THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[September i, 1882. 



THE CORK TREE. 



Tuesday, .July 10th. 

 Dear Sir,— " Quercus suber," the cork oak, if 

 plauted 45 trees per acre, yielding 150 lb. per tree, 

 wciild be 6,750 ib. of bark per acre, i. e. 3 tons. Can 

 an.v of your numerous readers liiudly inform me—hoio cork 

 seils, and if it is likely to become a drug iu the London 

 market, should tlie supply be largely increased? 

 Whether its cultivation alojie would necessitate much 

 expense in nurseries, weeding, pruuiug, labor, etc., 

 and in bringing to s.aleroom, or if it should be left 

 alone until obtaining maturity, i. e. in 15 years. 

 Wliether its destruction then for tannin would pay ? If 

 so, after 1st or 2nd crop, or when to best advant- 

 age? Has it failed al a lower altitude th^.u l.GOO 

 feet, other conditions being favourable ? Any, or more, 

 information on the subject will be most acceptable. — 

 Believe nie, your obedient servant, 



NEW PRODUCTS. 



A SUCCESSFUL CLEARING OF C. OFFICIN- 

 ALIS FIVE YEARS OLD. 



Berar, Bogawantalawa, 11th July. 

 Dkak Sir, —As there are many who at the present 

 time took upon cinchona officinalis (or, as it is ter.ned 

 in the London market, a "mere aun:ial ") as being 

 uuBuit ible to these coffee districts in the Central Pro- 

 vince, I can only say the trouble would be tvell re- 

 paid of a visit to the far end of Bogawantalawa. 



Last Sunday I spent an afternoon in going over 

 the upper part of Loinorn estate, where there is 

 littraUy without any exaggeration a forefit of pure 

 officinalis rising five years old. 



Although the siil is nothing extraordinary and the 

 drains not particularly close, as generally considered 

 to be necessary, the healthiness of the trees is re- 

 markable, and not one prr cent of sickly-looking trees 

 is to be seen. This is equally marked in later plantings 

 of the same variety There are about 15 acres in 

 all of this officinalis pi inted Ox 6 in the first instance, 

 and later on supplied between rows and plants, making 

 them .3 x .3 as they now stand. 



Undoubtedly the climate where the rainfall is so 

 small and the freeness of the soil coupled wdth good 

 and careful work can alone account for this great 

 Buooess. I must also mention that Lynford and 

 the adjoining estates bid fair to equal the growth 

 of the clearing above-mentioned, and on Lynford 

 may be seen a field of some 20 acres in extent rising 

 2 years old, which I have no reason to doubt will be 

 equally good. 



In "fact, on every side of this most favoured locality 

 may be seen officinalis of all agcB looking most pro 

 mising, iu spite of the late winds which have been 

 exceptionally severe. I'o all interested in the cultiv- 

 ation of this most valu.ible variety which is so much 

 run down at the present time, the above description, 

 I trust, will be encouraging.— I am, dear sir, yours 

 faithfully, E. A. C. 



and bare interbreeding in a state of nature ?" You 

 remark upon this :— " We regret to say that we cannot 

 join our good friend iu his sceptical queries as to the 

 olitaiuing of prolific offspring from a uui'in of hares 

 and rabbits," and you give confirmatory extracts from 

 the Encyclopaidia Brilamnai, and from Cliauibers. 1 

 send you another note on the subject, as every little 

 helps. Could not JVIr. W. Smith of Mattakelle tell 

 us whether the hares interbred with the rabbits he 

 used to keep on his pataiias ?— Yours tiuly. 



KAROLY FtJRDO. 

 " Of late years a hybrid race of r.abbits, bred of a 

 cross between the hare and the rabbit, has been 

 successfully cultivated. These hybrids, singularly 

 enough, and unlike the general rule of hybndiz'tiou, 

 are able to breed among themselves. The name of 

 Lepus Darwinii has been given to this remarkable 

 zoological manufacture of a new species. In Heligoland 

 this kind of rabbit is bred specially for ihe markets, 

 where it is in high request, and its flesh partakes 

 alike of the best qualilies of that of the hare and of 

 the common nbhit."— Natural History Rambles 

 Underground, p. 3i, 1S79, by J. 15. Taylor, F. L. S., 

 F. G. S., Editor of Science Gossip, &c. 



HYBRIDS AND CROSSES. 



Lindula, 13th July 1882. 



Dear Sir, — In the July number of the Tropical 

 Agriculturist just to hand you have an editorial upon 

 a letter from Mr. Gauimie headed " What is a Hybrid 

 and What is a Cross '!" Mr. Gamniie says : — " Will 'X. 

 at the same time tell us where hybrid hares or 

 rabbits are to he seen ? He writes as if such were 

 quite common, but I have never either seen or 

 heard of one. There are of course any number of 

 varieties of the common rabbit under domestication, 

 * * * but is there any known instance of the rabbit 



TEA CULTIVATION IN CEYLON :— WHAT 

 CAN BE DONE : FACTS AND FIGURES. 

 Colombo, July 13th, 1882. 

 DE.4R Sirs, — The export of tea from Ceylon for the 

 current year has increased to 4)2,000 lb., and wiU 

 probably be 60 1,000 by the 30th September. Next 

 year, I think, it will be little short of two millions 

 pounds, and the year after three or four millions, with 

 every prospect" of a rapid increase year by year. 



I have, as you know, advocated both publicly and 

 privately, the cultivation of tea on abandoned coffee 

 land, and also amongst inferior coffee, esijecially as 

 an .adjunct to coffee and cinchona estates, 



Many persons are deterred from adopting the course I 

 have recommended, from a mistaken inipressi.iu that, 

 unless a large yield per acre is obtained, the cultiv- 

 ation cannot be profitable. 



It IS with the view of dissipating this idea that I 

 venture to ventilate iu your columns a subject, upon 

 which I have given much consideration, and in which 

 I have had some experience. 



That the extent of profit on the cultivation of tea 

 in Ceylon as in other countries, depends under equal 

 circumstances, on the yield per acre admits of no 

 question, but, as the cost of production is much less 

 affected by the yield than is generally supposed, it stands 

 to reason tbat a small yield per acre, from land which has 

 cost a small sum to briug into bearing, may give a larger 

 relative profit than a large yield pei- acre, from land 

 which has entailed a much larger outlay if the 

 expenses of cultiv.^tion, manufacture, and transport to 

 market are equal. 



For instanee twopence per pound net profit on 

 a tea estate yielding 500 lb. per acre, and cost- 

 ing R20j per acre to briug into bearing, is equal 

 to 20 per cent ; whilst two pence per pound on 

 only 250 lb. per acre, on an outlay of R70 per 

 acre, which is the cost of bringing abandoned coffee 

 land into bearing (if it is an adjunct to a coffee 

 estate having water power), is equal to 30 per cent. 

 In saying tbat the cost i f producing and placing tea 

 in the market, is less affected by the acreage yield 

 than is generally im.agined, I mean that it costs very 

 little more per pouud to lay tea down in Colombo, 

 with a yield of only 2.50 Ib. than it does with one 

 of 500 lb. That this is possible, will be recognised 

 when it is remembered, that after the estate is iu 

 bearing, the only items of expenditure in the produc- 

 tion of tea, which would affect the cost one way 



