686 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April r, 1895. 
Fruit of trees raised from seed is often found 
to be inferior to that of the parent trees ; but 
there is no deterioration in the case of fruit raised 
grafts. The size and flavour vary according to 
the composition of the soil in which the trees are 
planted. 
There are about two hundred cultivated varie- 
ties to be seen here, of which the most important 
are the following :— 
1. Kalapahar. — The best in the district, medium 
size, weight from 5 to 8 oz., skin green when ripe, 
whence the name ; flesh yellow and fibreless ; pulpy, 
sweet, cold, and fragrant. The tree is not a profuse 
fruiter. 
2. Kohitur. — Produced from No. 1 by inarching 
with a plant of the Maldah variety ; description 
similar, except that the taste is sub-acid. Size small, 
weighing from 4 to 6 oz. 
3. Rani Pasand. — A small fruit, weight from 3 to 
5 oz.; skin almost green, yellowish near the stalk ; 
flesh orange colour; fibreless; yielding thick juice 
when squeezed and of excellent flavour. 
4. Golap Jamun. — A small, longish fruit, with 
yellow-white skin, flesh yellow, having silken fibre 
around the stone ; sweet and of rosy fragrance. 
5. Ananas. — A fruit of medium size, weight from 
6 to 8 oz.; fibreless; skin orange colour, flesh yel- 
lowish-white ; not very sweet, but having the flavour 
of a pineapple — hence the name. 
6. Dudhiva. — The same as No. 5, but very sweet, 
and yielding a thick juice ; is esteemed by many to 
be the best of the Moorshedabad mangoes. 
7. Safdah Pasand. — Otherwise known as Bwa, a 
fruit of medium size, so named from having been 
brought to notice by Nawab Sufdar Ali Safdar Jung, 
weight 4 to 6 oz.. having silken fibres ; skin reddish 
green ; flesh orange colour ; sweet ; of excellent flavour. 
8. Sultan Pasand. — Named after Sidi Sultan ; 
medium size ; skin green; flesh orange colour; fibre- 
less ; acid-sweet, and rich in pulp. 
9. Bhowani chowbas. — A fruit of small size; weight 
from 3 to 5 oz.; skin green ; flesh yellow ; fibreless ; 
sweet, and of nice flavour. 
10. Akonda. — A fruit of rather oval shaps, pointed 
at the bottom; skin yellow; flesh yellowish- white ; 
fibreless : pulpy and very sweet, 
11. Shahat Kuza.— A small fruit ; skin green ; 
weight from 2 to 3 oz.; flesh orange colour; fibreless ; 
Very sweet. 
12. Najukbadan.— A fruit of medium size, skin 
orange colour ; flesh red ; pulpy ; sweet, and of the 
scent of an orange. 
13. Chahkhas Champa.— A small fruit ; skin yel- 
lowish-white ; flesh orange colour, having silken fibres; 
sweet, and most delicious. 
14. Jagannath Bhoo.— A very large fruit ; weight 
from 24 oz. to 64 oz.; fibrous ; skin yellow ; flesh 
yellowish -white; Not very sweet. 
— Indian Agriculturist. 
COCONUTS AND TEA. 
We purpose redeeming now the promise we made 
in our last Friday's issue, of ottering a few re- 
marks on the questions raised by two of our 
correspondents on the price of coconuts, the 
value of coconut lands, and the relation which 
the price of land should bear to the net income 
derived from it. We may at once say, in reply 
to the suggestion by the writer of the Planting- 
Notes from the Central Province that the valu- 
ation of coconut land should be seven years, 
income, that we draw a distinction between 
coconuts and tea. The latter is a shrub which 
has to be submitted to very harsh treatment 
in order that it may be profitably cropped. The 
•shock to a plant in being cut down to within a 
few inches of the ground every year or alter- 
nate year, must be immense; and although in 
the case of hedges it may be said that similar, 
although not ^mte such drastic, treatment, has 
not proved fatal to most hedge plants, it must 
not be forgotten that these latter are not further 
denuded of their tender Hushes, weekly or 
fortnightly, as .soon as they appear. Indeed, the 
whole of our tea enterprise, is based on a very 
artificial treatment of the bush. There is, of 
course, the tradition that in C hina bushes have 
Survived cropping for scores of years : and even 
in the island our oldest bushes arc by no means 
our worst ; hut it is not *afe to count on a 
very long life for shrub treated as tea is. The 
need of replanting — renewing lue fields at certain 
intervals — may probably have to be kept in 
view. Nor are our forcing climate and generally 
poor soils, factors which it would be wise t<> 
ignore, even if there be uo danger from liability 
to insect and other pests through the enfeebling 
effect of severe treatment. It is in this view, 
quite apart from direct returns in heavier crops, 
that we attach importance to manuring, and the 
necessity of invoking science to aid u> in im- 
proving our soils. If all the circumstances on 
which we have touched be taken into considec- 
tion, the multiplication, by seven, as suggested 
by our correspondent, of the annual yield per 
acre should be a satisfactory way of valuing an 
are of tea. Surely, a more liberal valuation isn 
justified in the case of coconuts, when we re- 
member the great age to which the tree attains 
— cropping as it does up to 80 to 100 years — and 
the absence of all interference with its natural 
mowth. The only approach to severity of treat- 
ment is connected with manuring, which in- 
volves a certain amount of root pruning; but 
even then, in most cases, it will be found that 
the severed roots are shrivelled up. having per- 
formed their functions, and waiting to be re- 
placed by new rootlets. In these circumstances, 
there seems to be more of permanency in a 
coconut estate than in a tea estate — although, 
having regard to the hardy character of the 
shrub, we all hope for a ' long life for each 
separate bush — and it is only reasonable to give 
the former several years' purchase more than is 
allowed in the valuation of a tea estate. We 
see how this element of permanency influences 
valuation in the case of house property which 
is often put down at Colombo at 20 years' pur- 
chase ! We fancy it would not be unreasonable 
to put down the life of a tea estate at half that of 
a coconut estate, while the annual expenditure 
in order to reap the profits would be about double. 
NyASSALAND, — We regret to receive the un- 
favourable report as to climate, soil, coffee and 
even labour, which we publish from a well-known 
Ceylon planter in another column. What we 
cannot understand is how allowance is not made 
for the number of old residents — some of them, 
Ceylon men — who do not seem to have suffered from 
the climate. There is Mr. Buchanan, C.M.G. , tiie 
first coffee pioneer, Mr. J. W. Moir, planter, Mr. 
Lloyd, Surveyor, who has just got two Assis- 
tants over from Ceylon, Mr. Henry Brown, plan- 
ter, and others ; and Mr. J. H. Carson had 
no such gloomy experience. Perhaps our present 
correspondent travelled at the very worst season 
of the year ? — Since writing the above yesterday, 
we have received a letter from Mr. Moir from 
his estate of Lauderdale at the South end of 
Mount Mlanje, giving us a series of meteorologi- 
cal observations which we will publish very 
shortly. Meantime we would only observe that 
these show a splendid climate with an annual 
average temperature of 66 '608 degrees — equal to 
the Agras or Eandara wella ; 
