January i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



477 



^■vxxespixndeno^. 



To the Editor of the Ceylon Observer. 

 HIGH AVERAGE PRICE OF MARIAWATTE TEA. 

 2, Great Tower Street, London, 2nd Nov. 1883. 



Sir, — You will no doubt be interested to learn that 

 at our auction sale this week the average price realized 

 for an invoice of 103 packages of tea from the Mariawatte 

 estate was Is lOid per lb. This is, we believe, the 

 highest ou record. 



We enclose catalogue herewith. — We are, sir, yours 

 faithfully, GEO. WHITE & Co. 



The Mariawatte Tea Estate. 



Mariawatte Ceylon. 38 chests broken pekoe 

 „ 36 chests pekoe 



„ 10 chests broken mixed 



„ 19 boxes pekoe 



s. d. 

 2 3 

 1 8 

 1 21 



1 7i 



TEA FROM CUTTINGS. 

 Kabragala, Maturata, 5th Nov. 18S3. 



Deak Sir, — Can you or any of your readers tell me 

 whether it would be safe to plant or supply clearings 

 with cuttings from tea bushes of a good jat. I have 

 been told tliey grow well and for.n into good bushes 

 but will not stand constant plucking as buthes raised 

 from plan's or stumped plants do. Now that tliere 

 is such n demand for seed, information on the above 

 may prove useful to many SHORT OF PLANTS. 



[There can be no question that tea can be j:rn^vn 

 from cuttings. Some j'ears ago, we snw a nursery of 

 several thousands of cuttings on Oliphant estate, but 

 we do not know their subsequent history. Perhaps 

 some planters can tell about those or oihers. Our 

 innjression from all our reading is that bushes from 

 cuttings are much inferior to those grown from seed. 

 In the index to the Tea Cyclopjedia we liave looked 

 in vain for "Cutting" or "Graft." The omiesions 

 seem significant. — Ed.] 



A NEW KHEA GRASS : ALLEGED PERFECT 



SUCCESS IN CLEANING THE FIBRE. 



155, Fenchuroh Street, 

 London, E. C, 16th Nov. 1883. 



Sir, — No doubt you will ere this have got the inform- 

 ation of the imporant discovery that has been made 

 of the concejjhalus niveus. This is a variety of the 

 China grass, and it has been found growing wild in 

 Southern India- Messrs. Hinde & Co. have had over 

 some of the stripped stems which have been treated 

 here in the Deatli & Ellwood machine and also by 

 the Ekman process. The fibre clean has been valued 

 hy the consumers at £70 per ton. 



The late trials in Paris for treating the China grass 

 have pp educed, as I foreshadowed, important results : 

 it was sought by a set of people here to introduce 

 the machiues adopted by the French house which 

 exactly compared with the Chinese sjstem of stenm- 

 iug the stems in a box. On the return of Messrs. Forbes 

 Watson & Collyer from Paris they tested the Death 

 & Ellwood machine with its late improvements, and 

 from their report they at once advBKl the purchase 

 from Mr. Smitli of Mauritius, the patentee of his eutire 

 rights. The experiments not only showed that the 

 China grass which had been grown in Europe could 

 be treated most succtssfully and produce the filame'its 

 as they are sent from China i»nd India, but also with 

 the same machine could carry the process one step 

 further and produce a magnificent fibre as clean 

 as cotton withmt knots or knits. This michiue with 

 its latest improvements I can say after having 8tu4ied 



this question, entirely sets at rest the claim for the 

 award of the Govermnent for any machine that oau 

 treat China grass ; and having seen the tibre treated 

 by the Ekman process boiled with the chemical, it 

 is something surprising to see how nearly this simple 

 machine with only the action of water has approached 

 the same result. I, therefore, consider that this 

 inventor who has worked to perfect this machine for 

 muny years is justly entitled to the Indian Govern- 

 ment award, more particularly so when it is con- 

 sidered that this same machine treats with equal 

 result the .igave and hemp and all the other fibre- 

 yielding plants that have bten trii'd iu it. — I am, sir, 

 yours truly, THOS. CHRISTY. 



AN ENEMY OP TEA. 



Ambagamuwa, 17th Nov. 1S83. 



DhR Sir, — Can you identify the specimens of 

 poocies I send to you under separate cover? 



They are from a young tea estate near Nawalapitiya, 

 where these creatures are very acti\e cutting up the 

 young tea plants to form their habitations, which have 

 the appearance of miniature bundles of varatchies. — 

 Yours faithfully, X. 



[The poochies are the larvae of moths of the genus 

 Psyche, or of the allied genus Oiketicus. The cater- 

 pillars of these genera live in a case constructed of 

 pieces of small stick, fragments of leaves &c., lined 

 and kept together with bilk spun by the caterpillar. — 

 Ed.] 



SILK CULTURE IN CEYLON. 



Lentran, Haldummulla, 20th Nov. 1883. 



Deak Sm, — To those who like myself wish to give 

 filk culture in eylon a fair trial, it may b^ intiireit - 

 ing to know how my experiment in that line has 

 resulted ; and I hope it will show how careful one 

 oujiht to be in procuring eggs from moths, which 

 have been raised from pertecily healthy silkworms. 

 I procured eggs in May last from Father Palla, the 

 greater number of which contained ajiparently healthy 

 worms. All wtnt «ell till the time came for pro. 

 ducmg the silk, when disease showed itself and the 

 worms had only sufficient vitality to spin a very thin 

 coverings and in which they almost all died, only, 

 one cocoon out of some thousands producing an un- 

 healthy moth. I have now got a great number of 

 the Puaean mulberry plants, for which I am indebted 

 to my friend Mr. P. N. Braine, and if you could let 

 me kuow where to procure a healthy lot of eggs, 

 I am sanguine that, if properly cared foi-, the result 

 will prove that silk-farming in eylou on a larger 

 scale will repay in full measure those who care to 

 try it. 



What is the opinion of Dr. Hector, Director of the 

 Geological Survey of New Zealand ? Why, that lour 

 years' experience had convinced him that an annual 

 yield of £100 sterling per acre would fall greatly 

 short of the result he expected a few years later when 

 his trees had grown older. 



What industry more suitable to the apathetic Sin- 

 liab se, who, if once the industry is started, will find 

 a good market for the cocoons ? At Bey rout, iu the 

 heart of the Lebanon territory, where the silk culture 

 is carried on more systematically than elsewhere, a 

 pnundwfight ot cocoons will always fetch about 5 

 piastres (about tenpeuce English). Now, when one 

 considers that there is Is cost for upkeep, and how 

 the men who bring the cocoons (muleteers) are 

 g' nerally imposed upon, one can imagine that the 

 muigiu of profits must be consir'erable. 



Apolng zing for the length of my letter, which, if vou 

 think will be likely to make those " doubtful ones " take 

 the matter up, you are welcome to publish it, yours 

 aithfully, C. RALSTON WHITE. 



