September i, i88z.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



229 



[Twelve percent of sulphate, or nine of pure quinine 

 is certainly a rich return : to compare with the 

 analyses of Ceylon bark, we should like to have the age 

 of Capt. Cox's trees. — Ed.] 



INSECTS IN CINCHONA VuESERIES AND 

 COPPICING AT 6 OK S FEET HIGH. 

 Maskeliya, July 10th 1882. 



Dear Sir, — Can you or any of your numerous 

 readers inform me through the medium of your jour- 

 nal what is the best thing to kill insects in a nurse- 

 ry seed bed 1 The iusect destroying powder, sold 

 in packets, is simply worse than useless. Would dd- 

 ute tobacco juice or kerosene oil bo of any use and 

 what percentage of each in solution would be innocuous 

 to the young seedlings ? As a " combination of 

 spoke-shaving and copjiicin'", what do you think of 

 topping cinchona (say at 2 or 3 yesrs old) 6 or S 

 feet from the ground, and allowing them to throw 

 up two suckers from that height, one sucker to be cut 

 down after 3 or 4 years' growth, when two more would 

 be allowed to start and the 2ud suckers to be cut 

 down after 7 or 8 year's growth : the 8 feet of stem 

 to be permanent tor the purpose of ''stripping" or 

 spoke-shaving yearly? — Yours truly, KNOSE. 



[Phi-nylc is the latest remedy recommended, but we 

 have not yet tried it. The process our correspoudent 

 suggests is really topping and we should doubt its 

 Biiccess. There is nothing like trying, however. — Ed.] 



COFFEE WOOD FURNITURE. 



" Imperial Cxsar dead and turned to clay 

 May stop a hole to keep the wind away." 



Madulkele, ,Iuly 10th. 



Dear Sik, — Chairs made of cofiee wood by tne 

 Sinhalese carpenters of Matara used to fetch from five 

 to ten rupees apiece in the local murkets. The pur- 

 chaser I am sure (though conscious of giving a lujh 

 price which cannot rule very long) gives his money 

 not for only possessing what is a curiosity, but for 

 what is iu fact a piece of handsome household fur- 

 niture which combines beauty with durability. The 

 wood, wheii polished, looks like ivory ; and walking- 

 sticks made of it are considered to be not only beauti- 

 ful but strong. Having the possibility of developing 

 a profitable industry in this useful .m mner, the re- 

 tlection is revolting, why such nice coffee stumps or 

 steals as those to be found in old estates now abandoned 

 should be allowed to decay and be lost. Ceylon ex- 

 ports ebony and satinwood to England and the 

 Continent, and I think it will not be difficult to send 

 a trial shipment of coffee wood to the recipients of 

 the former. It will he presumptuous on my part to 

 dictate to you the manner h"w an export trade 

 mi"bt be opened : he thiit what it may, the result 

 will undoubtedly alter the present misfortunes of 

 hundreds of proprietors whose once nourishing shrubs 

 of coffee are now so many scenes of desolation — 

 Yours obediently, A. VAN SIARREX. 



[We have recently seen pretty tables ornamented 

 with ruitie work made of coffee stems. We should 

 think the close grain of coffee wood might render it 

 valuable as a substitute for boxwood, which is getting 

 scarce and dear. There are some big enflBe trees in 

 Devlon, but they must hide their diminished heads 

 in comparison with those to be seen iu Java —perfect 

 trees, a m:i3s of ferns and rich orchids. Now as in 

 the time of Sir Stamford Raffles, deals of a respectable 

 size can be obtained from old coffee trees. — Ed.] 



SPORTING OF CINCHONA AND COFFEE. 

 Agrapatana, 15th July 1S82. 



Dkak SiK, — Your authority says cinchoua and coffee 

 belong to the .same family, and it is not imposs- 

 ible that some of the sporting of cinchonas on estates 



mgiht be due to the pollen of the coffee fertilizing 

 the ovules of cinchona. Now, this granted, would be give 

 us his opinion of what results might happen, should 

 the pollen of the cinchona fertilize the o^iles of the 

 coffee tree, and also his opinion of the results of self 

 fertilization 011 our coj/iia arahka. — I I'cmain, dear sir, 

 yours faithfully, J. D. W. 



[In reply, all I can say is that nothing is known of 

 such on the family to which coffee belongs, and furtlier, 

 unless actually done with camel-hau' pencil it is but 

 seldom we get a seedling from coffee to remain un- 

 der the trees. It would be very interesting to know 

 what would be the result. — A. C. D.] 



A GOOD WORD FOR C. OFFICINALIS. 



Agrapatana, July 15th, 1882. 

 Dear Sir, — I am glad to see some one eaying a 

 good word for officinalis. As in the top end of Boga- 

 wantalawa so here many acres of tine healthy officinalis 

 can be seen. For instance Preston, ,Stair, Waverley, 

 St. Regulus, Thornley, Bromley, &c. Most of us know 

 that in our hurry to be in time and our rush to get 

 rich we have jnit out millions of weak cankered rubbish 

 from our nurseries of immature seed from sickly trees, 

 but that is no loason to damn officinalis, root and 

 brancli. There are of course many soils and positions 

 iiusuited to it, but give a good'|healthy plant a satis- 

 factory chance in a suitable situation and it will prove 

 a most valuable possession. I have some 20,000 trees 

 from eight years old down to four years which have 

 most of them survived three scrapings and show no 

 tendency to die out. Also to perpetuate and continue 

 our valuable hybrids we should plant officinalis with 

 succirubra and others. When coffee was being planted 

 far and wide, how many clearings were spoilt by bad 

 plants being put in. But that did not damn coffee 

 as coffee, so why should officinalis be damned, * a 

 more delicate plant than coffee, because bad plants 

 have been badly planted in bad situations. — Yours 

 truly, R. W. W. 



CEYLON TEA IN THE LONDON MARKET. 

 Strathellie, Nawalapitiya, IGth July 1882. 



Dear Sir, — It may interest some of your tea-grow- 

 ing readers to know that the 6 chests of tea referred 

 to in your Loudon correspondent's letter as selling at 

 8d per lb. contained what is commonly known as red 

 leaf. A few months ago I sent 6 chests of the same 

 quality, but the market was then stronger for teas of 

 this rough descriptions aud they sold at lOd per lb. 



If oiir red leaf fetches such prices we may look for 

 toinethiiig very good for our fine teas when we have 

 occasion to put them on the market. Demand has been 

 so great privately that I have not for two years sold 

 any tea in London, but intend shortly sending a break of 

 20,000 lb. to the Lane by way of testing tlie market. 

 —Yours faithfully, P. R. SHAND. 



ANALY'SIS OF CINCHONA BARK : COM- 

 MERCIAL AND SCIENTIFIC. 



Colombo, 27th July 1882. 



Dkar Sir, — Referriug to your note to the letter of 

 " Enquirer" in the Observer of the 26th instant, draw- 

 ing a distinction between a "scientific" and a "buyer's" 

 analysis of cinchona bark, I note that you characterize 

 the latter as a "rough and ready process" in com- 

 parison with the former. If, by a "buyer's" an.alysis, 

 yow mean certain tests which buyers may apply to 

 the bark for their own satisfaction, this may be true ; 

 but if you really mean a "c mmercial" analysis, or 

 one that is meant to satisfy iioth buyer and seller, 



* The synonymous word "cjndomued" hn:) a more 

 pleasant sound ! — Ed. 



