X02 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 1883. 



THE CAUSE OF CANKER IN CINOHOXAS. 

 Various people ot late have lieea giving you their ideas 

 on canker amongst cinchonas, and if jou can sp.are me the 

 space I should like to say a few words on the subject. 

 I do net believe, as one of your correspondents does, that 

 as large a percentage of the plants cl.itaincd in- the (iO's 

 from Hakgala died of canker, but that so little attention 

 was paid to them that it was not noticed. In the first 

 place, most of them were placed round roads — even now 

 the most f.avourable spot for their growth, as the soil is 

 loose and the wash infinitesimal — and had they died out 

 in the same wholesale fashion that we are now accustomed 

 to. it must liave been noticed. The tree was not ordin- 

 arily met with on estates, and the few there were on any 

 estate would naturally attract the attention of the manager, 

 and any enormous death-rate would be sure to have been 

 noted, "whereas we heaj-d of nothing of the .sort. The 

 ijeroentage of deaths has increased witli the increase of 

 the cultivation of cinchona, and I bebeve, at the pre.sent 

 moment, is far gi-eater in cletrings tha;i in coffee or round 

 road?. I think it pretty certain, that the plant abhors 

 crowding, at least with others of its kind. We have made 

 the grand inistake of supposing that cinchona would grow 

 anywhere, and some people seem to have thought anyhow, 

 and we are now finding out our mistake. Our bread is 

 commg back over the waters to us. The popular ideals 

 that wet is at the bottom of canker — either a wet soil or 

 a wet climate. That the former is inimical to the plant no 

 one can for a moment doubt, but that the latter is exactly 

 true. I tor one doubt very much. Rambodde, Nuwara Eliya, 

 and KandapoUe are far wetter districts than Haputale, 

 which is, perhaps, the driest district in Ceylon, yet o//iciiMrt.< 

 ■TOWS far better in the former wet districts than in the 

 fatter dry district, for with the exception of one estate 

 (Craig) officin.alis refuses to grow there, at all events in 

 clearings. How then is this? The soil ot Haputale one 

 would think must be a very heavy and close one, as com- 

 pared with KandapoUa and Nuwara Eliya. Butisthisso? 

 I do not think it. I know both districts fairly well, and 

 am not prepared to say that the soil of Haputaleis heavier 

 and more clayey than the other districts referred to. 

 I believe, therefore, that the popular idea of the cause of 

 canker, viz., that it arises either from wet soil or a wet 

 climate, is sufficient to account for the many contradic- 

 tions to that statement that are daily to be met with 

 around >is. Irrespective of the bail soil, bad plantmg, &c., 

 argument, which only refers to the plant itsslf, .and can 

 easily be .altered in the future in .any locality, the only 

 two other things that affect the question are soil and 

 climate. Now, if we find, as we often do, that of two 

 fields in our climate, or two fields in iippiu-nitly the same 

 soil, the one is a failure and the otlvr a success, what is 

 the inference ? That we were mistaken in supposing the 

 soil to be similar. It may be so to all appearance, but 

 there must be some chemical or miner.al constituents in 

 the one absent from the other, which is essential to the 

 healthy growth of. cinchonas. — Cor. Local " Times." 



TEA PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION. 



We have just received reports of several of 

 the more important Indian Tea Companies. The As- 

 sam Company complains of a deficiency of crop, 

 owing to a hailstorm of unexampled severity, and 

 later on to a deficiency of rainfall. The Land Mortgage 

 B.ank of India have "a generally s.n.tisfactory report 

 to render, their estimated tea-crop hnTing been realized 

 at a considerably reduced cost per lb. Their total 

 area in cultivation is now 6.613, acres, the capitalized 

 cost being t'4U per acre. The Directors state ^ how- 

 ever, thtit an average price of Is 2|d is not sufficiently 

 remunerative when the many risks attendant upon 

 tea-growing are taken into account and they hope 

 to reduce the cost price to Is per lb. In some of 

 the districts notably Cachar, insufficiency of labour 

 and unfavorable climatic influences are complained 

 of. The entire cost has been -taking the rupee ex- 

 penditure at 23, and including £2 000 of Calcutta 

 charges— eq^ual to Is 1 3 5thd per lb., against la S^d 

 the previou.'. year If the, rupee were taken ;it exchange 

 value, say Is 7Jcl, the cost of the crop laid down 



in London would appear at a fraction over lljdperlb. 

 The following table gives an interesting r^sum^ of 

 the properties of this Company and the results of 

 working them : — 



PnOPKRTir'S OF 



THE LaN'D MoRTG.tGE B.WK OF InT)I.\ 

 (LiMITRD.) 



r; (M (M Ci w c. -^ 

 I— ( 



X ic to O — ' o o 



CO Ci CI o m fM 



-J 1— t iC lO — ic — 1 

 ^** crj ic 4C CM — - (M 



^* Cl iC h- C' •— O 



I X iC ■— ' O X' t— ?D 

 -^ l-^ O 'Tl t— CO 



f^i Ci IC CO 



-H lO .-H 





Gi O ^ CO 







a 





r~ tr- -yi '^ a '2^ f~t 

 K O iC O t~ >— I »(^ 



CO t- O -H 33 rH 



<vj lO O O C-l X> CO 

 ^ (7^1 I— ^30 ■*.'-^1, 



co'^L'^ca CO CO '^^ 



to "^ CTi t>- 



CO CI r3 lo 

 -f -r> -x> c 



IQ O •* M 



—■ CO 



-2-tj ' 



o o oo o o 



ITS O I- O 31 O 

 CO I- -M t^ -* (M 



r-^ lO OO 



O CI ^ o 



o S 2 o 



bo 



? O 



V 



3 .s;.; 



■.? ? « le ,2 J= ■< <3 v; =" i3 

 O < ^ 



Still more comprehensive and important for tea in- 

 terests is the annual report just published of Messrs. 

 \V. J. and H. Tliompson. This document contains 

 so mucli practical information respecting the course 

 of the tea-market and the working of Indian Tea 

 Companies that we give it as nearly as possible in 

 full :— . ■ ■ , ' 



The completion of another period of twelve months, 

 reckoning from the 1st .Tune, 1882, affords an opportunity 

 for reviewing the eveiitu W'tho past season and consider- 



