December i, 1889.I THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
393 
INSECTICIDE FOR TEA BLIGHTS; TEA SOIL 
ANALYSIS; SUGARCANE. 
( From the Animal Report of the Agricultural and Horti- 
cultural Society of India for 18S8.) 
Insecticide fob Tea Blights.— During the year an 
insecticide, to which attention was drawn at a meeting 
of the Royal Horticuliuial Society of Londori'as possi- 
bly applicable to tea lilighis, wa9 reported on. A 
careful trial was given to this wash on the gardens of 
the Second Fallodhi Tea Co., through the courtesy of 
Messrs. Davenport & Co. ; but though the insecticide 
was found to do good, it was only temporary in its action 
and would have to be used repeatedly for Tea blight, 
tbe cost of application alone would be prohibitory. 
Notice is taken of the subject in this place, as from time 
to time remedies for tta blights are proposed, aud 
should they take the form of insecticide -, tbe test of 
their practical use is clearly shewn by the i eport alluded 
to ; they would have to be applied more cheaply than 
the liquid tried and they would have to be cheap 
enough for frequent applications to be made. 
Tea Soil Analysis. — An enquiry of more than ordi- 
nary interest to all connected with the tea industry, 
has been inaugurated. In consequence of certain in- 
quiries regarding the relative values of different oil- 
cakes as soil fertilizers for tea, it became apparent that 
sufficient data does not exist as to the requirements of 
the tea plant and the constituents of the soils in the 
Tea districts, and that it is therefore impossible at 
present to select the most suitable manures for the 
plant on scientific basis. The planting community aud 
all interested in the industry, as well as the Society, 
are therefore under obligation to Dr. Warden, the 
Chemical Analyst to Government, who has undertaken 
to devote his very scanty leisure to elucidating the 
subject. Arrangements have been made through 
members of the Society for a supply of materials. 
Sugar- cane. — Reports were received on Mauritius 
Sugar-cane, several varieties of which were distributed. 
The marked difference between those cultivated in 
Bengal aud the Otahite kind introduced by the Society 
some years ago, injured the success of that introduction, 
and that variety is found now widely cultivated in all 
parts of Bengal. The Mauritius kinds recently tried, 
do not differ much in appearance to some of the 
varieties already under cultivation, and as a consequence 
it would have to be demonstrated that their yield in 
quantity or quality of juice is greater before they will 
be taken up. 
4, — 
THE SOUTH AFRICAN AGRICULTURISTS' 
ALMANAC FOR 1889. 
This unpretending little volume appears likely to 
be of great use to the class of whom it is designed, 
aud there are points in it which seem worthy of 
attention from the Ceylon agriculturist in spite of 
the very different conditions uuder which he works. 
There are several valuable contributions on stock- 
farming and one each on cheese-making, the vintage, 
hop cultivation and farm-buildings, besides many minor 
articles, some short paragraphs and two poems. 
Some of the articles are disfigured by the use of 
language so lofty as to be almost unintelligible. Take 
this sentence for instance which commences an article 
called " A Periscope from a Pastoral Plane The 
horse, his congeners and hybrids being the only ex- 
portable, yet the most neglected and the most easily 
and quickly improvable in many directions, by careful 
breeding, of all the domestic animals of South Africa, 
hippie glances, it is opined, may lead these bucolic 
Hues. ' Shade of John Lyly ! what arc we coming to 
when colonial farmers indulge in euphuism such as 
this. Our worthy periscopist's matter is however 
better thm his style would lead ono to expect, as 
when ho tells us that the way to improve the cattle 
of a country is not to commence by crossing with 
imported animals, but to "grade up" the Ideal breed 
by selection for two or three geueratioue, then import 
GO 
a s'ze of a better breed I ut not too big for the coma 
y<iu have and cross. Thisaivke appears sound and 
well worthy of attention trom local cattle owners. 
Here is a point of some interest to tea planters 
taken from the article on cheese making ; — " The ripen- 
ing process in the preparation of cheese is nothing 
but a fermenting process, which takes i lace in every 
wel '-prepared cheese when two main conditions a e 
fulfilled, that is, a eoeasurVd ti mperature and a cei fa n 
degree of moisture. * * * The c. nsequerice of 
too low a tempeiature is bad termentaiiuii and slow 
ripening, whe ea 1 ' 'oo high a temperature hardi ns tie 
fermentation at the expense of the taste peculiar to 
the kind of cheese." This might have some bearing 
on the want of flavour in our lowcounlry te^sr" 
The followii g recipe will be fcuud of geueiai in- 
terest, though the first is somewhat vague, nsthe parti, 
cular kind £of n ode is nut specified : — " lo protect ii ou 
garden tools from rusting. If iron gardtrn to^ls are 
laid for a few minutes in a solution of soda they 
will be protected from rusting for a long time, even 
if exposed continuously to a moist atmosphere," This 
should be useful for shafting. " To dissolve bones, 
take a large watertight hogshead and cover the bot- 
tom with about six inches deep of dry soil ; on this 
put a layer of bones of the same depth, and cover 
them entirely with wood allies ; on these another 
layer of bones, then ashes, and so on till the hogs- 
head is full, leave it exposed to the rains all summer 
and winter till spriDg. Then on removing the ci n- 
tents of the hogshead, the bones will crumble to 
powder under a slight pressure and form one of the 
most valuable manures ready for immediate use." 
With these extracts we will conclude our notice of 
this book, which really seeris to be in the words of 
its sub-title, " Tbe Cape Farmer's Own Vade Mecum," 
and which does credit to its compilers, Messrs. Jas. 
Ferguson & Co., Wynberg, Cape Division. 
— ♦ i 
" FINE QUALITIES FIRM, COMMON 
NEGLECTED." 
Sir, — It is now the general results, upon taking up 
a Tea sale list, to see the heading of this letter 
as the summing-up of the whole matter and, upon 
what the lawyers call the prima facie evidence, it 
would appear that the one aud only remedy is to make 
fiuer quality teas. Yet upon a more careful inspection 
of the reports, or what is better, a retrospect of the 
sales of the past, it will be seen that the fall in price 
has been relatively greater than in the lower grades. 
Of course the purchaser buys whatever he can get 
at as much below the selling price as possible, 
whatever will give him the) greatest return upon re- 
sale; in other words, whatever he can get as much 
under its value as possible. Consequently, he can 
now buy Broken Pekoe cheaply, so he buys it in- 
stead of Pekoe and Pekoe Souchoug. As an instance 
of this, I commend your notice to the following, the 
italics being my own : — 
Indian Tea Sales. 
(From William Moran $ Go's Market Report.) 
Caicdtta, 18th May, 1889.— The first sales of the 
sea«on were held on Thursday the 16th instant, a 
week later than last year. About 4,700 chests, qua- 
lity ranging from inferior to medium only, were 
offered, and almost all sold with fair competition. 
Prices were lower than the opening rates of last year, 
for Pekoe Souchongs about one anna, for Pekoes 
from one to two annas, and for Broken Pekoes per- 
haps ratlicr more. 
Reuter's telegrams received since our last, report 
as follows :— Indian Tea.— May 16th— Auctions— Off- 
ered 20,000 packages. Sold 15,500 packages. Fine 
qualities jinn, common neglected. 
The iuference drawn from the above is that Bro- 
ken Pekoe would be something like two annas lower 
than last year, Pekoe nearly as much, while Pekoe 
Souchongs are stated to be one annas lower. Now 
it appears to me that our efforts should be not to 
pluck too fine; for, as the fiuer grades are evidently 
falling much faster than the coarser, we ought to do 
