90 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



• a. The quality of the rubber is not affected 

 by the age of the tree which yields the latex. 



b. Vacuum drying, as at present carried on 

 in the estates, lowers the quality of the rubber ; 

 but this may be modified by curtailing or leng- 

 thening the time it is in the vacuum press. 



c. The quality is the same from natural or 

 renewed bark. 



d. The use of formalin in the latex does not 

 affect the quality of the rubber. 



e. The quality of the rubber obtained, when 

 acetic acid is used, appears to bo at least equal 

 to that obtainod by natural or spontaneous co- 

 agulation. 



They also added: We are as yet unable to come 

 to any decision in the keeping qualities of vulca- 

 nised rubber.— Yours truly, 



W. D. G. 



CACAO BEETLE. 



A useful little pamphlet on tho " Insect Posts 

 of Cacao '' has just been published by the Im- 

 perial Department of Agriculture for the West 

 Indios, in which the following methods are 

 recommended for dealing with tho cacao beetle : 

 — " When it is known that the grub is in tho 

 tree, it may be dug out or tho tunnel probed 

 with a stout wire. The presence of this grub 

 may be detected by the chips and excrement 

 thrown out at the mouth of the burrow. The 

 bark over tho infested aroa shows a dried and 

 shrunkon appearance, and by removing a portion 

 of such bark tho burrow may be found. Any 

 wounds made in tho troo in digging out the 

 beetle grubs should bo promptly tarred over, 

 or treated with a mixture of rosin oil and tar, 

 to prevent the entrance of fungi. It will pro- 

 bably bo bost to remove all dried bark, and 

 thoroughly clean the wood, wherever these in- 

 jured places are found. If the wood thus 

 cleaned is properly tarred over or painted with 

 rosin oil mixture, the bark will grow over tho 

 wound satisfactorily. Tho adult beetles are 

 active by night, and may be founel resting on 

 tho trunks and larger branches of the cacao tree 

 in the early morning. At this time they may 

 be collected, and if thrown into the water, to 

 which a small amount of kerosene has been 

 added, they will be quickly kil ed. in Surinam, 

 it is the common practice to tio largo pieces 

 of bark of the silk cotton tree to the trunks 

 of the cacao, to furnish a hiding-place for tho 

 beetles. Thoy may be collected from these 

 places during the day. It would seom likely 

 that strips of burlap (bagging) tied round the 

 cacao trunks would, as in the case of silk cotton 

 bark, furnish convenient places for collecting 

 these beetles. In Grenada, the cacao beetle is 

 trapped by leaving the branches which are cut 

 from the trees on the ground for about three 

 weeks. All wounds on the trees which might 

 attract the egg-laying beetle are tarred care- 

 fully. The adult beetles will visit the dead 

 branches on the ground and deposit their eggs. 

 These branches are then collecteti and burned. 

 It is necessary that the branches bo thoroughly 

 destroyed. If they are neglected or left too long, 

 they become breeding-places for increasing the 

 numbers of the beetles." — Grenada. — Journal 

 of the Royal Society of Arts, May 28. 



LIMA AND OTHER BEANS. 



Colombo, June 24th. 

 Dear Sir, — In the March number of the 

 " Tropical- Agriculturist and Magazine of the 

 Ceylon Agricultural Society," there is a letter 

 from the Hon. Mr. J. P Lewis on this subject, 

 togethor with a list of the vernacular names 

 of beans commonly found in the Kandy market. 



As these names are apt to vary it is not 

 sale to rely upon them for purposes of iden- 

 tification, and this is proved by the errors 

 that have crept into Morris' list of pulses 

 on page 71 of his catalogue of Ceylon plants, 

 as well as in Trillion's Hortus Zeylanicus. 

 To give one instance, me-karai, the common 

 long besn (Viqna sinensis) is given in both 

 lists as Phaseolus lunatm, the Lima or Duffin 

 or Rangoon bean. 



In Mr. Lewis' list awara-damala, as far as I 

 can make out, is a variety of Canavalia ensi- 

 formis, the sword or sabre beans. Daluk-damala 

 is the Princess or 4- winged bean (called in 

 Australia the Asparagus pea) and known botani- 

 cally as PsopAoc«iV)j(s tetragonolobus. Machohu 

 (or Mntchoh) kotto is Dolichos Lablab — a favou- 

 rite with Indian Tamils. The other three 

 dambalas mentioned (El, Kos-etaand Ratu) are, I 

 take it, varieties of Phaseolus lunatus. regarding 

 which Church, inhis "Pood Grains of India,'' says 

 that the seeds are variable in colour, marking 

 and size. He also mentions that the large 

 white seeded kinds, with at most a brown or 

 black mark close to the hilum (the place of at- 

 tachment to the pod) are to bo preferred to 

 those with flattened and rather reniform seeds 

 with blotches of red or veinings of black. 



I am getting for distribution a supply of the 

 best eating varieties of the lima bean, which, as 

 Mr. Lewis remarks, is much to bo preferred to 

 tho French, Kidney or Haricot beau. 



The 4-winged bean deserves to be cultivated 

 more extensively than it is at present. It is 

 sometimes grown for its "yam." The guar or 

 cluster bean (Cyamopsis iJ.ioratioides), intro- 

 duceel from India, is getting to be commonly 

 known locally through school gardens as " Kota- 

 ranga." Like the soy bean the peds are some- 

 what hairy. Many varieties of American "Cow 

 peas," which are hardy and prolific, are worth 

 cultivating for the sake of the pods and are, 

 indeed, being grown for that purpose about 

 Colombo, having spread from the Government 

 Stock Garden. — Yours truly, 



C. DR1EBERG, 

 Secretary, Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



COCONUT STEM DISEASE AND CROPS. 



Kauclawala, JSlegombo, June 17th. 

 Dear Sir, — I had expected some valuable con- 

 tribution to accurate knowledge from so ex- 

 perienced a planter as " P> H of Marawila instead 

 of bare contradictions and ill-disguised sneers, 

 anel further such an olel and frequent contributor 

 to your journal as "P." should have taken a little 

 more trouble to ascertain what 1 had stated in 



