62 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[July 1, \m. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
"Colonia; TiiK Colonial College Magazine."— 
Spring Session, April, 1898. Contents :— Our Students' 
Column :— Communicaliotia from Africa. Australasia, 
Canada, West Indies and California; "Eniigratio)) : 
a Plea for State Aid ' J'iic Briiifiii Soutlj African 
Police; New Caledonia: Poet's Conier : A llint on 
ManuriiiV ; Laboratory Notc.^ ; Weather Heport— 
January 'to April, IS'.iS; Estate, l''arjii and Building 
ISlotes ; In Menioriani ; The Atblftic Club Report ; 
Old Students' Directory (revised) ; Notice to Corree- 
pondents. 
Planting jn Nkw Cai.jouoma.— Sujiar l*_ grown 
but to a very limited extent, there beiDf,', in fact, 
but one planter. Tapioca if another product, and 
one which is stated to pay well, the quality being 
first class. Tea is being tri. d by one or two in an 
experimental form, but it i.s doubtful whether it will 
be found to answer on a largo scab; on account ct 
labour and deficient rainfnll. Th.- lutler diftiuully 
could be overcome by inigatiun, but the question 
of labour is more serious a-d would, I tbnik, pre- 
vent competition with India, Ceylon, and otlu r tea- 
erowing countries where labour is botn cheap and 
plentiful. CoconuiB are, of course, moat prolific and 
all the tropical and semi-tropical fiuits, each as 
bananas, oranges, lemons, citrons, mangroves, guavaa 
and a host of others grow in profusion.— totonia 
Colleqr, Mayadne. t 
A Sign of the Times: the Japase-e is 
Formosa. — A few months n^'J we liad an ac- 
complislied English visitor here looking round 
some of our planting; districts and makmu' 
many enquiries in the interests of Japanese 
administration in Foimosa. T'lis island is sure 
to be developed year by year now and as a 
si«n of the times or rather of the future in 
that island, we may mention that a recent 
mail has hrousrht us an order from tlie Ja- 
panese Government for a complete set (17 
volumes) of the Tropiral Agricidturixt. llie last 
ennuiry of the kind wiis in the interests of 
the Kin" of Belgium for the AHriciiIlnral 
Library of his Congo State ; and so thf. tropu-al 
world of foreigners in the Far East and W^est 
equally with Briti.sli tropical dependencies, 
look to Ceylon for guidance and in.struction. 
Unfortunately tlie earlier volumes are setting 
scarce and to reprint tlicm (as Mr '1. Chnsty 
suggests) would be a. heavy undei-taking. J hose 
of our subscribers who have preserved tlieir sets of 
theT.A. may yet find they have a special value. 
Ceylon Rainfall Ekturn for 1897. 
—The Return of liainfall in Ceylon during 
1897 and the Means during different periods, 
prepared by tlie Survey Department, was issued as 
a Supplement to a recent Guzctle We are 
givin" the same (together witli the P.W. D. Rain- 
fall Return for last year) with our Meteorological 
Summary, in the " Ceylon Handbook and Diiee- 
tory "where they can be readily referred to- Mean- 
time we may remark that the highest total 
rainfall for last year, registered by the bnrvey 
Department, was 201 -90 inches on bembawatte, 
Nawalapitiy.n,, spread over 218 days, tlie means 
during 14 "5-6 years being 217;32 inches. Tins 
was closely followed by Digalla, Awissawe la, 
with 19-5 •86 inches on 17?. days, and 179 83 inches 
means during llf years; while the lowest total 
quantity was 38 68 inches falling on ,6 days at 
Puttalam, the means during 27 11-12 years being 
46-08. Thenuantity legisteied in ,iny 24 hours 
ranged from 260 inches (on Nov. 13-14) at Put- 
talam to 10-20 inches (on June 17-18) at Hoieke^e, 
Chilaw. Nothing therefore approaching the excep- 
tional Nedunkeni fall, came within the purview 
of any of the Survey Office observers. 
Coffee-crowing ik Queekslakd.— boiM in- 
tcrebting information on thltt subject Mill be 
found on p:<ge <><*. It in tourp^i^iIl^ that 
our conLempojary ol lim useful Tinpiml CtUti- 
valor pulilushed at Mackay, (^ueenblaii*!, tloeu uol 
tell ur> more about cotlee. (.'an he not institute an 
en(|uiry and coiiipili.' a lint of all ilte ( jueeutvUuid 
Coffee gardens in exlst«iic<i with thc-ir fu^reii^e tor 
puhlicatiou in hits coluinus, anri alho, if |>OKsible, 
a return of crops in tlie aggregate or rer acre ? 
Ckara IU IN ZAKZiiiAii.— The folluMint: 
paragraph from the Zanzibai' (iazt'.tc is of inUsrCbt 
to us at present : — 
It may be iulereatiug to note that a tbouaajid C«ar& 
Robber trees arc now beicg planted out at Duuga. uu 
the adiacMit coral. The boil is only & fcw iodn-s det-p 
but what there ia of it is of ;lie very beet quality. 
By digging holes one and a half to two feet deep 
with heavy crowbars and fillirg in with th« rioii 
bluck surface mould plenty of looiu ie aflorded for 
the short tap root of the tree to strike down. There 
is a good deal of soil of sorts, chittiy of a red »iidy 
character, mixed up with the coral iiuderneath. It 
ie not by nuj' means all i-olid rock. The Ceara 
rubber trefi are being placid 17 feet apart which 
gives 151 trees to the !icie. They bttiud transplant- 
ing ext emely well and ia most caa^s renew tUeIr 
crowth the day after bring put out. 
Then who jdanted Ceaia freely in Ceylon some 
years ago should look after their trees. A yield 
of a lb. of rubber a day per cooly, from tieeain 
Dumbara, is not to be despised. 
Paddy and Wkf.vils. — Our Negombo corre- 
spondent sent us a packet of paddy affected by 
weevils wliicli we forwarded to Mr. M. Coclrran 
who kin<lly reports as follows :—" With rccaid 
to the sample of injured paddy received from 
you on Saturday, there is no ooubt the grain 
is vei-y badly weevil-eaten ; a great ijrojK rtion 
of the sample c(»nsisting of enijity linsks, the 
weevil holes and the weevils themselves being in 
evidence. A few days ago in the Ohscrrcr, joii 
published the manner of using the only two 
agents which 1 am aware are used as weevil- 
destroyers. It would be interesting to know if 
the weevils ere noticed on the grain in the field, 
or if they only come in the granaries. Bisul- 
jiliide of carbon has, as far as I Know, been the 
fa\ourite remedy; but naphthaline was also iiiCn- 
tioned in the article I refer to as very effective. 
These agents could only act as preventitiv( s as 
well as destructive agents in the granaries, and 
not if the wee\'ils eomiuence their destructive 
work in the field." 
TjNHiiALTHY OoTACAMUND — The talk Tip here 
(says the Madras Times) is all about the unhealthi- 
ness of Ootacamund. The following are some of 
the patients; — Sir Frederick Price, Miss Davies, 
Miss Sinip.son, jMi«s Pryce and Mr. Geddes, 4th 
Pioneers, all of tj'phoid fever ; Mr. Irwin, rheu- 
matic fever : Lady Souter, malarial fever. Sir 
Frederick Price is not improving as might Ije 
wished. It appears, indeed, that lie has had a 
relapse. The Misses Davies, Simpson and Piyce 
are all improving, and the last two are on tlieir 
fair way to recovery. Mr. Ceddes, of the 4th 
Pioneers, is the latest addition to typlioid fever, 
while Mr. Irwin is seriously ill of a mala<ly 
which ho caught through exposure during the 
race week v.lirn he was dienched ; and Lady 
Souter is also ill, having caught malaria while on 
her coffee estate up here. There are other eases of 
typh.iid in the p'ace among the Natives ami Mahom 
mediins. The Sisters of the Church and a !arge 
number from that iLsiitution have been ill. Miss 
Elwes, who took the contagion from thisjinstitution, 
and who went to Coonoor, is, 1 learn, doing well. 
