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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[June i, 1882. 
and 1872, when he was raising nurseries for Hanchi Betta 
estate, which he opened for Mr. Donald Stewart in 
1872. During the years he managed Mr. Stewart's 
Bamboo estates he insisted on nothing being used but 
Hanchi Betta seed, and, when opening for himself, he 
used nothing else, and his acres are alike free from 
borer and leaf -disease. There are several Ceylon men 
who have seen Mr. Ohisholnvs estates, but by for the 
best plan would be for some men, such as A. G. K. 
Borron, F. Laurie and others to come over in Sept- 
ember or October next and see for themselves, and, 
having seen, return and tell their fellow planters. I 
am perfectly sure that the Bamboo planters would 
be delighted to have the opinions of such men. 
Dubarri estate's first clearing was planted from 
Pallikerry seed. The crop there speaks well for this 
variety, but it is not unparalelled, as Peramboo Cadoo, 
an adjoining estate, has given as much acre for acre 
(also Nalknaad coffee). 
Silver skin adhering to the been is one of the marks 
by which brokers can tell Mysore and Coorg coffees, 
and is due to the long dry season we have and not 
to picking of unripe cherry. 
Some early shipments of Coorg coffee have brought 
good prices : — Craigs Tilly 110s 6d. Craigs Eliza 109s 
6d, and Dubarri 108s. This bodes well for Coorg, and 
where working expenses are under B85 an acre there 
is a fair margin left for profit. 
During the past week we have had abundant, blos- 
som showers, which, though late, are still in time to 
ensure good, though, perhaps, not bumper crops. 
Cinchona, cocoa and rubber are being tried on 
small clearings; the two latter as experiments. Cin- 
chona is being tried on a large scale. The Ghauts 
and Forest are far ahead of the Bamboo in this, making 
as much growth in three as our trees do in five 
years.— Bamboo. 
THE NICOBAR ISLANDS. 
About two hundred miles as the crow flies to the 
S. S. E. of the Andaman Islands, in the vicinity of 
lat.8° 9' N. and long. 94° 7' (the approximate position 
of Oamorta, where our branch convict settlement is) 
lie the Nicobar Islands, the largest group of islands, 
excepting alone the Andamans, to be found in the 
Bay of Bengal. Like the Andamans, the Nicobars 
owe their origin and existence chiefly to the prolonged 
labours of the industrious coral insect ; and their 
shores are, for the most part, surrounded with a fringe 
of dangerous sunken coral reefs. The names of the 
more important islands composing the Nicobar group, 
taking them in the precedence o£ their size, are the 
great Nicobar Island (the most southern and the 
nearest to Acheen and JavaJ, Camorta, the Little 
Nicobar (separated from the Great Nicobar by St, 
George's Channel), Katchal, Terressa, Tillanchong, 
Chowry and Nankowrie Islands. Besides these larger 
islands, there are a number of jungle-covered islets, 
all more or less inhabited. 
To the N. N. W. of Chowry and the two or 
three small islands neighbouring it, at a distance 
of about 80 or 90 miles in the direction of the 
Andamans, lies a lonely island, called the Car Nico- 
bar. This giant's stepping-stone between the Anda- 
mans and the JNicobars is of considerable size ; and, on 
occasion of the recent earthquake betrayed its vol- 
canic origin hy an eruption. The earthquake of last 
December caused the greatest alarm amongst the 
islanders. Many coconut trees came to grief on the 
Car Nicobar Island during it. Several visits have been 
paid to the Car Nicobar by expeditions from Port 
Blair, and abundant evidence to prove the original 
creation of the island hy volcanic agency has been 
obtained. The shore is a difficult one to land on, 
owing to the heavy surf and breakers continually 
beating upon it. The Nicobar Islands proper are, 
like most sub-tropical islands, in a great part covered 
with dense, very beautiful jungle ; towering up above 
which are to be teen the most magnificent trees- 
such trees as the eye never sees in India, not even 
in the virgin forests of the hills. The symmetry of 
the trunks of these Nicubarean trees is to a great 
height undisturbed by branches, and their tops 
are crowned with rich many-shaded foliage, af- 
fording a secure retreat for the wily Nicobarese pigeons, 
in numbers plentiful, and in rich-plumaged species 
various, but difficult to get witnin small shot range 
of. The jungles of the Nicobars abound in the various 
kinds of valuable timber to be found in the Anda- 
mans, and, in addition, the southern islands are richly 
belted with coconut palms. It is a curious circum- 
stance that the coconut palm, which is to be found 
in such profusion on the Cocos and in the Nicobar 
Islands is nowhere to be found indigenous in the 
Andaman Islands. How do botanists account for this 
extraordinary absence of the coconut from the mid- 
dle of these three groups of tropical islands ? * The 
produce of the Nicobarese palms, in the shape of copra, 
coconuts and the nut-oil, forms the chief export and 
wealth of the islands. — Pioneer. 
MOTHS AND COFFEE TREES. 
(To the Editor of the "Madras Mail") 
Kulpetta, S. Wynaad, 13th April. 
Sir, — Your correspondent "South Wynaad," whose 
letter of the 6th instant appears in your impression 
of the 11th idem, enquires whether any of his confreres 
have observed "hundreds of moths flying about the 
coffee trees " during the recent blossom, a phenomenon 
which he apparently fears to be the harbinger of fresh 
disaster. Perhaps Dr. Shortt can enlighten your cor- 
respondent as to the scientific name of the "moth" 
referred to. I think it is a species of " sphinx." and 
if so, I have frequently observed the identical " wily 
lepidoptera " in former seasons. O. C. 
LEDGERIANA SEED. 
(To the Editor of the Madras Mail.) 
Sir, — I notice in the second column of your paper an 
advertisement running thus :— "For Sale,— Guaranteed : 
Moens' Cinchona Ledgeriana seed just received from 
Java." Iam greatly interested myself in the propag- 
ation of this most valuable kind of cinchona, and have 
every advantage in obtaining seed from Mr. Moens, 
when it can be spared by the Dutch Government. 
Last mail, received from Java, brought me a letter 
from Mr. Moens himself. M ay I give you the following 
extract of his letter verbatim : — 
" My Government does not allow me to send any 
Ledgeriana seed out of our colonies as long as all the 
planters in Java who apply for it have not got the full 
quantity they ask. And as the cultivation of cinchona 
is extending so very fast over our islands, it will take 
a long time before I am ever able to do this. So I 
cannot possibly spare you any seed within the first year." 
How, then, can "S." have just received from Java 
Ledgeriana seed which any one reading his advertise- 
ment must be given to understand comes direct from 
Mr. Moens ? Mr. Moens is too honest a man and too 
true to the Government he has served so well for so 
many years to give or sell his seed to one person, 
when duty orders him to refuse it to another. — Yours, &c, 
Nilgiris, 13th Apiil. LEDEGRIANA. 
* The answer, no doubt, will be that it is in- 
digenous to no island of the groups ; but that into 
some it was successfully introduced.— Ed. 
