102 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, [August i, 1893. 
The Coco Palm Wbevix. — I notice in the current 
issue of the Kew Bulletin ati article corerio^ ttmny 
pages of that p&riodioal, on wbat is there termed the 
ooco palm weevil, wbich is none other than oar oM 
friend tbe Cooroominis, the reinody for which has 
been told over and ovor apaio, but wbich seems not 
to have reached the West Indies, where the ravage? 
of this bettle are becoming very serious. This was 
very destructive in the Negombo district in the 
" forties," bat was eradicated by means of barbed 
iLstrumenta of iron which were thrust down the aper- 
tures made by the insects in the stemg of the trees, 
and by being forced into their bodies, were the means 
of drawing them from their refuges before they had 
a cbauce of depoeitint; their eggs therein. Young 
Sinhalese lads were employed, who were paid a certa"n 
sum per hundred of the beetles caught, and in this 
way the pest waa arrested.— London Cor., Local 
" Times." 
The "AoEicuLTDaA Gazettk" of New South Wa'es 
for May has the following Contents :— The Grasses of 
Austra'ia, F. Turner — I'anicum divaricatissimum, E. 
Br. ("Umbrella Grass") ; Vegetable Noveltiei", Geo. 
Valder ; Botanical Notes — Death of Dr. Woolls, 
Au6trflian Flora, and Abnormal Inflorescence of 
Grasata ; Report on the Tobacoo-growing Industry in 
the Tumut District, S. Lamb and G. F. Sutherland ; 
Tobacco-growing in New South "\Vale>, S. Lamb ; 
Tobacco BS a Farmers' Crop for New South Walei, 
G. F. Sutherland ; National Prizes for 1892 — irri- 
gation, H. G. M'Kinney ; Stock Breeding and Fat- 
tening in New Zealand, A. Brace ; Dropping after 
Calving, Exchange ; Report on Insects affecting Sugar- 
cane Crop on Clarence River, A. S. OlliflF ; The 
Hessian Fly ("Oecidomyia destruotor," Say) ; Tem- 
epratures for Fruit Export ; Cbeese-makiug by Small 
Farmerp, Exchange ; Poultry, The 8ub-EJItor— The 
The Australian Game, Note — Worms in Fowls ; 
General Notes. 
TifA Cultivation in Ceylon.— We are at issue with 
tbe Chairman (P. A.) when he says that deterioration is 
" purely conjectural." We believe it to be scientifi- 
cally certain, whether observable in some localities or 
not. In ttie nature of things deteriorat'on is inevi- 
table, nniew prevented by artificial means. As a fact 
of experience there are places where the quality of 
Tea formerly produced cannot by any skill or caro, 
either in plucking or maDufacture, be reproduced. 
Our taking up this position with respect to Mr. 
Walker is not argumentative, but practical. We 
have more than once lately pressed upon the attention 
of our planting readers that their lands cannot go on 
producing Tea crops from year to year from tbe fame 
soil, without eventual emaustion, sooner or later, of 
some one or more of those ingredients wbich are 
eBsectial to the quality of the Tea that the land 
produced when it was first cultivated. It is becau e 
we fear the effect of the Chairman's letter might be to 
cause planters to go on exhausting the soil, without re- 
cogtiising the import inc8 cf scientific restoration of the 
ingredients that Tea requires, th&t we Lotice his 
letter otherwise than by the practical approval of (he 
latter clauses. It may be, and we believe it is true 
that there ara comparatively few tea estates where 
the restoia'ive piocess has become imperative; but 
what we contend for is tim( ly help to those which 
have r.ot yet begun perceptibly to sulf' r lor the wa' t 
of ifc. Tea is a much more critical product for the 
cultivator than coffee ever was. Though the bush 
is hardy in growth, and in fome .senses easy to grow, 
the leaf, when grown, cnnuot in the course of nature 
remain permanent in quality while the soil that pro- 
duces it is being drawn upon, year by year, for the 
fame essentia! ingredients ! One by one, as each in 
turn becomes fcaicer tbe leaf will feel more and 
more the deficiency. Tea planting in Ceylon is as yet 
a young enterprise. Estates that were old before they 
were planted with tea, become more quickly exhausted 
thau younger ones ; but, as yet, they do not form a 
large proportion of the whole and they would benefit 
by »n early apiHieation of restorative ingredients and 
conditions such as are not of merely stimalating 
nature — Local " Independent." 
Tea AvfcHAGEs in Colombo and Calcutta. 
— We Bee from a oontemporary that tbe average 
for all teas sold in ('alcaua during tbe past two 
years was as nearly as poshib e as followe: — 
18yl = 40»)2 cents; 16y2 = ,"^312 cents. 
In Colombo, Mr. James I'orbcE is (.octd enough to 
inform m that tbe average realised was as nearly 
as possible tbe same in both years: — 
1801 = 41 cents; 18a2=41 cents. 
Tbe London average for " Cejloaa" went down a 
good deal last year, eo that the above tells in 
favour of Colombo, againet London Sales. The 
higher rates in Calcutta in 1892 oorreepuoded with 
tbe improved average in Loudon — doe to fine 
pluoking. 
The Bctaky or Tibbt. — Dr. Thorold, wbo, in 
1890-91 accompanied Captain Bower's expedition 
through Tibst as a EcieniiEt, collected Epe4.'imeuB 
of all tbe plants be saw during bis jouroej aoioss 
tbe country from west to east. Tue oolkciioD 
contbins only 115 epeoies, all told, tbowing tbe 
poverty of tbe Tibetan flora in tbe disiric. traversed ; 
a poverty wbiob, however, ib not aetonisbing con- 
sidering that tbe greater part of tbe route lay 
over a country as high above eea-level as is the 
top of Mont Blanc. Tbe 116 species belonged to 
no fewer tbaa twenty-eight natural orderf, and 
cnly about half-a-dozen species were quite unilnown 
at Eew. One floKering-plant was collected at an 
altitude of 19,000 feet— probably tbe bigbest point 
on record in the history of botany, — Chemiit and 
Druggist. 
The Wild Obakgks of the Society Islands, which 
are now an important article of export, owe their 
origin, according to Mr. Hawe'e report, partly to 
Captain Cock, who brought hither ships from Braz 1, 
and partly to tbe early miEsionaries from the 
Australian Colonies, who introduced another variely. 
It is theEe two kinds, though left untended — for 
there are no plentations of oranges in tbe islands — 
wbich have by aoclimalisation and 8el(-propBf?ation 
gradually merged into the one variety eo favourably 
known in the market as " the Tahiti orange." 
The fruit, which varies from oblong to oval in 
shape, is large, tbic-ckinned, very heavy, sweet, ai'd 
full-flavoured. The propagation of the Tahiti orange- 
tree is accomplisbed by " raiderp," tueh as rats 
and other auimalt, who scatter tbe seed, which, 
owing to the moist, warm climate, germinates with 
tainty and rapidity. 
EcNAEGEEiyA, T*A CoY. — The eighth general meet- 
ing of the shareholders of the Hunafgeria Tea Com- 
pauy was held ou Wednesday last, wb< n the atual 
yearly accounts aud reports were put in and taken 
as read. There is a (ii«ideud decUred of two per 
cent., which, coctidering the indifferent sea^on of 
last year, is perhaps as gco>! as could have bceu 
expected. The tea sold amounted to 232,9h8 lb., the 
cardamoms to 1,338 ib , and cocca of the weitht of 
two tons ; altogether the tttal proceeds cf crop bales 
amounted to £8,424 ; to:al outlay £7,561, wbich si o«s 
a profit ot £862. A finer plucKiug was csrried out ; 
bus owingto lower market prices only a fractio: al 
alvancB on the previous j ear's tale priorS w»s 
obtained. There has been no addition to tbe total 
acreage of the estate, wtich stands as follo-wrg : — 
Tea over sis years old. ..596 acres. 
Planted in 1887 ...124 
Do 1888 ... 40 
Do 1891 ... 29 
Total under Tea ... 789 
Cocoa plenied in 1891 ... 30 
The condition of the estate is very f^vouratlv r. - 
ported on, and the directors cocsider that the ietult 
of the past year's working shows that they would do 
well in succeeding seasons as the lately plaated 
areas come into fuller bearing.— Local " Times." 
