March  i,  1893.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  593 
TEA  CROPPING— WEATHER  ESTIMATES  : 
INFORMATION  FOR  LONDON. 
Our  Badulla  Planting  Correspondent  reports  a 
poor  month  for  tea  in  January,  and  the  continuance 
of  adverse  weather  for  flushing  up  to  date.  It  is 
becoming  a matter  of  practical  importance  as  to 
whether  telegraphio  reports  of  weather  as  affeoting 
“flush,”  as  well  as  of  estimates  monthly  and 
otherwise  should  not  be  sent  to  London  ? One 
gentleman  whose  opinion  we  sought,  writes  : — 
I believe  I must  have  been  the  planter  who  first 
suggested  wiring  this  scorching  drought  to  London. 
I suggested  it  long  ago  to  Colombo  people  ; and  while 
refusing  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  “ official 
estates,”  I recommended  the  Association  here  to  leave 
what  they  did  not  know  alone,  and  wire  the  short 
pluckings  which  they  do  know.  But  I find  wires  are 
sent  by  many  for  private  purposes,  rather  than  for 
the  information  of  purchasing  merchants  in  the 
Lane.  The  shipments  are  regularly  wired  and  some 
firms  wire  at  the  middle  of  each  month  the  ship- 
ments up  to  15th  and  their  estimate  for  2nd  half  of 
month.  An  official  wire  from  “ Chairman,  Planters’ 
Association”  of  this  scorching  drought  would,  I believe, 
send  tea  up  at  once.  February’s  pluckings  will  be 
miserable," 
The  Ceylon  Tea  Fund  Committee  ought  certainly 
to  authorise  the  Chairman  to  telegraph  at  once. 
— .» — . 
KURAKKAN. 
Cereal  from  W.  Ferguson’s  Notes  on  Ceylon 
Grasses  (Eleusine  Coracana).  Eleusine  Coracana,  Goert. 
Rox.  FI.  Ind.  1.  p.342.  E.  Stricta,  Rox.  l.c.  p.343? 
Cynosurus  Coracanus,  Linn.  Kurakkan,  Sinhalese, 
Hermaun  Mus.  Zeyl.  p.  58.  Linn.  FI.  Zeyl.  No  458. 
p.  208.  Knox's  Ceylou,  p.  22.  Kayva.ru,  and  Kel- 
waragu,  Tamil.  Natchne,  Ragee,  Hind.  Raggi, 
of  Madras.  I can  find  no  explanation  of  the  mean- 
ing of  the  specific  name  adopted  by  Linnaeus  and 
Gcartner,  but  can  scarcely  doubt  that  it  is  derived 
from  the  Sinhalese  Kurafcham,  under  which  it  has 
been  known  to,  and  cultivated  by,  the  natives  time 
out  of  mind.  There  is  no  record  of  its  having  been 
found  in  a wild  state.  This  is  cultivated  extensively 
by  the  Sinhalese  from  the  coast  up  to  several  1000  feet 
in  the  Kandyan  country,  especially  in  the  cheenas= 
to  what  is  called  Kumari  in  the  Madras  Presidency 
“ This  is  the  most  prolific  of  cultivated  grasses,  form- 
ing the  chief  diet  of  the  poorer  classes  in  some 
parts  of  India  as  Mysore,  North  Circars,  slopes  of 
the  Ghauts,  &c.  It  is  considered  by  the  natives  to 
be  the  most  nourishing  and  invigorating  of  cheap 
food.  On  analysis  Raggi  has  been  found  to  contain, 
on  an  average  6'53  per  cent  of  nitrogenous  matter, 
whereas  rice  contains  7 ’40  and  wheat  13’42.  In  this 
respect  Raggi  stands  last  among  the  cereals  of 
In  dia.  But  Dr  Forbes  Watson  thinks  that  the 
want  of  nitrogen  is  more  than  compensated  by  the 
mineral  constituents  of  Raggi.  It  is  rich  in  iron 
required  for  the  blood  corpuscles,  and  in  potassa, 
lime  and  phosphoric  acid  essential  to  various  tissues 
of  the  body.  On  the  whole  Raggi  thus  stand  high 
in  food  value.  See  a very  full  account  on  this 
grain  in  the  Supplement  to  the  Ceylon  Observer  of  19th 
July,  1879,  extracted  from  the  Madras  Athenaeum.  .'—One 
variety  of  E.  Stricta,  Rox.  gives  120-fold,  and  another 
500-fold,  whilst  on  two  tufts,  the  produce  of  one 
seed,  50  culms  grew,  and  no  less  than  81,000-fold 
was  carefully  calculated  to  be  the  produce  of  this 
plant.  Five  varieties  of  Kurrakkan  are  cultivated  by 
the  Sinhalese. 
UVA  PLANTING  REPORT. 
Badulla,  Feb.  3rd. 
The  past  has  been  the  driest  January  I remem- 
ber, and  we  have  had  far  more  wind  than  usual. 
The  Weather  here  now  is  simply  delightful. 
Bright  hot  days  with  a cool  breeae,  mpraipgs  a»d 
evenings  bitterly  colei, 
Tea  did  very  little  in  January,  and  the  weather 
is  still  too  cold  and  there  is  too  much  wind  for 
much  flush  even  now.  But  we  shall  probably  get 
good  flushes  towards  the  end  of  the  month.  The 
district  prices  continue  fairly  good  though  we  have 
had  nothing  very  sensational  lately.  Factories  are 
paying  from  9c.  to  11c.  per  lb.  green  leaf.  A good 
deal  of  pruning  has  been  done  in  the  district  thiB 
last  month,  and  the  habit  of  pruning  in  January 
is  growing  in  favour. 
Coffee  is  if  anything  looking  more  wretched  than 
when  I wrote  last.  A few  estates  at  medium  ele- 
vations have  a good  blossom  in  spike,  but  crop 
this  year  will  be  woefully  short  from  Badulla. 
Bug,  which  is  usually  dead  at  this  season  of  the 
ear,  is  still  flourishing  ; and  I am  afraid  wre  shall 
ave  another  attack.  I attribute  this  to  the  want 
of  rain  this  year,  for  except  in  October  and  early 
part  of  November  we  have  had  none  of  the  heavy 
afternoon  showers  we  generally  expect.  Large  acreages 
of  coffee  will  go  under  tea  this  year,  and  I think 
even  the  most  hopeful  of  us  now  realize  that  coffee  is 
no  longer  to  be  relied  upon.  The  two  new  cart 
roads  have  been  commenced  and  the  Spring- Valley  - 
N aula  road  is  making  great  progress. 
Labour  is  fairly  plentiful  in  the  district,  and 
health  generally  good. 
» 
TRAVANCORE  TEA  IN  COLOMBO. 
AN  INTERVIEW  WITH  A TRAVANCORE  PROPRIETOSi 
No  one  in  Colombo  is  more  directly  interested  ifa 
Travancore  than  Mr.  Donald  Noble,  the  Manager  of 
tie  local  branch  of  the  Bank  of  Madras,  so  that  bia 
views  on  the  question  of  the  advisability  of  remitting 
the  import  duty  at  present  levied  in  Ceylon  on  tea 
have  the  merit  of  being  those  of  one  well  up  in  the 
subjeot.  As  owner  of  a fine  young  estate  in  Travan- 
core— the  Glen  Mary  estate— and  as  largely  interested 
in  Ceylon  tea,  Mr.  Noble  is  well  qualified  to  express 
an  opinien  cn  tbe  subject,  though  we  certainly  do 
not  agree  with  what  he  says. 
In  answer  to  an  inquiry  es  to  the  possibility  of 
a large  number  cf  Xravanoore  estates  sending  teal 
to  Colombo,  Mr.  Noble  said  :■ — 
“ It  all  depends  upon  the  duty.  Abolish  the  dhty 
and  I feel  Bure  a number  of  estates  would  ship  teas 
here  for  public  sale  in  Colombo.  Anyone  wantiBg 
their  money  s on  would  naturally  do  so.  At  present 
it  is  not  worth  the  trouble.  I have  tried  it,  and  so 
have  others,  and  we  have  all  stopped.  Teas  come  here 
via  Tuticorin,  and,  if  they  ere  damaged  in  transit, 
or  require  re-boopii  g or  re-firiDg,  or  even  re-bulking, 
it  can't  be  done,  as  they  have  to  be  sold  in  bond  or 
else  duty  has  to  be  paid  on  them.  This  is  a direct 
discouragement  to  the  development  of  the  trade  of 
Colombo.  The  duty  is  absolutely  indefensible.  Let 
any  member  of  Parliament  put  a question  to  tbe 
Secretary  of  State  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  an 
order  to  rescind  the  duty  would  be  sent  out  at  once. 
Ceylon  puts  a 6d.  duty  on  Indian  tea,  and  India  allows 
600,000  lb.  of  Ceylon  tea  yearly  to  find  its  way  into 
consumption  in  India  yearly  free  of  duly  ! The  anomaly 
is  monstrous.” 
ABked  shout  the  cost  of  bringing  down  tea  from 
Travancore,  Mr.  Noblo  said: — “It  does  not  cost  much. 
It  is  far  cheaper  in  many  ways,  as  cheaper  freight  to 
London  is  secured  from  Colombo  than  from  India 
Coast  ports.  That  the  trade  wculd  grow  I verily 
telieve,  if  encouraged.  You  must  remember  that  it 
is  far  nearer  to  Colombo  from  any  port  of  the  Coast 
of  Inc'D  than  it  is  from  one  coast  of  India  to  the 
other,  Have  I made  any  representation  to  Govern- 
ment in  the  matter  ? Of  course  I have.  I saw  the 
Colonial  Secretary  last  year,  and  even  he  did  not  at- 
tempt to  defend  the  duty  in  theory.  He  promised 
bis  best  assistance  when  the  tariff  was  revised,  but 
so  far  nothing  has  been  done.” 
When  the  danger  of  Java  and  China  teaa 
beiDg  shipped  to  Colombo  and  mixed  with  Ceylon 
teas  as  soon  as  the  duty  was  removed  was  pointed 
out)  to  him,  Mr*  Noble  expressed  a copfidf^ 
