12® 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTTTEIST [Aug, 1, 1901. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Getting Rid of ('ouch Gkass.— The following 
rnethod is reported to be entirely successful: — 
Plough daring inid-iumrner, and knap couch from 
getting much headway by occasional harrowing 
during aui urnn month**. Cross-plous-li in spring, 
harrow thoroughly, and sow some strong-grnwing 
crop in drills. Hoe constantly until crop is mature. 
Then repeat first ye.tr's proceedings Atthecio>eof 
the s^c'in 1 yfjir not a vestiar" of couch 'iciW i-t'inain. 
— Agricultii nL G'izette of Neiu South Wales. 
Coconuts.— The question has recently been 
raised as to the largest number of nuts of 
all sizes which a coco palm can have on it 
at one time ? Some one mentions 500 to 700; 
but we are inclined to think this too much. 
Has any one ever taken the trouble to count? 
— Then again, what was the largest 
number ever got at one plucking from a 
single tree? At Zanzibar we see that in one 
case, where quarterly plnckings were ob- 
served, over 100 nuts (110 in one case) were 
got from several trees. Is that unusual ? 
Timber, on the Nii.giris —Some interest- 
ing notes on the limber sujiply of the Nil- 
giris appear in our daily and T. A. It 
is pointed out that the exotics, Austra- 
lian gums and acacias, though extensively 
planted, are not held in much favour for 
timber, but are rather grown for fuel and 
shelter. Wood for timber is usually drawn 
from the teak forests of the Nilgiris. A 
drawback to gums and acacias is their great 
capacity for the exhaustion of moisture. 
KOYAL H -UTICULTURAL SOC^KTY : ORlHIDS. — 
The fiirtnightly sIidw of the |-{oyal Horticultural 
Society was ludd yf^st^rday at the Drill hall, 
Janies-stieet, Westminster. The orchnls made a 
beautiful show, and nearly every collection in- 
cluded numerous specimens of C ittleya Mossiso. 
Sir F Wigan sent a group which contained some 
fine Miltonias, with a few Ma«devallias, a pretty 
example of Sobralia niacranlha alba, white with 
a tinge of jellow in the throat, and two plants 
of the Thunia Marshalliana, bearing white 
blooms w ith vat legated hairy lips, on the top 
of fl.\e-like foliage. Messrs. Veiich and Sons' 
group included three Oncidiums of the divari- 
catum variety, having long sprays of small 
yellow flowers. Among the orchids staged by Mr 
J 0 )lm)n, of Oatt oil-park, Keigate, there was a 
well-grown Cyrabidiuni and many excellent 
Odontoglossums. Mr H Smee, of the Grange, 
Hackbridge, and Messrs. H., Sow and Co. ex- 
hibited some handsome Cattleyas. Mr H T 
Pitt's collection inclu<led a splendid tidonto- 
glossnm Orispura Pittianum, well maikt^d with 
brown blotches on white; Vlessrs. Staidcy, Ashion, 
and Co. sent a large variety, one of the oichids 
■which took an award of merit being a prett.y 
Cattleya MossisD of the " Mrs F W Ashoon " 
variety, which had white petals, prettily crirapled 
lip, with vfiy light crimson-purple markings, 
and a rim of yellow round the rjiiildle ot the 
lobe ; and M- H F Simmonds, of Beckenham, 
staged a beautiful group All the above ex- 
hibitors were a^i'anied medals, and Mr R H 
Murray, of Great Marlow, received " cultural 
cotnmiMidation for a grand plant, of Dendrobium 
thyrsiflorura. Aniont; the miscellaneous groups 
there were several charming displays of hardy 
flowers. — London Times, June 5th, 
Gamboge Fruits.— Mr. Gutteridge, the Cur- 
ator of I he Liverpool Botanic Gardens, obligingly 
sends ns fruits of the tree yiehling the gum knowu 
a*> G ' inhoge. We do not remember to have s-'en 
theni pie\iously They are 2lidio>e, the size of a 
small Apple r Dios yros k.iki, and of a yellow 
colour. We may allmle to them on a fuiuie 
occa-i n —Gardeners' Chronicle, Ma\ 2o. 
Coffee in Costa Rica - is the subject of 
a second conti ibutii)n in our dai v and 
T.A. from a planter who owes his birth 
if not his training to Ceylon and who 
has a good deal to tell "us about the 
mode of working in the Central American 
Republic; but strange to say, as our note to 
the letter mentions, nothing is said about 
Cacao which we understand to be a great 
crop in Costa Rica for local consumption. 
Tea Seed Oil. Mr Drummond Deane's 
letter elsewhere opens up n happy vista for 
the proprietor with abandoned, or anything 
but paying tea fields. Tea seerl oil may 
figure in our Chamber of Commerce exports 
by this time two years hence! But we have 
first to await the result of the experiments 
Mr. Deane is making, imless any planters 
in Ceylon will experiment for tlieniselves. 
We shall be glad, if so, to hear of their 
results. 
A COFFEK EXCHAN E IN RiO DE JANKIKO.--It 
is proposed to establish a Coffee Exch uige in Rio 
de Janeiro, with branches ana depoi< in Santos, 
Bahia and Victoria. A petition hns already been 
made 10 tlie Pre'-ident of tne Repuli ic. I'liis Ex- 
change is 1o lie managed by se\ en dnvctcn s to be 
chosm \,y pan ies interested in the trade, except 
ihech iiman, who is to be noinim.ted by the 
Goverinnent. It is also prop,n-ed to establish 
agencies to furnish statistics of tlie proiluciion 
and consumption of cofTee, in order to estnlilisli 
a basis for airaufntig the imcin.—Eanders 
Museum 
OvERBPODCCTION AND THE FUNCTION OB" 
Govebnmb:nt.— There is a curious remark in 
a recent London market Report in reterence 
to the Overproduction of iSrazilian Coffee 
which we do not think has been m.ticed 
locally. The writer says : — 
' In D 'cenibi r last, ihe popular figure wng 
9,.50:i0<'0 bags receipts for the season, today 
10.,500,0iJ0 b.igs is likely to be nearer the mark. 
Another object lesson is that, even half way through 
a crop, estimates are anything but liifailible. 
It is curious that, whilst modern Governments 
can take away from the individual in money, 
for the benefit of himself and his country, they 
cannot take away from him in kind, for the "ame 
benevolent purpo-^e. We hear of Government 
bounties to stimulate production, but we never 
hear of Government action to deck the smie. 
It the Brazilian Government were to destroy a 
percentage of the Brazilian Coffee Planters' pro- 
duction, the individual and the G ^eminent would 
bei;<fii, and why, if ii be wi-e to stimulate, 
it should be foolish to check, we cannot undei- 
StHOd." 
This has reference to the fact that the cur- 
rent season's Brazil Coffee Crop— or rather 
Rio and Santos exports -are to reach 11 to l2 
millif>n bags, whereas the world (according 
to W H Grossman & Brothers) only wants 
8i million bags of "Rio and Santos." 
