634 
THE TEOPICAIi AGEICULTUPJST. [March 2, 1903. 
To the Editor. 
HUNTING IN THE HILLS. 
Amherst, Feb. 12. 
SlE,— TheHon. Secretary, C.G.P.S., is welcome 
to nail my remarks about Registered Packs and 
the slaughter committed by them " a blood and 
thunder paragraph," but why does he not attempt 
to refute my statements ? He goes on to say that 
since the new law prohibiting shooting at over 
4,000 ft. came into force, that is to say in about 3 
years, sambur have increased to such an extent 
that they need " judicious thinning." Readmits 
that he kills hinds on purpose, but defends his 
action by pointing out that "judicious thinning out" 
is resorted to on Scotch deer forests. At home 
there is such a thing as a severe winter and great 
scarcity of food, and deer forests would soon get 
overstocked and deer would starve if they were 
not thinned out; but surely there is no scarcity of 
food in the hills in Ceylon, ao that the Hon. Secret- 
ary must consider "judicious thinning out" 
necessary for some reason not given. Admitting 
that it were necessary, the merciful plan of thinning 
out with the rifle, as adopted at home, would 
surely be better than allowing a large pack of dogs 
of sorts to kill as many hinds and fawns as they 
can -manage to pull down. I don't think the Hon. 
Secretary's plan of "judicious thinning out" 
would commend itself to owners of deer forests at 
home or to sportsmen in India or elsewhere. 
From his concluding paragraph, one gathers that 
the Hon, Secretary prefers to shoot a stag when it 
is standing to when it is galloping. — Yours, &c., 
NORTH C. DAVIDSON. 
DR. WILLEY'S LECTURE AND 
PECULIAK CEYLON FISH. 
Havelock Town. Feb. 19. 
Dbae Sir,— In reply to the enquiry in 
yoiir issue of Monday last : — 
The fish called Arnp/iisile referred to by 
your correspondent is certainly not the fish 
referred to by JEVmn. It can only move by 
swimming in the middle stratum of water, 
feeds on microscopic organisms and has a 
minute mouth, the gape ot which is reduced 
to zero. On the face of it and relying solely 
upon Sir B Tennent's quotation I should 
have said that the fish described by ^lian 
was Periophthalmus, a goggle-eyed-fish which 
crawls and hops about the mangrove flats 
and also, in some places, on the rocks near 
the seashore. This fish, which has attained 
a certain celebrity in books of travel, appears 
to have been left out of consideration by 
Sir B Tennent.— Yours faithfully, 
ARTHUR WILLEY. 
DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF PLANTAIN 
IN THE ISLAND.^ 
Hanwella* Feb. 14. 
Dear Sie,— I shall be glad to know what 
other useful varieties of plantains are found 
in the island, beside the following. If any 
available I should like to have either by purchase 
or by exchange of plants. I have in possession 
viz. — 1 Kolikuttu, 2 Suwandel, 3 Puwalu, 4 Rata- 
hondrawalu, 5 Embulhondrawalu, (a) Sudu Embul- 
liondrawalu, (&) Pulli Embul-hondrawalu, 6 Watu 
Palu,7 Anawalu, (a) Athdath Anawalu alias Supu- 
anawalu, (6) Vanduru Anawalu, 8 Hamban Puwalu, 
9 RatuKotchi, 10 SuduKotchi, 11 Marthawalu, 12 
Sudu Kannannoru, 13 Kalu Kannannoru, 14 Sura 
Mondan, 15 Kalu Mondan, 16 Alu Mondan, 17 
Bin hehel, 18 Puspa Kedeli, 19 Navari, 20 Kitela. 
The first nine varieties are generally used as 
fruits and the rest as vegetable. 
1 learn that the Superintendent of Government 
School Gardens has a new variety from Queens- 
land called (l)e " Cavendish," but how far it will 
prove successful in our soil is yet to be seen. — I am, 
yours faithfully, G. E. AMARASEKARA. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Destkuction of the Olive Trees.— The olive 
trees which in hundreds of thousands 
have flourished along the Riviera from times un. 
recorded, are slowly but surely diminishing in 
number year by year ; and many among the 
older members of the numerous English colonies 
sincerely deplore their loss, and the consequent 
disfigurement of familiar hills and valley. In 
some places they are being cut down wholesale, 
and large areas of land on the hillsides have been 
denuded of all their beautiful trees to make room 
for the cultivation of more remunerative crops, 
such as carnations, roses or violets ; while, alas,' 
the gnarled and revered old olives, numbers of 
which have been twisted and torn into the most 
fantastic shapes by the storms and vicissitudes of 
actually unknown centuries, are rooted up and 
hacked to pieces to burn in your hotel bedroom 
at " two francs fifty" a basket I And why must 
the inevitable destruction go on ? because petro- 
leum is a cheaper lubricant than olive oil ; and 
cotton-seed oil, they say, has falsely assumed the 
name of olive oil, and taken its place in our salads. 
— Travel for February. 
A Good Yield of Rubber.— Mr Francis Pears, 
writing from Muar, gives the following informa- 
tion, which is very welcome : — " In case you have 
not received previous information, I append parti- 
culars of the yield of two cultivated Para trees at 
Gapis Estate, in Perak, reputed to be 25 years old. 
The tapping was conducted bj Mr Baxendale, and 
extended over two months, and was clone evidently 
with the intention of procuring a maximum yield. 
Tree No. 1. Tree No. 2S 
Girth at one yard from the 
ground ... .. 89 in. 56 in. 
lb. oz. lb. oz. 
Held of clean rubber, dry 15 12 11 g 
Yield of scrap rubber, dry 2 4 is 
Total .. 18 0 12 10 
Tree No. 1 had never been previously tapped, and 
was worked from three channels, whereas tree No, 
2 was worked from two channels only, and was 
tapped during 1901 and yielded 3 Vo."— India-Bub- 
her Journal, Feb. 2. 
