710 THE TROPICAL AGT^ICULTURTST. |AMir. 1.1899. 
beioK employed on mines ; in all probobilitv, therefore, 
a scarcity of Ubaut oa estntos miy be expiuted very 
shortly and your Committee woald reco nin.m 1 em- 
plovorK nob to misM the comiu.; reoruitiiit; sfias m. 
THE OATELll'ILLAll PEST.— Your C mjmilte? 
feel thut UieiL- report woahl xi->t b; com- 
plote if th;y omitted, whilnt it is still fresh in 
the minda of all, to make some reference to 
the awlul plague of caterpillais which hm at- 
tacked the Petiiling Estate, and to the meaBures 
which have been adopted to get thii pest under. 
Coming from no one knows wnere, myriatla 
of theie destructive lusucls nave swept over 
230 acres of the estate, entirely denuding the trees 
of leaves and even atta.ki:jg the gj owing berries. 
Such a terrible visittttion li-s n>jvei- be m experienced 
in Selangor before (thon^h th-re is a parallel for it in 
Ceylon, whore h indr^ ;ls of urres of ciiichon i were 
eaten down about the eai lt)83) and it is devoutly to 
be hoped that nothing of he kind mav ever heard 
of again. The sympathy of all will extended to 
the proprietors and to the manager, Mr. Reudle, in 
their trouble, and the thanks of the whoLi planting 
community are due to the Governmtnt, aad to our 
Resident, Mr. Kodger, in particular, for tha splendid 
way in which they have come to rescue; hundreds 
of coolies hive been se t down to pick off the cater- 
pillars, numbers of buiteHy nets have been provided 
to catch the moths, and free passages by rail havo 
teen granted to all coolies who could be sent down to 
help; nothing in short that could be done has been 
neglected, ai.d it is to be hoped that the energetic 
measures whic;h have been taken will lead to the 
complete eradication of the pest. 
B V. Caeey, Chairman ; Tom Gibson, Hon. Secy. 
STATISTICS OP ACREAGE under Cultivation, 
estim.iterl crop and labour employed on the European 
estates in Selangor: — 
Labour. 
5 • 
No. of 
Estates. 
£ «S £ 
fj ^ ^ X"*" eS JS o 
70 Total for 1898 . H,314J 18,715 2,937 627 f-98 4,46? 
6S Return for 1897 . 12,689 13,503 3,23j 1,219 l,o91 5.(^28 
\rlZTim''%l l,675i +5,212 -3.8 -622 -196-1.109 
Mr. NicOLLB resides at CuUoor Vayitri, 
having l>een noiiiiiialx^d a.s tea-maker and 
factfjry-Kxipi-riut<'iuleiit <»n t)ic Wyiiaad Tea 
Coi)i])aiiy's " J-'ei-rciigufldLi "' factoi-v. He i.s the 
)rupri<'t»)i' i)f lh«- " l-*<><jtha L'<j<)Il«^4' " e.'^tate, 
luppady, which in btnug tfradually developed 
witli U'a. 
Mr. Stewart RtiBiNHON l esitUM* on hi« own 
property, " Klt^jii." Kalpatty. Thit* UUk L wj»* 
ptirchased from Messrs. Pan-y Co., Madraj*, 
and consists of some fine forest a« well as 
of wlial was oi iKinallv h.imhoo land : the 
latter was splentliil rofree vears aj<o and 
yielded phenomenal crfjp^.. The foiest land 
Is hoinf^ opened with Arahica and the ham- 
huo with tea: so far both are prumiiiinK- 
Air. ClLKN.viK is tea-maker and fai-toi-y- 
manafjfor on th« " Eiramac idlee " e-^tate, 
Menpady. Teas from this yardi-n have a I way* 
realihed cxeellent prires in home m.uket. 
Mr. W. W'KKiiiT, w}i(» is le ated to 
Ml-. I*arry of ( eylon, is livinjf on "Sentinel 
Hock" estate. N'ellera Mulla. and is u|>ei>ing 
the fine forest land there with coffee. 
Mr. E. H. E. D.VY purcha-sed the *• Xeli 
AInnda '" estate, Meppady, fioin the Wynaad 
Tea Company la-st year, and i-esides on the 
property, where he is rooting ont the flne 
old coffee and sulwtituting tea. One way or 
another, Ceylon Planters are already owners 
of over 2,.j0(i acres (jf land in South Wvnaad. 
We had nearly l"i30 cent rain in South Wy- 
na<ad last month and several showein have 
been recorded in the past fortnight, but at 
present the weather is fine and the coffee 
which looks betti^r than it has done for inanv 
years, is wintering well, the past sea-son s 
crops of Arabica have been the b<>st known for 
nearly ten years. Tea is looking very pro- 
mising : great faith in its future is evinced by 
the extensions visible on all sides, while 
the prices realized for South Wynaad teas 
during the past five or six months have been 
most encouraging. 
PLANTING IN WYNAAD: 
NEWS OF CEYLON PLANTERS. 
Wynaad, St. Patrick's Day, 1899. 
You may be interested to hear news of 
Oeylon Planters who have settled in the 
Wynaad. We now have Messrs. E. de Fon- 
blanque, J. S. Nicolls, Stewart Robinson, A. 
C. Glennie, W. Q. Wright and E. N. F. Day. 
' Mr. DE FoNBLANQUE is settled on his 
"Perindotty" tea garden near Vayitri; he 
also holds an interest in " Nellanoor," which 
has been planted with Liberian and Arabica 
coffee, in addition to which over 20 acres 
have been opened with Hybrid Liberian- 
Arabian, one of the best original Hybrids, 
having been discovered on "Nellanoor' by 
the late proprietor nearly ten years ago. 
Apart from these two properties, Mr. de 
Fonblanque has acquired a block of 250 acres 
of bamboo land near "Perindotty," 12 acres 
of which are already planted with the Hy- 
ibrids referred to above, and the remaining 
area is to be covered with the tea bush as 
soon as possible. He is always to the front at 
athletic gatherings and your champion recently 
Won the Open Singles L. T, Handicap starting 
with 40. 
The Salt Bush wliicli is being cultivated io 
tlie Botanical Gardens is now bearing seed in 
abinulance. The lii'!>t seed of this plant was 
brougiit from Australia. Tlie plant is known as 
the Atriplex seniibaccala, and was introduced 
here by General Roea two years ago. Its adop- 
tion in Argentina will be of immense service, &• 
it grows well in the most barren parts and is 
splendid for fattening animals. — Review, Buenos 
Aires. 
NiLGiRis Cinchona Plantations. —The Budget 
estimates for the Government cinchona planta- 
tions, Nilgiris, for 1899-1900 have been issued. 
The estimated receipts amount to l,2i,000r. 
This forecast is based on the anticipation that 
only 5,000 lb of quinine and 2,500 lb of febri- 
fuge will be sold. If, however, a market can 
be found for the 10,000 lb of quinine being 
manufactured this year, there is exj ected to be 
a considerable increase in the revenue. The 
estimated expenditure for the same period is 
l,48,400r, or 53,500r less than tlie sanctioned 
Budget estimate and revised estimate for the 
current year. This is chiefly due to reductions 
under factory charges, as only 200,000 lb instead 
of 400,000 lb of bark will be purchased from 
private growers at an estimated cost of 43,750r, 
to supplement the yield of the existing planta- 
tions. — Chemist and Druggist, March 4. 
