THE TROPICA! AGRICULTURIST, 107 
July i, i88r.] 
up at dark. Kinmond's dryer may yet be improved 
upon by himself or by others, but as it now stands, 
it possesses a feature' peculiar to itself, and all -im- 
portant. The hot air, driven by a fan (the speed of 
which, under control, regulates the temperature), does 
not pass successively through the different trays, for 
the hot air, drying the tea in each tray, has a separate 
inlet and outlet. By this means is avoided the 
objection of carrying the moisture absorbed by the 
hot air from one tray to the other. Another pecu- 
liarity in the machine is, that the same air is used 
again and again, being re-dried and re-heated each 
time. By this two advantages are obtained : 1, fuel 
is saved ; it is easier to heat air which still retains 
caloric, than fresh air : the aroma of tea is very 
volatile, and when hot air. which dries it, passes 
away, some of the essence and strength of the tea 
goes with it. But here the same air being used again 
and again, the volatile essence (how much who can 
say,) is returned to the tea. It is reasonable to sup- 
pose that this will increase the value of the tea ; 
indeed, we know it did so materially in one garden 
last season. 
We do not doubt that the unanimity wanting at 
present amongst planters as regards machinery, will 
more or less come with time, but only long experience 
can sett le the merits of rival machinery. One thing, 
however, is very certain, if the exports of Indian tea 
<:ver vie in quantity with China, it will be due to 
the use of machinery in manufacture.— Friend of India. 
JAMAICA. 
The Governors of the Jamaica Institute have offered 
a prize of £"20 for the best Essay on the fibre pro- 
duced from either the Penguin, Banana, Rhea or China- 
grass, Aloe or other Island plants susceptible of 
cultivation in sufficient quantities to form the basis 
of a sustained industry. Also a prize of £15 for best 
samples, not less than 112 lb. (avoir.) of clean market- 
able fibre produced in the island from either of the 
aforementioned plants. 
Mi. W, Bancroft Kspeut lectured in the City Hall 
on Tuesday evening last. His subject was " The 
Timbers of the Island." The audience was a very 
respectable one, and the attendance was good. The 
chair was occupied by His Lordship the Bishop. The 
Lecturer spoke in terms of praise of the qualities of 
native lumber, preferring it to foreign. He described 
the saw mills at Chepstowe, and showed specimens of 
Jamaica shingles, barrel staves and coconut plank out 
of which he got beautiful panels made for his house. 
He spoke in reference to pimento trees showing that 
pimento walks did not aa is generally supposed, owe 
their formation to accident alone. He also produced 
two specimens of pimento trees grown at the Botanical 
Gardens by Mr Morris. — Gall's News Letter, 
NKW PRODUCTS: LOW-COUNTRY REPORT. 
Weathki: an 1. Dr.uNM.i. I,i i-.kuias COFFBB ash 
Crickets - Cacao— Bambu Fence. 
Western Province, 12th May 1881. 
April baa been » wet month here. Indeed, from 
17th March, when the dry season may be said to 
have closed, we have had no lack of moisture, and 
would very willingly have spared a moiety of our 
portion had we been the disposing parties, for we 
have had more than a pleasant dispensation of all 
the elements of storm, 1 except frost, snow, and hail. 
I have been chiefly employed in tryiug to perfect 
a drainage system to save in some measure the awful 
wash that comes of afwful rains, but I am sorry t-. 
Bay my BUCCess has only been partial. I can only 
look on in despair when I see a drain four feet deep 
and five feet wide silted up and running over when 
ten minutes' rain tills an escaped drain four feet wide to 
tho depth of eighteen inches. 
Of the Liberian coffee seed I have put down since 
the beginning of the year, less than ten per cent 
failed to germinate, but I have lost perhaps as much 
as five per cent, by the crickets. I am therefore hasten- 
ing to transplant, them into baskets, where alone 
they are safe, for several months at this stage. Of 
course they are again exposed to this enemy when put 
out in the field. Last season, it was towards the end 
of November when they disappeared absolutely, during 
three months, the very first plant cut being dis- 
covered on the 1st of March. During March and 
April, their ravages continued to increase, and 
only during the last fortnight : have they fallen off, 
from the havoc they were previously carrying on. I 
was lowever warned a week ago not to congratu- 
late myself too soon. One part of the field had 
not been touched when this month began, but now 
it is brought up to nearly the same per- 
centage of cutting as the other fields; fine healthy 
plants, six to nine inches high, cut clean off; the 
greater part of them so close to the surface, that 
there is small chance of fresh shoots. After a care- 
ful examination, I estimate the Josses up to date at 
one-fourth of all the plants put out last planting 
seison. It is very annoying, after all the trouble 
and anxiety of carrying the plants through the dry 
season with little or no loss, to have them de- 
stroyed, j net as the season became favourable to 
quick growth, and I am obliged to own myself at 
the end of my resources. The means of protection, 
that seemed effectual last season have signally failed now, 
and my only hope is t hat they have nearly run their course 
for the tim ', to appear ngain in August, if we have 
as in the last two years a dry June and July. So 
far as I have been able to ascertain their habits, they 
breed twice a year, the old race dying out during 
the heavy rains of the two monsooDs in May and 
November, after having deposited their eggs in the 
soil, where they are hatched by sun heat, during 
the dry season, and the dryer the season, the 
more abundant will the brood be ; they only in- 
fest soils of a loose, dry, warm, nature, and especi- 
ally those rich in organic matter, avoiding clays and 
coarse gravels. On the present occasion, they first 
appeared on steep stony grounds, facing the morning 
sun, and on several such faces they have hardly left a 
plant uncut. For the rest, there seems no rule. Sometimes 
on one side of a road one half of the plant3 are cut, 
on the other Bide none; round one boulder all are 
cut, round the next one none. As I already stated, 
the south-west face of this place, remained un- 
touched till some time after the destruction had 
slackened on the eastern side, and on the former 
it still goes on, though it has almost ceased on the 
latter. Nothing could be more satisfactory than the 
growth of the plants that have escaped, and I hope 
they will be out of danger before the next brood 
appears. Many of those, however, that were too strong 
of stem to be dealt with have had every leaf cut off, 
and have their growths much checked thereby. All 
the stems that have been cut above lowest buds are 
making an effort, but my former experience is that 
the next brood of crickets attack by prefer- 
ence those that have been injured by their 
parents, but I have found the present brood so 
much more acute and enterprising than the last, 
that the race may possibly be intellectually pro- 
gressive. 
I had made up my mind that I would not meddle 
witli cacao any more here, unless I were under orders 
from superior authority, but such a change ha? come over 
every surviving plant, since the middle of March, 
that hope ha- revived, and I no* propose, on one part 
of the plantation, to carry out the original design ol 
