J7-' 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1883. 



the Plan'ers' Gaoettee, to write as he does in iatro- 

 ducing ii 1-. Howard's letter, uamely : — 



It wiil le seen that he (Mr. Ho.warLl) still maintains his 

 opinion that the so-caUed C. Led^eriana Jfoens of Dr. 

 Trimen is only an inferior Jlicraitthaj anJ in this he seems 

 to be coufirmed by 3Ir. Ledger himself, who certnlniy 

 ought to be the best authority as to what is and what is not 

 G. LeJij-rlaiia. It will however, be very satisfactory to 

 Ceylon growers to find that Mr. Ledger unhesitatingly re- 

 cognized plants grown by Mr. Howard from Yarrow Estate 

 seed as teiig true to type. 



The writer has not yet taken in the fact so 

 often stated in our columns, that the Cinchona 

 Ledgeriana tigured and described by Dr. Trimen is 

 one precisely similar to those from Yarrow, grown from 

 the same seed though on a diflerent estate, St. Andrews. 

 Mr. Howard's favorite test of bark analysis has also 

 now been met in bark sent home from the St. Andrew's 

 Ledgeriana trees. We trust, therefore, that we have 

 seen the last of this rather profitless discussion. 



SHELTER BELTS IN COFFEE, 

 With reference to the letter of " Blown Coffee" (page 

 283) we may say that of the value of shelter there can 

 be no question, but the difBculty is to obtain it. Those 

 who originally left belts or original jangle have in 

 nearly every case cut them down and " planted np" 

 the soil. It was often found that the winds just 

 rose over the belts and tore down belund themi 

 This was notably the case in Ihe Lagalla district where 

 coffee opened in fields surrounded by jungle, was blown 

 to ribbons (all " vips and valking-sticks " as one 

 cockney planter described them) — the wind when it got 

 into the field, seemed as if it conld not get out again. 

 Then, not only did belts harbour weeds and vermin, 

 lut belts of original forest died off rapidly when 

 isolated, and it is most difficult to grow foreign 

 trees just where they are wanted on blown ridges. 

 Shelter trees scattered over estates are on the other 

 hand very detrimental to the coffee around them. 

 We have gone in largely for shelter, natural and 

 artificial, but we cannot say our experience has been 

 very satisfactory. Others, who have been more 

 fortunate, will doubtless respond to our correspond- 

 ent's request. 



TEA SALES AND AVERAGE PRICES. 

 We are again reminded of the necessity of reg.irding 

 the avernr/es realized for whole invoices of tea as the 

 most important feature in comparing sales. lu our 

 issue of Thursday we gave a list of names of estates 

 of which sales were reported by tlie hist mail ; it 

 so happens that the name placed hut in our list 



is not cnly first of this mail's sales, but it shows the 

 highest average yet obtained by any complete invoice 

 of Ceylon teas, we believe. Tiie average of the Kola- 

 denia invoice is Is 9d, and though it contained only 

 two deecriptions, it contained, we understand, all the 

 tea made, that is to say nothing had been withheld 

 in the way of dust or broken tea. The total invoice 

 was close upon 3,(K)0 lb. This of course is very 

 satisfactory and it is worthy of note that the estate 

 is one referred to disparagingly in ihat reprint we 

 made a few days ago from the local "Times," 

 The Ceylon Comyi-.ny have of course reason to 

 be pleasel, but v may be that the sale was an 

 exceptionally good one, and we should like to see 

 the average repeated before saying much abont 

 it. Still it is important that planters and the public 

 should get into the right way of looking at these 

 things ; that way is to compare aierarjes, for there 

 is no way in which they can better make compari- 

 sons. It is very pleasing to see Ceylon tea obtain- 

 ing fancy prices above the highest paid for Indian 

 growths, but the real merit is shown by the aver- 

 ages. We further learn that the Koladenia teas were 

 bulked and packed in Colombo. 



THE CACAO (COCOA) ENTERPRIZE IN 



GEYLOX. 



We are pleased to learn that 150 acres of Crown 

 land recently purchased near Kalauile, in ilatale 

 North, were on account of a West Indian estate 

 proprietor, Mr. Marshall, who, some months ago, 

 visited Ceylon and was much pleased with what he 

 saw of cocoa cultivation with Mr. A. Ross on 

 Kowdapolella. The result is that Mr. Marshall has 

 resolved to invest in old Lanka, and he is not inclined 

 to allow any time to be lost, for, telegraphic instructions 

 have been received from Mr. Ross to the effect that 

 the 1,50 acres must be planted up by Christmas. 

 There should be a good time coming for the Matale 

 railway with the traffic in cocoa and other new pro- 

 ducts whicli will by and bye become available. 



RUBBER, CULTIVATION IN CEY'LON: 



SUCCESSFUL COLLECTION OF THE PRODUCT: 



GILLIAT's cutter, TIXS AND PROCESS OF 



ELIMINATION. 



Another clever contiivance has to be added to 

 the long list of inventions by Ceylon planters for 

 the more rapid, economical and successful perform- 

 ance of the work connected with the cultivation and 

 preparation of New Products which, of recent years, 

 have excited so much attention. But first of all it 

 is satisfactory and reassuring to find Ceara Rubber 

 trees brought forward again as objects promising 

 financial success for the cultivator. So much was 

 said lately of the difficulty of collecting the milk — 

 or rather watery snbstance — to make it pay, that 

 on many sides the cry was heard that 

 Ce,ii-a Rubber trees were no good, and could not be 

 made to pay, whatever might be the c>^se with the 

 other varieties. The Ceara trees to which the fol- 

 lowing experiments refer are growing on Peradeniya 

 Estate from 3i to 4 years old, 28 to 34 feet in 

 heiyht, planted 12 feet by 12, and already with 

 their branches so interlocked that there is dense 

 shade beneath. Mr. Gilliat, the manager, has a 

 strong opinion from the result of his observation 

 and experiments that shade is inimical to the quality 

 of the rubber got from the stem and he would re- 

 commend planting 15 by 15 feet or even 20 by 20 

 as an experiment. Again he has found that the 

 best time to cut or tap is immediately after rain, 

 and Dr. Trimen fully agrees that the flow of sap 

 will be greatest just before the flowering season. 



The gi-eat desiderata hitherto with all who have 

 experimented with rubber trees in Ceylon have 

 been a satisfactory, economical mode of tapping 

 the tree without injuring it, of collecting the milk 

 and of securing it in a marketable form without the 

 admixiure of foreign substances or impurities of any 

 kind. Mr. Dobree's knife was intended to be used for 

 the removal (ami replacement) of a portion of the 

 bark — an operation which could scarcely be done 

 without injuring the cambiam. Mr. Wall tried skin- 

 ing the tree and then pricking it to induce the flow of 

 the milk— a tedious and expensive process we should 

 suppose. CertaiLdy we have seen no instrument and 

 heard tf no means of tapping equal to that which Mr, 

 Gilliat (the inventor) brought under our notice today. 



