ju^LV 1, 1902. J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
2 — Messrs. Hoppenstadt and Gilletfc in Banco da 
Ja China, 3 hectares, all planted 6 years ago. 
3 — Mr. A. Lonp; below the niouLh of Arena! 
river, 37 hectares, all planted at different dates 
since 1897. 
4 — At the mouth of the river " Tres Aminos," 
an American family the Hogans are at present 
making preparations to plant Flubber on a large 
scale. 
5— Mercedes Quesada has about 6 liectares of 
6-year-old Rubber on his estate in very good 
condition. 
6 — Messrs. Kotelniann and Heynsohn have about 
6 hectares of 6 year-old Rubber planted for theni 
by Mr. Koschney in excellent condition and has 
had one tapping. 
7— Mr. Koschney has on his estate ilS hectares of 
2-year-old trees, 11 hectares of 1-year old Rubber 
and 16 more being planted. 
8 — Mr. Koschney together with other planters 
have planted in Cafto Negro 4 hectares barely a 
year old, many of the trees being now 2 metres 
high, 100 hectares being now actually planted and 
preparations being made to plank 350 hectares 
more. 
9— Mr. Long has in Cano Negro 6 hectares 
planted about l-year old and is preparing to plant 
30 hectares more. 
10 — Max Bergniann has several hundred tree^ 
planted in Cairo Negro, 1 to 3 years old, all in good 
condition, 
11 — Carl Grutzmacher has about 4 hectares 
planted in Carlo iSegro, 3 years old, in very good 
condition, 
Hoping that you will find the foregoing of sufii- 
cienli interest to publish. — I remain, yours very 
truly, 
ED. COLES. 
SUNSPOTS AND EARTHQUAKES. 
giB^_0£ the times and the seasons we are 
told we can have no exact knowledge ; and 
though men have professed to interpret the 
dark sayings of scripture, most intelligent 
people believe that there is an impenetrable 
veil drawn over the time when the world 
will come to an end, which man cannot 
pierca. Still, one may reverently regard the 
trend of great events which convulse the 
world, without exhibiting any undue curio- 
sity, and without professing the prophetic 
gift. The connection between sun-spots and 
seismic disturbances seems now well estab- 
lished from the scientist's point of view, 
but was not the connection foretold in a 
way in St. Luke's Gospel (XXI. 25)? "And 
there shall be signs in the siui and in the 
moon, and in the stars ; and upon the earth 
distress of nations, with perplexity ; the sea 
and the waves roaring ; men's hearts failing 
them for fear, and ft)r looking after those 
things which are coming on the earth." 
Was there ever a time when the conjunction 
was more marked of signs in the heavens 
and of convulsions (physical, moral, intellec- 
tual) on the earth? STUDENT. 
TROUT IN CEyLON. 
o X May 10. 
Dear Sir,— It is a pity "A. .T. M." should 
have gone so far afield as the "Asian" re 
rainbow trout breeding in Ceylon, as his 
doing so has prevented myself and others 
from criticising his remarks prior to hi : 
going to glory in South Africa.* If " A. .1. 
M." is still within the bounds of civilization 
he will no doubt see this, so 1 beg to assure 
him the fry in the Arnbewala stream are 
not trout fry. May I now publicW ask 
Messrs. Farr cfc Sparling to catch a few of 
those fry and little fishes they are so certain 
about being young trout, and to satisfy 
themselves that they really are trout ? They 
might send a few to the Hon. Secretary of 
the Fishing Club and the Curator of the 
Museum, so that there iTiay be no question as 
to their identification as the settling of this 
point, once for all, is of considerable im- 
portance to the Fishing Club and the whole 
community in fact. Mr. Farr says theee are 
on native fish in the Hortons stream. I 
say there are. Hence my doubts now, 
though at the time I said I'd swallow 
all Mr. Farr reported— the wish, I fear, being 
father to the hope, but do let us have 
the point authoritatively settled. As to 
I'A.J.M.'s" animadversions upon the vary 
ing sizes of the fish in my pond, I doubt 
if it IS worth while wasting your space, 
but I should have liked to reason with 
him on the subject. 
Any child born on a river bank will tell you 
that trout of similar age vary in size, whether 
they be in ponds or rivei-s. My pond is 
about the size of your bath tuh. I got 197 
rainbow fry from the Fishing Club in May, 
1900. I repeatedly cleared out the larger 
fish of from 3 in. to 6 in. during the follow 
ing twelve months, and in May, 1901, the 
remaining 25 varied from 2 in. down to the 
size they were when I got them, whicli was 
about 1 in. I turned these dwarfs out last 
month and they then ranged from 2^- lb. 
down to about an oz. or two, as three of 
them were still only about 3 in. long. And 
yet, in face of this, "AJ.M.", whose friend 
caught a l-in. trout, dogmatically informs 
us a-nd all Asia that trout have been breed- 
ing in Ceylon tor years! My fry were fed 
three times daily and food on the Hortons 
is not over superfluous. Do give us some- 
thing definite, please.— Yours faithfully, 
JOHN FRASER. • 
P.S.— By the way out of the 197 fry I re- 
ceived, I reared 127 trout. I think you will 
find this is not at all a bad outturn for Asia 
or anywhere else. J. F. 
POTASH SALTS. 
Colombo, May 22. 
Dear. Sir, — Enclosed we beg to hand you 
copy of a leaflet pulilished by us, entitled 
" The Value of the Stassfurt Potash Salts," 
the contents of which, we trust, will be of in- 
terest to your readers. — We are, dear sir, 
yours faithfully, 
FREUDENBEKG & CO. 
f'A. J. M." have gone to th« Corouatiou.^ — Ed,2',.1, 
