June 1908.) 



585 



CALABASH GOURDS. 



Crystal Hill Estate, 



Matale, 24th April, 1908. 



Dear Sir,— With reference to your 

 article " Possible Market for Calabash 

 Gourds " appearing in the February 

 number, I wish to kuow whether there 

 i9 a species of the " Lagenaria vulgaris," 

 shaped as in sketch enclosed. I am in- 

 formed by the Manager, "Calabash Pipe 

 Factory," that these are the suitable 

 shapes of Gourds required, and that they 

 give as much as £35 a thousand for the 

 finest shapes free from flaws imported 

 from South Africa. 



Yours faithfully, 



A. VANSTARREX. 



FUNGUS ON RUBBER PLANTS. 



Dear Sir,— With reference to your 

 note re my letter published in the 

 January Number, p. 69, I very much 

 regret I have troubled you and will not 

 offend you or any of your colleagues 

 again by worrying them re any pest, 

 animal or fungoid. I may say I gob 

 almost an identical reply from the 

 Government Entomologist, Mr. West, 

 viz., to refer my queries to your own 

 (i.e., my own) Entomologist at Pusa, and 

 from the Mycologist who writes " these 

 specimens ^which he returns) should be 

 sent to the Agricultural Department of 

 Burmah or India, I cannot make any- 

 thing of them." Yet they were properly 

 prepared and pressed herbarium speci- 

 mens. There is a curious immunity 

 about the above. 



The Prospectus, if I mav term it such, 

 of the C. A, S. clearly offers as induce- 

 ment to join, that help and advice will 

 be given to its members, and this is the 

 help! ! 



I would have imagined that all and 

 any individual effort to detect rubber 

 diseases or pests, and to record their 

 action or life history would have been 

 welcomed rather than deliberately snub- 

 bed. However, I can assure you 1 will 



not trouble you or any of your colleagues 

 further. 



Please publish this letter and oblige. 



Yours truly, 

 J. G. F. MARSHALL. 

 Tavoy, 18th April, 1908. 



[Our correspondent forgets two facts : 

 first, that we are not anxious to have 

 foreign diseases sent about Ceylon by 

 post, with the risk of infecting our local 

 plants ; second, that our Entomologist 

 and Mycologist are occupied all their 

 time in attending to local diseases, and 

 cannot spare time for others, especially 

 as these others have first, not being 

 the same as ours, to be identified, a 

 work which may take hours or even 

 days.— Ed.] 



OLIVESliROWN IN CEYLON. 



Talawakele, 22ud May, 1908. 



Dear Sir,— I send you as a curiosity 

 what I believe to be the first olive grown 

 in Ceylon. I imported the plant (then 4 

 years old from seed) in January, 1901, and 

 (although it is a well-grown tree over 20 

 feet high and with two stems as thick as 

 one's arms) this is the first return. About 

 a year ago I lost patience with it, and 

 bored an auger hole through it to which 

 I attribute the change of habit. 



I have a few struck cuttings which 

 are at your service in the interests of 

 science, Uva is the potential home. 



Yours, 

 JAMES RYAN. 



[The olive was distributed, a good 

 manv years ago, from Hakgala to places 

 in Uva, but we have not yet heard of 

 any fruiting, — Ed.] 



THE "CARNAUBA" PALM, 



Poilakanda, Gampola. Dec. 14, 1906. 

 Dear Sir,— The "Carnauba" tree is 

 veryfully describedintne ''Tropi3al Agri- 

 culturist" for January, 1906, page 814, and 

 the very many places where it grows so 

 well in South America. 



I feel sure this Palm would do well 

 in some of the dry and sandy parts of 

 this Island. 



I shall be much obliged if you can 

 give me any address where I can write 

 to secure the seed of this Palm,— and anv 

 further particulars as to price and how 

 the seed could be brought to Ceylon 

 in a good state of preservation, 

 I am, Dear Sir, 



Yours faithfully, 

 A. H. THOMAS. 

 [We regret we do not know of anyone 

 who can supply.— Ed.] 



