56 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTUmST, [July 1, 1899 
with its house on its back. It does a lot of damage 
barking the coffee plants, sometimes ringing them 
right round, completely stopping the flow of sap ; 
and it should be considered an enemy of our coffee 
and destroyed. This caterpillar lives from February 
to June ill Nyassalaud. 
CRICKBTa AND LOCUSTS 
comprise a very large family indeed ; but there are 
only a few that feed on and do damage to coffee and 
they are principally the green-backed, handsome 
fellows with yellow and blue rings round the body. 
They have stumpy wings and a hard, horny, sword- 
like beak. I don't think they fly, at least I have 
never seen them do so. These locusts do a lot of 
damage barking the coffee and may well be destroyed 
as an enemy of ■ the coffee tree. Several ■athers of the 
cricket locust family do some damage by cutting 
down small plants. 
BLACK BUCr 
I have seen, but only on an individual tree or 
two ; but it never spreads. It appears in February 
or March and disappears in May and June. This 
pest, I am of opinion, is kept in check by the lady- 
bird beetle, which is common in the country and is 
seen very lively on our coffee bushes at the time 
black bug appears, and it is well-known it preys 
upon the bug family. 
COFFBE LICE 
I have seen covering an individual coffee bush, 
but like the bug it never spreads, and is probably 
devoured by some tiger of the insect family. 
THRIPS. 
During a very dry season it appears about Octo- 
ber and disappears with the first heavy thunder- 
storms towards the end of November or early in 
December — much damage done by the sun and heat 
during these two mouths, might be attributed to 
thrips. I don't think, however, that muoii harm can 
be done to our coffee by this insect, for the short 
time it is with us (and this only, to my knowledge, 
on two very dry years) that it can be considered 
very harmful or dangerous. H. B. 
LIVE STOCK AND THBIS, 
IMPROVE M3NT. 
Few things are of greater importance with 
reference to the well-being of the natives in 
certain remote pastoral districts of the island 
than the improvement of their live stoclc. 
To secure this end, Sir Hercules Robinson 
established a Cattle Commission which had 
the late Mr. Wm. Smith, of Dimbula, as 
veterinary adviser, and the late Mr. John 
Capper as Secretary. Much information was 
collected and published and a great deal of 
" castration" was attended to, during the pere- 
grinations of the Commission ; but as in so 
many other efforts towards agricultural im- 
provement, this proved a mere " flash in tlie 
pan" without any continuous result. The Cat- 
tle Commissioners' Report was pigeou-lioled 
and forgotten, there being no one Department 
or ofificer responsible to see the recommenda- 
tions carried out, or at a,ny rate tested. It is 
well-known that both in the South (Hamban- 
tota), the South-east (the Park country), and 
in the North-Central and North-Eastern divi- 
sions, the natives feed large breeds of cattle ; 
but give not the slightest attention to the 
quality of their stock. This is, of course, a 
matter which should be specially -attended 
to by an Agricultural Director, Board, or 
Department l)y ]jutting pressure from time 
to time on tlie provincial and district Agents. 
gentlotJiun, its \YelI quttlified as any \a. 
Ceylon to write on the subject, favours us 
with the following results of his observation 
and experience : — 
"One great difficulty about improvement of cattle 
arises fi-om the natural existing conditions. Take 
the Vanni (N. C. P. and N. P.), the people rear 
great herds of cattle as tbev have so much iunsle 
and pasture lands. The cattle increase naturally 
and go on increasing until murrain breaks out and 
sweeps off two-thirds of them. They sell very far 
partly from rel iRious scruples; partly," because aman 
likes to say I have so many cattle." V'Pecun ia" 
comes from " pecus"— cattle !) These cattle 
are not herderl or selected or interfered with in 
any way. They cost the owner absolutely noth- 
ing. So whatever he sells is clear profit without 
trouble. He can get from 1120 to R40 for bulls 
and considers that good enough. So he says " Why 
shoulrl I trouble to rear a better stock T So he 
will not pay for the service of (say) a Sciude Bull. 
Again the breed deteriorates because the man 
who comes round to buy naturally selects the 
best bull and the foolish villager sells it. Young 
and weak bulls run with the breed and again 
the consequence is deterioration, excent so far 
as nature gives the strongest bull the advantage. 
Here possibly the advent of a Railway may raise 
the price of cattle when they can readily be 
taken to market, just as the making of roads 
raised the price of paddy ; (when tliere were 
no roads, paddy sold in iSTuwara Kalaviya for 
two-pence a bushel.) But until the market 
price of beef rises from 15 cents, it would not 
pay to kill fed-beef and it is doubtful whether 
even if beef were well paid for, the cattle owners 
would supply any better animals. Where cattle 
are run wild on the pasture grounds, you get 
no good from introducing a good bull, as all the 
other bulls run with the herd. 
Tea on Virgin Soil in Ceylon.— We do 
not know if the Indian Planters' Gazette 
is :xiniing at us in its disquisition on this 
subject which we quote elsewhere. But we 
ha,ve no hesitation in saving that there is 
a large and reliable body of experience be- 
fore us to shev/ that tea grown on virgin 
soil in Ceylon has produced a tea greatly 
superior in flavoiu% if not in strength, to 
tea grown on land previously occupied by 
coffee or other product; and that, as years 
rolled by, the tea even on virgin soil 'gave 
a leaf which did not maintain its original 
reputation. Perhaps the Ceylon planter who 
went into this matter most carefully, was 
Mr. T. C. Owen, of the Knuckles and Kele- 
bokke district,— compiler for us of the "Tea 
Planters' Manual," but who has now retired 
and johied the London firm of Messrs. 
Rowe, White & Co. We recall very dis- 
tinctly Mr. Oweu^s statement that, do what 
he would, he could never recall the delicate 
aroma which distinguished his teas gr-own 
on virgin soil during the first four of five 
years. His repoi't and the experience gene- 
rally of other planters in those early days 
(1883-1890) will be found given in successive 
xo\\VL\\&soio\xv Tropical AgricvUxir'ist •, and, al- 
though allov/ance may have to be made in some 
cases for "a virgin soil" a good deal weaker 
in one district than in others— for instance 
in a Northern district as compared with the 
higher districts around Nuwara Eliya with 
their stronger and richer soils— yet to keep 
up tea to its pristine vigour (dare we 
say, " and delicate flavour"), the soil must be 
supplied in some way with what it loses through 
Siuccessive, ami perhaps heavv, crops of leah 
