THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1888. 
But as the oil and water can only be said to mix 
mechanically, it is likely to follow, when the mixture 
is poured round the plant in a circle, that the water 
will gradually filter into the soil, leaving the oil 
globules more or less on the surface. As the white 
ant works down to six or eight inches below the 
surface, very often, it is doubtful whether this will 
answer as well as it is expected to. Information 
on this subject from those who have tried it may 
be of value. 
A very good thing is found to be phenyle ; a tar 
product which has the quality of being thoroughly 
soluble in water, and is a reliable insecticide. It 
can be mixed safely in a hundred parts of water, 
and applied at the rate of about three oz. to the 
plant. Its cost is about six rupees per gallon, and 
the cost of application per acre including phenyle 
may be said to be about 50 cents. 
The poonac of the " kekuna " seed is another cheap 
remedy; and it is plentiful in the villages. Its odour 
is strikingly offensive; and wbitt -ants keep clear of it.* 
The saw dust of jak wood, mixed with the soil, 
round about the roots, has also been known 
to protect the plant; but with all these appliances 
one has to watch the plantation for the first two 
years with the closest attention and care. 
The next important question is the one regarding 
shade. Now, although cacao can only be grown here 
successfully under shade, yet there is a period up 
to which it is found best to grow it in the open. 
They not only grow quicker ; but with sunshine and 
light they grow more robust. There are times, how- 
ever, during long droughts, early in the year especially, 
just after the N. E. monsoon rains have passed away, 
when one feels anxious. But it is worthy of notice 
that at " Ukuwele " my plants in the open survived 
the last drought without trouble, while plants near 
about trees that had been spared in the clearing 
needed all the attention we could give, to save them. 
The explanation may be that large trees absorb 
so much moisture themselves, that the little plants 
suffer more under them and near their roots, 
than elsewhere, from drought alone. But where there 
is dense shade from trees, all over a plantation, this 
is not the case ; as the thick carpet or covering of 
decaying and fallen leaves preserves the moisture in 
the ground, while the exclusion of sunshine checks 
its rapid evaporation. But under dense shade, little 
plants take a very long time to attain maturity, 
and then they are attenuated and spindly in habit. 
It is therefore best to clear your ground entirely, 
and after planting your cacao, to plant your shade. 
A tree we all know to be used in the West Indies for 
thispurpose is the Erythrina umbrosaox "Immortelle." 
But we have our Ceylon variety; the Erythrina 
indica, or " Erabadu," which is at our doors, and seed 
of which the village boys will collect for you for a 
few cents. . This I found to grow at " Ukuwele " quite 
nine feet in one year, at some places. Dr. Trimen 
strongly recommended me this variety, when first 
the question of shade was being discussed. The 
Erythrina lithrosperma or "dadap" is also said to be 
a very useful variety, and seed of it can now be 
obtained in Oeylon. But I must not omit to notice 
a referenoe to this variety by the editor of the 
Tropical Agriculturist in Mav 1885 :—" Nothing which 
I saw of the ' dadap ' in Java impressed me favor- 
ably — quite the reverse indeed— and when I was in 
the Dutch Island at the latter end of 1881, the planters 
had transferred their love for it as a shade tree to 
the luxuriant but brittle Albizzia moluccana." 
In the meantime, at distances of say about 36 feet 
apart, where we plant cocoa 12 feet apart, it will 
be found convenient to put in jak for shade. There 
are many advocates in this and other districts who 
stand by the jak; although there are some who do 
not like it. In 1881, Mr. John Drummond, writing 
* Mr. Barber has told us in conversation recently 
that this is by far the best remedy. The Kekuna is 
a tree with beautiful silvery leaves cultivated near 
native houses for the sake of the oil-yielding nuts. 
Thwaites gave its botanical uame as Oanarium Zoyla- 
meum — Eu. 
from Gang warily, slid : 'I find th-) jak tree answer 
capitally." And many other cocoa cultivators, including 
Mr. Ross of Kawudupelelle, have proved it a fact. We 
have also recently introduced into Ceylon the Albizzia 
moluccana. And I planted it in Ukuwele last year 
among my cacao. But this year when I went there to 
supply my last year's failures, I found that the 
moluccana had taken entire possession of the field, 
and was master of the situation. The cocoa holes 
in its neighbourhood, to an appreciable distance, were 
so completely filled with its roots, that the new 
plants of this year would not have had a chance, 
while those of last year, close by, appeared to be 
languishing and holding back ; so the edict went 
forth, and they were all ruthlessly cut down, to 
make room for the generous shade of the Mud re de 
cacao — Erythrina— a> foster mother truly, under whose 
spreading arms cacao flourishes best. 
I have been asked what I thought of the plantain 
(Musa Sapientum) as a shade, in the early years 
of cacao- The banana, we are told, is used for this 
purpose in the West Indies; and in Ceylon, in one 
or two places, the plantain has been tried with ad- 
vantage to the cacao. But where there is other shade, 
that can be quickly grown, I would not employ the 
plantain. The one argument that is advanced in its 
favor is that it is not a profitless cultivation; inas- 
much as its fruit may bring in returns for a couple 
of years. But against this there is, per contra in 
your account, the exhaustion of good soil which 
should be saved on your estate, as much as possible, 
for the product that is going to be a permanence ; 
and which, when it is fifty years old, may be said 
to be still in its prime. Besides, when after a few 
crops of plantain, you decide on rooting the bushes 
up, and set about it, you will find tbe cost a far 
heavier item than you reckoned at first, as the bulbs 
will keep growing for ever if you do not get rid of 
every particle. 
It has been pointed out that the plantain fibre 
may have a sufficient market.value to justify looking 
more closely into the question. 
1 have considered this matter too, and fear it does 
not offer a sufficient inducement just now j unless 
indeed a paper mill is started in Coylon. 
The fibre industry has had some attention paid 
to it in the West Indies; and it was found that the 
plantain yielded in one p'ace 1'81 per cent, and at 
another 2 25 per cent of fibre on the gross weight ; 
and the fibre may be said to be worth about £15 
per ton. There is a plantain (Musa textdi) out of 
which the manilla hemp is obtained, which is worth 
about £40 per ton. Regarding the plantain being 
used for paper making, Dr. King, Superintendent of 
the Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta, says : "I have 
ascertained by reference to a large English paper- 
maker that if it can be delivered cheap enough, 
fibre would be readily bought for paper making." 
(Kew Bulletin, April 1887.) 
But we need not wait to inquire into this question 
further just now. The plantain, suffice it to say, is 
not only known to exhaust the soil, but I have 
heard from a high authority that its roots leave 
in the soil certain acrid matter, positively injurious 
to vegetation. 
So while we copy the example of the West India 
planters in some matters, it may be well for us to 
exercise our own judgment in others, and to be guided 
by that best of masters, one's own dearly-Bought 
experience. 
I must leave the subject here for the present, as 
the paper has been, I fear, longer than I intended 
it at first. 
RUSSIAN AND AMERICAN PETROLEUM. 
[Petroleum is becoming an article of so much 
importance in our market as a light-yielding 
material and a probable source of fuel, that we 
think it right to lay before our readers the follow- 
ing extract from a very elaborate paper on the 
substance as exported from the United States and 
ussia respectively.— Ed.] 
