226 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[September i, 1882. 



of iho native Assam tree by the introduction of the 

 China plants in Lord Wm. Bentinck's time ; but the 

 alm"ft universal consensus of opinion aniougst Indian 

 planters is that the result of the connection between 

 tlie Mongoliau ami the Indian plants has been most 

 bcnetioial, liy the production of a hybrid, which is 

 co|iiously fertile, more robust than its Indian parent, 

 and more prolific of leaf than cither that or the 

 China parent. Il would seem as if the intermixture 

 of the various species of cinchonas here and in 

 Iii(li;i was likely to yield similarly beneficial results 

 in tile production of a hybrid, more robust than ledgeri- 

 ana while approaching it in wealth of alkaloids, quantity 

 of bitrk makingup foraiiy possible deficiency of thelatter, 

 if deficiency there should ultimately be. I have reason to 

 be glad that the "hybrids" are approved instead of being 

 condemned, for a gentleman who travelled with me 

 from Colombo in'ormed me that of pl.ints from 

 officinalis seeds received from this estate 30 percent 

 at least turned out to be hybrids. The same pleasure 

 which he felt at this result I have experienced in 

 seeing the thousands of robust, vigorous-growing trees 

 here, the result beyond quesiiou of a cross bet- 

 ween oui- sucoirubra and officinalis. Hybrids between 

 succirubia and calisaya promise equally well. It 

 does uot seem as if the roileutial attack was to be 

 more than sporadic, and as for the fathers and mothers 

 of the grubs, the appearance of a solitary beetle 

 during a long excursion today was considered phenom- 

 enal. Having since I wrote passed twice close enough 

 to Maha Eliya to have a good look at it, and up to 

 the top of the valley as far as Calsay, I may say 

 that even the eft'ects of "grub" are now few and 

 far between. While having pleasure in stating this 

 fact, it is quite a new idea to me, although it has 

 been propounded, that to say that grub or the effects 

 of grub existed on an estate might injure the char- 

 acter of a superintendent. Human nature is unreason- 

 able euongh, but we should like to see the moral monster 

 who held the superintendent of a plantation of coiTee 

 responsible for the ravages of grub or heniileia, or 

 the manager of a vineyard for the deadly effects of 

 phylloxera. That grub as well as leaf disease have 

 existed and inllicted incalcnlable injury on coffee in 

 all the estates in this valley as well as in other 

 parts of Ceylon, is a simple matter of fact, to be 

 greatly deplored. The almost total disappearance of 

 both would be matter for unqualified congratulation, 

 if we could only be certain that each had said 

 "farewell forever." We can but hope for the best, 

 while, personally, I regret that I did not follow the 

 advice given by "old Thwaites " in Nuwara Eliya 

 in 1S70, to plant tea and not cofT-e on the property 

 marching with Maha Eliya in which I am interested. 

 What with leaf disease, rats, grubs, debilitated 

 bushes and bad blossoming seasons, I have never 

 had but one decent paying crop of coffee. It may do 

 better, and I hope it will, for the sake of those 

 more entirely dependent ou it than I .am. But I 

 am doing now wliat I wish I had resolved to do 

 a doZ'U years ago, — devoting ray first attention to 

 tea, my second to cinchonas. From the first, how- 

 ever, I neglected neither, so that now I am .ible to 

 extend largely the cultivation of both, and both 

 promise exceedingly w'ell. 



Orchard fruit trees obtained from England and 

 Australia have been geiici ally disappointing, from 

 want mainly no doubt of proper attention by a 

 good gardener, such as is so common in India, so 

 scarce in Ceylon. In most cases of peaches and 

 nectarines, the grafts died off and the stocks and 

 sprouts from them flourished. A few .ipples have 

 appeared occasionally, however, and this morning a 

 cou|>le of fiunches oftno distinct kinds were gathered 

 to s:ive them from the effects of the weather and 

 the attentions of the coolies. I send one of each 



kind,* and you will see that they give promise of 

 good results to those who could bestow proper at- 

 tention ou fruit growing, iu pruning, digging, manur- 

 ing, &c. The fruit which flourishes on coffee estates 

 is the citron, of which bushels can be obtained. 

 They might be acceptable to steamer passengers, it 

 but for the manufacture of cooling drinks. Of all 

 the fodder grasses, guinea grass is the most accept- 

 able to stock ; but at high altitudes rcana hixurians 

 flourishes much better and yields large returns of 

 stalks which, it the cattle do uot take 

 kindly to them, could be used to cover 

 cinchona trees. Amongst its other merits is that of 

 growing on subsoils bared by landslips as readily 

 as mana grass. Today I saw fine . plants thickly 

 growing, the result of seed scattered on such a bared 

 precipitous spot. As sugarcane is grown for fodder 

 up to 7,000 feet in Central America, it ought to do 

 well here, and I believe an experiment was tried 

 on Mattakelly. 



CULTIVATION OF CORK. 

 The cork tree is an oak (quercus suber) growing in 

 the south of Europe and especially in Spain and 

 Portugal, where it .attains the height of thirty feet. 

 No oak is indigenous to Ceylon, "the Ceylon oak" 

 being a misnomer, and the few plants of English oak 

 introduced have been very slow of growth and have 

 degenerated into a bushy form. Even if the cork oak 

 could be established on our higher hill ranges, it 

 would need, under the influeuce of our tropical climate, 

 to come to maturity much earlier than it does in 

 its native habitat, to satisfy a desire for quick returns. 

 From the short notice in the new edition of the 

 Encydopcnlia Britannica we gather that the first strip- 

 piug does uot take place until between the loth-20th 

 years, and such bark is ouly suited for ornamental work 

 in conservatories or for tanning. The bark is sub- 

 sequently removed every eight or ten years, for 150 

 years, improving with each successive period. A 

 trial of the cork tree might be made, but scarcely on 

 a large scale. 



CALCUTTA TEA SYNDICATE. 



Calcutta, June 20th, 18S2. 



Deak Sir, — By desire of the Committee of the 

 Tea Syndicate, I issued a circular ou the 15th April 

 last, and, having since received important letters from 

 the New York and Melbourne agents, I now wish to 

 draw your particular attention to certain portions of 

 them. 



America. 



Under date of 24th March, the New York agents 

 write that inquiries which come from Canada, B,alti- 

 more, and the Far West, places hundreds of miles 

 apait, show that there is more interest taken in 

 Indian tens every week, .and they are quite confident 

 that a general curiosity to have a few of them would 

 soon lead to deliveries of considerable importance, if 

 they had the tens to ofi'er. In a general w.ay, they 

 would advise shipments of teas costing about S annas, 

 and a few at 10 annas, giviug preference to small, 

 black, well-made leaf, free from dust, and of flavoury 

 liquor, rather than to those with much pungency. 



Ou the 1st April they wrif^ that the quantity of 

 Syndicate teas offered at the weekly auctions might 

 be gr.adually increased, if they had a sufficient sup- 

 ply to keep the tea before buyers, up to receipt of 

 the first shipment of new tea. As, however, they 



* These can be seen at om* oliice. — Ud. 



