October i, 1884.] 



TTTF TROPICA L AGftTCTTLTUttTST 



335 



$m]ticsponcUmc3. 



— -• 



To the Editor of the Ceylon Observer. 



MR. THOMAS CHRISTY ON DRUGS. 



155, Penchureh Street, London, E.C., I3th Aug. 1884. 



Dear Sir, — I am very glad you have called atten- 

 tion to the "Noyau, Ipomaea disxecta." One of my 

 correspondents in the West Indies urged upou me the 

 value of this flavouring, and that almost all the noyau 

 used in Europe was made with almond. He sent 

 me over a liberal shipment, and I have endeavoured 

 to circulate it amongst my friends both here and in 

 France, and, I regret to say, with anything but satis- 

 factory results. It has a beautiful flavour and is well 

 worthy of attention . 



As you take the Pharmaceutical Journal, I hope yon 

 will note the remarks made by Mr. Dyer of Kew upon 

 " Bartuug," the well-known Plantago Ispaglnila, 

 which is so largely used in Ceylon and India 

 in cases of dhirrhcea and which is largely used in 

 this country. We have lately tried to have it coated 

 with peppermint and sugar, but have not been successful 

 in producing any improvement upon the natural drug. 

 — I am, dear sir, yours faithfully, THOS. CHRISTY. 



THE PRODUCTION OF RICE PER ACRE 

 IN CEYLON 



Sir, — With reference to your paragraph as to the 

 production of rice per acre. I would point out that 

 a crop of 1,500 lb of paddy is equivalent to about 

 50 bu-hels. In Ceylon it takes two bushels of paddy 

 to sow an acre of land, so that, if the proportion 

 is the same in Indi i, the return is ahiut 25-fold, 

 not a very extravagant result, but which. I pre»ume, 

 is exceptional from its being noticed in the papers. 



As regards the yield in Ceylon, you will find in tbe 

 irrigation report a notice of a tract of land in the 

 Ma.ara district which regularly returns thirty-fold 

 and twenty-fold is not an uncommon result in many 

 parts of the inland from owe. crop. 



A correspondent in your columns last year I think 

 reported the ynld at Kaudalay to be ./f/ty-fold, but 

 this was probably on new land. 



In Mannar district it is said 100-fold is in a good 

 year produced and I understand Bald.-eus mentions 

 this as the return in those parts.* 



Mr. Justice Dias, on his property, I believe, secures 

 forty-fold. If I mistake not, he uses some manure. 

 He has made many interesting experiments in paddy 

 cultivation, and it would be very advantageous if he 

 could be induced, to publish the result of his experience. 



A word of cautions, however if necessary as to the 

 use of the teim "fold" in speaking of the return 

 of paddy. It is helieved (but I am not aware if there 

 have heen any cartful experiments on this point) that 

 a great deal too much seed is used in Ceylon, and 

 that, as the sowing is consequently too thick, most of tha 

 superfluous seed is wasted and never ernes to matur- 

 ity. In parts of Southern India, economy of seed 

 and more especially of water (where tbe means of irrig- 

 ation are limi ed) is secured by first sowing in beds 

 and transferring the plants to the fields. + 



* Baldreus's words are : — "...zijnde deze Landen vrucht- 

 baar ende zeer bequaam om Rijs aan te teelen en te 

 winnen, ja zoo overvloeriigh, dat men dikmaals hondert- 

 fout aan eenen halm bevonden heeft," i. e.: — "... these 

 lands being fruitful and very suitable for the cultivation 

 and production of rice, in such quantity indeed, that 

 often a hundredfold has been found on a stalk." The English 

 " transl ition " of Baldaeus does not qualify the statement 

 in any way, but states that the rice " produces a 

 hundredfold crop." — En. 



f Universal in Java, we believe. Surely it is the best 

 mode of culture, apart from economy of seed or water ? 

 —ED. 



A smaller quantity of seed would in such cases, 

 I am given to understand, suffice, without materially 

 aff-ctine the crop raised from any given area. 



Possibly bv this or by thinner sowing broadcast, 

 or by restricting the seed used in any other method, 

 experiment may show that the proportion of seed 

 used may be safely reduced 50 per cent, without affecting 

 the yield to be got out of any given area. In such 

 case an acre of land might be sown with one bushel 

 instead of the conventional two, and would ordinarily 

 give a crop of say 20 bushels, but the crop would thus 

 be spoken of as twenty instead of ten fold : thus there 

 would be really no increased yield, only a saving of 

 seed paddy. WIBADURALA. 



GATHERING CROPS OF CARDAMOMS. 

 Sir,— Can any of your readers inform me whether 

 in gathering a crop of Malabar cardamoms they have 

 found it advisable to leave the racemes on, or to 

 cnt them off when the crop is mature, in order that 

 they may bear again ? Also whether racemes do bear 

 again, and, if they do so, for how long? In fact the 

 question is : Are racemes capable of producing fruit 

 more than once ? . Y'ELLUCKI. 



CACAO IN JOHORE. 



Pingororg Estate, Johore, August 20th, 1SS4. 



Dkar Sir, — In a letter from a Ceylon planter re- 

 ceived last mail he a lt«l me to write you my ex- 

 perienee of cacao planting here since I left Ceylon 

 nearly five years ago 



When I arrived here I made up my mind to fell 

 mv first 100 acies for cacao in jungle shade, which 

 I (lot; but I was so disappointed at the elow' growth 

 of that in shade compared to a few acres in the 

 open that I determined to fell the jungle shade all 

 but 35 acres, which I kept on the most exposed 

 part of the estate. I planted up all the part that 

 I felled with Albizzia Mottuccana and quincunxed this 

 with dadap, fearing the failure of either. I was 

 charmed with the Alhhzia Molluccawi at first. It 

 grew rapidly and made a beautiful shade tree to 

 look at : but at about 1J year old I noticed the 

 cacao trees all round it looking thin and miserable, 

 and no wonder, for the ground was one mass of 

 roots from this curse of a tree, so I ringed them all 

 and trusted to the dadap But this, which I believe 

 to be the best of all shade trees, is eaten off by pith- 

 worms as fast as it grows, and I have had to go in 

 for other shade trees, madrc de cacao, which is also 

 an erythrina, and mindi. another tree used in Java. 

 All this will show you that I am convinced I must 

 have shade for my cacao. The 35 acres in shade is 

 as fine a piece of cacao as one could wish for, though 

 it is tbe poorest and most exposed soil I have got. 

 in it the insects give me little or no trouble. I 

 think that as with grass, which is said by farmers 

 not to be sweet in shade, so it is with the cacao 

 leaves : at all events wherever I have cacao in shade 

 the insects do it no harm to speak of, though the 

 young leaves look just as soft and tender as those out 

 of it. I have just read " P. F. L." 's letter to the local 

 "Times" with reference to Mr. Jardine's, and it makes me 

 rather disinclined to write, fearing such another snorter. 

 I have got some 400 or 500 Caracas plants here (seed 

 from Henaratgoda), and I wrote to one of my partners 

 in Singapore more than six months ago telling him 

 that the sap-eucking insec*. which does me so much 

 harm on the other cacao, did no damage to the 

 Caracas, and I asked him to get me more seed : this 

 certainly agrees with Mr. Jardine. The fly that 

 troubles me here is also a sap-sucker, but it is a big 

 sort of bug and has a very strong smell ; my weeders 



