No- 1. ] Mhct'lhnifonn Nof^s, 11 



" At another giirden a i>iece of pure Assam tea, which had heen treated iu the same 

 way, was first uHected, then the blijjht attacked a piece of tea next it \evy severely. 

 The latter piece had been pruned into about 4-year old wood, and had new shoots up 

 to a foot long, and many of these have died down completely." 



Enclosure.—"' I received the Horticultural Society's letter on the 14th instant, 

 which I return. The blight first appears in round white blisters, about the size of a 

 twoanna piece, on the under side of the leaf. In a few days these wliite blisters turn 

 very dark, and expand over the gi-eater part and often the whole of the leaf. "When 

 fairly started the darker blight, and not the white blisters, appears to spread over the 

 rest of the bush, sometimes not only attacking the leaves, but the new stem, in which 

 case the stem and leaves above the blighted part double over and eventually fall off. 



'• All the plots of the garden are now blighted, though in some plots there are only 

 one or two bushes. The plot first blighted, and the surrounding ones, are much the 

 worst. 



" In January 1890 the bushes of the blighted plot were pruned down to 9 inches 

 and lower; the prunings were buried in 3 feet trenches which had been cut 24 feet 

 apart. In March it was double boed, and during the year it was single hoed five 

 times, aud in December it was double hoed again. This season it was left unpruned. 

 Since January this year it has been single hoed three times, and last month it was 

 drained by cutting 3 feet drains 48 feet apart, running at right angles to the trenches 

 cut the previous year. 



" I forgot to mention that at the time the plot was pruned it was manured by 

 putting one basket of cow manure to four bushes. 



" In the first plot I think it is disappearing, but in the surrounding ones it appears 

 to be still spreading. Jn the letter I sent you this morning 1 forgot to mention 

 that we have noticed a large number of small green flies about the affected bushes. 

 I send you by post to-day a small bottle containing some of the flies." 



According to a report, dated 17th July 1891, kindly furnislied by 

 Messrs. Williamson, Magor & Co., of Calcutta, green fly blight had been 

 very prevalent and persistent in its attacks on some gardens in Assam. 

 On one estate open lamps were placed about the tea, but the manager 

 reported that this experiment was a failure, for whereas myriads of 

 other insects were attracted by the flame of the lamps, the green fly 

 remained undisturbed under the tea leaves. The green fly was said to 

 be less numerous and to do less harm in sunny dry weather than when 

 it was wet and comparatively cold, but it seemed to require a good long 

 spell of hot dry weather to cause any appreciable diminution in its 

 ravages. The early part of the present season was unusually wet and 

 cold in Assam, and this is thought to account for the prevalence of the 

 blight. 



It may be worth noticing that, in the case of the allied insect which 

 attacks mango blossom, spraying the trees with the arsenical wash which 

 is known as London purple, was tried with some success in the Saharun- 

 pur Botanical Gardens. Great care would of course be necessary in 

 applying London purple wash to tea, on account of the poisonous nature 

 of the substance; but in cases when a garden has been shut up by the 

 blight, there would be no danger iu trying it, provided no plucking at all 



