445 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Dec, i, 18S5. 



Le.vf Disease. — We learo that leaf iliseaae is very 

 prevalent on some coffee estates on the Nilgh'is. 

 The russet extends in some instances over the 

 whole urea, in others is confined to particular 

 spots ; native estates are more affected than 

 European. The disease must be looked upon as 

 the immediate consequence of the economy, 

 amounting to starvation, practised within the 

 last year or two in respect to upkeep and working 

 expenses. High cultivation is the only known 

 remedy tor leaf disease, but this means money, 

 and money is not forthcoming at present, and 

 future prospects are equally dismal. — <S'()»(/( or India 



TiLK-JiiKiNfi IN CooKG. — The firm of Morgan & 

 Son, of Mangalore is I hear going to open a tile 

 manufactory at Siddapur in South Coorg. A site 

 where abundance of good quality clay is obtainable 

 has already been pitched upon, I believe, but the 

 land will have to be bid for at a public auction most 

 probably before it is secured. The firm already 

 possesses a manufactory of the kind in Mangalore, 

 and the tiles which arc called Mangalore tiles turned 

 out are of superior workmanship and finish. The 

 same may be said of the tiles turned out at the 

 Basel Mission factory also at Mangalore, but the tiles 

 made at the Mercara factory owned by Mr. East, a 

 planter, don't give the same ^mount of satisfaction. 

 If Morgan and Son's factory is one established at 

 Siddapur and turns out tiles as good as their factory 

 at Mangalore does, it must do for the one at Mercara. 

 — B. S. — Madras Mail. 



I'l.iNTEKs here are just now pelted with machines of 

 all kinds — rollers, .sifters, and driers — and the individual 

 about to erect a big factory and purchase new machin- 

 ery suffers a good deal from ciniian-as dc choise. A 

 planter well-known here and once on an Indian garden, 

 Mr. Fairweather of Sembawattie, has just brought out 

 two improvements in tlie niechtmical appliances of a 

 tea factory. Oue is a machine which he is about to 

 patent tor .sifting and .separating the fine from the 

 coarse leaves after rolling, and the other is a contriv- 

 ance for easily spreading leaf on the withering shelves 

 I have not yet seen the " Leaf Separator and Sifter " 

 as Mr. Fairweather styles his new machine, but from 

 descriptions of it I should say it is likely to be a success, 

 being simple in construction and very effective. The 

 roll passes from the roUi-r into this new machine which 

 breaks up all balls of leaf and drops the finu leaf in the 

 centre of a ring formed of the coarser leaf, thus allowing 

 each to be fermented separately. Naturally this is a 

 great advantage allowing neither the coarser leaf to be 

 sacrificed for the sake of tlie pekoe, uor the finer leaf 

 to be sacrificed for the sake of the lower grades of tea. 

 The leaf spreader is nut a machine, but an ingenious 

 contrivance whereby the coolie spreading can do all 

 his work without moving from one spot. Each shelf or 

 "tat" is of jute hessian on a roller and is drawn along 

 horizontilly by a cord worked by a pidley from the 

 other end 'of the withering loft by a boy. This pulley 

 is no constructed as to have the cords of all the tats 

 attaclied to it, and as the leaf is spread by the coolte at 

 one end the boy at the other draws the whole out- 

 very nmch in the same manuer aa a v.'iudow blind. 

 More tba)} one a large factory hero have adopted this 

 method which appears to give satisfaction wherever it is 

 tried. * * * Talking of drier.s reminds me that attention 

 ha.s been called lierc to tlie higher temperature at which 

 planters work them as compared to the custom in India. 

 We are told that Indian planters deem 230" Falir. quite 

 hot enough for their macliiue-s, whilst 200° is qiule 

 common with us, Inasmuch as onr leaf contains far 

 less moisture than that on Indian gardens, it is argued 

 that we overdo the firing and tluis burn our tea.s. This 

 certainlv secerns plausible enough, for complaints on this 

 score have been pretty frequent of late from London, 

 Whv your leaf should contain more moisture tlnm ours 

 it is' hard to say, but the fivct remains nevertheless.— 

 Cei/lon for., Indian Flaiiters' Ga:etU. 



CINCHONA SALE. 



■ At Jlessrs. Oakes k Oo.'s sale of Government hark 

 held yesterday, 177 bales Vere disposed of at the fol- 

 lowing prices : — 



Dodahetta Crown Hark, 



Natural — 6 bales containing 600 lb. sold for Kl-lli 

 per bale. 



Branch — 54 bales containing o,J00 lb. sold for ItIS 

 per bale. 



Koot — 6 bales containing 600 lb. sold for 11155 per bale. 

 NadtivnUim Croivn Jliirk. 



Natural — 58 bales containing 5,80U lb. sold for K130 

 per bale. 



Renewed — 27 bales containing 2, 70o lb. sold for It 1 05 

 per bale. 



Branch — 2G bales coutaiuiug 2,000 lb. sold for K70 

 per bale. 



The prices are very high when compared with those 

 at the sales in October. — Madras Times, Nov. Urd. 



CENTRAL A51ERI0AN COFFEE. 



In the March consular reports Consul Sehrnaler, of 

 Costa Rica, has an article in reference to Anicriran 

 trade with that country, in which he speaks of the cullciJ 

 of Oo.sta Kicaand Guatemala. The government statist- 

 ics for 1833 give the following table : — 



Costa Rica : 



Coffee plantations .„ ... ... 7,400 



Number of coffee trees 23,440, 27S 



Pounds 40,502,a0i) 



Value, at 9J cents per lb S3,025,3.'i0 



Guatemala : 



Cotfee plantations 5,131 



Number of coffee trees 50,081,283 



Pounds 43,42-5.555 



Value, at 10 cents per lb $I4,342,.555 



The result of the coffee harvest indicates the super- 

 iority of the Costa Rican soil. Its trees give nearly two 

 Ijouuds of coffee per tree, while in Guatem.ala not much 

 more than oue pound of coffee per tree is obtaiiUHl. Two 

 pomnls ot coffee per tree is regarded as rather a lean 

 harvest, but a higher average quantity can not be ob- 

 tained, as the trees have not been mamtred for fifty 

 years. Men of experience have found tbat hy .applying 

 manure thr^ colfee trees \\\\\ yi<-Id easily onepounri nior(\ 

 This would increa.se the harvest 23,440,278 pounds of 

 coffee, or in other words, increase the purchasing power 

 of the country by nearly Jt2,250,000. ]5ut tlie people 

 prefer to let nature alone, because to do otherwise would 

 require some labor. — St. Louis Grocer. 



Cevi.on Pi.axts.— a systematic catalogue of the 

 flowering plants and Ferns of Ceylon has been pub- 

 lished by Messrs. Dulau k Co. for Dr. Trimen. This 

 must needs be a very useful publication.— Onriioifi-s' 

 Chronicle. 



SAncocKPB.\r,us Eset-T.KNTi-s.— Probably many will 

 recognize in this an old friend, as it w.as said to be 

 common in the gardens around Loudon many years 

 ago, but had not fruited. It ir\ known as the Guinea, 

 or Negro Peach, from its size and .shape, but of 

 course has no relationship with the real Peach. It is 

 a member of the Cinchona onler. and remarkable in 

 the first place for producing its flowers in denselv- 

 ]iacked, globnso beads ; and secondly, for the rxcoji- 

 tioual manner in wliich the .separate fruits beoonie 

 amalgamated with oue another, and with the recep- 

 tacle, forming a sort of compound fruit, as we have 

 in the Custai'.l or Pine-aiqjli'. the resemblance to which, 

 however, in the iircsent instance is merely .supi-rficinh 

 not one of alliuity. Tlie lloweis are creamy-white, and 

 agreeably fragrant, with long ])rojecting styles, tbat 

 give the heads a brislly appearance. A flowering 

 slH'eimen may now be seen in the Mcononiiehunse at 



i Kew, and the [ilant was fiifured in the // rtwdfrral 

 Tran^arlioii^, v., t. IS, where it was des,-i-i),e.l l.y Sfltiipp, 



I — Gardeners' Chronicle, 



