676 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [February i, 1882. 
about March a borer attacked every tree of them, by 
dozens and hundreds, from the bottom to top of the 
estates, all of a sudden. The borers or grubs bored 
into the stems and branches through the soft eyes ; 
and the terminal buds of stems and branches, most par- 
ticularly were all bored through and rotted. The borer 
seemed to remain in the pith inside, and could of ten 
be seen crawling on tbe stems outside. The softer 
parts of the wood at top of stems and ends of branches 
all rotted and died off. The tree shot forth new buds, 
but in harder wood lower down. It was clear, they 
would never become proper trees whilst affected by 
this borer. I was afraid of the borer attacking cin- 
chona or some other soft-wooded large-pithed plant, 
and I dug all of the trees out. I sent specimens of 
the borer to Dr. Thwaites of Peradeniya. He marjaged 
to bring out the fly or moth or whatever he called 
it, and said it was a new one to him though he 
showed me several others allied to it and pretty similar 
in a general way. About that time, too, I had been 
seeing accounts in the papers of the destruction of 
orange trees, &c, by some insect introduced with some 
plant or seed from Australia to the Cape, and I made 
a clean sweep of the whole, except three trees. Some 
of them were about eighteen feet high. These three 
trees remain, and a sucker here and there has come 
up since from roots which the coolies had not cut 
low enough down upon. The next year at same season 
these three trees were affected again, but with com- 
paratively few borers ; and since then I have not 
noticed any on them, nor on the stray suckers growing 
elsewhere. But I have not watched or searched for 
them narrowly. Anyhow these few scattered plants are 
apparently allowed to grow when the large number 
of trees were bored to destruction. But that first 
boring has so spoiled the three trees I left that they 
will never be properly formed trees. I gave some 
plants to Dr. Thwaites at Peradeniya, as he said he 
had not got the plants in tbe gardens, and I gave some 
to Mr. Maitland, who planted them at Arthur's Seat, 
Kandy. These were first attacked by the borer 
some years after mine." 
PEACOCK COPPER ORE IN CEYLON. 
We call special attention to the discovery of this 
valuable ore in the Hewaheta district. In reply to 
our enquiry tho other day Mr. Walters writes : — 
Gonavy, December 19th, 1881. 
Sir, — I notice the remarks in your Friday's issue (Cey- 
lon Observer) respecting a specimen of ore sent you some 
time since, which Mr. Dixon then pronounced to be 
iron pyrites. Probably had I mentioned, when sending 
it, that it had been tested with a strong acid, the 
peculiar colouring it had assumed would have attracted 
more particular attention. 1 now send you a piece of 
the ore freshly broken off. Will you kindly allow him 
to compare it with the specimen previously sent. This 
ore was found in Hewaheta. — Yours faithfully, 
W. H. Walters. 
This letter recalla to our distinct recollection the 
fact that Mr. Walters sent us some months ago the 
specimen which at first was pronounced to be iron 
pyrites and again a manganese ore, but which, on 
being tested, Mr. Dixon found to contain 20 per cent 
of copper. But, if there had been any doubt, this 
second sample sent by Mr. Wal ters would remove it, 
for it is a beautiful little specimen of peacock copper 
ore. Hewaheta is evidently goi^g to take the lead 
as a mining district. It is from Great Valley estate 
here that the quartz has come which Mr. Harvey 
declared should yield 4 or 5 dwtd. ft gold to the ton, 
being identical with the quartz from one of the best 
of the South Indian mines. This quartz is very "dirty," 
almost dark brown in appearance, and might almost 
be taken for a copper-yielding ore. Mr. Hart of 
Great Valley has been most energetic in his prospect- 
ing, going down seventy feet into his reefs, and he 
well deserves success. He sends us some separate 
samples of quartz and of the clay and schistose depos- 
its surrounding the reef which seem very promisiug. 
Meantime, to return to the copper ore, we feel sure 
that Messrs. Sabonadiere & Co., agents for Gonavy, 
will not lose time in looking after what may prove 
more valuable than the best auriferous quartz in the 
country. One who has evidently had practical experi- 
ence of copper ores and mines writes to us as follows : — 
Dear Sir,— Your paragraph about Peacock copper 
ore I think certainly deserves larger letters than you 
have given it. If the ore mentioned by Mr. Dixon 
was found here, it is I should say the most valu- 
able find that has yet been made, and no pains 
should be spared to discover its whereabouts. Pea- 
cock ore is usually found in pockets in large deposits 
of less rich but still very valuable copper pyrites : 
its presence would therefore lead one to exppct the 
existence of a larger deposit in the same locality. I 
have often looked for copper ore in Ceylon (but with- 
out success). The formation appearing in many parts 
similar to that of the immense deposits of Santo 
Domingo in Portugal and tne Miua del Tarsis in 
Huelva, Spain. A simple way of distinguishing 
copper from iron pyrites is that copper pyrites can 
be scratched or cut with a penknife, while iron pyrites 
cannot, and the softer the pyrites the richer it is in 
copper. 7 to 10 per cent is a paying ore in S. Europe, 
and I dare say would pay here also. Iron pyrites is 
usually valueless. R. I. P. 
We had heard that under favourable circumstances, 
such as cheap labour and transport, three per cent 
of copper in the ore would prove profitable ; but, 
even if seven to ten per cent be required, Mr. Dixon's 
twenty allows a handsome margin. The " peacock " 
ore, as our correspondent points out, is generally 
found in pockets in the reef : — here a rich pocket, 
then a faint streak of the copper ore running through 
the reef to the next pocket, and so on. Mr. Dixon 
does not think it at all improbable that the Gonavy reef 
may run through Maturata and crop up even in Uda- 
pussellawa, where, it is said, a quartz with indications 
of copper and sulphur has already been obtained. 
A careful examination is called for, and, as Mr. Dixon 
leaves for the Pussellawa and Ramboda districts on 
Monday next, we trust he may find time, before his 
return, to visit the other side of the Pedro range and 
give his opinion on the course of the reef. Indi- 
vidual proprietors will, of course, be anxious to get 
an opinion on their prospects, and thsy cannot do 
better than communicate with the " Geologist. " 
MOUND HEDGES IN COFFEE PLANTATIONS. 
With reference to a letter on another page, the 
idea of thickly planted fences of the Assam hybird 
tea, allowed to grow to its full height, has often sug- 
gested itself to us, and to some slight extent we 
experimented in this direction. The additional height 
gained by the mound would be of value, if we could 
build mounds so as to resist our tropical rain-storms. 
Turfing would be very difficult, and even then we 
