496 
THP TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January i, 1890. 
As reeraHs Arabian coffee, we learn that in 1886- 
87 eom" 175 of the larger trees died off. Five plants 
and 1,158 seedlings were given away, and it is noted 
tbat "the species does not thrive: the elevation is 
probably too low." The following year 65 more 
casualties were reported, the number of plants being 
thus reduced to 669, and the Sub-Assistant Conser- 
vator remarked. "The plants do not thrive, lookine 
weak and sickly," Olv twenty plants were distributed 
in that year. By the clo=e of 1888-89 the number 
of nlants growing was only 485, and we read : " the 
cultivation of Arabian coffee in the Mergni plantation 
is a failure, and has been abandoned " Oocoa seems 
also to have fared badly. In 1886-87, four tre»s died, 
leaving a total of 14. Eleven p^ds were obtained 
from the trees and from these 212 seeds were pro- 
cured and some 146 terminated. The next year 127 
seedlings were transplanted from nurseries, bringing 
the number of plants to 141. Seventv-seven were 
destroved bv wbite-sats, leaving 64 plants, besides 
something like 170 new seedlings in nurseries. Ninety- 
seven of these were transplanted in 1888-89, brineing 
np the number of plants to 161, of which 101 were 
destroved bv white ants. The termites certainly seem 
to have the pick of the 'Mereni cocoa. Tea barely 
maintainec its ground, but no details are given about 
the plants. Vanilla seems to have flourished. It 
flowered in 1887-88, and in last year's report we 
read " the vanillerie is in a flourishing condition, 
none of the plants died, and the number remained 
at 284. The plants all flowered, but the flowers died 
and fell off without coming to maturity. This is 
attributed to want of insects to assist in the dissemi- 
nation of the pollen. The Forester reports having 
tripd fertilizing by' band among a few flowers; hut 
without success." To this remark is attached a note 
tbat " fertilization by hand is essential in evrv case 
Instructions regarding the process will be obtained 
and sent to Mergui, as the forester evidently does not 
know how to see a boot it." The last item referred 
to is Cardamoms. In 18^6-87 eighteen baskets con- 
taining 1,725 plants of the Mvsore cardamom were 
sent throueh tbe Secretariat. When the baskets were 
opened only 113 plants were found alive. When these 
were put out in the garden thev were attacked bv 
an insect and only four small plants were left alive. 
Of two lots of seed subsequently received one was 
bad. During the next year, plots were selected and 
cleared in the garden and seeds were planted out, 
and beyond the information that the four cardamom 
plants on hand at the beginning of tbe year died, 
this is nearly all we learn in the 1888-89 report. 
" Seeds were put down in nurseries and in the selected 
plots, but none germinated. The seed was described 
as 'best selected ' and se°med in good condition at 
the time of sowing. The forester in charge cannot 
ascribe any reason for this oomplete failure." The 
expenditure during the three years amounted to 
112,435 11-10, and the receipts to some 4 or 5 hundred 
anoarently though this is not quite clear. — Madras 
Times. 
+- — 
The Coffee Planters of Coorg are in a dilemma as 
to labour for their plantations. Mysore coolies can 
do longer be procured in sufficient numbers, so the 
Planters' Association has asked theEevenue authori- 
ties for assistance in recruiting coolies in Ganjam 
and other districts. — Madras Mail, Dec. 19th. 
The Production of Ivory. — There are annually 
killed in Africa a minimum of 65,000 elephants, 
yielding a production of a quantity of raw ivory 
the selling price of which is some £850,000. This 
quantity is shipped to various parts of the world — 
to the American, the European, and the Asian 
markets. A large quantity is, however, kept by the 
native princes of Africa, who are very fond of — and, 
as a rule, very good judges of — ivory. The produc- 
tion out of Afrioa is only insignificant, and India, 
Ceylon, and Sumatra together produce only some 
20,000 kilogs, per year. India is the largest con- 
sumer of ivory, and China is alao a good market. — 
Industrie*. 
Gold and Silver Abporb^d in Indi*.— In 
consequence of the love of jewellery and addiction 
to hoarding of the Hiadus, India has been oalled 
"the sink of the precious metals." As an illus- 
tration let us take the conclusion of the review of 
the trade of India in the London Times: — 
During the 80 years since 1859, says Mr. O'Conor, 
India received and retained of tbe precious metala 
113J millions sterling of gold and 227 millions of silver, 
all the gold being practically withdrawn f om oircu- 
lation to be hoarded or converted into ornaments. 
Altogether since 1834 Mr. O'Conor estimates that 442 
millions sterling of the two precious metals have been 
received and retained by India. 
" Acrocarpus Fr^xinifolius," — seeds of which 
are advertised by Messrs. J. P. William & Brothers, 
ought to be a valuable acquisition on estates up to 
4,000 feet, or perhaps in this climate 5,000. Its limit 
on the Eastern Himalaya is 4,000 feet, and it 
seems to flourish down to sea level at Chittagong. 
Also in Southern India, the Tinnevelly name being 
Mallay Kane. Gamble describes it as a lofty 
deciduous tree with thin, light grey bark. Sapwood 
white ; heartwood light red, moderately hard. 
Weight 89 lb. per cubio foot. The wood is used 
by planters in Darjiling for tea boxes and planking, 
in the Wynaad for building and furniture and in 
Coorg for shiDgles. It is an extremely handsome tree, 
growing with a fine tall cylindrical stem, handsome 
flowers and large bipinnate leaves, which are red 
when young ; it reproduces easily and is fast 
growing. Beddome mentions a tree 27 feot in girth 
above the buttress, and Manson staffs that a 
windfall tree in the lower Darjiling Hills bad a bole 
70 feet without a branch and measured 1 1 feet in 
girth at the small end. 
" London Pubple " as an Insecticide. — A sup- 
ply of London Purple, a refuse obtained in the 
manufacture of a> iline dyes, has been recently sent 
from the Indian Museum, Calcutta, to Madias, for 
experiments on a pest, the caterpillar of a moth, 
Achaea Melicerte, known as " Janga purugu " which 
has been causing damage to the castor oil plant in 
the Madras Presidency. This moth has also been 
found feeding on tbe castor oil plant in Cuylon and 
Calcutta. London Purple, which can be obtained 
from Hemingway's London Purple Company, Limited, 
60, Mark Lane, E. O, has been used largely in 
America for the cotton worm, potato beetle, canker 
worm, and other pests. It is used in the form of 
spray, and it has been recommended, as regards its 
application to the coffee leaf disease that the stems 
of the coffee plant should be paioted with a mixture 
of London Purple and water applied pretty thickly 
like a white-wash, in a stronger dose than is ap- 
plied to the tender leaves. Directions as to the 
mode of applying the insecticide are contained in 
No. 2 of notes on Economic Entomology by Mr. 
E. C. Cotes, from which the 'following is an 
extract: — (a) lorty gallons of water J to 3{ of a 
pound of London Purple, three quartz of flour, 
the solid ingredients intimately mixed with the water 
by washing them through a strainer, sprayed upon 
the trees by means of a force pump and San Jo c e 
nozzle, were found to effectively destroy web-worm. 
The effect of the poison is sometimes not observable 
until after three or four days ; care must, therefore, 
be taken not to overdo tbe spraying To drive 
the liquid through the nozzle some ki d of force-pump 
is required, and a great number have, at different 
times, been experimented with some of them being 
of a most complicated nature. It is, perhaps not of 
any great consequence which particular form is adopted 
for use in India ; but the aquapult force pump, which 
has been arranged to be worked entirely by one man, 
who also distributes the spray, seems to be about the 
best suited for geueral use in a country, where eco- 
nomy in labour is generally not so great an object 
as economy in the cost of apparatus, — Madras Mail. 
