June  i,  1893.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
more  so  must  it  not  be  in  the  case  of  poor  soils?  The 
writer  asserts  that  the  coconut  palm  has  fewer 
enemies  to  contend  with  in  the  West  Indies,  than  it 
has  in  the  East,  but  in  the  next  paragraph,  he  men- 
tions a soale  insect  or  coccus  by  whioh  the  trees  there 
are  attaoked.  “ Little  scales  are  seen  olosely 
applied  to  the  leaves  ; after  a time  the  leaves 
attaoked  turn  brown  and  die,  and  eventually  the 
plant  may  be  killed.  Suoh  blights  are  prone  to 
attack  weakly  trees  planted  in  unsuitable  eleva- 
aions  and  badly  cultivated  ; but  sometimes.  they 
invade  healthy  trees  properly  cultivated,  in  the 
best  soils  and  climates."  It  is  consolatory  to 
believe  that  we  have  no  suoh  disease  in  Ceylon, 
or  if  there  is  something  like  it  that  it  is  of 
such  a mild  character  B3  to  be  practically  harm- 
less. When  the  sooalled  cooonut  leaf  disease 
was  discussed  two  to  three  years  ago,  the  almost 
unanimous  opinion  was  that  though  a few  trees 
here  and  there  in  good  soil  and  under  good  cul- 
tivation showed  some  signs  of  the  disease,  yet 
wherever  it  occurred  in  an  aggravated  form  the 
soil  was  poor,  unsuitable  for  coconuts,  and  in- 
differently cultivated.  Where  it  ooours  in  well 
cultivated  land  it  may  be  owing  to  the  absenoe 
of  some  one  necessary  ingredient  in  the  soil,  and 
when  that  is  supplied  the  disease  may  disappear. 
I hold  that  as  a rule  where  parasitio  pests  attaok 
animals  or  plants,  and  are  injurious  to  them, 
there  is  something  wrong  with  the  conditions 
under  which  they  are  nourished  or  grown.  We 
^11  know  that  where  a water  famine  occurs  in 
a distriot,  and  grass  fails,  cattle  beoome  thin, 
with  stariDg  ooats,  and  are  covered  with  vermin  ; 
but  so  soon  as  rain  falls  and  grass  grows  they  be- 
come plump,  recover  their  smooth  and  sleek  coats 
and  the  vermin  disappear.  In  one  case  the  vitiated 
and  impoverished  blood  favoured  the  multiplication 
of  vermin,  while  in  the  other  the  pure  and  whole- 
some blood  repelled  them.  So  it  seems  to  be 
with  plant  life;  and  so  long  as  we  will  grow 
plants  under  unfavourable  conditions  to  thrive,  we 
need  not  be  surprised  that  there  will  be  a 
certain  proportion  of  parasitic  life  causing  more 
or  less  harm  to  them  ; yet  we  can  by  improving 
the  condition  of  the  soil,  and  by  liberal  cultiva- 
tion, so  oontract  them  that  they  shall  be  of  little 
or  no  harm.  In  Ceylon  the  red  beetle  is  the 
only  real  pest  to  be  dreaded,  and  wherever  a tree 
is  attaoked  by  them  it  should  be  destroyed  at  onoe 
by  burning  the  leaves  and  that  portion  of  the 
trunk  that  is  infected.  It  is  rarely  that  a tree 
is  attaoked  by  this  beetle  after  it  is  about  10 
years  old,  and  this  I think  is  accounted  for  by 
the  faot  that  by  that  time  it  is  out  of  the  way 
of  harm  by  having  its  branches  torn  off  before 
they  are  quite  matured  and  the  stem  underneath 
exposed  in  a tender  condition  or  wounded.  It  is 
when  these  conditions  ooour  that  the  beetle  has 
its  chance  and  avails  of  it  to  lay  its  egg  in  the 
Wounds  or  fissures.  To  syringe  trees  for  blight 
could  only  be  done  on  a very  small  scale  and  when 
the  trees  are  young  ; just  fancy  any  one  under- 
taking to  spray  even  a few  thousand  palms  say 
50  feet  high,  not  to  speak  of  those  taller  ! Rhts 
no  doubt  oommit  great  havoo  where  they  are  in 
any  number,  but  to  oirole  each  tree  with  a 12 
inoh  wide  band  of  tin  or  galvanized  iron  would 
be  aostly.  Surely  arsenic  and  phosphorus  would 
soon  rid  an  estate  of  them.  They  seldom  do 
much  misohief  in  Ceylon.  To  allow  the  nuts  to 
ripen  fully  and  fall  from  the  tree  is  no  doubt 
economical,  and  for  suoh  nuts  oil  manufacturers 
would  give  something  appreciable  over  the  ordi- 
nary rate  per  1,000;  but  the  praotioe  has  its 
drawbacks  and  no  well-regulated  estate  would 
tolerate  it.  W.  J, 
1%1 
“ STALK  ” IN  MANUFACTURED  TEA  , 
THE  PRACTICAL  PLANTING  VIEW.  ' 
May  9. 
Dear  Sir, — Of  course  there  has  always  been  stalk 
in  tea.  What  else  connects  the  bud  and  two  leaves, 
when  plucked  together  in  the  ordinary  way  ? 
“ Good  tips  ” are  always  aooeptable  in  theory  as 
well  as  in  the  factory  ; but  are  we  to  believe  that 
your  correspondent  would  have  us  throw  away  or 
leave  on  the  bush  all  stalk  and  pick  separately  each 
leaf  ? In  this  case  he  would  require  three  times 
the  amount  of  labour,  or  thrice  the  time,  or  per- 
haps a new  race  of  ooolies  with  three  hands  apiece. 
Probably  you  are  oorreot  in  supposing  that  the 
staik  objected  to  by  Mr.  Hughes,  is  the  result  of  the 
use  of  plucking  soissors.  “ MULU  PER.” 
NATIVE  OILS. 
Fort,  May  10th. 
Sir, — With  reference  to  other  oils  for  lamps,  used 
by  the  natives  outside  the  Municipility,  are  Kekuna 
Etta,  Mee  Etta,  and  Domba  Etta,  largely  I should 
say  in  the  Matara  district,  and  many  places  in  Galle 
distriot  too.  _ _ MATARA. 
[We  are  quite  aware  of  native  oils  being  used 
in  oertain  rural  districts ; but  the  supply  of  these 
we  believe  to  be  far  too  limited  to  extend  to  the 
towns  and  we  question  if  any  appreciable  quantity 
of  any  oil  save  kerosine,  or  cooonut  is  used  tot 
lighting  purposes  in  Colombo.— Ed,  T.A.] 
"PLANTER’S”  LETTERS  ON  OUR  “TEA 
ENTERPRISE.” 
Dear  Sir, — The  letters  of  your  correspondent 
“Planter”  are  suggestive,  if  not  altogether  called 
for.  Leaving  many  points  in  his  letters  to  others,  I 
would  remark  on  a few. 
He  says,  " assuming  that  exchange  went  up  to  par 
where  should  we  be  ? Assuming  that  the  heavens 
fell  and  smothered  the  larks,  where  should  we  be  ? 
He  says  for  every  £100  netted  in  1890— there  has 
only  been  £66  netted  in  1892.  But  do  the  dividend 
declared  by  Companies  bear  him  out  in  these  figures  ? 
Take  the  Ceylon  Tea  Plantations  for  instance — 
or  many  others  which  could  be  named.  The 
fall  in  exchange,  larger  proportions  of  area  in 
full  bearing,  and  cheaper  working,  so  far  compen- 
sate for  low  prices.  Were  exchange  to  go  up,  as 
Bimetallists  pray,  is  “ Planter  ” prepared  to  disprove 
their  contention,  that  prices  would  go  up  also  ? 
That  many  places  yield  only  very  small  profits,  and 
that  some  cannot  be  worked  without  h>ss.  I conoede. 
These  should  never  have  been  planted ; and  as 
"Planter”  says,  “several  have  been  abandoned 
within  the  .last  few  months; — ” this  canker  in  our 
industry  is  working  its  own  remedy. 
As  to  the  respective  merits  of  low  and  high  estates, 
you  Mr.  Editor  will  admit,  that  I am  quite  com- 
petent to  speak  from  long  and  varied  experience, 
and  ownership  of  both  kind  of  properties. 
I think  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  average  of 
lowcountry  profits  is  greater  than  that  of  upcountry 
estates,  but  chiefly  because  the  lowcountry  was  not 
for  many  years  in  cofee.  New  land  or  land  only  a 
short  time  under  coffee  upcountry  is  doing  better 
(making  larger  profits)  on  the  average,  than  low- 
country  land.  If  the  profits  were  known  of  the 
twenty  estates  which  gave  largest  returns  during  the 
last  three  years,  perhaps  fifteen  of  them  would  be 
found  to  be  estates  which  had  coffee  for  some  years. 
Where  in  the  lowcountry  have  such  yields  been  got 
as  from  the  new  land  in  New  Peacock,  or  from 
some  of  the  patanas  in  BogawantaJawa  ? Or 
where  the  profits  of  Lippakelle,  Gorthie,  or  Chapel- 
ton  ? Yet  I could  name  owners  in  the  lowcountry, 
whose  capital  has  been  returned  2J  times  in  the 
last  four  years  ! 
But  really  a discussion  on  Buch  points  is  of  no 
real  value.  Those  who  have  the  best  estates  are  to 
be  congratulated;  those  whose  lot  has  sot  beea  so 
