268 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. 1, 1901, 
would have been unnecessary if the wages offered 
were sufficient to attract labour — leave the Chief 
Oommissiotier more and more convinced that the 
insufficiency of wages is the most serious of the 
troubles from winch the industry in Assam is 
sutferiug. He is no longer prepared to advocate 
Tialf measures, and it is, in hi ^ opinion, a serious 
consideration whether the Legislature ought not 
now to accept the situation which the Secretary 
of State has always pointed oat would be inevi- 
table when the means of communication were 
improved and abolish a penal contract altotrether 
and leave Assam planters to get their labour in 
the same manner that the Duars and Chittagong 
and Ceylon Planters obtain their supply. The 
case of Ceylon is particularly in point. The Chief 
Commissioner finds, from information published 
by a special correspondent in the Englishman, 
who wrote after making local enquiries on the 
island, that labour there is free and unfettered 
by indenture, or anything in the nature of agree- 
ment that either party cannot terminate with a 
month's notice ; that the coolies are imported by 
sea from the Madras Presidency, and that the 
average cost of importing labour is only KIO per 
head ; that men are paid a daily wage nf 33 cents, 
or about 5| annas, and women 25 cents, or exactly 
4 annas ; and that they receive, as they do in 
Assam, fiee quarters and medical attendance, etc. 
There is no labour difficulty in Ceylon, because 
the labourers are paid a fair market wage : but 
in Assam the difficulty is always present, and 
Mr Cotton's recent experience has led him to the 
conclusion that it will never cease until it is 
allowed to solve itself, without the assistance 
of Government, and without any kind of penal 
legislation, by the ordinary laws of supply and 
demand. 
It appears to the Englishman that Mr Cotton 
here falls into the error of comparing the Tamil 
coolie with the Kol, with whom he has no analogy. 
The crux of the question is — are the coolies better 
off in Assam, or are they not, than they would 
have been if they had remained in their own 
country? Wiihoiit analysing the figuies supplied 
by the Assam Administration, we maintain that 
they are— or why do they emigrate with their 
families ? — Madras Mail, August 28. 
A NEW NATAL ORANGE. 
In his district report to the Agricultural Journal, 
Mr. J L Knight, magistrate, Inanda, writes : It 
may not be generally known that a gentleman in 
this county, who is a scientific horticulturist by 
profession, has raised a new and very fine species 
or variety of oransre, which he has decided to 
call the "Natal Victoria," the latter after our 
late Queen, with Natal prefixed to denote the 
■country of its origin. I think the " Natal Mam- 
moth " would have been a more appropriate name, 
as it is certainly a mammoth orange. It is with- 
out exception the most delicious orange I have 
ever eaten, with a flavour which is new and entirely 
itsoivn. Some of the fruits have reached 25 oz. 
in weight, and measured 15i in. in circumference. 
A little time since, one twig was picked with four 
oranges on it, which turned the scales at 5J lb 
the four and this notwithstanding that the tree 
had suffered severely from the drought last year, 
and has not yet quite recovered, and the size of 
the fruit, therefore, this season, not up to the 
usual average. The "discoverer" informs n^e 
that, given suitable soil, and a favourable season, 
the oranges will average at hast 20 oz. The tree 
is quite distinct from all other oranges, very 
large, with curly leaves, and the seedlings partake 
of the parent tree, proving it to be a really distinct 
orange from all otiiers. It is a most robust and 
vigorous grower ; a few grafted four years ago are 
now in full bearing. The grower has at present 
some 200 young >iratted trees for disposal, and 
hopes to have 600 more by this time next year. 
Any person, being desirous of obtaining young 
plants, could do so by applying to me for the 
address. In the meantime I may say that I 
have seen and tasted the oranges, and can vouch 
for the above facts. I have written entirely on 
my own initiative, and for that reason am unable 
to give the name of the grower. — Natal Mercury^ 
August 5. 
LADYBIRDS : A PENNY EACH. 
An agent of Professor Lonsbury, of Cape 
Colony, is collecting 20,000 ladybirds in 
Massachusetts. One hundred children gather 
them in, and receive one penny each for 
them. The farmers, who never before ap- 
preciated their ladybirds, want the exporta- 
tion stopped. They suggest a close season 
for the insects.— DoiZj/ Express, Aug. 6. 
PROFESSOR KOCH ON MALARIA. 
"When I was a student of medicine, we were 
taught that malaria was not [an infection disease 
i.e. , not transmissible from person to person, and 
that it was originated by inhaling bad air. It 
was regarded as the type of the miasmatic as 
contrasted with the contagious diseases. What a 
change has taken place since then ! Now we 
know that malaria can be transmitted when one 
injects the blood of a malaria patient into the 
body of a healthy person,— a case, indeed, which 
does not occur under natural circumstances. We 
know also that malaria is not caused by gaseous 
substances but by micro organisms, which belong 
to the category of the animal parasites, are 
imbibed by gnats with the blood they suck, fur- 
ther developed in the bodies of the gnats, and 
finally inoculated into healthy human beings 
again. So, according to the views now prevalent, 
malaria cannot possibly be produced without the 
co-operation of two factors, namely the malaria 
parasites and the gnats. * * * 
PREVENTIVE MEASURES. 
"Now a number of other measures, based on 
better knowledge of the etiology of malaria, 
have been proposed, of which the following are the 
most important. Firstly, people are advised to 
avoid the neighbourhood of malaria patients, 
and to fix their abode at least one mile away 
from places where malaria prevails. Secondly, 
it is proposed to exterminate the malaria-trans- 
mitting gnats by destroying their larva; at the 
easily-accesdble breeding placss. Thirdly, human 
beings are to be protected sgainst the "gnats by 
wire-nets for their dwellings and by gloves and 
veils for their hands and i: ces. Fourthly, efforts 
are to be made to exterminate the malaria parasites 
by the rational use of quinine. 
"It is obvious that these four proposals are 
theoretically of equal value. If one never has occa- 
sion to go near people suffering from malaria, 
