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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



August i, 1884. 



in open competition with either India, China, or both. Our 

 request is that a Ceylon man may sit upon your Board 

 and that reasonable time be allowed us to get home 

 new season's teas. 



Trusting the favour of a reply, we have the honour to 

 be, yours obediently. 



(Signed) Hutchison & Co. 



Jury Department, 



South Kensington S.W., 22nd June 1884. 

 To Messrs. Hutchison & Co., 4, Guildhall Chambers. 

 Gentlemen,— In reply to yours of the 19th inst., I regret, 

 on account of the hundreds of similar applicatious, that it is 

 impossible for me to comply with your request. You or 

 your agent can make an appointment with the chairman of 

 your jury personally. — Yours faithfully, 



(Signed) pro T. Winter, G. W. F. 



South Kensington, 23rd June 1884. 

 The Chairman, Jury Commission, I. H. E 



Dear Sir,— In reply to your letter of Saturday (22nd) 

 we have to say that we have endeavoured many times to 

 see the chairman of our jury, but have failed so far to 

 do so. We will wait upon him tomorrow at 4 o'clock, and 

 shall be glad if he will receive us. On behalf of Ceylon 

 and its tea-planting interests we caunot but feel indignant 

 at this way of treating the island. It was your own courte- 

 ous suggestion that a Ceylon man should serve upon the 

 Commission, and every one who knows anything of tea- 

 growing will agree that new season's samples caunot arrive 

 till after June. — Yours faithfully, 



(Signed) Hutchison & Co. 



South Kensington, 24th June 18S4. 

 To Messrs. Hutchison & Co., 4, Guildhall Chambers, E.G. 



Dear Sirs,— Your letter of the 23rd has been considered 

 by the Jury Commission. They request me to say in 

 answer thereto that they consider tea is fully represented 

 on No. 3 jury, and that it would be hardly desirable to 

 add to the jury anyone who might be considered to re- 

 present a special tea-growing district. They think you may 

 rely upon the jury giving full attention to the Sinhalese 

 exhibits. Should you not consider that they receive suffici- 

 ent attention, I shall be glad if you will inform me a 

 little later on when the labours of the jury are drawing 

 near their conclusion. — Yours faithfully, 



(Signed) H. T. Wood, Secretary to the Jury Commission. 



LEAF-DISEASE, NEW PRODUCTS, ETC.— No. i. 

 Dear Sib, — I have been carefully reading the dis- 

 cussions in the last planters' meeting with regard to 

 cacao disease. You will remember, that, in my article 

 headed " Leat Disease, etc, No. 1," I anticipated, 

 that, not only coffee, but all the new plantations of 

 tea and cacao will be affected, and my anticpations, I 

 find, are fulfilled sooner than I expected. I am no planter 

 but I take some interest in cultivating kitchen garden 

 and tlower plants, and I have found, that, under certain 

 circumstances the leaves and _ stems were some- 

 times suddenly destroyed. I too'k some pains in try- 

 ing to observe the cause of the destruction. Amongst 

 flower plants, the holly-hock presented one morning 

 the edges of the leaves rolled up and some parts 

 eaten— on unrolling that part of the leaf, I found small 

 beetles of a reddish brown colour about one-sixteenth 

 of an inch in length— which I destroyed ; in another 

 place I found the leaves simply bitten, or, as one of 

 the planters said, looked as if they were burnt. This 

 was evidently done by some minute worms. I how- 

 ever removed those leaves, and the plant is still 

 thriving and flowering. Sometimes I found clusters 

 of what appeared to be small lumps of cotton ; within 

 this lump was contained an insect which under the 

 microscope revealed to be infant tarantulas.* The 

 whole of the clusters which were connected and hang- 

 ing with white fibre-like threads were re moved and 

 the plants got on well, and I took care to examine 



* Tarantulas ?— El>. 



them every morning and remove every fresh collect ion. 

 The holly-hock is comparatively in the shade, b. ing 

 nearly under the eaves of the house and on theidge 

 of the verandah ; the other plants were more expr sed 

 to the sun, they were all certainly greatly exposed 

 to the strong south-westerly blowing and scorching 

 fdare of the sun. That the stroug blowing affects 

 and withers trees, however much they may be watered, 

 there is no doubt, — of course, those garden plants 

 that are not watered, suffer most anil sooner — but 

 the most important question still is : What brings on 

 the parasitical animals in the shape of worms and 

 insects ? The occurrence of small beetles I attribute 

 to manure being fresh. It must have been observed, 

 that, in some localities where there are h< aps of dujig 

 either of the cow or horse, there is a swarm of 

 minute insects which will on examination be found 

 to be the beetles I have previously referred to as 

 rolling themselves in the leaves and destroying them. 

 It may not be impossible that the other insects like 

 tarantulas may be migrations from dunghill and rub- 

 bish etc., which are carried up by the wind; their 

 progress beiug arrested, they settle on trees aud 

 plants where they spin the cocoons, which, I think, the 

 white cottony clusters are, and, if they are not re- 

 moved, they will no doubt breed extensively, aud the 

 destruction of trees anel plants will consequently be 

 greater. 



It is an old practice, and much carried on by vil- 

 lage people and others, when the leaves of plants 

 and trees indicate disease by the leaves looking burnt 

 aud eaten, to throw over them cold ashes ; it is sur- 

 prising to observe how soon the appearance of the 

 plants change for the better. The ravages by the worms 

 generally take place during the dewy season ; this 

 moisture and other circumstances, I believe, generate 

 the worms : it is possible that the cold ashes, 

 in stifling the breathing powers of the worms, 

 destroy them as Bulphur does to itch worms, or 

 the alkaline effect of the ash neutralizes the moisture 

 of the plants which is become acid by absorbing 

 some of their acid juices, aud any vivifying effect which 

 the moisture may have on the worms is destroyed. — 

 Yours truly, SILEX. 



[Our correspondent was very safe in predicting that 

 all extensive cultures would be troubled by pests. 

 Of course measures which are effective iu garden cultiv- 

 ation cannot be profitably applied to wide areas, but 

 the dusting of affected plants with wood-ashes can- 

 not but be beneficial. — Ed.] 



THE NOYAU OR NOYEAU VINE OK PLANT: 

 IPOAKHA SIN U ATA, ORTEGA. 

 Kelvin Grove, Colombo, SOth June 1S84, 

 Sir, — For several years past, when driving through Co- 

 lombo with any stranger, I scarcely lose an opportunity 

 of attracti g attention to a very common aud abuudaut 

 exotic climber which glows everywhere here, and 

 often co» eiing fences Bud small houses with a mass 

 of disse. ted green leaves and large white flowers 

 with ce i ise centres, and oue of the best quick-growing 

 plants lo cover an arb6ur or to conceal small outhouses. 

 I attract particular attention to this plant by pulling 

 some of its leaves, crushing them between the fin- 

 gers and then presenting them to my friends, and 

 asking them what the odour reminds them of, when 

 the reply is variously given as "Noyau," "Cherry 

 Pie," '■Heliotrope,'' "Prussic acid" or "Bitter Almonds." 

 My reply is : " This is tbe Noyau plant, and this 

 is a practical lesson in botany." 



Although the plant is alluded to in several works 

 on botany as producing Noyau, I had not noted the 

 fact until Mrs. O'Brien, the wife of General O'Brien, 

 attracted my attention to it at Braybrooke Hall, 

 saying: "This is what we call the Noyau plant in 



