May i, 1888.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
767 
paying cnoe for all the price of the land selected, he 
becomes exempt from the Collec or's call. It ne;d 
hence excite no wonder that British North Borneo lias 
proved a powerful magnet in drawing aw.iy people 
from Netherlands India, 
Tho Sourabaya •' Courant" lays stress on the circum- 
stance that the Chinese element has latterly been in- 
creasing in Java, to an undesirable extent. Of late, 
swarms of immigrants from the Celestial Umpire have 
settled down in Java. Many of them ply ttie calling 
of hawkers, and as such find their way into the inte- 
rior more and moro. Thoir presence in the interior 
will not lead to disturbance, butthoy are likely to do 
harm when the Java-born Chinese combiuo with them. 
The newcomers settle down in the inland districts, 
usually without asking leavo of the officials. When 
they once effect a lodgment in any place, the natives 
s )OD tool tho evil cousequeucos. Their weak points 
soon bocome manifest to their Oelestinl neighbours 
who do not fail to profit by the kuovvlcge. Their 
vices are artfully encouiagod and turned to account 
in the direction oi usury, opium smoking, and gam- 
lliug. The Ohiuese, when a footing has been gained 
inland owing to the heedlessness of tho authorities, 
soon develop their (lowers of mischief. They always 
manage to t ike an ell when given an inch. 
CEYLON UPCOUNTRY PLANTING REPORT. 
10th April, 1888. 
GENERAL RAIN AND GENERAL ACTIVITY — COOLIES, AD- 
VANCES AND DEBT — TOBACCO — CACAO AND DROUGHT. 
Now that the rains have been general, and of a 
liberal nature, the enforced inactivity which the 
lato dry weather rendered necessary has come to 
an end. The cry everywhere is for coolies to keep 
up with the rush of flush, and as is usual when a 
squeeze comes, there is a good deal of wild talk 
regarding advances. I heard of one man who wrote 
to his agents in Colombo to sanction R20 a head, 
and got the sanction ! It is to be hoped that there 
are not many who will follow this foolish example. 
If 111011 on the ground are to be subsidized in this 
way, we will never have coolies enough do what 
wo like. It certainly won't be their interest to import 
labour, and if theyaro to do so, what kind of coast 
advances Would satisfy ? Ramasami dearly loves 
to be in debt, but this weakness of his should not 
be fostered overmuch, if we are to have the full 
labour supply which the tea enterprise demands. 
Tlio big tobacco Company is felling 100 acres 
in Kuruncgala for tho cultivation of that plant. 
Other clearings are being openod, and thero should 
be. a demand very Boon for a Tobacco Manual, 
ludeod the demand is on now, for several men 
liavu been importing scod from the best centres, 
and they aro feeling about for information. Every- 
one 6oems wiser than his neighbour, and if you 
got a wrinkle it is given, and expected to be 
received with bated breath.* The tobacco manual 
would bo suro to find a good many readers, and 
put a stop to this excitiug stylo of communication. 
There is abroad a sort of undercurrent of belief 
that to go into tobacco is the next thing to 
having a fortuuo left you, and when a man tells 
}ou uny thing about it, ho places you at a dis- 
advantage, and expects to see lovely gratitude on 
your part. 
The manner in which CACAO has Blood tho lato 
drought, is the admiration of all who have taken 
an interest in it. I suppose the trees boing° older 
and tho roots deeper may bo part of tho reason, for 
whereas the hardy toa has had a bad timo*, tho 
cacao has had a very good 0110. And now that the 
rain has como, tho halfuls of blossom which are 
chutoring on stem and branch aro full of promise. 
This alone was wanting to make the ideal cacao tree 
complete. If the b'03S0tn should set well, and the 
weather is certainly favourable for this, there should 
be a fair crop to be gathered, albeit it will be two 
months late. Although the drought did not seem to 
affect the full-grown tree except in a favourable 
way, the supplies which wero coming up have been 
rather tried by it. A considerable percentage of 
those have died. How constantly supplying is 
wanted in cacao, is known best to those who cultivate 
much of it. Only when you do get it thoroughly 
established there is then, with any kind of decent 
care, a promiso of long life and prosperity. 
Peppercorn. 
* S-o nr. immense ".mount of information in the T, 
volume.- ISd. 
PLANTING REPORTS FROM THE HILL 
COUNTRY OP CEYLON. • 
THE WEATHER AND RAINFALL — A KUtE "STICK INSECT." 
Nanooya, April 16th. 
When I wrote to you on Friday the 13lh, the 
heavy rain of that day led me to believe thai 
" the little monsoon " was fully upon us. This 
I still believe, although after the 70 cents of rain 
on Friday there came an interval of line weather, 
Saturday the 14th and Sunday the 1.1th were types 
of glorious summer days "at home." Today also 
rose fine and continued bright until about 2 p.m. 
The thunder which then commenced and tho 
smart shower of rain which then fell, did not 
surprise us in view of the oppressive and sultry 
heat which previously prevailed. We shall see 
tomorrow morning what the record of the 24 
hours .will be. As yet for the 3J months of this 
year ended yesterday, our total rainfall has been 
only 0'07 inches, as per enclosed memorandum. 
Largely, no doubt, owing to tho thorough satur- 
ation of the soil in the last quarter of 1887, tho 
tea, and I may add all other cultivated p'aits, 
are llushingsplendidly. All looks beautiful and fresh. 
Rainfall at Upper Abdots*oi»d : — 
Average for 5 years. 
IApkil-05 Jan.... -18 ... Jan... ... 2 69 
5 .. -01 Feb.. -12 .. Feb... .. 2 45 
0 ... '01 Mar... 313 ... Mar... .. 327 
7 ... -01 April P32 ... <• 
10 ... -43 8 41 
12 ... -05 476 
13 ... 76 April (whole 
month}... mi 4 73 
up: 132 
Today I have come upo-i " a Htick insect " such 
as I nevei saw before. It has no legs, like the 
mantis about which I recently wrote, unless what 
looks like a nodulo in tho middle of what seems 
a bit of twig about 8 inches long, contains tho 
rudiments of legs, or sorves some purpose of locomo- 
tion. Tho mouth of this anomalous creature re- 
sembles oxactly undeveloped buds. Tho opposite 
extremity is blunt. Put what has surprised me 
most is that this species or Variety of mantis (?) 
seems to be provided with a tpinneret and ablo to 
let itself down by a long thread like a spider. 
When the creature appeared at tho end of a thread 
suspended from the bough of a tree, I never doubted 
it was a broken bit of twig which had got en- 
tangled in tho thread of a true spider. But 
when the throad got caught by a bunch of flowers 
in my hand the supposed twig hauled itself rapidly 
up by the cable and fixed itself to tho leaves, on 
which it actively usod its strango mouth. Tho 
imitation of a bit of dried twig is perfect. But 
will any outomologieal roader tell mo if the pro- 
vision of a spinnoret is woll known iu the case of 
ihu mauiis tribe? 
