July r, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



59 



prevails on our estates. Ho would rather believe from 

 I he numerous youug products springing up amongst 

 the cotifee, in a rejuvpnescenoe than a decay of enter- 

 prize. He could see far more signs of vigorous young 

 lifn than of decrepitude and dfcline. He would be 

 much more likely to infer an influx of new capital 

 into tlie country than an utter depreciation of the 

 old. He would leave the groaning circles in Colombo 

 expecting to find the coffee tields wasted, leafless, 

 barrcM, and would find thorn luxuriant with coffcp, 

 still showing wonderful order and vitality, and with 

 uuiiierous rival products ready lo take its place or sup- 

 plement its shortcomings. In truth, there is no feature 

 of the present crisis in which it contrasts so 3tron'.;ly 

 with all its predecessors, as in this wonderful order, 

 vit^Uity and promise visible on all the estates. 



There are other points on which, a^ an old fogey, 

 I might be tempted to prose, but I will venture to 

 mention onlv just one more point of difference between 

 1846 and 1882. 



'I'he planter of 184(5 thanked his stars he was not 

 married. Poor fellow ; he knew no better ! Ou the 

 other hand, he of 1882 may, and perhaps does, feal 

 how much of all that has kept his head above water, 

 during this period of ever-recurring visitations "f 

 miefortuue, has been due to the gentle, but never fail, 

 ing influence, inspiration and encouragement of a wife, 

 and to the unspeakalile solace of a home and a eom- 

 paninn in his trouble. If, in some rare case, the family 

 care has intensifled the sharpness of individual suf- 

 fering, in the great majority of cases, family com- 

 forts have forlitied the energies of the struggling plan- 

 ter, ,ind minimized persomil and iudividual misery. 

 The planter of 1882 owes to the influence of woman 

 the greatest comfort, the most wholesome stimulus, 

 aud the most effectual encouragement he has had to 

 help him in his difficulties ; and, in many cases, he 

 owes to her the generous forbi arance of his creditor ! 

 When better times come, and, of course, they must 

 come, or else tlie end of Hi'-- utorld, because, > on know, 

 (J I y Ion planters are not the only people whom this wave 

 of agricultural depression victimizes ; they only share 

 a common lot, and they are eure to rise along with 

 the rest. I say, when good times return, we must 

 not forget how much gratitude we owe the ladies. I 

 concluue this bit of old fogeyism with hearty good 

 wishes to the planters and' best cheers for those real 

 hcToinis, their wives. G. W. 



INJURIOUS INSECTS.* 



The authoress of this useful book has long been 

 known tor her labouis in the department of entomo- 

 1 igy, an. I has furnished us for several years past with 

 various useful notes and observations on injurious 

 insect.s. 



This manual will be found of much interest to Cey- 

 lou planters, entomologi.-ts, and alsoto the meteorologiet. 



Although many of the insects referred to do not exist 

 h re, yet there are many of the same genus around us. 

 The timber trees, the cultivated crops, etc. , vary much 

 from a temperate climate, an.l such a manual as this, 

 referring totally to the injurious insects of Ceylon, 

 would be of very great value. 



We have a small book (Nietner's) v^hich tells us about 

 the enemies of the coETue tree, but new products are 

 rnpidly extending, and tbey have already or will soon 

 have their insect pests. 



Some such plan as that adopted by Miss Ormerod 



* A Manual of Injurious Insects, with Methods of Pre- 

 V ntion and Remedy for their Attacks to Food Crop.^, 

 l'\)rest Trees and Fruits; with a Short Introduction to 

 Eniomology. By lihauor A. O merod, F. M. S. (London: 

 \V. Swan ■^i>nni nscfcein & Alien; Edinburgh : J. Menzits 

 & Co. 1881.) 



might be carried out here. Let all those interested in 

 the welfare of their crops furnish as many notes and 

 observations on their various pests as they have time 

 for. This treatise of 32:5 pages is based in many res- 

 " pects on Curtis 's Farm InsecU" aud many of the il- 

 lustrations are from that book or from the pencil of 

 Professor Westwood. A great amount of information 

 is compiled from previous writers, eupplemeuted with 

 the records of all those who have so willingly rendered 

 Miss Ormeroi aid. Altli<mgh onr insects ar- very dif- 

 ferent, yet we notice in the text several akin to our 

 colfee pests. Thus we have here apliis cofea. aud in 

 the manual there are noticed 10 of the aphides with 

 useful ndvice as to keeping them in check. Agaiu 

 we have Zeiizfra coffeea aud Tortrixfoffeia, enemies 

 of the cott'ee bush described by Neitner. In the mau- 

 u»l, we notice •.— Torlrix ulndaiia, the oak leaf-roller 

 moth, which causes serious injury to the oakfore-is of 

 Kurf)pe, and also Zeuzera fescuU, which bores into many 

 of our useful trees at home, such as the pear, apple, 

 ash, horse chesnut etc. The white grub of the family 

 nielonthidse has its family represeuted in the manual 

 by melontha vulgaris. 



The introduction to entomology will be of great 

 use to a beginner on the subject, aud the authoress 

 is to be congratulated on the interesting and well 

 illustrated manual. 



TEA m CEYLON. 



A very good proof that tea has found a congenial 

 home in the hill as we'll a.s low country of Ceylon is 

 aflbrded by the case of an abandoned estate in a 

 medium district of which we heard the other day. 

 A new clearing at an elevation of about .3,000 feet 

 after being planted with coff'ee, cinchona and 

 tea was, aboiit two years ago, neglected and 

 finally abandoned. Weeds and chcena soon took pos- 

 session of the cleared land choking out the coffee 

 as a laile and playing havoc with a good many of the 

 cinchona, though not a few have struggled on to a 

 size which makes them worth barking ; but the tea 

 bushes have held theii- own against weeds, lantana 

 and chena. A large number of them are most flour- 

 ishing, and altogether the tea-plant in this abauduued 

 clearing looks as if it had found its habitat. 



Throughout sevei-al districts with heavy rainfall and in 

 fields w'here coft'ee is undeniably not a success, tea seed 

 is now being put out at stake between the coftee : 

 in others nurseries are being formed for plants which 

 will be ready to put out duruig next planting 

 season. Everything points to a large addition to the 

 planted area under tea during 1882-3, and where the 

 cultivation of coffee, in good heart, and of promising 

 cinchona is conjoined, there should not be much 

 doubt of the success of this new venture. 



CASTOR OIL PLANT. 



Mr. J. luglis writes : — I was asked a short time 

 ago by a well-known firm in town to write answers 

 to a series of questions on the cultiv.ation of the castor 

 oil plant. The information was wanted for some young 

 planters in Fiji, but I have thought that possibly 

 what little information I am able to give on the sub- 

 ject might be of use to some of your readers. I do 

 think you will credit me with a simple wish to see 

 my adopted country go ahead ami develop its resource.s. 

 That is my only excuse for putting the following 

 information at your disposal. I believe castor miglit 

 be made a profiitable crop, and the product is a 

 valuable one. The letter is as follows ; — 



"Dear Sirs, — Yours of (5th, re ' cultivation of castor 

 oil plants,' to hioid. What infoimation I have is 

 heartily at your service. I used to grow the plant 

 .largely iu India, but it was such a common crop that 



