December i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



491 



" Cha" wag being reckless in stating that lowoountry 

 estates might be worked up to 700 lb per acre. 



"D. W. F. L" is lucky in having such a ecape-go.-vt 

 to refer to as Loolcoudura, but is he sure that the 

 various estates he mentions are shipping all the tea 

 they make, from broken pekoe to rough leaf, or are 

 some of them keeping back their rubbis/i to sell locally 

 and to raise in consequence their home average. 



While allowing that " D. W. F. L." is perfectly 

 correct iu saying "that two year old crop may be doubled 

 or even qundrupled by natural increase iu growth during 

 the following year," I should like to know whether 

 " D. VV. F. L." puts it down to the circumstance 

 mentioned above, or to superior management that a 

 tea estate rising three years old , more than doubled 

 its monthly outturn of dry tea three months after 

 it had been taken in hand by "an experienced Indian 

 tea planter." 



I beg to oiler my congratulations to " D. W. F. L." 

 on his being the lucky proprietor of tea land in various 

 districts : at the same time should he meditate opening 

 up for this product, I fancy that, unless he moderates 

 his caustic mode of inquiry, he will remain as ignorant 

 as he now profeeses to be, of the cultivation and manu- 

 facture of tea.— I am, kc, TAVT-ELAY. 



VINE CULTURE AND ELEPHANTS IN THE 

 TIME OF THE DUTCH IN CEYLON. 



Colombo, Nov. 8th 1882. 



Dear Sir, — That the Dutch were not the first to 

 introduce the vine into Ceylon is evident from the 

 foUoning translation from Valentyne's History of the 

 East Indies. Vol. V. under the heading "Ceylon." 

 The writer is describing a visit in 1G02 to the 

 Court of the King of Kandy by Commander Spil- 

 bergen, the first Dutchman who landed in Ceylon. 

 The journey was from Batticaloa near Bintenne : — 



"Nearing Kandy, the King sent gilded palanquins 

 and elephants with gorgeous trappings to meet the 

 party, also constant supplies of fruit and of wine,* equal 

 in quality to any procured from Portugal, the produce 

 of a vine which the King himself had planted." 



Speaking of elephants, the same writer goes on to 

 describe the elephants of Ceylon as far superior in 

 sagacity to those of the neighbouring continent : 

 "Not only did they at the word of comm.ind salaam 

 their visitor, but when their riders were anxious to 

 mount on to their backs, the elephants, at a given 

 signal, saved them all further trouble by taking them 

 up iu their trunks and safely depositing them there ! ! !" 

 — Yours faithfully, 



~ WEEDS IN COFFEE CULTIVATION. 



To the Editor of the " Madras Mail." 

 Sir, — Your correspondent "Ghirkee Hooloo" says 

 about weeds, "If kept low and thin they do not do 

 much harm." The advocates of the system so well 

 described by "Grass Knife" go further and maintain 

 that weeds and grass not only do no harm, but are 

 actually beneficial, to say nothing of the indirect ad- 

 vantages of having yoar best labour, available at the 

 right time, for that most important work, handling. 

 Should further proof be necessary, after Mr. Harman's 

 letter, " Ghirkee Hooloo" could not wish for a better 

 illustration of the conservative efifects on the soil, of 

 this system of cultivation, than the way the supplies 

 have come on in the old coffee " that showed unmis- 

 takeable signs of the efl'ects of 'Ghirkee Hooloo.'" 

 Some other cause must, I think, be looked for, to 

 account for what your correspondent said. When you 

 have this grass you must dig deeper, as is done in the 

 valley, aud thus a further benefit is indirectly forced 

 upon you Dubbe Hooloo' is the worst enemy of this 



* Could this possibly be the juice of tho coconut? — Ed, 



kind of cultivation. I have known its roots grow 

 straight through the tap roots of coffee, and estates 

 destroyed by this grass. There is nothing left but to 

 dig it entirely out. The advocates for clean weeding 

 will allow nothing in favor of the system, but fall back 

 on the good quality of the soil iu the valley to account 

 for the condition of the coffee and say, wait ! They 

 forget that man} of the estates iu the valley are thirty 

 years old, and to judge by the vigour of the trees uow, 

 one would rather ba inclined to think that a great deal 

 of the soil had been improved by the system. For 

 deterioration has certainly not yet set in. 



Wynaad. A Convert of the Kings. 



TEA SIEVING MACHINES. 

 (From the Indian Tea Gazette.) 

 Sir,— Would any of your subaribers kindly inform 

 me whether they have tried an ordinary sieving aud 

 winnowing machine such as is used in fai ms at home 

 in England. The largest siever and winnower by, say, 

 Messrs. Ransomes, Head and Jaffries of Ipswich 

 costs about £11 in London, aud may cost R170 to 

 belauded at any steamer station in Cachar or Assam. 

 Mr. Jones of Fenchurch Street manufactures one of 

 the same type under the designation of Taxidinemeter, 

 and sells it for three times the price, viz., £30. If 

 anybody has worked an ordinary winnower, would 

 he let me know from .-vctual trials what length of 

 time it took him to sieve 4 mnunds of bulk tea 

 through No9. 13, 10, and 8 mesh wire sieve ; and how 

 many mauuds of pekoe or B. P. could be winnowed 

 in an hour? Mine is a small garden, yielding about 

 600 mds. of tea a year. So I cannot 'think of pur- 

 chasing Ansell's machine, which has been introduced 

 in this neighbourhood, and is very well spoken of bv 

 those who have seen it working, Hanstir. 



WEEDING COFFEE ESTATES. 

 (To the Editor of the "Madras Mail.") 



Sir, — At present on many weedy places where they 

 can afford to weed monthly, it costs as much as 

 R2 per acre per mensem. This is in itself sufficiently 

 ruinous, but if by this weeding we are really burn- 

 ing the caudle at both ends, the matter is of serious 

 importance. Replies to the following questions wonld 

 be thankfully received, and I trust brother planters 

 who have gained their experience in other parts will 

 kindly come to our help. 



I. — Is it recommended that no weeding whatever 

 should be carried on during the S. W. monsoon months, 

 i. c, June, July, August aud September, except cut- 

 ting down the large ones ? 



II. — How about grass? There is a small creeping 

 grass here, which it is impossible to eradicate when 

 once it gets into the ground. 



III. —When should digging be begun, and to what 

 depth &c., should the soil be dug? Should it be 

 turuedover or merely looS' ned up ? And of course 

 as much care as possible should be taken not to in- 

 jure the main roots. 



IV. — What would the cost of digging where men 

 are paid 4i annas per diem 1 



V. — What sort of digger is used ? 



VI. — Where the weeding can be done for 12 annas 

 or a rupee an acre per mensem all the year round, 

 would any of your correspondents prefer to allow the 

 place to get weedy in order to reap the benefits of 

 digging in weeds ? 



Irevandrum. A Trava n'core Plaxtee. 



Coi'KA IN Fiji.— The Fiji Times states :— In 18S1 

 the export of copra exceeded that of the previous year 

 by 193 tons, although, in consequence of a decrease 

 iu value, the amount realized for the larger quantity 

 fell short by £22,737 153 lOd of that representing the 

 receipts for the smaller export. 



