410 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Dec. 1, 1900., 
Mr. H S Ferguson. For niy parfc, I can assure 
him or otlier specialists that the Telegraph sub- 
oidinate, whose name I have taken down for 
future identification, has no motive for inventing 
a story of tliis kind or for wantonly exaggerating 
what he saw. — Madras Mail. 
[The easiest thing in the world to exaggerate 
under the above circumstances and probaldv the 
length and breadth were doubled.— Ed. T.A.'] 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Neav Varieties of Cacao.— Those inter- 
ested in cacao planting will read with much 
interest the proceedings of the Cacao Com- 
mittee of the Planters' Association which 
we publish on another page. Some very 
practical questions were circulated by Mr. 
Carruthers, the Government Mycologist and 
we trust that the result of the experiments 
that may be carried out will be such cxs to^ 
afford a guide to the prevention of disease 
and the healthy cultivation of new varieties. 
Tea Company Meetings.— We direct at- 
tention to the reports of several Tea Com- 
panies which we publish elsewhere. Speaking 
at the annual meeting of the Associated Tea 
Estates of Ceylon Sir Alexander Wilson, who 
occupied the chair, gave a very full and clear 
statement of the position of the Company 
and pointed out that the directors had come to 
the conclusion that it was necessary to treat 
the principal estates more liberally with 
manure, the expense to be re couped, 
it was helped by the increased yield ; 
and Mr. Bethune also supported the 
policy of manuring. The Duckwari Planta- 
tion has done so well as to enable the di- 
rectors to recommend a dividend of 7 per cent 
on ordinary shares. Last month the annual 
meeting of the Ottery Tea Company was held, 
when a final dividend of 3 per cent, making 6 
per cent for the year was declared; under the 
circumstances these must be considered satis- 
factory results. 
Planting, especially of Rubber, in 
Mexico. — Mr. J. C. Harvey sends us an 
interesting letter on this subiect,and especially 
on the value of land in Mexico. What he 
tells us about the fertility of the soil and 
the growth of his Castilloa rubber trees is 
enough to make Cejdon rubber planters 
discontented. But there are drawbacks even 
in the Central American Republic and we 
cannot have evex^ything. Still at Henerat- 
goda, in two years, Castilloa trees were 16ft. 
high and 16 inches round the base of the 
trunk ; and at ten years the largest was 38 
inches in girth a yard above the soil and 
about 50ft. high ; while Major Gordon Reeves 
reported trees at 8 to 10 years old 25 feet high 
and 30 to 36 inches in girth. The Castilloa 
likes a stormy climate and deep rich soil : 
in its native habit at it grows to 18') feet with 
a girth of 15 feet or 180 inches. All this by 
the way : Mr. Harvey shows the very 
different growth on poor gravelly soil. We 
hope he will write again and tell us about 
his (^acao and Vanilla as well as the pro- 
gress of his rubber. One grand advantage 
possessed by Mexican planters is the splendid 
market for their produce ottered so near to 
them in the United States— no need to send 
any produce to Europe. 
Rhea P^ibbe.— An enquiry from an Uva 
planter the other day led us to enquire from 
Mr. Manley Power how his Kurunegala 
experiment with lihea wa« getting on. He 
is good enough to send us, in reply, the 
following interesting information :— "In reply 
to yours of 20th, I beg to state that we cut 
the produce of our seven acres of Rhea fibre 
and decorticated it. I have just sent home a 
sanjple to see what they will give us for it, 
as we have some two tons of ribbons ready 
to send away if we get a good offer." We 
trust the price ottered may prove amply 
remunerative, and so encourage an extension 
of the enterprise. 
Rubber.— The German Consul in Payt-Piaia 
(Peru) reports the discovery of larc;e rubberaorest 
on the Niera Kiver, a branch of the Amaz »«. An 
expedition has been organised to start for the 
interior to secure the right to collect the 
rubber. The increasing demand for rubber has 
drawn attention to the advantages of cultivating 
gutta — a leading product of Java, and several of 
the neighbouring islands. A recent numljer of 
tlie "Straits Budget" points out that gutta- 
percha trees growing wild cannot meet the 
growing demand which must soon outrun the 
supply unless gutta plantations extensive 
enough to meet future needs are laid out. 
Gutta leaves have been freely resorted to in 
order to eke out the supply. A company 
has recently been formed at Batavia to develop 
this branch of industry. — India Rubber Journal, 
Oct. 15. 
Coral Reefs of Ceylon and Maldives, 
&c. — Mr. Stanley Gardiner's Report which 
we published in our last issue is a 
very interesting one and we shall put 
it on record for reference (in a mare correct 
form) in our monthly periodical. Mr. Gar- 
diner considers the whole of the North of the 
island as far inland as Dambulla a? compris- 
ing coral reef areas, and he shows that, un- 
doubtedly, Ceylon and India were formerly 
connected by an elevated limestone fiat as 
also Jaft'na and Rameswaram. What he also 
tells us of his observations from Bentota 
southwards, the alternate appearance of 
coral colonies in the N.E., and their washing 
awciy in the South- West, monsoon is of much 
interest. We sincerely trust that Mr. Stanley 
Gardiner may be able to resume his observa- 
tions in Ceylon and the islands to our 
West. 
Manuring and the Value of Cattle 
Manure. — We direct attention to some 
useful analyses of different kinds of 
cattle manure, supplied by Messrs. Freu- 
denberg & Co., (of the Hulftsdorp Mills' Man- 
ure Works) and given on another page. 
Planters cannot fail to be interested in the 
results given and especially in the summing- 
up which shows that ordinary cattle manure 
is really not worth for its chemical consti- 
tuents, more than R7 per ton, or if there has 
been no waste of nitrogen— the manure 
being covered in and otherwise protected — 
the value may rise to about 12 rupees per 
ton ! This is very little ; but do the chemists 
make a proper allowance for the value of 
"bulk" in a fertiliser,— for returning to the 
soil so bulky an article as cattle manure ? 
