Oct. I, i886,j tWE TROPtCAL AQmCULrURlSt. 



2yi 



$orn2Bpnndi3ni:?o. 



To the Editor of the " Ceylon Observer." 



LIGHTNING AND COCONUT PALMS.— No. 1. 



Colombo, 23rd August 1886. 



SiK, — " Fact " has gone beyond facts when he 

 does not doubt that it was the Telephone wires 

 that attracted lightning. How does he account for 

 the lightning ferreting out the few Telephone wires 

 passing under the cornice of Messrs. Aitken, Spence 

 & Co.'s office and not being attracted by the massive 

 30-feet iron post with its greater number of wires 

 and brackets only a few yards off ? 



I think "Fact" may with advantage learn a few 

 electrical facts especially with regard to Telephone 

 and its wires. 



Fact No. 1. — If the Telephone wires had at- 

 tracted the lightning, they would naturally have 

 received at least the greater portion if not the whole 

 of the discharge, which was not the fact. 



Fact No. 2. — The Telephone wires are so con- 

 structed, that, should they receive a discharge of 

 lightning, they will be fused and cut oft" the further 

 progress of the fluid, which fact did not happen. 



Fact No. 3. — All the Telephone instruments are 

 protected by very sensitive lightning protectors which 

 act by fusion, and so sensitive are they that a dis- 

 charge several hundred yards away from the lines 

 causes them to act. In the thunderstorms of the 

 3rd and 4th May last over 80 of these were destroyed, 

 in fact every Telephone Office was cut off. 



Fact No. i. — Ho small was the quantity of elec- 

 tricity taken up by the wires passing A. S. & Co.'s 

 office chat only their lightning protectors at one 

 end were affected and the annunciator coils on the 

 switch boards were not in the least injured. 



Fact No. 5 — Is that if the Telephone wires had the 

 propensity of attracting lightning as " Fact" no doubt 

 believes, I should certainly not expose myself in a 

 Telephone Exchange from which so many wires 

 radiate, whereas the fact is that since the Telephone 

 was worked in 1877! there has not been an accident 

 in the thousands and thousands of offices over all 

 parts of the globe. 



I will not take up more of your space, but if " Fact" 

 wishes to learn some more facts I will be happy if 

 he call round at the Telephone Exchange to show 

 him all the precautions to guard against accidents 

 taken by THE MANAGER, 0. T. C. Ltd. 



Colombo, 23rd August 1886. 

 Deak Sir, — I must thank " Fact " for correcting me 

 as to the effect of lightning on the whole tree in front 

 of Messrs. Aitken, Spence & Co.'s office, but what about 

 the branches killed on the N. W. corner of the tree ? 

 For the information of the Manager of Ice Manu- 

 facturing Company, and others who should require 

 t, I shall describe the way to put up a good 

 ightning protector on a chimney ; those for other 

 buildings vary only as to size, quantity and position, 

 according to the bulk and shape of the building. 

 First, starting from the top it should consist of 

 a copper rod from J in. to 1 in, in diameter divided 

 at its upper end into thi'ee or more points which 

 should all be well electroplated or heavily tinned 

 to keep them from oxidising ; next, the rod should 

 be about 5 feet above the top of the chimney ; 

 then it should be attached to a ribbon of copper 

 2 in. by J in. running down the whole length of the 

 shaft, it must be attached directly, to the 

 masonry by copper staples, it must be buried 

 in the ground (or down a well preferably) to water- 

 level in dry weather, on reaching which' it should 

 ba cul iu two equal i>trips aud attached to a copper I 



plate G feet by 8 feet by l-16th in., each of the strips 

 being attached 2 feet from either end and down the 

 whole breadth of the plate. The plate should 

 be brightened up and buried perpendicularly with 

 6 in. of charcoal pressed down well all round it. The 

 plate should be well below dry weather water- 

 level. A most important point is to have all 

 joints sci'ewed or riveted and soldered. It should 

 when finished, be, if possible, electrically tested. 

 The use of two metals is decidedly bad, and 

 it must be remembered that a bad lightning 

 protector is worse than no protector at all— 

 Yours faithfully, Q. E, D. 



THE DOUBLE COCONUT AND VARIETIES 

 GROWING IN CEYLON. 



Central Province, 25th August 1886. 



SiK, — Does the Coco-de-mer or double coconut 

 grow in Ceylon? It is said to grow luxuriantly 

 in the Seychelles Islands. If we have none in 

 Ceylon, perhaps Mr. E. H. Edwards who is down 

 in those Islands will send up a few young plants 

 in the shell. It would also be well to ascertain 

 it the connnon coconut grown in those islarulii and 

 in South Africa ai'e the same as those we have in 

 Ceylon. It is only lately I became aware of the 

 several varieties there are among the coconuts 

 grown here : the only difference seems to be in the 

 size of the nuts. I am told some trees never 

 yield large nuts, however good the soil may be. I 

 should like much to know where the best and 

 largest grow, in what part of the island. — Yours 

 faithfully, LATCH. 



[Our correspendent will find a good deal of the 

 information he wants in our publication, " All about 

 the Coconut.]" Dr.Trimen says of the Goco-dc-mer: — 



Coco de-mer. — In response to an application made in 

 1882, I have received from the Chief Oivil Oommis- 

 siouer of the Seychelles, through His Excellency the 

 Governor of Mauritius, 10 seeds of this rare and magni- 

 ficent palm. They arrived in April (1884) and were at 

 once planted 7 at Henaratgoda and 3 at Peradeniya. As 

 yet there are no signs of germination, but the usual 

 period occupied in this process is from 18 to 30 mouths, 

 so that this is not to bo expected. Peradeniya already 

 possesses two beautiful specimens of this unique Palm, 

 about 30 years old, but in the case of so extremely 

 local a plant as this and one of such peculiar interest 

 to naturalists, it is much to be desired thiit a larger 

 stock should be in existence, so that in time it may 

 be possible to proi^agate by seed from another centre. 

 This pa'ra, being, ]il<e the Palmyra, di(i.;cious, it is 

 necessary to have sufficient plants to make it probable 

 that both sexes will be represented among them. 

 Mr. E. H. Edwards sees the Tropical Agriculturist 

 regularly in which this letter will appear, and he 

 may perhaps respond. We have no doubt our 

 Hapitgam Korale correspondent will have something 

 to say about where the largest nuts are found in 

 Ceylon. — Ed, ] 



THE CROTON-CATERPILLAR ATTACKING 



TEA. 



Deae SiK,— You will be sorry to hear that, the 

 croton-caterpillar does eat tea leaves, baring the 

 bushes rapidly when there is no more suitable food 

 for it to devour. Of course it prefers croton, but 

 when that is exhausted it takes readily to tea and 

 even Liberian coffee. The ravages of this pest have 

 not been at all exaggerated, and those who have 

 both tea and croton will find it desirable to decide 

 which to keep, for if tea is held by, then the pre- 

 sence ®f croton becomes dangerous as tempting the 

 pest to settle, The Madatiya (/. e. the wild charcoal- 

 tree) also affords a tempting feeding-ground for the 

 giub. NEW PHODUCTy. 



