Jan. i, 1895.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
473 
able with the size of the ship. The old explanation 
of the tides, which though technically wrong, is prac- 
tically right will illustrate this. It is briefly as 
follows. Gravitation varies inversely as the square 
of the distance, therefore the centre of the earth and 
with it the earth itself is attracted by the moon 
more than the more distant water on the farther 
fiide. This causes a slight heaping up of the 
water on that side, not in one place but more 
or less over a good part of that hemisphere. For 
the same reason the water on the side next to 
the moon is drawn more than the earth and this 
causes a heaping up on that near side also. The 
moon causes a tide of a little over two feet, and 
the sun of a little more than one foot. When 
they act together as at the times of new and of full 
moon the tide is the sum of these and is called the 
»pring-tide, which I inadvertently called the " flood 
tide." When they act at right angles, the tide is the 
difference of these and is called the neap-tide. In 
order to keep up the elevation or heaping-up of the 
water in its course around the earth, following the 
moon there must be some translation of water, which 
leads to currents. These are modified by the shape 
of the land and of the ocean-bed, and in some places 
the tide is heaped up 50 or even 80 feet. 
The air is much more mobile than water, and more 
likely to be affected by the tidal impulse, and this 
must produce currents modified by the various con- 
ditions of the surface, and by the more powerful 
air-currents due to other causes. Rain usually finds 
its cause or occasion in air currents, and their 
concomitant conditions, and these tidal currents 
must take their share. When other and 
more efficient causes are just on the point of 
precipitating rain, this added cause though slight 
may be enough to bring about the result, 
just as the little boy's "pushing a pound,'' in the 
ship launch turned failure into success. 
In confirmation of this it may be noted that 
Guyot says that a comparison of more than 7,000 
earthquakes showed that they are more frequent at 
the time of the syzyies when the moon is nearest 
the earth, and at the places where the moon is in 
the meridian. This seems to be the result of a tidal 
tendency in the denser ocean within the earth. The 
barometer also gives slight variations according to 
the position of the moon. 
I would therefore answer the four questions : — 
1. Yes, the moon does directly cause measurable 
tides. 
2. No. a ship's log does not and cannot have entries 
as to the tide in mid-ocean. 
3. For the reasons stated above. 
4. By "weather," I mean the state of the atmos- 
phere as to wetness, storm, etc. etc. and think I 
have shown that the moon may have a slight effect, 
—Tours truly, JAFFNA COLLEGE. 
COFFEE IN MATALE: A NEW TYPE- 
IS IT A HYBRID COFFEE ? 
Wiharagama, Matale. 
Dear Sib,— As there is no possibility of obtaining 
information except through the Press will you excuse 
my seeking through your columns to ascertain whether 
any of your correspondents can report similar ex- 
perience to my own in the matter of " sporting " coffee 
as I am somewhat puzzled. 
In a small clearing, in which Arabian coffee was 
interspersed, plants being taken from my own nur- 
series of Arabian coffee, one plant attracted atten- 
tion by the size and its apparent stoutness of leaf, 
— I expected it might dcvelopo the characteristics of 
Maragogipe ; but it did nothing beyond looking like a 
peculiar Arabian of a robust growth. I was naturally 
very much astonished to see a few buds of blossom 
upon it of uninistftkeaWy Lib'ericm type, the big ■white 
twisted bt(d. lihe tree to ordinary 1 observers is distin- 
ctly Arabian — the hlossoni distinc tly Iiihcrian. Never- 
theless when the few llowors opened on the 80 Nov. the 
manager report* it as not so largo as Liberian 
blossoms opened saino day oloso at hand, but 
larger than any Arabian, 
If then this is a hybrid, it must have been hy- 
bridized years ago; the tree I think is about three 
years old. There was I believe an experiment made 
by a late assistant at Peradenia Royal Botanic 
Gardens, of grafting Arabian on Liberian coffee but 
I do not know if anything came of it likely to be of 
service or was recorded at all — but I have not heard 
of any hybrid plants such as mine appears to be. I 
should like very much to know if anyone has ob- 
tained hybrids, or can report as to seed from hy- 
brids, or plants raised from that seed. For it is 
manifestly interesting to ascertain if we are 011 the 
high road to getting robust varieties of Arabian 
coffee. Not so much perhaps to Botanists, as to that 
" common garden " proprietor whose sensitive feelings 
are roused by the difference between Liberian coffee 
at R12 a bushel and Arabian coffee at R19'50. 
J. M. 
[We must ask Dr. Trimen if he has had any ex- 
perience of a hybrid coffee in Ceylon : some Coorg 
planters boasted to us a year or two ago that they 
had hybrid coffee flourishing in clearings which 
practically defied the leaf fungus ; but some of the 
seed tried in Ceylon did not, we. believe, prove satis- 
factory in that respect. A hybrid between the Li- 
berian and Arabian species ought, one would think, 
to be a very desirable plant for cultivation in Ceylon. 
—Ed. T.A.'\ 
TEA LEAF WITHERING. 
Sir, — Will you kindly allow the subject of wither- 
ing tea leaf to be a little more discussed in your 
columns ? 
1st. Have any of your readers been at the trouble 
to make a series of exhaustive experiments in wither- 
ing Tea Leaf, namely in rapid withering and slow 
withering ? 
2nd. I will venture to hazard the statement 
that slow withering is favourable to the development 
of flavotir in the Tea, whilst quick withering develops 
strength of liquor. Will any of your readers, kindly 
confirm or refute this statement according as their 
observations may have guided them. 
3rd. What steps have as yet been taken to analyze 
the constituents of the leaf cells before, during, and 
after withering in order to observe, and follow the 
chemical changes that transpire during the process 
of withering 1 
4th. What degree of moisture in the cells is most 
favourable to the thorough completion of those chemi- 
cal changes ? 
5th. Would the absorption of carbonic acid gas 
during the process of withering, assist the develop- 
ment of those chemical changes going on in the leaf ? 
—Yours faithfully, ENQUIRER. 
RAMIE CULTIVATION. 
Colombo, Dec. 10. 
Dear Sir, — We enclose herein particulars re 
"Ramie Cultivation" which we received from one of 
our constituents in Glasgow, and in their letter they 
add : — " Plants can be supplied f.o.b. at Spanish Port 
at 18s per 1,000, whence they could come by direct 
steamer to Liverpool or London and thence abroad. 
Number of plants required 50,000 per hectare, say 
20,000 to 21,000 per English acre."— Yours faithfully, 
BOSANQUET & CO. 
[The particulars of cultivation contain nothing new, 
but we shall give them in full in our Trojricdl A : /ri/ vl- 
turist. The Ramie or Rhea plant (Bohnu rin Nivea) being 
a native of Assam as well as of China and Sumatra, 
it should scarcely be neeessory to go to the Western 
world for plants. — Ed. 7 ..I. | 
CEYLON TEA IN AMERICA: 
INSTRCCTTOXS To DELECJATfi, 
Randy, Dec. 18th, 
Sir, — I enclose for publication copy of letter of 
instructions sont to Mr. Wm. Mackenzie, Kenreseutatfyf 
