[November i, 1884. 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



•P3 



WHEN AND HOW TO SHAVE KEI) BARK 

 TREES. 



Sir, — Will one or more of «our experienced readers 

 lielp me to decide the following question, viz.: — When 

 ami 'i'"" to shave a large acreage of four-year old 

 succirubras ? In the Tropical Agriculturist for May 

 lss-j, Mr, C. II. Symons is reported to assert that 

 "harvesting bark to the best advantage to the grower 

 cannot be done haphazard at any time of the year." 

 It is only natural to suppose snob au axiom to be 

 true ; and since that lime, doubtless, experience has 

 accumulated. The Ova and Kandy seasons differ for 

 coffee, and probably also for cinchona? My field ofein- 

 rlmuu succiruh'a is in Ambagamnwa. Is the sap now, in 

 October and November, up or down,'! Is this the right 

 time of the year to shave to the best advantage? or 

 does a risk exist of the tree being injured. 



INEXPERIENCED PLANTER. 



[Possibly the reply from a merchant may be " Wait 

 till the market turus,"or "Shave away when you see 

 that a big price is available" ; but fur the planting 

 answer to his question, our correspondent Bhould con- 

 sult the "Cinchona Planters' Manual." U.-udly the 

 wet season is considered to be the best time for 

 stripping or shaving as affording the best chance of 

 renewal. — Ed.] 



INDIA— CROP AND WEATHER REPORT. 

 For the Week ending the 15th Octobeu 1884. 



General Remakes. — There was rain in all districts of 

 Madras during the week, and some improvement is noticed 

 in those parts of the Presidency where prospects have hither- 

 to been unsatisfactory. Rain has fallen generally all over 

 the province of Mysore, and the condition of the crops has 

 been improved. In Coorg prospects continue favourable. 

 Rain is still urgently wantcdin several parts of the Deccan 

 and Southern Mahratta country, aud crops are reported 

 to he withering in the eastern talukas of Poona and parts 

 of Belgaum. Fodder is also scarce in several talukas of 

 Dharwar and Belgaum; elsewhere in the presidency pro- 

 spects are generally good. 



Iu Bengal the amuu crop, which has been improved by 

 the late rain, is expected to yield well if there is heavy 

 rain shortly. In Assam prospects are generally good. 



The last report of the Meteorological Department, dated 

 16th instant, states that rain has fallen over the whole of 

 the Madras Presidency, with the exception of the Kumool, 

 Bellary aud Cuddapali districts, and that slight showers are 

 reported from Mercara and from two districts in British 

 Burma ; elsewhere there has been no rain. 



Harvesting continues in Madias, and ploughing and sowing 

 for the rabi are iu progress in Bombay, Bengal, North- 

 Western Provinces, and Oudh, Punjab and the Central 

 Provinces. The kharif is being harvested in Bombay 

 and the Punjab. 



The public health is generally good. Prices are fluctuat- 

 ing in Bengal and the Punjab; elsewhere they are gener- 

 ally stationary. 



Madras.— General prospects fair, except inBellary,Ananta- 

 pur, and parts of Madura and Coinrbatore. There have 

 been some improvements in these, tracts also during the 

 week. — Pionet r. 



A New Application of Indiabdbber.— Under this head- 

 ing Nature of Oct. 2nd gives a translation of au article 

 in La Nature, which, after referring to the many uses 

 to which indiarubber may be put in its various forms, 

 describes au ingenious invention, by which all sorts of 

 household objects can be made to keep their positionon 

 a table when the latter is tilted to an angle of from 45 

 to 50 or even GO degrees. This is done by furnishing the 

 various articles with a band of red indiarubber fixed in 

 a groove in the bottom rim, which band by its ad 

 ness to bard objects permits of the articles furnished with 

 it being placed at the angle's mentioned. For caps, plates, 

 bottles, &c, on ships in rough weather the invention will 

 prove extremely useful. 



Tea is Ambagamuwa, Oct. 16th.— The enormous vield of 

 Manawatte is certainly very encouraging, but it is not the 

 only estate thatis doing well. I boar that Galbodde haspick- 

 ed quite 900 lb. per acre from its besi field , and should pass 

 ""■ '■' ' : '■'•■ bi fore the j ar is out. Seeingthe flue p 

 which 1 lie produce of this estate usually realizes, the return 

 to the proprietors at the end ofthe year should be splendid 

 If I mistake not, some of the best Belds of tea on this 

 estate are on old coffee land. — Local "Times." 



Tea ami Tea Drinking.— By Arthur Reade. 

 (Sampson Low.) Mr. Arthur Reade made a hit by 

 his little bonk on Study and Stimulan's, which appealed 

 to a wide audience, aud was, moreover, largely com- 

 piled from autobiographical letters. The° present 

 volume — in some sense its complement— will scarcely 

 prove such a success. The suhject was capable of 

 much mire interesting treatment. We have often 

 wished to know what Dr. Johnson paid for his tea 

 and how much one of his cups held. A book on tea 

 omitting any allusion to the outbreak of the American 

 W ar of Independence, and a chapter on the foes of 

 tea without reference to Cobbett, show that Mr. Reade 

 has left much for his successor.- Academy. 



South Wyxaad .Notes.— Vythery, Oct. 8th— The oldest 

 cinchonas I have seen here, are some about fifteen years 

 old, origiually plauted among coffee, which last had quite 

 " gone out." It is not, however necessary to go back so 

 far, for there are dozens of estates iu Wynaad where 

 the cinchona, though only plauted five years ago," aud kept 

 arefully lopped, has serio usly damaged the coffee. One 

 often hears in Wyuaad au expression of regret at haviuo- 

 planted up cinchona iu a good field of coffee. The ob- 

 jection to associating the two trees is, that they ; ,r I,, ,11, 

 surface-feeders, and cinchona being tiie stronger, deprives 

 coffee of its nourishment. The best shade trees, such as 

 jack, are selected, because they send their roots dowu to 



a great depth, aud do not interfere with the coffee. 



Mail. 



in.. French Vintage —A recent notic-in a home 

 paper gives a cheerful estimate of the prospects of the 

 a : — 



'lb Vine interest in France is looking up. From many 

 distant, quarters come reports that the plants appear richer 

 and greener this year than they have ever been since the 

 phylloxera got the upper hand, aud hopes are son. 

 prematurely expressed that the pest is wearing itseff out. 

 But the truth seems to bo that, in some districts al 

 the d iwnpour of two winters ago partially drowned mil' 

 the insect: the only effectual mode of destroying which 

 is inundating the vineyards wherever land and water lend 

 to the operation. The early part of the year, 

 when the vine blossoms, was generally unfavourable to 

 unsheltered localities. Cold winds by day. ami coldernights 

 e to the knitting of the fruit, and the flowers 

 as the vine-grower says. The consequence 

 is that the bunches carry quantities of little abortive grape- 

 lets which must harm the wine. There is, too, a very 

 general complaint of anthracuosis, mildew, and the o'idium 

 which first covers the grape with a fungus, then blacken 

 and bursts it open,and finally rots it away. Frequent sulphur- 

 ing of the young shoots, the leaves, the buds, and the grapes 

 by means of a special bellows, is the only remedy for" this ■ 

 but the labour costs money, and it is not always properly 

 practised, nor, it must be confessed, always quite success- 

 ful. Plants which still struggle against the phylloxera are 

 yet so weakeued by its attacks, that their fruit is 

 often a total prey to these other diseases, especially 

 in the damper climates. \V< are promised from Pheirns 

 a grand champagne vintage this year as to quality ; the 

 vines are looking splendid. As to quantity it will be but 

 I e, owing to " cordage " in the spring and the pre- 

 sent excessive heats. On the Loire there are no cum. 

 plaints save where heavy hail-storms have been at work. 

 In the extreme south there is a great outcry about the 

 terrific heats ; the grapes in some places roasting instead 

 of ripening. In the Cognac districts the remnant of the 

 vines will give what is rurally known as a "jealous" 

 —very good here, bad there, and middling farther 

 on. The native vines grafted on American stocks an 

 beginning to tell wherever they have been planted and are 

 the healthiest of all." — Pionei 



