried in the sun is fit for the market.

The produce of Bombay is of uniform texture and of a dark red color. That of Concan and other parts of India is of chocolate color, and marked inside with red streaks.

The analysis of Sir H. Davy gave the following result:—

	Bombay.	Concan.
Tannin	54.5	48.5
Extractive	34.0	36.5
Mucilage	6.5	8.0
Insoluble matters, sand, lime, &c.	5.0	7.0
	100.0	100.0

Catechu is in extensive use in India for tanning purposes, and of late years it has entirely superseded madder in the calico works of Europe for dyeing a golden coffee-brown, one pound of catechu being found equivalent to six pounds of madder.

Value of the areca nuts exported from Ceylon to the British Colonies and foreign States in the years named:—

	£.
1839	22,956
1840	23,096
1841	22,428
1842	29,222
1843	27,028
1844	20,978
1845	31,836
1846	34,209
1847	35,723
1848	42,482
1849	31,746
1850	42,907
1851	54,846
1852	52,230

THE POPPY.

OPIUM is the concrete inspissated juice of the white poppy, Papaver somniferum and its varieties, obtained by scratching the capsules and collecting the exuding juice. The plant has been long known, and is perhaps one of the earliest described. It is a native of Western Asia and probably also of the South of Europe, but it has been distributed over various countries.

In 1826 the imports of opium into the United Kingdom were 79,829 lbs., of which 28,329 lbs. were consumed in this country. The imports and consumption in subsequent years are shown by the following figures:—

	Imports. lbs.	Consumption. lbs.
1827	113,140	17,322
1830	209,076	22,668
1833	106,846	35,407
1836	130,794	38,943
1839	196,247	41,682
1842	72,373	47,432
1845	259,644	38,229
1848	200,019	61,055
1819	105,724	44,177
1850	126,318	42,324
1851	118,024	50,682
1852	205,780	62,521

Few who have not looked into the statistics of this trade, are aware of the enormous consumption of opium all over the world, but chiefly in China and India.

In 1845, 18,792 chests of opium were sent from Calcutta to China, and nearly the same number of the Malwa opium from Bombay and Damaun. The total production of India exported to China, in 1844, was 21,526 chests from Bengal, and 18,321 from Bombay, in all 39,847 chests. The number of persons in China given to the consumption of opium was estimated, in 1837, at three millions, and the average quantity smoked by each individual is about 17½ grains a day. The consumption of Indian opium (independent of Turkey opium) in China has gradually increased from 3,210 chests in 1817, to 9,969 chests in 1827, and about 40,000 chests in 1837, valued at 25,000,000 dollars. Now it has reached 50,000 to 60,000 chests. Notwithstanding severe penalties, imprisonment, temporary banishment, and even death, the number of those who smoke opium has multiplied exceedingly, and the contraband trade in the drug is carried on to so large an extent, that it is to be feared the practice will become general throughout the empire.

According to Mr. E. Thornton's statistics, the production of opium in Bengal has increased cent. per cent. in the last ten years:—

	Chests.
1840-41	17,858
1841-42	18,827
1842-43	18,362
1843-44	15,104
1844-45	18,350
1845-46	21,437
1846-47	21,648
1847-48	30,515
1848-49	36,000

The chest is about 140 lbs., so that the production in 1849 was 5,040,000 lbs.

According to the statements annexed to the statistical papers relating to India, the income from the opium monopoly is obtained by two principal means, namely, by a system of allowing the cultivation of the poppy by the natives of British India on account of Government, and by the impost of a heavy duty on opium grown and manufactured in foreign states, but brought in transit to a British port for exportation. The former system obtains in Bengal, the latter in Bombay. According to the statements published, Bengal opium yields a profit of 7s. 6d. per lb., whilst the duty derived in the Bombay presidency is only equal to a surplus of 5s. 8d. per lb. By these means the total revenue realised by the opium monopoly, in Bengal and Bombay, in the year 1849-50 yielded £3,309,637.

Lest objection should be taken to this large annual revenue derived from the cultivation of a drug, the unnatural consumption of which would be suppressed under any other European government, the Court of Directors is very anxious to show the benefit which the country derives from this monopoly; they say "that as the price of opium is almost wholly paid by foreign consumers, and the largest return is obtained with the smallest outlay, the best interests of India would, appear to be consulted." Nobody at all acquainted with the financial resources and the capabilities of any country, would hazard such an assertion. By paying cultivators for the restricted growth of the poppy a price hardly yielding more than the average rate of wages to the common laborer, I do not see in what way the best interests of India are consulted, nor is it clear that the population derives any benefit by being prohibited altogether from manufacturing a drug, which may be brought from another country in transitu on the payment of a heavy duty; unless indeed the Court of Directors are of opinion that in the event of the abolition of the monopoly, the people of the country would have to make up for the loss of the revenue by submitting to some other mode of direct or indirect taxation. There is an inconsistency in the statements of the Court of Directors, which is absolutely amusing. "The free cultivation of the poppy," say the Directors, "would doubtless lead to the larger outlay of capital, and to greater economy in production; but the poppy requires the richest description of land, and its extended cultivation must therefore displace other products." How very considerate on the part of the Directors, but how strongly at variance with facts, since all the fear of displacing other products, and all this appropriation of the richest description of land for other purposes has not prevented the Indian Government, within less than ten years, from more than doubling the cultivation of the poppy and the manufacture of opium. The Directors tell us that the heavy transit duty charged at Bombay is to discourage production, but they do not say whether that discouragement applies, as one would imagine, to those foreign districts which have to pay the transit duty for their production. If so, the assertion is again at variance with facts, because in a subsequent statement they say, "It is stated that neither the price of opium, nor the extent of cultivation in Malwa, has been affected by the great enhancement of the pass duty, which has taken place since 1845."

The following will show that the Company loses no opportunity of applying the screw:—

The subjugation of Scinde afforded opportunity for the levy of a higher rate. Down to the period of that event, a large portion of the opium of Malwa had been conveyed through Scinde to Kurrachee, and thence onward to the Portuguese ports of Diu and Demaun. That route is now closed, and it was reasonably expected that an advance might be made in the charge of passes without the risk of loss to the revenue from a diminished demand for them. The rate was accordingly increased in October, 1843, from 125 to 200 rupees per chest. Upon the principle that it was desirable to fix the price at the highest amount that could be levied, without forcing the trade into other channels, a further increase was made in 1845. when it was determined that the charge should be 300 rupees per chest. Under the like views it was, in 1847, raised to 400 rupees per chest.

The company was perfectly correct, for though the quantity of opium did not increase, the revenue did; and whilst in 1840-41 16,773 chests yielded an income of only 22,046,452 rupees—16,500 chests brought in 1849-50 actually 72,094,835 rupees into the coffers of the Government of Bombay. But the people of India earned not a pice by it, and those richest descriptions of land, which it was so desirable to reserve for other produce than the poppy, remained barren.

The white variety of the poppy is that which is exclusively brought under cultivation for the production of the drug in India and Egypt. For the successful culture of opium a mild climate, plentiful irrigation, a rich soil, and diligent husbandry are indispensable. One acre of well cultivated ground will yield from 70 lbs. to 100 lbs. of "chick," or inspissated juice, the price of which varies from 6s. to 12s. a pound, so that an acre will yield from £20 to £60 worth of opium at one crop. Three pounds of chick will produce one pound of opium, from a third to a fifth of the weight being lost in evaporation. A chief chemical feature, which distinguishes Bengal opium from that of Turkey and Egypt, is the large proportion which the narcotine in the former bears to the morphia, and this proportion is constant in all seasons. It is a matter of importance to ascertain whether the treatment which the juice receives after its collection can influence in any way the amount of alkaloids, or of the other principles in opium. In Turkey it is the custom to beat up the juice with saliva, in Malwa it is immersed as collected in linseed oil, whilst in Bengal it is brought to the required consistence by mere exposure to the air in the shade, though, at the same time, all the watery particles of the juice that will separate are drained off, and used in making Lewah, or inferior opium.

The lands selected for poppy cultivation are generally situated in the vicinity of villages, where the facilities for manuring and irrigation are greatest. In such situations and when the soil is rich, it is frequently the practice with the cultivators to take a crop of Indian corn, maize, or vegetables off the ground during the rainy season, and after the removal of this in September, to dress and manure the ground for the subsequent poppy sowings. In other situations, however, and when the soil is not rich, the poppy crop is the only one taken off the ground during the year, and from the commencement of the rains in June or July, until October, the ground is dressed and cleaned by successive ploughings and weedings, and manured to the extent which the means of the cultivator will permit. In the final preparation of the land in October and November, the soil, after being well loosened and turned up by the plough, is crushed and broken down by the passage of a heavy log of wood over its surface, and it is in this state ready for sowing.

The amount of produce from various lands differs considerably. Under very favorable circumstances of soil and season, as much as twelve or even thirteen seers (26 lbs.) of standard opium may be, obtained from each biggah of 27,225 square feet. "Under less favorable conditions the turn-out may not exceed three or four seers, but the usual amount of produce varies from six to eight seers per biggah.

The chemical examination of different soils in connection with their opium-producing powers, presents a field for profitable and interesting inquiry; nor is the least important part of the investigation that which has reference to variations in the proportions of the alkaloids (especially the morphia and narcotine), which occur in opium produced in various localities. That atmospheric causes exert a certain influence in determining these variations is probable; that they influence the amount of produce, and cause alterations in the physical appearance of the drug, are facts well known to every cultivator: thus the effect of dew is to facilitate the flow of the juice from the wounded capsule, rendering it abundant in quantity, but causing it at the same time to be dark and liquid. An easterly wind (which in India is usually concomitant with a damp state of atmosphere), retards the flow of juice, and renders it dark and liquid. A moderate westerly wind, with dew at night, form the atmospheric conditions most favorable for collection, both as regards the quantity and quality of the exudation. If, however, the westerly wind (which is an extremely dry wind) blow violently, the exudation from the capsules is sparing. Whilst the effect of meteorological phenomena in producing the above results are well marked, their action in altering the relative proportions of the chemical constituents of the juice of the poppy plant is more obscure, and it is highly probable that the chemical composition of the soil plays a most important part in this respect. Dr. O'Shaughnessy is certainly the most accomplished chemist who had ever, in India, turned his attention to the subject, and he has published the results of his analyses of specimens of opium from the different divisions of the Behar Agency, which are worthy of much attention. In the opium from eight divisions of the agency, he found the quantity of morphia to range from 1¾ grains to 3½ grains per cent., and the amount of the narcotine to vary from ¾ grain to 3½ grains per cent., the consistence of the various specimens being between 75 and 79 per cent. In the opium from the Hazareebaugh district (the consistence of the drug being 77), he found 4½ per cent, of morphia, and 4 per cent, narcotine; whilst from a specimen of Patna-garden opium he extracted no less than 10¾ per cent. of morphia, and 6 per cent. of narcotine, the consistence of the drug being 87. With respect to the last specimen, Dr. O'Shaughnessy mentions that the poppies which produced it were irrigated three times during the season, and that no manure was employed upon the soil. It is much to be regretted that these interesting results were not coupled with an analysis of the soils from which the specimens were produced, for to chemical variations in it must be attributed the widely different results recorded above.

Opium as a medicine has been used from the earliest ages; but when it was first resorted to as a luxury, it is impossible to state, though it is not at all improbable that this was coeval with its employment in medicine, for how often do we find that, from having been first administered as a sedative for pain, it has been continued until it has taken the place of the evil. Such must have happened from the earliest ages, as it happens daily in the present; but as a national vice it was not known until the spread of Islamism, when, by the tenets of the Prophet, wine and fermented liquors being prohibited, it came in their stead along with the bang or hasch-schash (made from hemp), coffee, and tobacco. From the Arabs the inhabitants of the Eastern Archipelago most probably imbibed their predilection for opium, although their particular manner of using it has evidently been derived from the Chinese. China, where at present it is so extensively used, cannot be said to have indulged long in the vice. Previous to 1767 the number of chests imported did not exceed 200 yearly; now the average is 50,000 to 60,000. In 1773 the East India Company made their first venture in opium, and in 1796 it was declared a crime to smoke opium.

In different countries we find opium consumed in different ways. In England it is either used in a solid state, made into pills, or a tincture in the shape of laudanum. Insidiously it is given to children under a variety of quack forms, such as "Godfrey's cordial," &c. In India the pure opium is either dissolved in water and so used, or rolled into pills. It is there a common practice to give it to children when very young, by mothers, who require to work and cannot at the same time nurse their offspring. In China it is either smoked or swallowed in the shape of Tye. In Bally it is first adulterated with China paper, and then rolled up with the fibres of a particular kind of plantain. It is then inserted into a hole made at the end of a small bamboo, and smoked. In Java and Sumatra it is often mixed with sugar and the ripe fruit of the plantain. In Turkey it is usually taken in pills, and those who do so, avoid drinking any water after swallowing them, as this is said to produce violent colics; but to make it more palatable, it is sometimes mixed with syrups or thickened juices; in this form, however, it is less intoxicating, and resembles mead. It is then taken with a spoon, or is dried in small cakes, with the words "Mash Allah," or "Word of God," imprinted on them. When the dose of two or three drachms a day no longer produces the beatific intoxication, so eagerly sought by the opiophagi, they mix the opium with corrosive sublimate, increasing the quantity of the latter till it reaches ten grains a day. It then acts as a stimulant. In addition to its being used in the shape of pills, it is frequently mixed with hellebore and hemp, and forms a mixture known by the name of majoon, whose properties are different from that of opium, and may account in a great measure for the want of similitude in the effect of the drug on the Turk and the Chinese.

In Singapore and China the refuse of the chandu, the prepared extract of opium, is all used by the lower classes. This extract, when consumed, leaves a refuse, consisting of charcoal, empyreumatic oil, some of the salts of opium, and a part of the chandu not consumed. Now one ounce of chandu gives nearly half an ounce of this refuse, called Tye, or Tinco. This is smoked and swallowed by the poorer classes, who only pay half the price of chandu for it. When smoked it yields a further refuse called samshing, and this is even used by the still poorer, although it contains a very small quantity of the narcotic principle. Samshing, however, is never smoked, as it cannot furnish any smoke, but is swallowed, and that not unfrequently mixed with arrack.

Preparation.—In Asia Minor, men, women, and children, a few days after the flower falls from the poppies, proceed to the fields, and with a shell scratch the capsules, wait twenty-four hours, and collect the tears, which amount to two or three grains in weight from each capsule. These being collected and mixed with the scrapings of the shells, worked up with saliva and surrounded by dried leaves, it is then sold, but, generally speaking, not without being still more adulterated with cow's dung, sand, gravel, the petals of flowers, &c. Different kinds of opium are known in the markets of Europe and Asia.

The first in point of quality is the Smyrna, known in commerce as the Turkey or Levant. It occurs in irregular, rounded, flattened masses, seldom exceeding two pounds in weight, and surrounded by leaves of a kind of sorrel; the quantity of morphia said to be derived from average specimens is eight per cent.

Second, Constantinople Opium, two kinds of which are found in the market, one in very voluminous irregular cakes, which are flattened like the Smyrna; this is a good quality. The other kind is in small, flattened, regular cakes, from two to two and a half inches in diameter, and covered with the leaves of the poppy; the quantity of morphia is very uncertain in this description of opium, sometimes mounting as high as 15 per cent., and sometimes descending so low as six, showing the great variety in the quality of the drug.

Third, Egyptian Opium, occurs in round flattened cakes, about 3 inches in diameter, and covered externally with the vestiges of some leaf. It is distinguished from the others by its reddish color, resembling "Socotrine Aloes." The quantity of morphia in this is inferior to the preceding. It has one quality which, when adulterated, ought to be known, that is a musty smell. By keeping it does not blacken like the other kinds.

Fourth, English Opium, is in flat cakes or balls enveloped in leaves. It resembles fine Egyptian opium more than any other kind. Its color is that of hepatic aloes, and in the quantity of morphia it is inferior to the preceding, but in the strength of the mass it is said by one of its most extensive cultivators to be superior.

Fifth, French, and sixth German Opium, require no particular remarks. By a recent notice I find the French are cultivating the poppy in Algeria, from which they get opium giving a small per centage of morphia.

Seventh, Trebizond or Persian Opium, is sometimes met with of a very inferior quality in the form of cylindrical sticks, which by pressure have become angular.

Eighth, Indian Opium, divided into four kinds, Cutch, Malwa, Patna and Benares. Of these Cutch is but little known or cultivated. It occurs in small cakes covered with leaves, and its color is much inferior to Smyrna. Malwa opium is to be met with of two kinds. The inferior is in flattened cakes, without any external covering, dull, opaque, blackish brown externally, internally somewhat darker, and soft. Its color is somewhat like the Smyrna, but less powerful, and with a slight smoky smell. Superior Malwa is in square cakes, about three inches in length and one inch thick. It has the appearance of a well prepared, shining, dry, pharmaceutical extract; its color is blackish brown, its odor less powerful than Smyrna; it is not covered by petals as the following kinds are, but smeared with oil; it is then rubbed with pounded petals.

The Behar, Patna, and Benares Opium, being strictly in the hands of Government, no adulteration can take place, without a most extensive system of fraud; but it will not be uninteresting to trace the progress of the opium from the hands of the natives, to the condition in which it is delivered to the public by the Government.

From the commencement of the hot season to the middle of the rains the Government is ready to receive opium, which is brought by the natives every morning, in batches, varying in quantities from twenty seers to a maund. The examining officer into each jar thrusts his examining rod, which consists of a slit bamboo, and, by experience, he can so judge of the qualities of the specimens before him, which are sorted into lots of No. 1 to No. 4 quality. Opium of the first quality is of a fine chesnut color, aromatic smell, and dense consistence. It is moderately ductile, and, when the mass is torn, breaks with a deeply notched fracture, with sharp needle-like fibres, translucent and ruby red at the edges. It is readily broken down under water, and the solution at first filters of a sherry color, which darkens as the process proceeds. One hundred grains of this yield an extract to cold distilled water of from 35 to 45, and at the temperature of 212 degs., leaves from 20 to 28 per cent., having a consistency of 70 to 72, the consistence of the factory.

The second quality is inferior to the first, and the third quality is possessed of the following properties, black paste, of a very heavy smell, drops from the examining rod, gives off from 40 to 50 per cent, of moisture, and contains a large quantity of "Pasewa;" while the fourth or last number embraces all the kinds which are too bad to be used in the composition of the balls, comprising specimens of all varieties of color and consistence. This number is mixed with water, and only used as a paste to cement the covering of the balls.

The three first qualities are emptied from their jars into large tanks, in which they are kept until the supply of the season has been obtained. The opium is then removed and exposed to the air on shallow wooden frames, until it becomes of the consistency of from 69 to 70, when it is given to the cake maker, who guesses to a drachm the exact weight, and envelops the opium in its covering of petals, cemented by a covering of quality number 4. The balls are then weighed and stored, to undergo a thorough ventilation and drying. Formerly the covering of the balls was composed of the leaves of tobacco; but the late Mr. Flemming introduced the practice of using the petals of the poppy, which was such an improvement that the Court of Directors presented him with 50,000 rupees. The balls, forty in number, are packed in a mango wood case, which consists of two stories with twenty pigeon holes in each, lined with lath and surrounded by the dried leaves of the poppy. Sometimes these balls are so soft as to burst their skins, and much of the liquid opium running out, is lost. In 1823, many of the chests of Patna lost five catties from this cause, and to this day we have the same thing continuing to occur. Patna chests are covered with bullock hides, Benares with gunnies.

Dr. Impey, staff surgeon at Poona, who resided in Malwa from 1843 to 1846, published at Bombay, in 1848, a valuable treatise on the cultivation, preparation, and adulteration of Malwa opium. It was some time before he obtained the permission of the East India Company to publish the result of the experience he had acquired in Malwa, and as Government inspector of opium at Bombay. It is the most practical treatise I have yet met with, although a very elaborate, useful paper, by Mr. Little, surgeon, of Singapore, appears in the 2nd vol. of the "Journal of the Indian Archipelago," from which I have quoted the preceding remarks.

Mr. Little furnishes a complete history of the drug, and the physical and mental effects resulting from its habitual use. There are also some able remarks in Dr. O'Shaughnessy's Bengal Dispensatory:—

For the successful cultivation of opium, a mild climate, plentiful irrigation, a rich soil, and diligent husbandry, are indispensable. In reference to the first of these, Malwa is placed most favorably. The country is in general from 1,300 to 2,000 feet above the level of the sea: the mean temperature is moderate, and range of the thermometer small. Opium is always cultivated in ground near a tank or running stream, so as to be insured at all times of an abundant supply of water. The rich black loam, supposed to be produced by the decomposition of trap, and known by the name of cotton soil, is that prepared for opium. Though fertile and rich enough to produce thirty successive crops of wheat without fallowing, it is not sufficiently rich for the growth of the poppy until largely supplied with manure. There is, in fact, no crop known to the agriculturist, unless sugar cane, that requires so much care and labor as the poppy. The ground is first four times ploughed on four successive days, then carefully harrowed; when manure, at the rate of from eight to ten cart loads an acre, is applied to it; this is scarcely half what is allowed a turnip crop at home. The crop is after this watered once every eight or ten days, the total number of waterings never exceeding nine in all. One beegah takes two days to soak thoroughly in the cold weather, and four as the hot season approaches. Water applied after the petals drop from the flower, causes the whole to wither and decay. When the plants are six inches high, they are weeded and thinned, leaving about a foot and a-half betwixt each plant; in three months they reach maturity, and are then about four feet in height if well cultivated. The full-grown seed-pod measures three and a-half inches vertically, and two and a-half in horizontal diameter. Early in February and March the bleeding process commences. Three small lancet-shaped pieces of iron are bound together with cotton, about one-twelfth of an inch of the blade alone protruding, so that no discretion as to the depth of the wound to be inflicted shall be left to the operator; and this is drawn sharply up from the top of the stalk at the base, to the summit of the pod. The sets of people are so arranged that each plant is bled all over once every three or four days, the bleedings being three or four times repeated on each plant. This operation always begins to be performed about three or four o'clock in the afternoon, the hottest part of the day. The juice appears almost immediately on the wound being inflicted, in the shape of a thick gummy milk, which is thickly covered with a brownish pellicle. The exudation is greatest over night, when the incisions are washed and kept open by the dew. The opium thus derived is scraped off next morning, with a blunt iron tool resembling a cleaver in miniature. Here the work of adulteration begins—the scraper being passed heavily over the seed-pod, so as to carry with it a considerable portion of the beard, or pubescence, which contaminates the drug and increases its apparent quantity. The work of scraping begins at dawn, and must be continued till ten o'clock; during this time a workman will collect seven or eight ounces of what is called "chick." The drug is next thrown into an earthen vessel, and covered over or drowned in linseed oil, at the rate of two parts of oil to one of chick, so as to prevent evaporation. This is the second process of adulteration—the ryot desiring to sell the drug as much drenched with oil as possible, the retailers at the same time refusing to purchase that which is thinner than half dried glue. One acre of well cultivated ground will yield from 70 to 100 pounds of chick. The price of chick varies from three to six rupees a pound, so that an acre will yield from 200 to 600 rupees worth of opium at one crop. Three pounds of chick will produce about two pounds of opium, from a third to a fifth of the weight being lost in evaporation. It now passes into the hands of the Bunniah, who prepares it and brings it to market. From twenty-five to fifty pounds having been collected, is tied up in parcels in double bags of sheeting cloth, which are suspended from the ceilings so as to avoid air and light, while the spare linseed oil is allowed to drop through. This operation is completed in a week or ten days, but the bags are allowed to remain for a month or six weeks, during which period the last of the oil that can be separated comes away; the rest probably absorbs oxygen and becomes thicker, as in paint. This process occupies from April to June or July, when the rain begins. The bags are next taken down and their contents carefully emptied into large vats from ten to fifteen feet in diameter, and six or eight inches thick. Here it is mixed together and worked up with the hands five or six hours, until it has acquired an uniform color and consistence throughout, become tough and capable of being formed into masses. This process is peculiar to Malwa. It is now made up into balls of from eight to ten ounces each, these being thrown, as formed, into a basket full of the chaff of the seeds pod. It is next spread out on ground previously covered with leaves and stalks of the poppy; here it remains for a week or so, when it is turned over and left further to consolidate, until hard enough to bear packing. It is ready for weighing in October or November, and is then sent to market. It is next packed in chests of 150 cakes, the total cost of the drug at the place of production being about fourteen rupees per chest, including all expenses. About 20,000 chests are annually sent from Malwa, at a prime cost charge of two lacs and 80,000 rupees. It may easily be supposed that manipulations so numerous, complex, and tedious, as those described, give the most ample opportunities for the adulteration to which the nature of the drug tempts the fraudulent dealer.

In order to enable the cultivator to carry on his agricultural operations, he receives from time to time certain advances, the amount of which reaches in the aggregate to about one-half of the value of the estimated out-turn of produce. If the land has been under cultivation in previous seasons, its average produce is known; if it be new land, and considered by the Sub-Deputy Agent as eligible, then the cultivator, in addition to the usual advances, receives an advance of so much per biggah to enable him to bestow a certain amount of extra care in tilling and dressing the soil. The first advance is made on the completion of the agreement or bundobust, and this takes place in September and October. The second advance is made on the completion of the sowings in November, and the final or Chook payment is made immediately after the delivery and weighing of the produce. Nothing therefore can be fairer to the cultivator than this system of advances; he is subject to no sort of exaction, in the shape of interest or commission on the money which he receives, and it puts within his power the certain means of making a fair profit by the exercise of common care and honesty. It is an established rule in the Agency that the cultivator's accounts of one season shall be definitively settled before the commencement of the next, and that no outstanding balances shall remain over. When a cultivator has from fraud neglected to bring produce to cover his advances, the balances due by him are at once recovered, if necessary by legal means; whereas, if he can satisfactorily show that he has become a defaulter from calamity and uncontrollable circumstances, and that the liquidation of his debt is placed entirely beyond his power, his case is then made the subject of report to the Government by the Agent, with the request that the debt may be written off to profit and loss. These provisions are most wise, for outstanding balances may be made the means of oppression, and to their operation may be traced a considerable amount of litigation and agrarian crime in the indigo districts of lower Bengal. It is clear that when such balances become so large that the cultivator cannot discharge them, he is no longer a free agent, but is perfectly subservient to the will of his creditor, for whom he must cultivate whether he desire it or not. Such burdens may even be handed down from father to son. The fairness of the Agency system, and the justice with which the cultivators are treated, are best evidenced by the readiness with which they come forward to cultivate, and also by the comparative rarity of agrarian crime, arising out of matters connected with the poppy cultivation.

Opium is grown to some extent in Egypt; 39,875 lbs. were produced in 1831, and sold at two dollars a pound.

At the end of October, after the withdrawal of the Nile waters the seed, mixed with a portion of pulverised earth, is sown in a strong soil, in furrows; after fifteen days the plant springs up, and in two months has the thickness of a Turkish pipe, and a height of four feet; the stalk is covered with long, oval leaves, and the fruit, which is greenish, resembles a small orange. Every morning before sunrise, in its progress to maturity, small incisions are made in the sides of the fruit, from which a white liquor distils almost immediately, which is collected in a vessel; it soon becomes black and thickish, and is rolled into balls, which are covered with the washed leaves of the plant; in this state it is sold. The seeds are crushed for lamp oil, and the plant is used for fuel.

A plant known in Jamaica under the name of bull hoof yields a narcotic which has been administered successfully in the shape of tincture and a syrup, instead of opium. This is the Muracuja ocellata, or Passiflora muracuja, of Swartz, an elegant climber, bearing bright scarlet blossoms. There is another species, M. orbiculata, found in Hayti and other islands, which may be expected to partake more or less of the properties of the former. The flowers are the parts most commonly employed.

THE TOBACCO PLANT.

Several species of Nicotium furnish tobacco; that chiefly used in Europe is procured from N. Tabacum and its numerous varieties, a plant naturally inhabiting the hotter parts of North and South America. The popular narcotic furnished by tobacco is probably in more extensive use than any other, and its only rivals are opium and the betel-nut and leaf of the East. The herb for smoking was brought to England from Tobago, in the West Indies, or from Tobasco, in Mexico (whence the name), by Sir Ralph Lane, in 1586. Seeds were shortly after introduced from the same quarter.

"Tobacco, as used by man," says Du Tour, "gives pleasure to the savage and the philosopher, to the inhabitant of the burning desert and the frozen zone; in short, its use, either in powder, to chew, or to smoke, is universal; and for no other reason than a sort of convulsive motion (sneezing) produced by the first, and a degree of intoxication by the two last modes of use."

Tobacco is an annual plant, attaining a height of six feet, having dingy red, funnel-shaped flowers, and viscid leaves. The leaves are the officinal part, and their active properties depend on a peculiar, oily-like alkaloid, called Nicotin. The flavor and strength of tobacco depend on climate, cultivation, and the mode of manufacture. That most esteemed by the smoker is Havanna tobacco, but the Virginian is the strongest. The small Havanna cigars are prepared from the leaves of Nicotium repanda, Syrian and Turkish tobacco from N. rustica, and fine Shiraz tobacco from N. persica. With the exception of the Macuba tobacco, which is cultivated in Martinique in a peculiar soil, the tobacco of Cuba is considered the finest in the world. That grown in the island of Trinidad is, however, fully equal to it in quality, but all raised in the colony is generally consumed there, and is little known in the English market. This ought not to be the case, for no article would pay better.

The Maryland is a very light tobacco, in thin, yellow leaves; that of Virginia is in large brown leaves, unctuous or somewhat gluey on the surface, having a smell very like the figs of Malaga; that of Havanna is in brownish light leaves, of an agreeable and rather spicy smell,—it forms, as I have already stated, the best cigars. The Carolina tobacco is less unctuous than the Virginian, but in the United States it ranks next to the Maryland. The shag tobacco is dried to the proper point upon sheets of copper, and is cut up by knife-edged chopping stamps. There are said to be four kinds of tobacco reared in Virginia, viz., the sweet-scented, which is considered the best; the big and little, which follows next; then the Frederick; and, lastly, the one and all, the largest kind, and producing most in point of quantity.

According to Loudon ("Encyclo. of Plants"), there are fourteen species of this genus, besides a few varieties. Lindley, however, enumerates 31, but many of these are mere showy species, adapted to flower gardens. I shall therefore follow chiefly Loudon's classification—

1. N. Tabacum, a native of several parts of America, but principally known as Virginian tobacco, having a stem rising from four to six feet or more in height, bearing pink flowers. Of this there are three chief varieties known in America by the popular names of Orinoco, Broad-leaved and Narrow-leaved. Lindley enumerates eight varieties of N. Tabacum.

2. N. macrophylla, or large-leaved tobacco, an ornamental annual, also with pink flowers, native of America, which rises to the height of six feet.

3. N. fruticosa, or shrubby tobacco, an ornamental evergreen shrub, native of China, with pink blossoms, which grows to about three feet.

4. N. undulata, or suaveolens, sweet-scented or New Holland tobacco, a green house perennial, native of New South Wales, with white flowers, which is only two feet high.

5. N. rustica.—The common green or English tobacco, an annual plant, native of America, producing white flowers, which seldom grows higher than three feet.

6. N. paniculata, or panicled tobacco, an annual plant bearing greenish yellow flowers, native of Peru, rises to the height of three feet.

7. N. glutinosa, or clammy-leaved tobacco, also an annual plant, native of Peru, growing to the height of four feet, with bright scarlet flowers.

8. N. plumbaginifolia, or curled-leaved tobacco, an ornamental deciduous annual, native of America, with white blossoms, rising to the height of two feet.

9. N. pusilla, or primrose-leaved tobacco, an ornamental deciduous biennial, with white flowers, native of Vera Cruz, rising to three feet.

10. N. quadrivalvis, four-valved, or Missouri tobacco, an ornamental annual, native of North America, with white flowers, seldom growing higher than two feet.

11. N. nana, or rocky mount tobacco, a curious greenhouse annual, native of North America, with white blossoms, rising only three inches high.

12. N. Langsdorffii, or Langsdorff's tobacco, an ornamental annual, with greenish yellow flowers, native of Chili, reaching five feet high.

13. N. cerinthoides, or honey-wort tobacco, an ornamental annual, with greenish yellow flowers, native country unknown.

14. N. repanda, or Havanna tobacco, an annual with white flowers, native of Cuba, rising two feet high.

There are a few species, natives of the Province of Buenos Ayres, which may be particularised. N. bonariensis, having white flowers; N. glauca, yellowish green flowers; N. longiflora, white flowers; and N. viscosa, pink flowers.

The important mineral substances presented in Havanna tobacco, examined by Hertung, are in 100 parts of ashes,

Salts of potash	34.15
Salts of lime	51.38
Magnesia	4.09
Phosphates	9.04

These substances were for the most part insoluble in earth, and must have been dissolved during the growth of the crop.

ANALYSIS OF FIVE SAMPLES OF TOBACCO.
	No. 1.	No. 2.	No. 3.	No. 4.	No. 5.
	Grown on argillaceous soil		Grown in calcareous soil.
Potash	29.08	30.67	9.68	9.36	10.37
Soda	2.26	—	—	—	.36
Lime	27.67	24.79	49.28	49.44	39.58
Magnesia	7.22	8.57	14.58	15.59	15.04
Chloride of sodium	.91	5.95	4.61	3.20	6.39
Chloride of potassium	—	—	4.44	3.27	2.99
Phosphate of iron	8.78	6.03	5.19	6.72	7.56
Sulphate of lime	6.43	5.60	6.68	6.14	9.42
Silica	17.65	18.39	5.54	6.28	8.34
	100.	100.	100.	100.	100.

From the above it will be seen that on the argillaceous soil the tobacco contained a large quantity of alkalies and silica, while on the other hand, the lime, magnesia and chlorides were high in proportion, in the tobacco grown on calcareous soil.

There is no doubt that the manure which contains the largest proportion of alkaline carbonate, magnesia, lime and gypsum, is that best adapted for tobacco.

I give an analysis taken from Prof. Johnston's "Lectures," (2nd edition) of the ash of the tobacco leaf and the composition of a special manure for tobacco:—

Potash	12.14
Soda	0.07
Lime	45.90
Magnesia	13.09
Chloride of sodium	3.49
Chloride of potassium	3.98
Phosphate of iron	5.48
Phosphate of lime	1.49
Sulphate of lime	6.35
Silica	8.01
	100.00

All the ingredients which are necessary to replace 100 lbs. of the ash of tobacco leaves are present in the following mixture:—
Bone dust, sulphuric acid	23	lbs.
Carbonate of potash (dry)	31	"
Carbonate of soda (dry)	5	"
Carbonate of Magnesia	25	"
Carbonate of lime (chalk)	60	"
	144	"

The following is the result of an analysis of the fresh leaves of tobacco, by Posselt and Reimann ("Mag. Pharm." xxiv. xxv.):—

Nicotine	0.06
Nicotianine	0.01
Extractive matter, slightly bitter	2.37
Gum, with a little malate of lime	1.74
Green resin	0.26
Vegetable albumen	0.26
Substance analogous to gluten	1.04
Malic acid	0.51
Malate of ammonia	0.12
Sulphate of potash	0.04
Chloride of potassium	0.06
Potash combined with malic and nitric acids	0.90
Phosphate of lime	0.16
Lime in union with malic acid	0.24
Silica	0.08
Woody fibre	4.96
Water (traces of starch)	87.21
	100.1

Dr. Covell, in "Silliman's American Journal," vol. vii., shows its components to have been but imperfectly represented in the above German analysis. He found in tobacco by chemical examination—1, gum; 2, a viscid slime, equally soluble in water and alcohol, and precipitable from both by subacetate of lead; 3, tannin; 4, gallic acid; 5, chlorophyle (leaf green); 6, a green pulverulent matter, which dissolves in boiling water, but falls down again when the water cools; 7, a yellow oil, possessing the smell, taste and poisonous qualities of tobacco; 8, a large quantity of a pale yellow resin; 9, nicotine; 10, a white substance, analogous to morphia, soluble in hot, but hardly in cold alcohol; 11, a beautiful orange red dye stuff, soluble only in acids; it deflagrates in the fire, and seems to possess neutral properties; 12, nicotianine. According to Buchner, the seeds of tobacco yield a pale yellow extract to alcohol, which contains a compound of nicotine and sugar.

M.M. Henry and Boutron Charlard found in 100 parts of

Cuba tobacco	8.64	of nicotine.
Maryland	5.28
Virginia	10.00
Ile et Vilaine	11.20
Lot et Garonne	8.20

quantities from 12 to 19 times more than were obtained by Posselt and Reimann.—"Ure's Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures."

The following are the results of a series of experiments made by Messrs. Cooper and Brande, for the purpose of ascertaining the quantity of soluble matter in eight samples of tobacco, of detecting the presence and quantity of sugar contained in them, and the nature and relative proportions of their inorganic constituents. An important paper on the state in which Nicotine exists in tobacco, and on the relative proportion of it furnished by different varieties of the plant, has been furnished by Schlœssing ("Ann. Ch. et Ph." 3ieme Ser. XIX. 230).

Tobacco dried at 212 degs.	Per cent of extract, &c. soluble in water.	Per cent of woody fibre &c. insoluble in water.	Per cent of ash after treatment with carbonate of ammonia.	Per cent of matter soluble in water in the ash.	Per cent of matter soluble by hydrocloric acid in the ash.	Per cent of insoluble matter, as silica, &c. in the ash.	Per cent of alcohol obtained from fermentated infusion.	Per cent of saccharine matter deduced from the obtained alcohol.
1. Light Missouri leaf and stalk	49	54.9	20.97 white	2.17	11.73	5.9	—	—
2. Light Missouri leaf only	50	47.7	19.7 white	1.77	12.83	5.1	0.75	1.50
3. Dark Missouri leaf and stalk	50	52.4	16.47 white	4.2	10.14	2.13	—	—
4. Dark Missouri leaf only	51	50.6	13.8 white	2.17	8.73	2.9	0.35	0.71
5. Light Virginia leaf and stalk	51.5	53.1	16.4 gray- white	2.53	8.54	5.33	—	—
6. Light Virginia leaf only	54	46.1	11.97 green- gray	2.0	6.86	3.11	1.045	2.09
7. Dark Virginia leaf and stalk	48.5	51.8	14.7 gray	4.8	8.40	1.5	—	—
8. Dark Virginia leaf only	52	49.8	12.53 gray	2.63	8.20	1.7	1.46	2.93

1. The samples were dried and the woody fibre and extract were also dried at 212 degs. The watery infusions of all contained ammoniacal salts. The salts from the ash, which were soluble in water, consisted of sulphates, carbonates, phosphates, and chlorides; the bases being potassa and lime. The solution by hydrochloric acid contained lime, alumina, phosphate of lime, and oxide of iron.

3. Contained oxide of manganese in small quantity; sulphates in watery solution of ash abundant. Hydrochloric solution contained an abundance of lime.

4. A trace of manganese; a trace only of phosphoric acid in watery solution.

5. Contained abundance of oxide of manganese.

6. Abundance of oxide of manganese.

7. A mere trace of oxide of manganese, and a trace of oxide of iron; only a trace of alumina.

8. A trace of oxide of manganese; quantity of oxide of iron very great; only a trace of alumina.

In rich loams, where the solution of the minerals of the soil is rapid, and where 10 to 20 per cent, of vegetable matter is incorporated in the earth, tobacco may be obtained for many years, but it is always an exhausting crop. It has been stated that 170 Lbs. of mineral matter are removed in less than three months from one acre of land, by a crop of tobacco. This is very much more than wheat or other grains abstract from the soil in eight or nine months.

Tobacco is now very extensively cultivated in France and other European countries, in the Levant, the East and West Indies; and a little is grown at the Cape and in the Australian Settlements.

A good deal of tobacco is raised in Mexico, but only for home consumption, as its export is prohibited. It forms an article of culture in Brazil and some of the South American republics, and is grown to a small extent along the Western shores of Africa. It is from North America, however, that we derive the bulk of our supplies of this great article of commerce, which, with cotton, forms the chief agricultural wealth of the United States.

In 1821, the tobacco exported from the Brazils amounted to 29,192,000 Lbs., but its cultivation was greatly injured by the siege of the capital in 1822-23. Fresh seed was subsequently obtained from Cuba, and in 1835 the exports were 6,051,040 Lbs.

131 cases of Princeza snuff were shipped from Bahia to Lisbon, in 1835; about 60,000 Lbs. per annum of this snuff being now manufactured at Bahia, with the aid of two steam-engines. The exports of tobacco from Bahia increased from 2,048,000 Lbs. in 1833, to 6,051,040 Lbs. in 1835. The average shipments are about 21,000 bales and rolls.

The army of smokers in Great Britain and Ireland consume yearly about six millions of pounds worth of tobacco. The duty alone paid upon snuff and tobacco for the people of Great Britain, averages four-and-a-half millions sterling a year! The quantity consumed—smoked, snuffed, or chewed—during the same period, is about 28 millions of pounds weight, or about four pounds weight per annum for every male adult. Ireland annually pays not less than £800,000 of duty on tobacco and snuff, and only about £30,000 on coffee. For every pound of coffee that the Irish people use, they smoke away about four pounds of tobacco.

North America produces annually upwards of 200 million pounds. The combustion of the mass of vegetable material used in this kingdom would yield about 340 million pounds of carbonic acid gas; so that the yearly produce of carbonic acid gas from tobacco smoking alone cannot be less than 1,000,000,000 lbs.—a large contribution to the annual demand for this gas made upon the atmosphere for the vegetation of the world. Henceforth let no one twit the smoker with idleness and unimportance. Every pipe is an agricultural furnace,—every smoker a manufacturer of vegetation,—the consumer of a weed that he may rear more largely his own provisions.

In the year 1842, 605,000,000 of cigars were made in the German Commercial Union.

In 1839, the revenue on tobacco in this country was about £3,600,000. Of this it has been estimated eleven-twelfths are drawn from the working classes, and one-twelfth from the richer classes. The following is a calculation of the consumption of tobacco per head of the population, estimated from the number of pounds on which duty was paid:—

	Rate of duty.	Consumption per head. ozs.
1801	{1s. 7 3-10d. England }	17
	{1s. 0 7-10d. Ireland.}
1811	2s. 2 13-20d.	19½
1821	4s. 0d.	11 45
1831	3s. 0d.	12 35
1841	3s. 1 8-10d.	12 4-5
1851	3s. 1 4-5d.	21

Thus it will be seen the consumption is materially affected by the rate of duty.

A memorial presented to the First Lord of the Treasury a few years ago, by the American Chamber of Commerce, and signed by Mr. Thomas Todd, the chairman, furnishes some valuable information, and I am therefore tempted to give it entire:—

The American Chamber of Commerce of Liverpool desire respectfully to bring under the consideration of her Majesty's Government the impolicy of the present high rate of duty on foreign tobacco, and the benefit to commerce, as well as to the revenue, which would arise from such a reduction as would remove the temptation now held out to the smuggler.

The cost of tobacco, including freight and all charges, is from 3d. to 4d. per lb., and the duty is 3s. per lb., being 900 per cent, on the value. A duty so enormously disproportioned to the cost offers an irresistible premium to the illicit trader; for the expense of smuggling tobacco by the cargo, including the first cost, does not exceed 9½d. per lb., and it has been ascertained that the smuggler receives 6d. per lb. less than the duty, or 2s. 6d. per lb., which yields him a clear profit of 1s. 8½d. per lb., to the injury not only of the revenue, but of the fair trader.

The effect of this heavy duty in diminishing the consumption of duty-paid tobacco is further exemplified by the fact that, while all other articles of general consumption have progressively increased with the increase of the population, tobacco alone forms an exception, as will appear from the following:—

COMPARATIVE SCALE OF POPULATION AND CONSUMPTION OF TEA, COFFEE,
AND TOBACCO, IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, COMPILED FROM PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS.

	Population	Tea	Coffee	Tobacco
1801	16,338,102
Duty,		65 a 95 per ct	19d. per lb.	19d. per lb.
			& 12½ per ct.	& 12½ per ct.
	Lbs.,	23,163,999	871,846	16,895,752
1811	18,547,720
Duty		96 per cent.	8d. per lb.	26½d. per lb.
	Lbs.,	24,461,308	6,895,619	21,376,370
1821	21,193,458
Duty,		96 a 100 per ct.	12d. per lb.	4s. per lb.
	Lbs.,	26,043,257	7,593,001	1,823,365
1831	24,271,763
Duty		96a 100 per ct.	6d. per lb.	3s. per lb.
	Lbs.,	30,648,348	22,740,627	19,418,941
1841	26,855,928
Duty,		26¼d. per lb.	6d. per lb.	3s. per lb.
	Lbs.,	36,396,073	28,420,980	22,094,772

The consumption of tobacco in the island of Great Britain, excluding Ireland, and the duty thereon, were in

	Consumption.		Duty.
1801	10,514,998	lbs.	1s.	7d.
1811	14,923,243	"	2s.	2½d.
1821	12,983,198	"	4s.	0d.
1831	15,350,018	"	3s.	0d.
1841	16,083,593	"	3s.	0d.
1851	28,062,841	"	3s.	0d.

In the last two periods five per cent is added to all the duties.

Thus, while the consumption of tea and coffee has increased even beyond the ratio of the population, the consumption of tobacco has decreased.

This table also exemplifies the greater productiveness of a low duty compared with a high one; for instance, coffee in 1801, at 1s. 7d. per lb., yielded £77,654; in 1821, at 1s. per lb., £379,650; and, in 1841, at 6d. per lb., £710,524; tobacco in 1821, at 4s. per lb., yielded £3,164,673, and 1841, at 3s. per lb., £3,314,215. But the difference in duty in the latter case was not sufficient to curtail the profits of the smuggler to any material extent.

Cigars afford a remarkable example of the amount of duty being increased by diminishing the rate. In 1828, when the duty was 18s. per lb., duty was paid on 8,600 lbs. only, yielding £7,740. In 1830, when the duty was reduced to 9s. per lb., duty was paid on 66,000 lbs., yielding £29,700; and such has been the increase of consumption, that, in 1841, duty was paid on 213,613 lbs., yielding £100,899.

We would further illustrate the position by the following facts:

In 1798, Ireland, with a population of 4,000,000, consumed 8,000,000 lbs. of tobacco, and now, with more than double the population, she consumes about 3,000,000 lbs. of tobacco less than at the former period. The reason is obvious: in 1789 the duty was 8d. per lb; now it is 3s. In 1798, England and Scotland, with a population of 10,000,000, consumed 10,000,000 lbs. of tobacco, being one half of the relative consumption of Ireland at the same period; the duty in England and Scotland being then 1s. 7d. per lb., and in Ireland only 8d.

But the quantity of tobacco on which duty is paid does not even approximately show the quantity consumed. If the duty now paid on tobacco in the United Kingdom retained the same relative proportion to the population that it held in Ireland in 1798, the duty in 1841 would have been actually levied upon 53,711,856 lbs., instead of 22,094,772 lbs.; and such we believe to be about the actual amount of consumption, the great bulk of the supply being furnished by the illicit trader.

In Prussia, it appears that the consumption of tobacco is at the rate of three pounds per head; while, in England, if we were to judge from the amount on which duty is paid, it is considerably less than one pound per head.

Assuming the actual consumption at only 45,000,000 lbs., or two pounds per head, we believe that a reduction of duty to 1s. per pound would so effectually destroy the illicit trader, that the revenue would gain by the change, not only by bringing upwards of 30,000,000 lbs. under duty, which at present escape, but by the great increase of the consumption consequent upon the encouragement given to the fair trader.

We would not, however, treat the question merely as a matter of revenue. We would strongly represent the injustice which this exorbitant duty inflicts upon those who pursue a legitimate trade, by enabling the smuggler to lessen the extent of their transactions by more than half what they would otherwise be; and we would further earnestly urge upon your consideration the demoralising tendency of such a systematic and extended violation of the law, not only upon those engaged in the illicit trade, also upon those parties who are found to connive at the practice from a sense of the gross injustice and impolicy of a duty so disproportioned to the value of an article of such extensive consumption.

We would refer to the opinion of a committee of the House of Commons on the growth of tobacco in Ireland, in 1840, as follows:—'That it further appears, from the evidence, that smuggling of foreign tobacco is at present carried on to a great extent, and that all the measures now adopted, at great expense to the country, are and will be ineffectual to repress it so long as the temptation of evading a duty equal to twelve times the value of the article on which it is imposed, remains."

We beg, therefore, respectfully to express our opinion, that if the duty on tobacco were reduced to one shilling per pound, it would be alike beneficial to the interests of legitimate commerce; to the consumers, who consist almost entirely of the poorer classes; to the revenue, by increasing the productiveness of the duty, and by greatly diminishing the expenditure so ineffectually incurred to suppress the illicit trade; and to the general morals of society by removing a powerful inducement to infringe the laws.

The imports of all kinds of tobacco for the last five years have been as follows:—

	1848. lbs.	1849. lbs.	1850. lbs.	1851. lbs.	1852. lbs.
Unmanufactured	34,090,360	41,546,848	35,166,358	31,061,953	33,205,635
Manufactured and snuff	1,512,714	1,905,306	1,557,618	2,331,886	2,930,299
	35,603,074	43,452,154	36,723,876	33,393,839	36,135,934

Gross duty received:—

	1848. £	1849. £	1850. £	1851. £	1852. £
On raw tobacco	4,267,579	4,328,217	4,337,258	4,386,910	4,466,533
Cigars, snuff, &c.	97,655	96,814	92,873	98,858	94,298
	4,365,234	4,425,031	4,430,131	4,485,768	4,569,831

The amount of tobacco consumed is so limited that the trade will not admit of an excessive growth. In the two most thickly populated countries in Europe—France and England—not more than a certain quantity finds its way there. In France the trade is monopolised by Government, which gives out contracts to deliver a stipulated quantity at certain prices; in England the duty imposed is so enormous that only a limited quantity of certain descriptions can be imported without risk of loss. In Germany and Holland, where the trade is more extensively carried on than elsewhere, the duty imposed is almost nominal, and all classes of their citizens are enabled to use the weed at prices very little higher than its first prime cost. The tobacco trade constitutes so large a staple of American produce that it is singular greater efforts are not made upon the part of that Government to cause a reciprocal duty to be imposed, that more favor may be shown by European Governments to this particular article. England, from the duty imposed upon it alone, derives a revenue of £4,500,000, being about £160 to the hogshead, or from ten to sixteen times its original cost. France makes the trade a monopoly, from which she derives an income of £3,000,000 sterling.

STATEMENT OF IMPORTS, SALES, AND STOCKS OF TOBACCO AND STEMS, IN BREMEN, FROM 1840 TO 1850.

	MARYLAND				VIRGINIAN
Year	Stock 1st of January	Imports	Sales	Stock last of December	Stock 1st of January	Imports	Sales	Stock last of December
1840	4,890	14,570	18,399	1,061	245	3492	3422	285
1841	1,061	19,629	18,321	2,369	285	3466	3025	726
1842	2,369	20,821	19,067	4,123	726	6729	5898	1557
1843	4,123	18,483	15,004	7,602	1557	5541	4242	2856
1844	7,602	16,978	18,338	6,242	2856	5092	4282	3666
1845	6,242	24,251	24,571	5,922	3666	1588	3099	2155
1846	5,922	26,785	23,788	8,919	2155	2386	2456	2085
1847	8,919	21,743	20,681	9,981	2085	911	2079	917
1848	9,981	12,084	9,935	12,130	917	847	1054	710
1849	12,130	19,285	22,112	9,303	710	1173	1734	149
	KENTUCKY				STEMS
Year	Stock 1st of January	Imports	Sales	Stock last of December	Stock 1st of January	Imports	Sales	Stock last of December
1840	181	3,803	3,699	285	2853	3362	4564	1651
1841	285	5,206	4,941	550	1651	7085	7054	1682
1842	550	9,407	8,939	1018	1682	4151	5386	447
1843	1018	7,485	6,441	2062	447	3969	3447	969
1844	2062	9,736	9,569	2229	969	4753	5513	209
1845	2269	11,439	10,328	3340	209	5273	4152	1330
1846	3340	5,028	6,099	2269	1330	6092	4716	2706
1847	2269	3,816	5,013	1072	2706	6788	8038	1456
1848	1072	4,448	4,980	540	1456	4912	4473	1895
1849	540	4,620	4,746	414	1895	5188	5083	1000

Culture and Statistics in the United States.—Tobacco has been the great staple of the States of Virginia and Maryland from their first settlement. About the year 1642 it became a royal monopoly, and afterwards, in order to encourage its growth in the colonies, and thereby increase the revenue of the Crown, Parliament prohibited the planting of it in England. The average quantity shipped from the North American colonies to the parent country, for ten years preceding the year 1709, was about twenty-nine millions of pounds. For some years prior to the American revolution, about 85,000 hhds. were exported, then valued at little more than four millions of dollars, and constituting nearly one-third the value of all the exports of the British North American colonies. From 1820 to 1830 tobacco constituted about one-ninth in value of all the domestic exports of the United States. It finds a market principally in Great Britain, France, Holland, and the north of Europe.[55] The crop of tobacco produced in the four principal States, was in—

	1838. hhds.	1839. hhds.
Virginia	26,000	45,000
Kentucky	27,000	35,000
Maryland	16,000	16,000
Ohio	3,000	4,000
	72,000	100,000

The whole crop of 1840 was 219,163,319 lbs., which, at the estimate of 1,200 lbs. to the hhd., would be equal to 182,636 hhds., and at the average price of that year, 81 dollars 5 cents. per hhd., would make the value of the crop of the United States 14,802,647 dollars 80 cents. The average annual export for the ten years ending with 1840, was 96,775 hhds. The actual exportation of 1840 was 119,484 hhds. The principal exports are formed of the produce of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryland, and North Carolina. The exports are chiefly to the following countries—about 30,000 hhds. annually to England, 15,000 hhds. to France, 20,000 hhds. to Holland, 25,000 hhds. Germany, and about 22,000 hhds. to other countries. The whole crop for 1845 was put down at 187,422,000 lbs. In 1839, it was ascertained that one and a half million persons were engaged in the cultivation and manufacture of tobacco in the United States, one million of whom were so occupied in the States of Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. In the city of New York the consumption of cigars is computed at 10,000 dollars a day, a sum greater than that which the inhabitants pay for their daily bread; and in the whole country the annual consumption of tobacco is estimated at 120 million pounds, being 7 lbs. for every man, woman, and child, at an annual cost to the consumers of 20 million dollars (more than four million pounds sterling).

It is estimated that the manufacture of tobacco in the United States is increasing at the rate of 2,000 hhds. per annum.

	hhds.
The quantity manufactured in 1851, was stated at	55,000
Exportations for the year estimated at	120,000
	175,000

The production for 1852 is supposed to be as follows:—

	hhds.
Virginia	27,000
Maryland	33,000
Western States, including frosted	65,000
Total production	125,000
Deficiency in the year's crop	50,000

The quantity produced in the United States, in 1847, was 220,164,000 lbs., worth, at 5 cents per lb., nearly 11 million dollars (more than two million sterling). The principal producing States were—Kentucky, 65 million lbs.; Virginia, 50 millions; Tennessee, 35 millions; North Carolina, 14 millions; Ohio, 9 millions; Indiana, 4 millions; Illinois, Connecticut, and a few others in smaller proportions.

The production in 1848 was 218,909,000 lbs., which, valued at four cents per lb., would be worth nine million dollars. From persons largely interested in the tobacco trade, and well informed in relation thereto, I have gathered the following general statements:—

The crops of tobacco to come to market in the year 1851, were estimated as follows—

	hhds.
Virginia	30,000
Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, about	50,000
Maryland, about	22,000
Ohio, about	14,000

From the above estimate it will be seen that the quantity produced in 1850 is less than two-thirds of the usual production in the States named. The entire crop of Virginia will be required for home consumption. About 15,000 hhds. Kentucky, and 5,000 hhds. Maryland will also be wanted for home use. Owing to the increase of population by immigration and otherwise, the domestic consumption, which was a few years ago so small as not to be considered worthy of notice, has now increased to a very important item, and affords a steady home market for a large portion of the production.

The quantity of Maryland tobacco left for export to Bremen and Holland, in 1851, will only be about 17,000 hhds., which is not more than half the amount usually shipped to these countries every year.

Of the Kentucky tobacco contracted for last year by France and Spain, through their agents in this country, less than one third has yet been purchased, and those governments will this year require the deficiency to be made up, in addition to their annual average supply, which, with the quantity required for England, will take the entire crop, leaving nothing for the rest of Europe, Africa, South America, the West Indies, &c. The tobacco markets throughout the world are in a much more healthy condition than has ever been known, and it is thought prices will rule very high the coming season. In Maryland, while the production has been not more than half an average crop, the price is nearly three times as high as usual; so that the planter will receive more for his diminished crops than in ordinary seasons of plenty.

QUANTITY OF TOBACCO EXPORTED ANNUALLY FROM 1821 TO 1850.

Exports for Year ending		hhds.	Stocks in Europe, year ending		hhds.
September 30th,	1821	66,850	December 31st,	1821	—
"	1822	83,169	"	1822	—
"	1823	99,000	"	1823	—
"	1824	77,889	"	1824	—
"	1825	75,986	"	1825	—
"	1826	64,099	"	1826	—
"	1827	100,020	"	1827	—
"	1828	96,279	"	1828	69,485
"	1829	77,136	"	1829	63,670
"	1830	83,810	"	1830	50,672
"	1831	86,718	"	1831	54,690
"	1832	106,800	"	1832	61,868
"	1833	83,153	"	1833	50,543
"	1834	87,979	"	1834	53,413
"	1835	94,353	"	1835	57,458
"	1836	109,042	"	1836	68,918
"	1837	100,232	"	1837	38,703
"	1838	100,593	"	1838	31,067
"	1839	78,995	"	1839	38,715
"	1840	119,484	"	1840	37,623
"	1841	147,828	"	1841	50,880
"	1842	158,710	"	1842	62,496
June 30 (9 ms.)	1843	94,454	"	1843	91,196
June 30 (12 ms.)	1844	163,042	"	1844	88,973
"	1845	147,168	"	1845	91,213
"	1846	147,998	"	1846	100,774
"	1847	135,762	"	1847	88,858
"	1848	130,665	"	1848	80,391
"	1849	101,521	"	1849	70,527
"	1850	145,729	"	1850	66,777

It is a curious fact that, notwithstanding the variety of climate and soil in the northern State;, every State and territory in the Union produces some tobacco. In many of the States its cultivation is, of course, a secondary object, and perhaps in several it is attended to as a mere matter of curiosity; but in most of the States, probably a sufficient quantity has been grown, to show that with attention to this object, it might, in case of necessity, be resorted to as a profitable crop. The States in which the great bulk of the crop is grown lie between the latitudes of about 34 and 40 degrees.

There is a considerable increase of consumption of American tobacco in Europe, as well as in the United States, which should encourage the planters of Virginia and North Carolina to cultivate this article more abundantly than they have done for several years past; and, since the home manufacture has increased so much, and the Virginia tobacco is preferred in many parts of the European markets, they may safely count on getting good prices for many years to come.

It is not in the power of Virginia to make any three years together more than 56,000 hhds., even with good seasons, and 30,000 hhds. annually of this will be wanted by our manufacturers.

The planters, then, should enrich their lands, and aim to make full crops.

The increased consumption in Europe is three per cent., and in the United States four per cent. per annum.

The crop of the United States from 1840 to 1850 inclusive—say 11 years—averaged about 160,000 hhds.; this embraces the large crops of 1842-43-44.

The consumption of Europe from 1829 to 1838 was 96,826 hhds.—it is now 130,000.

An account of the quantities of unmanufactured tobacco, manufactured called negro-head, and cigars, imported into the United Kingdom in 1850:—

Countries from whence imported.	Unmanufactured	Manufactured
United States of America	30,173,444	1,191,001
Venezuela, New Granada and Ecuador	895,523	527
Brazil	12,138	56,802
Peru	8,649	6
Cuba	589,627	153,819
British West Indies, including Demerara and Honduras	26,169	3,242
British Territories in the East Indies	14,500	25,332
Philippine Islands	12,233	51,210
Hongkong and China	2,706	2,340
Turkey, Syria, and Egypt	140,361	2,882
Malta	13,028	7,818
Italy, Sardinian Territories	431,939	17
Gibraltar	7	3,063
Spain	307,641	1,100
France	29,950	1,521
Channel Islands	149	1,342
Belgium	29,922	6,579
Holland	2,418,732	9,078
Hanseatic Towns	50,610	36,680
Other parts	8,930	1,980
Total unmanufactured	35,166,358	1,556,321
Ditto manfactured	1,556,321
Snuff	1,197
Total	36,723,876

From the tobacco circulars of Messrs. Clagett, Son, and Co., leading brokers of London, dated Feb., 1st, 1850, I take the following extracts:—

The exhaustion of the stock has resulted from the concurrence of a gradually decreasing supply and increasing consumption, which may be very clearly perceived by a reference, first to the official returns from New Orleans of the yearly receipts of the western crops in each of the last seven years; and secondly, to the consumption of American tobacco in Great Britain and Ireland in the years 1847, 1848, and 1849, as compared with that of 1840, 1841, and 1842. We have no means of exhibiting with similar accuracy the relative consumption of Continental Europe in the latter as compared with the former part of these last ten years, but it is quite reasonable to assume that the increase, where there has been little or no duty, must have gone on more rapidly than it has done here, under the restraining force of a duty of 800 to 900 per cent.

The deliveries from London and Liverpool, independently of those from Scotland, Bristol, and Newcastle, for the use of Great Britain and Ireland, have been as follows:—In 1840, 15,037 hhds.; 1841, 15,019 hhds.; 1842, 15,468 hhds.; 1847, 18,091 hhds.; 1848, 18,595 hhds.; 1849, 18,738 hhds.

The highest estimates we have seen of the whole of the crops of the United Slates in 1849, do not exceed 140,000 hhds., of which it is not doubted that fully 45,000 hhds. will be required for consumption there, and we estimate the supply required for the consumption of Europe, South America, the West Indies, and Africa, at certainly not less than 125,000 hhds.; if these estimates be realised in fact, it will follow that the stocks at the close of this year must be 30,000 hhds. less than at the close of 1849.

We estimate the present consumption of American tobacco in Great Britain and Ireland as follows:—

The deliveries in London and Liverpool in 1849, were 18,738 hhds.; do. do. Bristol 1,400 hhds.; do. do. Scotland we assume at 2,800 hhds. Total 22,939.

Of Stripts, the deliveries in Liverpool last year were 8,544 hhds., of which about 300 were for exportation; the deliveries, therefore, were—For the use of Great Britain and Ireland, 8,250 hhds. In London we have no account of the deliveries of stripts, as distinguished from leaf, for the whole of last year; it is doubtless less than that in Liverpool, and we assume it at 7,000 hhds.; in Bristol it was about 900 hhds.; in Scotland we assume it at 2,400 hhds. Total 18,550 hhds.

Now, assuming 1,500 hhds. of the deliveries in Scotland and Bristol to be included in the coastwise returns in London and Liverpool, then the consumption of Great Britain and Ireland would appear to be about 21,500 hhds. of American tobacco, and 17,000 for these to be stripts. The progressive increase which we have shown in the returns of 1849, as compared with those of 1840, must still go on.

Without troubling you with any detail of the stocks in each of the several markets, it may be sufficient to show that the summary of the whole in all the markets of Europe, other than Great Britain, consisted on the 31st December, 1849, of about 22,000 hhds.; of which about 18,000 were Maryland and 2,000 stalks; and it is important to notice especially the fact, that the stocks of the manufacturers and dealers in Germany, Holland and Belgium are unusually small. We have taken very considerable care to inform ourselves on this point, and are fully satisfied that the usual stocks in second or dealers' hands do not exist. The whole demand of the year must, therefore, be supplied from those stocks in importers' hands, from England or from the United States.

The following were the prices current in London in the spring of 1853:—Virginia Leaf, common, per pound, 3¼d. to 3¾d.; middling, 5d. to 6d.; good and fine 6½d. to 7½d. Stripts, 5½d. to 10d. Kentucky Leaf: common 3d., to 3½d.; middling, 3¾d. to 4½d.; good and fine, 5d. to 6d. Stripts, 5d. to 7d. Maryland, 3½d. to 9d. Negrohead and Cavendish: common and heated, 4d. to 6d.; middling to good, 6d. to 8d. and 9d.; fine, 10d., 12d., 16d.; Barret's none. Columbian, 7d. to 1s. 8d.; Brazil, 3d. to 6d.; flat, 5d. to 1s. 1d.; Manilla, 7d. to 2s. 6d.; Havana, 10d. to 5s.; Yara, 11d. to 3s.; Cuba, 9d. to 1s. 1d.; ingars, 3s. to 16s.; cheroots, Manilla, 7s. 6d., nominal; German and Amersfoort 4d. to 1s. 3d.; stalks, duty paid, 2s. 6d. to 3s. 4d.; smalls, 2s. 9d to 2s.

The shipments to Europe were 76,516 hhds. against 40,652 hhds. the previous year, and 43,576 hhds. in 1850. The rapidity of sales, the diminished stocks even now held in first hands, were taken as an infallible index of the progressive rate of consumption; and of a truth the quantity of hogsheads received in the principal markets of Belgium, Holland, Germany, and the North, and as speedily relieved from the control of the importers, was enough to control even those who were alive to the existing necessities of Europe, and to give a color to the rumour of almost inexhaustible consumption.

This extraordinary demand for tobacco on the continent has been occasioned by three distinct causes; the first of which was the pressing wants which, for the last two years, were well known to have existed, and the constant willingness of consumers to act at the very moderate rates which prevailed some time last spring. The second was the compulsory purchases by the Austrian Government, amounting, it is estimated, to 20,000 hhds., by reason that the discontented Hungarians, for political considerations, abandoned altogether the cultivation of tobacco, and which deficiency was obliged to be replaced by American growths. The third cause also had a political origin: the anticipation of the extension of the Zollverein or German Customs League to the Kingdoms of Hanover and Oldenburg, whereby the duties on tobacco in those countries would be greatly increased, was a natural incentive to the dealers and manufacturers there to lay in heavy stocks, to reap the benefit thereon; and these last two causes, therefore, may be viewed in the light of fortuitous circumstances, which have fostered a speculation originally founded on the cheapness of money alone.

It has been shown, and the statistics of the past year fully confirm the statement, that a plethora of money and prosperity among the middle classes of society, while it induces to the consumption of tobacco in general, rather curtails than otherwise the demand for American growths. A poor man addicted to smoking takes his pipe not from choice, but necessity; as he grows independent, the humble pipe is abandoned and the more costly cigar assumed. We have frequently heard this matter noticed, more especially after the disasters which followed the railway speculations of 1846, when the demand for English cigars sensibly declined; and we have now a further verification of the assertion in the opposite sense, the sales of cigar materials in Bremen having been extended more than 40 per cent, in three years, viz., from 94,750 bales and cases in 1850 to 135,650 during last season.

From New Orleans we learn that the arrivals from the interior since the 1st September had amounted to 18,043 hhds. against 5,165 hhds. last season, and the stock on hand was 24,128 hhds. against 7,927 hhds. only.

The shipments from Virginia during the past year exceeded 13,700 hhds. In 1851 they were under 4,000 casks.

From Baltimore 54,272 hhds. have been exported. The official figures for the previous year gave 35,967 as the total.

The aggregate stock of tobacco on the 1st of January last, in the principal ports of America, was taken at 52,982 hhds. against 45,292 the year before and the growth of the Western States, Virginia, and Maryland during 1852, to come forward for our supply the present season, is estimated at 185,000 hhds., notwithstanding all the unfavorable influences and curtailing causes which were said to have prevailed.

The method adopted of cultivating tobacco in Virginia is thus described:

Several rich, moist, but not too wet spots of ground are chosen out in the fall, each containing about a quarter of an acre or more, according to the magnitude of the crop, and the number of plants it may require.

These spots, which are generally in the woods, are cleared, and covered with brush or timber, for five or six feet thick and upwards; this is suffered to remain upon it until the time when the tobacco seed must be sowed, which is within twelve days after Christmas. The evening is commonly chosen to set these places on fire, and when everything thereon is consumed to ashes, the ground is dug up, mixed with the ashes, and broken very fine. The tobacco seed, which is exceedingly small, being mixed with ashes also, is then sown and just raked in lightly; the whole is immediately covered with brushwood for shelter to keep it warm, and a slight fence thrown around it. In this condition it remains until the frosts are all gone, when the brush is taken off, and the young plants are exposed to the nutritive and genial warmth of the sun, which quickly invigorates them in an astonishing degree, and soon renders them strong and large enough to be removed for planting, especially if they be not sown too thick. Every tobacco planter, assiduous to secure a sufficient quantity of plants, generally has several of these plant beds in different situations, so that if one should fail, another may succeed; and an experienced planter commonly takes care to have ten times as many plants, as he can make use of.

In these beds, along with the tobacco, they generally sow kale, colewort, and cabbage seed, &c., at the same time.

There are seven different kinds of tobacco, particularly adapted to the different qualities of the soil on which they are cultivated, and each varying from the other. They are named Hudson, Frederick, Thick-joint, Shoe-string, Thickset, Sweet-scented, and Oronoko. But although these are the principal, yet there are a great many different species besides, with names peculiar to the situations, settlements and neighbourhoods wherein they are produced; which it would be too tedious here to specify and particularise. The soil for tobacco must be rich and strong; the ground is prepared in the following manner:—after being well broke up and by repeated working, either with the plough or hand hoes, rendered soft, light, and mellow, the whole field is made into hills, each to take up the space of three feet, and flattened at the top.

In the first rains, which are here called seasons, after the vernal equinox, the tobacco plants are carefully drawn while the ground is soft; carried to the field where they are to be planted, and one dropped upon every hill, which is done by the negro children. The most skilful slaves then begin planting them, by making a hole with their finger in each hill, inserting the plant with the taproot carefully placed straight down, and pressing the earth on each side of it. This is continued as long as the ground is wet enough to enable the plants sufficiently grown to draw and set; and it requires several different seasons, or periods of rain, to enable them to complete planting their crop, which operation is frequently not finished until July.

After the plants have taken root, and begin to grow, the ground is carefully weeded and worked, either with hand hoes or the plough, according as it will admit. After the plants have considerably increased in bulk, and begin to shoot up, the tops are pinched off, and only ten, twelve, or sixteen leaves left, according to the quality of the tobacco and the soil. The worms, also, are carefully picked off and destroyed, of which there are two species that prey upon tobacco. One is the ground worm, which cuts it off just beneath the surface of the earth; this must be carefully looked for and trodden to death; it is of a dark brown color, and short. The other is a horn worm, some inches in length, as thick as your little finger, of a vivid green color, with a number of pointed excrescences or feelers from his head like horns. These devour the leaf, and are always upon the plant. As it would be endless labor to keep their hands constantly in search of them, it would be almost impossible to prevent their eating up more than half the crop had it not been discovered that turkeys are particularly dexterous at finding them, eat them up voraciously, and prefer them to every other food. For this purpose every planter keeps a flock of turkeys, which he has driven into the tobacco grounds every day by a little negro that can do nothing else; these keep his tobacco more clear from horn worms than all the hands he has got could do were they employed solely for that end. When the tops are nipped off, a few plants are left untouched for seed. On the plants that have been topped, young shoots are apt to spring out, which are termed suckers, and are carefully and constantly broken off lest they should draw too much of the nourishment and substance from the leaves of the plant. This operation is also performed from time to time, and is called "suckering tobacco." For some time before it is ripe, or ready for cutting, the ground is perfectly covered with leaves, which have increased to a prodigious size, and then the plants are generally about three feet high. When it is ripe, a clammy moisture or exudation comes forth upon the leaves, which appear, as it were, ready to become spotted, and they are then of a great weight and substance. The tobacco is cut when the sun is powerful, but not in the morning and evening. The plant, if large, is split down the middle, and cut off two or three inches below the extremity of the split; it is then turned directly bottom upwards, for the sun to kill it more speedily, to enable the laborers to carry it out of the field, else the leaves would break off in transporting it to the scaffold. The plants are cut only as they become ripe, for a field never ripens altogether. There is generally a second cutting likewise, for the stalk vegetates and shoots forth again, and in good land, with favorable seasons, there is a third cutting also procured, notwithstanding acts of the Legislature to prevent cutting tobacco even a second time.

When the tobacco plants are cut and brought to the scaffolds, which are generally erected all around the tobacco houses, they are placed with the split across a small oak stick, an inch and better in diameter and four feet and a half long, so close as each plant just to touch the other without bruising or pressing. These sticks are then placed on the scaffolds, with the tobacco thus suspended in the middle, to dry or cure, and are called tobacco sticks. As the plants advance in curing, the sticks are removed from the scaffolds out of doors into the tobacco house, on to other scaffolds erected therein in successive regular gradations from the bottom to the top of the roof, being placed higher as the tobacco approaches to a perfect cure, until the house is all filled and the tobacco quite cured, and this cure is frequently promoted by making fires on the floor below. When the tobacco house is quite full, and there is still more tobacco to bring in, all that is within the house is struck, and taken down, and carefully placed in bulks, or regular rows, one upon another, and the whole covered with trash tobacco, or straw, to preserve it in a proper condition, that is moist, which prevents its wasting and crumbling to pieces. But, to enable them to strike the cured tobacco, they must wait for what is there called a season, that is rainy or moist weather, when the plants will better bear handling, for in dry weather the leaves would all crumble to pieces in the attempt. By this means a tobacco house may be filled two, three, or four times in the year. Every night the negroes are sent to the tobacco house to strip, that is to pull off the leaves from the stalk, and tie them up in hands or bundles. This is also their daily occupation in rainy weather. In stripping, they are careful to throw away all the ground leaves and faulty tobacco, binding up none but what is merchantable. The hands or bundles thus tied up are also laid in what are called a bulk, and covered with the refuse tobacco or straw to preserve their moisture. After this, the tobacco is carefully packed in hogsheads, and pressed down with a large beam laid over it, on the ends of which prodigious weights are suspended, the other end being inserted with a mortice in a tree, close to which the hogshead is placed. This vast pressure is continued for some days, and then the cask is filled up again with tobacco until it will contain no more, after which it is headed up and carried to the pubic warehouses for inspection. At these warehouses two skilful planters constantly attend, and receive a salary from the public for that purpose. They are sworn to inspect with honesty, care, and impartiality, all the tobacco that comes to the warehouse, and none is allowed to be shipped that is not regularly inspected. The head of the cask is taken off, and the tobacco is opened by means of large, long iron wedges, and great labour, in such places as the inspectors direct. After this strict attentive examination, if they find it good and merchantable, it is replaced in the cask, weighed at the public scales, the weight of the tobacco and of the cask also cut in the wood on the cask, stowed away in the public warehouses, and a note given to the proprietor, which he disposes of to the merchant, and he neither sees nor has any trouble with his tobacco more. The weight of each hogshead must be 950 lbs. nett, exclusive of the cask—for less a note will not be given. Under the name of a crop hogshead, however, the general weight is from 1,000 to 1,200 or 1,300 lbs. nett, but if the tobacco is found to be totally bad, and refused as unmerchantable, the whole is publicly burnt in a place set apart for that purpose. However, if it be judged that there is some merchantable tobacco in the hogshead, the owner must unpack the whole publicly on the spot, for he is not permitted to take any of it away again, and must select and separate the good from the bad; the last is immediately committed to the flames, and for the first he receives a transfer note, specifying the weight, quality, &c. This great and very laudable care was taken by the public to prevent frauds, which, however, was not always effectual, for, even with all these precautions, many acts of iniquity and imposition were committed.

So little is this crop cultivated in the States north of Maryland, that scarcely any notice has been taken of it in the agricultural or other public journals.

In Connecticut, in some few towns of Hartford county, considerable attention has been directed to it for a number of years past. A ton and a-half the acre is said to be no uncommon yield. The tobacco is planted very thick, two feet and a half each way. The seed came originally from Virginia. It is cured in houses, without having been yellowed in the sun, and without the use of fire. It is said that the best Havana cigars (as they are termed) are often manufactured from mixed Cuba and American tobacco, and sold under that name in Connecticut.

In the Connecticut Valley is produced about 500 tons of tobacco annually, the average quantity, 1,500 lbs. per acre, value from seven to ten cents per pound.

Culture.—Seed bed made rich and sown as cabbage early in April as possible.

Land well ploughed and manured and harrowed as for corn, laid out in rows three feet apart, and slight hills in the row about two and a-half feet apart; begin to plant about 10th of June, the ground to be kept clean with hoe and cultivator, and examine the plants and keep clear of worms.

"When in blossom and before seed is formed, the plants must be topped about thirty-two inches from the ground, having from sixteen to twenty leaves on each stalk, after this the suckers are broken off, and the plants kept clean till cut. When ripe the leaves are spotted, thick, and will crack when pressed between the fingers and thumb. It is cut at any time of the day, after the dew is off, left in the row till wilted, then turned, and if there is a hot sun, it is often turned to prevent burning; after wilting it is put into small heaps of six or eight plants, then carried to the tobacco house for hanging, usually on poles twelve feet long; hung with twine about forty plants to a pole, twenty on each side, crossing the pole with a hitch knot to the stump end of the plants; when perfectly cured, which is known by the stems of the leaves being completely dry, it is then taken in a damp time, when the leaves will not crumble, from the poles and placed in large piles, by letting the tops of the plants lap each other, leaving the butts out; it remains in these heaps from three to ten days before it is stripped, depending on the state of weather, but it must not be allowed to heat. When stripped it is made into small hands, the small and broken leaves to be kept by themselves; it is then packed in boxes of about 400 lbs. and marked "Seed Leaf Tobacco."

One acre of tobacco will require as much labor as two of corn that produce 60 bags to the acre, and requires about the same quantity of manure. If the tobacco can be cured without fire heat the quality will be improved, and if dried in the open air, should have shades of boards to keep off rain and excess of sun. The chief market for Connecticut tobacco is Bremen.

In a number of the "Charleston Southern Planter," a remedy is described for preventing the destruction of plants by the fly. The writer says: "I had a bushel or two of dry ashes put into a large tub, and added train oil enough (say one gallon of oil to the bushel of ashes) to damp and flavor the ashes completely: this was well stirred and mixed with the hand, and sown broadcast over certain patches, and proved thoroughly effectual for several years, while parts left without the remedy were destroyed."

The best ground for raising the plant, according to Capt. Carver ("Treatise on Culture of Tobacco," &c.), is a warm rich soil, not subject to be overrun with weeds. The soil in which it grows in Virginia is inclining to sandy, consequently warm and light; the nearer, therefore, the nature of the land approaches to that, the greater probability there is of its flourishing. The situation most preferable for a plantation is the southern declivity of a hill, or a spot sheltered from the blighting north winds. But at the same time the plants must enjoy a free current of air; for if that be obstructed they will not prosper.

The different sorts of seed not being distinguishable from each other, nor the goodness to be ascertained by its appearance, great caution should be used in obtaining the seed through some responsible mercantile house, or individual of character.

Each capsule contains about a thousand seeds, and the whole produce of a single plant has been estimated at 350,000. The seeds are usually ripe in the month of September, and when perfectly dry may be rubbed out and preserved in bags till the following season.

There is a large quantity of tobacco raised in the southern part of Indiana annually, equal in quality to the tobacco raised in Kentucky. In some counties the article is extensively cultivated, and generally pays the producer a handsome profit on the labor bestowed on it. The cultivation of it is becoming more extensive every year. Nearly all this crop is taken to Louisville for sale, very little being shipped south on account of the producer.

Heretofore, owing to the heaviness of tobacco and bad roads, the producer has encountered great difficulties in getting his crop to market. The hauling of a few hogsheads fifty or sixty miles, or even forty, is no light job, even over good roads. Hence, tobacco has not been as extensively cultivated as it would have been under different circumstances. But, with the facilities afforded by the railroads in carrying their crops to market, I doubt not the farmers of the interior will more generally engage in the cultivation of tobacco, and those who have been in the habit of raising small crops will extend their operations.

In Maryland the seed is sown in beds of fine mould, and the plants arising therefrom are transplanted in the beginning of May. They are set at the distance of three or four feet apart, and are hilled, and kept continually free from weeds. When as many leaves have shot out as the soil will nourish to advantage, the top of the plant is broken off, which of course prevents its growing higher. It is carefully kept clear from worms, and the suckers which put out between the leaves are taken off at proper times, till the plant arrives at perfection, which is in August. When the leaves turn of a brownish color, and begin to be spotted, the plants are cut down and hung up to dry, after having sweated in heaps one night. When the leaves can be handled without crumbling, which is always in moist weather, they are stripped from the stalks, tied up in bundles, and packed for exportation in hogsheads. No suckers nor ground leaves are allowed to be merchantable. An industrious person may manage 6,000 plants of tobacco, which will yield 1,000 lbs. of dried leaves, and also four acres of Indian corn.

Miller, an American author, thus describes the mode of culture:—

When a regular plantation of tobacco is intended, the beds being prepared and well turned up with the hoe, the seed, on account of its smallness and to prevent the ravages of ants, is mixed with ashes and sown upon them, a little before the rainy season. The beds are raked, or trampled with the foot, to make the seed take the sooner. The plants appear in two or three weeks. As soon as they have acquired four leaves, the strongest are carefully drawn up and planted in the field by a line, at a distance of about three feet from each other. If no rain fall, they should be watered two or three times. Every morning and evening the plants must he looked over in order to destroy a worm which sometimes invades the bud. When they are about four or five inches high, they are to be cleaned from weeds and moulded up. As soon as they have eight or nine leaves, and are ready to put forth a stalk, the top is nipped off in order to make the leaves longer and thicker. After this the buds which sprout at the joints of the leaves are also plucked off, and not a day is suffered to pass without examining the leaves to destroy the large caterpillar, which is often most destructive to them. When they are fit for cutting, which is known by the brittleness of the leaves, they are cut off with a knife close to the ground, and, after lying some time, are carried to the drying-shed or house, where the plants are hung up by pairs upon lines, leaving a space between, that they may not touch one another. When perfectly dry, the leaves are stripped from the stalks and made into small bundles, tied with one of the leaves. These bundles are laid in heaps and covered with blankets; care is taken not to overheat them, for which reason the heaps are laid open to the air from time to time, and spread abroad. This operation is repeated till no more heat is perceived in the heaps, and the tobacco is then ready for packing and shipping.

I have been favored by Mr. J. M. Hernandez, a Cuba planter, with some valuable instructions for the cultivation of Cuba tobacco, which I subjoin. These remarks apply principally to America, but most of the advice and information will be found generally applicable to other localities:—

The first thing to be considered in this, as in every other culture, is the soil, which for this kind of tobacco (N. repanda) ought to be a rich, sandy, loam, neither too high nor too low—that is, ground capable of retaining moisture, the more level the better, and, if possible, well protected by margins. The next should be the selection of a spot of ground to make the necessary beds. It would be preferable to make those on land newly cleared, or, at all events, when the land has not been seeded with grass; for grass seeds springing up together with the tobacco would injure it materially, as the grass cannot be removed without disturbing the tobacco plants. In preparing the ground for the nurseries, break it up properly, grub up all the small stumps, dig out the roots, and carefully remove them with the hand. This being done, make the beds from three to four inches high, of a reasonable length, and from three to three and a-half feet broad, so as to enable the hand, at arm's length, to weed out the tender young plants with the fingers from both sides of the bed, and keep them perfectly clean.

The months of December and January are the most proper for sowing the seed in Florida. Some persons speak of planting it as early as the month of November, I am, however, of opinion, that about the latter part of December is the best time to sow tobacco seed; any sooner would expose the plants to suffer from the inclemency of the most severe part of the winter season. Before the seed is sown take some dry trash and burn it off upon the nursery beds, to destroy insects and grass seeds; then take one ounce of tobacco seed and mix it with about a quart of dry ashes, so as to separate the seed as much; as possible, and sow it broadcast. After the seed has been thus sown, the surface of the bed ought to be raked over slightly, and trodden upon by the foot, carrying the weight of the body with it, that the ground may at once adhere closely to the seed, and then water it. Should the nursery-beds apparently become dry from blighting winds or other causes, watering will be absolutely necessary, for the ground ought to be kept in a moist state from the time the seed is planted until the young plants are large enough to be set out.

The nurseries being made, proceed to prepare the land where the tobacco is to be set out. If the land is newly cleared—and new land is probably more favorable to the production of this plant than it is to that of any other, both as respects quality and quantity—remove as many of the stumps and roots as possible, and dig up the ground in such a manner as to render the surface perfectly loose; then level the ground, and in this state leave it until the nursery plants have acquired about one-half the growth necessary to admit of their being set out; then break up the ground a second time in the same manner as at first, as in this way all the small fibres of roots and their rooted parts will be more or less separated, and thus obviate much of that degree of sponginess so common to new land, and which is in a great measure the cause of new land seldom producing well the first year, as the soil does not lay close enough to the roots of the plants growing in it, so that a shower of rain produces no other effect than that of removing the earth still more from them.

The ground having been prepared and properly levelled off, and the plants, sufficiently grown to be taken up—say of the size of good cabbage plants—take advantage of the first wet or cloudy weather to commence setting them out. This should be done with great care, and the plants put single at equal distances, that is, about three feet north and south, and two and a-half, or two and three-fourths feet east and west. They are placed thus close to each other to prevent the leaves growing too large. The direction of the rows, however, should alter according to the situation of the land; where it has any inclination, the widest space should run across it, as the bed will have to be made so as to prevent the soil from being washed from the roots by rain when bedded; but where the land is rather level, the three feet rows should be north and south, so as to give to the plants a more full effect on them by passing across the beds, than by crossing them in an oblique direction. To set the plants out regularly, take a task line of 105 feet in length, with a pointed stick three feet long attached to each end of it, then insert a small piece of rag or something else through the line at the distance of two feet and three-fourths from each other; place it north and south (or as the land may require), at full length, and then set a plant at every division, carefully keeping the bud of the plant above the surface of the ground. Then remove the line three feet from the first row, and so on, until the planting is completed. Care ought to be taken to prevent the stretching of the line from misplacing the plants. In this way the plants can be easily set out, and a proper direction given to them both ways. In taking the plants up from the nursery, the ground should be first loosened with a flat piece of wood or iron, about an inch broad; then carefully holding the leaves close towards each other between the fingers, draw them up, and place them in a basket or some other convenient thing to receive them for planting. After taking up those that can be planted during the day, water the nursery that the earth may again adhere to the remaining ones. The evening is the best time for setting out the plants, but where a large field has to be cultivated it will be well to plant both morning and evening. The plants set out in the morning, unless in rainy or cloudy weather, should be covered immediately, and the same should be done with those planted the evening previous, should the day open with a clear sunshine,—the palmetto leaf answers the purpose very well. There should be water convenient to the plants, so as to have them watered morning and evening, but more particularly in the evening, until they have taken root. They should also be closely examined when watered, so as to replace such plants as happen to die, that the ground may be properly occupied, and that all the plants may open as nearly together as possible.

From the time the plants are set out, the earth around them should be occasionally stirred, both with the hand and hoe. At first hoe flat, but as soon as the leaves assume a growing disposition, begin gradually to draw a slight heel towards the plant. The plants must be closely examined, even while in the nursery, to destroy the numerous worms that feed upon them—some, by cutting the stalk and gnawing the leaves when first set out; these resemble the grub-worm, and are to be found near the injured plant, under ground; others, which come from the eggs deposited on the plant by the butterfly, and feed on the leaf, grow to a very large size, and look very ugly, and are commonly called the tobacco-worm. There is also a small worm which attacks the bud of the plant, and which is sure destruction to its further growth; and some again, though less destructive, are to be seen within the two coats of the leaf, feeding as it were on its juices alone. The worming should be strictly attended to every morning and evening, until the plants are pretty well grown, when every other day will be sufficient. The most proper persons for worming are either boys or girls from ten to fourteen years of age. They should be made to come to the tobacco ground early in the morning, and be led by inducements, such as giving a trifling reward to those who will bring the most worms, to clear it thoroughly. Grown persons would find it rather too tedious to stoop to examine the under part of every leaf, and seek the worm under ground: nor would they be so much alive to the value of a spoonful of sugar, or other light reward. Beside, where the former would make the search a matter of profit and pleasure, it would to the latter prove only a tedious and irksome occupation. Here I will observe, that it is for similar reasons that the culture of the Cuba tobacco plant more properly belongs to a white population, for there are few plants requiring more attention and tender treatment than it does. Indeed it will present a sorry appearance, unless the eye of its legitimate proprietor is constantly watching over it.

When the plants have acquired from twelve to fourteen good leaves, and are about knee high, it may be well to begin to top them, by nipping off the bud with the aid of the finger and thumb nail (washing the hands after this in water is necessary, as the acid juices of the plants, otherwise, soon produce a soreness on the fingers), taking care not to destroy the small leaves immediately near the bud: for if the land is good and the season favorable, those very small top leaves will in a short time be nearly as large, and ripen quite as soon as the lower ones, whereby two or more leaves may be saved; thus obtaining from 16 to 18 leaves, in the place of 12 or 14, which is the general average. As the topping of the tobacco plant is all essential in order to promote the growth, and to equalise the ripening of the leaves, I would observe that this operation should at all events commence the instant that the bud of the plant shows a disposition to go to seed, and be immediately followed by removing the suckers, which it will now put out at every leaf. Indeed, the suckers should be removed from the plant as often as they appear. The tobacco plant ought never to be cut before it comes to full maturity, which is known by the leaves becoming mottled, coarse, and of a thick texture, and gummy to the touch, at which time the end of the leaf, by being doubled, will break short, which it will not do to the same extent when green. It ought not to be out in wet weather, when the leaves lose their natural gummy substance, so necessary to be preserved. About this period, the cultivator is apt to be rendered anxious by the fear of allowing the plants to remain in the field longer than necessary; until experience removes those apprehensions, he should be on his guard, however, not to destroy the quality of his tobacco, by cutting it too soon. When the cutting is to commence, there should be procured a quantity of forked stakes, set upright, with a pole or rider setting on each fork ready to support the tobacco, and to keep it from the ground. The plant is then cut obliquely, even with the surface of the ground, and the person thus employed should strike the lower end of the stalk, two or three times with the blunt side of his knife, so as to cause as much of the sand or soil to fall from it as possible, then tying two stalks together, they are gently placed across the riders or poles prepared to receive them. In this state they are allowed to remain in the sun or open air until the leaves have somewhat withered, whereby they will not be liable to the injury which they would otherwise receive, if they came suddenly in contact with other bodies when fresh cut. Then place as many plants on each pole or rider as may be conveniently carried, and take them in the drying house, where the tobacco is strung off upon the frames prepared for it, leaving a small space between the two plants, that air may circulate freely among them, and promote their drying. As the drying advances, the stalks are brought closer to each other, so as to make room for those which yet remain to be housed.

In drying the tobacco, all damp air should be excluded, nor ought the drying of it to be precipitated by the admission of high drying winds. The process is to be promoted in the most moderate manner, except in the rainy season, when the sooner the drying is effected the better; for it is a plant easily affected by the changes of the weather, after the drying commences. It is then liable to mildew in damp weather, which is when the leaf changes from its original color to a pale yellow cast, and from this, by parts, to an even brown. When the middle stem is perfectly dry, it can be taken down, and the leaves stripped from the stalk and put in bulk to sweat, that is, to make tobacco of them; for before this process, when a concentration of its better qualities takes place, the leaves are always liable to be affected by the weather, and cannot well be considered as being anything else than common dry leaves, partaking of the nature of tobacco, but not actually tobacco. The leaves are to be stripped from the stalks in damp or cloudy weather, when they are more easily handled, and the separation of the different qualities rendered also more easy. The good leaves are at this time kept by themselves as wrappers, or caps, and the most defective ones for fillings, or tripa. When the tobacco is put in bulk, the stem of the leaves should all be kept in one direction, to facilitate the tying of them in hanks: afterwards make the bulk two of three feet high, and of a proportionate circumference. To guard against the leaves becoming over-heated, and to equalise the fermentation or sweating, after the first twenty-four hours, place the outside leaves in the centre, and those of the centre to the outside of the bulk. By doing this once or twice, and taking care to cover the bulk either with sheets or blankets, so as to exclude all air from it, and leaving it in this state for about forty days, it acquires an odor strong enough to produce sneezing, and the other qualities of cured tobacco. The process of curing may then be considered as completed. Then take some of the most injured leaves, but of the best quality, and in proportion to the quantity of tobacco made, and place them in clean water, there let them remain until they rot, which they will do in about eight days; then break open your bulks, spread the tobacco with their stems in one direction, and damp them with this water in a gentle manner, that it may not soak through the leaf, for in this case the leaf would rot. Sponge is used in Cuba for this operation. Then tie them in hanks of from, twenty-five to thirty leaves; this being done, spread the hanks in the tobacco house for about twelve hours, to air them, that the dampness may be removed, and afterwards pack them in casks or barrels, and head them tight, until you wish to manufacture them.

The object of damping the tobacco with this water, is to give it elasticity, to promote its burning free, to increase its fragrance; to give it an aromatic smell, and to keep it always soft. This is the great secret of curing tobacco for cigars properly, and for which we are indebted to the people of Cuba, who certainly understand the mode of curing this kind of tobacco better than other people. It is to them a source of great wealth, and may be made equally so to others. We have here three cuttings from the original plants; the last cutting will be of rather a weak quality, but which, nevertheless, will be agreeable to those who confine their smoking to weak tobacco.

In ratooning the plant, only one sprout ought to be allowed to grow, and this from those most deeply rooted; all other sprouts ought to be destroyed.

The houses necessary for the curing of tobacco ought to be roomy, with a passage way running through the centre, from one extremity of the building to the other, and pierced on both sides with a sufficient number of doors and windows to make them perfectly airy.

In addition to what I have said respecting the mode of cultivating and treating the tobacco plant, I have further to state, that when once the plant is allowed to be checked in its growth, it never again recovers it. That in promoting the drying of the leaf, fire should not be resorted to, because the smoke would impart to it a flavor that would injure that of the tobacco itself.

In order to obtain vigorous plants, the seed ought to be procured from the original stalk, and not from the ratoons, by allowing some of them to go to seed for that express purpose. In Cuba, the seed is most generally saved from the ratoon plants, but we should consider that that climate and soil are probably more favorable to the production of the plant than America, and consequently we ought to confide in the best seed, which is had from the original stalk.

All plants have their peculiar empire: nevertheless, we should not be deterred from planting Cuba tobacco here; for even if we should be compelled to import the seed every third year, which would be as often as necessary, it would still prove a profitable culture. Taking 600 lbs., which is the average product per acre, it would yield, if well cured, at 50 cents, per lb., 300 dollars in the leaf.

The following exhibits the profit to be derived from it when manufactured into cigars:—

	Dls.	Cts.	Dls.	Cts.
Six hundred pounds, allowing eight pounds to the 1.000, would produce 75,000 cigars, which at ten dollars per thousand			750	.00
Cost of the leaf	300	.00
Worth of manufacture, at two dollars fifty cents per thousand	187	.50	487	.50
Difference in favor of manufacturer			262	.50

This amount being the profits of the manufacturer alone, the profit to him who could combine both pursuits would be more than doubled.

As to the quantity of land which can be cultivated to the hand, there is some difference in the practice of planters; however, I think that I am within the usual calculation in saying, that an acre and a half would not exceed the quantity that an able hand can easily cultivate and manage properly.

"With reference to the cultivation of Spanish tobacco from the seed, the following remarks are also made by a gentleman residing in Maryland:—

My experience for some years in the cultivation and manufacture of Spanish tobacco into cigars, convinces me that the first-rate variety of Spanish tobacco—that is, the most odorous and fine—will bear reproduction in our climate twice, without much deterioration; by that time it becomes acidulated and worthless as Spanish tobacco. For seven years I have imported annually first seed from Cuba, but have occasionally made experiments with reproduced seed, and I have arrived at the conclusion above stated. I have obtained, annually, a cigar maker from Baltimore, who has made for me on my farm, and from Spanish tobacco. These produced about the average of 70,000 cigars, per year; they have been sold in Baltimore and Philadelphia for five dollars the half box, that is ten dollars the thousand. The tobacco has been uniformly admired, but in former years they have been very badly made; for the last two years, (writing in 1843,) my crops were destroyed by the unfavorable weather. This growth and manufacture do not interfere with my cultivation of other crops; in fact they are wholly unconnected with the other operations of the farmer." He mentions having obtained a premium from an agricultural society, for having produced on one and a half acres, growth and manufacture included, of Spanish tobacco 504 dollars net profit.

The following letter from Mr. Clarke, to the Hon. H. L. Ellsworth, Washington, speaks favorably of a new variety of tobacco:—

Willow Grove, Orange County, Virginia,

Feb. 13, 1844.

Dear Sir,—Agreeably to my promise I enclose you the Californian tobacco seed. It grew from the small parcel given to me by Mr. Wm. Smith, in your office in March last. On getting home, although late, I prepared a bed, and sowed the small parcel, the first week in April, and not having seed enough to finish the bed, sowed the balance of the bed in Oronoko tobacco seed, and to my astonishment the Californian plants were soon ready to set out, as soon as the other kinds of tobacco sown in the month of January; and the Oronoko seed, that was sown with the Californian, did not arrive to sufficient size until it was too late to set out. The Californian tobacco, if it continues to ripen and grow for the time to come, as it did for me on the first trial, must come into general use—first, because the plants are much earlier in the spring (say ten days at least), than any kind we have; secondly, when transplanted, the growth is remarkably quick, matures and ripens at least from ten to fifteen days earlier than any kind of tobacco we have in use amongst us. It is a large broad, silky leaf, of fine texture, and of a beautiful color, and some plants grow as large as seven feet across, from point to point; upon the whole, I consider it a valuable acquisition to the planting community.

Tobacco is one of the chief staples of Cuba. There are many qualities, but it is usually classed into two kinds. That which is raised on the western end of the island and is unequalled for smoking, is called "Vuelta abajo." That which is raised east of Havana, is called "Vuelta arriba," and is far inferior to the former.

The best Havana tobacco farms are confined to a very narrow area on the south west part of Cuba. This district, twenty-seven leagues long and only seven broad, is bounded on the north by mountains, on the south and west by the ocean, whilst eastward, though there is no natural limit, the tobacco sensibly degenerates in quality. A light sandy soil and rather low situation suit the best.

The "Vuelta abajo" is usually divided into five classes.

• Calidad or Libra.
• Ynjuriado Principal or Firsts.
• Segundas or Seconds.
• Terceiras or Thirds.
• Cuartas or Fourths.

Calidad is the best tobacco, selected for its good color, flavor, elasticity and entireness of the leaves. The bales contain sixty hands of four gabillas, or fingers of twenty-five leaves each, and are marked L.60. Ynjuriado Principal has less flavor, and is usually of a lighter color. The leaves should be whole and somewhat elastic. The bales contain eighty hands of four gabillas, or thirty leaves each, and are marked B. 80. Segundas is the most inferior class of wrapper. There are many good leaves in it, but the hands are usually made up of those which are stained, have a bad color, or have been slightly touched by the worm. The bales contain eighty hands of four gabillas of thirty-six to forty leaves each, and are marked Y. 2a. 80.

Terceiras is the best tilling, and much wrapper can usually be selected from it when new. The bales contain eighty hands of four gabillas of more than forty leaves each, and are marked 3a. 80.

Cuartas is the most inferior class, fit only for filling. The bales contain eighty hands of four gabillas of no determined number of leaves, and are marked 4a. 80.

The Vuelta arriba tobacco is prepared in a similar manner, but neither its color or flavor is good, and it does not burn well.

The crop is gathered in the spring, and usually begins to appear at market in July. Good tobacco should be aromatic, of a rich brown color, without stains, and the leaf thin and elastic. It should burn well and the taste should be neither bitter nor biting. The best is grown on the margins of rivers which are periodically overflowed, and is called "De rio." It is distinguished from other tobacco by a fine sand, which is found in the creases of the leaves.

The tobacco plantations in Cuba increased in number from 5,534 in 1827, to 9,102 in 1846. The production of tobacco has nearly doubled in the province, of which St. Jago is the port, in the last ten years.

The following figures show the exports from the Havana:—

	Leaf tobacco.		Cigars.
1840	1,031,136	lbs.	147,818	thousand.
1841	1,460,302	"	161,928	"
1842	1,053,161	"	135,127	"
1843	2,125,805	"	153,227	"
1844	1,197,136	"	147,825	"
1845	1,621,889	"	120,352	"
1846	4,066,262	"	158,841	"
1847	1,936,829	"	1,982,267	"
1848	1,350,815	"	150,729	"
1849	1,158,265	"	111,572	"

The class of tobacco shipped at the port of Havana, is not the same as that gathered in the districts from which the manufacturers of cigars there receive their supplies—it would cost too dear. However, it is not a rare occurrence to find among a number of bales a few of a quality about equal to that employed there, and this happens in years when the crop has been very abundant, as in 1846 and 1848. The various classes are paid in proportion to the capa, or outside leaves, which are found in an assortment; the three first classes are employed as covers, and often, if the tobacco is new, they may be found in the fourth and even in the fifth. In parcels well assorted, one-fourth is composed of capa—say, first, second, and third, and the rest is composed of tripa, or interior of the cigar. In the first-named, there generally comes more of the capa than is necessary to use; the remaining bales, which contain the inferior class, are fit only for fillings.

The following is an analysis of the ashes of Havana tobacco:—

Salts of potash	24.30
Salts of lime and magnesia	67.40
Silica	8.30
	100.

Hayti exported in 1836	1,222,716 lbs.
Porto Rico, in 1839	43,203 cwt.

The French have been so successful in cultivating tobacco, in their possessions in Northern Africa, that they hope soon to be independent of the foreign grown article. The mode of preparing it, however, is not very well understood by the colonists. In 1851, the number of planters in Algeria was only 137, whereas in 1852, it was 1,073. The number of hectares under culture with the tobacco plant was 446 in 1851, and 1,095 in 1852. The total of the present year's crop is estimated at 1,780,000 kilogrammes, of which 700,000 kilogrammes have been grown by the natives, and the rest by Europeans.

In the province of Algiers alone, the quantity of tobacco sold will amount to 550,000 kilogrammes, which is nearly three times as much as in 1851, and an equal progression has taken place in the provinces of Oran, and Constantina.

The cultivation of tobacco in Algeria has proved most successful; in 1851, only 264,912 kilogrammes were produced; in 1852, the quantity had risen to 735,199 kilogrammes. There are two crops in the year, the first being the best, but even this is capable of almost indefinite augmentation.

CULTURE OF TOBACCO IN THE EAST.

Having touched upon the practice of culture in the western world, we will now bend our steps towards the east, and it may be curious to notice the method pursued in cultivating and curing the celebrated Shiraz tobacco of Persia (Nicotiana Persica), which is so much esteemed for the delicacy of its flavor, and its aromatic quality. It is thus described by an intelligent traveller. The culture of the plant, it will be seen, is nearly the same; it is only the preparation of the tobacco that forms the difference:—

In December the seed is sown in a dark soil, which, has been slightly manured (red clayey soils will not do). To protect the seed, and to keep it warm, the ground is covered with light, thorny bushes, which are removed when the plants are three or four inches high; and during this period, the plants are watered every four or five days, only however in the event of sufficient rain to keep the soil well moistened not falling. The ground must be kept wet until the plants are six to eight inches high, when they are transplanted into a well moistened soil, which has been made into trenches for them; the plants being put on the top of the ridges ten or twelve inches apart, while the trenched plots are made, so as to retain the water given. The day they are transplanted, water must be given to them, and also every five or six days subsequently, unless rain enough falls to render this unnecessary. When the plants have become from thirty to forty inches high, the leaves will be from three to fifteen inches long. At this period, or when the flowers are forming, all the flower capsules are pinched or twisted off. After this operation and watering being continued, the leaves increase in size and thickness until the month of August or September, when each plant is cut off close to the root, and again stuck firmly into the ground. At this season of the year, heavy dews fall during the night; when exposed to these the color of the leaves change from green to the desired yellow. During this stage, of course no water is given to the soil. When the leaves are sufficiently yellow, the plants are taken from the earth early in the morning, and while they are yet wet from the dew, are heaped on each other in a high shed, the walls of which are made with light thorny bushes, where they are freely exposed to the wind. While there, and generally in four or five days, those leaves which are still green become of the desired pale yellow color. The stalks and centre stem of each leaf are now removed, and thrown away, the leaves are heaped together in the drying house for three or four days more, when they are in a fit state for packing. For this operation the leaves are carefully spread on each other and formed into sorts of cakes, the circumference from four to five feet, and three to four inches thick, great care being taken not to break or injure the leaves.

Bags made of strong cloth, but thin and very open at the sides, are filled with these cakes, and pressed very strongly down on each other; the leaves would be broken if this were not attended to. When the bags are filled, they are placed separately in a drying house, and turned daily. If the leaves were so dry that there would be a risk of their breaking during the operation of packing, a very slight sprinkling of water is given them to enable them to withstand it without injury. The leaf is valued for being thick, tough, and of a uniform light yellow color, and of an agreeable aromatic smell.

In India, the Surat, Bilsah, and Sandoway (Arracan) varieties of tobacco are the most celebrated. The two first are found to be good for cultivation in the district about Calcutta, but the Cabool is still more to be preferred. Tobacco requires in the East, for its growth, a soil as fertile and as well manured as for the production of the poppy or opium. It is, therefore, often planted in the spaces enriched by animal and vegetable exuviæ, among the huts of the natives. I have tried seed in different soils, says Capt. C. Cowles,—namely a light garden mould with a large portion of old house rubbish, dug to a good depth, which had a top dressing of the sweepings of the farm-yard and cow-houses; a rather heavy loam, highly manured with burnt and decayed vegetables, and old cow dung; the third was a patch of ground, which was originally an unwholesome swamp, from being eighteen inches to two feet, lower than the surrounding land; the soil appeared to be a hard sterile clay, and covered with long coarse grass and rushes. As there was a tank near it, I cut away one side of it, and threw the soil over the ground, bringing it rather above the level. Such was its appearance, (a hard compost marly clay,) that I expected no other good from it than that of raising the land so as to throw the water off; contrary, however, to my expectations, it produced a much finer crop of tobacco than either of the other soils, and with somewhat less manure. The agricultural process is limited to some practical laws founded on experience, and these are subject to two principal agents; viz., the soil and climate. With respect to the former, it is the practice amongst the growers in tobacco countries, such as Cuba, the States of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and the Philippine Islands, to select a high and dry piece of land, of a siliceous nature, and combined with iron, if possible; and with respect to the latter, there are seasons of the year too well known to the planters to need any explanation. The only difference (if there is any) depends on the geographical situation of the place, with respect to its temperature, or in the backwardness or advancement of seasons, and even on the duration of the same—in which circumstances the planter takes advantage of the one for the other.

The influence of a burning climate may be modified by choosing the coolest month of the year, whereas the soil cannot be altered without incurring great expense. I have seen tobacco lose its natural quality and degenerate by transplanting from one soil to another, although of the same temperature, and vice versa.

Mr. Piddington has analysed several Indian soils, distinguished for the production of superior tobacco. These are the table soils from Arracan, (Sandoway,) a soil from Singour, in Burdwan, near Chandernagore, the tobacco of which, though of the same species as that of the surrounding country, sells at the price of the Arracan sort; and the soil of the best Bengal tobacco, which is grown at, and about Hingalee, in the Kishnagur district.

The best tobacco soils of Cuba and Manila, are for the most part red soils. Now, the red and reddish soils contain most of their iron in the state of peroxide, or the reddish brown oxide of iron; while the lighter grey soils contain it only in the state of protoxide, or the black oxide of iron. Mr. Piddington believes the quality of the tobacco to depend mainly on the state and quantity of the iron of the soil, while it is indifferent about the lime, which is so essential to cotton. None of the tobacco soils contain any lime. Their analysis show them to contain:—

	Arracan soil.	Singour soil.	Hingalee soil.
Oxide or iron. (peroxide)	15.65	10.60	6.00
Water and saline matter	1.10	75	1.50
Vegetable matter and fibre	3.75	1.10	75
Silex	76.90	80.65	87.25
Alumina	2.00	4.50	1.50
	99.40	97.60	97.00
Water and loss	60	2.40	3.00
	100	100	100

From which it will be seen that the best tobacco soil hitherto found in India contains about sixteen per cent., or nearly one-sixth, of iron, which is mostly in a state of peroxide; and that the inferior sort of tobacco grows in a soil containing only six per cent., or one-sixteenth of iron, which is, moreover, mostly in the state of protoxide, or black oxide. Mr. Piddington thought it worth examining what the quantity of iron in the different sorts of tobacco would be, and found that while the ashes of one ounce, or 480 grains of Havana and Sandoway cheroots gave exactly 1.94 grains, or 0.40 per cent., of peroxide of iron the ashes of the same quantity of the Hingalee, or best Bengal tobacco, only gave 1.50 grains, or 0.32 per cent.; and it appears to exist in the first two in a state of peroxide, and in the last as a protoxide of iron; rendering it highly probable that the flavor of the tobacco to the smoker depends on the state and quantity of the iron it contains! Green copperas water, which is a solution of sulphate of iron, is often used by the American and English tobacconists and planters, to colour and flavor their tobacco; and this would be decomposed by the potass of the tobacco, and sulphate of potass and carbonate of iron is formed. Carbonate of iron is of an ochre-yellow color. Mr. Piddington says he took care to ascertain that this process had not been performed with the tobacco used for this experiment; and adds that Bengal cheroot makers do not know of this method. Mr. Laidley, of Gonitea, dissents from the idea suggested by Mr. Piddington that ferruginous matter in the soil is essential to the successful growth of tobacco. He observes that if we attend only to the iron contained, why every plant will be found to require a ferruginous soil; but tobacco contains a notable quantity of nitrate of potass and muriate of ammonia (the latter a most rare ingredient in plants), and these two salts are infinitely more likely to affect the flavor of the leaf than a small portion of oxide of iron, an inert body. Now as neither of these can be supplied by the atmosphere, we must search for them in the soil, and accordingly he imagined that a compost similar to the saltpetre beds which Napoleon employed so extensively in France, would be a good manure for tobacco lands; namely, calcareous matter, such as old mortar, dung, and the ashes of weeds or wood. He was aware that good tobacco might be grown in Beerbhoom, having raised some himself several years ago from American seed. The plants grew most vigorously, and he further observed, in confirmation of his opinion about the proper manure, that in other districts in which he had resided the natives always grew the tobacco (each for his own use) upon the heap of rubbish at his door, consisting of ashes, cow-dung, and offal of all kinds. While the soil of the Gangetic diluvium almost always contains carbonate of lime, the Beerbhoom soil does not, as far at least as Mr. Laidley had examined it.

The following is the mode of culture pursued about the city of Coimbetore. Between the middle of August and the same time in September, a plot of ground is hoed and embanked into small squares; in these the seed is sown, and covered by hand three times at intervals of ten days. To secure a succession of seedlings water is then given, and the sun's rays moderated by a covering of bushes. Watering is repeated every day for a month, and then only every fifth day. The field in which the seedlings are transplanted, is manured and ploughed at the end of August. Cattle are also folded upon the ground. Four or five ploughings are given between mid September and the middle of October, when the field is divided as above into small squares. These are watered until the soil is rendered a mud. Plants of the first sowing are then inserted at the end of September, about a cubit apart, the transplanting being done in the afternoon. At intervals of ten days the seedlings of the other two sowings are removed. A month after being transplanted the field is hoed, and after another month the leading shoot of each plant is pinched off, so as to leave them not more than a cubit high. Three times during the next month all side shoots thrown out are removed. When four months old, the crop is ready for cutting. To render the leaves sweet the field is watered, and the plants cut down close to the surface, being allowed to remain when cut until next morning. Their roots are tied to a rope and suspended round the hedges. In fine weather the leaves are dry in ten days, but if cloudy they require five more days. They are then heaped up under a roof, which is covered with bushes and pressed with stones for five days. After this the leaves are removed from the stems, tied in bunches, heaped again, and pressed for four days longer. They are now tied in bundles, partly of the small leaf and partly of the large leaf bundles, and again put in heaps for ten days—once during the time the heaps being opened and piled afresh. This completes the drying. A thousand bundles, weighing about 570 lbs., is a good produce for an acre.

In 1760, Ceylon produced a considerable quantity of tobacco, principally about Jaffna, a demand having sprung up for it in Travancore, and on the Malay coast. The cultivation spread to other districts of the island, Negombo, Chilaw, and Matura. Not long after the possession of the island by the British, a monopoly was created by an import duty of 25 per cent., ad valorem, and in 1811 the growers were compelled to deliver their tobacco into the Government stores at certain fixed rates. The culture and demand thereupon decreased. In 1853, the duty on the exports of tobacco from this island amounted to £8,386, and in 1836 to £9,514.

Ceylon now exports a considerable quantity of tobacco. The value of that exported in 1844 was nearly £18,000: it went exclusively to British colonies. The shipments since have been as follows:—

1848	£17,992	——
1849	22,300	——
1850	20,721	22,184 cwts.
1851	21,422	22,523 cwts.
1852	20,531	21,955 cwts.

About 96,000 piculs of cigars, of five different qualities, are exported annually from Siam. A good deal of very fine tobacco is grown in the Philippines, and the Manila cheroots are celebrated all over the globe. The quantity of raw tobacco shipped from Manila in 1847 was 92,106 arrobas (each about a quarter of a cwt.); manufactured tobacco, 12,054 arrobas; and 1,933 cases of cigars. 5,220 boxes of cigars were shipped from Manila in 1844. 73,439 millions of cigars were shipped in 1850, and 42,629 quintals of leaf tobacco.

The manufacture of cigars in Manila is a monopoly of the government, and not only is this the case, but it is a monopoly of the closest description, and any infringement of the assumed rights of the Spanish Indian government is visited by the most severe penalties. Public enterprise, however little of that commodity there now exists in the Spanish character, is thus kept down; and this is not only detrimental to the nation itself, but is also unjust towards those persons who are the purchasers of the article, enhanced in price, as is always the case, by monopoly. The cheroot, which now costs, free of duty, about one halfpenny, could be rendered for half that sum, according to well-authenticated opinions. To protect itself from illicit manufacturers, or smuggling of any kind in connection with cigars, the government is compelled to maintain an army of gendarmes, in order to adopt the most stringent means which despotic states alone tolerate. No person is, therefore, permitted to have even the tobacco leaf in its raw state on his premises, and gendarmes pay, at stated intervals, domiciliary visits to the habitations of the people, in search of any contraband materials. There are several extensive manufactories of cigars and cheroots belonging to the government in and near Manila. Mr. Mac Micking, in his recent work on the Philippines, thus describes the mode of manufacture by those employed by the government:—

In making cheroots women only are employed, the number of those so engaged in the factory at Manila being generally about 4,000. Beside these, a large body of men are employed at another place in the composition of cigarillos, or small cigars, kept together by an envelope of white paper in place of tobacco; these being the description most smoked by the Indians. The flavor of Manila cheroots is peculiar to themselves, being quite different from that made of any other sort of tobacco; the greatest characteristic probably being its slightly soporific tendency, which has caused many persons in the habit of using it to imagine that opium is employed in the preparatory treatment of the tobacco, which, however, is not the case.

The cigars are made up by the hands of women in large rooms of the factory, each of them containing from 800 to 1,000 souls. These are all seated, or squatted, Indian like, on their haunches, upon the floor, round tables, at each of which there is an old woman presiding to keep the young ones in order, about a dozen of them being the complement of a table. All of them are supplied with a certain weight of tobacco, of the first, second, or third qualities used in composing a cigar, and are obliged to account for a proportionate number of cheroots, the weight and size of which are by these means kept equal. As they use stones for beating out the leaf on the wooden tables before which they are seated, the noise produced by them while making them up is deafening, and generally sufficient to make no one desirous of protracting a visit to the place. The workers are well recompensed by the government, as very many of them earn from six to ten dollars a month for their labor; and as that amount is amply sufficient to provide them with all their comforts, and to leave a large balance for their expenses in dress, &c., they are seldom very constant laborers, and never enter the factory on Sundays, or, at least, on as great an annual number of feast days as there are Sundays in a year.

The Japanese grow a good deal of tobacco for their own consumption, which is very considerable. They consider that from Sasma as the best, then that from Nangasakay, Sinday, &c. The worst comes from the province of Tzyngaru; it is strong, of a black color, and has a disgusting taste and smell. The tobacco from Sasma is, indeed, also strong, but it has an agreeable taste and smell, and is of a bright yellow color. The tobacco from Nangasakay is very weak, in taste and smell perhaps the best, and of a bright brown color. The tobacco from Sinday is very good. The Japanese manufacture the tobacco so well, says Capt. Golownin, (Recollections of Japan,) that though I was before no friend to smoking, and even when I was at Jamaica could but seldom persuade myself to smoke an Havana cigar, yet I smoked the Japanese tobacco very frequently, and with great pleasure.

The culture of tobacco is a very profitable article for the laborers, seeing that the produce is obtained from grounds which have already given the first crop. The qualities of Java tobacco are more and more prized in the European markets, the preparation and assortment are not yet all that could be desired, but they have progressed in this branch, and the contracts made with the new adventurers assure them of a considerable benefit. But before the Java tobaccos can find an assured opening in the European markets, it is necessary that the cultivators should make use of seed from the Havana or Manila. The residencies of Rembang, Sourabaya, Samarang, Chinbou, and Tagal, present districts suited for its culture; it has been carried on with success for a good many years in the residencies of Treanger, Pakalongan, and Kedu, but only for the consumption of the interior, and of the Archipelago.

Tobacco is cultivated in Celebes, but merely in sufficient quantity for local consumption. It is exclusively grown by the Bantik population—the mode of preparation is the same as in Java; it is chopped very fine and mostly flavored with arrack. When bought in large quantities, it may be had for thirty cents the pound; but in smaller quantities it costs double that price.

Tobacco is cultivated in New South Wales with much success. Australia produces a leaf equal to Virginia, or the most fertile parts of Kentucky, but the great difficulty is to extract the superabundant "nitre." The first crop in New South Wales exceeds one ton per acre, and the second crop off the same plants, yields about half the weight of the first. In 1844 there were about 871 acres in cultivation in New South Wales with tobacco, and the produce was returned at 6,382 cwts. In New England, New South Wales, as fine a "fig" as could be wished for is manufactured under the superintendence of a thorough-bred Virginia tobacco manufacturer—but the impossibility of extracting the nitre by the heating, or any other process, renders the flavor rank and disagreeable. Perhaps cheroots, or the lower numbers of cigars, manufactured from the Australian leaf, might prove more successful.

In Sydney the time for sowing tobacco seed is September, but in Van Diemen's Land it should be a month later, as tobacco plants cannot stand the frost. The ground should be made fine, and in narrow beds three feet wide from path to path, to allow for weeding without stepping on the beds. The seed, being small, should not be raked in; but after the ground is raked fine, and perfectly clean, and well pulverised, mix the seed with wood ashes, and sow over the beds, and pat in with the spade, or tread in with the naked feet, which is preferable. The ground should be moist, but not much watered, or it moulds the plants. When about as large as moderate sized cabbage plants, they should be put out—three feet or three feet six in the rows, and five feet apart between the rows. When the plant rises to about two feet high, it will throw out suckers at each leaf, which must be carefully taken off with the finger and thumb, and all bottom and decayed leaves that touch the ground taken off. When the tobacco plant throws out flower, it must be topped off, leaving about twelve leaves in the stalk to ripen and come to maturity. When the leaves feel thick between the finger and thumb, and assume a mottled appearance, they are fit to cut.

In "Tegg's New South Wales Almanac" it is stated that the end of July is the usual time for sowing the seed. In order, however, to prevent the plants from being subsequently destroyed by frost, care must be taken not to sow the seed until the frost has ceased in any respective locality (unless raised in a frame). Tobacco requires a rich light soil, and well manured.

By the instructions for cultivating it, the plant must be three feet apart each way, which would give 4,840 plants to an acre; assuming that each plant would yield half a pound for the first crop, this would give 2,420 lbs. to an acre, which is only 180 lbs. in excess of a ton. In New South Wales several parties use the tobacco stems for sheep wash. One pound of tobacco is sufficient to wash five sheep on an average (one washing), which would give 12,100 sheep to one acre.

Assuming that only one crop was grown in New Zealand in one year, of 2,420 lbs. to an acre, at 3d. per pound, (which is about half the market price of a fair sample of tobacco in bond,) it would amount to £30 5s. per acre.

Three rows of Indian corn are planted outside the tobacco plants to shelter them from the wind. In order to save seed, a few plants are allowed to flower. The Virginian tobacco is the largest; it is known by a pink flower; the Nicotiana rustica (common green) has a yellow flower.

A planter in Northern Australia furnishes the following directions:—

The land selected for the growth of tobacco ought to be of the most fertile description, of a friable description, and upon which no water can rest within eighteen inches of the surface. Newly cleared brush lands of this nature are the most prolific; upon such, after good tillage, put the plants about four feet or more apart, in rows, and five feet six inches asunder. In interior or old ground, plant proportionately closer. Before topping or nipping off the head, all the lower leaves (that is such as may touch the ground) ought to be broken off, leaving only from five to seven for the crop, which will yield a greater weight and be of a superior quality than if double that number were left. When ripe, a dry and cloudy day should be selected to cut it, as the sun destroys its quality after cutting. It ought then to lie sufficiently long upon the ground so as to welt before carting to the sheds, hanging up each stalk next morning so as not to touch its fellow.

The drying sheds ought to be built upon an elevated or dry spot, with a hoarded flour of rough split stuff, fifteen or eighteen inches from the ground, with apertures as windows to admit or to exclude the external atmosphere. In damp weather close all the doors and windows, also every night; in contrary weather open all.

In these drying houses the stalks should remain suspended until the vegetable moisture is entirely evaporated, so that on a dry day the stems of the leaves will break like a glass pipe, and the finer parts crumble into snuff upon compression; after which, in humid weather, they will become quite pliable; then strip the leaves off the stems, make them up into hands, and pack them tightly into a close bin: when full, cover it with boards and old bagged stuff, upon which place heavy weights. In this state it undergoes the sweating process, which, in this colony, is little understood or not properly attended to, and yet, upon the skill displayed thereon, the quality of the tobacco greatly depends. I will therefore give some general directions upon this portion of the planter's office. If the tobacco happen to be too damp when put into the bin, it will attain either an injurious or a destructive degree of heat; it must therefore he watched for some days after it is packed. To an experienced operator I would say, if the heat exceed 80 degrees of temperature, immediately unpack and re-hang the whole, waiting its condition as before explained, before it is again put into the sweating bin. Should the degree of heat be below that stated, it may remain for weeks or until the heat has subsided. I have generally removed it from the sweating process in about fourteen or twenty days, sometimes considerably longer, regulating that act by the odor and color of the leaf. If, however, it appears to be attaining a very dark brown color and its heat not subsided, it should be taken out and closely pressed into large cases or casks, when it will again attain a gentle heat called the "second sweating," as is invariably the case with the hogsheads of the American leaf tobacco: this again improves its quality. Here the grower's operations terminate.

It may be necessary to remark, that how skilful and experienced soever the grower may be, it is hardly possible for him to produce a good article upon a small scale; for with a less quantity than one ton to place in the sweating bin at a time, the requisite heat to insure success will not be generated. I would further observe, that the practice of the colonists in growing what they term a "second crop" is most injurious to their interests, their lands, and the quality and character of the colonial tobacco. The American planter never attempts it. I would therefore strongly recommend its discontinuance, and also never to crop one piece of land with tobacco more than two or three years in succession. The Americans rarely take more than two crops unless the land be new; after which they sow it down with grasses, in which state it remains for two or three years until it is again planted with tobacco. I would recommend this plan to the growers.

The character of the American tobacco has been greatly advanced in the mercantile world by an ordinance regulating that source of national wealth. The planters are thereby obligated to deposit their crops in warehouses, over which sworn inspectors preside, who rigidly examine every hogshead, and if found to be of mercantile quality, grant the owner a certificate, by which instrument only he sells his produce. The purchaser is hereby safe in buying these certificates. The tobacco to which they refer is delivered to the holder on presentation to the inspector. I mention this not as applicable here at present, but it most probably may hereafter.

When the colony is suffering severely for the want of labor, it may by some be deemed inopportune in offering remarks upon this article of commerce. To such dissentients I will remark, that a great portion of the work can be performed by women and children. A moiety of our anticipated increase of population will be available for this hitherto mismanaged source of wealth. At present the quantity grown in the colony is equal to three-fourths of its consumption, and which production is of a very inferior quality to the imported. These facts tend to show that my notice of the subject is not inopportune, and particularly so when the object is to point out those errors so generally adopted by the tobacco growers here. Years of practical experience, of personal observation upon the plantations of North America, and my having been, I believe, the grower of the greatest quantity of tobacco in the colony, qualify me to afford instructions thereon; whereby, if attended to, our tobacco will become fully equal to the American, as was proved to be the case by the crops I grew here (upwards of 40 tons),[56] which were sold in Sydney by the Commissariat Department at public auction, at an advance of twenty per cent. more than the imported leaf. As the duty on tobacco is about to be reduced, the present production may fall off, unless an immediate improvement in its quality take place. Instead of being importers of tobacco, we should, if it was grown here to perfection, be exporters of it to all our sister colonies; and in its raw state, also to the European markets. At present, for home consumption, there is a greater profit to be made by its cultivation, if skilfully managed, than in any part of the world; for the duty upon imported is a positive bonus to the grower.

In 1849-50 there were fifteen manufactories of tobacco on a small scale in New South Wales, but these were reduced in 1851 to six.

Many samples of tobacco grown in the colony have been pronounced by competent judges equal to Virginian, but a very considerable prejudice exists against it. There is, however, no doubt that the dealers dispose of a great deal as American tobacco, and get a best price for it. The reduction of the import duties on foreign tobacco, recently made by the Legislative Council, will probably retard the progress of the colonial production and manufacture of this article; but with an abundance of labor there is no question that this branch of industry will be again profitably resorted to. The quantity of tobacco manufactured in New South Wales, in 1847, was 1,321 cwt.; in 1848, 714 cwt.; in 1849, 2,758 cwt.; in 1850, 3,833 cwt.; in 1851, 4,841 cwt.

A correspondent of the Adelaide Observer recommends its culture in South Australia, and supplies the following useful information:—

Without entering into botanical details, I will simply state that the plant is of a shrubby nature, about five feet high, and ought not to be planted nearer than four feet from each other, in rows five feet apart—thus allowing for each plant a space of ground four feet by five, or 20 square feet. An acre will consequently furnish sufficient room for 2,178 plants.

The tobacco plant will thrive in almost any climate, from the torrid zone to the temperature of Great Britain. It luxuriates in rich alluvial valleys, where the soil is either of a loamy or a peaty nature.

Maiden soil is not recommended. The ground should be trenched, worked as fine as possible, and well manured. Tobacco will not answer unless the subsoil is thoroughly broken. The best manure is that obtained from the bullock-yard, and bark from the tan yard; and by two or three ploughings the earth can be brought to a proper consistency, and fit for the reception of the plants.

The usual method adopted in New South Wales, is to raise the plants in a warm, sheltered bed, neither exposed to wind nor to the sun's rays; but if the weather is dry, they should be well watered night and morning. The time of sowing is the end of August or the beginning of September in the latitude of Sydney, according to the state of the weather; and they may be transplanted when they have attained their sixth leaf, which is generally about a month or five weeks after they are up.

The period is rather later in this colony, and care should be taken that the plants have gained sufficient strength in the ground after transplanting to withstand the effect of the hot winds, and, if practicable, the aspect should be either N.E. or N.W., and the rows should incline towards either of these points.

The most suitable spots in this colony for the cultivation of tobacco, are Lyndoch Valley and the districts round the town of Willunga and Morphett Vale.

The greatest care is required from the cultivator to prevent the destruction of the plant from its greatest enemy, the black grub. Daily search should be made for it, and not a plant should be left unexamined; they make their appearance about the beginning of November, when the plants have scarcely had time to take root. The soil between the rows should be kept constantly stirred with a three-pronged fork, that air and the sun's rays may be admitted, which latter are as indispensable to the growing plant as injurious to the seedling. The labor is great, and from first to last requires the constant attention of one man throughout the year, with an additional hand for about six weeks during the process of curing.

The profits even in bad seasons are considerable; but when the season and soil are favorable, they average upwards of 100 per cent. The consumption of tobacco is great in this colony, not only for personal use, but for sheep-wash; and the profits may be considerably greater for the lower leaves, which, owing to their gritty nature, cannot be manufactured, but may be advantageously cured for wash.

It is not my office to argue the point as to the advantages which may accrue from a free trade in tobacco; but this I know, and confidently assert it, from actual experiments made in this province, that a more lucrative article cannot be grown.

The consumption in South America, in 1850, was 147,178 lbs.; and the annual increase since 1840 has been a higher percentage than the increase of population, chiefly owing to extension in sheep-farming.

The probable expense of cultivation per acre may be as under:—

	£	s.	d.
Rent	0	10	0
Labor, 12 months	52	0	0
Ditto, 2 months	8	10	0
Ploughing three times	2	2	0
Harrowing twice	1	0	0
Manure, say	2	10	0
Seed, say	0	10	0
	£67	2	0

The Sydney average quantity is said to be 11⅓ cwt. per acre, say 10 cwt.; and the cost price per lb. will be 14½d., or £6 15s. 4d. per cwt. The profit will at once be seen on this article of consumption.

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Miscellaneous Drugs.—The blood tree (Croton gossypifolia), an evergreen shrub, native of the Trinidad mountains, is remarkable for yielding, when wounded, a thick juice resembling blood in color, which is one of the most powerful astringents I know of, and as such would be valuable to medical science. The bark of Croton Cascarilla is, as we have seen in a former section, aromatic, and the seeds of C. Tiglium, the physic nut, are purgative; so are those of the purging nut (Jatropha multifida), and another species (J. gossypifolia).

The pods of cow-itch (Mucuna pruriens) act as a vermifuge; the roots of the Ruellia tuberosa, or manyroot, and the bulbs of the white lily (Pancratium Carribæum and maritimum), are emetic. The Indian root or bastard ipecacuan (Asclepias curassavica) has medicinal properties. A. tuberosa is used as a mild cathartic, and a remedy for a variety of disorders. Hydrastis canadensis, or Canadian yellow root, is a valuable bitter, and furnishes a useful yellow dye. Knowltonia vesicatoria is used commonly as a blister in the Cape Colony. Ranunculus saleratus (the R. indicus of Roxburgh, and B. camosus of Wallich), common in India, is also used by the natives for blistering purposes.

A kind of sedge rush, common in swampy places in the West India islands, the Adme cyperus, enjoys a reputation for the cure of yellow fever. It is also stated to be cordial, diuretic and cephalic, serviceable in the first stages of the dropsy, good in vomitings, fluxes, &c.

Dr. Impey, the residentiary surgeon of Malwa, has just confidence in the indigenous drugs in use by the natives of the East, many of which are quite unknown in European practice. He believes that, in the Indian bazaars and the jungle, drugs having precisely the same effect as those of Europe may be discovered, and has recently drawn up a list of ninety substances, which are perfect substitutes for an equal number of European medicines. The class of tonics, in particular, is most amply supplied, and the Englishman is not the only animal who suffers from disorders of the digestive organs.

My friend Dr. Hamilton, of Plymouth, recently brought under the notice of the profession the medical properties of the prickly poppy or Mexican thistle (Argemone Mexicana). It is indigenous to and grows wild in the greatest profusion throughout the whole of the Caribbean islands, and may be found at every season of the year covered with its bright golden blossoms, and bearing its prickly capsules in all their several stages of maturity. It is an annual plant, attaining a height of about two feet, growing abundantly in low and hot uncultivated spots. Its stem is round and prickly, furnished with alternate branches and thorny leaves. The seeds possess an emetic quality. The whole plant abounds in a yellow milky juice, resembling gamboge in color, and not improbably possessing properties similar to the seeds. In Nevis the oil is obtained from the bruised seeds by boiling, and sold by the negroes in small phials, containing about an ounce each, under the name of "thistle oil," at the price of a quarter of a dollar each. The usual dose for dry bellyache is thirty drops upon a lump of sugar, and its effect is perfectly magical, relieving the pain instantaneously, throwing the patient into a profound and refreshing sleep, and in a few hours relieving the bowels gently of the contents. This oil seems fitted to compete in utility with the far more costly and less agreeable oil of the croton.

The seeds of the sandbox (Hura crepitans) when bruised, operate powerfully as emetico-cathartic. It is probable that an oil might be obtained from them similar in its operation to the thistle oil.

A cucurbitaceous fruit, one of the Luffas (called by Von Martius Luffa purgans), a tribe closely allied to the colocynth and mornordicas, growing in South America, is a powerful purgative, and is used in the province of Pernambuco, where it is called Cabacinha. The fruit is about the size of a small pear and resembles the wild cucumber. An infusion of a fourth part of one of these fruits is administered chiefly in the form of an injection.

Another species (Luffa drastica, of Martius) is also employed for the same purpose.

The Luffa purgans grows spontaneously in the suburbs of Recieffe, the capital of the province of Pernambuco, and flowers in November and December. The fruit is a drastic purgative, and an infusion of it is used either internally or in the form of clyster. The tincture is prepared by macerating, for twenty-eight hours or more, four of the fruit deprived of the seeds in a bottle of spirit 21 degrees. The dose is three or four ounces daily, which occasions much sickness.

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Poisons.—The vegetable kingdom (observes Mr. Simple), to which man is largely indebted for the materials of food, clothing, and shelter, produces also some of the most deadly poisons with which science, experience, or accident, has made him acquainted. In examining the poisonous productions of the vegetable kingdom, we find that their properties are generally due to the presence of some acid or alkali contained in the plant from which they are derived. Oil of bitter almonds and cherry laurel water are poisonous in consequence of containing prussic acid. Opium owes its activity to the alkaloid morphia. The Upas-tiente derives its energetic powers from the alkaloid strychnia; conia is the active principle of hemlock; veratria of hellebore; aconita of monk's hood; and although there are several poisonous plants in which the active principle has not yet been detected, there can be little doubt that such a principle exists, although it has hitherto eluded the researches of the chemist.—("Pharmaceutical Journal," vol. 2, p. 17.)

The bark taken from the roots of the Jamaica dogwood (Piscidia erythrina), which is extensively distributed throughout the Archipelago of the Antilles, is used for stupefying fish. The pounded root is mixed with slaked lime and the low wines or lees of the distillery, and the mixture is put into small baskets or sacks, and so suffered to wash out gradually, coloring the water to a reddish hue. The fish rise to the surface in a few minutes, when they float as if dead.

The expressed juice of the root of Maranta Arundinacea is stated to be a valuable antidote to some vegetable poisons, and also serviceable in cases of bites or stings of venomous insects or reptiles. One of the most popular remedies for the bites of snakes is a decoction of the leaves of the Guaco, or snake plant, of South America, a species of willow which flourishes along the banks of the streams in the sultry regions shaded by other trees. It is said to be both a preventive and cure.

Mr. Edward Otto, writing from Cuba to the "Gardener's Magazine" for May, 1842, p. 286, describes the guaco as a tree growing from four to eight feet in height, with beautiful dark green leaves, having a brown tinge round the margin. The blossoms are small, of a bluish brown, and hang like loose bunches of grapes at the points of the shoots, or even on the stem itself, as it has seldom branches. The milky sap is said to have poisonous effects. "I was told (he adds) that this plant is used efficiently in cholera and yellow fever." This tree is said to be the Camæladia ilicifolia of Swartz, common in Antigua and Hayti, being known in Antigua by the popular name of the holly-leaved maiden plum.

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ALOES.—The drug called aloes is the bitter, resinous, inspissated juice of the leaves of various species of an arborescent plant of the lily family, with a developed stem and large succulent leaves, growing principally in tropical and sub-tropical regions, and having a wide extent of range, being produced in Borneo and the East, Africa, Arabia, and the West Indies; many are also natives of the Cape of Good Hope. The plant will thrive in almost any soil, and, when once established, it is extremely difficult to eradicate.

The cultivation and manufacture are of the most simple kind. The usual mode of propagating the plants is by suckers; and all the care required is to keep them free from weeds.

From the high price which the best Barbados aloes fetches in the market, £7 per cwt., its culture might be profitably extended to many of the other islands. The aloes plant is indigenous to the soil of Jamaica, and although handled by thousands of the peasantry and others, there is not perhaps one in five thousand who understands its properties or the value of the plant. With the Jamaicans it is commonly used in fever cases, by slicing the leaves, permitting the juice to escape partially, and then applying them to the head with bandages;—this is the only generally known property which it possesses there.

A series of trials made recently in Paris proved that cordage manufactured from the fibre of this plant grown in Algiers, was far preferable in comparative strength to that manufactured from hemp. Cables, of equal size, showed that that made of the aloe raised a weight of one-fifth more than that of hemp.

The drug is imported into this country under the names of Socotrine, East Indian or Hepatic, Barbados, Cape and Caballine aloes. It contains a substance called Aloetine, which some regard as its active principle. The various species now defined are—Aloe spicata, vulgaris, Socotrina, Indica, rubescens, Arabica, linguæ-formis and Commelina. The average imports in 1841 and 1842 were only about 170,780 cwts.; it is now much larger, and a great portion of the supply is drawn from the Cape colony.

The mode of preparing the drug, which I have myself seen in the West Indies, is exceedingly simple. When the plant has arrived at proper maturity, the laborers go into the field with tubs and knives, and cut the largest and most succulent leaves close to the stalk; these are placed upright in the tubs, side by side, so that the sap may flow out of the wound. Sometimes a longitudinal incision is made from top to bottom of the leaf, to facilitate the discharge. The crude juice thus obtained is placed in shallow flat-bottomed receivers, and exposed to the sun until it has acquired sufficient consistency to be packed in gourds for exportation. In preparing the coarser kind, or horse aloes, the leaves are cut into junks and thrown into the tubs, there to lie till the juice is pretty well drained out; they are then squeezed by the hand, and water, in the proportion of one quart to ten of juice, is added, after which it is boiled to a due consistence and emptied into large shallow coolers.

The following analysis by M. Edmond Robiquet of a specimen of Socotrine aloes, obtained from M. Chevallier, is given in the sixth volume of the "Pharmaceutical Journal," p. 277. The constituents in 100 parts were:—

Pure aloes (Aloetine)	85.00
Ulmate of potash	2.00
Sulphate of lime	2.00
Carbonate of potash	traces.
Carbonate of lime
Phosphate of lime
Gallic acid	.25
Albumen	8.00

The true Socotrine aloes is the produce of A. Socotrina, which grows abundantly in the island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean. Lieutenant Wellstead says, the hills on the west side of the island are covered for an extent of miles with aloe plants. The aloe grows spontaneously on the limestone mountains of Socotra, from 500 to 3,000 feet above the level of the sea. The produce is brought to Tamarida and Colliseah, the principal town and harbor for exports. In 1833, the best quality sold for 2s. a pound, while for the more indifferent the price was 13d. The value is much impaired by the careless manner in which the aloes is gathered and packed. Aloes once formed the staple of its traffic, for which it was chiefly resorted to; but only small quantities are now exported. It was formerly shipped by the way of Smyrna and Alexandria, but is usually now brought by the way of Bombay; Melinda, on the Zanzibar coast, and Maccula on the Arabian shore, furnish the greater part of that sold in Europe as Socotrine aloes. It comes home in chests or packages of 150 to 200 lbs. wrapt in skins of the gazelle, sometimes in casks holding half a ton or more. It is somewhat transparent, of a garnet or yellowish red color. The smell is not very unpleasant, approaching to myrrh. Socotrine aloes, although long considered the best kind, is now below Barbados aloes in commercial value.

About two tons were imported from Socotra in 1833, but a much larger quantity could be obtained if required.

The price of Socotrine aloes in the Liverpool market, in the early part of 1853, was 30s. to £6 the cwt.; of Cape, 30s. to 32s.

East Indian, or Hepatic aloes.— The real hepatic aloes, so called from its liver color, is believed to be the produce of A. Arabica, or perfoliala, which grows in Yemen in Arabia, from whence it is exported by the way of Bombay to Europe. According to Dr. Thomson and the "Materia Medica," it is duller in its color than the other kinds, is bitterer, and has a less pleasant aroma than the Socotrine aloes. It should not be liquid, which deteriorates the quality.

A. Indica—a species with reddish flowers, common in dry situations, in the north-west provinces of India, is that from which an inferior sort of the drug is produced. It is obtained in Guzerat, Salem, and Trichinopoly, and fetches a local price of 2d. to 3d. a pound. In the Bombay market, Socotrine aloes fetches wholesale 16s. to 20s. the Surat maund of 41 lbs., and Maccula aloes only 9s.

Barbados aloes, is the produce of A. vulgaris, or A. barbadensis, a native of the Cape colony, and is often passed off for the Hepatic. It is brought home in calabashes, or large gourd shells, containing from 60 to 70 lbs. each, or more. It is duskier in hue than the East Indian species, being a darkish brown or black, and the taste is more nauseous and intensely bitter.

In 1786 one hogshead and 409 gourds of aloes were exported from Barbados. In 1827, there were about 96,000 packages shipped from the island. In 1844, there were 4,600 packages exported. The exports have fallen off considerably, only about 850 gourds having been shipped in the season of 1849-50; but in 1851 it increased to 2,505 gourds.

Caballine, or Horse-aloes, is the coarsest species or refuse of the Barbados aloes, and from its rank fetid smell is only useful for veterinary medicine. It is also obtained from Spain and Senegal.

A very good description of the mode of cultivating and preparing the aloes in Barbados is given in the 8th vol. of the "London Medical Journal":—

The lands in the vicinity of the sea, that is from two to three miles, which are rather subject to drought than otherwise, and are so strong and shallow as not to admit of the planting of sugar-canes with any prospect of success, are generally found to answer best for the aloe-plant. The stones, at least the larger ones, are first picked up, and either packed in heaps upon the most shallow barren spots, or laid round the field as a dry wall. The land is then lightly ploughed and very carefully cleared of all noxious weeds, lined at one foot distance from row to row, and the young plants set like cabbages, at about five or six inches from each other. This regular mode of lining and setting the plants is practised only by the most exact planters, in order to facilitate the frequent weeding by hand; because if the ground be not kept perfectly clean and free from weeds, the produce will be very small. Aloes will bear being planted in any season of the year, even in the dryest, as they will live on the surface of the earth for many weeks without a drop of rain. The most general time of planting them, however, is from April to June.

In the March following, the laborers carry a parcel of tubs and jars into the field, and each takes a slip or breadth of it, and begins by laying hold of a bunch of the blades, as much as he can conveniently grasp with one hand, whilst with the other he cuts it just above the surface of the earth as quickly as possible (that the juice may not be wasted), and then places the branches in the tub bunch by bunch or handful by handful. When the first tub is thus packed quite full, a second is begun (each laborer having two); and by the time the second is filled, all the juice is generally drained out of the blades in the first tub. The blades are then lightly taken out and thrown over the land by way of manure, and the juice is poured out into a jar. The tub is then filled again with blades, and so alternately, till the laborer has produced his jar full, or about four gallons and a half of juice, which is often done in six or seven hours, and he has then the remainder of the day to himself, it being his employer's interest to get each day's operation as quickly done as possible. It may be observed that although aloes are often cut in nine, ten, or twelve months after being planted, they are not in perfection till the second or third year, and that they will be productive for a length of time, say ten or twelve years, or even for a longer time, if good dung or manure of any kind is stirred over the field once in three or four years, or oftener if convenient.

The aloe juice will keep for several weeks without injury. It is therefore not boiled till a sufficient quantity is procured to make it an object for the boiling house. In the large way, three boilers, or coppers are placed to one fire, though some have but two, and the small planters only one boiler. The boilers are filled with the juice, and as it ripens or becomes more inspissated by a constant but regular fire, it is ladled from boiler to boiler, and fresh juice is added to that farthest from the fire, till the juice in that nearest the fire (by much the smallest of the three) becomes of a proper consistency, to be skipped or ladled out into gourds or other small vessels used for its final reception. The proper time to skip or ladle it out of the last boiler is when it has arrived at what is termed a resin height, or when it cuts freely or in thin flakes from the edges of a small wooden slice that is dipped from time to time into the boiler for that purpose. A little lime water is used by some aloe boilers during the process, when the ebullition is too great.

CAPE ALOES is the produce chiefly of A. spicata, and A. Commelini, which are found growing wild in great abundance in the interior of the Cape Colony. It has not the dark opaque appearance of the other species. About fifty miles from Cape Town is a mountainous tract, almost entirely covered with numerous species and varieties of the plant, and some of the extensive arid plains in the interior of the colony are crowded with it. The settlers go forth and pitch their waggous and campa on these spots to obtain the produce. The shipments from Table Bay and the eastern port of Algoa Bay are very considerable. The odor of the Cape aloes is stronger and more disagreeable than that of the Socotrine or Barbados, and the color is more like gamboge. It is brought over in chests and skins, the latter being preferred.

Mr. George Dunsterville, surgeon of Algoa Bay, gives the following description of the manufacture of Cape aloes:—

A shallow pit is dug, in which is spread a bullock's hide or sheep's skin. The leaves of the aloe plants in the immediate vicinity of this pit are stripped off and piled up on the skin to variable heights. These are left for a few days. The juice exudes from the leaves, and is received by the skin beneath. The Hottentot then collects in a basket or other convenient article the produce of many heaps, which is then put into an iron pot capable of holding eighteen or twenty gallons. Fire is applied to effect evaporation, during which the contents of the pot are constantly stirred to prevent burning. The cooled liquor is then poured into wooden cases of about three feet square by one foot deep, or into goat or sheep skins, and thus is filled for the market. In the colony aloes realises about 2¼ d. to 3½ d. per pound. The Hottentots and Dutch boors employ indiscriminately different species of aloe in the preparation of the drug.

The Cape aloes, which is usually prized the highest in the English market, is that made at the Missionary institution of Bethelsdorp (a small village about nine miles from Algoa Bay, and chiefly inhabited by Hottentots and their missionary teachers). Its superiority arises not from the employment of a particular species of aloe, for all species are used, but from the greater care and attention paid to what is technically called the cooking of the aloes; that is, the evaporation, and to the absence of all adulterating substances (fragments of limestone, sand, earth, &c.), often introduced by manufacturers.

Mr. Moodie, in his "Ten Years' Residence in Southern Africa," gives a somewhat similar account.

Mr. Bunbury states that, about the neighbourhood of Graham's Town, three large kinds of aloe are very abundant, which form striking and characteristic features of the scenery; they grow irregularly scattered over the parched and naked faces of the hills, but most abundantly among the low broken ledges and knolls of sandstone rock, and are often seen spiring up above the evergreen bushes in the ravines, and crowning the cliffs. One kind grows to the height of a man. They are plants of a strange, rigid, and ungraceful appearance, but with very handsome flowers, which form tall and dense spikes, of a fine coral-red color in two of the species (A. arborescens and lineata?), and of an orange scarlet in the third (A. glaucescens?). When in blossom they are conspicuous at a great distance, and might easily be mistaken, when seen from far off, for soldiers in red uniforms.

The importance of this indigenous plant to the Cape Colony, may be estimated from the following figures:—

AMOUNT OF ALOES, THE PRODUCE OF THE COLONY, AND VALUE THEREOF,
EXPORTED IN THE YEARS ENDING 5TH JANUARY 1841, 1842, AND 1846.

	lbs	£
1841	485,574	8,821
1842	602,620	11,877
1846	266,725	3,018

EXPORTS AND VALUE FROM THE EASTERN PROVINCE.

	lbs.	£
1835	68,042	474
1836	30,808	285
1837	13,400	115
1838	28,867	306
1839	75,500	918
1840	82,478	1,145
1841	220,214	4,271
1842	283,305	5,003
1844	318,035	3,225

EXPORTS AND VALUE FROM THE WESTERN PROVINCE.

	lbs.	£
1841	242,860	4,175
1842	379,315	6,874
1844	506,796	6,586

ASAFŒTIDA.—-This drug of commerce is procured from the milky juice of Ferula asafœtida, a plant recently described by Dr. Falconer, under the name of Narthex asafœtida. It is found in Persia, the mountains of Chorasan, the central table land of Affghanistan, and some seeds of it, sent to this country by Dr. Falconer, germinated in the Botanical Garden at Edinburgh, and are now vigorous thriving plants of six years growth. Its leaves have a resemblance to those of a pæony; the fruit is distinguished by divided and interrupted vittae, which form a network on the surface. The perennial roots grow to a very large size, and are seldom of any use until after four or five years' growth. The asafœtida is procured by taking successive slices off the top of the root and collecting the milky juice., which is allowed to concrete into masses of a fetid resinous gummy matter, with a sulphur oil, similar to that of garlic, which is probably its active ingredient.

An inferior sort is obtained from F. persica, another species with very much divided leaves, growing chiefly in the southern provinces of Persia. It comes over usually in casks and cases. The British consumption of the drug is about 10,000 lbs. a year. A little is procured from Scinde. In 1825 the quantity imported was 106,770 lbs., in 1839 only 24 cwts.

The wholesale price in the Liverpool market, in January 1853, was £1 to £3 10s. the cwt.

CAMPHOR.—The Camphor tree (Camphora officinarum, Laurus Camphora) is a native of China, Japan, and Cochin China, of the laurel tribe, with black and purple veins. Camphor is procured from all parts of the tree, but it is obtained principally from the wood by distillation, and subsequent sublimation.

Many plants, such as the cinnamon tree, supply a kind of camphor, but the common camphor of the shops is the produce chiefly of C. officinarum.

Two kinds of unrefined camphor are known in commerce.—1. The Dutch, which is brought from Batavia, and is said to be the produce of Japan. This is imported in tubs covered by matting and each surrounded by a second tub, secured on the outside by hoops of twisted cane. Each tub contains about one cwt. Most of this goes to the continent. 2. Ordinary crude camphor is imported from Singapore and Bombay, in square chests lined with lead-foil, and containing 1¼ to 1½ cwts. It is chiefly produced in the island of Formosa, and is brought by the Chin Chew junks in very large quantities to Canton, whence foreign markets get supplied.—("Pereira's Materia Medica.")

In the southern part of Japan the tree grows in such abundance that, notwithstanding the great consumption of it in the country, large quantities are exported. Kœmpfer says, that the Japanese camphor is made by a simple decoction of the wood and roots, but bears no proportion in value to that of Borneo. There is also an imitation of camphor in Japan, but every body can distinguish it from the genuine.

The camphor of Sumatra is procured from the stem of a large tree, Dryobalanops Camphora, Colebrook; D. aromatica, Graertner. It is secreted in crystalline masses naturally into cavities of the wood. It supplies this camphor only after attaining a considerable age. In its young state it yields, however, by incision, a pale yellow liquid, called the liquid camphor of Borneo and Sumatra, which consists of resin and a volatile oil having a camphorated odor.

An account of this tree, and of the mode of procuring the peculiar and high-priced camphor which it yields, is given by Dr. Junghuhn, who has travelled lately in Sumatra, and Prof. De Vriese, of Leyden, in the "Nederlandsch Kruidkundig Archief" for 1851. An abstract of the memoir, translated into English by Miss De Vriese, is published in "Hooker's Journal of Botany " for February and March 1852:—

The Dryobalanops is a gigantic tree, rising for fifty or even a hundred feet above those which compose the chief mass of the forests where they grow, just as the steeples of the churches appear above the roofs of the houses in a town. The trunks of the full-grown trees are from 7 to 10 feet in diameter at the very base, and from 5 to 8 feet higher up; they rise to the height of 100 or 130 feet, and their ample crown is from 50 to 70 feet in diameter. The tree has a limited range, being confined to the seaward slope of the mountains of southwestern Sumatra, most abundant on the lower slopes and the outlying hills of the alluvial plain, and extending in latitude from 1deg. 10m. to 2deg. 20m. N., and perhaps further to the north. Camphor oil occurs in all the trees, and is most abundant in the younger branches and leaves. The solid camphor is found only on the trunks of older trees, especially in fissures of the wood, and in smaller quantity than is generally supposed. Colebrooke, and authors who have copied from him, assert that camphor is found in the heart of the tree in such a quantity as to fill a cavity of the thickness of a man's arm, and that a single tree yields about eleven pounds. The price of this camphor, which at Padang sells for about 340 dollars per hundred weight, suffices to show that the account is much exaggerated. The camphor occurs only in small fissures, from which the natives, having felled the trees and split up the wood, scrape it off with small splinters or with their nails. From the oldest and richest trees they rarely collect more than two ounces. After a long stay in the woods, frequently of three months, during which they may fell a hundred trees, a party of thirty persons rarely bring away more than 15 or 20 pounds of solid camphor, worth from 200 to 250 dollars. The variety and price of this costly substance are enhanced by a custom which has immemorially prevailed among the Battas, of delaying the burial of every person who during his life had a claim to the title of Rajah (of which each village has one) until some rice, sown on the day of his death, has sprung up, grown and borne fruit. The corpse, till then kept above ground among the living, is now, with these ears of rice, committed to the earth, like the grain six months before; and thus the hope is emblematically expressed that, as a new life arises from the seed, so another life shall begin for man after his death. During this time the corpse is kept in the house, enclosed in a coffin made of the hollowed trunk of a Durion, and the whole space between the coffin and the body is filled with pounded camphor, for the purchase of which the family of the deceased Rajah frequently impoverish themselves. The camphor oil is collected by incisions at the base of the trunk, from which the clear balsamic juice is very slowly discharged.

In Sumatra the best camphor is obtained in a district called Barus, and all good camphor bears that local name. It appears that the tree is cut down to obtain the gum and that not in one tenth of the trees is it found. Barus camphor is getting scarce, as the tree must be destroyed before it is ascertained whether it is productive or not. About 800 piculs are annually sent to China. The proportion between Malay and Chinese camphor is as eighteen to one; the former is more fragrant and not so pungent as the latter.

Nine hundred and eighty-three tubs of camphor were exported from Java in 1843; 625 bales were imported in 1843, the produce of the Japanese empire; and 559 piculs exported from Canton in 1844.

The price of unrefined camphor in the Liverpool market in July, 1853, was £4 to £4 10s. the cwt. There have been no imports there direct in the last two years.

Camphor (says Dr. Ure) is found in a great many plants and is secreted in parity by several laurels; it occurs combined with the essential oils of many of the labiacæ; but it is extracted for manufacturing purposes only from the Laurus Camphora, which abounds in China and Japan, as well as from a tree which grows in Sumatra and Borneo, called in the country kapur barus, from the name of the place where it is most common. The camphor exists, ready formed, in these vegetables between the wood and the bark; but it does not exude spontaneously. On cleaving the tree Laurus Sumatrensis (Qy. Dryobalanops Camphora), masses of camphor are found in the pith. The wood of the Laurus is cut into small pieces and put, with plenty of water, into large iron boilers, which are covered with an earthen capital or dome, lined within with rice straw. As the water boils, the camphor rises with the steam, and attaches itself as a sublimate to the stalks, under the form of granulations of a grey color. In this state it is picked off the straw and packed up for exportation to Europe."—(" Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures.")

The price of camphor at Canton in July, 1850, was from fourteen to fifteen dollars per picul.

Cinchona.—Peruvian or Jesuit's Bark—One of the most valuable and powerful astringents and tonics used in medicine, is the produce of several species of cinchona, natives of the Andes, from 11 north latitude to 20 south latitude, at elevations varying from 1,200 to 10,000 feet above the level of the sea, and in a dry rocky soil. There are at least twelve trees which are supposed to furnish the barks of commerce, and great obscurity prevails as to the species whence the various kinds of cinchona bark are derived. The names of yellow, red, and pale bark have been very vaguely applied, and are by no means well defined. Dr. Lindley mentions twenty-six varieties; of which twenty-one are well known. The barks are met with either in thick, large, flat pieces, or in thinner pieces, which curl inwards during drying, and are called quilled.

Quinine is one of the most important of the vegetable alkaline bitters. It was first discovered by Vauquelin, in 1811, and its preparation on a large scale pointed out by Pelletier and Caventon in 1820. It is obtained by boiling the yellow bark (Cinchona) in water and sulphuric acid, and then treating it with lime and alcohol, when the quinine is precipitated in the form of a white powder. Upwards of 120,000 ounces are made annually in Paris.

Cinchona, or the Peruvian bark, was gathered to the amount of two million dollars in one year recently, and the demand is constantly increasing.

Peruvian bark is cut in the eastern Provinces of Bolivia, skirting the river Paraguay, and now conveyed an immense distance by mules over a mountainous region to El Puerto, the only port of Bolivia on the Pacific. It is thence brought by Cape Horn to the cities of the United States and Europe. Now that Government has been successful in opening the South American rivers, this important article of commerce will be furnished in market by the Paraguay and La Plata rivers, at a much reduced price.

A species of bark from Colombia, known as Malambo or Matias bark, has been frequently administered by Dr. Alexander Ure as a substitute for cinchona with good effect. It offers the useful combination of a tonic and aromatic. It is supposed to be the produce of a species of Drimys. It is stated that in New Granada, and other districts of Central America, where the tree is indigenous, incisions are made in the bark, and there exudes an aromatic oil which sinks in water.

Cinchona bark contains two alkaloids, cinchonia and quina, to which its active properties are due; the former is best obtained from gray bark, the latter from yellow bark. In combination with these there exists an acid called kinic acid.

The imports of cinchona bark to this country are from 225,000 to 556,000 lbs. annually, and about 120,000 lbs. are retained for home consumption. It comes over in chests and serons, or ox-hides, varying from 90 to 200 lbs. We imported from France, in 1850, 489 cwt. of Peruvian bark, of the value of £6,840; and in 1851, 1,128 cwt., of the value of £15,787; also the following quantities of sulphate of quinine, on which there is a duty of 6d. and 3-10ths per ounce.

	oz.	£
1848	3,856	5,898
1849	1,114	1,560
1850	8,976	12,566
1851	7,605	10,647

The following is the arrangement of these barks adopted by Pereira, who has gone very fully into the subject:—

A. True cinchonas, with a brown epidermis.

I. Pale barks 1. Crown or Loxa bark. C. Condaminea. 2. Gray or silver or Huanuco bark. C. micrantha. 3. Ash or Jaen bark. C. ovata. 4. Rusty or Huamalies bark. C. pubescens.

II. Yellow barks. 5. Royal, yellow or Calisaya bark. C. sp ?

III. Red barks. 6. Red bark. C. sp ?

B. True cinchonas, with a white epidermis.

I. Pale barks. 7. White Loxa bark.

II. Yellow barks. 8. Hard Carthagena bark. C. cordifolia. 9. Fibrous ditto. Perhaps C. cordifolia. 10. Cuzco bark. C. sp.? 11. Orange bark of Santa Fe. C. lancifolia.

III. Red barks. 12. Bed bark of Santa Fe. C. oblongifolia.

The genus Exostemma yields various kinds of false cinchona bark, which do not contain the cinchona alkalies. The following are some of the kinds noticed by Pereira:—

• 1. St. Lucia or Piton bark. Exostemma floribundum.
• 2. Jamaica bark. E. caribaeum.
• 3. Pitaya bark. E. sp?
• 4. False Peruvian bark. E. peruvianum.
• 5. Brazilian bark. E. souzianum.

The mode adopted by the bark-peelers of obtaining cinchona varies somewhat in different districts. The Indians (says Mr. Stevenson, "Twenty Years' Residence in South America") discover from the eminences where a cluster of trees grow in the woods, for they are easily discernable by the rose-colored tinge of their leaves, which appear at a distance like bunches of flowers amid the deep-green foliage of other trees. They then hunt for the spot, and having found it out, cut down all the trees, and take the bark from the branches, and after they have stripped off the bark, they carry it in bundles out of the wood, for the purpose of drying it. The peelers commence their operation about May, when the dry season sets in. Some writers state that the trees are barked without felling.

In a letter published in one of the Calcutta papers not long ago, from the pen, I believe, of Mr. Piddington, he strongly urged the introduction of the cinchona tree into British India:—

There is (he observes) one tree, the introduction and the copious distribution of which within certain appropriate points of the sub-Himalayan range, "would confer a greater blessing on the great body of natives, than any effort the Government has made or can make, and that is the cinchona bark tree.

Without any reference to the greater or less force of medical theories as to the efficacy of cinchona bark, I now only take an experienced and practical view, well knowing that the sufferings of many millions of poor and rich natives, especially in the jungle districts, are yearly very great, and the mortality quite enormous from remittent and intermittent fevers, by far the greater part of which would be immensely relieved, or wholly cured, by the free use of cinchona bark.

If by abundance the price be once brought within the poor native's reach, he will readily take to it, having no objection whatever on account of caste to anything of the nature of the bark of a tree.

If the cinchona tree were once growing in abundance, quinine could be easily prepared in India, from the facility of procuring, and cheapness of spirits of wine used in the process of its elimination.

I take it that every hundred Sepahees sick of fevers remaining in hospital off duty for thirty days, drawing an average pay of eight rupees each, form a full monthly loss to Government of eight hundred rupees; while a free use of quinine and bark would cure them in ten days on the average, costing at present about forty rupees; thus by the twenty days' services gained, Government would save nearly five hundred rupees.

But the cinchona tree once glowing abundantly, quinine would of course become infinitely cheaper.

Under a proper system of culture, quill bark only need be taken without destroying the trees, and an earlier return be obtained.

There never yet has been a substitute found for cinchona bark and its salts, as an antiperiodic and tonic.

It yet remains for some one to find an equally efficacious substitute, and thus make a fortune. In the mean time the importance of the cinchona is paramount.

The cinchona tree, like the pimento, deteriorates under cultivation, and in moist, warm, rich valleys the bark becomes inert. The best bark is from trees growing on mountain tops or steep declivities.

From the full accounts of Condamine, Mutis, and Humboldt, a soil and climate like that of the north west sub-Himalayan range is admirably adapted to the planting and prospering of cinchona trees.

In Lord W. Bentinck's time, before there were steamers in or to India, seeing the immense benefit to be derived, I sent in a proposition to procure young cinchona plants from Vera Cruz, begging to be then permitted to proceed there on that account, and my proposition was civilly and even favorably received; but these were not the days to act on it.

Of about the twenty species of cinchona trees the following would of course be the best to bring—the Cinchona bineifolia, the cinchona cordifolia, the cinchona oblongifolia, the cinchona micrantha, and the cinchona condaminea.

The Calumba plant (Cocculus palmatus, Decandolle, or Minispermum palmatum) furnishes the medicinal Colombo root, which is one of the most useful stomachics and tonics in cases of dyspepsia. It is scarcely ever cultivated, the spontaneous produce of thick forests on the shores of Oibo and Mozambique and many miles inland on the eastern shores of Africa, Madagascar and Bombay, proving sufficient. The supplies principally go to Ceylon. The roots are perennial, and consist of several fasciculated, fusiform, branched, fleshy, curved and descending tubers, from one to two inches thick, with a brown warty epidermis; internally deep yellow, odorless, very bitter.

The main roots are dug up by the natives in March (the hot season). The offsets are cut in slices and hung up on cords to dry in the shade. It is deemed fit to ship when, on exposure to the sun, it breaks short, and of a bad quality when it is soft and black.—("Pereira's Materia Medica.")

It contains a bitter crystallizable principle called Calumbin.

The commercial parcels are often adulterated with the roots of Costus indicus, C. speciosus, and C. Arabicus (Kusmus, Putckuk, &c.). It is imported into this country in bags and chests of from one to three cwt., and ranges in price from £1 to £2 the cwt. The imports in 1846 to London were 82 packages, and in 1850, 214 packages, but the stock held in London is always large, being nearly 2,500 packages.

Colocynth, furnished by Cucumis colocynthis and C. pseudocolocynthis, is the dried medullary part of a wild species of gourd which is cultivated in Spain. It also grows wild in Japan, the sandy lands of Coromandel, Cape of Good Hope, Syria, Nubia, Egypt, Turkey, and the islands of the Grecian Archipelago. It may be obtained in the jungles of India in cart loads. The fruit, which is about the size of an orange, with a thin but solid rind, is gathered in autumn, when ripe and yellow, and in most countries is peeled and dried either in the sun or by stoves. It comes over from Cadiz, Trieste, Mogadore, &c., in cases, casks, &c., and duty was paid on about 11,000 lbs. in 1839.

CUBEBS.—The dried unripe fruit of P. Cubebi, or Cubeba qfficinalia, a climbing plant of the pepper tribe, native of Prince of Wales' Island, Java, and the Indian islands furnishes the medicinal cubebs, which is used extensively in arresting discharges from mucous membranes. In appearance cubebs resemble black pepper, except that they are higher colored and are each furnished with a stalk two or three lines long. Dr. Blume says, that the cubebs of the shops are the fruit of P. caninum. This species of pepper, when fresh and good, contains nearly 10 per cent. of essential oil.

In 1842 the quantity entered for home consumption was 67,093 lbs. The average imports are about 40 to 50 tons annually. 3 cases were imported into Liverpool in 1851. The price in the Liverpool market, in January 1853, was £3 10s. to £4 10s. the cwt.

GAMBOGE.—This resinous juice, which is a most important article of commerce, is furnished by some of the plants of Gambogia, natives principally of South America. It is a powerful irritant, and is employed medicinally as a drastic and hydragogue cathartic. From its bright yellow color it is also used as a pigment.

Gamboge fetches in the London market from £5 to £11 per cwt.

Some of the species of Stalagmites (Murray), natives of Ceylon and the East, yield a similar yellow viscid juice, hardly distinguishable from gamboge, and used for the same purpose by painters. They are a genus of fine ornamental trees, thriving well in soils partaking of a mixture of loam and peat.

According to Kœnig, the juice is collected by breaking off the leaves or young branches. From the fracture the gamboge exudes in drops, and is therefore called gum gutta. It is received on leaves, coco-nut shells, earthen pots, or in bamboos; it gradually hardens by age, and is then wrapped up in leaves prior to sale.

The common gamboge of Ceylon is produced by a plant which Dr. Graham was led to view as a species of a new genus under the name of Hebradendron Gambogoides. A very different species, the Garcinia Gambogia, of Roxburgh, once supposed to produce gamboge, and indeed actually confounded by Linnæus with the true gamboge tree of Ceylon, he has proved not to produce gamboge at all.

This substance is also obtained from several other plants, as the Mangostana Gambogia (Gaertner), Hypericwm bacciferum and Cayanense, natives of the East Indies, Siam and Ceylon, whence it is imported in small cakes and rolls or cylindrical twisted masses. Its composition is as follows: number 1 being an analysis by Professor Christison of a commercial specimen from Ceylon; number 2 of a fine sample of common ditto:—

	1	2
Resin, or fatty acid	78.84	74.8
Coloring matter	4.03	3.5
Gum	12.59	16.5
Residue	4.54	5.2
	100.00	100.0

The average imports of gamboge into the port of London, during the past five or six years, have been from 400 to 500 chests of one to two cwt. each.

Gentian.—The yellow gentian root (Gentiana lutea) is the officinal species, and a native of the Alps of Austria and Switzerland.

The stems and roots of G. amarella and campestris, British species, and G. cruciata, purpurea, punctata, &c., are similar in their effects, having tonic, stomachic, and febrifugal properties. So has G. kurroo of the Himalayas. The root is generally taken up in autumn, when the plant is a year old. It is cut longitudinally into pieces of a foot or a foot and a half long. They are imported into this country in bales from Havre, Marseilles, &c., and a good deal comes from Germany. In 1839, 470 cwts. were entered for home consumption.

Chiretta is the herb and root of Agathotes Chirayta, Don; Gentiana Chirayta, Fleming; or Ophelia chirayta, a herbaceous plant, growing in the Himalaya mountains about Nepaul and the Morungs.

Ipecacuan.— Cephælis Ipecacuanhæ, Richard, yields the ipecacuan of the shops. The plant is met with in the woods of several Brazilian provinces, as Pernambuco, Bahia and Rio Janeiro. It is found growing in moist shady situations, from 8 to 20 degs. south latitude. The roots, which are the officinal part, are contorted, knotty and annulated, and about the thickness of a goose quill.

Besides this brown or gray annulated ipecacuan, there are spurious kinds, such as the striated or black Peruvian, the produce of Pyschotria elliptica, and other species; and white or amylaceous ipecacuan, furnished by Richardsonia scabra, an herbaceous perennial, native of the provinces of Rio Janeiro and Minas Geraes. Manettia glabra or cordifolia, also furnishes ipecacuan in Buenos Ayres. It is imported into this country from Rio in bales, barrels, bags, and serons, and the average annual imports in the eight years ending in 1841 were 10,000 lbs. In 1840, the shipments from Rio were as much as 20,000 lbs.

Castelnau states, that one expert hand can gather 15 lbs. of the ipecacuan root in a day, which will fetch in Rio one dollar per pound. He estimates that, from 1830 to 1837, not less than 800,000 lbs. of this drug were exported from the province of Matto Grosso to Rio.

Jalap.—This drug is obtained from the dried tubers or root-stock of Ipomœa Jalapa or Convolvulus Jalapa, a perennial plant, native of America. Some suppose it takes its specific name from Xalapa, in Mexico, whence we chiefly import it. It grows in the woods near Chicanquiaco, at an altitude of 6,000 feet above the level of the sea. Large quantities might be gathered and exported in Jamaica. The root is of a roundish tuberous form, black externally, and of a deep, yellowish grey within, and varies in size from that of a walnut to that of a moderate sized turnip. It contains a resin in which its active properties reside. It is brought to this country in thin transverse slices, and the amount entered for home consumption is about 45,000 lbs. a year. It is imported in bales, from Vera Cruz direct, or indirectly by way of New York, and other places.

Two sorts of jalap root occur in commerce. The one which was first introduced into the market, and which is even at the present day most frequently met with, is obtained from the Ipomœa Schiedeana of Zuccarini, a plant growing on the eastern declivity of the Mexican Andes, and discovered by Von Schiedes. The root, as met with in commerce, consists of pieces varying from the size of a nut to that of the fist, sometimes whole, sometimes cut into disks, and at other times divided into two or three portions. The external surface is of a more or less dark gray brown color, corrugated and rough. It is very hard, presents a shining resinous even surface when broken, and is difficult to reduce to powder. The powder is of a brownish color, has a faint peculiar odor and irritant taste.

The second quality, which was introduced into commerce is great quantities a few years ago, by the name of stalk jalap, is now more scarce, and obtained from the Ipomœa orazabensis of Pelletan, a plant growing without cultivation in the neighbourhood of the Mexican town of Orizaba. The root, as met with in the trade, consists of pieces varying from one to three inches in length, and 1½ to two inches in diameter. They are of a higher color than the first-named root, and of decidedly fibrous structure. The chief constituents of both varieties is a peculiar resin, of which they contain about 10 per cent.

Scammony.—The root of Convolvulus Scammonia, another plant of the same family, affords, when cut, a gummy resinous exudation or milky juice, which soon concretes and forms scammony. The plant grows abundantly in Greece, the Grecian Islands, and various parts of the Levant. It is imported from Aleppo in drums, weighing from 75 to 125 lbs. each, and from Smyrna in compact cakes like wax packed in chests. In 1839, the quantity on which duty (2s. 6d. per lb.) was paid amounted to 8,581 lbs. The duty received for scammony, in 1842, was £607. A spurious kind is prepared from Calystegia (Convolvulus) sepium, a native of Australia, and several plants of the Asclepiadacæ order.

Dr. Russell ("Med. Obs. and Inqui.") thus describes the mode of procuring scammony:—

Having cleared away the earth from the upper part of the root, the peasants cut off the top in an oblique direction, about two inches below where the stalks spring from it. Under the most depending part of the slope they affix a shell, or some other convenient receptacle, into which the milky juice flows. It is then left about twelve hours, which time is sufficient for the drawing off of the whole juice; this, however, is in small quantities, each root affording but a few drachms. This milky juice from the several roots is put together, often into the leg of an old boot, for want of some more proper vessel, when in a little time it grows hard, and is the genuine scammony. Various substances are often added to scammony while yet soft. Those with which it is most usually adulterated are wheat flour, ashes, or fine sand and chalk.

Liquorice.—The plant which yields the liquorice root of commerce is Glycirrhiza glabra or Liquiritia officinalis. It is a native of Italy and the southern parts of Europe, but has been occasionally cultivated with success in Britain, especially at Pontefract, in Yorkshire, and at Mitcham, in Surrey. The plant is a perennial, with pale blue flowers. It grows well in a deep, light, sandy loam, and is readily increased by slips from the roots with eyes. The root, which is the only valuable part, is long, slender, fibrous, of a yellow color, and when grown in England is fit for use at the end of three years. The sweet, subacid, mucilaginous juice is much esteemed as a pectoral. It owes its sweetness to a peculiar principle called glycrin or glycirrhiza, which appears also to be present in the root and leaves of other papilionaceous plants, as G. echinata and glandulifera, Trifoliwm alpinum, and the wild liquorice of the West Indies, Abrus precatorius, a pretty climber.

The greatest portion of our supplies of the extract, which amount to 7,000 or 8,000 cwts. a year, are obtained from Spain and Sicily. The juice, obtained by crushing the roots in a mill, and subjecting them to the press, is slowly boiled, till it becomes of a proper consistency, when it is formed into rolls of a considerable thickness, which are usually covered with bay leaves. It is afterwards usually re-dissolved, purified, and, when formed into small quills, is known as refined liquorice.

In 1839, 1,166 tons of liquorice paste were exported from Naples, valued at £45 per ton. Mr. Poole, in his Statistics of Commerce, states that the consumption of liquorice root and paste in this country averages 500 tons per annum. 110 cwt. of the juice and 100 cwt. of the root are annually brought into Hull from the continent.

Matico—the Peruvian styptic, a powerful vegetable astringent, was first made known to the medical profession of England by Dr. Jeffreys, of Liverpool, in the Lancet, as far back as January 5th, 1839. A paper on its history and power was published in May, 1843, in the "Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association," vol. 10. It is stated to be the Piper angustifolium of Ruiz and Parsons. Dr. Martin believes it to be a species of Phlomis. The leaves are covered with a fine hair.

The powdered leaves of the Eupatorium glutinosum, under the name of Matico, are used about Quito for stanching blood and healing wounds. A good article on the pharmaceutical and chemical character of matico, by Dr. J.F. Hodges, appeared in the "Proceedings of the Chemical Society of London," in 1845. It is stated, by Dr. Martin, that, like the gunjah, which the East Indians prepare, from the Cannabis Indica, the leaves and flowers of the matico have been long employed by the sensual Indians of the interior of Peru to prepare a drink which they administer to produce a state of aphrodisia. The leaves and flowering tops of the plant are the parts imported and introduced to notice as a styptic, which property seems to depend on their structure and not on their chemical composition.

Quassia.—The quassia wood of the pharmacopœia was originally the product of Quassia amara, a tall shrub, never above fifteen feet high, native of Guiana, but also inhabiting Surinam and Colombia. It is a very ornamental plant, and has remarkable pinnate leaves with winged petioles. This wood is well known as one of the most intense bitters, and is considered an effectual remedy in any disorder where pure bitters are required. Surinam quassia is not, however, to be met with now. That sold in the shops is the tough, fibrous, bitter bark of the root of Simaruba (Quassia) excelsa and officinalis, very large forest trees, growing in Cayenne, Jamaica, and other parts of the West India Islands, where they bear the local name of bitter-wood. Its infusion is used as a tonic. 23 tons of bitter-wood were shipped from Montego Bay, Jamaica, in 1851. Quassia acts as a narcotic poison on flies and other insects. Although prohibited by law, it is frequently employed by brewers as a substitute for hops. The duty of £8 17s. 6d. per cwt., levied on quassia, is intended to restrict its use for such a purpose.

Rhubarb.—This most important plant belongs to the genus Rheum. The officinal rhubarb is the root of an undetermined species. There are about thirteen different kinds which are said to yield rhubarb. Lindley enumerates fifteen. I however take Professor Balfour's classification:—

1. Rheum palmatum, native of Bucharia, which has perhaps the best title to be considered the true rhubarb-plant, grows spontaneously in the Mongolian empire on the confines of China.

2. R. undulatum, native of China, which yields much of the French rhubarb.

3. R. compactum, native of Tartary, another species yielding French rhubarb, and often cultivated in Britain for its acid petioles.

4. R. Emodi (Wallich). This species yields a kind of Himalayan rhubarb. Its petioles are much used for their acid properties.

5. R. Rhaponticum, native of Asia. Used in France and Britain in the same way as the third species. It is much cultivated in the department of Morbihan.

6. R. hybridum (Murr). Much cultivated in Germany for its root and in Britain for its stalks.

7. R. Webbianum (Royle). 8. R. Spiceformi (Royle). 9. R. Moorcroftianum (Royle). Himalayan species or varieties.

10. R. crassinervium (Fisch), a Russian species.

11. R. leucorhizum (Pall), a Siberian and Altai species, said to yield imperial or white rhubarb. It has striped flowers, while all others are whitish green.

12. R. Caspicum (Fisch), a Russian and Altai species.

13. R. Ribes, native of the Levant, but some say an Afghanistan or Persian species.

All these grow in the cold parts of the world, as on the Altai mountains, in Siberia, Thibet, North of China, and on the Himalayan range. The rhubarb procured from one or more of these species is known in commerce under the names of Russian or Turkey, Chinese or East Indian, and English rhubarb.

The plants all thrive well in a rich loamy soil, or light sandy soil, and are increased by divisions of the roots or by seed.

The extent of country from which rhubarb of one kind or another is actually collected, according to Christison, stretches from Ludall, in 77½ east longitude, to the Chinese province of Shen-si, 29 degrees further east, and from the Sue-chan mountains, in north latitude 26 degrees, nearly to the frontiers of Siberia, 24 degrees northward. The best rhubarb is said to come from the very heart of Thibet, within 95 degrees east longitude and 35 degrees north latitude, 500 or 600 miles north of Assam.

The Chinese rhubarb is inferior to that of Russia and Turkey. The price varies in China from 38 dollars per picul upwards, and about 1,500 piculs are annually exported, on an average at 50 dollars per picul. In 1844, 2,077 piculs were shipped from Canton for Great Britain; and of 95,701 lbs. imported in 1841, 43,640 lbs. were brought from China, 8,349 lbs. from the Philippines, 7,290 lbs. from the East Indies, and 33,710 lbs. from the United States; only 1,462 lbs. were brought from Russia. The imports from the East Indies have decreased more than 70 per cent. in the last twelve years, as compared with the preceding. The wholesale prices are, for round rhubarb, 8d. to 3s. per lb.; flat, 6d. to 3s. 3d. per lb.; Dutch trimmed, 6s. to 7s. per lb.; Russian, 13s. to 13s. 6d. per lb.

In 1831, we imported 133,462 lbs. from the East India Company's possessions, and 6,901 lbs. from Russia. In 1843, only 71,298 lbs. came from the East. From China we received, in 1843, 172,882 lbs.

The quantities of rhubarb on which duty of 1s. per lb. was paid in the six years ending 1840, were as follows;—

	East Indian. lbs.	Foreign. lbs.
1835	32,515	10,647
1836	36,836	7,752
1837	44,669	5,946
1838	37,026	7,402
1839	22,575	12,525
1840	16,745	22,203

The imports and consumption of rhubarb are thus stated in the Pharmaceutical Journal:—

	Imports. lbs.	Consumption. lbs.
1826	102,624	32,936
1831	140,395	40,124
1836	122,142	44,468
1841	95,701	67,877
1846	427,694	—
1847	305,736	—
1848	116,005	—
1849	94,914	—

The rhubarb brought into Siberia grows wild in Chinese Tartary, especially in the province Gansun, on hills, heaths, and meadows, and is generally gathered in summer from plants of six years of age. "When the root is dug up, it is washed to free it from earthy particles; peeled, bored through the centre, strung on a thread, and dried in the sun. In autumn all the dried rhubarb collected in the province is brought in horsehair sacks, containing about 200 lbs., to Sinin (the residence of the dealers), loaded on camels, and sent over Mongolia to Kiachta, and the ports and capital of China.

Sarsaparilla.—The root of various species of Smilax constitutes the sarsaparilla of the shops. It is an evergreen climbing undershrub, having whitish green flowers, and grows readily from suckers. It is a native of the temperate and tropical regions of Asia and America. The officinal part is the bark, which comes off from the rhizomes. They are mucilaginous, bitter, and slightly acid. Sarsaparilla is used in decoction and infusion as a tonic and alterative. The following are enumerated as sources whence sarsaparilla of various kinds is derived.

Smilax China and sagittæfolia, yielding the Chinese root, are said to come from the province of Onansi in China.

S. pseudo China, S. Sarsaparilla, S. rubens, and S. Watsoni, furnish the drug of North America.

The sarsaparilla distinguished in commerce as the Lisbon or Brazilian is the root of S. papyracea of Poiret. It is an undershrub, the stem of which is compressed and angular below, and armed with prickles at the angles. The leaves are elliptic, acuminate, and marked with three longitudinal nerves. This species grows principally in the regions bordering the river Amazon, and on the banks of most of its tributary streams. It is generally brought from the provinces of Para and Maranham. It is in large cylindrical bundles, long and straight, and the flexible stem of the plant is bound round the bundles, so as to entirely cover them. Its fibres are very long, cylindrical, wrinkled longitudinally, and furnished with some lateral fibrils. Its color is of a fawn brown, or sometimes of a dark grey, approaching to black. The color internally is nearly white. Besides this species there are others indigenous, such as S. officinalis, which grows in the province of Mina; S. syphilitica, which grows in the northern regions, and three new species, S. japicanga, S. Brasiliensis, and S. syringioides. There is also met with in Brazil another plant, Herreria sarsaparilla, belonging to the same natural order, which abounds in the provinces of Rio, Bahia, and Mina, and the roots of which receive the name of wild sarsaparilla.

From Mexico, Honduras, and Angostura very good qualities are imported. S. zeylanica, glabra, and perfoliata furnish sarsaparilla from Asia, and S. excelsa and aspera are used as substitutes for the officinal drug in Europe.

Smilax officinalis, found in woods near the Rio Magdalena in New Granada, furnishes the best in the market, which is commonly known as Jamaica Sarza. It differs from the other kinds in having a deep red cuticle of a close texture, and the color is more generally diffused through the ligneous part. It is shipped in bales, formed either of the spirally formed roots, as in the Jamaica and Lima varieties, or of unfolded parallel roots, as in the Brazilian varieties. The roots are usually several feet long, about the thickness of a quill, more or less wrinkled, and the whole quantity retained for home consumption, in 1840, was 143,000 lbs. In 1844, 184,748 lbs., and in 1845 111,775 lbs. were shipped from Honduras.

The prices in the London market, at the close of 1853, were —Brazil, 1s. 3d. per lb.; Honduras, 1s. 3d. to 1s. 8d. per lb.; Vera Cruz, 6d. to 11d. per lb.; Jamaica, 1s. 8d. to 3s. 4d. per lb. The duty received on sarsaparilla in 1842 was £1,536.

The average annual quantity of sarsaparilla obtained from Mexico and South America, exclusive of Brazil, and taken for home consumption, in the twelve years ending with 1843 was 37,826 lbs.

IMPORTS OF BRAZILIAN SARSAPARILLA.

	lbs.
1827	28,155
1828	49,280
1829	52,772
1830	19,842
1831	31,972
1832	91,238
1833	13,077
1834	28,803
1835	22,387
1836	1,718
1837	12,842
1838	—
1839	9,484
1840	4,141
1841	1,399
1842	5,572

The total imports in 1849 were 118,934 lbs.

Sarsaparilla has been found growing in the Port Phillip district of Australia, and has been shipped thence in small quantities. It seems to be indigenous to the Bahamas, and is to be found on many of the out islands. Mr. Wm. Dalzell, of Abaco, collected some considerable quantity at a place called Marsh Harbor, which was found to be of a superior quality.

Some thousands of pounds of sarsaparilla were brought to Falmouth, Jamaica, last year, and bought by merchants for export. It came from the parish of St. Elizabeth, and there are whole forests covered with this weed, for such in reality it is. It is too the real black Jamaica sarsaparilla, that is so much valued in the European and American markets. It is also found in other parts of the island.

In 1798 3,674 lbs. of sarsaparilla were shipped from La Guayra; 2,394 lbs. in 1801 from Puerto Cabella, and 400 quintals from Costa Rica, in 1845, valued at eight dollars a quintal.

SENNA.—Several varieties of Cassia, natives of the East, are grown for the production of this drug. The dried leaves of C. lanceolata or orientalis, grown in Egypt, Syria, and Arabia, the true Mecca senna, are considered the best. In Egypt the leaves of Cynanchum Arghel are used for adulterating senna, Cassia obovata or C. senna, also a native of Egypt, cultivated in the East Indies, as well as in Spain, Italy, and Jamaica. It is a perennial herb, one or two feet high. In the East Indies there is a variety (C. elongata) common about Tinnivelly, Coimbatore, Bombay, and Agra, &c. Several of this species are common in the West India islands. The plants, which are for the most part evergreens, grow from two to fifteen feet high; they delight in a loamy soil, or mixture of loam or peat.

The seed is drilled in the ground, and the only attention required by the plant is loosening the ground and weeding two or three times when it is young.

The senna leaves imported from India are not generally so clean and free from rubbish as those from Alexandria. They are worth from 20s. to 27s. per cwt. in the Bombay market.

The prices are—Alexandria, l½d. to 6d. per lb.; East Indian, 2d. to 3d. per lb.; Tinnevelly, 7d. to 9½d. per lb.

Senna is collected in various parts of Africa by the Arabs, who make two crops annually; one, the most productive, after the rains in August and September, the other about the middle of March. It is brought to Boulack, the port of Cairo, by the caravans, &c., from Abyssinia, Nubia, and Sennaar, also by the way of Cossier, the Red Sea, and Suez. The different leaves are mixed, and adulterated with arghel leaves. The whole shipments from Boulack to Alexandria, whence it finds it way to Europe, is 14,000 to 15,500 quintals.

The quantities imported for home consumption were—

	From the East Indies. lbs.	Other places. lbs.	Total. lbs.
1838	72,576	69,538	142,114
1839	110,409	63,766	174,175

In 1840, 211,400 lbs. paid duty, which is now only 1d. per lb.

In 1848, we imported 800,000 lbs. from India; in 1849, the total imports were 541,143 lbs. The imports into the United Kingdom were, in 1847, 246 tons; 1848, 402 tons; 1849, 240 tons.

Alexandrian senna (Cassia acutifolia). This species is said by some to constitute the bulk of the senna consumed for medical purposes in Europe. It is much adulterated with the leaves of Cynanchum Arghel, Tiphrosia apollinea, and Coriaria myrtifolia.

C. lanceolata and C. ethiopica furnish other species of the same article, the greater part of the produce of which find its way to India, through the Red Sea, Surat, Bombay and Calcutta, the imports into Calcutta, in 1849, having been 79,212 lbs. C. obovata furnishes the Aleppo and Italian drug.

At least eight varieties of senna leaf are known in commerce in Europe—1. the Senna palthe; 2. Senna of Sennaar or Alexandria; 3. of Tripoli; 4. of Aleppo; 5. of Moka; 6. of Senegambia; 7. the false or Arghel; 8. the Tinnevelly.

In Egypt the senna harvest takes place twice annually, in April and September; the stalks are cut off with the leaves, dried before the sun, and then packed with date leaves. At Boulka, the drug is sorted, mixed, and adulterated, and passed into commerce through Alexandria.

Alexandrian senna, according to Mr. Jacob Bell ("Pharmaceutical Journal," vol. 2, p. 63), contains a mixture of two or more species of true senna. It consists principally of Cassia obovata and C. obtusata, and according to some authorities it occasionally contains C. acutifolia. This mixture is unimportant, but the Cynanchum Arghel, which generally constitutes a fifth of the weight on an average, possesses properties differing in some respects from true senna, and which render it particularly objectionable. The Tinnevelly senna, that most esteemed by the profession, is known by the size of the leaflets, which are much larger than those of any other variety; they are also less brittle, thinner and larger, and are generally found in a very perfect state, while the other varieties, especially the Alexandrian, are more or less broken. The leaves of the Cynanchum are similar in form to those of the lanceolate senna, but they are thicker and stiffer, the veins are scarcely visible, they are not oblique at the base, their surface is rugose, and the color grey or greenish drab; their taste is bitter and disagreeable, and they are often spotted with a yellow, intensely bitter gummo-resinous incrustation. Being less fragile than the leaflets of the true senna, they are more often found entire, and are very easily distinguishable from the varieties which constitute true Alexandrian senna.

In their botanical character they are essentially different, being distinct leaves, not leaflets, which is the case with true senna.

The SUMBUL root, which has recently been introduced into the French market, is the root of an umbelliferous plant, which is characterised by a strong odor of musk. The pilgrims, on their return from Mecca, generally import to Salonika, Constantinople, &c., among other articles of trade, various plants with a musk-like odor. The preparation of these vegetable substances is said to be effected by smearing them over with musk-balsam.