464 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Jan.  2.  1893. 
there,  and  after  resting  a day  in  the  house  of  a 
hospitable  Frenchman,  eagerly  pushed  onwards.  The 
trip  was  now  getting  decidedly  interesting,  for  al- 
though I have  no  great  leaning  towards  the  Spanish 
priesthood,  still  I honestly  tried  to  go  forward  un- 
prejudiced, thinking  only  of  the  monks  of  old  and  , 
the  good  work  they  did  in  their  day.  But  this  con-  1 
vent  was  a revelation  to  me  : we  had  never  seen 
anything  quite  so  filthy  and  suspicious  looking  before,  ; 
and  would  have  gladly  escaped  within  an  hour,  in-  I 
deed,  did  so,  and  began  erecting  our  tent  at  a safe 
distance,  but  were  implored  not  to  insult  the  reverend 
fathers  by  refusing  to  accept  their  hospitality,  an 
infliction  whch  we  now  bore  patiently  for  several 
days.  We  were  introduced  to  a number  of  Chunchos 
miserable  specimens  they  were,  and  more  familiar 
than  pleasant.  Those  had  left  their  country  for  their 
country’s  good.  Just  as  a herd  of  elephants  in  Ceylon 
occasionally  expels  the  incorrigible  rogues,  so  the 
Chunchos,  it  seems,  have  their  outcasts,  male  and 
female,  who  make  a parley-ground  of  this  Convent, 
fit  converts  to  this  fearful  mockery.  After  sundry 
rather  meaningless  postponements,  we  at  length  got 
a start.  In  Peru  every  good  work  is  to  be  done 
tomorrow;  i;manana”  is  in  everybody’s  mouth  on 
all  occasions.  I often  wonder  what  the  degenerate 
Spaniard  will  do  when  there  is  no  longer  a ‘‘manana." 
Two  priests,  who  professed  to  know  the  country, 
volunteered  to  accompany  ns.  The  start  was  made 
on  a Saturday  morning,  and  as  the  padres  pretended 
that  they  were  prepared  to  hold  service  in  a village 
next  day,  we  flattered  ourselves  that  we  would  still 
have  another  Sunday  in  something  like  civilisation, 
but  we  have  not  yet  seen  the  village,  much  less  the 
service, 
(To  be  continued.) 
SOUTH  WYNAAD  NOTES. 
It  looks  more  like  settled  fine  weather  now  than 
it  has  done  for  some  time  past,  and  we  needed  the 
change  very  badly.  The  continual  rain  was  doing  a 
great  deal  of  harm,  encouraging  weeds  and  leaf 
disease,  and  checking  the  ripening  of  crop,  and 
driving  distracted  those  who  were  anxious  to  get 
their  bark  dry.  By  the  way,  talking  of  leaf  disease, 
it  strikes  me  that  our  Planting  brethren  must  “ do 
these  things  differently  ” on  the  lulls,  for  I noticed 
in  “ Croppy’s  ” notes,  that  some  one  from  the 
Nilgiris  had  written  to  him  that  “ they  were  long- 
ing for  rain,  as  they  feared  that  the  continued 
drought  would  increase  leaf  disease.  Now  with  us,  we 
regard  a long  spell  of  dry  weather  as  about  the  ODly 
real  check  to  this  abominable  affliction.  Our  trees 
gained  immensely  by  the  long  drought  before  mon- 
soon, and  we  hoped  that  all  our  crop  was  therefore 
tolerably  safe.  Then  came  this  continual  rainfall, 
followed  by  a sweeping  attack  of  leaf.  The  conse- 
quences of  this  are  now  painfully  visible,  for  naturally, 
where  the  branches  became  denuded  of  leaves,  the  crop 
died  back,  and  a great  deal,  which  we  had  hopefully  in- 
cluded in  our  estimates,  has  dropped  off  shrivelled  and 
useless  The  trees  are  now  recovering  themselves, 
and  there  is  a very  good  show  of  young  wood  for  next 
vear  But  every  severe  attack  is  bound  to  tell  upon 
old  coffee,  and  a great  deal  must  die  out  shortly,  for- 
tunately, even  the  most  sceptical  are  awakening  to 
this  fact  now,  and  everywhere  you  see  the  old  patches 
being  replanted  with  vigorous  young  Liberians.  The 
grow  in  these  during  the  past  year  has  been  simply 
extraordinary  and  most  encouraging-  It  is  quite  evi- 
dent  that  bumpers  are  not  to  be  the  order  of  the  day. 
This  season,  though,  I hear  of  one  young  place  which 
is  doing  very  bravely,  and  the  “ Happy  Valley”  wafts 
us  promises  of  wonders ! , 
The  pepper  crop  seems  likely  to  be  very  heavy,  the 
vines  have  a most  lovely  show  of  racemes  upon  them, 
and  the  plant  themselves  have  made  an  exceedingly 
fine  growth  this  year.  But  our  old  friend,  the  “ se- 
nerda  ” is  busy  again,  and  is  now  hard  at  work  cutting 
down  ’the  Moorica  standards  which  have  been  planted 
for  the  support  of  the  pepper  vines.  It  is  not  at  all 
unusual  to  see  fine  stems,  nearly  as  thick  as  one  s 
wrist,  sawn  clean  through  during  the  night.  If  you 
remember,  it  was  just  about  this  time  last  year  that 
they  persecuted  us  in  a similar  manner. 
Three  was  an  idea  that  very  large  quantities  of 
cinchona  would  be  coppiced  in  Wynaad  this  season ; 
by  very  large,  I mean,  of  course,  as  relative  to  our 
districts.  But  from  what  I can  gather,  the  probable 
rise  in  the  price  of  quinine,  will  check  the  wholesale 
harvesting,  and  besides  the  ordinary  shaving,  only 
the  trees  showing  canker  or  those  which  need  thin- 
ning for  the  sake  of  the  coffee  growing  under  them 
will  be  coppiced.  It  is  distressing  to  see  how  in  some 
fields  the  canker  has  got  hold  of  fine  ledgers;  and, 
of  course,  most  of  the  succirubras  have  been  so 
martyred  already. 
I think  the  general  spirit  in  Wynaad  is  more  hope- 
ful owing  to  the  push  we  have  had  in  the  opening 
and  planting  up  of  so  much  Tea  and  Liberian.  But  still, 
we  have  the  years  to  fight  through  until  these 
come  into  bearing,  and  during  that  time  our  out- 
look cannot  be  very  brilliant,  as  it  will  be  a case 
naturally  of  much  out-go  and  little  in-come.  Yet 
there  is  a rift  in  the  clouds,  and  it  is  comforting 
to  believe  that  dear  old  Wynaad  will  weather  her 
storms  yet  and  find  a safe  haven,  independent 
of  Arabica.  Rumour  whispers  of  things  likely  to 
happen  and  changes  to  occur  in  the  near  future, 
but  as  yet  the  shadow  of  coming  events  is  so 
shadowy,  that  I cannot  venture  to  speak  of  them 
as  solid  facts. 
Crop  will  certaiuly  be  very  late  this  year.  So  far 
little  but  “ fly-picking”  has  been  possible,  and  by  lar 
the  greater  part  of  the  berries  are  still  quite  ere  n. 
This  is  particularly  aggravating  when  ooe  realises  the 
importar.ee  of  shipping  one’s  coffee  as  early  as  possi- 
ble. I remember  loDg  ago,  hen  we  used  to  be  afraid 
that  we  should  not  be  able  to  attend  the  “ Canterbury 
Week”  in  Calicut  in  September,  because  coffee  was 
getting  ripe,  and  chickdorais  must  not  be  off  the  Es- 
tates ! and  now,  we  are  half  over  November,  and  can 
only  here  and  there  perceive  a few  red  berries.  It  is 
sincerely  to  be  hoped  there  may  not  be  very  many 
empty  ones  amongst  them.  But  last  year’s  experience 
make  us  somewhat  tremble. — Madras  Times,  Nov.  25. 
VARIOUS  NOTES. 
Wooden  Tea  Boxes  in  Assam. — Among  the  various 
branches  of  Assam  Forest  Revenue,  the  royalty 
paid  on  wood  used  in  the  manufacture  of  tea 
boxes  is  not  the  least  important.  The  outturn  of 
boxes  from  saw  mills  has  nearly  trebled  itself 
during  the  past  four  yc-are.  The  preduoe  chiefly 
required  for  this  purpose  consists  for  the  most 
part  of  inferior  timber,  such  as  simal,  kadam  and 
kokan,  all  of  which  are  trees  of  rapid  growth.  It 
is  proposed,  in  view  of  the  expansion  of  this  off- 
shoot of  the  tea  industry,  that  certain  well-situated 
areas  shall  be  reserved  for  supplying  the  demand 
for  these  woods. — Indian  Engineer,  Nov.  12. 
The  Silkworm  in  Italx.— It  appears  that  the 
quantity  of  silkworm  grain  cultivated  in  Italy  is 
decreasing.  According  to  a recent  report  from 
Sir  Dominic  Colnaghi,  1,200,000  ounces  of  the 
grain  was  cultivated  last  year — chiefly  crossed 
yellow  breeds  prepared  in  Italy,  pure  European 
yellow  and  white  breeds,  and  Japanese  and  Chinese 
breeds— whereas,  ten  years  ago  the  amount  was 
1,525,000  ounces.  But  the  greater  oare  shown  in 
the  selection  of  the  grain  and  its  healthy  con- 
dition, as  well  as  the  diffusion  of  more  rational 
methods  of  culture,  have,  to  a great  extent,  made 
up  for  the  dismissed  quantity  of  grain  distributed 
for  incubation.  Last  year  the  scarcity  of  mulberry 
leaves,  which  had  to  be  bought  at  very  high  rates, 
was  unfavourable  to  the  interests  of  the  breeders; 
but  the  results  of  the  breeding  were,  on  the  whole, 
satisfactory.  The  total  yield  of  the  cocoons  was 
82  million  pounds  avoirdupois  in  round  figures, 
about  a third  of  which  belonged  to  Lombardy. 
The  total  value  of  the  silk  produoed  from  the 
cocoons  was  over  five  million  sterling. — Times 
Weekly  Edition,  Nov.  11, 
