March 1, 1901.] 
THE TROPICAL APtRICULTURIST. 
627 
plumbago, it would have filled them with con- 
steiTiation instead of rejoicing. It was a tidal 
wave which will leave ineti'aceable marks in the 
form of permanently diminished demand. In the 
twentieth century the price of a commodity can- 
not be trebled in twelve months wilh impunity 
and without ensuring that the ingenuity of man 
will devise a means of defence against a recur- 
rence. The best friend of the Ceylon plumbago 
industry at the present moment is lie who can 
do anything to assist in reducing 2jj-ic?s. That 
the Government have not hitherto realised this, 
and have failed to appreciate that the interests 
of Government and plumbago consumers are iden- 
tical, is, I consider. Sir, a subject of serious 
regret. The dry logic of facts, in the fcrm of 
diminished exports of Ceylon plumbago, will, 
however, inevitably prove it in time. — I am, &c., 
Basil E. Peto, 
^Morgan Crucible Company, Limited, London.) 
Colombo, February 11th. 
« 
RUBBER AND GUTTA-PEROHA. 
East Africa.— An interesting discovery has 
recently been made that the fruit of a tree which 
grows priucipally at_Dunya will on being tapped 
with a knife produce a white fluid, which when 
placed in boiling water coagulates into a substance 
closely resembling gutta-percha ; this in the nrocess 
of cooling becomes hard, but can in its previous 
spftstate be UK ulded in'.o any required shape. The 
fruit somewhat resembles a jieach in shape, but is 
of the size of a small melon. It was intended that 
samples of this product should be taken to London, 
and doubtless by this time expert opinion has de- 
cided whether it is actually gutta percha or not. It 
is not improbable that it will prove to be an in- 
ferior order of that article. Should it be found to 
be worth anything, however, a large source of 
re^eaue may be flerived from it, particularly if, as 
is quite likely to be the case, it is discovered in the 
sister island and upon ihe mainland. — Central 
Ajrican Times. 
WYNA.AD PLANTING NOTES. 
WYNAAD.Feb. 13— The coffee spike is so well developed 
upon bushes which yielded only a light crop recently 
that the recent showery weather,if succeeded by more 
wet within a reasonable time, will open and set an 
excellent blossom. A considerable amouut of pruning 
has already been accoraplishecl, but this work will 
prove more costly- and tedious than in 1900, as the 
quantity of old wood, from the heavy crops borne 
by estates, is necessarily larger than in the preceding 
■eason. 
A weeding on weeriy estates, if carefully accom- 
plished after the termination of coffee crop work, is 
a judicious means of keeping down expenditure in 
weeding during the May and June ensuing, as the 
weeds do not, in such instances, require further attention 
till July ; and this leaves labour available in the 
two earlier months for burning borer stumps, 
hanclling, and supply pitting. A hot weather weeding, 
(on weedy estates,) if undertaken in February- 
March, can be finished fur R2 per acre, especially 
where much local labour is to the fore for the opera- 
tion. Where funds are available, iu addition to the 
weeding, a light forking and the application of bulky 
fertiliser.s is also progressing, and by the end of 
March nearly the whole of such impoitant opera- 
tions should have lean coneluderl and low country 
labour discharged, betore the Vishoo festival, generally 
held early in April. 
South Indian planters have every need to be buoyed 
up by the assurances and views of such as hold op- 
timistic theories regarding the future prospects of 
coffee and ten, for a prominent London merchant, 
largely interested iu such industries, as well as in 
Ceylon tea gardens, writing under date the 18th 
ultimo, holds that " we have a bad time before us 
which will not be iaiproved by our dear friends the 
Freocli putting lOd. per lb. duty on Bast Indian 
coffee, and letting Brazil in at about 24 d. "The 
only hope is that I cannot conceive anyone drink- 
ing Brazil coiiee who has ever tasted anything beter, 
and yet 70,000,000 of Americans drink it ; but then * 
their state of civilisation is inferior in all matters of 
taste." — Madras Mail. 
INSECT PESTS. 
Planters will be interested to leain that Mr. De 
Niceville, the newly appointed entomologist of the 
Indian Museum, will spend several months each 
year on tour, for the purpose of investigating insecb 
pests wherever they occur. He will also deliver a 
course of lectures annually at Dehra Dun. — 
Indian Agriculturist. 
Gutta-Percha.— The exports from Singapore % 
are shown by the following figures to have 
swollen considerably in the last decade, and those 
who look with anxiety to the continuance of the 
supply will be seen to have cause for their dis- 
quietude ; 
1891 ... 7,013,440 lb 
1897 6,4.37,733 „ 
1899 16,178,133 „ 
These figures are certainly somewhat start- 
ling in more than one respect, and no doubt 
the l-'acilic Cable scheme has had a good 
deal to <io .vith the conversion of a decrease 
into such a large increase. How long the 
proiucing districts can stand the train is a 
speculative matter of great importanc e, and it is , 
regrettable that the system of gathering by natives, 
as practised in Borneo, cannot be tffectively ' 
contiolled by responsible persons. As things are 
at present, the natives do pretty much as they 
like, and there seems to be no way of enforcing the 
regulations as to cutting down trees which have 
been issued by the Governor of British North 
Borneo. We are promised a supply of gutta- 
percha in the future fnnu French and German 
colonies where transplanting is being carried out, 
but it will probably be some time before supplies 
from tlie new sources affect the Singapore market 
— if, indeed, they ever do so. Still, what is being 
done by France and Germany is worthy of all 
praise, and our own Government might do 
well to take souie decided action in the matter. 
Seeing how little success has attended the various 
schemes for the preparation of gutta percha from 
the leaves of the tree, it is somewhat surprising 
that an attempt was recently made to form a 
new company for this object. Whether the pro- 
moters have succeeded I do not know, but cautious 
investors will turely take \iarning by what has 
occurred in ohe <;ase of a large Loudon company on 
the prospectus of which the names of distinguished 
scientists occurred. There seems to be a gieat 
difficulty in getting regular consignments of leaves 
to Luiope, and the idea of successfully working 
the extraction process on the spot in the fori s 
is scouted by men who are familiar witli 
the country,— CrMWa-P«-c/j« Trades' Journal 
Jan. 21. 
