Jan. I, 1894.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
467 
inve-tnKnt coconnt-planMng is ccnsideteJ f^r safor 
thau b-ii'Ws, ani \i^4d^, moreover a muuli great( r in- 
tcteat. Tbf pr< fits rrf nC very h gh corapared with | 
tea and coff e, but the ■nitial ou'lay iii-d subsequent 1 
cultivatitn required arc of tbe btualiest. The reMirns 
ppr f cr? are not — I am talkii g of Ceylon — nuuli ever 
Kl'50 per ac e oa the averngc, but well-cared-for 
ta'ales yield mere, like K2C0 aLtiualiy. A yield of , 
only fifty nnts per tr^ e uiU in a good year— like 1892-93 | 
bring in as much as K130 per a-re, while on woll- , 
cultivttt-d iand the > irU is scmetimes as high aaloO I 
I)ut^ per trte, which in a goo 1 year idobp. almost [ 
K400 per acre. Of course the one gr^at disadvantage | 
is the l.-ngth of time r( qu'red belo.-e they begiu to | 
vield — from six to Eeve ^ years — bul this ajjain is no | 
lonfcer th>4n in the case of cacao." 1 
Tlien follows a series of notes on ccconut cuUiva- 
tioi), culled from varicus cumters of the Iropieal 
Agriculturist, and pmbo-'yiug thi; views of your wtU ; 
known corre-por dents W. J. and W. H. W. j 
"The new fodiler plaiit, PoiaooNdm sachaunensis, ' 
which your Loudon correspon lent ri f tra to. is ai- i 
ready k- own to Bpnpal as kiu t grass cr Macltuie. ! 
Tfie Indian Af/ficulturi^t thus describes it : "The 
roots branch ou all tides, and pa'sa horizontally j 
from the rhizomi^s, pacctraiing tht hardest soils and j 
devrlopiag new siioots, whioh further i'jcrtase tlie | 
size of the clump. The stems are numerous end , 
clissly set ; they vegetate er.rly, and are net loDg 
in attaining a heigh'-, of nearly ten feet. The ex- 
periments as yt-t made are mfhciently conclusive as 
to the valu" of the plant as fodder. A jouiig plant j 
put into the ground is not slow in covtring a Eurface | 
3 feet fquure with its le»fy branches. To.- first out- j 
Unz is made when tlia tt ms are ir>!m 3 to 4g feet 
high ; if the secoi^d growth is stroiig enough a second 
crop is gathered, but in the fo lowing year three or 
fourcuttin/s can be mide. The total qnautity of 
the green yield is suid to be about from 44 to 68 Jb ■ 
per sqnre yard or about from 95 to lOO tons per 
acre. Cattle are extremely partial to this grass." 
EAMBLING NOTES BY A TEA PLANTER. 
TEA PLANTERS' BLIGHTS. 
Bed Spider— Green Fly— Mosquito. 
As a planter long resident io Assam the Red 
Spider has been to me a matter of absorbiag 
interest for mfiny years. Who is be? Where 
dors he come from ? Where dees he go to ; 
hn\ if he has any place to gi to, above '11 
things, why the dfu-e does n't be go there? We 
are toll that ev ruliinp: exis's for pood. What 
good is the Red Spider? I take Gladjtoce'a test. 
I spread out the map of my gar('eD, End I 
challenge the red spider to put bis finger, if he 
has one on any spot and ssy "there I did 
good." Certainly in one sense cf the word he's 
here fer good, because the confounded thirg 
won't go away, but what moral bm^fifc does the ' 
world in general or the tea piar.ter in particulsr 
derive from the Red Spider? What is his pur- 
pose in life? Whan is the object of his exis 
tencc ? There is certainly one quality he pos- 
s S3es : he's a splei did exaO'p'e of perseverance 
and pluck. IVa s en him sciuirtcel. at with all 
Bcrta cf chemical mixtures, Iv'e s ea bim choked 
with fjobur and malty. I h've seen him ap- 
parently buried ali'.eiu lime. But he only moves I 
(luifily on ard eo-nes up smiirg on a neigh- j 
bourirg bush. Bi^ persistence in the face of all 1 
efforts to etTcot his removal gives one the idea ' 
that he thinks he s"rves some moral purpcse; ' 
but if S3 he's awfully mistaken. If Ihiii's his I 
purpi in lif% h-.'s a most hopeless f.iiure. 
The Red Sp oer, far f om a bem ticial in- 
flu"DCP, tX'ncis''B a d moralising effect on both 
planters and giiden. 
There is anutbcr pest we've got, called Greeu 
V\y. I oftou woud<'t who gave tiim thit nama 
He m?.y be fly, but he's certainly not green. 
Did you ever try to c itch a Green Fly? As for 
being green if ycu look at him ycu'U see he'a 
perfectly white. Did yen ever hear of a Green 
Fiy b?mg csught by a R' d Spider? I trow not. 
There is nothing green about a Green Fly except 
his name. Di-1 you ever hear of a planter doing 
cny'hiag to a Green Fly? A Red Spider he'll 
go for, but a Green Fly never. He's the only 
blight that war is not cl?clared against. I caa't 
sfjy a Green Fly is welcomed, but he'3 tolerated. 
Platiters s em agreed that the only thing is to 
grin aod bsar — planters may not all euoceed 
with tbe grin, but they all have to bear it. It 
isn't that lis) doea coharm: ha does a very oon- 
eicVriible imount. 
The Mosquito is the greatest enemy the Tea 
Bush h-is. There is no mcderation about a mos- 
qui 0. Th3 sime skill ard determination the 
o^her branch o£ thi family displays in working 
throug''! the net which furroimda a sleeping victim 
is disp'ay. d by the fiend in mosquito form that 
attacks cur bushes. Tin Red Spider dries up and 
discolours the leaves, the Green Fiy stunta the 
flu=hes, but lha mosquito goes for the sap of the 
bush— just as ^h.'^ domesticat d mosquito g'-es 
for the life blocd of his viatim, so does the 
g^id n mcsquilo go for the life blood or sap of 
the tea plant. The planter has declared un- 
csasirg war fg.icst the mcscjui'.o. Early in the 
morning end late at nght the planter en- 
deavours to CHteh him, and in the diy assaults 
him by every means in his power. Science 
has h en brought to bear on him; all the oon- 
C3clioDS that chemis'ry can think of have been 
forced on him by means of hideous and fantastic- 
Ehappcl syringe pamps. Inventors have been en- 
c-^uri-g d to rack their briins for mesns to des- 
troy him. But to no avail. He has been tempted 
by torches and treacle, he has been smoked acd 
burot ; but no planter can yet claim to have 
ultsily vatquished him. Tbe mosquito displays 
a curious farcy in seleoiing the portions of a 
garden he meacs to settle on : sometimes low 
pi'tmed tea, sometimes high, sometimes low 
land, Eometimes at the edge cf the tea near 
the jungle, sometimes in the centre of the 
garden. Now he settles on an undrainei plot, 
and agsin he takes up bis abode in a well-drained 
pirce. No planter has yet disoovered with cer- 
tainty the reasons wbiek guide his selection, but 
every planter knows that once seleoted uothing 
will induce him to leave it. The planter may 
ticket him, docket him, and make notes about 
bim in his diary ; he may prune the piece down 
and burn it; he may hoe it or let it run to 
jungle ; he may drain it, manure it or leave it 
severely alone : but there the mofquito remains 
and there he makes bis first appearance eachEeason. 
The mosquito mnketh the face of the planter to 
grow long, it maketh his heart to grow Ead. it 
killeth his tea bushea, it diminisheth hia outturn, 
it maketh hii profits to disapp.'ar, yea it oauseth 
him to lose biilet, and now there are these three 
b ighis Rod Spider, Green Fly, and Mosquitor, but 
the most awful of these is Mosquito. — yUgiri A'ews, 
Compressed Tea. — With reference lo a paragraph 
about some compressed tea which, when used after 
being left open for a year, proved very good indeed, 
a correspondent who knows about tea says that 
it always impioves by keeping, so long ae it is 
compressed or shut up in an airtight box or 
enclosed in 1 ad. Some doctors say that tea ehoald 
never be drunk till it is a year old at laast ; 
and quite new tea, as every planter is aware, 19 
medicinal in its properties.— J/. Mail, 
