262 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1889. 
gany a field of cinnamon to weed, prune, and do 
everything on contract. They are used to contract work 
and they like it. Mamoty work on sandy soils is not 
hard, and they need not work on their contracts dur- 
ing the heat of the day unless they like it. Mr. 
Jardine is mistaken in supposing that the peelers 
are so habituated to a sedentary life and in " cool 
and well ventilated waddys" that they shirk open 
air work. A good many peelers are Goyiyas or 
cultivators as well. 
In reply to "Anti-Slavery" I say that the great 
evil in the system of giving advances is the time 
of the year when they are given. The temptation 
to misuse the money at that particular time is very 
great, and we deliberately put temptation in their 
way by giving them advances then. I do not de- 
precate contract service. We guard ourselves by 
it. Enter into a contract with our men when they 
actually enter into our service and ratify it by a 
small advance for the support of their families 
while they are away. 
In my first letter I studiously avoided speaking 
of myself like the Biblical Pharisee, and saying 
that I am not as other men are &c, &c. I wrote 
as if I gave advances myself. Mr. Jardine and his 
friend have spoken from the standpoint of those 
giving advances, and have drawn imaginary pictures 
of peelers " coming and going according to their 
own sweet will ; working when they liked and idling 
when they pleased," "self-interest prompting them to 
leave an estate as soon as it became exhausted of the 
best wood," the peelers would be quite intractable 
and careless in the performance of his work &c. unless 
the are under advances which "tend to create an inter- 
est in any one estate." Let me detail my experience, 
which is that of one who has consistently refused to 
give one cent of advances to his peelers. I have never 
in any one year failed to secure my whole crop. 
Can all estates that give advances say the same ? 
The peelers worked very steadily all through crop 
and did not show the least disposition to iudulge in idle- 
ness. They were quite amenable to discipline (I am a 
martinet), and not only did they stay till the last 
of the crop (the leavings) was harvested, but did 
the pruning as well. So much for the difference 
between surmise and experience. Instead of peel- 
ers leaving me at their "own sweet will" the 
difficulty has been to turn out a man for any 
gross breach of discipline. My kanganies from the ad- 
vances till the end of a season, while to the kangany 
from the Southern Province I usually had to give a sum 
barely exceeding El per peeler at intervals of a month, 
over and above weekly advances, but well within the 
earnings of the men to liquidate his debt in his village 
for provisions given the men for the New Year or 
left with their families. The estate from which 
I write is very popular with peelers, chiefly because 
their accounts are squared each time peeling is 
stopped — one year I paid off my men four times 
— and because the peelers receive El each all 
round for men and boys as a weekly advance. They 
are able to save small sums out of these advances, 
to take or send home to their families. When 
men complain to me that their accounts are squared 
only once a year elsewhere, and that they in 
consequence have to undergo great hardships, I 
always point out to them that the remedy for it 
lies in their own hands. Don't take advances, and 
you will receive more weekly advances and have 
your accounts squared oftener than now. 
Do you, Mr. Editor of the Observer, still think 
that " W. J." and his experienced friend have 
"fairly and finally disposed of" the question of 
advances after I have detailed my experience ? B. 
[ Ye;;, we do : so far as the vast bulk of cinna- 
mon plantations is concerned. We have the utmost 
confidence in " W. J.'h" unoqualled experience : 
he writes from the centre of the great cinnamon 
district of Ceylon, while "B" is, comparatively, 
a junior and outsider. — Ed,] 
A CURIOUS PAEASITE. 
Labugama, Aug. 28th. 
Dear Sir, — Can you tell us what this very curious 
crawling creature (like a thin worm) is ? No one 
here has ever seen one like it before. We found 
it in the garden this afternoon. I hope it will 
reach you alive.— Yours truly, C. S. WEIGHT. 
[Our entomological referee writes : — " The long 
slender worm eent by Mr. Wright is a Gordius 
aquaticus, or an allied species, described in Van 
Beneden's 'Animal Parasites,' page 178: — "It 
passes its youth in the body of certain insects 
and leaves its cradle to scatter its eggs abroad. 
The life of the host is never compromised, and 
no functional disiurbance is observed notwith- 
standing the enormous size of the worm : they 
are sometimes a foot long, resembling a violin 
string, and have long puzzled naturalists. They 
are often met with in wet weather," — Ed.] 
AN ENEMY OP TEA. 
August 30th, 1889. 
Dear Sir, — I send you under separate cover some 
" poochies," well-known, I believe, as an enemy to 
tea. Will any of your scientific readers kindly sug- 
gest a cheap remedy for their extermination ? I 
have seen tbem on tea bushes for a long time back 
and took no notice of them, as the injury they did 
seemed but trifling. Now, however, I find it is 
getting beyond a joke and serious damage is being 
done. I have had " podians" picking them out, 
but that is rather expensive work. — Yours faithfully, 
W. A. LYFORD. 
[Our entomological referee writes: — "The insects 
received from Mr. Lyford are the caterpillars of 
a moth belonging to the genus Psyche. They at- 
tack the leaves, bark and certain parts of trees 
and shrubs. Collecting them by hand, I fancy, is 
the best way of destroying them or in mitigation 
of the misetiief they do. On the least approach 
of danger, they retire into their faggot-like case, 
and remain motionless until it passes." — Ed.] 
A NEW TEA EOLL-BEEAKEE AND SIFTER. 
Dear Sir, — I wonder some of your regular corre- 
spondents have not given you the information that 
tea planters have at last got a perfect roll-breaker 
and sifter combined. I put myself in the way of 
seeing one at work, and I came to the conclusion 
that the machine is far and away the best and 
simplest one as yet before the public. 
The machine has been invented by Messrs. Walker 
& Greig's Manager at Lindula, and for a wonder he 
has been too modest to secure his entire rights. 
There is now, I hear, a run on the machines ; so 
you may depend, this is not the last you will hear 
of them. I have ordered one and I know of two 
friends that have already got them at work. There 
is no breaking up of the roll by hand : you take 
the roll from roller and put it in to the sifter and 
there you are, 200 lb. in 4 minutes and work 
perfectly done. 
I have also seen their new tea sifter, a most 
complete machine, but I won't say any more 
in case you will charge somebody for an adver- 
tisement. I hear there is to be an engraving and 
advertisement sent to your paper. — Yours, 
OLD HAND. 
[Has "Old Hand" seen Westland's Patent at 
work ? We believe it will be hard to beat, but the 
more of invention we have the better. — Ed.] 
