.Tan. 1, 1902.] 
THE TROPICAL ACxRICULTURIST. 
455 
Castilloa elasUcob rabber plants two years old. The 
plantation, he reports, ia showiag the most satis- 
factory progress, leiving no room foe dotibt as to 
ultimate success. There are, aUogether, about eigh- 
teen rabbet plantations at Blueflelds. Mr. Nodine 
writes that this year two of ths planters in the 
district will tap their rabber for the first time. On 
the Miinhattan plantation last year some Para rab- 
ber seeds were planted, a large precentage of which 
germinated, and the plants are now growing well. 
Mr. Nodine has shipped rnbber seed from wild trees 
this year to planters in Mexico. 
BUBBER PLANTING IN THE JIALAT STATES. 
We thinl£ that this is a great rubber-growing country, 
and that if prices only hoid there is a lot of money 
in it. Labor and suitable lanl are cheap and 
plentiful, and we have no fault to find with the 
yield either of Hevei Brasiliendrs (Paraa) or Ficus 
elastica, locally known as " Gatta rambong." A 
certain amount of Castilloa elastica has been intro- 
duced, but it does not promise well, though appar- 
ently yielding large quantities of Caoutchouc, be- 
cause, having a pithy and very brittle trunk, it is 
peculiarly liable to the attacks of the worst of our 
termites (Teriaes gestroi) — a whits ant — which thrives 
on such food, and, commencing from below the ground, 
eats up through the csntre of the tree. Borers, too, 
attack and destroy the branches. Kichxia Africana 
has been introduced ia small quantities, but it is 
impossible to predict the success or failure of this 
rubber, as our biggest trees are scarcely more than 
seedlings yet. 
For Para, rubber and 7' jVus elastica, however, there 
seems to be a great future, and any of your friends 
who are interested in the subject, and who would 
like to see what we are doing, might do worse 
than try a run over, with a note from you, I would 
gladly show them round and put them in the way 
of seeing all we have to show, and possibly they 
might think this small corner of the earth, not so 
bad after all. Rich in minerals, gold, and tin, with 
a great agricultural future before it, the Malay 
Eeninsula will hold its own with many countries 
etter known at present. All we want is money and 
confidence, and the country will boom like wildfire. 
Coffee has gone down with such a rush that many 
of us have lost pretty well all we have put in it, 
but we calculate in anoiher three years to be on 
our legs again with rubber, and fancy that the rise 
in the sterling value of the mili-eis will knock agriculture 
pretty hard in the Brazils, while our coinage 
practically follows bir silver values. — A Planteii. 
India Rubber IVorld. 
■ ♦ 
RHODBSIAN REPORTS. 
We have received from the liritish S^uth Africa 
Company, H -ports on the Administration of Rhode.iia, 
1898 — 1900. It may well be imagined that the effects 
of the South American war have not yet been fully 
felt or realised in Rhod-.sia ; still, it is pleasant to 
hear that, so far, " the princip al result of the year 
which has seen so much disturbmce and trouble 
in South Africa has been to confirm and strengthen 
the belief of the settlers, and also of the board of 
directors and the shareholders, in the r; a'ity of the 
resources of the country, ... In agriculture culti- 
vation is extending, and live-stock is increasiorf. . . . 
In Mishonal vnd many farms are being ocoupisd and 
worked by Europeans. Locusts disappeared almost 
entirely in the season of 1898-99, and this happy 
result is, no doubt, largely attributable to the use 
of antitoxine. The contentment of the native mind 
is largely dependent oii the excellence of the crops, 
and ia this respect the season of 1900 has been a 
satisfactory one. From reports received, I [8ir A. 
Liwley] estimate that the native crops this year 
have been more abundant than in anv year since 
the occupation of the country. As railway facilities 
increase for the conveyance of farm produce to the 
Tftrions markets, the de yelopment of the agricaltaral 
industry in this country should be ever increasing. 
Both at Salisbury and Bulawayo most successfui 
agricultural shows were held in May, and in point 
of quality and quantity the exhibits were remark- 
ably good. Throughout Rhodesia fruit-trees have 
been imported in great numbers, and many thousands 
of various kinds have been planted. Perhaps the 
most interesting experiments that are now being 
made are in the growing of Coffee in Umtali, and 
of Rubber in the Melsetter districts. Coffee seeds 
were imported by the Government from Nyasa • 
they have germinated well, and the young trees are 
thriving, iilr. Renwick, of Melsetter, furnishes an 
interesting report on the possibility of developing a 
Rubber industry in that country. At present the 
prospect of successfully establishing such an industry 
is a matter for conjecture ; but there is every reason 
to hope that Southern Melsetter, from the nature 
of its soil and its climatic conditions, is a country 
where this valuable industry may be introduced 
and conducted on a large scale with every prospect 
of success." The above sentences are mostiy taken 
from the Report of the Administrator of Matabele- 
land. Captain the Hon. Sir Arthur Lawley, K.C.M.G. 
(resigned), and the sentiments expressed in them* 
are borne out by the reports from North-eastern 
and from North-western Rhodesia, though over so 
larae an area details naturally vary in the different 
districts. It should be mentioned that the British 
South Africa Company is now directly responsible 
for the administration of the following terri- 
tories:— 1, Southern Rhodesia, or the provinces 
of Mashonaland and Matabelelan 1 ; and, 2, Northern 
Rhodesia, or the whole of the British sphere lying 
between the Portuguese Settlements, German East 
Africa, and the Congo Free State, with the except- 
ion of the strip of territory forming the British 
Central Africa Protectorate. " It [Northern Rhodesia] 
is divided into two provinces— North-eastern Rho- 
desia, and North-western Rhodesia. The total 
population of Southern Rhodesia is estimated at 
la,365 Europeans, and 449,901 natives. From the 
brief notes here extracted, some notion may be 
gathered of the importance of the book before us 
which deals with the state and prospects, political 
and industrial, of our African territories. The re- 
porters seem, on the whole, sanguine that the 
country is one rich in resources, and with inhabitant, 
well qualified to appreciate and to develop them.— 
Gardeners' Chronicle, Oct. 5. 
INSECT ATTACKS ON TERMINALIA 
CHEBULA. 
The myrobalans of Terminalia chehula, commonly 
called harra, being one of the most important minor 
forest products of this Division, this tree received 
considerable attention ; and the time of its flower 
ing and fruiting and the development of its frui 
are duly noted. Last season the harra cro 
was practically a total failur e, and this was cause 
by (1) the depredations of a defoliating caterpillar 
and by (2) the attacks of a gall insect. 
In July, 1900, harra, together with several other 
trees including teak, Anogeissus latifolia, Adina cot- 
difolia and Stepkegyne parvifolia, were absolutely 
defoliated. I was unfortunately unable to leave 
headquarters at the time, and I did not succeed in 
getting specimens of the attacking larvse from the 
harra trees themselves. Simultaneously with thia 
defoliation in the district, however, an equally severe 
attack was made on the various garden and avenue 
trees in Jubbulpore itself. Larvse clustered on the 
trees in enormous numbers and teak, Jlillingtonia 
hortensis and Albizzia Lebhek were, among others, 
completely defoliated. I collected several of these 
larvse and the moth which emerged from tbem proved 
to be Hyblaa puera. At the same time as this 
occurred, the forests in the neighbouring district of 
Damoh were also attacked by a defoliating cater, 
pillar, and specimens of the insect collected by the 
