14^ 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[Mays, 1887. 



The JJoth< to be colkcted in perfect condition' 

 killed With care, so as U' t to rub or 1 reak the wings. 

 I'efore iheyget dry and brittle the wings to be placed 

 ever the back, with the underside lying flat aud upper- 

 most. Each specimen, wheu dry, to be placed in a 

 folded paper envelope, and labelled on the outside 

 with the same number as on the worm and cocoon 

 of the kind to which it refers. These moths in 

 the envelopes to be placed in a small square box 

 (9, cigar bos if obtainable), and gummed paper fixed 

 round the edges. 



The Bottles should be wrapped in some soft wool, 

 cotton, or other fibre to keep them from being broken. 

 The bottles, batches of cocoons, aud boxes containing 

 the moths, to be packed in a larger box for despatch 

 to England. 



Descriptive notes on the food plants, times of ap- 

 pearence, number of broods in the year, and any 

 other useful information should be sent home with 

 each box. 



QUEEIES BESPECTING PLUMBAGO, CITRON. 

 ELLA OIL AND KITUL FIBEE. 



Galle, 21st March 1887. 



Dear Sirs, — Can you or any of your numerous 

 readers inform me, who first discovered the value 

 of Ceylon plumbago as a mercantile export. I have 

 always believed that it was the late Mr. George 

 Winter of Baddegama ; but I was told last night, 

 on the authority of a statement made some years 

 ago in your paper, that the late Mr. John Armitage 

 was the first to discover the value of this mineral ? 

 I suppose I am right in attributing the discovery 

 of citronella oil, to Mr. George Winter? — Yours 

 truly, X. 



P. S. — Talking of discoveries, who first -discovered 

 the mercantile properties of kitul fibre which is 

 now so largely exported from Ceylon? 



[For full information as to every known fact of 

 importance regarding Ceylon Plumbago, our corre- 

 spondent may consult a paper written for the Ceylon 

 Branch of the Asiatic Society by Mr. A. M. Fer- 

 guson and printed in their Transactions. A very 

 full abstract was printed in the Observer and is 

 included in the latest edition of the Ceylon " Hand 

 Book," From this paper our correspondent will see 

 that neither Mr. Armitage nor Mr. Winter can 

 be credited with the discovery of the commercial 

 value of plumbago. Our predecessors, the Dutch, 

 knew something about the mineral and would our 

 correspondent be surprised to hear that the last 

 King of Kandy combined dealing in plumbago with 

 his regal functions ! As to kitul fibre, we believe, 

 it first became commercially important in the lime 

 of Sir George Anderson, but we are not aware 

 that any particular name is associated with the 

 discovery of this substitute for horso hair and 

 bristles, — Ed.] 



when fit for use. When a timber tree reaches 

 maturity it is fit for commercial use and beyond 

 that age a form of decay commences. — Yours, 



SIGNET. 



TEA AND CEITICISM. 



March 28th, 1887. 



Sir, — In reading the Annual Report of the 

 U lapusselawa District P. A. in your issue of 21st 

 instant, it is mentioned in 2nd paragraph under Tea 

 healing : — " So far experience goes to prove thul we 

 m ty look for remunerative returns when the trees 

 reach maturity." 



As one interested in our future tea 

 prospects, I fail to understand these remarks 

 and have been asked by a few the mature 

 age of a tea tree. As a cultivator records his fruit 

 trees or bushes when they reach the age of lull 

 bearing with the fruit matured in due season, in 

 like manner the tea planter would say, " My 

 tea bushes are fully grown aud I can give a 

 correct estimate from the returns of manufactured 

 leaf." A cabbage or lettuce may be full grown 



CINNAMON AND COCONUT CULTIVATION- 

 PRACTICAL INFOEMATION. 



Negombo District. 

 Dear Sih, — Your correspondent " S." is pretty cor- 

 rect in saying that many of the cinnamon estates in the 

 hands of natives are in a disgraceful state : a large num- 

 ber have not been weeded for maoy years. All that 

 is done is to cut and peel ^uch sticks as nature gives 

 them, pruning once a year, and at the same time chop- 

 ping down jungle growth. The cinnamon bush being a 

 very hardy plant stands much neglect ; would it were 

 otherwise for the sake of those who do give it justice ! 

 What is another puzzle is that though many old 

 estates from neglect give barely 50 lb. an acre, the ex- 

 port of the spice, instead of diminishing, increases. Can 

 this be that those estates in Awisawella, Kalutara and 

 Galle, planted in the palmy time of prices are now 

 coming into full bearing ? I fancy this is the explan- 

 ation. We cannot, therefore, look for a rise in prices 

 from diminished production. Prices are so low that 

 the greatest economy in working has to be practised 

 to give the proprietor a very miserable profit. "More 

 power to your elbow " is the means by which the two 

 crack estates he alludes to manage to peel just now. 

 Friction has to be used to almost every stick, yet the 

 colour of firsts and seconds is good, while that of thirds 

 and fourths is rather dull. What would you have — if the 

 wood now being cut and peeled were left in the bushes 

 it would get very coarse, and either all go to fourths 

 or chips ; besides, if not cut now, new wood for the year 

 after would not shoot up, thus a double loss would be 

 incurred. Better to risk a little loss in colour than the 

 disagreeable certainty pointed out above. I fancy, too, 

 that Kadirana has bad more rain in February than 

 some other parts where cinnamon is grown, and this 

 has given us an advantage; on the 9th a little over an 

 inch fell, aud on the 25th almost an inch-and-a-half. 



Your correspondent is surprised at the healthy appear- 

 ance of our coconut trees contrasted with those in Miri- 

 gama, Ambepussa and Veyangoda. I think that those 

 places have had quite as much rain as we ; aud really 

 there has been no drought this year. Certainly, Decem- 

 ber was dry, but there was about 14 inches in October 

 and 7 inches in November, which though not quite so 

 much as is usual in the north-east, is very good. 

 January had 3'25 and Feb. 2'63. Wheu there has been 

 no rain for three months I then begin to talk of 

 drought. No doubt the water is much nearer the sur- 

 face in the Negombo district than in the other places 

 enumerated aud that is greatly to our advantage and 

 the soil being free the roots have easy access to it. 

 I cannot agree with your correspondent in his recom 

 mendation to plant coconuts four to five feet deep. It 

 is against nature aud experience ; all fruit trees are 

 surface feeders, where they find the nourishment neces- 

 sary for their growth and fruiting. A young plant 

 will not throw out its ruots into subsoil, as it is not 

 fitted to sustain it. But if from any extraordinary com- 

 bination of circumstances a plant so placed did escape 

 drowuiug or getting smothered, and did eventually 

 mature a stetii to the height of tlie surface of the ground, 

 what it w ould do would be to throw out roots into the 

 surface soil, iiiid all that portion below would gradually 

 dwindle away; so that the time it took to reach the 

 surface woukl be thrown away. 1 have seen many trees 

 that have had earth or even leaves heaped round the 

 stem, throw out roots over the whole of the portion 

 covered, while the roots below have died oft" and the 

 trees have broken off close to the ground. In my 

 opinion coconuts should not be planted deeper than one 

 foot below the .-urtace. Make the hole as wide and as 

 deep as you like; but fill it up with good earth and 

 manure well tramped, so that during heavy rains water 

 does not percolate into the hole and form a quagmire. 

 If the soil is very stiff, iu the second year dig the 

 ground for about three feet all round the hole about 



