104 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[August i, 1884. 



ing, and according to the law which directs them back to 

 the exact spot of their old habitations, take possession of 

 the new hive, and continue their operations under the new 

 queen that they found established there to receive them. 

 The chief gain made by this expedient is one of time, a 

 commodity that is of special value during the honey season. 

 The introduction of a fertile queen to a colony is often 

 in this way effected a fortnight earlier than they would 

 swarm naturally, and this in a large apiary amounts to a 

 very considerable aggregate gain. Sometimes the facilities 

 presented by the movable comb system are called into re- 

 quisition for quite a contrary operation, viz., the prevention 

 of swarming when an increased amount of honey may be 

 desired instead of multiplied stocks. When this is the case 

 the frames are lifted out until the queen is found, when 

 one of her wings is clipped, thus preventing her from flying 

 away, and consequently putting a stop to the swarming. 

 In preparing for wintering the bees also it is a common 

 practice to join two colonies, so as to get through the nou- 

 prodticing season upon the most economical terms ; a full 

 hive, owing to being able to maintain the proper degree of 

 warmth, requiring less food. All such handlings as these 

 various processes involve are enabled to be carried out under 

 the movable comb system with the utmost certainty and ex- 

 actness of operation. Further details with respect to varieties 

 of bees, bee pasturage, and other matters, will have to be 

 dealt with in another paper. — Leader. 



The Pink Coconut. — We have before us a young 

 coconut whose outer husk presents no unusual ap- 

 pearance, but a out discloses a bright pink iuner husk. 

 The nut is from a tree growing on Crow Island near 

 the mouth of the Kelaui river, which is said to have 

 been planted by the late Mr. H. M. Fernando, one of 

 whose sons tells us that the Sinhalese believe that 

 the husk has some medicinal properties. The plant 

 is said to have been got from Jaffna. Can any of our 

 readers give us any information regarding this rare 

 and beautiful coconut? — ''Examiner." [A pink color 

 at the ends of young coconuts we have observed. 

 The late Dr. Gygax extracted a pink dye from the 

 coconut husk, to celebrate which event, Mr. Taylor 

 of Batticaloa wrote a poem in the iObeerver, "Couleur 

 de rose." — Ed.] 



Tea Pests. — The Calcutta Englishman says :— Con- 

 sidering the numerous insect pests which affect tea 

 plants in this country, it may interest the owners 

 and managers of tea gardens to learn that Professor 

 Riley, of Washington, the distinguished entomologist, 

 has just given to the world the results of long-con- 

 tinuod experiments on the value of petroleum as an 

 insecticide. It appears to be equally effective for all 

 kinds of inBects ; but the danger of using it as a 

 spray to play over plants attacked by insects is lest 

 it should prove injurious to the vegetation. Accord- 

 ingly, Dr. Riley has prepared it as an emulsion, and 

 we give his recipe in full for the benefit of our 

 readers :—" Ordinary bar soap scraped and rubbed 

 into paste at the rate of twenty parts of soap, ten 

 parts of water, thirty parts kerosine, and one part 

 of fir-balsam. This will make, when diluted with 

 water, a thoroughly practical emulsion, which should 

 always be thoroughly stirred before using." 



The Pink Coconut.— The pink coconut referred to 

 above, is called ratig-tambilj. by the Sinhalese ; pro- 

 bably owing to the pink colour of the inner part of 

 the husk at the upper end of the nut. The colour 

 does not go lower down the nut, than three or four 

 iriohes. There were a few years ago (and likely there are 

 still) a couple of trees bearing this description of nut, 

 in the village of Payagalla of Kalutara district, about 

 three miles and a half south of that town, and near 

 the high road to Galle. Externally the nut has the 

 appearance of an ordinary drinking coconut, but of a 

 slightly lighter green, and smoother surface. To a 

 careless ob erver these distinctions would not be 

 apparent. The Sinhalese, 1 have heard, . believe the 

 li</uid iu the nut, and not the Itush, as the "Examiner" 



has it, is possessed of some medicinal properties, and 

 use it in the preparation of some of their decoctions. 

 I am of opinion that this rang-tamUU is not a distinct 

 variety of the coconut, but an accidental growth, or 

 what may perhaps be technically known as the sport 

 of nature. Now there is another description, with a 

 green husk too, known as the pard-pol, or honey, or 

 sweet coconut, the flesh of which, adhering to the inner 

 side of the shell, is as sweet as if it was preserved in 

 sugar, whether the nut be tender, or ripe. This too, 

 I believe, is not a variety,- and like the other, a mere 

 caprice of nature ; or to be probably accounted for, in 

 the former case, by some red colouring matter iu the 

 soil where the trees stand, or some sweetening substance 

 in the latter case : for, how is it then that these two 

 descriptions could never be propagated from seeds 

 taken from a well-defined tree? The Sinhalese have 

 often assured me that the experimental plant produced 

 nothing but the ordinary green coconut. Now the 

 way_ to test the fact, that these two are not varieties, 

 is I believe, to mention the rat-tambili, our 

 beautiful orange-coloured king-coconut, and the 

 navessi ; the former yielding a delicious, cool, re- 

 freshing and health-giving drink, and the latter not 

 only affords a cool refreshing beverage, but the larger 

 part of the husk, the upper part of which is as tender 

 as a carrot, is a pleasant food for the natives, and 

 both of which ore well established varieties. It would 

 be interesting to know what W. F. has to say on this 

 subject. — Cor. 



Planting Affaies in Matale. — As regards plant- 

 ing affairs, this year promises to be one more like 

 the old days of Matale than it has seen for some time 

 back. Taking the district as a whole, there is a very 

 good coffee crop indeed, and cacao also promises to be a 

 remunerative product this year. There is very little tea 

 planted in this district, that product here being 

 only in the experimental stage. It is perhaps 

 natural that in the oldest and best coffee district in 

 the island planters should be loth to forsake their old 

 product for its rival tea. Cinchona cultivation is not 

 carried on largely here, though some estates grow a 

 good deal, but a little of nearly every product Ceylon 

 will produce is as a rule to be found on every estate. 

 Coffee is still king here, but he is supported by cacao 

 cinchona, tea, cardamoms, rubber, vanilla, pepper, 

 sapan. In the limited time at my disposal I was only 

 enabled to pay a visit to one estate, and that the 

 uearest,to the town, Wariyapola. This is a large and 

 well-cultivated estate, on which all the products men- 

 tioned above are grown under the superintendence of 

 Mr. Dickenson. There are no no signs of leaf -disease 

 here, and the bushes are loaded with berries, so that a 

 bumper coffee crop is expected. Cacao was looking 

 very well, at least those trees which had any shelter : 

 those exposed were not doing so well. Mr. Dickenson 

 believes in shelter for cacao, and his opinion seems to be 

 borne out by results, though on the way up this morning, 

 I heard a planter at Kadugannawa declare that cacao 

 would uot do with shade. Tea has only been planted 

 on this estate very recently, and only about 20 acres 

 are opened. A large acreage of rubber of 8 or 10 

 varieties is looking extremely well, but they are too 

 young yet for general tapping, Besides these, this 

 estate produces cinchona, vanilla, pepper, cardamoms 

 and sapau, and all are doing fairly well. Rain is 

 badly wanted, only 19 inches having fallen here since 

 the beginning of the year as against 39 inches last 

 year and an average of 28 inches. There has not been 

 the slightest sign of the monsoon in this district, 

 except the south-west wind. Today it has rained 

 rather freely, but only intermittently. My impression 

 from what 1 have seen and heard jb that planting 

 affairs in Matale are this year very promising, and that 

 these anticipations may be realized it is "devoutly 

 to be wished." 



