THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [May 1, 1903. 
Moreover the two plants had medicinal properties 
in common, and in due time, as the Wallflower lost 
its relationship with the Violets, its old name of 
Heartsease was transferred to the Pansy. As a gar- 
den plant, the Wallflower seems to h:.ve an older 
standing than the . Pansy, but neither so exten- 
ded a one as the Violet, These, I think are 
the more interesting of our Violets, but it mnat" 
not be supposed that the list is by any means ex- 
hausted. The yellow Violet (Viola lutea) of Qerarde 
is interesting as having beon confounded with the 
"Wallflower, and of late years as being, with Viola 
amoena, the earliest forerunner of our somewhat 
unhappily named bedding Violas — a noways strange 
instance of setting aside a common designation for 
one more pretentious, and certainly less felicitous. 
— n,v,B,— Gardeners' Chronicle, IMarch 28. 

A NEW TEA MACHINE. 
Mr. Permau is again in the field with a new 
process for tea making which he has protected in 
India and Ceylon. He claims the following salient 
features for hi? invention which is worked in con- 
junction with a machine called the ' Expressor' 
(priced at R4o0, ex Messrs. McLeod and Co.'s 
godown.) (1) Stronger and better coloured liquors. 
(2) Process fully retains the characteristic 
appearance of the finer grades, particularly the 
golden tips which are not discoloured in any way. 
In the lower grades the leaf is turned out much 
brighter and blackei'. (3) ' Expressor ' extracts 
14% of moisture out of the rolled leaf, consequently 
the work of the Dryers is decreased with a saving 
in fuel and labour as a result. (4) In wet weather 
the ' Expressor' enables any Manager to overcome 
many of the difficulties hicherto met with in the 
withering operation. (5i For the manufacture of 
green tea the 'Expressor' will be found of 
considerable assistance after the leaf comes out 
of the ' Steamer ' when it is necessary to rid the 
leaf of all the superfluous moisture prior to roll- 
ing. The process is no untried thing we are 
enabled to say, for it has been at work at several 
Assam gardens last year, besides Mr Perman's 
own (Deckajulie Tea Estate) where complete 
success attended the introduction of the press 
system of manufacture, the teas showing 
considerable improvement in quality and style 
with a corresponding increase in piece for better 
value. Mr. Perman by its aid was able to reduce 
the temperature in the Dryer he used and to 
dispense with the services of one firing machine 
throughout the season. Ii will be seen that the 
process thus makes for economy and good quality 
being assured is therefore a step in the much 
desired direction. — Indian Planting (& Gardening, 
April 4th. 
PEODUCTION OP WEST INDIAN TOBACCO. 
The following table, shewing the average annual 
production of h af tobacco, cut tobacco, cigars and 
cigarettes in each of the undermentioned West 
Indian islands, is quoted by the Board of 
Trade Journal from a recent report by the 
Belgian Coiisul-General for the Antilles. One kilo- 
gram, we may add, equals 2 l-5th lb avoirdupois:— 
Leaf Cut Cigar- 
Tubacuo. Tobacco. Cigars, ettes. 
Kilogs. Kilogs. Kilogs, Kilogs. 
Cuba ...20,OUO,OOU 250,000 1,200,000 10,000 
,' Porto Rico ... 2.800,0U0 — — — 
St. Domingo ... 8,000,000 S — — 
..JtimaioiL ... 20,000 — 14,000 4,000 
Xgtft! ...30,820,000 250,000 1,214,000 14,000 
DISEASED COCONUT PALMS. 
A disease, the cause of which is not stated, is 
doin^ some daninge to the cocojiut trees in 
Jamaica. The following description of the disease 
is taken from the Jamaica Gleaner for January 
12, 1903 : — The heart leaves drop out and the 
leaves, which are usually upright, fall down. 
When a tree in this condition is cut down the heart 
is found to be one mass of bad smelling, decaying 
vegetation, while the root and trunk are in per- 
fect condition. The disease often attacks the 
flower spikes with the result that many of the 
coconuts drop off while still young. This is fre- 
quently preliminary to the disease getting to the 
heart leaves, after which nothing can save the 
tree. In the Journal of the New York Botanical 
Garden, Vol. IV, pages 4-7, Mr F S Earle gives 
an account of his recent visit to Jamaica. He 
examined coconut trees suffering from what is 
apparently the same disease as that described above. 
Mr Earle attributes the disease to bacterium. He 
points out the necessity for the prompt cutting 
and burning of all infected trees, and says that 
'it is claimed by some planters that a certain green 
skinned variety of coconut is less liable to this 
disease than the reddish and yellowish kinds.' If 
this is confirmed there is a possibility of raising a 
resistant race of coconuts, A disease, similar in 
many symptoms is the subject of a \>%\)ev in Bulletin 
No. 38, Neio Series Divison of Vegetable Patho- 
logy and Physiology of the United Stales Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, The disease appeared among 
the coconut palms in the province of Santiago, 
Cuba. The first indications of trouble was the 
falling of the young fruit. Shortly after the larger 
nuts dropped and the leaves assumed a yellowish 
colour. Within a month all the large lower 
leaves droop and fall, leaving only the pale, 
sickly tops which blow over at the first heavy 
wind. Here also from the root to within a few 
inches of the top, the trunk was found to be per- 
fectly sound. Perforating the entire upper part 
of the trunk for 2 to 12 inches downwards was 
found the mycelium of a fungus, the fruiting bo lios 
of which appeared as small white spots on the 
underside of the leaves. These migliD easily be mis- 
taken for the scale insects (Aspidiotus) often found 
there. The fungus was identified as Pestalozsia 
palmarum- On breaking open the lower leaves 
and cutting the centre of the green growing part 
open, the heart is found to be one putrid, offensive- 
smelling mass. It was found that the best way of 
preventing the spread of the disease was cut- 
ting down and burning the diseased palms. It 
is not necessary to burn the entire trunk, but 
only the top, with a couple of feet of the upper 
end of the trunk. In order that this preventive 
measure may have its greatest effect, it is ab- 
solutely necessary that united act !)n should be 
taken. It would obviously be fui ile for the pro- 
prietors of one estate to eradicat<^ the disease 
within its limits, if the owners of neighbouring 
estates omit the precautions and all iw the disease 
to multiply and" send its spores abroad to the 
others. The&e two diseases are to si :iiilar in their 
symptoms that it would seem n I, improbable 
that they are really one and th'j same. This 
however, cannot be definitely settled until aomo 
thing more is known of the cause of the disease in 
Jamaica. We trust fuller information will be 
obtained as the result of the work which 'we 
understand Mr F S Earle has in hand at the New 
York Botanical Garden, and of the Held experi- 
