562 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[February x, 1884. 



subject by an article in the Indian AuriciiUurlsf, 

 dated 1st of March 1883, from which I liarned that 

 some pieces of a tea box which had corroded the lead 

 liuing, aud destroyed the tea, had been seut to India 

 by l^rofessor Dyer of Kew to be ideutilied. As this 

 is a question of great importance to all interested 

 in tea, I determined lo try an experiment with the 

 difl'erent kinds of wood used by manufacturers in 

 Sdchar, and obtained from each workshop two small 

 boards of each kind, one seasoned and the other green. 

 Between these boards I placed a piece of tea lead, 

 tied them together and put them in an almirah. 

 After two weeks they were opened and examined, 

 with the result tliat the green board of the wild 

 mango (Manyiftra Hylnatica) had corroded the lead, 

 the surface exposed to it presenting exactly the ap- 

 pearance described by Professor Uyer — i. e., it was 

 covered by a white coating of carbonate of lead. When 

 held to the light, it presented the appearance of 

 having been perforated witli a pin. The surface in 

 contact with the seasoned wood was untouched. From 

 this, it seems pretty evident tliat the green mango 

 wood contains chemical propertiis injurious to tea 

 lead, which are either dissipated or otherwise tendered 

 harmless by the process of seasoning. The other kinds 

 of wood had no effect on the lead. H. J. Young. 

 Asst. Conservr. of Forests, Cacuar Division. 

 Silchar, October 4th 1883. 



EEPOBT FKOM A LOWOOUNTKY ESTATE 

 NEAR HENARATGODA. 



22nd Jan. 1884. 



From the 24th Nov. to the 11th Dec. the weather 

 was liry, thence to 24th it was showery, and on the latter 

 day we liad a terrible thunder shower that lasted only 

 30 minutes, but in that time did immense injury. Since 

 then, we have only had two slight showers. The wind 

 has been blowing a stiff breeze, rising at times, to the 

 dignity of a gale, and at times blows as stiffly and steadily 

 by night as by day. 



The fungus is in statu quo ; but, asno coffee tree on the 

 place is free from it, we may expect it to play its usual 

 game, when a change of weather favours its propagation. 



I have gathered a part of the crop, aud will go over 

 the field again in a few days, but on the trees that have 

 been rendered bare by the fungus, ripening does uot pro- 

 ceed satisfactorily — the berries colour to a certain point, 

 and remain so for weeks. 



Everything ,seemed to enjoy the dry weather and grow 

 with greater vigor for the first fortnight, but its con- 

 tinuance checked the spurt, and uow some things are setting 

 up a flag of distress. 



The surviving cacao in the old field has suffered a 

 good deal from the wind, and the coffee has been stripped 

 of all badly affected leaves, indeed many trees are under 

 bare poles. The tea and cardamom nurseries require 

 daily watering, and our wells begin to fail. The Ceylon 

 tea seed iias given a larger proportion of plants than 

 the Indian, but they do not appeir tome to be so strong 

 at the same age. All the very small seed.i have failed to 

 germinate, aud most of those of hemispherical shape ; 

 mauy seeds have germinated in the ground, but neither 

 send a radicle down nor a stem up. 



In some parts of the field the tea is making great 

 strides, but on other parts it is still hanging back ; wlien 

 the dry weather set in there was a general start, but 

 that has been checked the more advanced plants however 

 still iiold their own. One plant left in the uur.sery ; has 

 attained tlu; btdght of four feet eight inches, but it is a 

 single stem, without a branch ;* 1 prefer tliose that are from 

 two to two and a half feet, with from forty to fifty branches. 



The nutmegs continue to thrive, but only a small propor- 

 tion of the cloves have surviveil. If the bearing of the 

 pepper should be such as the vigorous growth of the 

 plants indicate it will become an important item in balance 

 sheet by-and-hy. The few vanilla plants have been getting 



* Is our correspondent certain ? Branchless Liberian 

 coffee trees are common, but branchless tea plant we 

 oerer saw.— Ed.] 



so well that I will he able to add to the extent when the 

 rains come, something like four to one. 1 am carefully 

 watching the 600 highcaste, arecanuts, along the roads, and 

 I think unless the drought continues an unusual length of 

 time they are pretty safe I have enough cardamom plants 

 m the nursery for the field I propose planting with them. The 

 cotton trees grow with such rapidity, that 1 think each will 

 be sufficiently advanced by May to support a pepjier plant. 

 I have ascertained that toe price offered for this kind of 

 cotton, by a Colombo firm, is K8 per cwt. including the 

 seed, and only rejecting the outer husk ; and each tree is 

 at three years old good tor twenty pounds. I would like 

 to know what the Australian price is. 



I have said little about Ceara rubber lately, but 1 have 

 not ceased to study, in search of the means of obtaining 

 the largest measure of the secretion, with the least labour 

 aud least injury to the trees. If the system that has 

 grown out of a twelvemonth of persistent jexperiment fails 

 in practice, I wiil leave the problem to some stronger brain. 

 The system I have formed has not yet been put in practice, 

 as the principal tool has ouly lately taken form in my 

 mind, and I have to get it made, but as soon as it has been 

 tried I will report progress. It is very evident that unless 

 1 lb of rubber can be collected at or under fifty cents, we 

 have only iutroducod another weed into the country. 

 Meantime, I may say that half the trees grown from seed 

 are good for nothing; and as soon as their character is 

 ascertained 1 would root them out and replace them with 

 slips from a good jot, if it is ultimately found that the 

 cultivation is worth carrying on, which is still somewhat 

 doubtful. It has become clear, that planting 10 m 10 feet is 

 a mistake : the proper distance is 20 x 20 feet, or 108 to 

 the acre ; aud unless each tree yields 1 lb per annum, at a 

 cost of fifty cents, the plant ought to be exterminated, as 

 soon as possible. 1 have no trees that will yiehT one pound 

 of rubber, coax aud tickle them how you may. From a 

 perpendicular gash six feet long, the milk ceases to flow 

 in less than five miuutes, aud the result when dry is a 

 mere scale, five hundred to the pound. Whether th"e yield 

 improves with the age of the tree, I am unable to say, but 

 it is probable that it does so. 



26th.— Drought still. 



THE "OHALLEXGE" TEA-ROLLER. 



Sir, — My attention has been drawn to a paragraph which 

 appeared in your paper after the trial of the " Challenge " 

 tea-roller, which took place here. 



I deny that leaf was " found to have been thrown on the 

 floor and left wet aud thick. The leaf was spread over shelves 

 and floor in the usual manner, with care ; it was ftot thick. 



From a perusal of the letter above referred to one would 

 come to the conclusion that all the leaf was brought in 

 wet, all the leaf was tlu'own on the floor, aud all the leaf 

 was "unworkable." This is not the fact. The morning 

 leaf aloiu: was wet with dew, and sonta of the leaves, in spite 

 of hand tossing, had been laying stuck together 2 or 3 thick. 



It will be seen that ouly 2 rolls were put back into the 

 machine for a second tm'n. These contained the under- 

 withered leaf. 



I caunot conceive what caused the writer of the above- 

 mentioned letter to make such a grave misstatement. 

 Either he took his information at second-hand from incom- 

 petent sources, orTie wilfully distorted facts, hoping thereby 

 to benefit the " Challenge," and udthout regard to the 

 feelings or interest of others. In the former case, he is to 

 be pitied ; in the latter — avoided. H. L. S. Ingles. 



Maria wattie, Gami^ola, 22nd Jan., 1884. 



[The above was seut to the local "Times," and Mr. Thomp- 

 son, who wrote the letter complained of, has apologized, — 

 after a fashion. — Ed.] 



A Ceylon planter of exp rience states that tea 

 plants raised from cuttings, run to seed, and that the 

 liquor mad'; is not bo strong as from leaf taken from 

 plants raised from seed. He adds that the leaf will 

 tend to deterior.ite the teas by mixing. Wo can hardly 

 accept tliese statements as com ct. The Hill planters 

 have more expetieuce of te;v th^cu those in Ceyion and 

 ought to ha\e to say sontethiiig on the subject. Pro- 

 pagation by onttniga as far as we have hear i here is 

 uuobjectiouable in every way. — South of India Obserixi; 



