976 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[June i, 1883. 



Canker in Cinchona — An absent proprietor writ- 

 ing by last mail from home says: — "I wish to give 

 the clearing another trial. Weakly and im- 

 mature plants put out have, as far as I could judge, 

 been the bane of cinchona planting. If plants in 

 the nursery are not big and strong, why not leave 

 them in the uur.sei-y whrre they can be carefully 

 attended to, even though a season be lost, i. <>. when 

 good strong plants can be bought outside." 



Nutmegs. — The Maeassar HandeUhlad reports that 

 the nutmeg crop this year in Menado is considerable. 

 During the last five years, since a long continued drought 

 in 1877, nutmeg cultivation has, however, suffered 

 grf.atly there from a disease, hitherto unknown, 

 chieflv among the trees in bearing. On estates con- 

 taining 4,006 to 5,000 nutmeg trees, about twenty or 

 more of the latter die regularly every month. No 

 remedy has yet been suggested for this disease, the 

 roots being the part first affected. Their decay is 

 followed by the trees withering away and dying more 

 or less rapidly. — Straits Times. 



Tea in Cetlon. — The reason why the low-lying tea dis' 

 tricts of this island, so favorable for the yield of tea, unlike 

 those of India, are so favorable to health, is the fact of their 

 exposure to healthy sea-breezes, which reaches them across- 

 an open, well-cultivated country. Yatiantota, Aviaawella 

 Doloshage and the Morowa korle have none of them exhier- 

 ating, bracing climates, yet they cannot be termed un- 

 healthy for the reason abovenamed. In the Avisawella dis- 

 trict, and those adjacent, tea flushes very nearly througout, 

 the year, certainly in nine out of the twelve months, hnd 

 during those nine months plucking rarely ceases. In the 

 Morowa korle we believe a similar state of things prevails. 

 After an interregnum of some years since King Coffee was 

 deposed in that part of tlie island, it has been asce''tained 

 beyond a doubt that no more suitable district for tea exists 

 in the country. The forcing qualities sodetrimentiil to coffee 

 production, and which were the cause of the abandonment of 

 states on which much capital had been expendeil, are pre- 

 cisely those which go to make successful tea plantations. So 

 undoubted has been the success attending the jiioueer oper- 

 ations of tea planters in the Morowakorle, that t)ie proprietor 

 of a number of extensive estates on which coffee has proved 

 a failure, has resolved, after an inspection of the laud and 

 under first-rate advice.*—" Oeylon Times. " 



A Remedy fob White Ants. — A report from the 

 Commissioner for Railways to Mr. John Lackey, 

 M.L. A., giving bis experience of a very simple remedy 

 for white ants, is as follows: — "It will be in your 

 recollection that in May last year I brouaht under 

 your attention, as Secretary for Public Works, th.at 

 the ravages of the white ants in the bridges on the 

 South-western R.ailway had been so severe as to justify 

 the fear that a large expenditure would have to be 

 incurred, if the evil could not be checked, in substituting 

 iron for these wooden structures. You then suggested 

 that a trial should be made of a mixture of arsenic 

 and grease, and you stated your belief that not only 

 would it prove to be a corrective, but that it would 

 in a short time remove the cause of the mischief. It 

 affords me pleasure to inform you that the application 

 of this specific has been most efficacious. The engin- 

 eer for existing lines has just furnished me with the 

 report of the bridge inspector, who states that he has 

 made experiments with it on fifteen culverts and five 

 bridges, and in no ease in which it has been applied is 

 the white ant, which previously infested these struct- 

 ures, now to be .seen. A large public saving has thus 

 been effected. "—Queetislander. 



* Mr. Cameron's advice to Mr. Boustead on the Craven 

 group of estates, we believe; and it is on the same "first-rate" 

 ad^dce that planters are encouraged to plant high up and 

 to go on cultivating tea mth he certainty of sueoess even to 

 .5,600 feet in Lindula, while the finest te:\-g,arden Mr. 

 Cameron has yet seen in Ceylon is close on 4,00(l feet above 

 searlevel.-^-BD. 



San Domingo, in Laborie's time the great scene 

 of coffee cultivation, exported only 1,260,800 lb. 

 in 1881 and .S40,.500 lb. of cocoa. Nothing better 

 could be expected of a country which has a revolu- 

 tion about every six months. Its chief exports are 

 forest products which requii-c but a slight exercise of 

 skill and labour to collect. Amongst the exports are 

 .334,000 lb. of divi-divi and 26-',000 lb. "extract of 

 logwood." If the dye principle can be extracted from 

 logwood in ,St. Domingo, why is the inferior sappan 

 wood sent from Ceylon in the block ? 



CiNCHoxA RoEUSTA. — Dr. Trinien advisedly recom- 

 mended this name, because it left the question 

 of distinct species or variety and that of hybrid, still 

 open, although It was clear enough that Dr. Trimen 

 agreed with the vast majority of planters in regarding 

 the robust cinchona as a hybrid. But now, accordiug to 

 the London correspondent of a co.temporary, the great 

 authority of Mr. .John Eliot Howard is to be given 

 against the hybrid theory. It would appear that he 

 regards the tree as a variety of 6'. nucciruin-a. This 

 must be meant, because those who uphold tlie hybrid 

 origin of the plant, also regard it as closely " allied " 

 to the succirubra. Whatever Mr. Howard has to say 

 on the subject will be received with the respect due 

 to his age and his unrivalled experience. 



The Tropical Agricui.turi.st. — We have just re- 

 ceived the April number of this useful publication, 

 which has now been in existence for nearly two ye.irs. 

 It is, as eet forth on the title page, "a monthly re- 

 cord of information for planters of coffee, tea, cocoa 

 cinchona, sugar, rubber, palms, rice, and other pro- 

 ducts euited for cultivation in the tropics." It con- 

 tains a reprint of editorials and correspondence on 

 these subjects, which have appeared during the previnus 

 month in the Ceylon Ohserver, and also a collection 

 of articles, reports, letters, &o. , on the same and 

 similar topics extracted from other journals and public- 

 ations from all quarters of the world. Each number 

 consisting of 80 octavo pages forms a repertory of the 

 latest information on subjects in question, which must 

 be of the utmost value to planters in the tropics. We 

 cordially recommend the work to those of onr readers 

 who take an interest in agricultural matters, and 

 especially to all planters in Singapore and the Malay 

 Peninsula. It is published at the Cei/lon Oh.vrw-r 

 UtBce, Colombo,— Straits Times. 



Cinchona Lands in Jam.^ica are beiug bought up 

 rapidly by officials, and others who have arrived 

 here from Ceylon, India, and the United States. 

 Complaints are however made that the Government 

 sells land to men who buy purely on speculation to 

 sell again when there is less to be hid, and »heu 

 a higher price can be obtained, the consequence is 

 persons have to make reads through these lots to reach 

 their own so that the lazy man profits by his laziness 

 while the enterprising man has to mike the road 

 through his own j^roperty and his neighbour's be- 

 sides. There is evidently need for some legislation 

 in this repect for we believe the Goverumeut de- 

 sire to be just in this matter. The land is sold 

 for two shillings au acre on condition that one-sixth 

 of it is cultivated in cinchona. If at the end of 

 five years the purchaser has complied with the con- 

 ditions of purchase, the land is then his for ever. 

 The cost of clearing the land is £4 an acre and 

 planting out £3. The tot.al cost of clearing, pi.mting 

 and cultivating for five years is £30 the trees bear 

 bark fit for cutting (by thinning) in four years ami 

 the purchaser then gets back ali his outlay . Kvery 

 year after the fourth is elear profit— 6'«/rs Weekly 

 News Letter. 



