690 
THE TROPICAL AGRICtTLTURIST. [April 1, 1903. 
MOSQUITO BLIGHT ON TEA BUSHES. 
REMARKS BY MR. C. R. NEWTON, OF 
" TEA ENZYME ' FAME. 
{To the t'ditoroj the " Englishman,"] 
Sir, — Neither of your cunespoudents, Mr 
Harold iVLann or R P Mo'iapoo seems to liave 
noticed one constant babiiat of " Helopeltis 
theivora " or the tea mosquito, viz., the cardamom 
fieliis. In the greater part ot the Darjiling 
District it w known by the natives as the 
alinchee kera or cardamom insect, and is found 
throiigliout the year oa the young cardamom 
slioot?. I have delayed this com iiunication in 
order tiiat the result of previoiis observations 
might be confirmed and from Christmas to the end 
of J.aiuary this year, when nearly all trace of it had 
disappeared from the tea except in a few unpruned 
portions whicli were flushing slightly, I have al- 
ways with the aid of some siiarp native children 
who had been employed throughout the year in 
captui'ing the insect on the tea, been able to 
obtain a number from the cardamoms, as also 
from other sheltered places where there was 
succulent jangle. In fact in my opinion it is 
rather an omnivorous feeder than a special tea one 
as desciibed by Mr Mann. In artificial experi- 
ments the tea insect when fed on cardamoms 
acquires a lig'iter colour resembling those bred 
on the cardamoms. In fact, the insect seems to 
vary in colour within certain limits according to 
what plant it has been feeding upon. From 
observations during a number of years made by 
several planters, it always appears first on their 
tea in the neighbourhood of cardamoms 
or of speuial pieces of sheltered jungle and then 
sp leads very rapidly. The crushed insects caught 
in the tea have also generally a decided smell re- 
sembling cardamoms. The reason I imagine that 
Helopeltis has not often been noticed on other 
jungle is that that the planter invariably looks 
for the blaclc spots so typical on the tea, but not 
so on other plants. The blackness is due to the 
tanning. T'he shape of the marks depends on the 
shape of the plant cell in cardamoms where the cell 
is oblong, and the cell walls are longitudinal 
straight lines, rather hard. Several punctures 
generally occur together, ol ten involving, three or 
more ceils ; hence the mark, instead of being round 
as on the tea, may be oblong a quarter of an inch 
long by one thirty-second broad. Mr Stebbing, 
the Forest Entomologist, has I see recently recom- 
mended the burning of all jungle in the neighbour- 
hood of cultivated crops, as a protection against 
blights. This I have advocated for years. There 
is no doubt that the blights have increased and 
the iiealth of the inliabitants decreased in many 
districts since the Forest Department took steps 
to prevent the annual fires which used to take 
place every cold weather, consuming a lot of 
noxious jungle, that is now allowed to rot on 
the ground and harbour any amount of insect 
pests and fungus blights. 
C R Newton, F R M S. 
—Ertglishman, Feb. 26. 
TEA IN UGANDA. 
In a report on Exotic Plants of Economic In- 
terest ill the Botanic Gardens at Entebbe, Uganda, 
Mr J Mahon states that tea grows with but 
moderate rapidity. The rainfall is no; great 
enough, During a period of rains it flushes nicely, 
but ita cultivation on even a moderate scale 
\vould necessitate re:-ort to irrigation. Mr Scott 
Elliot, the naturalist and traveller, seemed satis- 
fied from his exploration in the Ruwenzori country 
that Urge areas there ottered a fine field for the 
cultivating tea on a large sca,\e.—Plantina 
Opinion. Feb. 28. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
^ Eldorado fok Youkg Men wxth Moderate 
Capital - is the attractive opening of an 
advertisenieat in an Indian paper referring 
to Alabama and it runs on as follows •— 
" Productive fruit land for sale in the beauti- 
ful and fertile State of Southern Alabama 
U.S.A. Also good grazing land in the heart 
of the cattle belt. A few thousand acres 
going cheap in the rapidly enlarging colony 
of Beavor Meadows, the Chislehurst of the 
Southern States, situated 400ft. above gulf 
level, and six miles from the famous health 
resort of Citronelle. Lovely climate. Pure 
water good hunting and finishing, one mile 
from station, 25 from the City of Mobile."— 
We should think South Africa or Austra- 
lasia would have tiie preference with 
Britishers. 
" The Botanical Magazine " for February 
contains coloured figures and descriptions of 
the following plant.:— /S'a?isewera grandis, J D 
Hooker, tab. 7877.— A supposed native of tropical 
Africa, but introduced into Cuba in the hope 
that the fibre it contains, which is of extraor- 
dinary strength, might be turned to commercial 
account. The plant is growing in the temperate- 
house at Kew, and has a tuft of broad, obovate, 
oblong, acute leaves three to four feet long, 
six inches wide, pale green, with transverse 
stripes of a deeper colour, and a central stalked 
raceme some three feet high of numerous regu- 
lar, erect, funnel-shaped, greenish flowers, each 
about two inches long, the linear perianth- 
segments as long or longer than the narrow tube. 
As an ornamental plant, ii has high claims on 
the attention of gardeners, and its cultitvation 
would seem to present no ditiiculty. —Garrfeners' 
Chronicle, Feb. 7. [Cm this be very much the 
same as our Sanseviera Zeylanica which also 
gives a good fibre? — Ed. CO.] ' 
Akamina KiBKE.— In the Rio de Janeiro dis- 
trict of Brazil experiments have given proof of 
the excellent qualities of aramina fibre. Steps 
were taken to manufacture certain goods from it, 
and in June last year an exhibition of these goods, 
which consisted of rope and other woven products, 
took place in the city of S. Paulo. A factory is 
in course of construction in S, Paulo exclusively 
for the manufacture of goods from aramina fibre. 
The weaving machinery has already been erected, 
and other materials, whijh are being imported 
from the United Kingdom, are expected to arrive 
shortly, and the factory will fclien be in a position 
to begin work. The aramina plant is being exten- 
sively cultivated at two estates in S. Paulo. lb 
is expected that the annual production of these 
two estates, which extend over about 325 acres of 
land, will yield from ten to twelve tons of dry husk, 
or four and a half to five tons of fibre for every six 
acres cultivated. The growth of the plant is rapid 
and It needs no special care. The price paid by 
the S. Paulo factory for clean aramina is about Id. 
per lb,— 5('i^is/j. Trade Joicrnal, Feb. I, [What 
is the scientific name of the Aramina plant?— £d, 
