June i, 1882.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
100 1 
THE CINCHONA-TAPPING BEETLES. 
To Mr. Greon we and our readers are indebted for 
the following interesting details respecting a species of 
beetle found feeding on the renewed bark (after shav- 
ing) of sueoirubra trees in Maskcliya, whence the speci- 
men submitted to Mr. Green was brought carefully 
tied up with thread. From what Mr. Green writes, it 
would seem that the object of the beetles in wounding 
the bark is to cause it to exude the resinous juice on 
which they as well as tho ants feed :— 
"A male stag beetle (family Lucanidte). The female 
has much shorter mandibles, and is said to use 
them in forming a hole in the trunks of trees for 
the reception of its eggs. Westwood Bays m his 
modern Classification of Insects vol. I, pp.187 and 
188:— 'The perfect insect according to De Geer, feeds 
on 1 lie lionoydew upon the loaves of the oak, they 
also feed upon the sap exuding from the wounds of 
they lap up_ with their finely ciliated 
" een supposed that 
tiefly hides in the 
state several years, 
by the Romans as 
It 
trees, wh 
maxilla; e 
the larva of tl 
willow and oal 
is the animal 
a delicacy, and M 
causes is often very considerable, boring not only 
into the solid wood but also into the rools of the tree ' 
" The specimen (stag beetle) received from Mas- 
keliya about a week ago is still livin" and fe.-ds 
on moistened sugar and jaggery. It is" 1 a male in- 
sect with immense mandibles^aud <»reatly resembles 
Lucamta cenus, the common stag beetle of Europe." 
NEW PRODUCTS IN THE LOWCOUNTRY • 
General Planting Retort. 
March 
382. 
In the first week of March, we had a few shower 
and again on 16th to 19th. On the latter da-i 
the rain was combined with hail. The last twelvi 
days of the mouth were intensely hot and dry oausin* 
much discomfort to your humble servant 'but "no! 
otherwise injurious. 
The dry weather checked the growth of the rjlanti 
somewhat, and the nursery needed hundreds of r/allont 
of water daily, to keep the small plants alive" This 
is one disadvantage in the use of baskets • they give 
out the moisture too rapidly for the health of the 
plants in them. The blossom is pretty well over for 
this spell, and such of tho coffee trees as have reached 
a height of f rom four to five feet are rnnnino nn 
stem without producing branches. Tho white ante are 
developing new tastes. I long held that they touched 
no living plant, but I found the theory would not 
stand when I came to cultivate cocoa, and now I 
find 1 hem attacking Liberian coffee. It is true I 
have found only two plants .1 troyed, but there could 
be no mistaking the cause. I believed for some time 
cocoa was safe from this enemy after the first year 
but now I tutd theo, throwing up their entrenchments 
round stems an inch and a half in diameter, and denud- 
ing them of bark from the surface upwards 
I see that the question of shade for cocoa is under 
discussion in the o/,. , All that I can admit on 
this matter is that, for tho first two years, tho plant 
may benefit from partial protection from tho sun as 
we I as thorough shelter iron. wind, but that when 
fully established, they grow so freely with all the 
sun that shines here, that I cannot imagine them 
getting on better with less of the solar induouce. I 
am not sufficiently advanced to .say | 10 * far simile 
or its absence, may affect fruit-bearing. If the tree 
should be found 10 bear better under partial ghade 
than in the open, 1 hen lot them have shade bv all 
means. ' 
SOS 
. } an } not fanatically in favour of the Arlocarpw 
£PBS* ^^t^t'^i^ & 
ocalities, then, surely, it is better to u'sWor the 
purpose trees that have some intrinsic vilno eith 
in their fruit or their timber than those that ^ 
of no use whatever. Nor can I on reflection dine 
anything ridiculous in providin" a future sum I f 
timber on a low-country estate even at some s- • f'° 
of the space devoted to mor'o immediately navi'i/ 
products. Young men who come to Ceylon to make 
their fortunes and retire to eniov the nlnaanrAa M 
affluence before they are too old, cannot be ex 'ec ted 
no.^^lflieult 0 ,!, demons" are t hat '"few 'thin H ZoZ 
pay better than forest cultivation to him who made 
no distinction between his own and his wand- children's 
interest. Admitting that this would be carrying the 
love of posterity to an extreme, the estate that has 
ten timber trees cominr/ fnrwuvl fnt- w T 
"""•a tor every cultivated 
equ; 
have a 
acre, will, other things 
selling value at any age, than that" which "has none™ 
lhe rubber plants continue to thrive and flower 
copiously, but I have still only one pod that 
promises to reach maturity The young cardamom 
plants take such slight hold of the soil, that they 
cannot keep upright, and when they fall over if not 
immediately attended to, they die. What they may 
do ultimately I do not kuow, but with much care 
Hemileia is in statu quo— not spreading, but many 
trees have more or less of it, and some are very 
bad. I kuow that dusting the affected trees with 
lime has no effect, but I think it probable, that it 
aitorcls some protection to those that are free from 
it' Ihere is certainly one of the numerous varieties 
that has hitherto remained untouched in the midst 
riy experience of nutmegs has not been very en- 
couraging. Innir years ago I put down 100 seed , 
troni which, I had 32 plants which I planted out in 
advantage, the former attempt had not. The 
planters of this age are probably not aware 
that above 40 years ago, Mi. Anstruther, then 
l,olonial Secretary, planted above a hundred acres, at 
Welisara on the Kegombo road. Had Ceylon been 
searched, tor the least suitable laud, they could not have 
found a wors- piece. The soil was cabook gravel of 
the poorest quality. When I saw it first, the few 
remaining trees were a good size. They were protected 
by movable kajan screens, au.l two carts were einploved 
bringing water to keep them alive. The land tin ally 
went into native hands, and I know not whether there 
now remains a single nutmeg tree on the place There 
is one noble specimen of this tree, in the compound 
of.the.tailway engineer's offise,, Maradana, and another 
at Riverside Lodge, Mutwal. From what I saw at 
Aniakanda in old days and from the plant under vari- 
ous circumstances moro recently, I judge that it 
cannot thrive without somo shade. Having a rouoh. 
bark on which the seeds of the most common of our 
parasites readily lodges, it is very subject to this 
pest and it is a favourite resort of tho dtmhu, in 
winch it 11 by n.» means alone, for tho red nut is a 
terrible pest to tho cultivator of any fruit-bearimr 
tree, within its range, and 10 bo fought with lire 
wherever they appe IP. 
4th April 1S82.— Rain came with April. It was 
moderate on tho 1st and 2nd but yesterday there fell 
one of those tremondous duhiKos that defy all calcn 
latum. I thought I had by heavy embankments Bud 
vast waterways provided for retaining much of tho 
