92 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[August t, 1SS5, 



&e., aud make a welcomo addition to the larder o£ one's 

 camp, and a pleasant variety to the tinned meats which 

 is all wo can niauayo to get here. Fish too is very 

 plentiful, and lliere being uo devotees to hold them sacred 

 dynamite is used to [procure the same. They are very 

 fair eating, but are terribly bony aud remind one cou- 

 Biderably of the Hilsa, only the flavour is not so 

 delicate. 'We have had the Chief Oommissioner 

 nt Jlyitta, and ho went down the river as far as 

 AV'oondwiu, aud from all I can learn enjoyed the fuu 

 greatly of shooting the rapids. As far as he went 

 he made a pretty keen inspection of the work done, and 

 our. of the results of his investigation has been that the 

 E.'cecutive Engineer will also come down the Tennasserim 

 and take charge of a division so as to be in the centre of 

 the work and push on the same as fast as possible. The 

 Chief Oommissioner has also written a pretty lengthy min- 

 ute on the subject, but this I have not as yet seen. There 

 is evidently a tliorough determination to have the path 

 made as far as I'ouscko before the monsoon breaks, but 

 I am of opinion that it will be a near piece of work, aud 

 that it will he pretty tough work to get it finished. Now 

 that all the officers and men are in their places the work 

 will of course go on far more quickly than hitherto, but 

 still it will take them all their time to have the road made. 

 Now too that the transport of stores is almost at an end 

 many coolies can be utilized on the road and this will also 

 tend to hurry on the work, for many hands make light 

 work, aud if tbo men can be kept well, as it is to be 

 hoped they will, the G-foot road may be a fait accompli 

 by the end of March. In the meantime the Ohief Oom- 

 missioner has promised a fair inducement for the work to 

 be completed and there is little doubt but that all will put 

 forth every endeavour to finish the road in the given time. 

 Owing to indisposition I believe. Colonel Lang did not ac- 

 company Mr. Bernard, but he is expected down in these 

 parts in a fortnight or three weeks, and by the time he 

 comes I fancy there will bo a substantial amount of work 

 for him to inspect. The Telegraph meantime are also push- 

 ing steadily on, Mr. Pitmau's headquarters being at 

 Tsindoungat present. There is a temporary ofhce at ICyoukh- 

 tone, but it will not be long hofuie the hne will be fixed 

 up as far as Tsindoung, and then I presume the Oamp's 

 headquarters will be shifted ou to Siubudeing. There was 

 some talk of the Siamese Government meeting us at Sin- 

 buduiug or a little way over the frontier aud fixing the tele- 

 graph line thence to Bangkok, but somehow it has come to 

 n*thing. At all events the origiual programme both as to the 

 telegraph, aud 1'. AV. i). road is to be carried out toPonseke via 

 Amya, though may bo nexi; seasoa a diversion may be maile. 

 ■\Vlion the road is finally completed it is an open question 

 as to whether it will tend to serve as an inducement for 

 people to settle, aud populate the laud. AVere the country 

 cleared somewhat of the dense jungle I cannot but think 

 that it would prove healthy and as far as cullivatiou is 

 concerned the soil st-'ius pretty rich and well adapted for 

 crops. 1 should fancy (oo that a good trade might be done 

 all along the banks of the Tennasserim in cutting clown the 

 huge trees and floating the same down to Mergui, where 

 the river discharges itself into the sea. Burmans, however, 

 would, I am afraid, be too apathetic for the latter work, 

 awd 1 very much question if Kuropeaus could do it on 

 account of the clinir.te though 1 don't suppose it is worse 

 hero in the rains than up in the Chiudwin forests. Of 

 course not being a forester 1 do no( know the value of the 

 trees here but judging fronr the specimens of those cut 

 down which I have seen all along the route the wood 

 appears to be of a very hatd qualitj and well adapte<l for 

 buikliug purposes. Time, liowever, works wonders and it 

 may be that some day this desolate region may become 

 poiuxlatt.'d, and where all is silent and still, civilization ntay 

 step in and change this Imwling wilderness into cultivated 

 acres and open out fresh fields and pastures new to mauy to 

 whom civilized Burma is phxyed out. — Ranyoun Gazette. 



CIGARS IN TEA : A WICEDY SUBJECT. 

 Badulla, 2.5lli Juno 1885. 

 Rm, — In your issue of the 22nd instant '■ A Lover 

 of the Weed," makes rather a sweeping asbcrtion in 

 slating that cigars are utterly ruined by being kept in tea 

 longer than u week ! I have brought njauy thousand 

 cigars packed iu tea ami iu a tin liued case to Eug. 



land from both India and Australia, the former via 

 the Cape of Good Hope, and the latter by way 

 of Cape Horn and on their arrival in England, after 

 a three and even four months' voyage, have been pro- 

 nounced excellent in condition, flavour and quality, 

 by my friends, who, I dare say, are quite as choice 

 with their cigars ns" A Lover of the Weed." 



Many people with whom I am acquainted have 

 shipped quantitiei of cigars and cheroots from India 

 to England packed in a similar manner, aud on no 

 occasion do I remember having heard a single complaint 

 as to the cigai s becoming deteriorated or allected in 

 in any way, by being iu contact with tea during the 

 time which elapsed in their transport from port to port, 

 I w ould reoomend ' ' A Lover of the Weed " to try 

 p.acking his cigars iu old and thoroughly dried tea ; and 

 lie may then find he will have good reason to alter 

 his opinion. GLOBETKOTTEK. 



ROSES IN OEYLON. 

 ! Deltota, 25th June 1SS5. 



! Dear Sir,— Can you or any of your readers let me 

 know if anyone has compiled a pamphlet on the roses 

 I of Oeylon V I have before me the book prepared by jMorris, 

 ' Assistant Director, on the forest trees, fruit trees, Ac. &c., 

 ' in which he gives 27 roses. There are at least 100 varieties 

 in Ceylon, and someone (Mr. Nock 1 think the most com- 

 petent, as he has the greatest variety) should give the names 

 of roses, with a description of each, intelligible to every- 

 one. Did you see the large rose exhibited by the Hakgala 

 Gardens 'i One who is something of a botanist called it 

 "Mrs. 'Williams," while another "Paul Neron." Morris in his 

 book gives Rosa centifolia as the cabbage rose, aud further 

 on " Souvenir de la Malmaison " as the Matale rose. Now 

 I have heard almost everyone call the " ISouvenir de la 

 Malmaison" the Hundred-petal or Kosa centifolia. Then 

 there is the beautiful cream rose with a salmon centre 

 called the "Gloirede Dijon." Mr. Whyte, the naturalist, 

 says that everyone is wrong, and calls what everyone 

 calls the '\'ictor Verdier (a creeping light-brown rose) the 

 " Gloirede Dijon," while to the " G. de Dijon," he gives 

 another name (" Wargotin "). Then again there is t)ie 

 sweet-smelling pink rose, very large, called by some 

 " Baroness Ilothsohild " and by others " La France." 



Again what in Ceylon is called the " Field of the Cloth 

 of Gold" is also named" L.araarque," while a small book 

 T have gives the name " L-uuarque " to a pale straw- 

 colored rose, aud " Oloth of Gold " or " Ohromatella " to a 

 creamy white with a yellow centre. This shows the 

 necessity for a book on roses, giving the name, color, size, 

 and a description of the rose, aud whether it will blossom 

 at low altitudes or not. A great variety of roses, I am 

 sure might be got from Calcutta <Src., for the Botanical 

 (hardens, i, 0. if they are likely to blossom in Ceylon : c. g. 

 " Jladame Laffray" ; " Madame Desprez " ; " Mrs . 

 Bosanquet"; " Koan, " ci-imsou scarlet sbadiog into 

 purple; "Grandissima," rosy crimson; " Safrano," pale 

 yellowish buff; " Barbot," cream, suffused With rose and 

 salmon ; " Luxembourg, " deep crimson ; and other 

 varieties. Poses seed well in the hillconntry, and hybrids 

 mierht be obtained from them by fertilizing in the 

 following manner : the petals to be opened quietly with 

 the fingers aud the anthers removed with a pair of pointed 

 scissors, and fertilized with a flower of another variety. 

 In this way we might raise any number of hybrids of 

 dilTerent varieties. B, E. 



HARVESTING CINCHONA. 



Ilewa Eliya, 27th June 18S5. 



Dmar Si!1, — I have read in the June runiber of 

 the 'J'rfijiieal ylgricnlturist a letter from " B. E.,"Doltota, 

 in which he enquires "if an average of 130i lb. of 

 green hark shavt^iffs from cinchona suooirubra trees 

 of from 2 to years of age is a fair amount (quantity)." 



I guess it is ! I have never heard of such a 

 quantity of shavings being obtained : to get this aver- 

 age, some of the shavers probably harvested as much 

 as' lUl) lb. ! 1)033 " C E." measure twice a-day'i 



