THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1888] 
WHAT IS AN INDIGENOUS TEA PLANT. 
The question " What is an Indigenous Tea. Plant"?" 
has been well handled by " Cachari " in the June 
number (page 817) of your Tropical Agriculturist. 
[Article taken over from Indian Planters' Gazetted] He 
holds that an "Indigenous" and a " China " are the same 
plant, — no doubt botanically they are,— but so is any 
camellia : — but I may be in error ? The difference is 
by no means confined to color of leaf. "What in fact 
drew my attention to dark-leaved indigenous was the 
form of the leaf being much more round instead of 
lance-shaped like the ordinary Singlo, and the depth of 
the corrugations, forming separate cup-like compart- 
ments on the under side of the leaf. 
When I was tea planting up there in Cachar 10 years 
ago, a Naga brought me from his hills among other speci- 
mens a branch of this which I at once ' spotted ' as 
most lifcly to turn out well if trained by cultivation in 
Ceylon. 
"Cachari" is certainly in error when he uses the 
expression ' dark-leaved ' as synonymous with ' small- 
leaved'.' As a matter of fact (and as yon saw and com- 
mented on in your T. A., Vol. VI., No 9, last year), the 
large foot-long leaves I sent you were perhaps the 
darkest green to be found in vegetation ; while, far 
from being brittle, they ' roll ' as well as the delicate — 
too delicate — Singlo. As to 'dark-leaved' being a 
hybrid as ' Cachari ' supposes, its size alone militates 
against this idea. Another friend of mine up there a 
Kuki ("Cachari" hit very closely the source of origin 
when he says Upper Barmah) brought me some light- 
colored, the If aves of which were as long and narrow 
as bamboo leaves ; this, I have found when planted 
in Ceylon to be a splendid flusher, and I am now engaged 
trying to get a c oss between it and my ' dark -leaved ' 
(instead of Singlo). I was all ready for a big expedition 
to risk 'jumping' theBurman frontier, and clearing out 
down the Irrawaddy with a lot of this seed, wheu my 
health, as you know, collapsed so suddenly. However, 
my little game up there was not altogether a fiasco. 
By-the-bye "Missing Friends": — I wonrier what has 
become of "Doodputlee" Weir; — " Heroucherra" 
Kennedy, and the Noads who were related to the old 
Ceylon surveyor ? 
"Cachari" again is prefectly orthodox as regards 
plants grown in the jungle shade. Ail abrupt change 
of habitat is trying to any organism, but by the ordin- 
ary law of survival, and a gradual training, (tending 
always to a hardening development), in the nurseries, — 
after one remove I find they hold their own very fairly 
as plants with lower jilts in the full open. None of my 
growths here are under shade. I say as plants ; be- 
cause my experience of seed is that it, the higher jat 
it is, always has a decidedly greater tendency to ' go 
off ' in retention of vitality compared to the commoner 
sorts. Also, that if in the capsule on the tree there are 
three seeds, two only at the outside are worth anything. 
If there are five ( I often have this lusus here) only 
three will germinate, though the wh.o\e Jive may look good. 
As to what " Cachari " remarks about isolation for a 
seed-bearing estate, that is gospel and holds good 
with any flowering plant. Here, in the Katnapura dis- 
trict, I arn as yet fortunately 10 miles away from what 
" Cachari " styles " all possible chance of contamination 
from other plants." In practice I find that " Cachari's " 
method of alternate rows of 'light and dark' is 
excessive. My plan is to lay out the estate in ' cadre' 
or iL-mies each ono square chain of 'light,' surrounded 
by a border of 'dark,' — which is equivalent to one row 
dark to ten rows light. This gives me just the amount 
of crossing I desire. Friends have somtimes criticised 
this way of mine as expensive lining work, but I find 
that it comeR cheap in the long run, checking weeding, 
fcc. (10 squares to the acre) ; and even in'the new clear- 
ing as a check on holers, peg contractors, and liners; 
besides obviating the after-necessity for any profession- 
al 'leaded survey. Time and a ' prismatic ' are only 
required. 
Respecting "Cachari's" manuring for seed crop, I 
for my part don't approve of any forcing of seed bear- 
ers whatever; on the contrary I thin off , and as regards 
cropping need bearers for leaf : as he says, that cer- 
tainly would be madness. Topping overgrown trees is 
a different thing ; but I would recommend planters to 
treat lateral branches with the same sacred respect we 
showed to the coffee " Ta-vath " in the days of our 
youth under the nurture and admonition of our P.D .'s ; 
and to carefully study " Cachari's " three conclusions, 
especially No 2. \f.; G. >S. 
♦ 
RUBBER PROSPECTS IN Mu. KINGDON'S 
MADAGASCAR CONCESSION. 
Mr. Abraham Kingdon, who is well known to many 
of our readers as the original proprietor of this Journal, 
has, of late, been turning his attention to Madagascar, 
a country in which he was formerly for some time a 
resident, and with whirm he has continued to maintain 
business relations. His recent visits to the island have 
resulted in the concession to him (on certain defined 
terms) of the right to cut and export timber, and to 
collect and export gums and India-rubber from a district 
of 1,600 square miles in the North East of Madagascar. 
The rich virgin forest is intersected by navigable water- 
ways, and a lucrative trade in a great variety of 
valuable woods, and several other commercial 
products will, no doubt, be realised by the company 
which Mr. Kingdon is now formiug. 
It is, of course, chiefly as a probable addition to the 
sources of rubber supply that we are interested in the 
concession reffered to. It is chiefly from the north- 
eastern district of the island that the best Madagascar 
rubber, that known as "pinky," and which fetches 
nearly as good a price as " Para," is obtained. By 
improving the methods of collection and adopting 
modern appliances (as the company undoubtedly will 
do) a reallv superior article will unquestionably be 
obtained. Mr. Thomas Christy says of the Madagas- 
car rubber, in reply to a letter from Mr. Kingdon : 
" If the India-rubber were collected in cans, as it is 
now in Brazil, and then placed in larger cans, and 
afterwards poured into water, so as to exclude all ex- 
traneous matter, we think that it would fetch a very 
high price." The Iudia-rubber vines abouud in un- 
limited quantities all over the conceded district, and it 
seems that the natives of the North-Eastern Mada- 
gascar understand how to treat the juice with acid, 
and prepare it for market. But the quantities hitherto 
produced by the natives, are of course, as nothing 
compared to what may be procured by proper organis- 
ation and superintendence,, There are caoutchouc 
plants of the Landolphia; species near the West Coast 
of Madagascar, but in the north-east districts the 
caoutchouc is obtained from three varieties of climbing 
plants (Vahecc) belonging to the family of Apocyneie. 
These climbers yield a really excellent rubber. We 
have no doubt that Mr. Kingdon will reap the reward 
he well merits for his recent long journeys and arduous 
exertions. In spite of the recent troubled state of the 
island, he has managed to overcome obstacles that 
would have daunted most men, and those who are 
now coming forward to aid in working the concession 
will share in the results of his energy and enterprise. 
For augmenting the sources of rubber supply, in the 
manner we anticipate, the thanks of the rubber w uld will 
be justly his due. — Indiaruhber and Guttapercha Journal . 
Ships Sheathed with Celluloid — Among the 
various uses of celluloid, it would appear (according to 
the Annates Industrielles) to be a suitable sheathing for 
ships, in place of copper. A French compauy now 
undertakes to supply the substance for this at nine 
francs per surface-metre and per milimetre of thickness . 
In experiments by M. Butaine, plates of celluloid 
applied to various vessels in January last were removed 
five or six months after, and found quite intact an d 
free from marine vegetation, which was abundant on 
parts uncovered. The colour of the substance is indes - 
tructible ; the thickness may be reduced to OU00 3 
metre ; and the qualities of elasticity, solidity, imperme- 
ability, resistance to chemical action, &o., are all in 
favour of this use of celluloid. — Indiambuer and 
Guttapereha Journal. 
