836 
THE TROi'ICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [June t, 1^94. 
leaf, and coald make no attempt for very ehame to 
imitate it. And yet " Horniman " sold a good 
deal of tea. " Cooper-Cooper " had a huge lea Ehoot 
as their advettisernant with great flowers on it— a 
" Binjy " eboot with no tip. And I used to 
think that good tea was only made of the flowers 
(no branohes or roots you know). Kindly look back 
to page <t8, July 1st, 1893, of the Tropical Agri- 
culturist, ocd letter Nc. 18 signed D. : — " It was 
uandidly admitted to me in the Lanr, when I was 
last in England, that OTdimiry Ceylon pekoe sou- 
chong was 50 percent better for drinking purposes 
than ordinary China oongou and that the only 
advactagQ the latter had was in its appearance." 
When we have a fair oonsensuti ot opinon, we 
can take the majority— that of the greatest number 
of those who drink our tea— and when we know 
what " yood tea'' is we can make "improved tea." 
Good green tea used to be made in India ; why 
has it been dropped so entirely ? Do you think 
the London buyers vill be bothered to buy tea 
to please the customers of the grocers who are 
removed, Eay, three places from tbemselTes in the 
deal. " If they want graen tea let 'em go to 
Japan or Hongkong ; these Indian chaps can make 
good strong mixing tea." 
The Continent, I hear, is refusing our strong 
tea, and yet have we bad a single word of warn- 
ing ? Has the market found out what is wanted 
on the Continent and advised us to try and make 
some tea to suit that taste ? And if this is a fact 
and we are losing, the Continental Market is nut 
the " Market," a traitor to the hand which has 
made it, atid fed it and keeps it alive. Are we 
to be monopolized for mixing ? '' Aoh ! dat ish 
too bittorr," said a German gentleman when offered 
a oup ot weak tsa say about half the slrangth 
of Assam Is 6d tea, and he insisted in reducing 
the strength half again with hot water. And yet 
we have to strive to improve even AsEam tea for 
bim. 
Would it be heresy to say that people drink 
tea not for the taste but lor the properties con- 
tained in the tea ; and, alas, if we iiad out that the 
neceesoery " properties " consist of strength and 
body, then indeed we are at the end of our 
tether, for have we not oome to the 3rd leaf as 
the limit of plucking ? Shall we have to drop 
the Beoond leaf in time and only pluck buds ? 
1874. 
COCONUT PLANTING— AND THE D£- 
STRUCTIVENESS OF BEETLES : 
Legislation Needed. 
May 7. 
Deae Sib,— I am glad you have called prominent 
attention to the mischief done by coconut beetles 
(see page 818). If their destruotiveness in the 
Chilaw and Puttalain districts ia anything 
like that represented— 40 tress I think it was 
stated out of every 120 planted— it is certainly 
time the Government intervened with legislation 
to stamp out the beetle pest, or at least to arrest 
their spread. The coconut industry is a great 
deal more to the people of the country than tea 
is to the European Colonist, or than even coHee, 
with its far«reaching influence and benefits, ever was. 
And for this reason. The nut ia more than an 
article ot commerca to them. It is their food in a 
variety of ways; it gives them light, and the 
product of the tree is to them shelter and many 
things beside. We need not he alarmists while 
we recognise and press obvious facts on the atten- I 
tion ot the Goyernment. It would be absurd i 
exaggeration to say that the induBtry iaindaoget; 
but under easily conceived oireumctanoea it may 
rapidly be endangered, and io the meanwhile vork 
EeriouB, if not irreparable, loee. Hap^i';, the 
pcbts are inseotE, and not, ae in the {case of 
coSee, fungal, and can therefore Le more 
easily attacked and overcome. It may be 
true that as long as there is a cocoout plant to 
attack, beetles and wecvile will thrive ; but tbey 
can thiive only if allowed to live, and tbeir 
extermination is posEible ; while that of " beme- 
leia vastatris." was soon proved to be impracti- 
cable- Still, tht operations of the eoemiee of the 
coconut have their chief danger in tbeir obacurity, 
while the fecundity of the insects is sometbiog 
marvellous. The danger ia that the iueeola 
may, through neglect, tpread from tree to tree, 
from til Id to flcld, and from estate to eetate until 
whole districts become involved ; and that tbiais no 
fanciful picture or contingency is pro\ed by the 
sad experience in British Honduras where tbe 
injury done to coconut plantations threatened tbe 
prosperity of the whole colony. There 30, 40 and 
even 50 per cent were attacked and lost, and as 
the attacks were not confined to plants, but ex- 
tended to bearing treef, the loss was moat Eeverely 
felt. The first step Ehonid then be to bring home 
the dangers ot neglect to the minda of proprietors, 
large and small, and then to ccmptl them to 
apply the medful remediea by more immediate 
penalties than the gradual losa of their profiia 
and tbeir plantatiocs. In tbia district, I Euppcse 
I don't lose half-a-dozen plants a year from 
several thousands I have over 250 acres ; hot 
my experience within the laet 12 mcntbs ot tbe 
manner of the loss, through dose observation, has 
convinced me that the danger is a real one ; and 
that without careful and thorough extermination 
of infects and grubs all plants are liable to 
attack. 
Let me explain. There is an idea that tbe plants 
attacked are those which have just come into 
bearing, or those about to blossom. That ia a 
mistake. Tbe plant is often attacked when much 
younger, and the mischief becomes apparent just 
when hopes of returns begin to be entertained, 
I became alive to the real danger which beetles 
and especially weevils threaten, after examination 
of the remains of a plant which an experienced 
kangany had destroyed as usual and as 1 thought 
effectually when I saw the heap ot cinders and 
ashes. I bad tbe curiosity to take up a 
petiole or leaf-stalk which the fire bad not con- 
sumed, and which bad a bole at its thickest end. 
I bad it ripped, Tbe larva which it had accom- 
modated was shrunken and dead, but as the 
stalk was tipped farther on, a network ot bollowa 
was discovered, each with a cocoon ot fibre in 
which was a live grab of diminishing eiza as you 
went further from tbe thick end ot tbe petiole 
which half-encircles the stem. This brought to 
light two facts — that tha fire cannot reasb 
tbe grubs set in tbe deeper parts of the tree 
attacked, and that tbe damage is not confined to 
the heart of the tree. Search sboald be made for 
the enemy in every leaf stalk as well, and also in 
every convolution of the heart and bead. In a 
word the tree and its leaves must be thoroughly 
dissected betoie burning, or you will leave behind 
your enemy to develop in a few days into « foll- 
wingcd insect to oarry its destiuotive mission into 
the nest plant available. 
Another point is that it is not the diseased plant 
which is attacked, as is generally tbe case with 
plants and tbeir enemies^ My experience is that 
tbe stoutest and the healthieat are the chief 
victime. Mr, Pe Mel is quite right to warn plaotdzs 
