SEPi*. I, 1886.3 



THfi TROPJCAL AGRICULTURIST, 



^15 



of course say unless it be e.viionure to the monsoon.* 



8. Phosphoric acid stands very well in many of the 

 s»ils: thus Kookwooil No. 3 has the most 184, though 

 curiously enough No. \i next to it has the least of any, 

 neither soil having been niaimred. From information 

 furnished by Mr. Armstrong iu reference to these two 

 samples, it would appear that No. 2 represents a field 

 of tea lOi years old in virgin forest land, elevation 

 about 5,.HO0 ft., even lay of land ; also that No. 3 

 represents a field of tea IO5 years old, dttcji lay of land, 

 facing N. E never lu-inured, elevation about 5,3i'0 feet. 

 With this information it seems remarkable that there 

 should be so great a difference in the phosphoric acid 

 which moreover is also followed up in the proportion 

 of nitrogen, both being in favour of the steep land 

 which is specially loaded with quartsz. I am inclined 

 to think tlierefore that sample No. 3 may have been 

 taktn from some rich hollow in which a rather large 

 pr pi-rMon of vegetable debris had been previously 

 waslied down the steep face.j' 



9. Nitrogen stands very high in many of the samples 

 and must be regarded as indicative of considerable 

 latent fertility, which only requires time and a 

 dressing of limes:); to render rivailabk^ as plant food. 

 How far nitrogenous organic matter is or is not in 

 an available form cannot be absolutely determined by 

 chemical analysis, but the fact that a soil is rich in 

 nitrogen, at least, is certainly satisfactory, for it 

 tells us that the element which is so important in 

 all fertilizers is present and that it needs only 

 proper cultivation to make it practically useful. 

 A glance at the analyses will show which soils 

 contain the most and tlio.se who know the situation of 

 the several estates will be able to judge how far this 

 richness in nitrogen is due to elevation, rainfall even 

 lay of land and freedom from the exhausting influences 

 of wind and wash. 



It is noticeable, however, tbat both the soil.s upon 

 which cinchona flourishes, are particularly rich in 

 nitrogen: thus Liddesdale has 501, Dryburgh49G,and while 

 Kagalla at present included under cotfee has oven 

 more than these namelj' 521 and Dambatenne fol- 

 lows closely after with 411 which is far above the 

 average of most coffee soils previously reported on 

 by my.self. 



10. The proportion of quartz furnishes the last head- 

 ing and varies from 7"89 iu Dryburgh to 30"78 in llook- 

 wood No. 3, the latter a soil that has already been spe- 

 cially alluded to when speaking of the high propor- 

 tions of phosphoric acid. Generally a soil which con- 

 tains much (juartz is light and porous iu character with 

 low retentive properties and a general poverty iu the 

 important elements of fertility : thus Rookwood No. 3 

 is a fairly good illustration as wc notice that the potash, 

 phosphoric acid and nitrogen are all comparatively low 

 and arc associated with 25 per cent of quartz, and 

 1' 549 only of water. On the other hand No. i the 

 next above (.') with 15"74 of quartz has nearly twice 

 as much nitrogen as No. 2 and is proportionally richer 

 in the other important elements such as potash, phos- 

 phoric acid and lime. In fact I have every reason to 

 suppose that No. 1 is generally a much superior soil 

 to No. 3. § Again the Kelani Valley soil furnishes an- 

 other instance iu which with ir02 of quartz the im- 

 portant elements above alluded to are also low, with 



* There can be very little doubt that the origin of 

 the exceptional amount of chlorine on Dambatenne 

 estate is to be traced to the not remote salt formations 

 at flambantota. — Kd. 



! Perhaps from the sheltered hollow which Mr. 

 Armstrong described in one of his valuable papers, as 

 giving an exceptionally large yield of tea. — Ed. 0. (). 



i. There is a general feeling that the ai>plication 

 of lime is advei'se to the Hushing of tea ; but we suspect 

 that a moderate dressing of lime, would be as bene- 

 ficial to tea land, especially if clayey and stiff, as to 

 Boils growing any other substance. The application of 

 a dusting of caustic lime would seem to be especially 

 indicated when moss grows on the teabushes. — Ed. 



S Unless thT sample was takenfrom an exceptionally 

 rich portion of the estate ? — Ed. 



the exception, however, of the lime '302 which is fully 

 high for the average Ceylon soil. At the same time 

 we see two instances (Kagalla and Dambatenne; where 

 the quartz is nearly as high as the last, and yet the 

 nitrogen, lime &c. are certainly very far above the 

 average.* The proportions of quartz must therefore 

 only be considered in coHJuiiction with the other items 

 when forming a general opinion of a soil. 



11. Taking then ail these analyses as a whole, I cert- 

 ainly must consider them as very favourable, and they 

 indicate in many instances a wonderfully fertile soil 

 which under favourable climatic influences should be 

 capable of producing highly satisfactory crop returns. 

 The analyses representing as they do the soils on es- 

 tates whose names already stand high in local reput- 

 ation must be useful as a future means of comparison 

 and as every care has been taken to render the results 

 accurate I hope they may in this way be of practical 

 use as well as of immediate interest. 



In conclusion I have only to add that if any inform- 

 ation is required respecting the particular manure for 

 the respective crops on these .soils I shall be happy to 

 express my professional opinion as I have already been 

 requested to do in one case. — Believe me, &c. 



(Signed) John Hughes, F.O.S., 

 Member of the Society of Public Analysts. 



Insects Affecting Paddy Crops in Tinnevellt. — 

 The following is a letter from Mr. J. WoodMasou, 

 Superintendent, Indian Meseum to the Under-Secretary 

 to the Government of India, Revenue and Agricultural 

 Department, Simla, dated 14th May, 1886: — I have 

 the honor to report that the specimens of insects 

 forwarded with the letter endorsed to me by you ou 

 30th April last are no doubt referrable to the species 

 of bug briefly described in 1837 by professor "West- 

 wood in his " Catalogue of Hemiptera in the collec- 

 tion of the Uev. F. W. Hope," under the name of 

 Li ptocoi'mi beitf/aheni/ii. This insect belongs to the 

 family Corrida of the insectean order Hhynchota, the 

 vast majority of the members of which live upon the 

 juices of plants, a few only, such as the common 

 bed-bug, attacking animals. The same insect has 

 frequently been received by me from different parts 

 of Assam and of Bengal, in both of which countries 

 it] has the same destructive habits. In the Sibsagar 

 district of Upper Assam; where it is known as the 

 " GanJi," it destroys the " Aho Dhan." Professor Stal, 

 the leading authority on the system of the Ehyuchota, 

 who, however, had never seen the specimens described 

 by Westwood, suggests that L. hciiiicdlcnsig may be 

 indentical with the bug previously described Z. acuta 

 of Thunberg. Some insects from Assam that differed, 

 BO far as I recollect, iu no respect from the museum 

 sp ecimens from the same locality referred by me to 

 L. bcHffulieiisis have been named L. vaiicorinis, Fabr. 

 by W. L. Distant, also a good authority in this branch 

 of systematic zoology. It is hence probable that the 

 names beiiyalkatsis varicorinis and acatu will prove all 

 to refer to one and the same species, for which the 

 last of these names, as being the oldest of the three, 

 should be retained ; in which event we shall have 

 one species of extremely wide range, extending in its 

 distribution, under slight variations of form, from 

 India and Ceylon through Burmah and the Malay 

 countries to Australia, wherein it affects low-lying 

 lands (only occasionally creeping a short distance up 

 contiguous hill-sides) suited to rice cultivation. It is 

 not possible, in our present ignorance of the economy 

 of this pest, to suggest any measures for stopping or 

 mitigating its ravages, or even to form an opinion 

 as to the possibility of any remedial measures. In 

 determining the name of the insect and its place iu 

 nature, I have done all that is at present possible. 

 The animal should now be studied in the midst of 

 its surroundings. — Madras Standard. 



* Such being the case the <juestion naturally arises 

 whether the samples may not have been taken from 

 spots containing unexhausted manure? — En, 



