946 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[June i, 1883. 



■breadfruit family, this rubber-tree promises to be most 

 valuable as a shade tree for cacao, aud arraugemeuts are 

 being made to introduce seeds in large quantities, aud 

 distribute them for experimental trial amongst cacao 

 planters. 



Paea oe Brazil Ntrr. — This is now established in the 

 island from seed obtained in May 1881. The Sapucaja 

 nut (Lecythis Sapucajo) is also established and promises 

 to prove a vahiable acquisition. 



ToNQA. — 1 quote the following from the Gardeners^ Chron- 

 icle : — 



" Tonga, the specific foe Neuealoia."— Such is an 

 an advei-tisement of Messrs. Allen & Hanbury's that has 

 now beeu before the public for many months past. Tonga 

 is a vegetable drug, and the material fi'om wliich it is 

 prepared is stated to consist of a mixture of bark and 

 fibrous matter, the botanical origin of which was for some 

 time nnliuoMu. It is now proved to bo an ornamental 

 climber, aud a member of the Ai'um family with pin- 

 natisect leaves in the adult stage, aud large inflorescences, 

 resembling those of a Monstera, Its medicinal 

 qualities have been long knowTi to the natives of the 

 countries the plant inhabits. A few plants received from 

 Kew, quite recentlj', have grown rapidly at the Castle- 

 ton Gardens, aud numerous .specimens are available for 

 distribution. 



We suspect the Castilloa rubber plant will be found 

 too exhaustive of the soil to be useful as a shade 

 plant. That shade is necessary for the cacao seems 

 to be taken for granted. Our readers will thus see 

 that, in parting with Mr. D. Morris to Jamaica, we 

 gave the West India islaud Just the agent calculated 

 to enable her successfully to compete with us in 

 tropical agriculture. ]>r. Trimen has not, like the 

 Jamaica botanist, regular cinchona plantations under 

 bis care, but when his report is published we doubt 

 not it will contain much of interest and value, both 

 to us and to the our friends in island of the West. 



PLANTING IN CEYLON HILL-COUNTRY : 

 GENERAL REPORT. 



COFFEE PEOSPECTS IN HIGH DISTKICTS — ADVERSE WEATKEK 

 VS. LEAF-DISEASE — TEA AND ASSAM TEA PLANTERS. 



Kandy, 26th April 18S3. 



I passed through the greater part of Dimbula, 

 Dikoya and Maskeliya about ten days ago, and, with 

 the exception of a few crack estates, I saw very 

 little to cheer me. Ciops will undoubtedly be short 

 again unless we got a good May blossom, and this is, to 

 say the least of it, unusual. Some blame the seasons, and 

 I am myself inclined 1o agree with them. At any rate, 

 to a certain extent, wo Iiniv undouljtedly had far too 

 much rain, aud high coffee will not bear unless it has 

 plenty of sunshine. A Ceylon pl.inter now resident in 

 the Wynaad paid a visit to Oikoya al out a mouth ago, 

 and in reply to an enquiry as to how our coffee compares 

 with his, he said tbut it was immeasurably superior, 

 and that he attributed bis crops, which are ahv.iye pn tty 

 good, to favourable seasoDs; they have no rain in the 

 Wynaad worth speaking of for the lirst three; mouths 

 in the year, then come a series of blossoming showers 

 and every branch bears. It is this sort of weather we 

 waut — not ten days fine and then showers every after- 

 noon lor another ten days. Theappeirance of theccffee 

 in the young districts, e.\'CC])ting on grubbed estates, 

 is as promising ns one could wish, but it is impossible 

 the irees can blossom with a raiufoll such as has 

 been experienced this season. 



Leaf-disease is of cour-e a terrible scourge, and one 

 which may safely be blamed for ni'iny of our misfort- 

 unes, but they have the fungus in India as well as in 

 Ceyh'n, and yet the crops from Coorg and Wynaad 

 satisfy proprietors.* Who knows therefore what coffee 

 may do for us when Mr. Tytler's «et cycle conies to 

 an end, and we have the good old-fashioned seasons 

 back again? 



* Not last season: Ooorg crops were nowhere. — Eb. 



But there are scores of planters who ridicule the idea 

 of adverse weather being in any way responsible for 

 short crops. They will lead you triumphantly to a field 

 of young coffee bearing its 4 and 5 cwt. an acre 

 and again to trees such as are to be found on places 

 like St. Clair, Devon, Yoxford, &c. , and ask you how 

 you reconcile these results with the theory of un- 

 favourable seasons. I admit the difficulty of the 

 problem — the condition of the wood no doubt has a 

 great deal to do with the diminished yield on most 

 estates — but at the same time the gentlemen who pro- 

 fess to ignore the prejudicial effects of an abnorm- 

 ally heavy rainfall will find it very difficult to 

 convince me that, had we experienced dry weather 

 for the first two mouths of the year, crops evun on 

 the few crack estates we boast of would not have been 

 very much better, and as for those less favourably 

 situated, a dry season is, I repeat, essential, and it is 

 what we always used to have. 



The effects of rain on an open blossom are not in 

 my opinion so serious as is generally represented, and, 

 although it may appear strange to say so, I would sooner 

 have raiu than a broiling sun at this particular time. 

 However it is not mucb use pursuing the subject. 

 Unless something unforeseen occurs, we are to have 

 another short crop, aud planters I suppose will go in 

 all the more strongly for tea. If the bushes only 

 iiush as freely as the coffee, we shall have very little 

 to complain of : but will they ? and will they stand 

 this system of constant plucking insisted upon by Mr. 

 Cameron ? 



We have several Assam tea planters in our midst 

 now, and, seeing that Mr. Cameron was the first to 

 recommend a ten days' plucking, why don't some of 

 them come forward and tell us whether in their 

 opinion we are right or wrong iu adopting this system ? 

 It is one to which, I presume, they have all given a 

 great deal of attention, but. I don't understand these 

 Assam planters — they are a complete puzzle to me. 

 Either Mr. Cameron is right in concluding that Ceylon 

 tea can be plucked away at constantly wit hout doing 

 the trees any harm, or he is wrong. If he is right, 

 why were we not told so long ago by the Indian 

 tea planters who have settled among UB? If he is 

 wrong aud the theory is unsound. Jet them come 

 forward and say so. One would think that the first 

 thing a tea planter should learn would be ho\y to 

 pluck, and, if these Assam swells cannot tell us, what 

 is the use of them ? 



Mr. Cameron tells us that some of the best estates 

 iu Miskeliya will yield 600 aud 700 lb. of dry leaf 

 per acre when the bushes reach maturity. I simply 

 (In not believe lhi.s anymore than I do that a flush 

 will be ready for the coolies every Monday morniug, 

 irres[ective altogether of seasons and everything else. 



llo'.vcver we shall soon have the views of another 

 on this subject, for, if my information is correct, 

 Messrs, Canierou aud W. B. Aitken are to address the 

 members of the Maskeliya Planters' Association on tea 

 cultivation i;enerally at high elevations at their uext 

 meeting, and tlie planters in the neighbourhood are 

 looking forward with interest to the occasion. 



If I were present, I should ask Mr. Aitken point- 

 blmU ; "Do you or do you not support the system of 

 constant plucking advoi'ated by Mr. Cameron ? " But, 

 as I sliall not be there, put up a member of the As- 

 sociation to a.sk the questiuu for me aud note care- 

 fully the answer given. A. B. C. 



INDIAN AND CHINA TEA. 



Lili-e many others out here, I have been much 

 surprized at the remarks in yours of 22nd Decem- 

 ber, fe the adulteration of tea, inasmuch ns they are 

 likely to lead the public to iufer that Indian tea is 

 adulterated. I have beeu planter now somo IS years, 



