Auc. 1, 1908.] 
THE TROPICAL AGHlCtJLlUPaST. 
Apia, Deutsch : Samoa, Jan. 22i)c!, 19(i2. 
Dkar Mr. Holloway,— Having lieard notliing 
from you for long yeais I was glad to see your 
name sigi ed in the Tropical Agriculturist and to 
know you were in good lietiltl). My cacao from 
your place is bearing now abundaniiy, anrl most i f 
the pods aresf ld for planting at the ra'e of 3 pods 
for 1 dollar. The other cacao trees laispd from s-eed 
grown in Samoa are not giving so n.uch satisfac- 
tion, and I ial<e the liberty of asking y^u, with 
your more than forty years of experience, for 
advice a« to what may be tbe reason that so tnary 
frees of three jiiii' fi \ir yeHis o'd ;ueyi-"Uii^ il;-'':, 
ilry brai^ciies, Ijtgii^i ir <f to dij liooi licirown t'lps. 
1 i.'^'ve tViund muddy paicliifS on theburk, tbe^-e 
patche- I have cutout, buined them and covered 
the cut surface with beeswax, but it does not show 
good result, I can't get rid of tlie funj^us. 
Some of these ' sick ' trees are in rather sunny 
positions, others in shady. I must mention that in 
Samoa we cannot keej) the grass out of ihe spaces 
between the cacao lines. Much shade is, in tny 
opinion, doing them good, but the pods are scarce. 
My Li berian coffee is also starting to yield crops. 
My first prepared cocoa, of .S^ yeais old trees, has 
been valued in Hamburg over SOmaiks fob. 
Cicao planting is going on very rapidly here at 
present ; a new German Company is soon starting 
2,000 acres in cacao, and an English Company 
sanctioned by last mail is going to put 1,500 acres 
in cacao ; both estates not far from me. Many 
Queensland men are settling here ; only the 
labour question is still on the end point. 
I am much obliged for your reply as to the 
weight of a Ueylon bag of cocoa, as the prices are 
noted in the Tropical Agriculturist's, London 
market reports. 
In the same paper a Mr Francis J Holloway is 
mentioned in connection with para rubber. I 
think he would be your son, and I shall be very 
e,\8id if he can send me some seed of that famous 
para rubber tree for trial. I shall be very much 
obliged for any explanation from yoii about the 
above problem, and to hear of you and your estate. 
-Faithfully yours. HUGO SCHMIDT. 
HOW THE "T. A." IS IN REQUEST. 
THE EDITOR OF THE " TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST.'' 
Rangoon, July 4. 
Sir, — I have the honour to invite a reference 
to paragraph 747 of your journal for the month 
of May, 1903, ilealing with the subjei't of " The 
cultivation of Cassava — its conversion into sugar,' 
and to ask whether you could kindly ca\ise thi^ 
office to be furni'^hed with or inform me « here 
could be obtained, a copy each of the following 
publications alluded to therein: — 
(i) Mr Robert 1 homson's pamphlet on the 
cultivation of " Cassava " in Florida, 
(ii) Woik by Messrs Lock, Wigner and Har- 
land on Sugar-growing and refining, — I have the 
honour to be, S;r, your most obedient servant, 
J. C. CLANCEY, 
for Director of Land Records and Agriculture. 
[Our answer v.'ill be that Mr Rnbert Thom- 
son's pamphlet on " Cassava in Fl n ida " will 
be found reproduced in our " T. A." for June 
1002, page 795 ; but that we can say nothing 
as to the publishers of the work on Sugar.— 
Bb. 2'. 4,] 
PARA RUBBER SEED. 
Kepitigalla Estate, Matale. 
Dear Sir,— An important point to be 
decided, and of interest to Paia Iluhher 
growers, is whether the tapping^ oi a tree, 
injures the seed for planting. This question 
has been raised by a few planters when 
ordering seed, stipulating that the seed 
should be from untapiied trees only. 
I have sold m;iny thmisai;ds of seeds during 
the last four years ; but only three Planteis 
h;ive miuU; this request. 1 have carefully tested 
seecio fioni lajiptd and uutupped trees, of 
an equal nuii.b>-r grown in beds side by side 
for tlie past thieeyears, and I ha ve never found 
the sliglitest difference. I have now large 
nurseries and .-an perfectly satisfied that 
there is no difference, if one can judge by 
general healthy appearance of plants in the 
nursery. I referred the matter to Mr Willis, 
the Directoc" of the Royal Botanical Gardens. 
Peradeniya, and he has very kindly allowed 
me to publish bis opinion which is as 
follows : — " As to seeds from trees that have 
been tapped (Para) our experience goes to 
show, that we get less seed when we tap, 
but the.seed seems just as good on the whole. 
In some years our seeds seem better than in 
others, but so far as I am aware, this has 
no direct relation to tapping— weather has 
probably more to do with it. It is difficult 
without special observation on the subject, 
to disentangle one effect from the other." 
Re tapping Para, from experience gained in 
tapping 6,500 trees, I find thitt they can 
easily give 1 lb. per tree per yeai, if tapped 
twice yearly, as is being done at present on 
this estate.— I am. Sir, yours faithfully, 
FRANCIS J. HOLLOWAY. 
[We should certainly be inclined to recom 
mend that seed should only be taken from 
Rubber trees set apart for that purpose 
just as Tea-bush seed bearers are so treated. — 
Ed. 'I.A.] 
A NEW PADDY. 
Heneratgoda, July 6. 
Dear Sir, — I beg to enclose copy of particulars 
touching Kiiishu Faddy attached to the special 
exhibit (among other varieties of paddy by other 
exhibitors) at the Heneratgoda Agri H'u tieaitural 
Show last week from Kola esiace, Veyangoda, 
which has been awarded a special silvei medal ; a 
small sample is sent separatel.v by this post. 
I have forwarded packeis of Kinsliu paddy to 
C Drieberg, Esq., Hon Secretary, Agri-Hurticultu- 
ral Society, Colombo, and to the Controller, 
Government Experiment Station, Peradeniya, 
half measure each.— Yours faithfully, 
J. P. WlhLIAM. 
[The particulars of the Paddy is given else- 
where. A specimen packet can be seen at our 
office by anyone inieiested. — So. T.A.] 
PRESERVATION OF BIRD LIFE ON TEA 
ESTATES. 
Kandy, July 9, 
Dear Sir, — 1 enclose herein copy of correspon- 
dence with Messrs. Geo. Steuart and Co., on th« 
