832 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [June 1, 1908, 
structure can be regulated accordiugly, care being 
taken to provide room for the kitchen, scullery, 
and private offices for the Commissioner. In viev? 
of the climate of St. Louis, ample wide verandah 
space should be provided. On receipt of plans 
and specifi<;ations, our agent will call for tenders 
and submit same before closing contract. 
Arrangements should be made to permit of cabling 
consent to proceed. 
Concessions :— The permission to sell Tea in 
the cup and in packets is one of the most important 
and difficult matters I had to deal with. Although 
I impressed upon the authorities that in obtain- 
ing their sanction we had no idea of making 
profit from the sale of these articles, yet the rights 
of the Restaurateurs, for which they had paid 
between $1,500,000 to $2,000,000, had to be protect- 
ed. The Director of this Department, at the com- 
mencement of our negotiations, laid it doAvn as a 
condition that 25 per cent of the takings must be 
paid to the Exhibition. This I could not agree 
to, but finally arranged to obtain full privilege 
for the sale of tea from our building in cup and 
packets and rig-ht to issue and display suitable 
advertising matter on terms set forth in the ac- 
companying l&tters fr»m Mr Norris B Gregg, 
Director of Concessions and Admissions and Mr 
J V F Skifr, Director of Exhibits. 
Acting Agent.— In terms of Mr Kingsford's 
request to appoint a representative to act for us, 
pending the arrival of our Commissioner, I have, 
with the sanction of Mr. Stevens, appointed _Mr. 
Russell Stanhope, tiie Secretary to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations, on a remuneration to be 
decided by our Commissioner. I enclose letter 
from Mt. Staiiliope accepting the appointment 
and from Mr. Stovens conveying his sanction. I 
have deposited $.300, receipt enclosed, with Mr. 
Stanhope, to meet sundry expenses, and have 
instructed him to communicate with you direct 
as occasion may require. A most important matter 
is the execution of the contract between the 
Ceylon authorities and those of the Exhibition. 
Mr. Stanhope is having this drawn up in the terms 
of the correspondence accompanying this Report. 
Geneeal.— In conversation with those who 
have had experience ovw here in former Exhibi" 
tioiK, I feel it right to tell you that it is decidedly 
advisable that native servants should be sent over 
from Ceylon to serve the tea in the Ceylon grounds. 
Mr. Larkin, of Toronto, is most anxious to obtain 
some tea plants for exhibition purposes and I have 
promised to write asking you to take steps to 
get some germinated tea seed packed in Wardian 
cases and sent to him as soon as possible. He is 
in a position to take full care of them when 
they arrive in Toronto, if we can only get them 
there alive. As regards small packets of tea for 
distribution free in the Exhibition, Mr. Larkin 
strongly recommends that these packets should 
be made of lead and not tin. The reason for this is 
to let people have as nearly as possible a facsimile 
of the packet which they would buy hereafter in 
the various stores of the United States of America. 
My visit to St. Louis has impressed me with the 
magnitude of the undertaking. It would make 
tliTs report two lengthy to enter into details here, 
but I have requested Mr. Stanhope to send you 
full information from time to time, more especially 
as to the progress made with the buildings and 
the probability of the Exhibition being opened 
in time. 
THE "TEA" TCVRTRIX: THE GREATEST 
EXISTING TEA ENEMY. 
The item on the agenda of the Dimbula 
Planters' Association at their meeting of the 
28th April of most general importance to 
the tea industry was the discussion on the 
" shot-hole borer." Mr. Bosanquet, whose opi- 
nion carries- weight wished for legislation, but 
— while Mr. Welldon took the view that there 
should be none without the consent of the dis- 
trict—the meeting voted for Lieut. Colonel 
Farquharson's amendment in favour of coop- 
eration " with Government, but against" Gov- 
ern ment interference. This is certainly the 
most satisfactory view to take. But the 
shot-hole borer is a comparatively small 
matter compared with the threatening aspect 
which the spread of the " tea tortrix " 
is beginning to wear; and so we are of opinion 
that by far the most valuable contribution 
to yesterday's meeting was Mr. Welldon's on 
this subject, although not one down on the 
printed agenda list. Dimbula ia ever prompt 
to make measures against approaching dan- 
ger and the present one that threatens is 
far greater than the " shot-hole borer " 
which prevails most in Gampola and Pns- 
sellawa and appears to confine itself to 
medium and low elevations. The "tortrix" 
on the other hand, as Mr. Welldon shows 
has been doing much damage in M>askeliy;v 
and the latest reports from that district 
are anything but reassuring. Indeed we 
hear of its being responsible for reduction 
of crop on one estate by about one-twelfth 
or one-fifteenth, at least. Egg-massess in 
another case— are being collected at the rate 
of 20,000 to the acre ; and one day's collection 
even totalled as much as 243,000 egg-masses 
TTiese figures give some idea of the pest Mas- 
keliya has to fight with — when we state that 
according to the Government Entomologist, 
each egg- mass contains on an average 250 
eggs. The remedy which has been put in 
hand is to lop up the grevilleas las high as 
Eossible— these handsome trees, it is thought, 
eing responsible for a great deal of the 
damage. The moths deposit their eggs very 
freely on the leaves of this tree, the "?silky 
oak, " and when the leaves drop off on to 
the tea, the result may well be imagined, 
It becomes, therefore, necessary to take in 
hand both grevilleas and tea at the same 
time. It should' also be mentioned that it 
is suicidal to prune tea when thepesc is in 
the moth and egg stage— the reason being that 
the caterpillar stage is then reached about 
the time that the young flush is coming 
on and the flush is at once eaten down and 
lost. The moth and egg stage is now, we 
believe, prevailing in Maskeliya and the 
caterpillar stage should be attained in three 
weeks' time. This information should be 
of interest to the strong committee for 
Dimbula appointed yesterday ; and super- 
intendents should at once examine their 
fields very thoroughly and closely to see if 
they can find traces of the pest, and report 
to the Committee, whose secretary Mr. 
Welldon has kindly undertaken to be. As this 
gentleman said, it is generally found in 
sinall patches first, but once it spreads it is 
