March i, 1888.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
from tbe pocket of the estate proprietor. The 
verdict of the miner who had worked for love was 
taken to have settled the nutter once for all. 
The weather we are having, — well, asl don't want 
to be either irreverent or rebellious, I'll say nothing 
about it. Peppbboorn. 
♦ 
PLANTING REPORT FROM THE HILL 
COUNTRY OK CEYLON. 
THE DROUGHT AND ITS EFFECT ON TEA — DRYING UP OF 
STREAMS— JUNGLE ANL* PATANA FIRES— THE CHKRKY 
I OK HIGH ALTITUDES IN .PYLON. 
Nanuoya, Feb. 'Jth. 
There are no signs of the abatement of the drought. 
A blazing sun, shining through a cloudless atmos- 
phere and a strong desiccating wind are rapidly 
depriving the surface soil and the more delicate 
forms of vegetation of llifir moisture. But the 
( xceptional rainfall of the last quarter of the year 
so thoroughly soaked the subsoil into which the 
roots of the tea plant penetrate, that from the 
luxuriant expanse of Mariawatte upwards through 
tho Gampola and Nawalapitiya valleys Ambagam- 
uwa, Dikoya, Kotagaloya, and Dimbula, the plant 
looks fresh and flourishing. 01 course flushing 
has been ohecked and in many of the lower 
places entiiely stopped, as it will be everywhere 
if the drought continues. At this elevation, how- 
ever, (between 5,000 and O.OOOJ it is wonderful 
how the tea draws on the reserve moisture in 
the soil. The effect of the dry weather as yet, 
on the estato whence I write, has not been 
to reduce the daily pluckings to any extent when 
compared with the exceptionally large gatherings 
in January. With the drought has again appeared 
On the tender leaves a minute black insect which 
simulates black bug, but is really not a scale in- 
sect, but, I believe, an aphis. We have ceased to 
regard this dry weather visitant as of any con- 
sequence. Much more annoying is the tendency 
of many of the tea bushes to run into blossom 
and seed, and if all hands were not required for 
plucking und othi r work, the children would be put 
on to strip the trees ol the products which we do 
not want them to yield. Yesterday, as the moun- 
tains came successively in view, we looked anxiously 
for cloud, but there was scarcely a fleck on the 
clear sky. As we came opposite "the Peak" near 
llatton, a few small cloud-; appeared, but they only 
showed that as more and more of such aggregalions 
of moisture appear, we may expect rain. Last 
evening and again this morning, masses of haze 
lay over the region extending from Bogawan- 
taluwa to Dikoya, Maskeliya, and Ambagamuwa, 
but they were merely heat exhalations. In the 
train the heat of the blazing sun was modilied 
by tlu- strong breeze. By the time we reached 
Nanuoya at -1 p. m., however, the wind had 
abated and the heat (luring a couple of miles ride 
was intense, continuing, at an elevation of 5,800, 
up to half-past 5. The volume of the rivers has 
been much diminished, while small streams and 
pools have been almost or wholly diied up. Every 
feature of tho hills and mountains was distinctly 
visible, and I never betoro realized the number of 
divisions existing in tho enormoun mass which 
dominates over Dimbula and which we call " Great 
Western." A large sheet of rock seems to have 
soaled off n»-ar its summit recently, leaving a con- 
spicuous red surface exposed. Of course, a good 
deal eif patana burning is going on in this weather. 
We noticed a good deal of blackened surface in 
Ambagamuwa, contrasting with the rich green of 
the tea which lias so rapidly superseded worn-out 
coffee in that district, and \ utilities of smoke show 
that the Llk Plains are on lire. And the word 
fire remiods me that a companion in the trai" 
with whom I discussed the tea fuel question eaid 
he had heard from a gentleman hailing from the 
southern portion of the United States that there, 
groves of the common peach are planted for fire- 
wood, the tree coppicing readily. And this again 
suggests that the cherry, which grows so readily 
from cuttings in this region, might, with the peach, 
receive a trial. 
Snake-bite. — An interesting paper, by Mr. Daniel 
Morris, on the use of certain plants as alexiphar- 
mics, or snake-bite antidotes, has just been issued. 
Mr. Morris explains that his enumeration of the 
plants reputed to possess alexipharmic properties 
is offered without any expression of opinion as to 
their value. It is intended chiefly as an attempt 
to bring together for the first time a summary ol 
information about these plants, in order that in- 
quiry may be made to confirm or retute the 
popular opinion respecting them. " Opportunities," 
says Mr. Morris, " to test the action of these plants 
on a person actually bitten by a well-known poison- 
ous snake are seldom ottered to a competent 
investigator. But as material is being brought 
together which can be carefully tested by chemical 
and therapeutical investigations, the most prominent 
of these plants, such as species of Ariatolochia 
and Mihania, deserve very careful attention." — 
Nature, Jan. 12th. 
Coffee is still holding out well on the 
Tinnevelly side of the Travancore range, to judge 
by Mr. James Clark's experience. This gentleman 
iias just gathered a crop of 3,250 bushels from 
'210 acres — some of the coffee being 10 years old 
— and he had also the felicity to sell beforehand for 
1115 per bushel, delivery baing taken of all but 
800 bushels that came in after the date fixed ; 
for the latter Mr. Clark is offered on the coast 
B13£, but prefers shipping home. The sample is 
very good. Two years ago, Mr. Clark's coffee 
suffered much from leaf disease ; he allowed the 
weeds grow up over the coffee, then sick'ed down, 
thatching the soil, and his reward is in the pre- 
sent crop. The fungus is still visible in patcheB, 
and shade is being grown. Liberian coffee is also 
doing well in the neighbourhood : Mr. Knight 
clearing 20 per cent from a young field, the crop 
of which he has sold at ItoO per cwt. 
Coffee Deliveries. — The usual crop of 
complaints is springing up in connection with 
the delivery of coffee, now that the price has 
fallen. This is a grievance of periodical recur- 
rence, leading to much angry feeling betweeen 
planters and buyers and too often to a waste of 
money in legal proceedings. Cannot the Chamber 
of Commerce and the Planters' Association, by a 
joint Committee, once for all establish some rule 
aud indeed a Board of Arbitration for the amic- 
ablo settlement of disputes. Samples of what con- 
stitutes " merchantable coffee " in various degrees 
would have to be kept for reference. In one case 
before us, we aro told that the second consignment 
of coffoo is refused as " unmerchantable " while 
tho first, taken from the same heap, was accepted. 
Last year, it will be remembered, a parcel of coffee 
rejected as " unmerchantable " in Colombo 
fetched tho highest price of the sales in Min- 
cing Lane ! The curious thiug is that rejection 
ol coffee is never heard of when prices arc rising, 
but rather the planter is sometimes threatened 
if he do not deliver all he has. Of course, there 
aro buyers who probably seldom or never have 
disputed. But certainly a good many coffee planters 
believe that tho term " merchantable coffee " is 
regulated by tho rise or (all of prices in Mincing 
Lane, 
