S-4 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Feb. i, 1886, 



PLANTING IN NETHEBLANDS INDIA. 

 (Translated for the Straits Times.) 

 Coffee leaf-disease now so prevaleut in Java is 

 said by a planting expert in thn TSoii: to be no- 

 thing new, from its having been known there 

 during the last 50 years, but to be in fact so sel- 

 dom met with that hardly any notice was taken 

 of it. Formerly the stricken trees were simply dug 

 out and their places taken by healthy ones. The 

 causes assigned were various, the most genera! one 

 being that the disease arose from deterioration brought 

 on by coffee trees being forced by means of man- 

 ure to bear when barely two years old. The 

 planters were driven by necessity to take this course 

 to avoid financial difficulties. Judging from the 

 saying, " Soon ripe soon rotten" it stands to reason 

 that trees so forced into bearing cannot in the 

 long run yield sound and healthy berries, and that 

 those reared from beans secured under such circ- 

 umstances cannot fail to bear with them the germs 

 of lingering disease sure to pass over into plants 

 sprung from them. 



THE BLACKSTONE TEA KOLLER. 



Sembawatte, Nawalapitiya, 21th Dec. 188.5. 

 Dear Sir, — I have had the pleasure of au inspec- 

 tion of the '• Blackstoue " Roller, and I consider it 

 from the work I have seen it perform, greitly superior 

 both in the quality of the roll and the quantity 

 turned out to any roller yet introduced. At 1'2-2.S we 

 started with a roll ot 90 lb of withered leaf and 

 finding the machine had the capacity to hold more 

 I added 10 lb which made the round 100 lb withered 

 leaf, equal to 140 lb of green. Within the short 

 apace of 1-2 minutes the roll was discharged in a 

 perfectly fresh and cool state, with a nice even 

 twist : the Pekoe leaves wore in a beautiful state 

 of preservation, free from breakage, whilst the Sou- 

 chong was all that could be desired. At 12-40 

 another charge of 100 lb withered loaf was put in, 

 and at 12-.5LI (just 13 minutes) this was completed in 

 as satisfactory a manner as the former. 



The great rapidity with which the work is done 

 is due to the novelty of carrying the leaf round a 

 spheroid. 



The invention is as successful as it is ingenious 

 and appears to be based on a correct apprehension 

 of the principle of rolling, which is gradual oom- 

 pression. This is done most satisftctorily by this 

 new method employed, while the construi^tion of the 

 discs with alternately raised sogments keeps the leaf 

 Local *' Times," from breaking while revolving round the 

 spheroid. The arrangement of the battens too apjiears 

 to be the result of careful experiments. This machine 

 gets through 400 lb of withered, equal to about 6.)0 lb of 

 green leaf per hour, thus in a working day of 10 hours, 

 G,000 lb of leaf can be worked off. 



I consider it quite capable of meeting the require- 

 ments of an estate turning out 100,000 lb tea per 

 annum. — Yours faithfully, D. Faibweatheh. 



— " Local Times." 



" CoLORY Coffee." — Mr. T. Christy writes to us 

 by this mail as follows in a semi-private note ; but 

 surely he has no reason to suppose that there is 

 any falling-off in tho jtrcparatiun of Ceylon coffee ? 

 With so little crop to attend to, the work of pre- 

 paring ought to be more carefully done than ever 

 before: — " There is an enormous crop of coffee in 

 Brazil, and great feara are expressed as to the price. I 

 wish you could get someone to work up the 

 question of fermentation of coffee berries ; there is 

 more in it than you think, tor, if people wish to 

 secure the extreme price, something nmst be done 

 now when labour is cheap to put on more ' finish ' 

 60 as to top the market. You would be surprised 

 to find what a difference this makes." 



THE CLIMATE OF THE HIGHER HILL- 

 COUNTRY OF CEYLON. 

 The rain record of 188.5 being now closed, I give 

 tho figures for the past three years, with th e aver- 

 ages for the months and for the twelve mon ths :— 

 Rainfall for Abbotsford : — 



Total... 89-70 85-13 100-10 91-64 

 For the abnormally wet and stormy year, 1882, 

 the record is imperfect, but we have good reason 

 for believing that the total deposit for that year 

 was not much under 140 inches. But let us "take 

 the figure at 130, and the average rainfall will be 

 raised from 91-64 inches to 101. As it is not 

 likely that the low figures for the tlirei' past genial 

 years, are all referrible to a reaction from the ex- 

 cessive rainfall ot 1882, it now seems certain that 

 the figures we have been in the habit of taking as the 

 average for this place, viz., 110, are too high and 

 that 100 would be nearer the mark. The reason 

 we fixed on 110 was that the late Mr. Heelis had 

 obtained 106 as the average on Laugdale at 4,60 

 feet. Our rain-gauge being placed 1,400 feet higher, 

 and in a position facing the south-west monsoon, 

 we naturally supposed our rainfall would be higher 

 by at least 4 inches. But it is the fact that the 

 rainfall increases in the Dimbula valley, the farther 

 away the position is from " the dividing range " 

 behind which Uva lies and the nearer to that other 

 dividing range which separates Dimbula from 

 Dikoya and Ambagamuwa and "the Peak " region. 

 In the Kotagaloya Valley, tlie average rainfall is 

 I believe, about 140 inches. Ours, it is now evid- 

 ent, is closely represented by 100 inches, as nearly 

 as possible the figure tor Nuwara Eliya. In this 

 matter of rainfall only, however, does the com- 

 parison hold good. Our climate is much more 

 genial, not only because of our lower elevation by 

 400 feet, but from the fact that this place has 

 been opened entirely in woodland, while Nuwara 

 Eliya, a damp, grass covered jjlain (the bed, doubt- 

 less, of an ancient lake), has its temperature lowered 

 by tho double effect ot evaporation and radiation 

 of heat on clear nights.-* Although the results of 

 three years are not sufficient to settle fully the 

 averages of the months, and although June 1885 

 gave the excessive figure of 28-54 inches, as a 

 reaction from deficiencies in the two previous years, 

 yet the figures are sufficient to give a fair general 

 idea of our rainfall, apart from mists and sus- 

 pended Bioislurc. It will be observed that while 

 a large proportion of our rainfall — 41 inches out 

 of 91-64 — falls in the three south-west monsoon 

 months, June, July and August, only 20 falling in 

 the three north-east monsoon months, October, 

 November and December, yot there is no rainless 

 month, although in the fine season, January to 

 April inclusive, there is only just enough 

 of rain to make the weather pleasant, about l.S 

 inches for the four months, or au average of 3J 



* Tliis, however, has e\'idently been niodiHed at oni* t'lui of 

 Nuwara Eliya by Luke Oregory ivhicli has helped to cijualize 

 the temperature— Ed. 



