484 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[December i, 1882. 



the territory. The only capital they started on was 

 a .stent heart and a strong hand. Some samples 

 of the cane growing on the Daly have bet-n brought 

 by Mr. Ow^ton to Palmerston ; they are quite us fine 

 as any in the Government garden, and there twenty 

 acres similar on the plantation, ready for nursery 

 purposes this year. The maize from the Daily is 

 also tirst-class, and the cobs much larger than any 

 hitherto grown here. It now remains to test tlie 

 land on the Adelaide for sugar growing ; and there, 

 although the topsoil is very rich, the subsoil of 

 clay seems to frighten intending planters. In my 

 last report I quoted from Dalton's "British Guiana," 

 to show that such subsoil is good for sugar, and I 

 now supplement by quoting from "The Coolie," by 

 Mr. Jenkins, the author of " Ginx's Baby," and 

 who wa% sent out at the same time as the com- 

 mission ordered by Earl Granville, then Secret iry of 

 State for the Colonies. Mr. Jenkins made a moat 

 minute inspection of the sugar lands in British 

 Guiana, and there, where the finest sutjar is 

 grown, he reports the subsoil a? " like the London blue 

 clay. " Another fault found with our alluvial soil 

 on the river banks is the excessive quantity of water, 

 and therefore people say "it is only fit for rice." 

 Now the Chinese at Miudale, one mile from Pal- 

 merston, have been trying patches of sugar-cane on 

 some low swampy land, and the result is fiue caue, 

 long and thick, the density of which has not yet 

 been tried. This caue may be said to have grown 

 on land nev.-r dry ; .and in this climate, where there 

 are four or five months without a drop of ra'n, I 

 venture to state that the moist land will be the 

 most iwoductive. At the Palms the soil is very 

 moist, and the result is a thick close crop. The 

 largest canes on the De Lissa estate are those on 

 the moister laud, near the creek. A number of Clii- 

 uese propose to sturt a nee farm, but their appli- 

 cation did not come in until after the lands were 

 withdrawn from sale. Work is progressing at Messrs. 

 Poett and Mackinnon'sat Rum Jungle.— J/aci-ai/ fitand- 

 ard. 



Bio Cinchona Trees and their Sha^inos. — Lower 

 DiKOYA, •25th October :— There are a few old cin- 

 chona succirubra trees on Wattawella Kstate, age 

 I believe unknown, which can easily be:it Udajsussel- 

 lawa. The wet shavings from one of these trees 

 wei'died 40 lb. I guess there are few who could 

 duplicate this ! 



An Agricultoral Department for Madras.— 

 We understand that the Secretiry of State has 

 given his sanction to the establishment of an Agri- 

 cultural Department for the Madras Presidency. 

 Speaking at the'Saidapet farm in December last, when 

 the new Agrieultur.al College buildings were opened, 

 Mr. Graut Dull remarked that the Government of 

 India had been marked by ni'iuy phases, and that at 

 last we had entered on the agricultural phase— a 

 phase which concerned 75 per cent, of the population 

 of this Presidency. He trusted that the South India 

 peasant would soon become as anxious about the three 

 F's as his peasant brother was in Ireland, only that 

 the F's in this part of the world would stand for 

 fuel trees, fruit trees, and fxlder crops. The all-im- 

 poriant question now is, who will be appointed to the 

 charge of the agricultural Department, which, we hope, 

 will not be a mere office for the collection of statis- 

 tics, but an institution based on the model of the 

 American iigrieultural Bureau. No man has done more 

 for scientific agriculture in India than Mr. Kobertson, 

 and it is hardly posible the Madras Government can 

 overlook his claims to be the head of the agricultural 

 Department.— Afac^J'as Mail. 



Cinchona Shavings from Monster Trees, — I fancy 

 Mr. M.ais ol' Mahapahagalla Estate, Badulla, can top 

 your Uda-Pusselawa correspondent, and if Mr. Morice 

 could be induced to shave one of his giants I would 

 ont be surprised if he had nearly double the quan- 

 tity reported by your correspondent. The big trees 

 beat auything that I have seen. Ask Mr. Morice to 

 tell you about tham mself — Passara. 



Coffee and Typhoid Fever. — Dr. Guillasse, of the 

 French Navy, reports that in the early stiges of ty- 

 phoid fever coffee is almost a specific. Two or three 

 table spoonsfuls of strong black coffee every two hours, 

 alternating with one or two tea spoonsful of claret or 

 Burgundy wine, produce a most beneficial effect. Cit- 

 rate" of magnesia daily, and after a while quinine, is_ 

 the treatment followed successfully by Dr. Guillasse.' 

 — Madras Mail. 



Agricultural Experiments. — Major Walker pro- 

 poses to entrust the experiments with Ipecacuanha. 

 Hevea BrasiUennis and Chinchona Calisaya in the 

 Silent Valley to private enterprize, subject to inspec- 

 tion and report by the officers of his Department. The 

 Government " have no objection to tliis course and 

 their acknowledgments are due to Mr. Ferguson for 

 his preferred assistance. The proposed experiments 

 at Manantoddy with Hevea and Ipecacuanha and at 

 the various elevations named by the Conservator with 

 Chinchona Calisaya, are also approved. The results 

 should be carefidly noted and reported. The rubber 

 plant might also be tried at or in the neighbourhood 

 of Courtallam, the exceptional climate of which has 

 proved favorable in some cases to plants and trees 

 which will not grow elsewhere in the Presidency. 

 The Conservator should, however, try at his discre- 

 tion any likely localities, reporting the result to Go- 

 vernment." — Madras Mail. 



Aphdes {Plant Lice) on Tea.— A Mercantile Firm 

 in Colombo has addressed us as follows : — " We 

 send you per bearer a ft-w sprigs of tea covered with 

 some insect, regarding which our superintendent writes 

 as follows: — 'The whole clearing is affected with it 

 and I am not able to take in the flush. I shall feel 

 much obliged if you will kindly send same to the 

 Editor of the Observer and find out what it is, and 

 if there is any remedy for it. I believe it is owiug 

 to the very wet weather we have been having for 

 the past two weeks, as I did not notice it before. 

 Strange to say, it only confines itself to very tender 

 h'aves.' We shall be glad to have any information 

 you can give on the subject. " We referred the affected 

 tea to our entomological referee whoee report is : — 

 "The tea has been attacked by aphides, liundreds 

 of which I found at the bottom of the liox contain- 

 ing the tea sprigs. They suck the sap of the plant 

 and being such delicate insects, of course prefer the 

 very tender leaves. The pests can be kept down in 

 hot-houses at home and where there are not many 

 plants to deal with, by inexpensive treatment, but 

 when a whole tea cleiring is in question, the most 

 inexpensive tre.atment would probably not pay. They 

 little white things on the leaves are merely the 

 cast skins of the aphides." There can be little ques- 

 tion that the superintendent is right in tracing the 

 attack to the effect of persistent wet, nnd if, with 

 a return of dry weather the pest does not disappear, 

 a resort to pruuiugmaybe necessary. Sulphur is one 

 of the best remedies, or sulphur and lime, but if the 

 area affected is large, we suppose that beyond pruning 

 and burning the pruuings, little can be done except 

 to " watch and wait," as we do in regard to coffee 

 leaf- disease. In our own experience we have found 

 a small nocturn.al moth the greatest enemy of tea. 

 This is the first occasion, and we trust it may be the 

 last, in which we are compelled to take cognizance 

 of plant lice amongst the enemies of our new and 

 promising industry. 



