September i, 1885.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



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7V f/ie Editor oj the " Ceylon Ob sender. " 



CACAO IN THE LONDON MARKET; AND HOW 

 TO CATCH HELOPELTIS. 



11th July, 1SS5. 



Dear Sik, — Has your Loniloa Commercial Con-espond- 

 ent a 'down' ou cacao ? or perliaps, may be, he ia of 

 a bilious nature and cannot driuk it; but is that a reason 

 why it should be left out in the cold ? Just look, and 

 see what he says : "Coffee fiiirly t;ood," " Tea A 1" — all 

 the other products are gone to the dogs (at least he 

 says so in so many words): forgetting perhaps that he 

 is putting cacao with the rest of them. Tlieu someone 

 else always says: "Coffee up If, good news for 

 coffee planters I " but nothing is said when cacao goes 

 up 03 or so ! Oh no, Mr. tditur, this is rather one- 

 sided. We cacao planters toil ou quietly in spite of 

 all, and, thank goodnees, the rains we have had have pretty 

 nearly washed all the fiy away, and I think there is every 

 chance of our being able tokeip the small pest down, and 

 rather more than simply " keep the pot boiling." 



I have thought of a plan which may be of use 

 in exterminating the helopeltis, viz.: Get the chatty- 

 man to make a false pot, — that is a clay one, — as 

 near the shape of the real thing as possible ; have it 

 burnt as red as he can get it, and then till it with 

 some sweet syrup (jaggery treacle) and poison (arsenic 

 ie the best for flies) and seal up the end, or oni-k it; 

 hang it in the tree and the mixture will soak ihrough 

 the clay and keep it continually moist, giving the 

 insects plenty of juice with little or no waste of 

 the liquid : it may act, and 1 should say it would be 

 inexpensive after the first outlay. Strong tea and sugar 

 would probably do. I have made a mould and intend 

 letting you have a pot in the course of a short time, 

 then you will see exactly what I mean. 



By-the-bye the next tour you take in the planting 

 districts, look at cacao and glance at tea by way of a 

 change ! —Yours faithfully, BUSY B . 



HARVESTING OF CINCHONA BARK. 



Deltota, 16th July 1885. 



Sir, — I am sorry I am unable to give my experi- 

 ence about what " B." asks, as 1 never shaved a portion 

 of the tree leaving two strips. I carnot understand 

 why this is done at all, as " B." himself says less 

 work is done per cocly, and when the trees are shaved 

 a second time the bark will not be as valuable as 

 when the whole stem is shaved at once. I have 

 shaved trteu ranging fnni two to six years, and I 

 have found the yourger trees renew bark much faster 

 and better than older trees, and I would rtcominend 

 "B." to take a very thin slice of sliaviuga from the 

 whole stem instead of having strips. Including 

 loppmg I got an average of 53 lb. twit; and branch 

 per cooly. 1 cannot say the exact amount my trets 

 cost for thitchini! ( the amount of nett bark I harvested 

 was 28,631 lb. The outturn of dry at .3.S per omt 

 9,44811). which cost me R6i5'90 : i. e. for harvesting, 

 cutting rnaoa, ihatchiug, drying, packing and cost of 

 wa'chman, or at the rate of (i 6 cen's per lb ;cnst of cart 

 hire, train fare&c, at Scents more will make 9 ti cents, or 

 a little less than 10 cents delivered at the Colombo stoi e. 



Can you or any of your correspondints let nie know 

 why on some (States trees are coppiced about "2 ftet 

 from the ground? One ►upi rintendeiit told me this stem 

 was left for staking the resulting fUcker after cop- 

 picing. Thia to my niind is as sensible as amputating a 

 man's leg anrl leaving a piece of bone to stick out. I have 

 seen coppiced shoots from stems of this kind about SJ to 3 

 feet high a year or more after cop picing, while where 

 the stem hai he:a 'awn J It. from the ground the shoots 

 ue betv eea 4 and 7 feet high at the «anie age, B, E, 



MR. A. WHYTE ON HOW TO GROW " ROSES" IN 

 COLOMBO, WITH HINTS APPLICABLE TO 



ALL ELEVATIONS : No. I. 

 Dear Sir, — In one of your late isiues, I observed 

 a correspondent asked for information on the best 

 method of growing roses in Colombo, a question which 

 has frequently been put to me. I have not had any 

 experience in the cultivation of the rose at so low 

 an elevation, but have been successful with the 

 introduction and raising of many new and choice 

 varieties in Kandv. As much of the treatment required 

 here will apply to Colombo and Galle and other elev- 

 ations, I give, with pleasure, my experiences, in the 

 hope they may be of some little service to your 

 correspondent, and others interested in and devoted 

 to the culture of the Queen of Flowci's. As with most 

 other pursuits we engage in, unremitting care and at- 

 tention is necejjsary, if we wish to attain sucoesa 

 in rose growing ; and the other principal secrets of 

 that success, will generally be found under the fol- 

 lo>ving heads, viz., situation, soil, manure, drainage, 

 selection^ and arrangiment. 



I. — Situation is all-important. lu gardens, how 

 often do we find a large mango tree flourishing in 

 the centre of the principal flower plot, surrounded 

 with crot'ius, hibiscus and rose bushes &c. all drawn, 

 weak and spindly, struggling for an existence, 

 among the gormandizing roots of the mango ; such a 

 situation might form a charming spot for a fernery, or 

 a bit of rock work, where Begonias, Caladiums, 

 Dracoenas, Alocasias &c, , would thrive, provided 

 sustenance was given them ; for the rose it is a 

 cemetery. As has been remarked, " it takes 

 umbrage in a twoi'old sense ; robbed above and 

 robbed below, robber! by branches' of sunshine and 

 by roots of soil, it sickens, droops and dies." Of this we 

 may rest well assured, that no rose tree worth growing, 

 will flourish or " blossom as the rose, " under the 

 drip, or the shade, or even in the proximity of 

 a mango, coconut or other fruit or forest trees. 

 Quceu Rosa will brook no rivals, and will sternly 

 resent their intrusion ; the plot of ground selected 

 for the rosarium, must be solely devoted to roes, and, 

 it possible, be so situated as to catclj the first rays 

 of the fup, and be exposed to them till about noon, 

 when for the remainder of the day, the rose.s should 

 have shade from the burnirgsun in the lowcouutiy, 

 A good plau to get rid of the roots of trees from the 

 adjoinirg compounds, is to have trenches dug along two 

 sides of the garden. Thise will not only prevent the 

 roois from trespassing, but will act as drains in 

 carrying off the surplus moisture. 



'1 he nfxt object we ought to have in view, is shelter 

 for our roses ; shelter to shield them from cutting and 

 parching winds, snil from the silt-Iaden sea-breez°, £0 

 fatal to almost all vegetation. In tlolombo, this ia 

 a'ready generally proviiicd by the compound walls, 

 which form excellent shelttr ; in the abiei.oe of walls, 

 double hedges of Madras Thorn, or HibiBOua (shoe- 

 flow er) or belts of tall Crotona and Lettuce trees, will 

 answer well, and for a temporary protection, until 

 these get up, a fence ofcadjans will »uit admirably, 

 The best shelter belt plants we know cf for upcouiitiy 

 are the ac: cias (wattles) with good deep trcrchts aluug 

 the boundary, to keep the roots from trespassing snd 

 to act as drams. On the other baud, the rosaiiim 

 must not be boxed up too closely, ae a free circ- 

 ulation of air is a.s essential to the health of the 

 rose, as is a modcate expoure to the rays of the 

 sun. Pot roses in veraudalis ought to have the 

 morning or afternoon fuu and be turned out as oftm 

 as I ossible in dull and rainy weather. 



II. — Soil —The principal varieties cf soil to be dtalt 

 with at Colombo and along the ceacoast, consist either 

 tii more «r lam decompoecd kterite (cabook) br A 



