T^E TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Fe6. 2, \m. 
BUTTER-MAKING. 
Jan. 11. 
Dear Sir,— To give that new style of butter- 
making a fair trial, I put about a pint of 
cream into the muslin and filtering paper : 
it tobk 3 or 4 hours for the moisture to 
trickle through and the butter was softer 
than if made by the old way viz., the cream 
put in a bowl and stirred with a spoon ; 
by^ this method the butter was made in 5 
minutes, as with this cold weather the cream 
is thick and firm and makes into butter very 
quickly and it is nice firm butter too, so thaton 
the whole I like the old system best— Yours 
truly, HOUSE-KEEPEK. 
P.S,— I'll give that butter making yet 
anothei* trial.— H. 
COARSE PLUCKING: A WARNING 
FROM LONDON. 
Kandy, Jan. 1.3. 
Sir,— I enclose for publication the follow- 
ing telegram, received here today from 
London, which explains itself.— I am, Sir, 
yours faithfully, 
A. PHILIP, 
Secretary to the Planters' Association of 
Ceylon. 
"Big London buyers recognise India- 
means control quantities auction; spite strong 
statistic position, buyers confident able to keep 
down prices, because Ceylon resorting as 
before coarse plucking flood market : warn 
planters earnestly against coarse plucking. 
Ceylon Association." 
THE LAKE-FLY NUISANCE: AN EX- 
PERT REPLY TO THE " SEA- WATER " 
SUGGESTION. 
Colombo Museum, Jan. 11. 
Dkar Sib,— Referring to Mr. Theobald's 
siiggestion regarding the extermination of 
the Lake Fly, I have read his letter and may 
say that, as for the practicability of convert- 
ing the Colombo Lake into a temporary 
ai-m of the sea, I have no doubt that this 
herculean method of purification would be 
child's play to an engineer -other things, of 
course, being equal. With regard to the 
question as to whether it would be likely to 
achieve the required object, it is necessary 
to know certain f;icts before an opinion 
based upon biological considerations could be 
hazarded, e.g , the differences in density and 
salinity between the lake-water and the 
sea-water, the degree of salinity which 
could be endured for a longer or a shorter 
period with impunity, firstly by the larvae 
and secondly by the eggs of the fly.— Yours 
faithfully, ARTHUR WILLEY. 
THE LAKE-FLY NUISANCE. 
Colombo, Jan. 14. 
Dear Sir,— While thanking Mr. AVilley 
for his reply to my letter in your columns 
re the " Lake Fly Nuisance" I fail to see 
that his remarks are in any way conclusive 
that my proposal is impracticable. The 
engineering di^culties appear to me the 
easier of the two, but we need not waste 
time discussing this till we know whether 
sea water will exterminate the flies. On this 
point Mr. Willey is not definite. Perhaps, if 
he would kind y make a few experiments he 
would be able to give a decided opinion. — 
Yours faithfully, 
F. C. THEOBALD. 
COARSE PLUCKING AND RESPONSIBLE 
PARTIES. 
Up-country, Jan, 16. 
Sir,— You can put " Avoid Coarse Pluck- 
ing " in a prominent place in every issue 
of your paper, but it will do little good 
unless the country is supported by the 
Colombo agents and certain V. A's., who, 
at present, are in that habit of jumping 
on their Superintendents for not keeping 
down the cost of plucking. If the Colombo 
agents would insisi on their Superintendents 
spending say ^ cent per lb., niot'e in 1903 
than it cost to pluck in 1902, they would 
reap a penny profit for the i cent extra 
outlay. There are so few properties in 
private hands now, that the matters of 
supply and demand lie entirely in the hands 
of the Colombo agents. A Superintendent 
is not going to pluck " fine " or " me- 
dium " if it means the " sack" for ex- 
ceeding his estimate for plucking. I have 
always maintained that since nearly all 
Ceylon tea estates fell into the hands of 
Companies, the Colombo agents have been 
the arbiters as far as yield is concerned. 
Mr. Figg apparently agrees with me.— "Sours, 
&c., North c. davidson. 
: « 
PLANTING NOTES. 
NoTKs ON Plantain (Musa) Fibre Inlustry 
— by V T Vpncttrauian Aiyar, Valavanur 
South Arcot District — is a u'pfiil little pamphlet; 
but there is not much in addition to what we 
have already heard from Kew, Drs, Watt 
and Morris. 
Java Cinchona Exports for 1902— are 
given fit 13,143 000 Amsterdam lb. of bark as 
against 12.606,000 for 1901. In English lb. 
the comparison runs : — 
1902 ... 29,440,320 
1901 ... 28,237,440 
The Amsterdam pond is equal to 2'24 
English pounds— the French kilogramme 
being 2-20. 
Rubber. — It is certainly quite time that 
the Chamber of Commerce added rubber to 
their list of exports since the one district 
of Kalutara is expected to give a crop of 
7 tons or over 15,()00 lb.; and this is boimd 
to increase year by year as younger trees 
come into bearing. No doubt there are 
other districts, such as Matale which will 
contribute so that the youngest product in 
the list should make a brave show before 
long. From the Customs accounts for the 
first eleven months of 1902 we see that 
161 cwt. (18,000 lb.) of rubber were exported, 
valued at K34,086. 
