^46 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Aug. 2, 1 886* 



Cannot some measures be adopted to induce the petty 

 laud-owners to grow cacao in the Yatiyantota, Kegalla 

 and Ambepussa districts '^ In small plots betwi-en 30,000 

 to 40,000 acres can thus be made to yield this more 

 stable product. If they planted tea our labour supply in 

 the lowcountry will be lessened, while the benefit to 

 the Sinhalese will not be much with such a proiluct. 



B. T. J. 



TEA CULTIVATION IN SOUTHEEN INDIA 

 AND CEYLON. 



(The Editor of the T. A.) 



Sir, — In a late number of the T. A. a corres- 

 pondent writes about the Tea Estate Superintend- 

 ent who orders his men to cut 300 holes a day 

 and ether nonsense of the same kind not worth 

 repeating. To beginners like myself, it would by 

 more to the purpose if he told us the number of 

 holes a cooly might fairly be asked to cut as a 

 day's work. I myself get 00 holes (1 x 1^ ft.) a 

 day out of my men. I find a man can till from 

 300 to -100 holes a day and one man can plant 

 carefully 800 plants per day. As regards plants 

 I prefer 18 months' old plants as I can then stump 

 both the tops and the roots of them and plant out 

 iu ordinary damp weather. Plants of that age 

 and so treated begin to grow almost at once. 



As regards the alleged deterioration of Ceylon 

 teas, can close planting have anything to do with 

 it ? I myself plant indigenous .5 « 4 and good hy- 

 brid i^xi but do not know that I am right. M. 



Southern India, July 12th. 



[Our correspondent will very soon have authentic 

 information as to the practice in Ceylon in 

 the " Tea Planter's Manual."— Ed.] 



Tea IK Assam. — We call special attention to the 

 Report on Tea Cultivation in Assam printed 

 elsewhere. In round numbers the increase in the 

 six years 1880-85 has been in clutivated land: — 



Mature plants ... 40,000 acres 



Immature,, ... 4,500 ,, 



Total... 44,500 acres, 



While the increase in total area is enormous, no 



less than 455,500 acres; the area held has, in 

 truth, nearly doubled. 



China Teas. — Of the new season's China tea 

 the Grocer says : — " China has already been warned 

 that, if she does not make teas better suited to 

 the British palate than those forwarded of late 

 years, she will lose her hold of the London market, 

 and we think that the threatened loss of us as a 

 nation of customers has not been made in vain, 

 for the teas now arriving from that quarter are, 

 if a correct opinion can be formed from the first 

 shipments, superior to those sent here in 1885. 

 Samples from the filenogle were to be seen in 

 Mincing Lane by G o'clock on Monday evening last, 

 and were pronounced as being decidedly above the 

 average of recent years. Further inspectiens have 

 confirmed this impression, and most of the dealers 

 are quite pleased with the new teas, as they 

 possess rare good keeping qualities. There are some 

 judges, however, who complain of the teas being 

 thin and light in the cup; but this may not be 

 the fault of the teas, but only because the 'lire" 

 on them has not had time to go off before they 

 were landed ; and the best Chma authorities say 

 that, give the new teas time to develop, and they 

 will in the couise of another week or so turn out 

 to be thicker, better, and stronger than they are now." 



Ohbstnut Wat£B, also called Water Caltrops {Th'apa, 

 nata)is), an acquatic plant belonging to the family 

 Onagrariacefe. It is a native of Southern Europe 

 and has creeping, floating stems, producing hair-like 

 roots, from which rises a cluster of triangular, toothed 

 fluatiug leaves with swollen foot-stalks which buoy 

 them up. The flowers are small. The lobes of the 

 calyx two or four, increasing in size, and with its tube 

 involving the ovary, which becomes a hard, horned 

 fruit about the size of a chestnut. They contain much 

 farinaceous matter, and form a considerable article 

 of food. In Italy they are known by the name of 

 Jesuit Chestnuts, and in France as Water Chestnuts. 

 In Cashmere the seeds of 2'. bispinosa form an im 

 portant article of food to a large population. I', hiforiiis 

 is also extensively used for food in China under the 

 name of Ling. The stiff, horn-like projections of these 

 fruits convey to the mind the idea of Caltrops. 



The New Geeen Bug has, we regret to hear, 

 worked its way up from the Northern districts 

 through Pussellawa and Pundaluoya to the coffee in 

 the adjacent corner of Dimbula, and it is merely 

 a question of time until it crosses the river to the 

 poposite division of the district. Mr. Bosanquet of 

 Yoxford considers the pest much worse than the 

 old black bug, and he is not sure of its identific- 

 ation in Nietner. The leaves with the insect require 

 to be examined. But it is a matter for congratul- 

 ation that tea should have been so generally planted 

 in Dimbula before this pest appeared. From a 

 careful observant planter, since writing the 

 above we have received the following: — •' I 

 send you herewith some specimens of what 

 I call the new bug as well as a few of the brown 

 and white. The new bug is easily distinguishable 

 by its being on the upper sides of the leaves and 

 on the berrie.'5, which was never seen with the old 

 bug. I could not get any good specimens of the 

 old brown bug as the rains have washed it away 

 from most of the estates ; a few weeks ago I had any 

 quantity of it. The new one seems indifferent to 

 weather. My idea is that the new bug is a descend- 

 ant of the old one on the theory of evolution. I 

 do not think it agrees with the one described by 

 Nietner as it is green to the end of its existence. 

 The old bug never killed out coffee as this one does, 

 nor did it march steadily on from district to district 

 as this one does, and it gave way to several remedies, 

 whereas I have found nothing which will keep this 

 one in check. I shall be interested to hear what 

 your entomological referee says of it, though he has 

 probably had it under observation before this. Its 

 disappearance as far as my experience of it goes 

 is only coincident with the death of the coffee over 

 the greater proportion of the estate, a patch here 

 and there may unaccountably recover from an attack. 

 I believe there are some who think this nothing 

 more than the old bug ; but they can have had no 

 experience of the districts north of Kandy. I send a 

 spray of tea also on which bug is present which 

 looks like a cross between the brown and the green. 

 I hope the specimens will arrive fresh ; should they not 

 do so, I will find other means of keeping the branches 

 alive." — We sent the specimens on to our entomo- 

 logical authority, who, after examination and con- 

 sideration, wrote :— " I return Mr. 's letter. The 



scale bug that has attacked his coffee is undoubtedly 

 the pale green bug that is destroying the coffee in 

 some other districts. It is not described by Nietner, 

 and cannot have come under his observation, but still 

 it may have been in existence somewhere in his time. 



Mr. remarks that 'the old bug never killed 



out coffee.' It is possible, however, that a bad 

 attack of the ' old bug ' might prove fatal in the 

 present weak condition of the tree. Nietner's 

 Lecaniutn coffeir (brown or scaly bug) may be found 

 in small numbers, on the brinjal plant in Colombo. 

 It is of a pale brown colour." 



