Ma^ch 



,j fHE TROPICAL AGRiCtJLTURiST, 



5^5 



4^- 



To the Ed! for of the " Ce])lo7t Observer." 



THE SILO PEOCESS APPLIED TO THE 



COAESE PATANA GEASSES OF CEYLON. 



Feb. 5th 1887. 



SiK, — In reading your report of Sir E.M.Grant 

 Duff's " Eeview Minute" I noticed that he speaks of 

 a weed " bidens glabra " which after treatment in 

 the silo is suitable for feeding cattle. Would it be 

 possible to convert our coarse patana grass into 

 nourishing food by silo? We are surrounded by 

 patana grass here, but of so coarse and rank a 

 nature, that except after a burn — when the young 

 shoots first appear, our cattle can scarcely find 

 pasturage on a run of several acres, and in the 

 dry weather get to resemble the thin and ill-fa- 

 vored kind of Pharoh's vision. If by means of 

 ensilage they can be made " fat, flushed and well 

 favored," 1 think it would pay well the trouble 

 of making silos. Probably the idea has been al- 

 ready mooted or is not feasible, but as I am 

 rather a recent importation and have only lately 

 entered upon the pleasure and privilege of studying 

 such subjects under the able guidance of such 

 aids to knowledge as the Tropical Agriculturist, I 

 must plead my rawness as an excuse for troubling 

 you.— Yours, GEEEN HOEN. 



[This is a good idea which ought to be prac- 

 tically tested. The question has a strong bearing 

 on the subject of milk giving catile, treated of in 

 our editorial columns today. — Ed] 



^putupaula~"teaT ' 



Putupaula, Kalutara, 6th Feb. 1887. 



Deak Sir,— In your paragraph relating to Ceylon 

 tea sales you mention Putupaula as coming after 

 Lindula in its average of only Is 4d. 



Kindly allow me to say the Putupaula teas were 

 a complete break including dust and the exact 

 average was Is 5d.26. — Y'ours obediently, 



H. A. TIPPLE. 



lWc give the teas and the prices just as they 

 are reported. — Ed] 



DELICATE AND HAEDY VAEIETIES OF 

 INDIGENOUS TEA. 

 " Sana " estate, Eatnapura, 8th Feb. 1887. 



Dkab Observer, — I send today something to show 

 what this side can produce in the way of my dark- 

 leaved indigenous. You will observe the difference 

 between the ordinary delicate, too delicate for z'ery 

 Jtigh, and also too delicate against low-country 

 tspiders, *c., "Singlo," while my dark-leaved in- 

 digenous is hardy enough to defy these natural 

 causes. T believe mine (and crossed, perhaps, with 

 Assam Hybrid) will be "the jat of the future?" 

 With salaams.— Yours truly, Wm. G. SANDISON. 



P. .S'.—- 1 think you will find one of the leaves 

 quite a foot long. 



[We are simply at a loss for .superlatives where- 

 with to describe the tea leaves Mr. Sandison has 

 sent us. If the English language permitted of such 

 a form, we should say they were the most magnijl- 

 centcst we have ever seen, especially those of the 

 dark and hardy variety. The leaves can be seen 

 at our office.— Ed. J 



EUNG OE EINGED. 



10th February, 1H87. 

 Dear Sir, — In your para anent the ringing of 

 the gum trees on the Udapussellewa road your 

 correspondent uses the word ' rung' as the past tense 

 of ring. Ought it not to be ringed 



74 



AN INQUIBEE. 



[We should think so. In Australia they always 

 say " ringed " in regard to a process at the 

 desolating effects of which lovers of forest trees 

 have icrung their hands. It is at marriages that 

 hands get ringed. — Ed.] 



ME. JAMES SINCL.ilE AND CINCHONA 



STATISTICS. 



Bearwell, Talawakele. 

 Dear Sir, — The letter appearing in your columns 

 from the Chairman of the Maskeliya Planters' 

 Association, disavowing non-compliance with the 

 desire for cinchona statistics, also Mr. Wickham's 

 letter in the local " Times " and other circumstances 

 compel me as the originator of the idea, to ask 

 space for the following. At the last meeting of 

 our local Association it was stated that several 

 District Associations, including the Committee of 

 the Parent body, had refused to co-operate with us 

 in collecting these. I forget who was responsible 

 for this statement, but had the Secretary or late 

 Chairman, who should have known the facts, not 

 acquisced in allowing these to gain currency un- 

 contradicted, my action at the meeting would have 

 been different, for I should not have allowed the 

 matter to drop ; I only did so under the impres- 

 sion that several Associations had declined to 

 assist us nor would I have accepted the decision 

 of the Central Cemmittee, for I intended to have 

 brought it before the general meeting next week. 

 I am throwing no blame on our Secretary, I 

 dare say he was so pre-occupied thinking how best 

 to dispose of his repleted treasury, that he 

 did not hear all that passed. It now appears 

 that the Badulla Association is the only one 

 that stops the way, but surely the men of Uva 

 will reconsider the matter ! I happen to know that 

 their present worthy Chairman was not averse to 

 co-operation, but even if they refuse, sufficiently 

 accurate figures for our purpose could be got even 

 from Badulla. 



With reference to Mr. Wickham's opinion that 

 it would be impracticable to get accurate figures, 

 I must repeat I do not see where the difficulty 

 lies. It is different to five or six years ago, when 

 there were thousands of acres only just laid out 

 in cinchona, and whether these would reach a 

 harvestable age or not, no one could say. Now 

 we know better what we are doing, there is but 

 little under three years, we are more accustomed 

 to such estimates and could, I am sure, give fairly 

 accurate figures of the total quantity now growing. 

 I do not think it of vital importance that a cor- 

 rect estimate of the output for the next three 

 years should be arrived at, so much depends on 

 the ruling prices and the death-rate (some years 

 being more disastrous than others in the latter 

 respect) but most people have intentions on the 

 subject of the quantity tli«y will harvest during 

 the period proposed, therefore if they gave in their 

 return to that effect, it would be sufiicient for our 

 purpose. What in my opinion is o[ vital import- 

 ance, is to have some idea whether we have at 

 this moment growing in Ceylon 40 million or 200 

 million pounds. Could we as we stand, disprove 

 that either figure is not within ten mil-lion 

 pounds of the total ? I say, no. It is the 

 * feeling that Ceylon may ship more this season than 

 last and that she will for an indefinite period 

 yearly increase the output, which keeps prices so low. 

 The statistics I propose, although 1 am well aware 

 that only an a^^proximate estimate can be procured, 

 would suffice to dispel the existing uncertainty in 

 London, and also tend to cause those who could 

 do so, to hold off the market, knowing that later 

 on bettei- prices would be going, ami thus give ^ 



