Sept. 1, 1898.] THE TEOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 183 
CoNTBACTs.— The following contracts have been 
entered into, namely :— (1) dated 29th April, 1898, be- 
tween the Ceylon and Oriental Estates Company, 
Limited, and Theodore Jermyn Ford ; (2) dated 14th 
March, i898, between the Pallikelle Cej-lon Estates, 
Limited, and Marshall Harcourt Paine ; (3) dated 18th 
May, 1898, between Marshall Harcourt Paine and 
T. J. Ford; (4) dated 18th May, 1898, between 
George Vanderspar and T. J. Ford; (5) dated 28th 
May, 1898, between William Johnson and William 
Henry Dodds and T. J. Ford ; (6) dated 1st June, 
1898, "between Alexander Charles Pirie, Martin Lind- 
say Haddeu, Martin Henry Pirie and T. J. Ford ; 
7) dated 3rd Jane, 1898, made between Cooper 
Cooper and Co., Limited, and T. J.Ford; (8 1 dated 
June 27th, 1898, between The Right Honourable 
Frederick Augustus Baron Chelmsford, G.O.B., 
Charles Montagu Buckworth, Charles George Inglis 
and T. J. Ford; (9) dated June 1st, 1898, between 
Clive Harding Meares and T. J. Ford; (10 1 dated 
8th July, 1898, between T. J. Ford (the Vendor) 
and the Company. 
London, 9th July, 1898. 
VALUATIONS. 
28, Mincing Lat e, London, June 8th, 1898, 
To the Dir- ctors of C^oper, Cooper & Johnson, 
Litnited. Gentlemen, — Having lately returned from 
Ceylon from visiting Tea and Cacao properties, and 
having visited most of the Estates to be acquired by 
your Company, and being we'l acquainted with the 
w.rkiDg of the others, I have carefully considi-red the 
acreages under cultivation on the various Estates 
(as more particul:.rly tet forth in the Schedule an- 
nexed) and considering the elevation ' quantity and 
quality ot crops and other points, I value the pro- 
perties including forest land, factories, machinery, 
bungalows, buildings &c., at Three Hundre.) and 
Ninety-one Thousand Five Hundred Pounds sterling 
(^391,500).— Yours fa thfuUy. 
E. H. Hancock, Sworn Broker, City of London. 
SCHEDULE OF ESTATES. 
Ncime of Estate. District, 
o o 
'? r ■ 
§3 
2~ 
O 71 
Pallikelle 
Ambacotia 
Gangawatte 
RajaweUa, No. 
Warekettia 
Kilmainock 
Victoria 
Rajawelle, No. 
Rajawelle, No. 
Roseberry 
Bofrahawattee 
Le Vallon 
RajatalawA 
Denegama 
Peacock Hill 
Keenakelle 
Keenakisheeue 
Sefeiidib 
Peradenia 
Oodewelle 
Ooragalla 
W iltshire 
Hampshiie 
Wangle Oya 
Maralioya 
Wilton 
Pathragalla 
Shannon 
Ambatene 
Denswoith 
PaterajaU 
• Dumbara 
■ Haputale 
• Dimbuli 
1 fusselawa 
Balangode 
Pusselawa 
jsadulla 
Hantane 
I Matale 
Dimbula 
I Kelani Valley 334 
Kurunegala 100 
Dikoya 310 
Kahitara 447 
Kelani Valley 341 
Ambalangoda Iti-i 
80 1,329 
- 427 
1,836 
1,E00 
600 
- 282 
S82 
122 
. 129 
251 
244 
• 328 
572 
1S7 
647 
. 476 
1,250 
)j 
60 
100 61 457 
668 
541 
- 77 
618 
4,300 
i,218 
5 2,356 
3,579 
3,500 
313 
. 131 
449 
3,.'=00 
300 
. 192 
492 
3,500 
558 
140 
116 756 1,570 
3,nco 
424 
. 747 1,171 
2,500 
817 
- 1,027 
1,844 
2,ouO 
272 
55 
■ 517 
844 
2,500 
445 
. 122 
567 
4,7C0 
121 455 500 
306 
348 
f.9 
256 
202 
110 
754 
339 
708 
540 
275 
700 
4,50',) 
300 
SCO 
300 
Total acres.— 6,860 3,643 177 9,090 10670 
TEA BLIGHT8. 
(" Keiv Bulletin" for June.) 
The field of nature is one of incessant struggle. 
Every plant has to hold its own in the face of foes 
bent continuously and relentlessly on its destruction. 
If it succeeds it is only because its defensive re- 
sources are on the average superior to the attacks 
made upon it, The final result is one of equilibrium, 
in which foe and victim each manage to survive. 
This is arrived at through the interaction of condi- 
tions usually diflicult to trace, but brought into 
adjustment after a long period of struggle. 
When man appears on the scene and for his own 
purposes destroys the adjustment, the struggle begins 
anew with increased severity. He grows some one 
plant in wide stretches after clearing the grc viid of 
its competitors. But in so doing he relaxes the res- 
traint of all its foes and often gives them a chance 
they have never possessed before. 
Plants and their parasites have to live in nature a3 
best they may. The host can do without the parasite, 
but the parasite cannot do without the host. A plant 
may exist alone in a forest and the parasite which 
kills it will find its own fate sealed if it cannot trans- 
fer its attacks to a neighbouring individual. The 
straits to which a parasite in consequence is put to con- 
tinue its existence, and the varied means by which 
this is effected, form one of the most fascinating sub- 
jects of biological study. But the net result is that 
under natural conditions the parasite is kept in check. 
When any crop is grown on a large scale it is 
obvious that the conditions are changed. A parasite 
having by accident fastened on an individual plant 
in a plantation and done its fatal work, can then ex- 
tend, usually with little difficulty, to contiguous plants. 
Under such circumstances the spread of a fungoid 
disease can only be compared to a conflagration, 
which beginning on a small scale may increase to 
disMstrous dimensions. Such trouble' are part of the 
price which man has to pay for disturbing the order of 
nature. The only way to treat them is to endeavour 
either to restore the natural checks which man has 
abolished, or, as this can from the circumstances 
of the case rarely be done, to substitute artificial 
ones in their place. And as a matter of practicci 
an attentive study of the habits of the parasite, 
this can generally be effected and the injury it 
inflicts circumvented. 
The difficulties which best tea-culture in Assam 
are only an illustration of these general principles, 
But the Government of India does not possess any 
trained mycologist in its service, and no one was 
available for the study of the " Blights " s\ hich affect 
Indian tea-culture, but Dr. Watt, its Eeperter on 
Economic Products. When a similar investigation 
was needed for the poppy crop, it was entrusted to 
a gardening member of the staff of the Eoyal 
Botanic Garden, Calcutta. Dr. Watt, was obliged to 
have recoiu'se to Kew for the technical investiga- 
tion of the most serious maladies with which the 
tea-planters have to contend. The following report 
has been drawn up, from material transmitted by 
Dr. Watt, by Mr. Massee, a Principal Assistant ia 
the Herbarium of the Koyal Gardens. 
ORET BLKiiHT. 
(Pestahxxia Guepini, Desmaz.) 
The amount of injury caused to the tea planta* 
tions by this fungus is estimated by Dr. Watt as 
follows : — " I regard the ' Grey Blight ' as very 
alarming, a disease that if not checked may easily 
reduce the productiveness of gardens by lifty per 
cent. It might, in fact, convert A^sam from the 
prosperous province the planters have maae it, to 
one of extreme distress." 
An examination of the fungus sent from Assam on 
leaves of the tea plant, showed it to be idei:tical with 
the parasite common on leaves of cultivated species of 
Camellia in Er.rope. The fungus first appears under 
the form of small grey spots, more or less circular in 
shape ; these spots gradually increase in size and not 
infrequently run into each other, forming large, irre- 
