194 
THE TKOPICAL 
AGKICULTUIilST. [Sei>t. 1, 1898. 
Mr. Alkx. Wuytfj— reuiernbeicd in Ceylon by 
old Kaniiy lesideiits, inii.-it Ite quite a veieraii 
now— not under i)5 to 00 yeai'8, we should tliifik 
— yeb lieie he is starbin;< oft' to Africa to lji-t;in 
Botanical (iardens at U;j;at)(!a ! He writus : — 
" Leavint; fo. Uf^auda via Aden per s->. ••'•liati- 
non ' on Otli July. Goo i- by; and best wislies. 
It will be inLele^^tin;^ woik in a very intcnjHl- 
ing country, and I tiu^t, i .shall be able to stand 
anoiiier spell of the tropics and be of much u^-e 
in developiug the le-ouicen of she country. My 
destinadon is Menj,'o, bui 1 ~liall l. xve lo report on 
likely siatiotis on the way uij."— Our London Cone- 
sponilenc gives results oi an interview with Mr. 
Whyte. 
Peradeniya (jARDEN.S.— On another p.age will 
be found a very in-tructive account by " W.H.W." 
of a recent visit to the Gardens with M-liich he 
was so closely connected in years gone by and 
in which he has always taken a deep interest. 
The immediate object of the veteran's visit was 
the flowering of the giant oichid ; but he does 
nob conliiie his description to ib, nor to other 
.special flowers, bub gives us a general survey of 
the Gardens which he considers much improved 
under the present rciiiniu. Coming from so c.\- 
perienced, and practical an ob.^icrver as " W.II. W." 
this may be accepte i as a compliment of some 
value, especially by the Curator wiio is in imme- 
diaie charge of the Gardens. 
EUROPKANS AND t'OCONUT CtJLTXVATlON IM 
THE EastivHN Province.— We recently stated that 
a lart'e block of forest land iti the Eastern Province 
had been sold to Mr. demmetb JJrown, but it was 
not stated at the time that the land in extent 
some 1,40U acres— was purchased by him on behalf 
of others for coconut cultivation, ihe land is situ- 
ated in Tirukovil and Komari, in the Batticaloa dis- 
trict, and skirts the seashore. The land between 
the lots sold and the road, are also, we hear, avail- 
able for purchase. On the 13tli in-tani Mr. Hrown 
purchased another 175 acre- at M.uiduv, wlii^.h, it 
is said, he will clear of limber tor sale ro the Hteam- 
boat Compuiy aud olheis. NVe are.-ilso loid that 
more land for cocounl cullivalion lias ueeo applied 
for at Fobtuvil liy Kuropeans, so that there promises 
to bcalarge exietisiun of the area under this pro- 
duct in that parb of the world, and, as the nevv pro- 
prietors are Europeans, the uhimate benelib to the 
surroundint; district cannot tail to be great.— Local 
" Times. [The Tirukovil Division of the Eastern 
Province will make quite a show in our Coco- 
nut Estates Directory.— Ed. r.-l,] 
Cooper, Cooper & Johnson, Liauted.— On 
page 181 we reproduce in full the pros- 
pectus of this Company with the list of 
estates taken over in Ceylon. These are more 
numerous and extensive than we had antici[iated, 
inchtding not only the plantations of the Ceylon 
and Oriental Company and Pallekelly Company ; 
but also the well-known Ilajawellas belonging to 
the Messrs. Pirie and Hadilen ; Mr, Beachcroft's 
two Dumbara places ; the Kalutara and Kelani 
Valley properbics of l-ord Chelmsford and Messrs. 
Ino-lis and Buckworbli ; aud Patirajah belonging 
to°blie heirs of A. T. Broadhursb. Albogelher 
the new Company are to hold 19,670 acres in 
Ceylon, of which iii,580 acres are in cultivation 
(6,860 in tea ; 3,543 in cacao and 177 in coffee 
and crotons) with 9,090 acres of forest, chena 
and' grass. The Company will therefore take a 
lirst-class position as proprietors with almost ex- 
actly the same cultivated acreage as the Ceylon 
Plantations Co., Ld.— Only the latter has tea 
ftucl coconiits ; the new Company tea and cacao» 
Coffee GuowiMi in <iuATi-;MALA. — From the Consular 
report on the trade of Guatemala wc gather that 
at the present time the cullivatir.D of coflce absorbs 
the atteuiiuii of uluinst all the landownert^, for uotil 
the pa«t year the high price ut which G(>i..emiil» 
coff. e was quoted ubroaJ BtiinuUttrd (he piunt:n(( of 
many l,iige coffep plautaliouw. The principal dib- 
triutB of the coffepgrowiug indu-^tiy are Iciii-d in 
ihe ill pjiitineiits of Qu< zalteu^wigo, S in Man 'is, Chi- 
maltcD'tMgo, Santii Lio^a, XietalhoLu, Zacitfia, and 
Alta Vera Pais. Ilie cou(3ilioDs eiSi-ntial ior the 
gi'owth of coiTce arc, iu this iHiitude, au al.itudeof 
from 2. COO feet to 4,500 feet abo\c the sea levei, a 
coibiderable depth of vegelablc eoil, iind a clav eub- 
soil. L mds of thi« desLiiption are foMud in almost 
every department of the Kepublic. The coffee tree 
is easily cultivated. The young trees are planted 
in little pits about fifty centims. deep, aud at a 
distance of 1* metres from each other. Everv three 
niouthe the plantntion nce'U tbuminc; out, and the 
first harvest is obt.iined tbe third or fourth Tear 
after planting the tiees. The cost of a ccfTee p au- 
tation xnd the profits which it yields are not ea^y 
to state accurately, ai.d are ectiujated very differently 
bv different persons. There has not been much 
change in the cost of raising coffee or its yield in 
the last twenty yeais. « 
The Impohtance or Bacteriology, both at 
home and in the tropics, is every day— says the 
Loudon Times (.f July lltli -ieeeiving fresh illus- 
trations ; .and the latc.'-t of these comes to us from 
German East Africa, whore, as was mentioned by 
cur Berlin Cmresiiondent on .Saturday, I'rolestnr 
Koch has discovered a new .-ind previously nnsus- 
pecbed plague ccntie, among a race of people who 
lire almost entirely upon banana.s, ami whose diet 
may, he thinks, have j-ometliing t»i do with tlieir 
proneiiess to the disease. Atallevents, liehaHsiiown 
its character by isolating its bacillus, and it lius 
pursued its Usual course by lirst proJucing an extra- 
ordiii.aiy niortalitj' among fats, and next by at- 
tacking hum m Vieings. The temlency of recent in- 
vc-i igatinn seems to be to show that ceitaiii disease 
pKxlucing b.icilli may lie indigenous to certain loca- 
lities, liki' other special forms of vegetable life, and 
that (hey may be tr insplan'ed to new soils along 
ihe ordinary lines of hnniaii intercourse. It would 
seem probable, therefore, that the soil must be con- 
genial if the imported bacillus is to thrive ; and it 
can har.lly be doubteil that t!.e condition most con- 
genial to the jilagiie bacillus is supplied by the pre- 
tence of larj^e quantities of decomposing animal and 
vegetable matter. If this be so, Dr. Koch is prob- 
ably justified in his antici|)ation that jilague can- 
not survive the spreai of civilization, and that 
within a measurable time it may be expecte<l to 
disappear. In the me .nwhile he confirms the ac- 
count< which we have alieady imbii-ihod of the ex- 
cellent results that have been obtained from inocu- 
lations for the production of artilicial immunity, 
and he also points out the dangers which, until 
civilization has done its work, most occasionally fol- 
low from the passage of caravans, and, still more, of 
railway trains. Sir John Simon told us, many 
years ago, that a bime might come when the cur- 
rent infections of India would be current also in 
Eiivope, as a result of the increased activity of man- 
kind and of the increased rapidity of travelling. It 
is comforting bo reflect that the conditions which 
produce bhe evil may be expected also to provide the 
remedy ; and ib may be hoped bliab ilie step now 
taken by the Colonial Office will shortly furnish our 
tropical dependencies with medical officers who will 
enter upon their duties not onlj' prejiared to grap- 
ple with the diseases which tiiey will be called 
upon to encounter, but also to unravel their nature 
and the sources from which they spring, and so to 
render important service in preventing them. 
