June i, 1881.] 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
5 
CINCHONA AND COFFEE CULTURE :— WEEDS. 
Holmwood, Agra Patana, March 31, 1881. 
Dear Sir, — I have beeu much interested by Mr. 
McCall's letter on not weeding cinchona, as that has been 
my principle for about three years: except where the self- 
sown seedlings are so thick as to deserve care, I 
only pull out or cut down the largest weeds. Where 
the seedlings are thick they answer the purpose of 
weeds in covering the ground. Whether this is the cause 
or not, I lose very few trees by canker, and damp- 
ing out, or whatever it may be called, and many ex- 
perienced planters who have seen my clearings say 
they have seldom seen healthier or better cinchona * 
I would go even further than Mr. McCall, and not 
only allow weeds to grow but also sow such grasses 
aa are adapted for mossing or covering. If a clearing 
is kept fairly clean for two or three years this grass 
would be ready when the trees were fit to strip. 
It would certaiuly prevent the very free growth of 
self-sown plants, but considering the millions now ob- 
tainable this would not involve the loss it might 
have a year or two ago. 
I notice Mr. McCall writes : " Weeds are doubtless 
one of the greatest enemies on coffee estates,'' but I 
hive beeu and always shall be of the opinion that 
if on the estates that have suffered so much from the 
grub those grubs had had some weed roots to eat 
there would have been fewer coffee rootlets devoured. 
-Yours faithfully, REGINALD W. WICKHAM. 
SELF-FERTILIZED COFFEE FLOWERS AND 
THE RESULT ? 
Maskeliya, 31st March 1881. 
Dear Sir, — In event of the failure of the fine 
blos=oms we are having this year, can it not be ascribed 
to the fact that our coffee is "self-fertilized" year 
after year, as well as to the weakening effects of leaf 
disease &c. &c. ? The following is an extract from a 
lecture delivered in Manchester in 1873 :— 
" A number of experiments, conducted with a 
patience and a philosophical power of observation 
which cannot be too highly praised, led Darwin to the 
conclusion that when a flower is ' self -fertilised ' — i. e., 
when the ovules are fertilised by pollen from a stamen 
belonging to the same flower — the number of seeds 
produced is smaller, or their vigour is less, than if it is 
* cross-fertilised ' — i. e., impregnated by the pollen 
conveyed from a stamen belonging to some other 
flower of the same species ; and that if this process of 
self-fertilisation is continued through several genera- 
tions, the plant at length becomes altogether sterile. 
This fact, when fully established experimentally, 
Darwin crystallised into the aphorism now so often 
quoted, that ' Nature abhors perpetual self-fertil- 
isation.' " 
From this, one may infer, that if at any rate the 
flowers intended to produce seed for nurseries, had 
been " cross-fertilised," we should have had stronger 
and healthier plants in our clearings, and therefore 
less likely to be affected with the different diseases 
that coffee suffers so much from now. — Faithfully 
yours, SWADDY. 
[In other words, we ought years ago to have tried 
experiments with new seed :— from Coorg (chick coffee), 
Liberia, Mocha and why not from the heart of 
Abyssinia, the home of the coffee plant ? — Ed. C. 0.] 
GOLD IN CEYLON. 
Kiuunegala, 1st April 1SS1. 
Dear Sir, — Just at this time when you receive in- 
formation from different quarters concerning the ex- 
istence of gold in Ceylon, may I be allowed to give 
you the fallowing descriptivo names of villages in 
* Of what age now ?— En. C. O. 
Seven Korales, which signify that at one time or other 
they were connected with gold in some shape or other, 
such as Randeniya — two villages by that name — mean- 
ing gold meadowland village. 
Ranwalagedara — Gold mine, or pit, house. 
Ranawana — Gold forest. 
Rangama — Gold village. 
Ranmutugala — Rock of gold pearl. 
Rangalepola — Place of gold rock. 
Ridigama — Silver village. 
It is a well known fact that in ancient times a certain 
king did actually make copper, silver, and gold coins, 
at the city called Dambadeni Nuwara, and some of 
the specimens of these coins are to be found in Seven 
Korales. It is by taking the name of this city that 
the present Government Agent of the Province re- 
cently named a Hatpattu called Dambadeniya Hat- 
paitu. I write this in order to attract your attention 
to the existence of these descriptive and significant 
names given to villages from time immemorial, so 
that in case, as you suggest, experiments are to be 
tried in search of gold, one or two of these villages 
may be selected as the sceres of such experiments, 
for by their situation and nearness to the town of 
Kurunegala and Polgahawela railway station they 
can be conveniently and easily reached. — I remain, 
yours truly, A KANDVAN. 
COCKCHAFER CULTIVATION : 
Beetle Powder vs. Date Coffee. 
Gth April 1881. 
Dear Sir, — As many eminent English doctors agree 
that ground dates make excellent coffee, and as it 
seems clear that the British public will consume any- 
thing not absolutely dirt, that is sufficiently adulterated 
to suit their palates, there seems to be no reason why 
we should not turn the cockchafer plague into a lucra- 
tive business. The beetles are known to contain a 
large amount of phosphates, and as we cannot always 
get crops from the branches of the coffee why not 
take them in another form from the roots ? I think 
" Melolonthine " would be a good name for the beetle 
powder. We ought, perhaps, to mix a little real coffee 
with it at first until the public taste is educated to 
the required standard. 
I have not time myself to take out the patents, 
but shall be glad to give hints on feeding, collecting, 
pulping, &c, to any man of genius whose relatives 
have nothing to do, on condition I receive a certain 
number of " Finder's " shares. 
To ensure the supply of a pure article, it would 
be best to do the entire manufacture out in Ceylon 
or the dishonest middlemen in London would tamper 
with it.— Yours faithfully, NO FRAUD. 
[Mr. Benton found the Sinhalese of the North- 
western prnvince, only less fond of eating the young 
broods of bees in the combs, than of the honey itself! — Ed.] 
CINCHONA. 
April 7th, 1881. 
Dear Sir, — Your correspondent "Cascarillero Boli- 
viero," writing in your impression of April 5th, lays 
justly stress on the general mispronunciation of one 
part of the above title word in the island ; but he 
should remember that the language in Bolivia, as 
indeed he confesses, is not up to the perfect CaStilian 
standard of the Madrid Academy. 
It is only in the Spanish-speaking parts of South 
America and in the North of Spain that the c before 
i is pronounced like ss . in Castile, according to my 
information, the c before i has the sound of th in 
the English word pith ; tlurejore the word cinchona 
enough to be pronounced '• thinchona." - Yours truly. 
VANTOSKY RENTON ' 
