Junp. i, 1895.J THE TROPICAL 
been immensely improved during recent years, but 
still present some curious eccentricities ; vide reports 
of 10th and 11th inst. :— 
Index Pig. Rainfall. 
Record of 8th inst. : — 
Batticaloa .. 1 3 6 .97 inches 
Badulla .. 7 .09 
Puttalam .. 1 2.63 
Record of 9th iust. : 
Puttalam . . 3 .32 
Record of 10 inst.: — 
Puttalam .. 3 .92 
Badulla .. 7 .03 
Galle .'. 6 P13 
In the above instances Puttalam stands a good first. 
Colombo with a rainfall of 3' 1 5 in. recorded 011 
10th inst. has its lake level raised Gh inches — today's 
record of 1-37 inches adds only J inches, surely 
with the level still so low, this does not mean that 
the sluices have been opened ? — Yours faithfully, 
MERCHANT. 
THE PANAWAL TEA COMPANY. 
Coreen, Talawakele, April 16. 
Deaii Sin, — I have the pleasure to inform you that, 
at the third annual general meeting of the above 
Company, the Directors (after providing for cost of 
new extensions &c.,) have declared a final dividend 
for the half year ended 31st December 1891, of 5 
per cent, making a total distribution of 8 per cent, 
for the year, free of Income Tax. ,£400 has been 
added to Reserve Fund, and a balance of £157 car- 
ried forward.— Yours faithfully. 
A. MANSFIELD. FORBES, 
Manager in Ceylon. 
THE SCARCITY OF LABOUR— AND 
ADVANCES. 
Deaii Sin, — Lahour market. So we are beginning 
to find out that the wholesale crimping that now 
goes on in the busy season, under the Toondu 
system, is likely to lead to serious consequences. 
The chief sinners, I hear, are among the employees 
of the new Planting Firm who have started business 
here. By all moans let us recruit in pastures new, 
and let the new Firm plank down R5,000 to head 
the list to defray this new departure. They will 
want 10,000 coolies, and as it is said that they don't 
mind dropping R40 per head in Coast Advances, 
they can afford it. Government ought really to be 
more severe on those men who take advances, and 
use them on their paddy fields in India or to pay off 
their debts to the Chetty, instead of bringing men 
from the Coast. If injury is thus done to the Tea 
Enterprise, no one will he greater sufferers than the 
Revenue Collector. — Yours truly, 
OLD PLANTER. 
SCALE IN BOILERS. 
Nahavcena estate, Rakwane, April 20. 
Dkar Sih, — He: scale in Boilers, I would recommend 
the use of Bell's Asbestos Boiler Preservative, which 
I have used for the past 6 yen s with excellent results. 
I would also recommend Boilers to be covered 
with Boll s Asbestos Non conducting Composition, 
which will save its cost in full in a very short 
time. J. P. THOMSON. 
[Who will now advertise the above with prices, 
f.n- the benefit of planters '.'—Ed. T. A.] 
COCONUT PLANTING IN THE CHILAW 
DISTRICT : 
MANY-HEADED COCONUT PALMS; 
FEVER, COOLIES AN D TEA <>i; 
BOILED WATER. 
l'ahigaswewa, Chilaw, April '21. 
Dkar Sin. — 0:i this estate there are several double- 
headed coconut ptauts. the shoots of which are very 
even in sizo and strength ; they vary in age, boing from 
1 to 4 years old. None of the older ones have 
AGRICULTURIST. 817 
blossomed and when they do so the result will be 
worth watching. 
There is also a rejected nursery plant with 7 
distinct shoots, but these vary very much in sise. 
Now that I know an interest is taken in many? 
headed plants I will work this one up and will let you 
know the result. 
We have been having nice showers which in all 
amount to about 4 inches for this month to date. 
Fever has been exceedingly bad, and I fear continues 
so, in this and the Puttalam districts. 
Giving tea to labourers during their mid-day rest 
hours would be a very good thing and I will try it 
tomorrow, but I doubt very much if this could be 
done on a large scale ia the field. Boiled water 
would also be difficult to manage. 
I have frequently seen both Tamils and Sinhalese 
drink from a dirty pool or stream rather than walk 
a few yards to where a chattio of nice well water had 
been placed for them. 
I heard only a few days ago of a case where a 
watchman had to be put on to prevent labourers 
bathing over the only available fresh water well on 
the estate, being too lazy to walk about J mile to a 
brackish water lake. This is not encouraging, still 
I hope Mr. Jardine will succeed in his very good 
and kind attempt to reduce fever. I am most parti- 
cular in having the water used in the bungalow 
boiled and filtered (even for tea); yet I suffer very much 
from fever.— Yours faithfully, S. W. GANE. 
SUGAR AND INDIGO CULTIVATION IN 
THE SEVEN KORALES. 
Kurunegala, April 25. 
Dear Sir, — In a footnote at page 107 of the 
" Ceylon Directory for 1893" under the title of " Sugar 
cultivation in Ceylon," you say: "A 'sugar mill' 
for expressing its (sugar cane) juice existed in the 
first century Defore Christ in the district of ' Seven 
Korales,' where 1,500 years afterwards a Dutch Go- 
vernor of the island made an attempt to restore the 
cultivation of sugar!" Again at p. 127 "The culti- 
vation of indigo in the Seven Korales begun by the 
Dutch in 1646, was unsuccessful, and Governor Barnes 
in 1826 lost money over this article." Can you in- 
form me whence this information has been gleaned ; 
and if any further particulars are available from the 
authority you quote ?— Yours truly, ENQUIRER. 
[In compiling our "Agricultural Review" first in 
1877, and at intervals since, we have placed, we 
suppose, every book ever written about Ceylon, more 
or less under contribution; but have not always 
found time or space to quote our authorities. 
We think Tennent mentions about a "sugar-mill" 
being referred to in the " Mahawansa"— what diligent 
student of the latter will verify the reference ? — 
while Bennett and Pridham are among our authorities 
for the further statement. — En. '/'..!.] 
CARORS. 
Sin, — Will you or any of your readers kindly let 
me know what are caroh beans and what they are 
called in Sinhalese and Tamil, and what their value 
is as food for cattle? IGNORAMUS. 
[Carob tree. TheAtgaroba Bean. Botan. Ceratouia 
Siliqua. Not mentioned ia Trillion's " Ceylon Flora" 
nor W. Ferguson's "Timber Trees" — hence we sup- 
pose unknown to Sinhalese or Tamils. We quote as 
follows from a botanical authority: — Cehatoma Sili- 
qua, the only species, is a native of the European, 
African, and Asiatic countries bordering on the Medi- 
terranean, where it forms a small branching tree, 
about thirty feet in height, having wood of a pretty 
pinkish hue. The tree is extensively cultivated in 
many of tho above-mentioned countries, especially in 
such as suffer from periodical drought, its long roots 
penetrating to a great depth in search of water. It 
is called Algaroba by the Spaniards, and Kharoub 
by the Arabs, whence comes our English name C'urob 
or Caroub, the pods being called carob-pods, or carob- 
beans, or sometimes sugar pods. Those pods contain 
a huge quantity of agreeably flavoured mucilaginous 
