September i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUMST, 



205 



estate he visited, he simply looked aghast, murmured 

 something to the effect that it was " a good estate 

 ruined by close plucUing," and took ship to Calcutta 

 again ; ondemuiug our, to us, promising industry as a 

 completefailure, and being a man of influence and money, 

 doubtless directly and indirectly, prevented a certain 

 amount of money being embarked in Ceylon tea. 



The foregoing has induced me to pen this letter, 

 and its object is to solicit through your- columns the 

 opinion and advice of our experienced Indian and 

 Ceylon tea planters, of whom there are not a few 

 in the island now, and who as " fathers of the tea 

 euterprize " (in the growing success of which they 

 all naturally take much pride) will, I have no doubt, 

 freely discuss a question of such grave importance 

 as this one, as on, it in a great measure depends the 

 liermanency and future success of this our most 

 promising industry.— Yours faithfully, 



IGNORANCE. 



[The alleged conduct of the Calcutta man seems 

 idiotic : to run away because he saw one estate over- 

 plucked. The estate could not be ruined by such a 

 mistake, the effects of which can always be remedied 

 by judicious pruning. But there is doubtless danger 

 of picking too closely, not merely because the owner 

 or proprietor of an estate may be desirous of obtain- 

 ing^ and showing large returns, but because it is so 

 difficult to restrain the coolies. The one great prin- 

 ciple is never to pluck leaf from the end of a sprig 

 which has not attained a length of six inches at 

 least : eight inches being a still better minimum to 

 be insisted on. — Ed.] 



GllUB ON COFFEE ESTATES AND 'UTIEDS. 



Deae Sir, — 'Would " Diogenes " be surprized to hear, that 

 weeds are a perfect cure tor grub ? A few years ago, the 

 upper part of Maria estate (Lmdula) was very bad mth 

 grub ; the proprietor allowed it to get weedy so that the 

 grub should have something to feed on, and not eat the 

 roots of the coffee, and the cure was perfect. Then why 

 waste money in buying mustard seed ? In India, they have 

 found that smut is worse in wheat growing close around 

 the -svild mustard. If we are not allowed to cultivate the 

 green crop for the coffee that nature provides, then Indian 

 corn is the next best we can grow, provided they are 

 bmied before the pods form, but the whiteweed kept in 

 bounds is undoubtedly the best. 



In former years, if one looked at the back of a healthy 

 coffee leaf, he could see with the naked eye, the tiny 

 mouths along the midrib, wide open, sucking in the hun\us 

 arising from the weeds; look at a leaf now, and all that 

 can be seen are a few knots and the humus was kept up 

 hi dry weather by the fall of dew at night. ATe know 

 that the brighter and dearer the night, the greater is the 

 fall of dew, and the following are what dew clings to most 

 of all ;— threads of the gossamer, swansdown, raw silk, un- 

 wrought cotton, flax, wool, grass, hah-, low plants and vtyct- 

 aUes liviiuj 01- </f (id, glass, and animal substances. The sub- 

 stances that show a marked ineptitude to receive dew are 

 rocks, liare earth., large masses of water and metals in 

 certam order. Baron Liebig told us what the whiteweed 

 is, and he told us to grow an intermediate crop. He could 

 not tell us to grow weeds, tor the simple reason that he 

 was a botanist. In botany, there is no such thing as a 

 weed : every plant has its name, but a plant out of place 

 is a weed, therefore it the whiteweed is in its place in 

 the cottee and kept in order, it is not a weed but ageratum, 

 and no doubt, the intermediate crop Baron Liebig in- 

 tended, and it must be remembered that the fii'st coffee 

 planters in Ceylon were experienced coffee planters brought 

 from the ^\"■est Indies, and had they been taught to keep 

 the estates thoroughly clean in the M'cst Indies they could 

 have done so in Ceylon quite as easily as has been done of 

 late years.— Yours truly, G. F. HALLILEY. 



THE LONDON CHARGES ON TEA. 



Lindula, 18th August 1883. 

 Dear Sir, — In your paper of the 7th inst. I notice 

 yo I bring to public notice the esovbitant " Loiidou 

 27 



dock charges " on tea, aud it seems to rne some mistake 

 has been made in charging nearly os on each halt- 

 chest of about 4211:). weight. 



It' s likely the account was not credited with the large 

 discount allowed by the dock company. I jiresume 

 the dill'erent dock companies' charges and discounts 

 are about the same, aud I enclose for your information 

 table of the rates, charges, etc., made by the London 

 and St. Katherine Docks Company, and discount allowed, 

 which please publish if you think of any service. — Yours 

 faithfully, \Vm. JORDAN. 



Pee Packaoe "Weighing Gkoss. 



.-a .J 



-3627211 91 17130 9J 05 



^*'^. T-( r-i OS ^ -II 



s. d. s. d. s. d. 5. d. s. d, 

 Landing and Hons- \ 

 ing Itate, compris- 

 i u ^ : landing, 

 wharfage, hous- 

 ing, separating in- 

 to chops, weighing, 

 furuishing lauding 

 weights, examin- 

 ing and turning 

 out and in for da- 

 rn a g e, mending, 

 laying down for 

 private inspection, 

 lotting, nailing 

 down, placing in 

 delivery pile, and 

 delicery bg land ] 

 Management, Rate ' 

 comprising the 

 same operatios as 

 the landingnand 

 housing rate, also 

 laying down for 

 publicsale, atteud- 

 ancewhilst on 

 show, extra ware- 

 house room, and 

 any other oper- 

 ations consequent 

 thereon aud de- 

 livery bg land j 

 Additional if shipped 50403020 



s. d. s. d. I 



a." 



1J CD 



s. d. 



■443327211 9i 140 lOJO 



Rent per week 



10 OJ 01 OJ 



li IJ 1 



05 z\ 11 05 



Bulking aud taring 2 10 241 11 15150 11 11 09 

 Discount 35 per cent. 



" De.id axd Dvixfj Coffee " in Brazil is thug 

 noticed iu the Itio Niifs: — The Emperor and Empress 

 left for Campos on the morning of the 22nd inst. to 

 attend to the formal inauguration of public electric 

 illumination in that city. His Majesty will find abund- 

 ant objects of interest on the journey— the s'erile low. 

 lands between Nitherohy and the mountains, tlie numer- 

 ous dead and dying coffee orchards about Ciutagallo, the 

 absence of thorough cultivation down the picturesque 

 valley of the Parahyba, aud the decayed cultivation of 

 coffee about S. Fidelis. 



Exportation of Ground Nut.^.— The trade in ground 

 nuts this season between Madras and Pondicb. rry with 

 Europe has been very large, and it is calculated that 

 five hundred thousand bags must have been shipped 

 up to the end of last month, and that at least two 

 hundred thousand bags more will go forward before 

 the trade for the season closes. The yield of nuta 

 near Poudicherry has been very large. The Marseilles 

 and Genoa firms send extensive orders for the seed to 

 Madras aud Pondicheny, and ground nut oil in large 

 parcels is also shipped annually from Poudicherry, 

 Ground uuls do not want any care to grou them — 

 they thrive in sandy soil and the demand lias been 

 such th.at the ryots in the South Arcot distr ct have 

 given increased attention to the growth of the nut, 

 the trade in which has never been so large as it has 



I been during during the past two or three years. Dif- 

 ferent descriptions of oils are manufactured from tha 



I nuts sent to Europe,— J^arfrns Ulaiidardi 



