Oct. 2, 1893.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
245 
and wait four or five years for any pro6t. Government 
land including all expenfea, snch as surveying, e'c, , 
C08t $1-50 per acre. In making a pnvUe purchase 
one must pay fcom 85 to 7 per acre. If a man will , 
promise to build a houte, no matter what kind o£ a , 
building he puts up, the town of Ma^af;alpa will give 
him a lot. The beet coffee is raised on high ground. 
Matagalpa is nearly 3,000 feet above the aea luvi-l, : 
and the cofiee there is considered very good quality. 
In that section of Nicaragua there have been planted j 
by Americana 3,000,000 coffee trees in the lait three ; 
years, lilost of the men from the United States 
appear to be from Chicago, iilany are ftom Milwaukie. | 
A man should not go there with the idea of buying 
laud, starting a plantation and then leaving it in 
charge of an overseer and returning to the United 
States when he pleases ; but he will stay long enough 
—say five ye»M, until his place is in thoroagh work- 
ing order, he can liv° oi-? months in the United States 
and six inonths iu ^- .--.jagua very easily.— ^wenca?! 
Grocer, 
WHERE THE TEA-BUG BREEDS. 
A planting correspondent in writiog to _ a 
oontemporary, htwing mentioned (on the authority 
of Mr. P. D. Clarke) that Helopeltis breeds freely 
on a weed (Stachytarpheta Indica) which should be 
eradicated, we applied to the Director of the 
Gardens for confirmation, or otherwise, of this 
important piece of news. Dr. Trimen is good 
enou'ih to wri'e : — 
"Mr. Clark is unfortunately away from home 
today so I cannot ask him what he knows about 
Eelopeltis breeding on Stachytarpheta. It is possible, 
but not very likely. The eggs are so peculiar that 
when once seen they cannot be mistaken— white, with 
2 long horns at one end. The insect certainlij breeds 
on tea and on cacao and on cinchona, and probably 
on a good many other plants; but I should expect 
them to be woody plants, not herbs like Stachytarpheta. 
—To attempt to eradicate the commonest weed we 
have, even commoner than lantana, will give a good 
deal of work." 
^ 
FORMOSA AND CEYLON. 
Formosa— the Beautiful Island— attracted a few 
years ago a great deal of attention from residents 
in the Far East beoauae of the extraordinary activity 
of the ChiaeEB Governor, Liu Ming-Ch'uan, who 
laid down railways, built elaborate forts, imported 
Armstrong guns and waged perpetual war with the 
aboriginal savages. Little, however, is known about 
it by most people in this country, and therefore a 
Foreign Office paper just written by Mr. Alexander 
Hoeie, our Acting Consul at Tamsui, deserves 
special attention, because it is a most admirable 
summary of the charaoteristios and commercial 
possibilities ot the island and its products. 
Americans know more about Formosa than we do, 
for its particular brand of tea is greatly appreciated 
by them, so much so that the Oeylon tea-growf rs 
have tried in vain to imitate it. — Ddily Chronicle. 
August 18, [Tli'S is quite new to us m Ceylon. 
—Ed. T.A.] 
THE DUTCH CINCHONA-SALES. 
{^From our Correspondent.) 
AlISTEBDAM, August 10- 
The oinohona-anotionB to be held in Amatenfam on 
August 31st will coDBist of 365 oases and 6,185 bales 
(about 553 tons), divided as follows :— From Uovern- 
meut plantations, 341 bales (about 32 tens) ; from 
private planta;iui s, 305 cases aud a,i-ii bales (about 
521 tons). This quiutily contains— Of druggists' bark : 
-S'^cciVK^ra— qaillf , 250 oases ; broken quills and chips 
55 balea 115 cases ; root, 57 bales. Of manufaotur- 
ing-bark : Ledc/eriand—htoken quills and chips, 4,503 
bales ; roots, 834 bales, /fyinc/s— broken quills uud 
chipf, 6-lG balea; root, 78 bales. Officinalis— hTO^oa 
quUlB and chips, 12 halea.— Chemist andDrugykt, Aug. 19. 
EAEE AND LARGE 1J;;-3^CT. 
Capt. Whitley of the s.a. "Lady Gordon" on 
his last voyage round the island picked up a 
curious anii unusual beetle visitor at Hambantota. 
It has been prepared and preserved by Mr. Haly 
who says of it : — "It is one of the large Indian 
Longioornes (Oerambryida3) probably Acanthophorus 
serratecornis ; but I am sorry I cannot name it with 
certainty at present." 
COORG COFFEE IN DUMB AEA VALLEY. 
We have the following encouraging account from 
a coriesponfleat of a coffee clearing in Dumbara : — 
" Coorg coffee planted here in June-July last 
year is at present most promising. The trees 
were lopped at 3 feet some time back and they 
have spread out well and cover the ground. A 
great many have crop set on them and what is 
most satisfactory ia that there is very littio leaf- 
disease noticeable, whilst other and older ooSea in 
the neighbourhood is being ravaged by the disease. 
Ot course where the soil is indifferent or where 
plants from inferior seed have been put out, there 
are vacancies and sickly tresp, but taken as a 
whole, it is a most successful clearing and quite 
equal tc the bes5 of clearings in the olden golden 
days. It was planted with cacao at the same time, 
BO has not a fair ohancs." 
DELI NEWS: TOBACCO CROP PROSPECTS. 
During July, says the Deli Courant, the weather 
took a dry turn, from too little rain falling, especially 
on the low lying estates. The drought was followed 
by rain in the beginning of Auguft, and most of the 
planting companies consequently consider the outlook 
either satisfactory or favourable, though the dry 
weather had taken bad effect on the Utar planted 
crop. The drought, on the other hand, proved favour- 
able for cutting the ripening crop, eo that on many 
estate?, two-thirds of the latter have been thus dis- 
posed of. The tobacco that has so far reached tbe 
sheds, comes in for much prai3e from the leaf beiug 
fine, The seedling disease shows itself in several places, 
and extensive nnreeries have been laid out in conse- 
quence. Tho shipment of last year's crop has almost 
all been carried through. On several estates, prep:^ra- 
tiona are in full course for next year's crop. — Straits 
Times, Aug. 22. 
Tropical Roofs. — The native of the interior 
of Ceylon — says the Scientific American — finish 
walla aud roofs with a paste of slaked 
lime, gluten, and aium, which glazes and ia 
so durable that specimens tbreo oenturiea old are 
now to be seen. On the Malabar coast the flat 
bamboo rcofs are covered with a mixture of cow- 
dung, straw, and day. This is a poor conductor 
of heat, acd not only withatacds the heavy raina 
to a remarkable degree, but keeps the huts cool 
in hot weather. In Sumatra the native women 
braid a coarse cloth of palm leaves for the edge 
and top of the roofa; Many of the old Buddhist 
temples in Ind a and Ceylon had rcoii maeie out 
of cut stone blocks, hewed timber, and split bam- 
boo poles. Uneven planks, out from old and dead 
palm trees — seldom from livitig young trees — are 
much used in the Celebes and Philippines. Sharks' 
skins form the roots of fishermen in the Andaman 
Islands. The Malays of Malacca, Sumatra and 
Java have a rooting of attaps, pieces of palm leaf 
wicker work, about three feet by two in size and 
an inch thick, which are laid like ehinjdes and 
are practically waterproof. The Arabs of the East 
Indies make a durable roof paint of slaked lime, blood 
an'? cement. Europeans sometimes use old sails made 
proof against water, mould, and insects by paratUce 
and oorroaive sublimate — for temporary roofa. 
