August i, 1885,] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



97 



ia himself and, as he believed, he spoke, — but, alas for 

 him, his belief was detrimental to his opponents' 

 interests. It is pleasing therefore for me to see that 

 the views of planting in general, which my old 

 friends entertained, have to a great extent come 

 true, and I only wish that the inflationist faction 

 would be as honest in occording praise which is due 

 to those that they chose to call "detractors," as 

 these men were honest in upholding their opinions, 

 even when prejudicial to their own welfare. — Yours 

 truly, LANG, LANG 1ST 'S HER ! 



[Our correspondent will certainly deserve credit for 

 his opinion of Dimbula and coffee in 1874, provided he 

 is able to say that he foresaw then the ruin which the 

 leaf fungus was to work. We, most certainly did not 

 then foresee that result; nor did " W. McK." nor any 

 of the other V. A.'s. On the other hand, had it not 

 been for H. V., we believe it will be admitted, that 

 both Geo. and Wm. Smith and many other Dimbula 

 men would have got the handsome coffee returns 

 they expected. Our advice to young investors in the 

 palmiest days of inflation, when coffee was 100s and 

 over, was to count on 3 cwt. an acre and 80s 

 a cwt., but, of course, leaf-disease was not 

 then thought of as a serious evil. The fault 

 found with " W. MoK." was, we understood, 

 not so much for running down coffee as 

 for preaching all barren from ' Dan to Beersheba ' and 

 his only advice to Ceylon planters' seemed to be to 

 'clear out.' The Oiscno- long before VV. McK., preached 

 ',new products ' in cinchona, tea and cacao, in 

 season and out of season. In the case of Maskeliya, the 

 same gentleman led more men to follow his example and 

 plant coffee than any other pioneer ; and only yesterday 

 we had occasion to recall a visit VV. McK. paid to 

 ns in 1879 or early in 1880 when he described in 

 the most glowing terms the appearance of the Liberian 

 coffee on Putupaulakande and spoke of this new 

 product as an assured success. " Lang, Lang " 

 naively confesses that he put tea after cacao, cinchona, 

 and cardamoms, in the order of probable re- 

 rounerativeness and success, showing how he also 

 was wrong. There is therefore saircely room 

 for any one (unless it be the chade of G. 

 H. K. Thwaites) in connection with the past 

 history of planting in Ceylon, to stand up and 

 say : — "I was right and you were all wrong." Our 

 correspondent " Lang " &c. tays be has seen no notes 

 of " confession of error " in our columns : he has 

 certainly like Rip Van Winkle been asleep and 

 saddenly revived. Whit, for seven years back, has been 

 the burden of our planting correspondence, reports, re- 

 views and of ourown arioles and writings in the London 

 J'imcs, before the Colonial Institute, in ' Ceylon in 1381," 

 but one long confession of past errors, a bewailing of the 

 mistake made in putting all the eggs in one basket, 

 in sticking with the Irishman to one product, and so 

 forth? But, iu our so oonfet sing, we should like to see 

 the Ceylon planter of 15 years' stand' ng who can 

 honestly s ly; "I have nothirg to confis ■." As fir"W. 

 MoK." we believe him to have been as big a sinner as 

 any of the planters up till 1878-9, the yiari'wheu neirly 

 everybody s eyes were opened ; and we began our 

 crusade in favour of cluchona and tea some time 

 before then — Ed ] 



A GOOD WORD FOR JACKALS, CIVET CATS 



AND CROWS. 



Madulsiraa. June 1885. 

 Dear Sir, — After an hour and 15 miuntes with Lord 

 forrest Hill's hounds, a "who — whoop I" in the open 

 proved to me, during a punishing worry, a matter I 

 had long been in doubt about, whether or no jickals 

 eat cinchona poochies j for a hearty early ten of this 

 delicacy had btea partaken of. This accounts for 

 the enormous vUitation of jackals yearly At this seasoi) 



j when poochies are in. I have dogs that will take a 



] poochie off any branch within reach and demolish it 

 with relish.* A jackal has been seen performing the 



I same feat on this estate. But unfortunately they don't 

 stick to one diet, having also a taste for the "China 



I Kauley." So six more have fallen to this gallant little 

 pack since above kill, and contents of all examined 

 containedcinohouapoochies and their cocoons which pre- 

 dominated amongst the di^bris that would probably 

 be as puzzling to analyze as some samples of bark 

 from this district were lately shown to be. Noticing 

 my hands smelt strong of civet after suckering in 



t cinchona clearings, I examined contents of stomach of 

 next " Poonapu Poonie" "rolled o'er by the mene! " 

 and found again cinchona poochies swallowed whole 

 which were doubtless gathered off the suckers. 



I Ocular demonstration ia afforded daily of the amount of 

 these poochies crows polish off: especially the wild 



i crow, with its peculiar way of hopping in and out of 

 thick branches, is particularly well adapted for this 

 work.t I have seen them over and over again secure 

 a fine prize and fly oflT with it to their habitation in any 

 adjacent thorny scrub, be it ever so small, whilst the 

 ordinary village crows only visit high estates iu fino 

 weather, and are not therefore quite so valuable, 

 though they also clear a considerable quantity. As 

 coolies of almost every caste readily eat the red wild 

 crow, I trust all iu authority will do their best to 

 prevent the destruction of these useful agents. A few 

 years ago when tirst poochies appeared on our cinchonas 

 great damage was done, and R150 to R300 were spent 

 by many in coolies' wages collecting them : now it is 

 the exctption to find any coolies thus employed, due 

 to our friends the jackals, civet cats and crows, which 

 also destroy and principally live upon beetles, 

 cockroaches and grub of all sorts.} So I trust you will 

 find space in your valuable journal for a good word 

 for these orfatures, the usefulness of whicti has often 

 doubtless perplexed many, including, yours faithfully, 

 BILL THE WHIP . 



GIGANTIC SECTIONS OF CINCtlONA SUCCI- 

 RUBRA AT THE KANDY EXHIBITION. 

 SiK, — All reports of the Kandy Exhibition have 

 omitted to mention the two fine sections of wood of 

 Cinchona Succirubra grown on Sherwood estate, 

 Haputale, They were the fioe«t I have ever seen, 

 and 1 am certain better spe m'ns cannot be pro- 

 duced ia the East. They ard spoiled and almost 

 beyond ideutificition, besiiita-'ed with dirty varnish. 

 Tney are to be sett to Englaiid and may pass for the 

 section of a pear tree sooner than anything else, 

 having that irregular form of trunk. I did not take 

 the dimensions of iheb'o.Us, but I dare say Messrs. 

 Alstons, Soolt & Co. will be p!oas.d to make that 

 public. J. A. 



Roses is Ceylon.— Ab a contribution to the dij- 

 cussion which has arisen, we suppose, Mr. Archiba'd 

 Feiftindo, (f E.l Eva Villa, Kol upit.ya, sent ua this 

 morning half a-dozen bouquets of the most exquisitely 

 beautiful roses we have ever see in Ceylon. Every 

 possible shade of pink is npreseted, and there is one 

 wonderful yellow rose which neema to settle the prob- 

 lem of "g Id in Ceylon." Tiie roses were t-isteful y 

 wrapped in maiden ha r aad silver ferns. 



* At Sinegar in Java Mr. Kerkhoveii's dogs greedily ate 



the bruised masses of llelopeftis collected from the tea 



1 bushes, but they never foraged for themselves. That dogs 



should be insectivorous is certainly a revelation in natural 



history. — Ed. 



t The species of Indian cuckoo called " the jungle crow ' 

 is, apparently, meant.— Ed. 



JThat crows should feefl on such insects we can understand, 

 but we fancy our eorrespouJent is the first to notice that jack- 

 als and civet cats feed on such "stnalj dcot" ft6 poucbie'.— Ed, 



