Josu t, 1885. 



THE TROPICAL AGRXCtJLTURIST. 



9*J 



EOONOMIO ENTOMOLOGY: PLANT-LICE. 



Among man's insect enemies, few, if any, exceed in 

 destructiveness the ravages of the Aphides, or plant-lice. 

 Until this very remarkable group of insects was system- 

 atically investigated, it was believed that every plant had 

 its peculiar aphis; or, at least, that every separate species 

 of plant-louse was peculiar to some plant. Perhaps the 

 earlier naturalists accepted this theory more readily, be- 

 cause Linmvus, in giving names to many of the family, 

 made the plants upon which he discovered them stand 

 gossip for the insects. This has, however, been found to 

 bo by no means accurate ; for instance, the oak is found 

 to be tenanted by at least six species, elm by four, firs 

 by e/ght, and birch by eight; while the terrible pest of 

 Iho \\ op-growers, Aphis humuli, is to be found upon 

 nettles ami damson trees as well as upon hops. Some 

 botanical families seem to be exempt from aphis attacks, 

 for wo do not hear of aur species attached to the 

 Fumariacea,', the iris, or gentians ; and perhaps, with one 

 exception, the same immunity applies to the ferns. 

 Some other plants are exceedingly subject to a " blight " 

 of plant-lice, and it may be generally accepted that all 

 are more subject when poorly grown, either on unsuitable 

 or poor soil, or are in any way in a weakly or degener? 

 ate condition. 



Perhaps Ihe fact which will first arrest the attention 

 in our study of aphides is the remarkable fecuuity of 

 some of the species. It seems almost past the grasp of 

 the human mind to follow the rapid generations and 

 enormous multitude of individuals which may be the olf- 

 spring in a single season of a single plant-louse. If there 

 were no natural enemies to cheek the ravages of these, 

 it would soon become easy to calculate when they would 

 have mastered every other animal on the face of the 

 earth, by consuming the plants upon which such could 

 live. As an example of this wonderful fertility, it has 

 been estimated — in fact, very much under-estimated — that 

 a single rose aphis may produce in one year the enormous 

 progeny of 32,768,000,000,000,000,000 individuals. 



If a colony of aphides once settle upon a particular 

 kind of plant, it is found that they will almost prefer 

 starvation to a change of vegetable juices; though other 

 colonies' of their own species, and founded from the same 

 brood, are comfortably feeding upon the plant to which 

 it is wished to transfer them. — Field. 



TOBACCO GROWING IN CHILAW, CEYLON. 



The modus operandi of Tobacco cultivation in the 

 District may be briefly stated as follows : — 



For a period of three or four months the land is 

 gradually manured, and then it is thoroughly weeded, 

 ploughed and properly enclosed. The space is next 

 divided by equivalent lines drawn across each other at 

 right angles, aud seedlings are plauted each on a section 

 and are shaded till they take root. Thus far men alone 

 are employed, but with the watering women commence 

 to take part in the labour. These — all of whom are 

 young — work as hard as any son of Adam. The watering 

 continues for nearly throe mouths, and the labour 

 increases with the growth of the plants, as with it 

 iucreases the quantity of water required for each plant. 

 It is much to the credit of these female labourers that 

 most of them are able .-to water regularly (morning and 

 evening) each a plantation of three hundred trees Tin 

 worst part of the job is when the crop has to be cured. 

 This requires great skill and experience, ami is generally 

 undertaken by men and elderly women, whose power of 

 endurance is admirable. The leaves at first are so placed 

 as to expose their nerves to the sun. After being in 

 this position for some time, they are constantly turned 

 in and out for several days till tiny change colour, aud 

 then they are placed in tin- shade till they are fit tobl 

 sorted out and bundled up for sale. Though this process 

 does not take more than fifteen days to cure a set of leaves, 

 the cultivators are actually at work for nearly two months, 

 as all the leaves in a plantation cannot be cropped at 



tin n thno. \v lr,i |;he cult ivaton 1 peri 



. , i is nothing short ol l 1 ii sun 



How the designing Saml ara profits by this cultiv- 

 ation is explained by the fact that the class of cultiv 

 115 



ators under notice during the cultivation 1 which tikis 

 up five months) are. supplied from time to time by these 

 boutique-keepers with rice and sundries at exorbitant 

 rates upon Pro-notes carrying usurious interest — which 

 they call " Profit "—from the date of execution. By this 

 means, when the crop is cured and sold, a great portion 

 of the money realized thereby goes into the coffers of 

 the Shent per Shent Sambancara; and what remains to 

 the cultivators is mere nothing in the way of adequate 

 compensation for the sweat of their brow 



If some liberal person will advance small sums on easy 

 terms to these indigent cultivators, the Sambancara will 

 not be resorted to, and a saving, — by no means small, 

 will be effected to the cultivators. — "Examiner." 



INDIA VERSUS CHINA TEA. 



We read in the Leeds Mercury the following letter I rem 

 Messrs. Brooke, Bond, and Co: — 



To the Editors of the Lads Mercury. 



Gentlemen, — At the present moment, when the re- 

 newed activityof the French fleet in the China seas i: 

 causing considerable disquietude to the mercantile world, 

 we think it desirable, through the medium of your 

 valuable journal, to call attention to the fact thai' the 

 British public are far more closely interested in this Franco- 

 Chinese conflict than they appear to he aware of. The 

 staple trade of this country with China is in tea ; and 

 statistics for 1884 disclose the fact that the proportion of 

 China teas imported stands at GO, as compared with ;;l 

 in India tea. "We leave to the imagination of the 

 reader the result in the price of tea, in the eveut of a 

 real war and a strict blockade of the Treaty ports by 

 France. Moreover, John Chinaman, when in difficulties, 

 has an awkward system of raising the wind out of the 

 foreigner, by an extra war tax on all exports. Permit 

 us to point out a remedy for this uncertain state of 

 affairs in the capabilities of England's great Eastern 

 Empire. 



Tea cultivation in India, as compared with the same 

 industry in China, is a thing of yesterday. It was only 

 in 1834 that Lord William Bentinck, who was, perhaps, 

 the most enlightened Viceroy ever possessed by India, 

 appointed a Commitee to investigate the subject; yet 

 the dimensions it has even now attained are extra- 

 ordinary. The term "Iudiau tea" includes the products 

 of widely separated districts, presenting great diversities 

 of physical character, but the reasons of its steady 

 success are easily stated. It is grown from a plant 

 superior to the Chinese, and in a richer soil; it enjoys 

 a hotter and more forcing climate, better modes of cult- 

 ivation, and improved machinery for preparing the leaf. 

 We have no hesitation in stating that in Hindostan 

 England has a field wild enough to supply all Europe 

 with tea. What is chiefly needed to help our Iudiau 

 planters is a steady demand, so that more jungle may 

 be cleared, to show a profit. Let tea-drinkers ask for 

 and buy only Indian tea. They have everything to 

 gain by doing this. They are helping a new British 

 industry, and opeuiug new outlets for English capital 

 to be safely and profitably invested; they get better 

 value for their money, as Indian teas are richer, stronger, 

 better in flavour, more economical; and lastly, they an 

 never adulterated. This last is more than can be said 

 of many varieties imported form China. 



The importance of this subject to British commerce 

 is our apology for trespassing on your valuable space. 

 Faithfully yours, Bhookk, Bond, & Co. — Indian Mercury, 



AN INDIAN TEA 



PLANTEK 



ESTATES. 



ON CEYLON TEA 



Su;, — Having lately accompanied an Indian plant- 1 of 

 long and varied experience through a few of our tea 

 estates, both at high and low altitudes. I think you might 

 like to bear the impressions conveyed to mv friend 

 d irii ■ his ti ip, I put on on id an oft-told tale 



his surprize and wonden 1 at the extraordinary 



of our tea, or the abundant and novel 

 llu6b.es — those things are the first thing au ludi,m tea 



