712 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [February i, 1882. 
tree.* Neither have I seen a description of the 
moth which becomes specially prevalent and harmful 
to tea at this season of the year. It is not so formid- 
able as red rust in India or helopeltis Aantonii in Java, 
but it is bad enough occasionally. There is nothing, 
apparently, which can be cultivated that has not its 
enemies. The foliage of the blue gums suffers from 
a kind of fungus epot (Dr. Thwaites asked as 
to look out for a bug, but we never detected 
an insect) which is capable of infesting cinchonas 
and tea, and occasionally a gum tree breaks off 
about the middle from a species of canker. While 
it is only right to mention such drawback?, the 
vast majority of the plants referred to shew luxuriant 
growth, and our old staple coffee, although its chief 
enemy is present and its effect manifest in particular 
spots, looks better than it has done for years back. 
May the improvement be permanent and the recovery 
complete ! 
To revert to the weather, which I last noticed 
on earthquake-day, the last day of 1881. On the 
morning of that day, the thermometer shewed that, in 
the previous twenty-four hours, the mercury had been up 
to 70° and down to 58°, the rainfall being 20 of an inch. 
On the morning of New Year's Day the record gave 
a maximum temperature of 73° and a minimum of 
58°, mild enough ; but there was a heavy plump of 
rain after the earthquake, measured as '58 of an 
inch. Since then we have had no rain to speak of : 
•21 recorded on the 2nd and '13 on the 3rd, while 
for the six days following there has been only a 
trace on one day. During the heavy rain on Christ- 
mas Eve (1'80 inch recorded on the morning of the 
25th of Dec.) there was a marked "blowing" from 
the south-west. There was, then, no wind to speak 
of until the night of Friday, the 6th, when the 
north-east commenced in full force, blowing and 
"soughing" all night long and so continuing well on 
into next day. On Saturday night we had " another 
of the same" in the shape of a strong north-easter, but, 
as previously, unaccompanied by rain. 
Had there been rain in proportion to the wind, we 
should have had many more than a couple of trees 
(acacias) blown down. To see the swaying of the 
trees and the tossing of their arms, on " the gum 
ridge," was a sight of animation, in strong contrast 
to the stillness which has prevailed since yesterday 
(Sunday) morning. Yesterday was lovely, and today 
is lovelier still. The atmosphere has so cleared that 
the moonlight has been exquisite, enabling us to read 
small type easily. While the sun has shone hotly 
in the daytime, heat has radiated into space at night, 
the result being that the maximum temperature has 
risen from 66* in the twenty-four hours ending on the 
morning of the 5th to 74° recorded this morning. 
But in the five days the maximum has gone down from 
58" to 52°. Last night and this morning, therefore, 
were cold ; and the view between 6 and 7 a. m. of the 
circlet of mountains which ramparts the grand 
valley, or rather series of valleys, of Dimbula was 
wonderfully distinct and beautiful. The only feature 
wanting in the landscape was a lake. And this re- 
minds me that the expanses of patanus which so 
largely atoned for the want of glassy-surfaced, calm 
water are beiog circumscribed in consequence of the 
extension of cinchona culture. If the encroach- 
ment adds to the ability of planters to resist the 
effects of lessened returns from coffee, we must not 
complain of some small diminution of scenic effect in a 
view which is so profusely rich in the elements of 
grandeur and loveliness. From the brightness and 
* When in the Ouchterlony Valley a few years ago, 
we were told by Mr. Grant that the cause of the 
similar dying out of coffee bushes was the existence 
of the stock and roots of the wild cinnamon tree. 
power with which the sun is shining today, I hive 
no doubt that the next twenty- four hours will shew 
a still greater disproportion between maximum and 
minimum temperature, and the prospect seems to be 
that fine weather will prevail in these mountain 
regions from now until the end of March or the 
beginning of April, occasional rainfall for short periods 
only rendering this weather still more pleasant. Now 
is the time to see the mountains, valleys, rivers and 
waterfalls of the upland regions of Ceylon at their best. 
P. S. — I have given last night's figure for minimum 
temperature at this bungalow, which is situated on 
an elevated knoll 5,800 feet above sea level. In the 
assistant's bungalow, lying in a valley, 1,100 feet 
lower, enclosed on all sides and through which several 
streams run, the cold was actually represented last 
night by so low a figure as 48°. The lowest ever 
recorded by Mr. Heelis was over 44°. That was in 
the month of March. In damp, grassy, low-lying 
spots, no doubt the temperature has been occasionally 
considerably lower. 
COFFEE PROSPECTS. 
There is always information worthy of attention 
in the monthly report of Messrs. Robert Von Glehn 
& Sons, London. We quote as follows from the latest 
to hand : — 
The price of middling plantation Ceylon Coffee remains 
at '77s to 82s, or about the same as at the beginning of 
last month, and the few lots of colory bold and fine 
which have been brought to market have realized what are 
called fancy prices. The common and medium kinds of 
foreign coffee are, however, decidedly lower for the month 
and would be lower still if it were not for the firmness 
of holders. East India Plantation, though scarce and 
mostly well held, is also decidedly lower for the month, 
and for good colory B size old crop Tuttapolum estate, 
— the highest bid in Public sale this week was 71s. In 
Havre the price of Santos, good average, has fallen during 
the past month from 64 fr. @ 64.50 fr. to 60 fr. @ 60.50. 
The confidence of the Havre speculators remains unabated 
and the large holders are reperted as still among the chief 
buyers. A new feature in this market is that a great deal 
of coffee has been bought by speculators for monthly 
deliveries up till as late as June 1882. As far as we can 
learn there is not the slightest fear of a break-down in 
the Havre market, while should the position of coffee 
improve, it is probable that nearly the whole of the stock 
would be taken off the market and held for much higher 
prices, giving thus a great impulse to the coffee markets 
of the world. 
In New York the price of fair Rio has. fallen from 
11 cents on the 1st November to 10£ cents, and this is a 
very heavy fall considering that the stock of Brazil coffee 
in the six chief ports of the United States is about 
75,000 bags le s than last year, and that the consump- 
tion of Brazil coffee m the United States from 1st Jan. 
1881 to the 1st November last averaged 190,434 bags per 
month as compared with a monthly average during the 
same period last year of 167,625 bags. But we believe 
that the New York market has lost much of its import- 
ance, and should no longer be looked upon as the re- 
gulating market for the United States, for we are informed 
that nearly one-half of the coffee now arriving in New 
York and the other chief ports of the United Siates goes 
direct through to the interior, (the ports being- used 
merely for transit from the countries of production to 
the interior) and leaving but a few cents dock charge 
per bag as a remembrance. An agitation is now on foot 
in New York to try and regain some of the old ascendancy 
over the market by means of public auctions, but this is 
not likely to succeed, as the tendency of all trade is to 
go more and more direct, and to suppress middlemen. 
It is a great question whether the large increase in 
the consumption, as shewn by the monthly averages given 
above, is not apparent rather than real, and is not in 
some way attributable to the altered course of trade, for we 
do not belieTe in a large increase in the actual consum- 
tion of coffee, cheap though it be ; when the cost of living 
