594 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[March  i,  1893. 
hope  that  rival  merchants  would  expose  such 
underhand  praotices  and  thus  put  a stop  to  it. 
“ But  in  any  case,”  said  he,  “ the  duty  is  quite 
indefensible.  What  have  you  got  to  say  in  its 
favour  ? The  matter  will  shortly  he  taken  up  by 
the  Travancore  Planters’  Association  and  by  the 
Madras  papers,  all  of  whom  will  be  down  oo 
you  about  this  duty.  The  only  way  out  of  it 
would  be  by  allowing  Travancore  teas  in  duty 
free  whilst  maintaining  the  duty  against  other  teas, 
but  do  you  think  differential  duties  will  be  allowed  ? 
Not  for  a moment.  There  is  no  help  for  it — the  duty 
must  go.”— Local  Times.” 
THE  CINCHONA  REWEIGHTS. 
At  Tuesday's  barb-sales  the  question  of  the  reweigh- 
ing of  recently-imported  cinchona  bark  again  came 
up  for  discussion.  Mr.  David  Howard  set  the  ba'l 
rolling  by  intimating  that  buyers  would  in  future  not 
be  willing  to  content  themselves  with  a statement  of 
the  weight  of  the  packages  upon  their  invoice,  but 
would  require  a duplicate  of  the  original  weighing 
account  from  the  Dock  Company  to  be  sent  with  it.  On 
behalf  of  the  importers,  Mr.  Rucker  assented  to  this 
wish,  and  after  a desultory  discussirn  the  proposal  was 
unanimously  agreed  to. — Chemist  and  Druggist,  Jan.  27. 
WHY  EGGS  DON’T  HATCH. 
Ab  a rule,  those  who  purchase  eggs  look  for  them 
all  to  hatch,  and  blame  the  breeder  from  whom  they 
were  purchased  if  they  do  not  do  so.  Nine  times  out 
of  ten  the  reason  for  failure  to  hatch  is  the  fault  of  the 
buyers  or  their  faithful  “ biddies.”  Hundreds,  aye, 
thousands,  of  people  don't  know  how  to  set  a hen,  and 
even  after  she  has  been  successfully  set,  there  are  just 
as  many  thousands  of  people  who  do  not  know  how  to 
care  for  her,  in  faot,  consider  it  a tiresome  job  to  even 
“ peep  ” at  her,  or  throw  her  U handful  of  food. 
Many  times  a setting  hen  is  surrounded  with  lice.  I 
remember  a sight  at  the  home  of  a thrifty  farmer 
which  I shall  never  forget.  The  farmer’s  wife  was  very 
much  interested  in  poultry,  and  she  would  have  her 
own  way  in  setting  the  hens.  These  were  placed  on  the 
ground  and  directly  under  the  roosts,  and  on  visiting 
the  house  at  night  with  alight,  I often  saw  the  ground 
and  the  sides  of  the  building  literally  alive  with 
lice,  spider  lice,  whioh  hide  away  during  the  daylight, 
but,  like  bed-bugs,  come  out  at  night  in  myriads. 
Tormented  with  these  lice,  I saw  the  hens  standing  and 
the  eggs  cold.  Thus  they  were  spoiled,  unnoticed  by 
the  attendant,  as  the  faithful  hen  was  true  to  her  task 
in  the  day.  Again,  some  hens  do  not  know  their  busi- 
ness, and  fail  to  turn  their  eggs.  I have  often  noticed 
that  when  a good  setting  hen  is  through  feeding  and 
enters  her  nest,  Bhe  steps  carefully  about  as  she  turns 
around  to  take  in  the  surroundings,  and  see  if  she  is 
at  home.  After  this  the  very  first  thing  she  will  do  is 
to  “ tuck  under  ” the  eggs  from  the  outside.  These  are 
the  hens  that  hatch  the  eggs.  AgaiD,  a great  many  peo- 
ple put  too  many  eggs  under  hens.  Thirteen  are  plenty. 
As  a rule,  eggs  trom  young  pullets  do  not  hatch  well. 
I prefer  two-year-old  hens  for  batching  from.  The 
chicks  are  healthier  and  stronger.  Eggs  from  fat  hens 
never  hatch  well.  Another  reason  for  eggs  from  the 
heavy  breeds  not  hatching  is  the  fault  of  the  male.  A 
broken  egg  in  the  nest  will  spoil  the  balance,  unless 
the  whole  lot  be  immediately  washed  in  lukewarm 
water.  A rotten  egg  will  damage  the  whole  batch ; 
and  again,  no  matter  how  careful  the  breeder  may  be 
in  packing  and  shipping  eggs,  they  meet  occasionally 
with  very  careless  handling  from  railroad  employees 
and  others. 
Last,  but  not  least,  some  persons  who  purohaee 
high  priced  eggs  are  too  anxious  and  disturb  the  hens 
too  frequently,  especially  during  the  last  ten  days,  just 
the  very  time  when  they  should  he  left  alone.  These 
are  the  people  who  seldom  get  a chick,  but  who  are 
ready  to  “ set  upon  ” the  man  who  sold  them  the  eggs. 
I have  known  of  parties  who  paid  regular  visits  to 
the  nests,  an  cl  each  time  ebook  each  egg  to  see  if  it 
rattled,  just  the  way  to  make  them  bad,  if  not  so;  yet 
all  the  failures  are  charged  to  the  breeder.  These  are 
some  among  the  reasons  why  eggs  don’t  hatch  ; and 
when  I know  all  I do,  it  is  almost  a wonder  that  any 
hatch  at  all.  B.  A.  Fox. 
— Southern  Planter. 
IMPORTANT  SALE  OF  CEYLON  COCONUT 
ESTATES. 
yakkedegalla. 
The  first  estate  on  the  list  was  Yakkedegalla  also 
known  as  Yakkedegalle  Haina,  and  regarding  it 
details  were  given  since  1888.  "When  the  plants  were 
counted,  in  that  year  the  number  of  trees  in  bear- 
ing and  trees  which  had  flowered  was  given  as  199, 
young  plants  4,034,  and  vacancies  941 — total  5,174. 
The  total  crop  for  the  year  was  1,788  and  the 
average  nuts  per  tree  8.  In  1889  the  total 
crop  was  2,480  and  the  average  nuts  per  tree 
12 ; in  1890  the  total  was  3,320  and  the  average 
16  ; and  in  1891  the  total  was  7,028,  the  average  being 
35.  In  July  1892  they  were  again  counted  and  the 
figures  were  : — trees  in  bearing  345,  young  plants  4,980, 
vacancies  15 — total  5,340,  the  total  crop  for  the  year 
being  7,738,  and  the  average  nuts  per  tree  37. 
Mr.  Arnold  Dias  started  the  bidding  withR5000  and 
Mr.  E.  A.  Daniel,  and  Mr.  H.  Yan  Cuylenburg  followed 
each  putting  on  R250.  Mr.  Dias  put  on  a similiar  sum 
when  he  was  again  followed  by  Mr.  Daniel,  and  Mr. 
U.  D.S.  Gunasekara,  shortly  after  AnaSnppiyah  Chetty 
bad  a look  in  bidding  R7,000,  Messrs.  Daniel  and  Guna* 
sekara  then  bid  alternately  till  the  sum  had  reaobed 
R8.250  when  the  Ohetty  again  made  an  offer  and 
competed  with  Mr.  Daniel  till  RIO, 000  was  reached 
when  he  retired  leaving  Mr.  Daniel  to  carry  on  the 
sale  with  Mr.  Arthur  Alwis,  who  bid  R10, 500  and 
Mr.  J.  D.  Bartholomeufz  RU,500.  The  next  bid  was 
Mr.  E.  A.  Daniel’s  and  he  became  the  purohaser  of 
the  property  for  Rll,760. 
“ JIAVSA.” 
The  next  on  the  list  was  the  small  piece  of  land 
known  as  “Mansa,”  the  plants  were  counted  in  1883. 
In  1888  the  trees  in  bearing  and  trees  which  had 
flowered  were  205,  young  plants  98,  vacancies  20 — 
total  323.  The  total  crop  for  the  year  was  5,150  and  the 
average  nuts  per  tree  25.  In  1889  the  total  crop  was 
6,500  and  the  average  31 ; in  1890  the  total  crop  was 
7,030  and  average  34  ; and  in  1891  the  total  crop  was 
9,214  and  average  44.  In  July  1892  they  were  again 
counted  and  the  figures  were — trees  in  bearing  and 
trees  which  had  flowered’240,  young  plants  170,  vacan- 
cies 20 — total  430.  The  total  crop  for  the  year  was 
7,675  and  the  average  nuts  per  tree  42. 
For  this  property  Mr.  D S.  Senanaika  started  the 
bidding  with  R500,  Mr.  Gabriel  de  Croos  following 
with  R100.  Mr.  S.  P.  de  Soysa  at  once  offered 
R1,000  and  by  thousands  the  bidding  was  carried  on 
respectively  by  Messrs.  Van  Cuylenburg,  Sensnaike, 
Crcos,  A.  Dias,  C.  Perern,  A.  Dias,  Croos  and  P.  de 
Soysa  till  R2,000  was  readied.  Mr.  SeDanaike  offered 
R2,100  and  Mr,  S.  P.  de  Soysa  R2,200  for  which  sum 
the  property  was  knocked  down  to  him  for  Lady  de 
Soysa. 
Mabaoya,  Upper  Kudaoyaa  and  Lower  Kudaoya 
were  then  put  up  in  oue  lot.  The  bidding  which  was 
started  at  R50.000  by  Mr.  R.  Daniel  was  continued 
by  Messrs.  Alwis  and  Stevenson,  eaoh  of  whom  put 
on  R10,000  fetching  the  sum  up  to  R70.000  when  Mr. 
J.  W.  Jenkins  offered  1171,000,  Mr.  Alwis  followed 
with  R80.000,  Mr.  Stevenson  offered  R85,000 
and  Mr  R.  Daniel  R90,000.  Messrs.  Jenkins 
and  Stevenson  carried  on  the  competition  till 
R102,000  was  readied.  That  sum  waB  offered 
by  Mr.  Jenkins  being  R500  more  that  Mr.  Stevenson 
hut  the  sale  wss  not  concluded  as  it  was  arranged 
that  the  estates  should  he  put  up  separately.  The 
auctioneer  accordingly  called  for  bids  for 
LOWER  Kt’DA  OYA. 
Also  known  as  Polkatua  Mookelana  and  Eogaha 
Haina  (total  extent— Ao.  74,  %•  $■)  was  afterwards 
