S84 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Dec. i, 1893. 
Postal. — Wht-t a saving of time ai d money it woold 
be if our gcod t". M.G. would only kindly i xtend the 
l>rivilege to even the doctor ntd otl tr otticiuls in 
planting districlB who live \(itbin ie»ch of the de- 
livery peons, and p<rnc'it tl em to te tcrvrd in the 
usual course of t)wn service wiHi district letti rs — 3c. 
sived is not so BroBll withtra down to 7 J. T:il<e 
tbe number of letters directed in a day <o llio 
doctor. These might all be posted and lave the tappal 
oooly returning sftir f'a'k. Slay we hope the 1', hi. 
G. will see his v/xy to grant us this favor. 
VARIOUS AGRICULTURAL NOTl-S. 
Tka Seed Oil, — We have some further in- 
quiries respecting ihis product. It is a curious 
fact that in Bilfout's "Cyolopa/lia of India" 
whtrd a very full list of all oils known in India 
and China are given, "tea eecd oil" dots not 
occur, although we have mentioned such seed 
oild as •' oaoao whole aceds,'' " crolon seeds " &o. 
Ill a long list ol " Chinese oils" alio tea seed oil 
docs not oocur. 
Travancore Tea and Cinchona Bakk.— Mr. 
H. M. Knight, Chairman of the Travancare Planters' 
Association, has been taking some interest while 
passing through Colombo, in the question of getting 
the produce of Travancore into Colombo market 
free of Customs duty. We think there is mnuh to be 
said for the Government making suili an exception 
and legislating if necessary. Trovaccoie has evec 
been regarded as an outlying disirxt of Ceylon and 
already exceptional ce^o'iitions about tobacco have 
taken place between the two States. 
Fine Teas for Austr.\lia. — With reference 
to the recent ccmplaiiit published atout more 
fine teas being required in the Colombo market 
to meet a demand for Australia, a tea authority 
calls nur attention to the followirg extract from 
the Melbourne Journal of Commerce, Ojt. 21: — 
Colombo is Eeudiug reduced .shipmeutp, tbe shoit- 
Bge of space and the uiisatisfectory result tf sales 
Laving its effect upon shippers. Several aucti.u tales 
bave been held here, but tue result ha? not been tood, 
the proportion of withdrawals being heavy. Fine tea 
is very difflcnlt to sell at covering; rates, the trade 
evidently not beiog able to sell high price t«Q. 
Coffee Near Kandy. — A visitor from Java, 
without much time to spare, was anxious to see 
coffee growing in Ceylon, but his Colcmbo agents 
wire puzzled above all things to know vhere, 
within a day's journey of Colombo, our old staple 
could be seen 1 At length, inquiry brought to 
light the fact of a young field on Anniewatte 
near Kandy, grown from Coorg seed, and here the 
Java planter was able to eatiefy his curiosity. 
The field in question only covers a few acres and 
was a piece of land often chenaed ; but the coffee 
on it is looking very well, notwithstandin;? that 
the plants were covered with leaf disease in the 
nursery. The field is, however, carefully manured. 
A Eemedt fob Philloxeba, — A paper presented 
to the Paris Academy cf Sciences by M. P. de 
Mely would lead to the ccnclusion that the 
treatment of vines with peat-moss mixed with 
schist is, at least to some extent, a remedy against 
the phylloxera. At all events, some experiments 
have proved so Bucoessful that the Government 
has taken tbe matter in hand, and a systematic 
trial on a large scale is to be made. The phyl- 
loxera is BS serious an bnemy to the French 
vineyards as the hop aphis in Kent and Sussex, 
or the potato disease in Ireland to the respective 
crops which they attack, and any suggested re- 
medy which has appeared to be tectativaly 
Bucocssful is worthy of exlensive trial. — English 
Mechanic, 
The Import Dvty on Tea in IIollakd. — 
We are iodebted to Mr. Schwa z if Meeere. 
Volkarl Bros., Consul for the Netherlands, for the 
information conveyed in bis letter given on ptga 
38(). It shows that the duty in HollaDd is equal 
to iibout 2 l-5tbd per lb., a very moderate rate wliea 
compared with tbe duty in Germany (5id) or Bel- 
tium 3^1, England 41. France !tJ tolUtfl Hollaed 
ought to become a great tea-drinking eoantry were 
it not for the prevalent taste in favour of coffee, 
— wLiah .Java, cf CDurse, supplies— in all the provin- 
ces lave one or two oo the borders of Geniiauy. 
Peci'Obed CtLTivAiioN OF TeA i-v Busha.— It is 
stated, &c:crJing to ih? Overland Chhui Mail, 
that tke Russians ere exporting fion China 
large quantities of lea plants arcl applianccf; 
Willi ihe intention of £tu'ting plantationB in tbe 
mountains of South-east Rusein, whioh is said to 
be very favourable for the growth of the phnt. 
Chinese labourers are being taken over. The 
Cliinofe trading classes do not favour the proj ct 
as they cfiisider it w 11 be-como acotbcr t>erioua 
rival to the native industry. UepoitJ of fauiine 
in some of tbe Pro\iuc£S of China coxe to 
periodically, but there are repoitJ from other 
Provinces of liret-rate ccofs. — Fioneer 
ANOTHEit Plantinx. Companv : The Ceyi.ok- 
Selanook Pla.nting Company, Limiteu — We under- 
staud that a Company ia about to be formed under 
the above title with a capital of U200,(JO0 for the 
purpose of acquiring from Mr. H. W. Uailey a block 
of some 2.000 acres extent in Selangor. The land 
has a railway— that from Klung to Kwala I^unipur 
— running through it, and the Petalin station is on 
tlie land about 4 miles from Kwala Lumpur. It is 
believed to be the best land in the Stale, and 
the Company is to be formed to acquire the land 
and to open up OoO acres in Liberian colTee. Wc 
are glad to learn that a large number of the shares 
have already been subscribed for, and we hope tbe 
project will be successfully put through. 
A Lesson to Fbditqkoweiis. — An American agri- 
culturist ritiged the questioa a shoit time ago as 
to tlio necessity of insect visits to the flowers of 
pears and other fruits affected by blight. It was bhowa 
that the organ sm causing blight was disseminated 
by insects elaring their visits to the bloJEoms, and 
it was tliOUt'it that if by some practical means 
insects could be excluded from the flowers without 
interfering with the fruitfulness of the trees, 
one form of blight at least might be prevented. 
A series of experiments were made at Brcckport, 
New York, to obtain some iaformation in regard 
fo the effect on fruitfulness of excluding iutecte. 
These (xperiments were made undTr the direction of 
the United States Department of Agricullure, and 
the results which are certainly eiartiiog, hbve been 
published. The results seem to indicate a 
fact hitherto overlooked by scientific and practical 
men — v.'z. that many well-known varieties of 
pears will not tet fruit unless their flowers 
receive pollen from other varieties— that ia to 
say, the visits of insscts, by means of which 
cress-fertilisation is eft'eoted, necessary to eoeure 
proper sitting of the fruit. Further information 
on the subject being required, some extended 
experiments were made, the work being carried 
on m Virginia, New York, and New Jersey. The 
results in every case confirmed those previously 
obtained. Thus it would seem thbt most of the 
common varieties cf pears and apples are unable 
to fertilise themselves. Of course, this has been 
touched upon by Datwin, Knight, and others ; 
but it would appear that no one Las advanced any 
Ihaoriei as to the common fruits. The lesson for 
the fruit grower is to select his varieties and plant 
them in such a way as to ensure croBB-fertilisation, 
' —^cUl Mall Gazette. 
