192 
THE Tropical ACEicrLirrjisT. [Sept. i, \m. 
ently vigorous plants (not tea) being occasionally 
overcome, c peciaily iu the l(>\vci>iiiiir,\ ; and 
tlierefoie we :>li'iul'l not like to be positive. 
Since writing tlie above, wo iiave referre<l to the 
" T. A."—\\'hn,t a l)lessin|i to ev^ry eslAte 
n)ana<,'er if he had a set within reach I -and in 
the very fiist vohniie we take up, on refer- 
ence to the index, v< find the foUowinK letter 
showing iliat in North India ai loist, white 
ants aru a recognised enemy of Tea : — 
WHITE ANTS IN TEA. 
To the Editor o£ " Tbe Planter." 
SiH,— In reply to •' Chundtr " I am please' to in- 
form !)im that wheu I was an assistant in one of 
the !. rgtul roi;Ci.iiii!i in Cachar we used buv'.oriuilk 
aud kaiosinc- .>il iip;ainst shia pnHo, in p.oportiou of 
about 10 to 1, v/ith very fair suckcss, the bushes 
thus tteauid not beinfj attackud again for several 
years, iu no c tse a aiu iu the aaine >ea,r. 
Before applying the remedy, the branches and 
trunk of the nff-. cted bushe^i were well scraped, aud 
the roots opened t') iibout I'i inchea round tlio stem 
with a forked hoe. The branches were then washed 
with a piece of cloth soaked in the fluid aud au 
omce or two sprinkled rounJ the roots, after a day 
or two fresh miuiure was applied and covered up 
a^'i-in wi.h soil Tiiis work h^s to be done immedi- 
ately utter pruning. CACHAIt. 
—El). T,A J 
PLANl'I.N't; NOTES. 
Thk Amkkic vn I t. \ Tax. — Habit is so strong 
wiih most people- ^ays I'lm A iii'ricdii Grocer— that 
a 10 cent duty (ui a favorite article ol drink will 
not prove a biirri'jr to its u.>e. 
GuTTA Pkbcha. — The series of Cantor lectures on 
Guitrt Perchadel -.ered before the Society of Arts by 
Dr. Eugeue Obacii in November aud December last 
has now been published in a separate volume with 
numerous illustrations. It forms an exhaustive sum- 
mary of all that pertains to the gutta percha industry 
and contains numerous appendices with analytical aud 
statislical tables. The as-sistance afforded by Kew is 
fully acknowledged.— /iO//ai Gardens Ken- Bulletin. 
Tea Blights. — We reproduce verbatim from the 
"Kew Bulletin' for June, the full account given of 
certain fungoid enemies of tea in A.ssjun -popularly 
knownasUrey, Biisit:ra'iil Tln-ad Blights— together 
with recoinniendation.i as to ))rw;ventive measures. 
Although we have not heard of these blights troub- 
ling Ceylon planters, the latter ought to be 
prepared and should therefore carefully study 
the descriptions, and the proposed remedies. 
KUBBER AND THE T.A. — A Burmah resident 
w-riting to a fiiend who was able to lend him 
our niouthly, says " Many thanks for the 
Tropical Agriculturist, which I return herewith. 
I have just copied out the article containing the 
two Government Reports on Para rubber, and 
have wri'*-.'>n to the Director at Peradeniya for 
a fop-/ of the. Circular he quotes giving data for 
a prolit ^.•A ios* calculation on worki.ig a rubber 
farm, rhai is a good journal — I am going to 
take it in reHulavly, ] had no i.iea Para rulil-er 
cultiviitioti wa^ t ikeii up so extonsiv^^iy iu Ceylon. 
Curious to note how iimc-li at van'..ice the two 
reports are as iward.s planting;. Ueyion puts 
down the success of the trees he reports ou to 
wide intervals— the Suraits man insists on the 
value of close planting."— It is all too soon yet 
to dogmatize in either direction : further experi- 
ence Is wanted before settling a good many 
points connected with Rubber planting, culture 
and especially the tapping aud harvesting. 
Planting in Sebdanc, Scmatba — Mr. Van- 
der P.^orten givis (oo another p«gf) a glowing 
Kccouui of the riehntss ot ihe JSi-rdaug districl 
of Suniaira. He had heiird a good deal about 
it; but the half was not t»ld hini. He compares 
the fertile suil to that wliich lie saw iu the 
little iisland of Fernando I'o where cacao grovee 
yield 2o cwt. p«r a<re. He aUo s^nds a very 
line photograph reptwenling young Libcriaii 
coffee with Malays j) Cking crop, certainly much 
liner trees than we have ever seen iu Ceylon at 
same age. 
Copra Tradk from the Philii'PIXKs HTOpptD : 
COCOXCT Oil. .SllOtl.U Bl.'ii: IN' PRICE?— ril<S 
following infor'iictiion of ii.terest to sill coconut 
producers (for export) in I'eylon i« from a New 
Vork trade journal of May 30th: — 
It seem.4 nut unlikely that the warlike conditiona 
prevailing at the Philippines may liave a materitl 
effect upun the supply of coconut oil should they be 
long continued. It is not generally kaowu that the 
exportation of copra coustituteit a very importaut 
elf;ment in the commerce of the islauds. Formerly 
coconut oil was made quite laigelv in dilTereut parta 
of the territory, ag it doubtless still is for doueetic 
conaumption, nut eff irts to export the surplus pro- 
duct proved unsuccessful, by reason of tlie lack of 
containers in which could be ttausported to the coast 
without loo great expense of carriage or tscesslve 
w.i' te. Tids led to the production of copra as an 
industry which baa existed for about 15 yearn, with 
steaaily increasn g imporiauce. The exports of c^pra 
from the Phd.ppines annually for the past tbruj or 
four years, have ranged from 40.000 to 50,(KX) tous. Of 
this amount the statistics we have indicate that about 
90 per cent, went to Europ-, more than half going to 
France, aud the remainder being divided about equally 
between England and Spain, the Ivtter country being 
the small r .ceiver. Jubt what percentage of oil the 
average crop of copra will yield, we have no means of 
asceaainmg, but the undried coconut meat is estimated 
to contain .^U per cent, of fat which, it is obvious, must 
constitute a still larger percentage of the copra, as tbe 
meat would lose nothing but water iu the process of 
drying. We may therefore assume the supply of coco- 
nut oil derived tn.m the Philippines as about 25,000 
tons, or about two-t. irds of the entire exportation from 
Ocyl^n and Cochin. Of tbe Indian oil it must be 
remembered, not more than 12,000 tons go to Europe 
and America, hence the imponauce of the Philippine 
supplies to th se counttiss is very great. To be suie, 
none of the copra c^raes here, but it supplies European 
markets, which compete with our own for coconnt oil, 
and these, it deprived of the material by means of 
which they are now able to obtain oil made by their 
l^cal pressors, must fall back upon the Cochin and 
Ce J Ion oils, The present advancing tendency in all 
of the soap fats has not left so much of a margin 
between coconut oil and the other preases as to greatly 
encourage the substitution of the latter, although at 
a priou they would, of course, very largely supplant the 
oil. But on its merits with the sup- Iv even measurably 
diminished, coconut oils are in a position which ie very 
favorable to holders, and points to a further advance in 
cost. 
We had no idea the copra exports from the 
Pliilijipines were so large as 40,000 to 50,000 tons, 
a ni ixiiiuiin of I million cwt per annum. Our 
New York c">ot "iiporary is however too higli 
ha t/hiiiks the cojira ivould produce half 
its weiglit iii oil. O'lr rtckoaitig i* 50J> coco- 
nuts to a e\vt. of oil and 170 to ISO to a cwt 
of copra. The inaxiniuni copra export from the 
Philippines would tlierefjre not be equal to 
more than 18,000 tons or 360,000 cwt of coco- 
nut oil, close on an average year's export from 
Ceylon ? This quantity lost to the markets of 
the world for a time, should certainly make a 
difference. 
