712 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April 1. m<i. 
drink tea. The actual facts are now well under- 
stood. It is now known tliat there was from 
eitrht to nine months' supply in the countrv, 
that these are gradually being absorbed, 
and that until they are ab.sorbed Ijusmess 
■ will remain dull. What stocks remain in 
hand is shown by your correspondent, JNlr. 
Martindale, whose letter you publishe<l on the 
10th lust., and who stated that his broker hacl 
been unable to find a single jobber in one of 
our largest cities who had any tea whatever to 
sell in large way." 
All tlie rubbish and accumulations of previous 
years have been swept away, and thanks to the 
new "tea law" only fairly good teas will be admit- 
ted. Stocks are lower than ever and when the 
demand from the country begins to come in. it 
must continue and be a lasting one. 1 be tea in 
bond is in strong hands, visible supplies are short, 
the crop in China and Japan of teas available for 
this market is at least six million pounds short of 
last season (which in itself was below that ol 
nrevious years) and rejections have still further 
decreased the supply. Stocks in the London mar- 
ket are lower than they have been for years, as 
the demand for Ceylon and India teas, which 
constitutes the bulk of the businwis there, is in- 
creasing from other countries ; so that everything 
Joints to a very healthy condition for the trade. 
^ With a better class of tea supplied to consumers, 
«o^imption will increase, ancf if the trade is only 
tml tS^Fts oNvn interests there seems every pros- 
pect of an era of prosperity to those who handle 
'his staple articlcji n this country . ^. 
IHE FLOWERING UF THE NILU : 
INTEREfJTING INFORMATION. 
North Cove, Bogawantalawa, March 17. 
Siji -Iwhen I wrote to you on the .«ubject of 
«« Nill'u " flowering in Ceylon, I was wntiii}? from 
notes I had made in my " sporting diaries during 
thp oast 29 years. , 
Mr J Fraser of Abbotsford has ventured to 
doubt tlie correctness of my stalenients and has 
endeavoured to put n.e ri-ht. He ha.s apparently 
failed to grasp my application of the term 
•' district"— I do not refer to a tea or coflee dis- 
trict, but to a " NiUu district " ; and it Mr. 
Fraser would care to see tlie boundary of two 
such districts lie can do so tlie next time he as- 
cends Totapala on lus way to fish on the 
Horton Plains, just above the old Ela 1 he 
boundary is straigbt and perfectly distinct On the 
Ambawella side the Nillu-chiefly Strobilanthes 
Pulcherrimus, S. Sexennis, S Calycmm and ^ 
Viscosus, is now in seed. It flowered (generally 
from August to December last year 1898. It 
last flowered in lS86-on the Horton Plains side, 
of the boundary I describe, the Nillu is now 
Mr. Fraser's 8tat€ment that the "whole thing" 
depends on the weailier is too absurd to be thkea 
seriously. With reijard to the lieight of Nillu 
he is pretty near the mark— this depends on soil 
and slielter, but its tiiickness of t^tein 6 to 10 
inciies ! 
I will give Mr. Fraser n rupee an inc-li for 
every inch of diaim^tcr over «€vcu inclieti (for any 
single siem), I believe, I nii^^lit eafeiy ^ay <> ini he«. 
I have ill my posi^ession notes of the fluwerini(a 
of Nillu giving dateu as follow* : — 
1851, "ol, '62. '6^, '73. '81, '82, '86, '88, '93. 
'94, 98— the tirft fire obtained from the late Dr. 
Triinen when in correspondence with hiui unon 
this subject in 1893. The^e <Uie>i were taken 
from dried specimens in Iiih posKesHion By the 
dates I can trace back a good many of the Nillu 
districts, I know " daodecenui;illy ' if thai is 
the correct term. 
Some of these specimens may possibly iiave 
bteo collected in the year preceding the universal 
flowering. An unusually dry season would pro- 
bably induce more bios>soiii among the Nil u^ than 
a wet one in the year prtctduig it$ aencra! power- 
ing.— I am, yours &c., THOS. FAUlt. 
1 
from four toseven feet high. It flowered in 1893 and 
seeded and died in 1894. Us previous flowering 
nnd seeding was in ls81-82. It will flower again 
Sneralfy) in a A.D. 1905, Mr. J, Fraser and 
his dry cycles to the contrary notwithstanding! 
Some of the Nillus, of which there are over 
30 different kinds in the island, I believe, are 
to be found in flower every year, especially S. 
Viscosus, but not followed by universal death. 
A<'ain during the year precedmg the big and uni- 
ve"-sal flowering many p ants throw out a spray 
or two of flower especially by the sides of roads 
and notably S. Pulcherrimus but this spasmodic 
flowering is not followed by. death I think. , 
If Mr Fra?er wants to see another Nillu dis- 
trict boundary, let him walk up from Elgin to 
the Elk Plains via the Rajahputaiias and another 
between the Horton Plains and North Cove 
Estate. I know of many more of them. 
TEA DISEASE: REPORT 
MR. CAHRUTHERS. 
BY 
Kauclv, J 8th March 1899. 
From the Secretary, Planters' Association 
of Ceylon. 
Sir. — At the request of the Committee I 
enclose copy of Mr. J. B. CaiTUthers' report 
on Tea Disease. — I am, sir, yom-s faithfully, 
A. PHILIP. 
REPORT ON TEA DISEASE. 
As requested I visited estate and ex- 
amined the tea plants which were diseased. 
The Superintendent has observed the same 
phenomenon for about three years past. 
An area of about 40 acres contained 
affected bushes, but about one plant in 
five was the most observed on any given square 
ten yards. In no case had the disease killed any 
plants and always disappeared after pruning. I 
took specimens of the leaves and these I nave 
examined microscopically. 
There is just a rust," i.e. a fungus belonging 
to the Uredineae, a group to which the Hemileia 
vastatri.x of coffee and the rust of the wheat 
belong. This fungus can be recognized on the 
tea leaf by its fruit which appear to the naked 
eye as a reddish brown mould covering a space 
varying from the size of a pin's head to that of 
a threepenny piece— with an ordinary field lens 
this .shows itself to consist of a number of thread- 
like stalks swollen at the top and bearing on the 
swollen portion a series (5 or more) of orange- 
coloured spores (Basidiosp)ores). These spores in 
all probability (that is judging by what is known 
of the life history of allied fungi)" will on falling 
on to another tea leaf or another portion of the 
same leaf produce another spot of rust. 
There is also another fungus which produces a 
yellow or brown patch and this is covered in some 
cases by a series of minute black dots which are 
lighter when older. These small spheres contain 
as cospores— which places this fungus in the large 
group — characterised by such spores— the as- 
comyates — to which the cacao canker belongs. 
That these are the only spores on the tea 
leaves or that they are alone responsible for 
every diseased bush I am not willing after so 
cursory an examination to state ; but a careful 
Bearch revealed no other spores produced on the 
leaves. 
