October i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
235 
one do not countervails the sharpnesse and pricking of 
the other." Now, Gerarde was the most enlightened 
gardener of Queen Elizabeth's time, aud his hostile 
opinion is echoed by the still more famous John 
Parkinson, who followed him. And yet field mush- 
rooms must have been as good and wholesome a dish 
then as they are now.— Pall Mall Budget. 
♦ 
LOWCOUNTRY PLANTING REPORT. 
Hapitigam Korale, 1st Sept. 1887. 
Since May our rainfall has been rather scanty 
till within the past week, during which there has 
been a daily increasing fall, and for the last two 
days it has been almost continuous. From the 
first week in July to the second week in August 
was rainless, then we had a few days of light 
partial showers, followed by ten dry days, and the 
present spell, which, if the fall has maintained 
the usual proportion in Kadugannawa and Dolos- 
bage, must bring the river down in flood very soon. 
One of the effects of the long drought in the 
early part of the season now appears not only in 
the smallness of the nuts lately gathered but in 
the thinness of the kernels, which tells sadly on 
the outturn of copra, in taking from 200 tc BOO 
more nuts to the candy than usual, and as this 
happens when the price of copra is low, it must 
tell seriously on the income of proprietors. Prices 
are always at the lowest about this time of the 
year, on account of the large supply; the June 
and July gathering being about one-third of the 
whole crop of the year. It is a pity that coconuts 
cannot be safely kept in the husk for more than 
from three to four months, and though copra, 
if properly dried and carefully stored, will keep 
for any length of time required, it continues to 
lose weight, and buyers have not the habit of dis- 
criminating quality and paying accordingly, so that 
it is generally better to sell, while eight or ten 
per cent of the weight is eliminatable moisture, than 
to hold on for a rise. 
Since the break-up of the drought in April, the 
trees have been putting on fair average crops for 
next year, but the recent month of dry weather 
has caused the fall of showers of germs from the 
Juno and July iiowers. The present rains will, how- 
ever, lit those that remain and secure a fair pro- 
portion of nuts on the August flowers, so that, with 
the coming N.-E. monsoon rains, the trees will 
probably have as large a crop by the end of the 
year, as they can safely carry through the dry 
Beason, which let us hope will be shorter, or more 
frequently broken, than the last. 
There is a growing disposition in this district to 
spend a larger proportion than formerly, but the 
disposition to spend is far more apparent than 
the knowledge of how to do it to most advantage. 
I have not failed to tell some of my neighbours 
where they were going wrong, but they all know 
better than I do, what to do and how to do it. 
Wore I to describe the various operations I see 
carried on around me, I would thereby point out 
individuals and get into rows, as nobody that I 
know likes to have his doings ridiculed. I will 
thoreforo for the tenth time explain my own system 
as succinctly as possible. I reservo for a future 
occasion the first few years after planting, and 
tako it up at tho end of the fifth year, or later 
if the trees are not then sulliciently advancod. 
I require the trees I propose to deal with 
lo have at least two feet of clear stem, and a head 
of not less than twenty green leaves. On such 
a field I sow broadcast 1 cwt. of bonedust over 
tho whole surface of an an acre, and turn it into 
tho soil niamoty deep. If tho land is dirty, 1 
koep it in fallow for twelve months, wooding it 
once in one. or two months, according to too 
necessity. If it is already pretty clean, I allow 
pasture grasses to grow at once. The bonedust 
costs R13, the digging in from R5 to R8, and 
extra weeding RG, so that the outside expense is 
R27 per acre. At the end of three years I repeat 
the operation, at a cost in no case exceeding R20 
per acre. 
Bonedust is not a suitable manure for young 
plants, or weak or dwarfed trees of any age. A tree 
should be a strong well-grown plant, with a good 
head of leaf, in which case the phosphate will 
rapidly bring it into heavy bearing. If the tree 
has to be made up to the mark, and if the natural 
soil is not equal to the task in a reasonable time, 
the use of nitrogenous manure will help them for- 
ward to the point, when the phosphate can be used 
with advantage. 
Whatever manure may be applied to coconuts, 
it should in no case be put within four feet of 
the stem, in no case be buried in holes or trenches. 
It should be spread equally over the whole surface, 
and turned in, none of it deeper than six or seven 
inches. Though the roots run deep into the 
earth, it is essentially a surface-feeder, and any 
food presented to it should be placed where it is 
most easily available. — W. B. L. 
■ ■♦ 
Ceylon Coffee and Tea Crops. — We have had 
the advantage of a conversation with one of the best 
informed planters in Uva. He describes the season 
as perfect and the prospects of the coffee crop ex- 
cellent. Last season crop came only in patches ; 
this year it will be general. Weighing against this 
condition of things in Uva the large uprooting 
processes on the Kandy side of the mountain zone 
our friend at first inclined to a belief in a quarter of 
a million of cwt. for season 1887-88, but came down 
finally to 220,000 cwt. On the other hand, he has 
seen so many dry years (good for coffee but not 
for teu) follow each other, that he is not inclined 
to look for a tea crop beyond Mr. Rutherford's 
estimate of 22^ million lb. 
Arakene is the volatile alkaloid of the betel leaf. 
Is is the residue after evaporation of an ethereal 
solution colorless and of the odour of weak nieat- 
broth possessing a strongly alkaline reaction. It 
forms varnish-like salts with tartaric, citric, hydrio- 
dic aud salicylic acids, the salicylate having a tobacco- 
like smell. The hydroclorate gives with plantinic 
chloride a yellow, with gold chloride a light yellow, 
with mercuric chloride a white, and with tannin a 
whitish precipitate. The taste of the alkaloid and 
the salts is slightly acrid, and increases the secretion 
of saliva, slackens the pulse, aud has a purgative 
aotion. — Indian Agriculturist. 
The new tea route of the Canadian Pacific Rail- 
way Company, remarks the Montreal Trade Bulletin, 
has been productive of conditions in the market 
which were rather unexpected at the commence- 
ment of the season, owing to shipments of the 
new crop of Japan teas overlapping each other so 
quickly. One cargo has scarcely sufficient time to 
be worked off before another batch of consign- 
ments and purchases will be at hand, with advices 
of others on the way. The result of this has been 
to deprive those who ordered on their early teas 
of their usual profits, as the imports this season 
have come to hand with such rapidity that s'ocks 
have accumulated, and thus occasioned x desper- 
ately weak market. Quite a number of sale- of new 
season Japans have been reported, one lot of 500 
packages of good common being placed at 14c c i i. 
Montreal and several lots of medium to good medium 
at I •"> . c to 18c. An invoico of fine Japans was also 
reported at an average of 22}c. Choice lines are 
quoted at 27c to 800. It is stated that in all prob- 
ability importers will not go in so heavily (or early 
teas next ) ear. — Ilomt and Colonial Jtail, 
