February 2, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



633 



^otiJiespondonoe* 



To the Editor of the "Ceylon Observer." 



PAPER ROOFING IN INDIA AND CEYLON. 

 Fyzabad, Oudh, 28th Deo. 1S84. 



Dear Sir,— In the November number of the Tropical 

 Agriculturist, Note 407, I see a note of the " Willesden 

 Waterproof Paper Company." I have searched the Royal 

 Atlas and can't find out the place. Is it in England or 

 elsewhere? I find Wilsden in England. 



Above all countries in the world, India is the most in 

 need of a paper roof. I could now use hundreds of 

 thousands of feet of it, i. «., if it proved to be cheap and 

 lasting. Could you kindly get me a priced schedule of it 

 and a specification of how it is laid tn roofB, or publish 

 the information in your future numbers. With apologies 

 for the trouble, I remain, yours faithfully, 



A. CONNELL LICUTT, 



Municipal Enyineer. 



[We leave our entorprizing fellow-citizens, Messrs. J. 

 Walker & Co. , to answer the above enquiry, as they have 

 taken a special interest in the new Paper Roofing, Indian 

 correspondents must note that they should superscribe 

 their letters " By Dak or B. I, steamer " if they 

 wish them to travel for two annas postage : several 

 letters, the above included, have come to us of late 

 by P. & O. Bteamers, and we have had to pay four 

 annas or 24 cents, double the difference, on each. We 

 do not think the Post Office though, should send such 

 letters save by the route for which postage has been 

 paid. — Messrs. Walker & Co., we are glad since to learn, 

 have sent full particulars to Mr. Licutt. — Ed.] 



TEA AND RAINFALL IN THE BADULLA 

 DISTRICT: SPLENDID LEAVES. 



Dotlands Estate, Badulla, 10th Jan. 1885. 



Dear Sir, —Enclosed please find rainfall for the past 

 twelve months, in which, you will see, there has 

 been rain in ea^ih mouth, but, unfortunately, in the 

 months of April and May (when a good fall is expected) 

 we were much disappointed, and the usual dry months 

 following have been the cause of our coffee being of 

 such an inferior bean. I don't remember seeing autumn 

 crop turning out so badly, although a larger percentage 

 of light and deformed befhis is usual after drought. 

 The severe rains last month on the 8th and 12th 

 caused the cherry to ripen up quicker than was ex- 

 pected. On the 11th, the cherry was in fine condition, 

 and I looked forwaid the following day for a two-bushel 

 picking, but during the night the rain ceased, and a 

 dry north-west wind set in : by morning the cherry 

 was withered, and one side dry on the trees ) instead 

 of a 2-bushel picking, it was as much as a cooly 

 could get her 1 to 1 J. Pulping it was out of the question 

 at the time, and it was put into the cisterns, kept damp, 

 and pulped two days afterwards. 1 wish I could 

 say leaf-disease was on the wane, With me, it has 

 appeared again, and by what I heard in Badulla last 

 Week it was general. 



I enclose you a few tea-leaves from bushes 9 

 lmnths old to 10, the average being 4 feet, 

 and many 5J, with 4 and o primary branches. 

 The few trees I have round the bungalow have 

 flushed 8 times the past year, although the 

 weather was so dry, and I feel sanguine it will 

 do well -and pay if we get the railway to 

 Hapetale, and, better, if it ever reaches Badulla. — 

 I am, dear sir, yours faithfully, 



T, J, B, JOHNSON, 



Remarks. 



Dec. Sth. — There was heavy 

 rain : fall 4 01, out of which 

 2-96 fell in H hour. 



Dec. 12th.— Gauged 496— bot- 

 tle overflowed during the 

 night. With this storm the 

 wind at times was very severe 

 varying from N. E. to N. W. 



Dec. 13th. — Strong dry wind 

 from N. E. 



128 64-32 7127 

 [The leaves are large enough to stand the test of 

 "indigenous," covering the palm of one's hand : we 

 refer to these figures, and to returns from Matale and 

 Haputale elsewhere.— Ed.] 



TEA IN OLD COFFEE AND GRASS LAND : DOES 



IT REQUIRE AS CAREFUL WEEDING AS 



COFFEE ? 



17th January 1885. 



Dear Sir, — It is amusing to read some of the 

 opinions expressed regarding the treatment of tea 

 planted in old coffee land, but I think the richest wo 

 have had for some time is that put forward by 

 "Old Hand" on page 603, where he states that 

 tea seedlings grown in weeds and grass 2 ft. deep 

 (perhaps he should have added with a basket of 

 manure to each plant) are healthier and better grown 

 than plants put in ground always kept clean. Can 

 " Old Hand " really believe what he has written ? or 

 is he making game of us new hands ? If the former, 

 I would advise him to examine the remaining plants 

 in the clean land or get behind a tree or rock and 

 watch his weeders for half-an-hour or so, when he will, 

 1 bet a dollar, discover the reason for the failures 

 and the beggarly appearance of his plants. Will any- 

 one be insane enough to adopt his suggestion to plant 

 abandoned coffee laud, and, as he puts it, go to sleep 

 or take a trip home for four or five years leaving the 

 estate to take care of itself, and on his return find 

 himself the possessor of a paying tea estate ? 



But serinmly, Mr. Editor, we have seen needs aud 

 coffee tried with the rtsult that coffee collapsed i . six 

 or eight months. Cinchona has failed to grow where 

 weeds were left and even gi-a>s tielriu ceased to grow 

 grass when not regularly weeded. Are we theu ti 

 give tea a similar trial, expecting it to succeed when 

 utter ruin has attended the attempt in every case ; 



Had we the flat land, rich soil and fine climate 

 of Assam or the Terai, " OJd Hand"'s ideas mLht 

 to a certain extent be carried out, hut to lease land 

 with good soil to grow up untouched for rive years 

 would mean— well ! it Would mean a supply of timbt t 

 more than sufficient to dry all the tea that lahd would 

 produce for other live years. 8; 



A Forage Plant.— The eastern districts of tht Oape 

 are indebted to Mr. J. B. Hellier, who brought with hint 

 from ('ape Town a plant of a recently -.introduced cactus 

 from Mauritius, which is like the ordinary prickly pear 

 in appearance, except for the important difference that it 

 has uot a single thorn or hair upon it. It is used in 

 Mauritius as a forage plant, and it is expected that it 

 will prove a most valuable boon to colonial farmers, as 

 furnishing food for their stock in the dry season without 

 the hindrance of damaging the mouths of the ,-,• 

 the prickly peay dous,— (Salomes and India, 



