646 
THE TKOPICAL 
AGEICULTURIST. [Makcu 1, 1899. 
mixture. The cost of the latter 'niossiiig 
and bugging' is from R3 to, eventually (as 
with us now) R1'50 per acre of pruned tea. 
" I don't think there would be much com- 
plaint or' insect (or fungoid) pests, if everyone 
did this regularly, and it keeps the trees in a 
very healthy condition and far more ready to 
respond to all other treatment. I have fol- 
lowed this plan for years on tea and you know 
with what success I have used this ' Kerosine 
Oil Emulsion ' to coffee here. As to burying 
green prunings, &c., after a number of years 
I find I am able to reduce more expensive 
manuring very considerably, and yet get as 
good yields, &c. 
" I have had a lot of letters from one or 
another lately about ' mossing and bugging ' 
and ' burying prunings ' and ' lime for tea. ' 
Mr. Kelway-JBamber was here lately and has 
got samples of soil, as being one of the places 
ne has to visit." 
We feel sure that not a few planters will 
be grateful for the practical hints thus 
afforded by our correspondent. We know 
that some Superintendents have been dis- 
couraged to find blight returning even after 
burning all their prunings. Let them now 
try the kerosine and soap mixture and see 
if their trees are rendei'ed proof against 
any returning pest. We shall be glad to 
hear of results. 
JAMAICA vs. CEYLON. 
HOW IT STRIKES A VISITOR. 
Mr. Astwood, of Jamaica, to whose visit to 
Ceylon we have already referred, has just 
returned from a visit to the coconut districts 
of Cochiii. He has now seen all that is 
worth seeing in regard to coconut cutivation 
and copra manufacture in this island and 
on the adjacent coast of India. And as a 
proof of Mr. Astwood's interest in our in- 
dustry and desire to experiment in the West, 
he is sending 1,000 selected seed niits to 
Jamaica, one-half coming from the well- 
known plantation of Mr. W. H. Wright, 
namely Mirigama, and the other half from 
the old established Negombo plantation of 
Goluapokuna. We have been asking Mr. 
Astwood how Ceylon compares with the 
oldest British Colony in the AVest Indies ? 
First, as regards soil, Ceylon is not in the com- 
parison at all ; Jamaica with its volcanic 
conditions is infinitely richer. As regards 
natural scenery, Ceylon, though much more 
extensive, has in Mr. Astwood's opinion, 
nothing better than the best in Jamaica, 
In Ceylon, we think a great deal of climb- 
ing to our sanitarium in ten hom's : but 
in Jamaica in a buggy and on horseback one 
can get from the sea-side capital into the 
midst of the Blue Mountains in about three 
hours. Indeed, Gordontown that bears the 
same relation to Kingston, in climate, as Kandy 
does to Colombo, is attainable within an horn'. 
The view from the Blue Mountains over the 
hills and out to sea is perhaiDs finer than 
anything to be seen from the hills of 
Ceylon. On the other hand, for historical 
and archaeological interest, Jamaica is not 
in the reckoning with Lanka, and in this 
direction presents in no degree so vast a 
field for research to the tourist. Carib 
remains are the only ancient objects available 
for antiquarian students in Jamaica. Mr, Ast- 
wood is, moreover, somewhat amubed at our 
efforts to cultivate grass here ; in Jamaica the 
trouble is to keep it down. Mr. Astwood 
.sums up his opinion of the agricultural 
cond.itions of Ceylon ae compared with his 
adopted country by the coudensed reumrk : 
" If we only had your labour supply, you 
would not be in it for a minute witli us in 
the AVest Indies, bounties notwithstanding." 
Still, though hard up for laboui-, a 
great advantage that Jamaica possesses 
18 its proximity to the great North 
American market, although this may in 
future be neutralised to some extent by the 
United States' acquisition of Porto Rico and 
possibly of Cuba. What adds intei-est to this 
comparison of the two countries is that 
when the Panama or Nicaragua Canal is cut, 
J amaica will bear to it, in connection with 
its homeward-l)ound traffic from the Pacific, 
pretty much the same relation as Ceylon 
does now to the Suez Canal with similar 
traffic from the Antipodes and the Far East. 
One of the principal objects of Mr. Astwood's 
mission to the East— the investigation of 
our coconut planting enterprise— ha-s been 
satisfactorily met. Mr. Astwood has been 
studying the preparation of copra, and his 
investigations appears to confirm our own 
previous impression that the superiority of 
the Cochin copra 's due not only to their 
sun-drying Ji.s opposed to the local kiln- 
drying, but also to the drier atmosphere 
there and the consequent fa^-ilities for drying 
the substance for a longer period of time. 
Mr. Astwood remains in Ceylon a few days 
more. 
« 
The Kuanwella Tea Company Kepoet is a 
satisfactory document althouixh the dividend de- 
clared is the inotU'st one of .3 per cent. It will 
be observed that the unfavourable weather ac- 
counts for a short crop and yet that the cost 
of tea per lb. in Colombo has been no more than 
22-41 cent?. 
Fiji Tea. — A friend writes : — "I am sending you 
by jiarcel post three samples of tea from Fiji 
received yesterday. These are made on Masusa 
estate, the only tea property in Fiji now carried 
on. The samples, I am sure, will interest yon and 
probably you will like to get some of your broker 
friends to examine and report on them for your 
paper. Masiisu has a great pull now that there is 
an import duty of 6d a lb. on tea and being the 
only estate to supply the local demand this 
excessive duty amounts to a monopoly." — The 
samples have duly come to hand and Messrs. 
Somerville & Co. kindly report as follows : — 
SAMPLE TEAS. 
Feb. 27. 
Colombo-: 
London Eqaivaleiit ' 
Description. Value, at Exchange Bemarks. 
1/41- 
a. cents. 
Broken Pskoe . . 7 36 . . Blackish brownish 
small flaky ; liquor 
coarse common. 
Pekoe .. 6i 33 . . Blackish Email 
choppy ; liquor coarse 
common. 
Pekoe Souchong. . 6^ 31 . . Greyish choppy; 
liquor coarse common, 
lufased leaf too didl Leaf is too broken. 
SoMERvn-u; & Co. 
