104 
THE TK©PICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Aug. 1, 1902 
stations on the East Indianmailway, on the Ondh 
and Rohilkhand Railway, and on 17 stations on tne 
S.i«t Bengal State Baiiw.y. lea is also supplied on 
the latter railway by men travcUiag on the ime, 
to whom the maaaoe,. haP. kindly granted free passes, 
Tbo Indian Ger.eial .v.^d Eivsr Steam _ Navip.-ioa 
Coiapsrieg have aiso kindlv s anted parmissioii to: ne 
Bale of tea to native passeiigevs on their steamers 
ari'l have offered to give free p-ssea to .He man 
ei. pl ayed by the Commission lor that purpose 
Che receipts during the three months to which 
this Report refers total up to R35,205.3-7, which i. 
a very satisfactory increase ; and the balance m hana 
on the 1st June was B69,879-7-7 The cost of workmff 
during these three months has been 
makirg a total of R3O,O0O to the end of May The 
supp^it accorded to the Commissioner to the same 
riatl, exclusive of the Indian Tea Association s Grant- 
in-aid. amounts to R97,474.10-7 in cash and tea-the 
average value of the tea supplied being taken as 3 
annasSl pies per lb. The Commissioners in con- 
cluding their Report, which they ^^P^ will be con^ 
sidered satisfactory, trust that ?o'it'}butions in futme 
will be made as much as possible m cash instead of 
tea on the basis of, say, 4 annas per lb. iney 
:im°"hat the 'advantaged of cash c-tf;"°- 
twofold ; firstly, the Commission would be enabled to 
purchase tea of exactly the style required, and m 
such quantities as to avoid unnecessarily running 
into stock, and secondly, the purchase « tf ^' 
public auction would tend to stimulate conipetit on, and 
thus indirectly return an immediate benefit to the con- 
ribu or At^he same time the Resolution which was 
passed at a Meeting of the Advisory Committee of the 
CommiFsion on Tuesday last, as reported amon^ our 
TeWrams, urging oo all Tea Compames, proposing to 
destrov large quantities of tea in order prevent 
a o ump in pr ces, to make it over to the Expansion 
Commission \o supply the growing wants of the new 
U-ade in India, is an eminently practical and sensib^ 
sugges k)n. This is in reference to the telegram from 
London '^^^'^tly received, which stated that at a 
Meeting of Indian merchants representing tea inter- 
^ts n India to the value of £1,000,000 sterling which 
was held ther« towards the end of last month, those 
present strongly favoured a proposal to throw away 
all tea from the 1st to the 15th August, the most 
nrolific month. It was estimated that 10 mil hon lb. 
tea wouW Ihus be kept ofi the market,- Jfadras 
Mail, Jane 26. 
TROPICAL CULTURE. 
(From a Correspondent) 
The Official " Bulletin Eoonomiqne " of lado- 
China seems only of local interest ; but I read 
that a Tonkin planter is going to plant Momordica 
luffa of which the fibrous sponge has several 
industrial uses. -One kind grows wild m the 
lovvcountry here ; another is cultivated as a 
Te 'etable. For the above purpose there is an 
Egyptian variety, very large, of which the fibrous 
part of the fruit is sold as vegetable sponge. 
I think it would be a very paying produce for 
natives to cultivate. . . ^ 
The French Government is going to experi- 
ment on the action of phosphates on cultivation, 
rice particularly, in the different parts of Indo- 
China. I think that in Ceylon, where the yield 
of paddy is generally so small, our paternal 
Government ought to do the same. Better try 
and double the crop of the land in cultivation, 
than con'itruct or restore costly tanks to double 
the area which misrlit he cuitiviited? 
In the February and April numbers of "hoeiele 
d'Etudes Coloniales " appears a translation from 
German of a recent work on cacao by Dr. 
Paul Preuss,* It is very interesting for cacao 
planters. There is no mention of " Traduction 
reserv(5e." 
MR. GREEN'S CIRCULAR ON 
HELOPELTIS, 
(To' the Editor, local ''Times.") 
Sir, — May it not be possible that, like the mosquito, 
helopeltis breeds naturally in swampy places and 
standing water ? It certainly hatea the sun and lives 
by suction, and I have noticed that when a field is 
attacked helopeltis appears at the lower end near a 
stream or standing water first. It might be worth 
some low-country man's while to investigate for, if 
this were proved, helopeltis might be kept in check 
by sprinkling kerosene in all wet places, as is being 
done to eradicate the mosquito. It has always ap- 
peared to me that such pests as helopeltis and 
caetdis worm might be kept in check by burying 
prunings with a sprinkling of lime, or better still 
basic slag. Burying prunings has checked grey 
blight on this estate to an enormous extent ; many 
fields which were a mass of blight ere now almost 
free. That helopeltis is coming np-country is an 
undoubted fact. Mr Green mentions Nawalapitiya. 
I saw signs of helopeltis just below Ginegatennie 
Gap a day or two ago — this is very much higher 
than Nawalapitiya. I have never seen tea in the 
Kelani valley so badly attacked by helopeltis aa 
it is just now. On one estr.te the best field was 
absolutely ruined. I doubt if coolies could have 
plucked a five lb average. I noticed in some paper 
the other day that the farmers in South Africa had 
found treacle and arsenic to be a perfect cure for 
locusts. Would this be useful for checking white 
ants which do far more permanent damage than helo- 
peltis ? Treacle made out of jaggery would be very 
easy to procure, and very cheap. Bach pruner as 
he finishes pruning a bush might smear a little of 
the mixture round the stem. This might also keep 
borer and other pests in check, —Yours, &c., 
D. G. Bbebneb, 
Kew, Norwood, June 21. 
EEPLY TO ME. BREBNEE'S LETTER. 
Sir, — With reference to Mr Brebner's letter, in 
your issue of the 23rd instant, the breeding habits 
of the Helopeltis insect are well known. The eggs 
are embedded in the shoots of the tea plant. All 
members of the family Capsidae, to which the Helo- 
peltis belongs, have an exsertile horny ovipositor, 
which indicates a similar habit of oviposition. It is 
quite out of the question that they could " breed 
naturally in swampy places and standing water," 
as suggested by your correspondent. Under these 
circumstances, the sprinkling of kerosine over the 
swamps could have no direct effect upon the pest. 
It may be true that Helopeltis is more prevalent in 
damp places ; but such a fact (if fact it is) might be 
due to many other causes. The insect may prefer 
a sheltered situation, and swampy spots are usually 
in hollows. The insect almost certainly prefers trees 
weakened from any cause and trees growing in damp 
spots are frequently unhealthy. The supposed fact 
is, however, open to question. I have been collecting 
particulars of the work of Helopeltis for several 
• years, and have frequently received reports that the 
attack has been most severe on exposed ridges with 
poor soil. I have always advocated the burying or 
destruction of prunings as a means towards the 
check of all insect pests. The application of treacle 
and arsenic to the stems of pruned tea bushes — if 
otherwise practicable — would probably have little 
effect' against white ants, as the syrup would im- 
* Paul Preuss I met in Cameroon in 1892. He was 
already then Director of the GovernrneDt Botanical 
Gaidena, 
