July 2, 1888.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
5 
bag to one gun of which 1 have heard, in my seven- 
teen years' experience of the Island, was made by a 
well-known sportsman in the Civil Service, who got 110 
couple to his own gun in a day. This was some seven 
or eight years ago. The whole of the Western Pro- 
vince is very good. On the sea side and all the way 
down to Galle are many first-rate snipe grounds; and 
in the Saffragam district of the Western Province the 
shooting is perfect. 
The snipe-shooting in the Jaffna Peninsula is per- 
haps the worst in the island. Some ten years ago I 
was stationed there with two other brother civilians, 
and we used to be very energetic in pursuit of snipe and 
partridge. We thought three brace of partridges and 
perhaps two and-a-half couple of snipe a capital day's 
sport ; and, if to this very modest little bag a hare was 
added, we were really proud of our day's work. The par- 
tridges were found in bushes, very thorny and difficult 
to push through, so much so that we inaugurated the 
wearing of leggings after the English pattern, as well 
as we could get a native shoemaker to turn them 
out for us. In going through these bushes, the 
ground being as hard and dry as a hot brick, an 
occasional snipe would spring up, We used to wonder 
what the birds could be doiDg there, in a place where 
there was not a vestige of feeding ground, and still 
more we marvelled that they were always in first-rate 
condition. We need not have looked far for the cause, 
though at the time none of us hit upon it. The snipe, 
no doubt, feed on the ooze of the lagoons all night, 
and took refuge iu the bushes from the sun's rays 
during the day. We frequently shot a few couple of 
snipe out of the bushes growing on the ooze itself, 
and on one occasion a friend and I came upon several 
jack snipe, and we bagged four. 
This was a very remarkable thing for Oeylon. There 
had long been a doubt among naturalists whether the 
veritable jack was to be found in the island. Cap. 
tain Legge, the well-known ornithologist, who had 
seen many spurious specimens of so called jicks which 
had seen sent to him, was of opinion that there was no 
such bird in Ceylon. However, the question was put 
at rest by our sending our jacks both to Captain Legge 
and to a professional naturalist, by whom the birds were 
clearly identified. 
These are the only jacks I have seen in seventeen 
years' shooting in the island, and I have never met 
with any one else who has ever seen one, except my 
friend above referred to. 
Painted snipe are very common in many parts of 
Ceylon. 
They are very handsome birds, but owiog to their 
lazy flight and poor flavour when brought to table are 
not held in great estimation ; indeed, where the real 
snipe are plentiful, a " painter " is often allowed to 
go away whithout a shot. 
Thero are two birds known as painted snipe, which 
are nearly always met with together, and which differ 
very much in appearance. One, the larger— a bird 
weighing between 6 and 7 ozs. — is most beautiful. It 
has a large, round, dark eye, exactly like a woodcock's 
and a fine chocolate-coloured head ; a broad white 
collar round the neck, its back and wings are of a 
magnificent green colour, of different shades, while the 
pen feathers of the wing are marked with round spots 
of gold. 
The smaller bird is marked all over the back and 
wings with round golden spots. 
It is commonly supposed that these two are cock 
nnd hen, the bigger bird being the cock ; but last 
season I found an egg in the larger bird, clearly proving 
its sex. 
It may be that the two birds are entirely different 
species ; this a question for a naturalist. 
The weight of the ordinary snipe is very much the 
same as that of the honv bird. They get very fat 
towards the end >f the s. joon, about April ; and I have 
known them to weigh a full b' ozs., but from 4 to 4A ozs. 
is the usual weight of a bird in good condition. Tnat 
Sllipe visit Oeylon in less plentiful numbers every suc- 
ceeding season has been constantly rcmirked, ami is 
undoubtedly true. Grounds which, twolvo years ago, 
would iu December yield any quantity of birds are now 
considered scarcely worih beating. The large bags 
which were made in the old days, even with the muzzle- 
loader, are very seldom reached nowadays. It is 
almost impossible now to find a ground where, in a fair 
day's shooting, a good and quick shot can fire a hundred 
cartridges at snipe, to say nothing of bagging a hundred 
birds. Thirty couple is a very good bag now for one 
gun, and he who can make it, must be far and away 
beyond the average shot, unless, indeed, he has the 
luck to find some entirely undisturbed ground where 
the birds are very plentiful. But twelve years ago 
thirty couple would have been thought nothing more 
than moderate sport. 
No doubt this decrease year by year is owing to the 
improvements in guns and ammunition, and the increas- 
ing number of shooters all over the world ; but it is 
consoling to reflect that the snipe supply is still so 
abundant that there is no danger, at any rate in our 
time, of our failing to have annually a large number of 
these much appreciated birds in the fields of Oeylon. 
J. E. S. 
♦ 
LIBEKIAN COFFEE. 
Mr. F. O. Maxwell writes to the Sarawak Gazette 
under date Kuching, 25th April : — 
As the planting of Liberian Coffee is spreading rapidly 
in this district, I have requested the Manager of the 
Matang Coffee Estate to give me some information as 
to the precautions to be taken in planting out young 
seedliugs, and so enable me to assist the many native 
gardeners here with advice. This cultivation is _ not 
confined to Kuching but is spreading at the outsta'iuns, 
and I therefore enclose you the Manager's letter aud 
would ask you to insert it in your paper for the infor- 
mation of Officers there. The rules to be observed are 
few and simple, but such as they are, they are of vital 
importance, and neglect of them means failure: — 
After burning off the clearing, run a few small 
roads through the place, if practicable 3' wide with 
a back draiu of 1'. 
Lirdiiy.— Insert in a 6trong rope about 100 yards 
long a piece of colored cloth at intervals of 8 feet. 
When liuing put a man at eaoh end and a few 
men with small pegs about 2' long along the rope, 
to stick a peg in the ground exactly at each piece 
of cloth. When one line is pegged out, the men 
at each end measure 8' with a siick, and the line 
is again stretched for a new row and so on until 
the place is all pegged out at a distance of 8 ' by 8'. 
Holing. — It is not necessary to cut holes, Ibut 
preferable, as the plants thereby get a start ; holes 
1' square and 1' deep are ample, and any larger size 
is a waste of money. In soil free from stones a 
man should cut 80 in a day. Holes should be cut 
an inch or two below (or above) the pegs, so that there 
will be no need to move the pegs and perhaps get them 
out of line in replacing them. 
Filling in, — Keep the holes open as long as pos- 
sible, and if filled in by wash from rains all the 
better, but if not, men should fill them up (slightly 
heapeil) with the top soil around the holes and not 
put back the soil from the hole, which they generally 
try to do ; small pieces of charcoal mixed with the 
soil put into the hole is a good thing; a mau 
should fill in about 150 carefully. 
Plautiny. — If the plant is about the thickness of a 
peucil, cut off the top of it, leaving about 4 iuches 
of stem above the top lateral root. Iu 18 mouths' 
time they will have overtaken a plaut put iu with- 
out cutting, and have much stri n^er roots. All the 
roots should be carefully trimmed with a sharp 
knife, leaving the lateral roots about 1 inch long 
and the tap root about 1" to 8" according to the 
size of the root; it is of the utmost importauce to 
plaut the tap root str.ight down and not b^nd it, 
and also to be sure that u is completely r-urro iuded 
by soil, and no space left at the end of the root, 
where water can lodge. Pe careful that the plaut 
is not planted too deep ; the top lateral root should 
be about !j an inch under the soil, an 1 if eveutually 
exposed, iu this climate it will be a good thing, but 
u too deeply planted tresis no use uud will bu nickly. 
