444 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. IJanuary i, 1889. 
black or green bug and leaf disease are unknown ; 
again more shade means more variety and less chance 
of attacks from epidemic diseases, or the advent of 
such as the green bug. The question, however, I have 
run away from : it is asked if you think it will 
disappear ? I think judging from the black bug, and 
we can have no better analogy, that green bug will 
disappear in the near future, and that every planter 
■who can afford to feed his coffee with manure and 
bide his time, should do so — it is what we are doing 
for our Company, and I am glad to say that, where, 
on one estate in Dimbula, we had green bug on 110 
acres of coffee, it cannot be found now. 
" If the above remarks are of any use in helping you 
to form a conclusion and assist Mr. , I shall be 
glad ; I am far too busy to write anything more deeply 
on the subject just now. I used to hear much about 
the poor soil in Oeylon, but I find that a large area had 
very rich soil and bore successive crops of coffee un- 
equalled even by the Ouchterlony Valley." 
We leave the above variety of opinions from 
planters of much experience and generally resident 
in different districts to the consideration of our 
readers. We have certainly heard from more than 
one quarter of green bug killing coffee trees, but 
these trees had undoubtedly been previously debi- 
litated by the leaf fungus. Scale insects are 
well known to be amongst the greatest enemies of 
horticulturists and planters, and they sometimes kill 
individual trees, but there is no instance within 
our knowledge of a great industry being destroyed 
by them. We cannot venture to prophesy, but 
we have every hope that those who possess really 
good coffee can successfully fight green bug if 
Hemileia vastatrix abates its virulence. Just as we 
are writing, there comes a letter from the Chair- 
man of the Haputale Planters' Association an- 
nouncing the appearance in that district of what 
appears to be, apparently, a new tiny moth which 
spreads over the coffee in millions. Mr. Westland 
hazards the suggestion that they may be feeding 
on the bug j and we have referred his letter and the 
speoimens he has sent to Mr. Green. The result of 
the latter's inspection will be awaited with interest. 
Meantime, it will be a pity if Mr. John Hughes should 
not have the opportunity, while amongst us, of seeing 
Mr. Vollar's fine sheet of young coffee on Palla- 
kelly and some of the well-maintained coffee fields 
in Udapussellawa, Agrapatana or Dikoya. It seems 
to us, indeed, that there is room for a small 
committee of inquiry as to the likelihood of coffee 
grown from Mysore seed at a moderate elevation 
and under shade resisting the leaf fungus and 
green bug as in the case of the Dumbara fields, and 
the Coorg and Mysore estates which are positively in- 
creasing their exports. [The climate of the 
Mysore coffee districts resembles that of Uva in 
being for a large portion of the year rainless : 
droughty, indeed. Such climate seems to indicate 
benefit from shade.] There are capitalists in- 
terested in Ceylon who would probably take such 
a Committee's Report, if favorable, as a strong 
inducement to invest in coffee on carefully selected 
blocks of chena, if not forest, land under, 3,000 or 
2,000 feet elevation. 
♦ 
THE TEA TRADE OF JAPAN. 
Conhulaii Report FOR 1888. 
(Prom the Japan Weekly Mail, Nov. 3rd.) 
The export figures for the port of Yokohama for 
tea show a slight fallibg-olf as compared with 1886 
both ID qunntity and value, being 2G,5f)7,61G lb valued 
at £732,:;:. agaibrt 27,836,9251b valued at £829,538 
in L886, being a decrease of 1,270,309 lb and £97,J20. 
The trade was an unsatisfactory ono to exporters, 
as they had not only a somewhat inferior crop to 
handle, owing to the weather during tbo growth of 
the leaf not being so favourable as in the preceding 
year, but a considerable portion of the previous year'9 
supply remained over on the American and Canadian 
markets, and as a consequence, the new leaf did not 
meet with the demand anticipated by some buyers. 
This reacting upon the Japan market caustd dulness 
and lower offers for what remained of the crop here, 
but the Japanese dealers kept prices up, and shipped 
a considerable quantity of tea on their own account, 
forming several companies for the purpose. These 
shipments, Having no legitimate outlet, and being 
thrown upon the markets from unaccustomed chan- 
nels, were recklessly sold in the central markets of 
New York and Chicago, and, as they served to in- 
crease the previous excessive supply, they produced a 
depression and low range of prices such as had never 
befoie been experienced in the United States and 
Canada. 
The crop was a large one, and of fair average qua- 
lity, and prices during the entire season, though un- 
usually even, ruled slightly higher than the previous 
year, though the general tendency for a series of 
years has been to lower rates owing to steady in- 
crease in production, which has been greater than the 
increase in demand for consumption. The decline in 
silver has bad the effect of maintaining prices at 
higher rates than would otherwise have been the case, 
and the business evidently continues to be remune- 
rative to the producer. 
A noteworthy feature of the year, as regards the 
effect on the British carrying trade in tea, was the 
falling off in shipments by the Suez route, the greater 
portion of tbis decrease amounting to about 4,000,000 lb 
(or say (5,000 tons of 40 cubic feet measurement), 
being carried across the Pacific Ocean by steamers 
runniug in connection with the Canadian Pacific 
Railroad. 
«. 
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN JAPAN. 
The following is a translation of Mr. van 
Romunde's report, dated Tirtasari, 10th October 1888, 
on the Government Cinhona enterprise in Java for 
the third quarter of 1888 : — 
During the past quarter the weather continued 
pretty dry. At the beginning of August and the 
end of September some showers fell, which did much 
good to the young plantings and especially to the 
nurseries. On the whole the plantations continued to 
grow well, thanks especially to the thorough working 
of the soil during the east monsoon, with the 
exception however of a large portion of the graft 
plantations at Tirtasari, which were badly affected 
by caterpillars. In the past quarter about 250,000 
half-kilograms of bark were dispatched. The crop of 
1888 therefore so far amounts to some 500,000 pounds 
of bark, of which by the end of September 405,303 
pounds had been dispatched to Batavia. On 7th June, 
17th July and 30th August sales of cinchona bark were 
held in Amsterdam. The prices obtained at these were 
very encouraging as regards ledgeriana and officinalis 
barks. Pharmaceutical barks of good appearance and 
desired form also realized satisfactory prices, whilst a 
strorg downward tendency is to be marked in the price 
of inferior varieties of cinchona, especially of those 
barks which are not distinguished by a handsome 
appearance. During the quarter three of David- 
son's T Siroccos were erected at Tjinjiroean and 
Tjibeureum, which, on accouut of the plentiful 
harvest, were at once set agoing. During the course 
of October similar drying apparatus will begin 
working at Tjibitoeng, Rioenggoeuoeng and Kawah 
Tjiwidei. At the same time at Lembang a drying 
furnace of simple construe on will be built, so that 
now on all the establishments harvesting can be pro- 
ceeded with uninterruptedly independent of the stae 
of the weather. At Tirtasari caterpillars ma'e a rc 
newed attack upon the ledgeriana gralt plantations 
and did considerable damage there. Tho plague was 
ohecked as far as possible by the catching of the 
insects. It is specially the older plantations, where 
the catching of the insect is well-nigh impossible, 
j that suffered most from the plague. The damage 
