494 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[December i, 1884. 



at least the late Mr. Donald Stewart's place. Either 

 the climate of the district is especially adapted for 

 cinchona or that it is a very capricious sort of plant, 

 for I saw a parch of succirubras erowing on the top 

 of an exposed ridge on hard gravelly soil equally as 

 well as in a new clearing in a valley, well drained 

 and sheltered. 



The cinchunas put out between every second row 

 of coffee were doing very well, and hardly a vacancy 

 to be seen, and the extei.sive nurseries in prepar- 

 ation tor next year's applies, proved that the pro- 

 prietors han not at all lo-t faith in the future of 

 cinchona. — Yours faithfully, 



SPENCER MARSLAND. 



HELOPELTIA ANT"NII AND OTHER BUGS. 

 Upper Abbotsford 26ih Oct. 1884. 

 Dear Sib,— I am sorry to say that Dr. Trillion has 

 confirmed our opinion that the colored specimen we 

 examined under the microscope a foitnight »go was 

 a Helopelli*. I have an idea that the ether green 

 bugs wiiich I sent him are, if not Helnpellis, some 

 pest iqually destructive; for I found five of them on 

 the affected shoots, and there is some agency at woik 

 that ian do a good deal of damage in one night, as 

 I have seen to my sorrow the last week. It took 

 me about four hours' personal search to find these 

 five little beasts, so it sounds "sorter ironical" to be 

 told that the only affectnai remedy is to catch and 

 kill your enemy. I think I shall indent for a pair 

 of Sam Weller's double-horsepower magmfiying glasses. 

 I enclose Dr. Trimen's letter.— Yours faith mlly, 



A. M. FERGUSON, Jr. 



(Dr. Trimen's Utter.) 



Peradeniya, 25th October 1SS4. 



Your specimens only arrived this morning. I wish 

 I could say that there was no Helopeltia among them. 

 Unfortunately there is one, and one only. This is 

 the larger one on the glass slide, very much injured 

 in the sticking down. This is clearly an immature 

 specimen of H. Antonii. The other (green) ones aie 

 not that insect, but some other sucking bug which 

 may or may not be injurious. 



In the bottle I can find no Helopeltia, ! here were 

 three living insects there. Two were a species of 

 green bugs in different stages of immaturity, the 

 other a black apltis. here was also a cast skin of 

 (apparently) the same green bug 



1 am very sorry you have had one HeloptUis at Abbots- 

 ford. Lung may he remain a unique specimen ! As 

 one s« allow does not make a summer, so one Helo- 

 peltia does not make a tea-blight, But of course you 

 will be on the 1- ok-out. 



I return the plates fiom the Tea Cyclopcedia. The 

 "tea bug" figures are almost terrifying to look at, 

 the animals are so big and so highly coloured ! (Very 

 incorrectly also).— Yours very truly, 



Benky Trimen. 



Helopeltis—heJos—nn ornamental nail, pin or stud. 



MR. KERR'S HAND ROLLER. 



Kinrara Estate, 27th Oct. 1SS4. 

 Dear Sir— In the report of your correspondent 

 paper of 2o'h instant, on " Tea in Amba- 



iu your pap 

 gamuwa, 1 ' 



I see mention made of an Excelsior 

 roller and a Challenge roller as being at work on 

 Carolina estate, but nothing is said about a roller 

 ordered by that estate from me and tent there a 

 few months ago, and which the V. A. told mo, the 

 la-it lime I saw him in Colombo a few weeks ago, was 

 doing its work most satisfactorily. Is there soma 



mistake about this or is at an omission ? — Youra 

 faithfully, h. KERR. 



[The list of machinery was supplied by Mr. Meg 

 ginson, but on the way up Mr. Porter spoke favor 

 bly of Mr. Kerr's roller.— ;:d.] 



SUGAR IN CEYLON. 



Choisy, Ramboda, 29th Oct. 

 Dear Sir, — I should feel extremely obliged if your 

 correspondent " Enquirer,". who tells us that Silu Maha 

 Tissa worked a sugar estate near Anuradhapura, would 

 tell me what the Sinhalese word for suaar wa= in 

 those days, and any other information about the word, 

 euch as derivation etc., which may be in his power 

 to afford. — Yours faithfully. 



EDMUND WOODHOUSE. 

 [The passage referred toby "Enquirer" isthusgiven 

 in Tumour's translation of the Mabavariisa : — "This 

 ki> g sojourned three years near the Sonagiri mountain 

 (io the Ambathakola division), working a sugar mill. 

 Obtaining some sugar as the hire of his labour, and 

 taking that sugar, the monarch repaired from thence 

 to the capital, and bestowed it on the priesthood." 

 The Pali word for sugar is 'guja.' a sugar-mill 

 being ' gujayantam.' The Sinhalese translation of the 

 Mahavamsa renders 'guja ' by ' uksakuru,' i.e., cane- 

 sugar. The Pali word 'gnja' is derived from the 

 Sanskrit 'guda,' which means (1) a ball, (2) molasses.— 

 Ed.] 



CINCHONA AND MARAGOGIPE COFFEE 

 CULTURE IN BRAZIL. 



Henaratgoda, 6th November 1SS4. 



Dear Sirs, — Regarding cinchona and Maragogipe 

 coffee cultivation in Brazil, we beg to annex extract 

 of a letter received by the last mail from our agents 

 there, dated Rio de Janeiro, 23rd September 1884. 

 We think it worth to place before your readers. — 

 Yours obediently, J. P. WILLIAM & BROS. 



" Seeds of cinchona have been imported direct from 

 Peru and Chili and distributed by order of the Brazilian 

 Government to our chief planters, who have desired to 

 get them, but seeing that they can make no profit by 

 cultivating this plant, they do care not much about it." 



" Maragogipe coffee seeds. — In compliance with your 

 desire and in accordance with your instructions we sent 

 to you 5 cases containing seeds of Maragogipe coffee, 

 no seed of this sort of coffee is to be had, or sold in 

 the market a yet, as the place where the plant grows 

 only occupies an area of 5 to 6 thousand trees, and the 

 seeds are distributed among the chief planters, who are 

 willing to further the cultivation of this beau. Our Mr. 



has some 200 trees in his estates and the seeds 



he uses in the reproduction and distributes among his 

 friends." 



TEA DRIERS. 



Colombo, 6th Nov. 1884. 

 Dear Sir — Comparative s'atements having been 

 published by Mr. Kindmoud and Messrs. Gibbs & Barry 

 as to the capabilities and prices of their respective 

 driers iu relation to the " Sirocco," we feel called 

 upon* to place Messrs. Davidson & Co.'s new "Sirocco" 

 into direct comparison with these driers for the con- 

 venient reference and information of tea planters. 



The Kindmond drier works with hot air, and there- 

 fore compares with the No. 3 Sirocco. 



Outturn per hour of Cost f. o. b. 

 perfectly dried tea. England. 

 Kindmond's No. 1 drier 1 maund £150 



The No. 3 Sirocco 1 maund £ 90 



