March ], 1899.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTUPJST. 
655 
To Ihe EdliGS. 
THE G UK AMI FISH IN THE SEYCHELLES 
AND IN CEYLON; AND VANILLA 
CULTIVATION IN SEYCHELLES, WITH 
IMPORTS AND EXPORTS. 
Malie, Seycliellps, Feb. 12. 
Sir, — A day nr two ii<;o a new aiiival frrmi 
Ceylon .allowed ine an article on tlie giimmi fixh, 
tliat ai)j)eared in tlie Tiopical Agriculturist for 
December last. I m.te also that an attempt is 
being made to introduce this iisli into your island. 
In Seyohelle.s the guranii was formerly very 
common. Owinj,' probably to its excellence, when 
cooked, nearly all the ea.sily accessible |)onds 
have been netted and the lisli captured. 
The B.I. ss. "Lawada" {i,oii9. direct from here 
to Colombo : so I hoped to have been able to have 
f^ent a few specimens of the gurami to you 
by her. A pond, said to contain guranii, has just 
been drawn blank, and there is now hardly time 
for me to send to other ponds before the steamer's 
departure. I hope however to be more successful 
shortly and to send you some good specimens 
before long. 
I doubt very much if the gurami will thrive 
in the iiills in Ceylon. Even here in Seychelles, 
where our iiighest mountains are under 3,000 ft., 
the gurami do far better near the sea level. 
Thex'e is a kind of dock-leif plant, always found 
growing near gurami ponds. The owners occasion- 
ally throw in a few leaves which are eagerly 
devoured by (he fish. It is said by some that 
gurami will not thrive without an occasional feed 
of this leaf. Be that true or not, 1 take the 
precaution of now sending you by the " Lawada" 
a few plants, that they may be ready for the 
fish when they arrive later on. They ouLdit to 
be planted out in rather damp soil. 
At present things are fairly blight with us here. 
Our last Vanilla crop was a good one and Alices 
at Mincing Lane still keep at a very satisfactory 
level. I fear, however, the crop of 1899 will not 
be nearly so good. The owners of li)w-lying estates 
complain that the dry weather was too prolonged. 
In the hills, on the other hand, we had a splen- 
did .show of buttons, and just as flowers were ap- 
|)earing, down came the rain steailily for two or 
three weeks. In the islands, reports are more 
satisfactory. E'rom my own island — Feiicite — I 
hear that there is an excellent show of unusually 
long jiods. 
I have j\ist leased all the Goveuiment islands 
in the Aihnirante Archipelago for the next thirty 
years. These islands only produce turtles, fish, 
biids-eggs, etc., at iiresent ; but I ho))e to g^t 
some of them under coconuts before long. 
I liear th.at several of your Ceylon planters 
think of trying iheir luck in Seychelles. I cer- 
tainly advise caution. They should remember 
that the area of these islands is small, and that 
owing to our recent jnosperity tiic present holders 
of land are not at all disposed to part \> ilh their 
proper! ies except at high rates. Ten years ago 
any haidworking young fellow possessed of LI, 000 
could have started here witli very fair ciiancos 
of success; but. now 1 could not advise anyone 
witii less than £:i,000 to come here. I send you 
on a separate sheet the (.Jovernment trade returns 
of Exports and Imports since 1S91. These will 
show you far more eloquently than I can, hew 
things have lately altered for the better with u?, 
I also send you the detailed Customs returrs 
for 1897 lately issued by the Goi'ernment, I iim 
informed th.at last year's figures (not yet publishec) 
show a steady imj)rovement. 
Should any of your readers wish for inforn> 
ation about these islands, I will be happy lo 
tell all I know about this pOace, I have been 
here since 188.3, so have had some considerab'e 
experience. I must, ho\ve\er, again advise cauticn 
to intendinir settlers. Seychelles is " boonting " ai d 
it i-i conseitueni ly the very M orst possible tin e 
to enter the lists.— I am, sir, your obedient 
servant, HAROLD BATY. 
Seychelle-s 
: Lmpouts 
AND 
EXPORT.S 
FROM 
1891-1897. 
Imports. 
Exp'orls. 
Revenue. 
Expen- 
diture, 
R. 
R. 
R. 
R, 
1891 
510,325 
798,698 
1891 
217,322 
210,7i?5 
1892 
481,720 
819,400 
1892 
194,844 
213,593 
1893 
550,209 
828,605 
1893 
232,024 
223, 1C5 
1894 
604,633 
7 1 2,081 
1894 
234.' 4 11 
278,470 
1895 
518,908 
525.350 
1895 
233,282 
225,5C0 
1896 
7 10,. -559 
1,535,895 
1890 
243,8ti2 
238,177 
1897 
1,122,611 
1,503,701 
1897 
296,171 
259056 
THE NILLU PLANTS— MORE INFORMA- 
TION: "CONJUM NILLU." 
Abbotsford, Nannoya. 
Dear Sir, — Mr. Thomas Farr's remarks in 
reference to the lloweriiig of tlie Niliu (Stroli- 
lanlhes) aie very interesting, lint I question if 
he has established the fact that this occurs only 
once every 12 years in the same district. The 
Nillu flowered in this neighbourhood and all 
around Nuwara Eliya and the Elk Plains very 
generally if not universally in 1886. It again 
liowercd in 1894, but whether to the same ex- 
tent or not I cannot say as I was then absent 
from the island. During tlie past few months 
it has been in blossom qui'.e as extensively as in 
1SS6, which is just 12 years ago, but what about 
the intermediate tiovveriiig? The whole tiling 
depends on the weather and I fancy Mr. Fair 
has been misled by our , regular dry cycles of 
11 and 12 years into thioking the Nillu only 
Uowered then. 
What happens when a dry year tumbles in 
between just to prove that everything mundai;e 
is more or less uncertain ? Why the Nillu blos- 
som, of course — asitcan't help itself. Theaverage 
yearly rainfall here for 16 years is 96 86 inches. 
Tiie stand-out dry years are : — 
1886 ... .... 81-41 inches 
1894 ... ... 82 00 ,, 
1898 ... .. 76-53 ,, 
And those are the three years in which the Nillu 
blossomed here and tea did badlj'. 
You will find Nillu over 20 ft. high and 8 to 
10 inches in diameter in the higher regions, — 
Yours truly, JOHN ERASER. 
AMMONIA IN CEYLON RAIN WATER ON 
ESTATES. 
London, E.G., E'eb. 14. 
Gemti,e.mhn,— Referring to a letter signed 
" T. K." jiage 92 of the Overland Obscrucr, n i- 
ary 20th, in which it was mentioneil that, in my 
analysis of rain water collected on Mecriabedi'e 
estate, between November Hiih, 1SS3, and Maich 
6th, 1884, the ammonia from 9ii inches wa.sequ.il to 
87 lb. per acre. I now enclose you my full r>i urt. 
