504 THt) TROPICAL AGRICtJLTUEIST. [Jan. 1, 1903. 
parts of Darjeeling, etc., so far North of the 
Equator,— why should it not give trouble up 
to 6,000 feet in Ceylon ?— Yours truly, 
PLANTER. 
[We suppose Mr. Gi'een will say that it is 
not impossible for the pest to travel to our 
higher districts ; but that so far, as a matter 
of fact, it has not been verified at or above 
6,000 feet ?-E0. T.A.] 
CEYLON TEA ON THE CONTINENT 
OF EUROPE. 
Bale, Switzerland, 19th Dec, 1902. 
Deae Sir,— In your London letter, dated 
the 10th October, I note your London corre- 
spondent is somewh.at sceptical about my 
statement to a friend as to selling hundreds 
of thousands of one-ounce tins filled with 
pur^i Ceylon tea on the Continent. It may 
interest your correspondent to know that in 
France and Switzerland alone during ths 
past twelve months I have sold through the 
Tea Planters, Ltd , of Bale, 225,000 Quaker 
one ounce decorated tins filled with pure 
Ceylon tea, beside which considerable num- 
bers of Koh-i-noor, Ugalla, Bee and Mara- 
villa one-ounce tins are distributed every 
week, samples of which I send you per post. 
Further my distribution of teas in one-ounce 
tins, is nut confined to France and Switzer- 
land but is extended to all parts of the globe. 
If the sale of a few hundred thousand one- 
ounce tins produce such scepticism in your 
correspondent, I fear for the results when he 
hears that my last order for decorated tins 
(for delivery within twelve months) is, — 
150,000 half lb., 150.000 one lb.. 150,000 two lb. 
and 150 000 three lb. It might also interest 
him to know that I have placed 'an order 
for over a million tvvo-ounce parchment tea 
bags printed in nine colours, and that my 
largest sale up to date is in lead packets. This 
statement can be confirmed by the General 
Manager of the Tea Planters, Ltd., Bale, 
who will be pleased to show the origin.al con- 
tracts signed by mo for the above tins and 
bags. — Yours faithfully, 
R VALENTINE WEBSTER. 
Chairman. Tea Planters Ltd., Bale. 
MARIAWATTE ESTATE. 
Yield of old Tea 
1884 
1885 
1886 
1887 
1888 
1889 
1890 
1891 
1892 
1393 
ea 
109 230 
117,842 
105,923 
115.996 
106. 410 
113,834 
140,144 
120,366 
119.909 
115,440 
1,078 
1,163 
1 046 
1,145 
1,050 
1,124 
1,384 
l,18i 
1.184 
1,140 
1894 
1895 
1696 
1897 
1898 
1899 
1910 
19fll 
1902 
A. R. 
JOI 1 
110,448 
118,560 
113,.S60 
105 7^.9 
108,423 
1X1,987 
137,066 
110,312 
101,991 
1,090 
1,170 
1,119 
1,(144 
1,073 
1.103 
1 ,357 
1,092 
1,009 
Yield per acre(& Rainfall) for the 
whole estate 
Yield per R.ain- 
A, R. P. 
acre lb. f ill 
inch s. 
1892 ... 643 95--4 189S 
1893 ... 817 86-22 1899 
1894 ... 750 72-00 1900 
1895 ... 886 100-28 1901 
1896 ... 896 115-41 1902 
1897 ... 926 111-25 ' 
D. M. SALMOND, Superintendent 
458 1 17 
Yield per Rain- 
acre lb. f«ll: 
inch""'. 
... 738 
... 749 
... 996 
... 792 
... 898 
79 90 
106 81 
114 63 
84-38 
128-31 
Maviawatta Estate, Gainpola, Jan. 1st. 
COCONUTS AND COPRA. 
Hanwella, Dec. 23. 
Dear Sib.— In reply to the " Inexperi- 
enced."' on the above subject, and your re- 
marks thereon, in your paper of the 18th 
inst., I think your estimate of nuts to a 
ton is too low, unless the nuts should be 
extra big in size My experience here is 
that between 4,000 to 4,500 dried nuts go to 
a ton. A cart load of copra, is generally five 
candies ; a cart load of unhusked nuts=500 
and of nuts in the shell 1,000 to 1,200. 
Here is a sample of my copra cured in the 
estate. I generally get top pcice for my 
produce. PLANTER 
[The samples of copra sent are very good 
—both clean and white and well dried. — 
Ed. T.A.] 
PLANTAINS: DIFFERENT VARIETIES. 
Hanwella, Dec 26. 
Dear Sir,— In answer to your question in 
T. A, re plantains. I may mention th.at I have 
a variety called ' Bimkehal' alias ' Neukehal.' 
Bim = ground, kehal = plantains— the plant.-vins 
which grow close to the ground. Neu = ships, 
kehal=plantains=plantains of the ships. It 
is a dwarf variety, bearing bunches within 3i 
to 4 feet off the ground. Last month there were 
two bunches of plantains of this kind, on my 
plantation, almost touching the ground, hav- 
ing 13 and 11 combs respectively, bearing 10 
to 15 fruits in each comb. The variety is 
uspd both for culiaary purposes and dessert. 
—Yours faithfully, 
G, E. AMARASEKERA. 
THE LAKE FLY NUISANCE. 
[The following instructive letter has been 
addressed to our senior morning contem- 
porary by Dr. Willey, F.B.8.] 
Colombo Museum. Jan. 2. 
Deak Sir,— In your issue of December Slst 
tliere is a paragraph staling that the Sanitary 
Officers have coiusnenced a campaign against the 
Lake ^''ly by prohibiting fishing in a portion of 
the Lake. In an interview with one of your re- 
presentatives last May or June, shortly after ray 
arrival in tlie Island, I suggested the desirability 
of ascertaining tlie natural enemy of tlieLake Fly. 
After a brief stay at Negombo last Au.{ust, I 
began to think that the abnndance of flies might be 
correlated with the paucity of fishes, duo to over* 
fishing of the Colombo Lake, and I mentioned tUi^ 
view freely iq couversatioa. 
