284 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1882. 



of the most reckless description, under which it will probably 

 disappear some day as an article of consumption in this country. 

 The baneful effects of the Treasury miunte "of 20th January, 

 to which Government appear to have practically adhered, cau- 

 not be better described than in the terms of the memorial of 

 the Chamber of Commerce to Mr. Gladstone praying for its 

 withdrawal, where it is described as a "tacit admission and 

 encouragement of indefinite adulterations, and as coutaining in- 

 dications contrary to all principles of integrity and hone-sty." 

 It appears, however, tliat Government consider that they have 

 no concern with the morality of a thing, so long as an honest 

 penny (?) can be earned by doing it. 



H. Pastedb. 



ENEMIES OP CARDAMOMS. 



Auaust 8th 18S2. 



ANALYSIS OF CINCHONA BARK. 



London, E.C., 21st July 18S2. 



Dear Str, — On page 510 in your overland issue I find 

 you couclude a letter by saying : "What a pity the 

 medical officers in planting districts are not qualified 

 analysts, to help the cinchona industry." 



There are several known methods of testing the 

 value of cinchona, and when one of your Ceylon planters 

 was at home he came to me to enquire if he could be 

 taught the process. 1 introduced him to a friend of 

 mine in Paris, who, in about a week, educated him by 

 a very simple method to test the value of the differ- 

 ent samples of cinchona. There are many young 

 chemists who would be thankful to qualify here or iu 

 Paris and go out to Ceylon, and, if they received a small 

 fee for each analysis, they ought to make a good living. 

 With constant practice the test is very quickly made, 

 sufficiently good for a planter's guide. — Yours truly, 



THOS. CHRISTY. 



CINCHONA AND LIBERIAN COFFEE CULTIVA- 

 TION IJJ THE LOWCOUNTRY. 



Ealutara, 22nd July 1882. 

 Dear Sir, — The cinchona question is occupying so 

 much attention at present that a few details of some 

 experiments iu Kalutara will be interesting to you 

 and your readers. 



On this estate, plants of C. succirubra, ledjieriana, 

 pubesceus and condaminea were put out a little over 

 a year ago, and the three latter varieties are all 

 doing well, being on an average from 3^ to 5 feet 

 high. The first-mentioned is not doing well here, 

 but on the other estates at an elevation of 500 to 700 

 feet it is looking remarkably well for its age. 



The elevation, here is only 200 feet above sea-level, 

 and there has, so far, been no dying out, except 

 on a little fiat, where, through damp, a, number of 

 plants have failed. All the plants on the estate 

 were reared in Barnagalla nurseries, iu Dolosbage, and 

 none died from the effects of the long journey down. 

 ilie foregoing facts open a field for investigation 

 among our cinchnna savants, as G. succirubra has 

 heretofore (I understand) been supposed to be the 

 variety suited best for low elevations. 



The pubescens has flowered freely, and one or two 

 of the ledgers, but the others have no tendency to 

 do this. I send you, under separate cover, some 

 flowers of ledgeriaua and pubesceus type and leaves 

 of both and condaminea too. 



Curiously enough I noticed a ledger plant covered 

 with black bug. The latter looked exceedingly fat aud 

 happy : probably from the medicinal eflfects of the 

 foliage they were feeding on ? 



That Liberian coffee on selected land will pay 

 handsomely, there can be no doubt. A small clear- 

 ing (5 acres), the first opened on an estate here 

 now 3 J years old, will, within its fourth year 

 give 100 bushels parchment : already 60 bushels have 

 been dispatched. This is about 4 cwt. per acre 

 planted 10 x 10 feet ; but at 7 x 7 feet, whieli is the 

 distance moot people have now adopted, it would 

 pive S cwt. per acre • not a bad maiden crop in those 

 hard times?— Yours l.».thfully, W. L. F. 



Dear Sib, — In answer to several enquiries as to 

 what grub or other insect bores the holes in carda- 

 mom seed, I now send you the grub as caught in the 

 act of boring a seed and the seed with it. Perhaps 

 you will be able to describe the fame. This grub 

 lives among the cardamom bulbs and is difhcult to get 

 hold of. A mixture of ashes and lime applied among 

 the bulbs is the only thing I find that stops the grub from 

 doing the mischief, but whether it kills the brute or 

 whether it jumps out of its nest and goes somewhere 

 else I cannot say, as I have not found a dead one 

 yet: this grub jumps forsome distance. — Yours truly, 



J. HOLLOWAY. 



[The well-known destructive wireworm. It is the 

 larva of a beetle belonging to the family Elaieridffi. 

 Curtis, in his "Farm Insects" says : — "These beetles 

 have been called elaters from a peculiar power they 

 have of leaping up like a tumbler when placed on 

 their back, and for thid reason they have received 

 the English appellation of spring-beetles, and skip- 

 jacks, and from the noise which the apparatus makes 

 when they leap they are called snap or brick-beetles 

 and likewise blacksmiths." The same authority gives 

 the following description of the grub: — "The wire- 

 worm very much resembles the mealworm ; it is of 

 a pale ochreous colour, becoming darker when dead, 

 with a few hairs scattered over its polished shining 

 skin, it is serai-cyliudrical, the back being convex, 

 the belly more flat ; its head is flattened or wedge- 

 shaped, and there are twelve alidominal segments. 

 Of all the insect enemies with which the farmer has 

 to contend, there are none which are more fatal in 

 their effects and more difficult to overcome. Re- 

 fuse lime of gas-works will banish the wire-worm. 

 — Soot aud lime will kill them." The little book 

 on "Garden Pests" gives a short description of 

 them at page 76.] 



TEA FROM CUTTINGS: THE WEEDING AND 



DRAINING OF PLANTATIONS. 



Dear, Sir, — Can you, or any of your readers, state 

 whether tea has been grown successfully by planting 

 it from cuttings ? That they strike rapidly and with- 

 out any trouble I know from experiment, but I should 

 be glad to hear whether it has been ever attempted 

 on a large scale. I have read with much interest 

 the letter about weeding and loss of nitrates in the 

 soil, etc., by "X.," in your issue of the 5th iust. 

 One thing is certain, namely, that our system of cultiv- 

 ating in Ceylon by keeping the surface of the laud 

 bare with monthly weeding and cutting open surface 

 drains across our hillsides is uidque and not adopted 

 in other countries, even where labour is plentiful, either 

 for cotfee, tea, or cinchona. How can it be proved 

 that the results are in our favour, or that estates 

 previously dirty and undrained have given larger crops 

 since they have been cleaned and thoroughly dramed ? 

 With regard to drainage I believe sentiment and 

 association have had a great deal to do with the 

 general way in which it has been carried out. A. 

 at home is pleased to see in the report he receives 

 that his estate is now all thoroughly drained, and 

 possibly is soiTv when told that his neighbour B. is 

 likely to be ruined and have his estate washed away, 

 because he has not had a drain cut m it. These 

 surface drains and drainage as carried out on land 

 at home have iwlely different effects, and with our 

 tropical bursts of rain I am inclined to think B. is 

 better off than A. Another circumstance which is 

 seldom taken into account when ordering a estate to 

 be drained is that the cost of constructing these drains 

 is nothing to the ultimate expense of clearing and 



