i3.8 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [August e, 1887. 
is where he planted latest, and when he had a 
right to feel that he was safe. The very early 
plantings as a rule have been successful. 
Cacao is showing that this dry season is not 
to its liking, although it is still on the whole 
doing fairly well. There is a gauntness however 
about and evidently spreading, which a good soak- 
ing would do more to remove than aught else I 
know. The crop being gathered at present is 
scanty, but good blossoms are out and have 
been out. 
The dadap as a shade for cacao commends it- 
self to many. It has perhaps one objection, that 
it grows so fast, and when you thin it out, it is 
hard to know what to do with the loppings as 
the coolies have an objection to the thorns. Still 
this evil is not without its accompanying good, fo : 
it allows you to regulate the shade according to 
the season. Even a mistake of cutting away too 
much is very soon righted, by the rapidity of 
the tree's growth. I know of one very bad piece 
of cacao, which had disappointed, and promised 
to do nought else than disappoint, bein^ quite 
brought round by the help of dadap. Where be- 
fore there were leafless branches, shrivelled and 
blackened pods, indeed, trees which had become 
the home of every enemy of their species, and 
were sick unto death, there are now umbrageous, 
sturdy specimens of cacao, full of beauty and 
promise — a pleasure for any planter to look at, 
Cacao is a product that wants a deal of at- 
tention, there is always some enemy about 
to be circumvented, watched, captured and slain, 
and on small acreages this can be most effectually 
done. 
From what I see of bug it seems to be dis- 
appearing, getting that white colour which indic- 
ate that for the time being its race has been 
run. In its place there is now, however, leaf 
disease, but that as compared with the other is a 
small matter. Still it is hard on the coffee tree, 
and especially on its owner. There are fine coffee 
crops in Dumbara, but the want of rain endang- 
ers them now, and should it continue much 
longer most of the crop will be light. 
The tree which the Sinhalese call "kekuna," 
and from the nut of which they extract an oil 
is finding a new value from the fact that the 
" kekuna" poonac is a fine manure. Its fertilizing 
qualities are well enough known to the Sinhalese 
cultivator, who from time to time has applied it 
to his paddy fields, but the knowledge of its 
worth is spreading beyond the Sinhalese village, 
and experiments are being made with it on tea 
and cacao. Those who have tried it on cacao 
take all they can get, which is a satisfactory 
testimonial. Should the results of the application 
of this new local manure be satisfactory in regard 
to tea, there will be a wider field opened out, 
than any possible supply can overtake. In these 
days when there is so much poverty among the 
natives if this hitherto unmarketable stuff couid 
find a sale, it would be a help of a small kind.* 
Peppebcobn. 
♦ 
OBSERVATIONS ON COCONUT PLANTING. 
Minuwangoda. 
Like all other plants the coconut also requires manur- 
ing where they are not favoured with good climatic : n- 
fluences and fertile soil. In many estates, cattle-folding 
is adopted as one of the chief forms of manuring. The 
soil is dug round the trees and two pairs of cattle 
* The difficulty will be the same as that which beset 
a German genius once connected with the railway 
He was going to light Colombo with gas fromthe' 
nuts, if only he could procure a sufficiency of them' 
which he did not.— En. 
are generally tied for five nights. So far this practice 
is good as both the droppings and urine are utilized ; out 
a large proportion of the valuable fertilizing matters 
especially ammonia is lost to the tree. As the drop- 
pings are exposed for five days, they begin to putrefy 
and free ammonia begins to evaporf jb. To check 
this wasteful system, there is only one trifling thing 
to be done, which most planters overlook. 
As the trees are manured each day, the droppings 
shou'd be covered with some refuse — fibre dust will 
do very well if it can be procured easily ; this dust 
has the property of absorbing ammonia and other 
gases. If refuse is unobtainable the droppi'jgs 
should be covered over with soil. Thus a vast amount 
of ammonia could be utilized by a simple method. In 
several estates heaps of fibre dust are allowed to he 
useless : and will not this be a good system to utilize 
the same? W. A. D.S. 
♦ 
NETHERLANDS INDIA NEWS. 
(Translated ftr the Straits Times) 
Sugar growers in Java 60 long labouring under 
apparently hopeless depresssion, are eagerly scanning 
a bright spot in the horizon giving fair promises of 
a turn for the better from a wholly unexpected 
quarter. These gladdening tidings come from East 
Java where an enterprising sugar planter has under 
cultivation cane from Borneo, which bids fair to yield 
250 piculs of sugar per bouw, twice as much as has 
been hitherto the case in Java, even under most 
favourable circumstarces. Should it turn out that 
this result is realisable on a grand scale without too 
heavy an Jexpense, sugar growing in Java has a 
splendid future before it. 
The Locomotief draws attention to the advantages 
of the sunflower as a means to ward off fever. The 
sunflower, owing to its strongly absorbent powers, 
draws to itself the miasmatic vapours arising out 
of the soil. In Samarang especially it is likely to 
prove advantageous from the prevalence of fever there. 
A German tobacco planter in Deli describes in a 
newspaper appearing in Germany the difficulties at- 
tending the clearing away of trunks of trees therei 
He says that he has made trials with dynamite in 
this respect but always failed. He enquires what 
he must do to turn to the fullest account the op- 
portunity afforded by this explosive to remove from 
his fields, the trunks and roots of trees most of which 
are centuries old. 
By last advices from Bali, the picking of coffee 
was in full swing. In consequence of the high prices 
ruling for that article, the pickers, proceed recklessly 
to work and gather all they can no matter how 
inferior the quality so long as they can find pur- 
chasers. Beans both ripe and unripe were freely 
offered for sale in the market. In the independent 
native states there, the production of this article is 
falling off owing to most of the coffee trees having 
recently died out. Fresh plantations have not been 
laid out in time 
It is a well known fact that certain plants feed on 
insects which they entrap by means of special ap- 
pliances. So far as the available facts admit of draw- 
ing a conclusion, fishes are the highest grade of the 
Animal Kingdom which fall a prey to flesheating plants. 
The latter flourish in brooks and rivers. Recently, Dr. 
Van Noote made known in a scientific periodical ad- 
ditional facts which far surpass anything known 
hitherto regarding flesheating plants. In the jungle 
in the neigpbourhood of Unarang near Samarang in 
Java there are said to be trees which catch birds. 
The truth of this lies beyond any doubt. Observation 
has established the fact that birds do get entaDgled 
among the flowers which grow in clusters on these 
trees and secrete a sticky substance. Birds when 
once they get caught in this substance cannot come 
away. They die and are decomposed till at length 
the bones alone remain. It is certain that in this 
instance we have to do with a bird-catching tree, but 
the question arises ; does the tree feed itself with 
the flesh of the birdr ? On these trees, observers 
have found birds just caught still alive, dead birds, 
and skeletons in various stages of decomposition 
