THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May i, 1889. 
Manual of Indian Agriculture. — We have 
to acknowledge the receipt today of a copy of a 
volume just published by Messrs. Higgiubotham 
& Co. of Madras entitled " A Manual of Indian 
Agriculture" by that indefatigable compiler, Dr. 
John Shortt. From a glance at the volume, which 
covers some 320 pages with illustrations, we 
can see that it contains a good deal of useful 
information covering in some cases that taken 
up by our " All about" Manuals, but including 
besides indigo, date palm, plantains, castor oil, 
millets, arrowroot, vegetables, &c. 
Coffee Growing in England. — At the meet- 
ing of the Royal Botanic Society on March 9th, a 
branch of coffee, thickly set with ripe fruit, from 
a plant growing in the Society's conservatory, was 
shown. Dr. Prior mentioned as a curious fact that 
in parts of Abyssinia the fleshy outside husk only 
was eaten, the part we use being thrown away as 
worthless. [Dr. Prior is a veteran Botanist : we met 
him at a Linnasan Society-anniversary and talking 
about the palmyra palm, he felt some difficulty 
in identifying it unless we could give him the 
scientific name. On rolling out : " Borassus fiabel- 
liformis," he at once said, " oh yes, I know exactly 
what you mean !" — Ed.] 
Indian Tea Notes. — The weather has been warmer 
in Cachar. The days are becoming warmer in Dur- 
ruut?. On the 22nd South Sylhet had the first rain 
for 5 months. Seasonable weather is the news from 
Sylhet, Goalpara, Nowgoug, Sibsaugor and Luckimpore. 
Dehra Dun, 19th March. — We are having rather hot 
weather now for this time of year. The flush is com- 
ing on well. Muchekandy, 20th March.— Lushkerpore, 
South Sylhet.— Gardens are now beginning to suffer 
from drought. " Tipping " has not yet been com- 
menced and it is likely the season will- open later than 
last. Dehra Don, 18th March. — The weather is flue 
and warm, the bushes in the whole of the district are 
fnll of young leaf. Manufacturing will commence much 
earlier than last year, and we look for a bumper spring 
crop of a real good quality and a pretty tea. It is 
cloudy. If we get a good shower gardens will indeed 
look up in real earnest. Darjeeling, 17th March. — 
Slight thunder showers accompanied by hail have oc- 
curred during the week. There was very good muster 
of " A " Company Volunteers at. Inspection Parade 
The warm weather has commenced without doubt. 
22ud March. — "Tipping" commenced ou some factories. 
Hot; rain would do good. — Indian Planters' Gazette. 
Coconut Leaf-disease and the Value of 
Salt as a Remedy.— We have been reading two 
notices of the disease which affects the leaves of 
coconut trees near Veyangoda, one addressed to 
the "Examiner" and another to ourselves. The 
latter which appeared in our columns rscently 
seems inclined to trace the disease to slab rock 
or hardness of subsoil generally. The " Examiner" 
correspondent believes in salt as a remedy, as is 
evident by a paper which we quote, and, in view of 
differences of opinion on this important subject, we 
would suggest that Mr. Driebcrg, tho new Superinten- 
dent of the Agricultural School, should institute an 
exhaustive series of experiments so as to test the 
value of salt as a manure for coconuts and other 
products. We never said that salt had no manurial 
value, but that its value was exaggerated, and we 
held and hold still that to say that there cannot 
be too much salt in a soil even for coconuts, is 
a dangerous error. There are vast tracts in India 
rendered barren by a saline inflorescence. Both 
papers and a good deal more will be given in the 
Tropical Agriculturist. We call attention today, to 
two letters from Veyangoda on the subject, as also 
the valuable advice given by " W. J." in disposing 
of the superficial criticism in a letter signed "Planter" 
published last week, . 
Coconut Beetles. — The Superintendent of 
the Forest Department in the Straits Settlements 
is engaged in investigating the life history of the 
coconut beetles, which, it seems, are very destruc- 
tive at the Straits. He mentions the fact in apply- 
ing for a copy of "All about Coconuts." 
Ramie or Rhea Fibre. — On the recent trials 
of machines and processes at Paris, a broker 
arrives at the following general conclusions :— 
" An eminent firm of brokers recently informed, 
me: — 'There is no doubt that ramie is exciting 
great interest in many parts of the world, and many 
people are experimenting with various processes for 
extracting the fibre cheaply and quickly. We 
cannot say that any results submitted to us up to 
the present time are quite satisfactory. The fibre 
is either imperfectly freed from gummy matter, or 
the process breaks down in the matter of cost, or 
owing to the local conditions under which it must 
be carried on. We consider that no system of pre- 
paration which cannot produce the clean, unbleached 
fibre under £30 per ton is likely to succeed in 
establishing this article firmly in the estimation of 
English textile manufacturers.' This opinion ex- 
presses very briefly and clearly the conclusion at 
which I have arrived in connection with the pre- 
paration of the ramie fibre. It is quite possible 
that some machine or process will eventually solve 
the problem, but the exploitation of ramie, in spite 
of years of labour and the expenditure of large 
sums of money upon it, cannot be said to have yet 
emerged from the experimental stage." 
Price of Paddy has fallen very low in Rangoon. 
An upcountry correspondent writes to a contem- 
porary that paddy which cost there R90 was sold 
at R80 at Rangoon. This is generally the case 
after the first two months of the year are over ; 
but the tightness of the money market and the 
high rate of interest charged by the local banks 
have also had- something to do with it. The 
Chinese merchants, who have exported rice to the 
Straits Settlements from Rangoon during last month, 
have made a good thing out of the business inas- 
much as consignments of rice from Java and Siam 
which find their way to Penang, Singapore &c. have 
been short this season. In Rangoon itself the time 
honoured custom of purchasing rice according to 
the number of baskets has given place to the more 
rational system of buying by weight. This induces 
sellers to bring good grain into the market, instead 
of the rubbish brought in previous years, that gave 
a very poor return in the shape of rice. — Indian 
Agriculturist, March 16th. 
Sir Alfred Dent on Ceylon Teas. — Some 
time ago in one of our London letters there was 
a statement to the effect that Sir Alfred Dent — 
who has very extensive interests in Ceylon — had 
made remarks disparaging to Ceylon teas in com- 
parison with China kinds. We could not help at 
the time, thinking there was some confusion, and 
we now learn from a correspondent who writes 
with authority that Sir Alfred Dent's interference 
was in a very different direction : — 
In connection with the recent prosecution, Sir A. Dent 
has stated " that he thought great caution should 
be exercised in any prosecuting, as if dealers get to 
fancy that an Association had been started with the 
object of worrying everybody who chooses to mix 
Ceylon and China tea together, there is some risk of 
Ceylon tea being tabooed altogether amongst a 6et of 
men who might hitherto have been doing their best 
to introduce the new tea to their customers." 
Sir A. Dent tharefore- seems really to have been 
moved by a desire to do the Ceylon tea industry 
a good turn, and there is much in his statement 
requiring the careful consideration of the London- 
Gey Ion Committee. 
