Mav I, 1 886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



747 



PHYLLOXERA AT THE CAPE. 



W'i> have ri\^eired from a correspondent in South 

 Africa some details of the long-dreaded appearance 

 of the rhyllo.xera iu the vineyards of the (!apc Colony. 

 As long .igo as ISSO the importation of living plants 

 in any form or shape was forbidden by the Cape 

 Covemment. This measure wa.s so .strictly enforced 

 that consigunieuts of young beech-trees from England 

 and of tree-ferns from New Zealand were not allowed 

 to be landed. In 1884 the prohibition was for a short 

 time relaxed. But it was speedily revived, under a 

 penalty of o(M>l. or two years' imprisonment with or 

 without hard labour in the case of any infringing it. 

 The insect has now, notwithstanding, actually ap- 

 peared in a few vineyards near Gape Town, and in 

 two ^ther.s about twenty-four miles otf. 



Fortunately the Cape CJovernment has competent 

 scientific advice at hand. Mr. Koland Trimen, F.R.S., 

 the Director of the South African Museum, and a 

 well-known entomologist, attended the Phylloxera Con- 

 gress at Bordeaux iu 1881 as the representative of 

 the Cape Colony. A (/Ommission to examine and 

 report on the outbreak has been appointed, consisting 

 of Mr. Trimen, of M. Peringuey his assistant, and of 

 I'rof. Macowan, F. L. S., Director of the Botanic 

 Oarden. M. Peringuey is a Bordeaux man and a good 

 entomologist ; he first drew Mr. Trimen'.s attention to 

 some suspicious-looking mites on a slide which had 

 been taken from a Cape vineyard by the doctor of 

 a French ship, about Christmas. 



Two or three of the vineyards are simply swarm- 

 ing with Phylloxera. But in others it appears to have 

 only recent centres. Unfortunately sulpho-tarbouates 

 and carbon bisulphide are little more than names in 

 the colony, and it has been necessary to telegraph for 

 a supply. Pending the arrival of the insecticide, the 

 vines are being uprooted and burnt. The result so 

 far is encouraging, and the small range of the insect 

 leads to the hope that it may be well kept under if 

 not stamped out. — Xatvre. 



COCONUT PLANT.VTIONS AT BATTIOALOA. 



20th February. — The demand for Coconuts is great. 

 They sell at R33'34 per thousand, and Oopperah at 

 R36"37 per candy.* The scarcity of nuts may be 

 attributed to the short produce. I do not i|uite agree 

 with the common opinion that this is traceable to 

 the long dry season we experienced last year. The 

 flower spathes thrown out after the flood of last year 

 by the Coconut palm has, with a few exceptions, been 

 abortive, and I persume that this is attributable to the 

 heavy flood.-i of ISS.'J. A healthy, well-bearing Coconut 

 tree ought to have 12 hunches on it in all stages of 

 growth, fjom the newly opened spathe to the fully 

 ripe nut. Although there are 12 spathes on the tree, 

 moat of them are denuded of nuts. I am afraid that 

 the pice of Coconuts will ri.se extremely high thio 

 year. 



Plantations have commenced to wear a dejected 

 look already, and Coconut bunches and branches 

 are fast dropping to the ground. While on the 

 subject of Coconuts, I may say in reply to your foot- 

 note to my letter that it is truo that the price of 

 Oil regulates the price of Copperah, but how is it that 

 the price of (Jil remains stationary or recedes f Ii it 

 that demand for it is slack, or that the enormous 

 stocks said to have accumulated in England, have not 

 been appreciably reduced ? I beg leave to question 

 your figures as to the relative price of a thousand 

 Coconuts and a candy of Copperah. You give the 

 .iitfi renco as only KG. That is true only of exceptional 

 places where nuts are so large that the Copperah of 

 I.IOU or 1,200 nuts go to the candy. 



[In exceptional places we have heard of 900 to 

 IjfXiCMiuts sufficing for a candy. Ours is a safe average 

 for average places in average seasons. — Et>. '* Ex."] 



* In the Western Province, the dilference in price 

 between n thousand nuts and a candy of Copperah is 

 about H6— as from 1.100 to 1,300 nuts go to a candy, 

 and the cost of drying is Rr2.5 a thousand. How 

 many Batlicaloa nuts go to a candy?— Eu. "Ex." 



During a season of drought or large crops, on average 

 properties from 1,300 to 1,400 nuts go to a candy. 

 Taking the former figure as the average, and the price 

 now ruling for Coconuts R30, let us see what Copperah 

 ought to fetch. 1.31.0 nut.s at R.30 = H39 plus Rl-e24. 

 for drying 1,300 nuts at Rl-25 =- R40 62J per candy 

 of Copperah in the villages. Add to this transport 

 to Colombo, and the price reaches something like 

 R41'50, and yet traders who pay K30 for Coconuts 

 here, .sell a candy of Oopperah in Colombo at from 

 R3S to 38, and gat a profit too ! The Mercliauts who 

 buy Copperah can possibly .say how the trader manages 

 this. The uninitiated iu these mysteries simply feel 

 bewildered when attempting to solve them. — " Ex- 

 aminer." 



THE JIANUFAOTURE OF SALT. 



It will be remembered that Government recently 

 deputed Dr. .I..T. L. Katton, to investigate and re- 

 port upon tho quality of salt manufactured iu the 

 Madras Presidency. We hear that that otRcer has 

 informed Government that he can do nothing jier- 

 sonally to improve the quality of salt .nt present manu- 

 factured. The excise system prevails now at so many 

 mauufacturiug stations, that the new system treated 

 of iu his '* Handbook of Common Salt" could only 

 he forced |tipon the salt ryots at a few places, and 

 it would not affect the bulk of the salt made in 

 this Presidency. But there is still a stronger reason 

 for delaying any action that might be taken at the 

 pans, and that is, the system of selling salt by 

 measure prevalent in this Presidency is entirely opposed 

 to the manufacture, that it would be impcssible to 

 maintain an improved method of manufacture without 

 constant and extended supervision, which would 

 retiuire a very large increase in the staff of the 

 Salt Department. It was pointed out that pure 

 salt, as compared with bad salt, is remarkable for 

 its weight and solidity, and as we pass from pure 

 rock salt through the different grades of manufactured 

 salt, physical qualities deteriorate yaii jjasfu with 

 chemical, until we meet with the worst chemical 

 descriptions, which are very light and hollow. Tho 

 salt trader will always purchase the lightest, i.e., the 

 worst salt chemically, because it pays out and oat 

 the best, bought by weight and sold by measure, 

 and the effect of this on the salt manufactures is, 

 th.at where there is any choice of pans there is a 

 run on those which ranke bad salt, and the good 

 salt stores are neglected. The yearly demand for 

 salt increases the bud pans. Fresh pans are opened, 

 and the place developes and i)roapers, whereas the 

 good salt remains long unsold, the yearly demand 

 falls off, pans are thrown out of cultivation, and 

 the ryots abandon the manufacture in disgust, or outbid 

 their rivals iu the manufacture of bad salt. There 

 is uo chance of getting the manufuicturers to make 

 good salt, so long as the present system of pui-chase 

 by weight and sale by measure is allowed to continue. 

 But if it is essential to maint.<iin the status quo as 

 regards purchase and sale. Dr. Ilatton suggests the 

 removal, as far as possible, of local rivalry by limiting 

 the number of salt manufactories to a few points 

 on the coast, far apart and well supplied with means 

 of communication by rail or canal, as Tuticorin, 

 Vedarman, !SIadras, Beypore, &c. At each of these 

 places, an increased staff could be concentrated for 

 the supervision of manufacture, and the increased 

 cost would he more than met by the savings of the 

 closed manufactories. As a standard of quality to be 

 obtained by the salt manufacturers, he would suggest 

 the Vedarman swamp salt as it conta'DS ii irly 99 

 per cent of .sodium chloride, and is the pr.,Juct of 

 purely natural forces. Government, in passing orders, 

 observes, that under the existing administration, the 

 quality of salt produced at most of tho works has 

 been subordinated to the development of the salt 

 revenue, in consequence of which salt has been for 

 some time past deteriorating. This is admitted by 

 the Commissioner of Salt and Abkari Revenues but 

 the only remedy whic^h that oflicer has b(x'n able to 

 suggest, is a legal enactment prohibiting the sale of 



