.. .tion could be obtained, none of th 
_ than a few months on them. All, 
9 THE ‘BROWN SCALE," 
with regard to the course which the epidemie runs. Thus, on the 
Lapallagalla estate, where it was first observed in 1843, it did not reach 
its maximum till 1846, when nearly the whole estate was covered with 
the pest, and its accompanying black smut, or fungus. During the two 
first years of its existence, little loss of crop was sustained ; but in 
1845 and 1846 the loss was upwards of two-thirds of what would 
have been produced had the trees been healthy. - In 1847 both the 
“bug ” and the smut began gradually to disappear, and before the end 
of the year, it is said that scarcely a vestige of it remained. The 
seeds of it, however, seem to have been left behind in no little abund- 
ance, for the trees are again this season over-run with the pest, and 
almost everywhere, but more particularly in hollows and ravines by the 
side of streams, the smut is again blackening the trees. | 
On the estate called Muruta, about a mile to the eastward of La- 
pallagalla, the epidemic has pursued a similar course; but, from 
being a season in arrear, it presents this year a somewhat i feet 
appearance. This estate first began to show symptoms of it in the 
year 1844. During that and the following year it did not cause much 
damage; but in 1846 it had extended over nearly the whole of the 
plantation, and about two-thirds of the produce was lost on those 
portions that were worst affected, In 1847 it disappeared in a great 
measure, but the trees had received such a shock, that those growing 
on the least fertile parts of the estate yielded almost no crop, while 
those on better soil, and therefore more able to recover themselves, — 
produced an average one. This season the trees at a distance appear 
to have become quite free from the evil, having nearly regained their 
usual green colour, and the crop promises to be a fair one for the 
district ; but when the young branches, the underside of the leaves, 
and the footstalks of the fruit are closely examined, the Scale in its 
different stages is still visible there ; and, as the insects multiply in 
excessive numbers, the probability is that the estate next year will be 
exactly in the same state that Lapallagalla is this season ; indeed, in 
the hollows, many patches of black are even now to be seen. 
. Of three or four other estates that were passed through in this 
Quarter, on my way to Dolisbagie, the next district, no precise informa- 
e superintendents having been longer: 
however, were found to be greatly 
diseased, large patehes, of aeres in extent, being very visible in 
