204 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[September i, 1882. 



How TO Water Hanging Baskets. — Hanging baskets 

 require frequeut watering, to accomplish wliich, with 

 clue regard for the carpet beneath, tliey must commonl3' 

 be taken down from their perches and then suspended 

 elsewhere to dry. This trouble may be avoided by 

 a sample and inexpensive device. Fill a bottle with 

 water, into which insert the ends of two pieces of 

 yarn, permitting the oiher end of each jjieco to hang 

 down outside the bottle. The bottle should be sus- 

 pended just above the basket and the water allowed 

 to drip, which will follow in sufficient quantities to 

 keep the earth moist. — Illmtrated Sydney News. 



AGEiicoLTUEAr. Company of Mauritius. — Inclusive of 

 £5,422 gained by exchange on funds remitted lo Mau- 

 ritius, the net profits of the Agricultural Company of 

 Mauritius (Limited) for the year ended March 31st, were 

 £18,012 wliich was increased to 18,251, by the addition 

 of a sninll sum brought forward. The directors have 

 carried £3,000 to the reserved fund general account 

 which is thereby raised to £.S6,03S, and £10,000 to 

 the reserved fund exchange account, wliich stands at 

 £40,000. They now propose a dividend of Is 6d. 

 per share, making a total return of 3s per share, or 

 15 per cent., for the year ; and further recommend a 

 bonus of Is. per share, or at the rate of 5 per cent. The 

 bahinoe to be carried forward is £251 .—Overland Mail. 



Gold in Ceylon.- -Interest in our quarts reefs will 

 be revived by intelligence received from England. 

 Samples amounting to one-fourth of a ton of quartz from 

 Raugboda estate, in the Ramboda district, has been 

 found, on analyses by the Assayer to the Bank of 

 Eneland, to contain as much as two ounces of gold 

 to "the ton. A further large sample from the same 

 locality ie now on its way home, and, if the test 

 prove equally satisfactory, no time will lie lost in com- 

 mencing mining operations. The enterprise could not be 

 begun under better auspices, and we have not the 

 sliohtest doubt that when capitalists realize the 

 facilities of ready transport and cheap reliable labour 

 as well as of healthy climate which exist in Ceylon, 

 that not alone in respect of gold-mining will British 

 capital once again begin freely to seek investment 

 in the country. Our new products — tea, cinchona, 

 cocoa, rubbers, &c. — challenge attention on all sides. 



Mu. ScHROTTKY AND Blight. — We had occasion 

 some years ago to dispute with Mr. .'-^chrottky 

 regarding his diagnosis of spider blight — and for this 

 reason : that he based his conclusions on mere theory, 

 and not from a practical experience on the spot (in tea 

 gardens) of the nature and effects of blight. Since 

 then this gentleman has spent a considerable time in 

 • Ceylon, eadeavouring to grapple with the dread Hemileia 

 Vnsf ifrix. He appears to have gone to work in a most 

 practical mnuaer, by visiting and residing for some 

 time at different coffee estates. This is the right plan : 

 and, whether he has succeeded or not in finding a 

 remedy for the coffee disease, he has gone the best way to 

 effect this, and only thanks are due to him. Let him 

 try the same plan in India in reference to red spider, 

 and he may earn the gratitude of all tea planters. 

 The man who should discover a remedy for this pest 

 could hardly be over rewarded. We advocated, years 

 ago, the employment of a State entomologist for this 

 purpose. A movement was made, but it ended in 

 nothing, because it was not sufficieotly followed up. 

 It surprizes us that in a matter of such vital interest 

 to the tea industry, a subscript'ou Hat is not started 

 so as to permit of the best services of a scientist 

 being secured. — Indian Tea Gazette. [What hns hap- 

 pened to us in Ceylon in regard to coffee fungus would 

 probably be repeated in India in regard to red spider 

 and other insect paste. The whole "life-history" of 

 the insects would bo detailed in elaborate reports, 

 but no cure would be indicated, only remediable 

 measures already known, but not arailed of, because too 

 exp ensive . — Ed. ] 



LuMiNons Paint on Plantations. — In a pamphlet 

 giving au account of the uses to which Balmau's pat- 

 ent luminous paint can be applied, we find the fol- 

 lowing paragraph : — 



lu those countries having wide tracts of land with- 

 out roads, large stones may be painted and placed a 

 mile apart, so that the shortest tract is denoted on 

 dark nights — through plantations, luminous arrows 

 Ijointing the way, can be painted on the trunks of 

 trees, and in those countries whore 'owns are not 

 lighted with gas, all the house-door Nos. and street 

 names, if luminous, render great benefit for the better 

 administration of the public service. 



Vegetable Parasites. — The commonly i-eceived opin- 

 ion concerning vegetable parasites is that they attack 

 their victims. But S. T. Fergus, in Coulter's Gazette 

 {Giird. Chron. Feb. 4), gives the beech tree credit for 

 a benevolence which quite upsets preconceived ideas 

 on this point. He says, concerning a root parasite 

 known as beech drops or cancer root, Epiphegus 

 iHiyiniana : — "The beech root, on bemg touched by 

 the parasite, sends a branch or branch-like growth 

 into the latter, through which all its nourishment is 

 carried, causing the death of the root from this point 

 to the end, if not too large, while that above flourishes 

 despite the dram of the parasite. If, ho\yever, the root 

 is large, and there is substance enough after the parasite 

 is supplied, it will live, but will be retarded in its 

 growth. " — Pharmaceutical Journal. 



New Prodctus.— We are glad to learn that the 

 proprietor of Damboolagalla .and Petikande plant- 

 ations in Matale East, has just invested in 500 

 acres of crown land in the Yatiyaiitota district with 

 the view of cultivating new products, chiefly tea. Mr. 

 J. H. Young, during a long connection with Ceylon, 

 extending over nearly 40 years as proprietor of coffee 

 and cinnamon plantations, has had no occasion to 

 speak otherwise than well of the colony in which 

 his capital was invested, and we trust a full measure 

 of success will attend the new venture he has now 

 to embark in. All the accounts we receive of the 

 prospects of tea in the districts between Awisawella 

 and Carapola continue to be most pronii«ing. It is 

 reported that the Mariawatte tea estate near Gam- 

 pola has been leased by Mr. Wm. Cameron (tea planter 

 from Assam) for R6,000 per annum ; we cannot vouch 

 for the rent being correctly quoted. The estate con- 

 sists of 107 acres planted chiefly with tea, but with 

 some cocoa and oardamons. 



Indian Tea. — The following flgiu-es, showing the growth 

 of the Indian tea trade during the last eleven years, 

 from the Custom-house records, are taken from the 

 second aimual report of the ImUan Tea Districts Association. 

 The increase in deliveries is 360 per cent. 



Amounts imported into this country, and 



cleared for home consumption. 

 Imports. 



1870 13,148,168 



1871 15,351,672 



1872 16,924,030 



1873 18,424,077 



1874 17,377,976 



1875 25,605,132 



1876 29,383,788 



1877 31,883,310 



1878 36,007,140 



1879 38,483,084 



1880 44,010,554 



1881 45,765,000 



tiie atiwunts 



Deliveries. 

 13,472,800 

 13,560,120 

 16,272,060 

 18,392,061 

 17,756,640 

 23,273,994 

 26,733,820 

 28,011,600 

 36,766,460 

 35,243,194 

 43,500,000 

 48,500,000 



Since 1877 there has beeu au increase in the con- 

 sumption of Indian tea of 20J million lb., while during 

 the same period there has been a decrease in the con- 

 sumption of China tea of 9 million lb. — Journal of the 

 Society of^Arts, 



