September i, 1884.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST* 



six 



the rain after it has fallen, but bciug itself so very 

 slightly above tho earth's surface its presence or 

 absence can have no effect upon the passing clouds. 

 Of 11 piece with this foolish statement is the follow- 

 in i paragraph by the tame writer. Treating of 

 "Manufacture" he says: — "But though circulars and 

 memorandums enough to paper scores of factoiies 

 have been issued, it would be difficult to cull from 

 the whole lot of them even a poor half-dozen really 

 deliuite or precise rules for guidance in any import- 

 ant dct.iil of manufacture which an intelligent man 

 could confidently and profitably ^ant into practice. 

 If I were to say it is the blind leading the bliud 

 I should not be very far wrong." "U'o would warn 

 the writer, who, in spite of this nonsense, knows 

 what he is writing about, that the adoption of the 

 abovo stylo of condemning every thing that has ever 

 been written, is not the likely one to secure atten- 

 tion to his own production. We closewith the follow- 

 ing no:ice of a curious law that exists in Darjiling :- 

 According to a Government notification, thirteen tea 

 grants in this district are to be put up to public auc- 

 tion at the Outcherry on the 20th proximo lor a 

 of Government revenue under Section 6", Act Xlof 1859. 

 This would be a good chance for what they call in 

 America "speeulativi causes;" but I fancy the arrears 

 will be paid up long before the date of sale. Planters 

 in this district do not appear to be generally aware of 

 the fact that what is popularly known as the '• Sunset 

 Act" is in force in this district, and in consequence of 

 this Act being in force, the proprietor of a grant of 

 land who does not pay up his dues to Government before 

 sunset on the day appointed for payment, is liable to 

 have his grant put up for auction the next day without 

 further notice to him, and if there were no competitors, 

 tin property would be sold there and then to ambody 

 who bid up to the amount of revenue due from the 

 estate to Government. This is a matter that proprietors 

 should read, mark and inwardly digest in their own 

 interests. Amongst the list of gardens notified for sale, 

 1 observe some very valuable ones that might begot for 

 sums varying from llo'lS down to RIO. 



A NEW DEPARTURE IN THE COFFEE PLANT. 



We well remember that at first Hcmileia vast 

 was regarded with comparative indifference, real alarm 

 being felt by experienced planters ouly when they 

 discovered that, even in cases where grubs coul 1 not 

 be suspected of being at work, tue trees were sadly 

 deficient in feeding rootlets. That symptom has con- 

 tinued to be as grave as the constant withering of 

 crops of leaves. The intelligence sent us by a cor- 

 respondent in Maturata, the retire, of the appearance 

 of the normal quantity of f eding rootlets at the 

 bases of the cotHe plants, is important and cheering. 

 We hope tin- el ange tor toe better has been observed, 

 and will be confirmed by other plin'ers and in other 

 districts. 



A Georgia paper tells us that the finest kind of 

 tea lias been raised in Houston, Scriven and other 

 counties in Georgia for several years, but no effort has 

 yet been made to prepare u for themaiket on a com- 

 mercial scale. The tea plant has proven to be cjnite 

 hardy in that climate, and very little more trouble 

 to propagate than a pcisimmou bush, but the dillic- 

 ultiis in the way of its preparation have not 1 een yet 

 surmounted, beasts have been held recently in Bogota 

 and other countries of South America over the dis- 

 covery that tea could be raised there. K*ery family 

 in Georgia could easily raise is own tea, ami whil* 

 this has been known for several years but few eff. rts 

 have been made in that direction, — Industrial South. 



TEA PICKINGS. 



As it is as well to gather as much information as 

 possible concerning a disease at its very commence- 

 ment, so as to have a good foundation to work upon 

 in any future eampai ,<, ,,. . „ dmit hele a 



letter we have received [>< m a correspondent a 

 panynig a box containing insects. It is as follows :— 



Dear Sir,— By this post I send you in a small mat 

 several insects I collected yesterday from some black- 

 cacao-pods on an estate. Near the entrance oi 

 found one tree with affected pods, near the cenl 

 near the end three trees; on all these trees I foum I th 

 on the sickly pods, hut could not find one on any of the 

 good pods on the other trees. Though the pods were all 

 black-spotted, and some nearly all dryand blaclrsh, vet tin- 

 trees looked healthy. These insects (ant-like), I think, are 

 not the cause, but followers of the disease. 



I think you will find the pin spots on coffee leaves and 

 black spots on cacao-pods are both caused hy tie 

 insect— a small blue fly. They fly about in swarms, at linns 

 make a noise like a humming bee, and are m6st difficult to 

 eaten You will find them among bees on Bowers al 

 they fly out from the tree, remain almost like Btati 

 in the air. making a noise like the humming bei 

 dart off to another place, and so on.— Yours faithfully, 



Watchman. 



On opening the box the " humming blue fly " had 

 evidently "darted off to another place" in transit, for he 

 was bob est. However we sent the remaining contents of 

 the b ix to our kind referee, and his ausweris:— " The 

 ant-like ineect is the Melopeltis Antonii; another insect 

 (alive) is a small cicada,— not the small blue fly 

 alluded to by 'Watchman.'" The drumstick on the 

 back of these Helopeltes is most marked, and any- 

 one having once seen the insect can never again fail 

 to identify it. Yesterday one of our extracts showed 

 that the existence of "Green Fly" had been unheard 

 of iu the Terai until lately: and now we find in the 

 " Nilgiri Tea Planter " 's essay that he makes the same 

 assertion concerning the cricket and red spider in south- 

 em India. He says :— "A serious enemy to the 

 tea plant, the paddle cricket, does great injuries 

 to young estates in Bengal, by biting them through 

 clo.-e to the ground, and another pest, the red spider, 

 causes as serious mischief to th" flush in older estate;. 

 As they are not present in Southern Ind'a, I shall 

 dismiss them without further notice." This essay was 

 written in ISSO. and we should like to know whether 

 the assertion buiI stands good. We very much doubt 

 it, for we know we have the red spider in Ceylon in 

 very considerable numbers, though fortunately they 

 seem as yet to have found our tea too strong for 

 them. If drought is favourable to the development 

 of their ravages, our bushes have certainly been put 

 to a crucial test this year. The superintendent of 

 Abbotsford, has noticed a very large amount of 

 bug upon his bushes lately, but beyond the objec- 

 tion of their actual presence upon tlie leaf, they do 

 not appear to be doing any h irm. The leavee have 

 none of that black scale, which is their usual ac- 

 companiment on coffee. With regard to this pest 

 the essayist already quoted says: — "I now come 

 to the coffee bug (Lecanium cqffeoe). I have seen 

 this insect attack isolated Im.-I es here and there 

 on an estate, but chiefly China tree- tint had ex- 

 hausted themselves by bearing a heavy crop of seed. 

 I cannot say that I have ev^r seen it on a heaMiy 

 hybrid plaut." On Aobot-ford it is quite the con- 

 trary ; the bug is most abundant upon the most 



