2X6 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 18S5. 



up their tea bushes and proving in the Colombo papers 

 that, as an orange-growing country they are on the high 

 road to smash Florida. As a matter of fact, the Oeylon 

 planters are having as hard a time as their Indian brothers ; 

 but they manage to keep a bold face to the world, and 

 to attract capital to their industries. "With the millions 

 of cinchona that are comiug forward in AVynaad and else- 

 where, and witli the possibilities opened out by the 

 introduction of such products as tea, coca, and fibre, our 

 own planters have no reason to be so extremely despond- 

 ent. — Madras Mail. 



Tea i>f THE LoweooNiRY : its Tendency to 

 Blossom. — The following extracts from a private re- 

 port are given as interesting and perhaps likely to 

 be useful to tea planters. The tendency of tea bushes 

 grown in the hot, forcing climate of the lowoountry 

 to produce blossom in their early stages instead of leaf 

 is general and has been intensitied by the peculiar sea- 

 son this year, but the tendency can be counteracted 

 by judicious pruning and other means. We should 

 be glad to hear from planters who have had experience 

 of this tendency of bushes to flower and who have 

 suoceBafuUy checked it. 



3rd August, 1885. 



I have been through 's tea fields. The oldest patch is 



in its fifth year, and the rest a year younger, aud they 

 loosely estimate the crop of the last twelve months at 

 200 lb. per acre. In the oldest field the bushes are large, 

 many of them four feet in diameter, and the best jats 

 fully as much in Ufeight. They have evidently kept it 

 very close plucked, and high and low, wherever young 

 leaf was. It now appears to me that it will flush no 

 more, till it has been severely pruned, as every bush on 

 the place has masses of flower bud, at every reraaiuing 

 leaf ; indeed the whole place is as bad as the worst you 

 saw here, and worse, for the bushes are so much larger, 

 aud none of it has been pruned hitherto. They have 

 no advantage over us in their soil, and the growth of 

 the plants is not for their age better. The weed of the 

 land is pasture grass, which is mamotie weeded, and 

 buried from time to time in deep holes. They are plant- 

 ing up more land, which was originally planted with 

 coconuts , and swallowed up in jungle. On re-clearing they 

 are taking a crop of kurakkau, while the plants are com- 

 ing forward in the nurseries — an idea somewhat native. 



I have no doubt, that if the fields are thoroughly pruned, 

 within this and the next mouth, that the crop of the next 

 twelve months will be very much greater than in the past 

 season, and that, at present prices, it will pay well. 



Mr. holds, that August is the proper pruning 



mouth for this district. He may be right, but I am uot 

 prepared to give in my adhesion to this view, till 1 am 

 better informed. If we are to be troubled every year with 

 this terrible rush of flower bud, I am at present iucUued 

 to spring, instead of autumn pruning. Every joint of old 

 wood on the bush in ilay will produce its bunch of flower 

 bud, and not a n»w flush-yielding brauch, while the growth 

 that extends the old wood is followed up by flower bud 

 to the ver^v points; therefore it appears tome, thatspriug 

 pruning will be better than autumn pruniug iu forcing the 

 growth into young flush-bearing wood, instead of wasting 

 the strength of the bush in a useless product. It seems 

 rcaeonHble to supjiosc that a pound of flower bud will 

 take as much out of the plant as a pound of leaf, and 

 oue of the chief points of scientific treatment required, 

 is to repel the one aud force on the other. I believe I will 

 be able to keep last year's planting from running to 

 flower, when the season returns, without much trouble, 

 and what has been done, and is doing, fur the two-year old 

 plants is telling already. In the promise of a fi'gular suc- 

 cession of flushes, which we have not had hitherto. The 

 great point is to permit no waste growth, by cutting back 

 all the shoots that rush up a foot above everything else 

 in a few days; tlien suddenly stopping, and growiug a 

 cluster of flower buds at every leaf. I believe that it will 

 be well to keep a party always at work, heading back 

 irregular growth, aud cutting out hidebouud wood, 



The "Tropical Agbicultumst." — I am very glad 

 to bear testimony to its very great value, not only 

 to people in Ceylon but to anyone interested in 

 agriculture or planting all the world over. —Cor. 



According to Mr. Leeds, a dental surgeon of New 

 York, caffeine has been found of greater use than 

 cocaine in operations upon very sensitive teeth. — 

 Burgoyne, Barhidges, CyrioLX, and Farries' Monthly 

 Export Prices Current 



The Waste Cuttings ot' Cork are now being employe^ 

 for making bricks, which can bu used for wall", impervious 

 alike to heat or damp. The cork cuttiugs are reduced 

 to powder iu a mortar and mixed with lime or clay, 

 aud from this composition the bricks are made in 

 the usual way. — Overland Mail. 



Tea in Western Haputale. — We are glad to learn 

 of progress in this district with tea, A correspond- 

 ent writing on Aug. 5th says : — " I have been busy 

 with tea planting here the last two or three years, but 

 only began with a small acreage, about 10 — wish it 

 had been more, as the growth and the flushing are 

 very satisfactory. Yon will be glad to hear tea 

 over this side seems likely to do well, two samples 

 I seat down to Colombo taken from the bulk being 

 valued respectively: — Orange pekoe 2s 4d to 2s 6d 

 (London value) ; Pekoe and souchong Is 8d to Is 9d 

 (Loudon value). I was under the impression that July 

 and August being such dry months would check the 

 flushes, but so far the trees seem to flush as well, 

 if not better, than during moist weather. We are 

 getting good weather for our coffee, a product in which 

 I still have faith." 



Cave's Monthly Review. — The July-Auguet number 

 has reached us, the contents being as varied as 

 usual. We quote the following letter : — 



Dear Sirs, — In The Oity of Sunshine, by Alexander 



AUardyce, Vol. I. p. 61, I read, " fresh leavesof 



the LiM tree were scattered over the bookcase to repel the 

 white ants, the Indian bibliophile's greatest enemies." 



Can you or any of your numerous readers, inform me. — 



(I.) "What is the Botanical name of the LimTeee "? 



(2.) "Whether the tree grows iu Ceylon, aud if so, by 

 what name or names is it commonly known ? — I am, dear 

 sirs, yours sincerely, A Ceylon Bibliophile. 



The Itm or iiim tree {I and n being constantly inter- 

 changed in Hindustani) is the Azadiraclda iiutica, 

 whicli, according to Roxburgh, grows throughout 

 Ceylon as well as India and Burma. Every part of 

 the tree is intensely bitter, the oil extracted from 

 its seeds being the well-known margosa oil. 



White Bug on Tea. — A planter sends us a tea leaf 

 covered with white scales, and asks : — " Is this another 

 ' enemy ' ? " Our eutomologioal referee writes : — 

 " Egg-cases and young of a while or mealy hug ; 

 probably Nietner's P«eAidococcua adon'iduni ; see ' Jin- 

 emies of the Coft'ee Tree,' page 5." The following is 

 what Nietner says ; — 



Tlie insects, iu all stages of development, are found all 

 the year round, the propagation being continuous. It ap- 

 pears to me, however, tbat the males are most plentiful 

 about Juno aud January, than at any other season. They 

 aflect dry, hot localities, and are fouud as well on the 

 branches as on the roots of the trees, to about 1 loot under 

 ground. The eggs are actually laid and enveloped iua white 

 cottony substance ; they are o\jl aud of yellow colour. I 

 am not sure tbat there are not two species in the island, as 

 I find some communities rather flatter and more densely 

 covered with meal. However, these may be local varieties. 

 The white bug of the Ceylon coffee-tree seems to be identical 

 with the species which is naturalized in the conservatories 

 of Europe, and is perhaps a cosmopoiiie. It is closely 

 allied to the Pseudoc. Catti of Liuuajus, the Cochineal in- 

 sect. There are several insects in the island, resembling 

 the white bug, but being of the size of a si.\-peiuiy, and 

 even shilling-piece, these belong to the g. JJort/ufin, and I 

 have generally fouud the up-oouiitry species upou the st«m 

 of a haatal—Tetranthera Gardiwri, Ihui, 



