526 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Feb. 1, 1902. 
coconut palm would only grow within sight 
of the sea was more or less true, as the 
palm would only grow for about 2) miles 
inland in the Straits. This is, however, quite 
disproved in Ceylon. Accounts were griveu 
of the cultivation and preparation of sago — 
one acre of the sago palm gave as much 
nourishment as 163 acres of wheat, (one palm 
stem giving 600 to 700 lb. of sago) tapioca 
gambir, mangrove-cutch, pepper, nutmegs, 
cloves, indigo and pineapples. The greater 
part of the preserved pines of commerce 
came from Singapore where the price of the 
fruit was said to vary from a farthing to 
a penny each, and the lecturer remembered, 
a time when they had been as cheap as 
sixteen a penny. The mineral resour ces of 
the colony included gold and tin, the latter 
being found in great abundance. It was 
chiefly alluvial, and the mines, which were 
shallow, were worked by the Chinese who 
employed rery simple appliances. The coun- 
try was as yet hardly prt)perly explored, 
and Mr. Ridley was of opinion that immense 
fields for development yet remained open ; 
that both agriculture and mining were still 
in their infancy ; and that thriving as the 
colony now was, it had before it a future of 
greater and long continued prosperity. 
PROPOSED PURCHASE OF TEA 
ESTATES, 
BY TilE WHOLESALE CO-OPERATirE SOCIETY. 
Tea garden proprietors may he interested to 
learn that at tlie quarterly meeting of the Co- 
operative Wholesale ISocieiy, held in Manchester 
on Saturday afternoon, representing 300 sharehold- 
ing societies, an agenda to the report included 
a request from the committee for authority to 
purchase tea estates svhen a suitable opportunity 
occurs. For some time past this question has 
been under consideration and a few years ago a 
deputation was sent out to make full inquiries 
into the feasibility of the society working such 
estates. Since then there has been a continual 
expansion in the tea trade of the society, and the 
committee are of opinion that the time is now ripe 
to make an initial move in the direction of co- 
operators becoming their own tea growers. After 
gome discussion, the request was unanimously 
acceded to. So that " when a suitable oppor- 
tunity occurs " the society will possess its own tea 
gardens. — H, and C. Mail, Dec. 27. 
[ TROUT AT OOTACAMUND. 
Major Bagnall concludes his las* Report on 
trout thus : — 
" I have fished, I think everywhere where a trouts 
would lie but liave nothing to report. All this 
evidence f^oes to prove that trout have not bred 
on these liiUs." Yet an experienced angler tells 
me that he lias more than once seen trout rise in 
the " St, Lavrrence" lake, and on one occasion, 
not long a<^o, found one dead on the banks of the 
lake which sealed between 5 and 6 pounds. Tlie 
attempt made by the District Forest Officer to 
dra>; the lake, in the opinion of this sportsman, 
proved a failure for the reason tliat this officer 
used a net quite unsuited for a water of the depth 
o{ the at Lawrence Lake, and suggests the using 
of a net 100 feet by 3) feet, which he thinks, can 
be easily made up of discarded tennis nets. Carp 
and tench are affording re;a;ly grand sport, especially 
the former at SmdyDuPa, where the Kohlen fish 
•f quite the size of the Midras pomtret can be 
plentifully had. These lish must have escaped 
from the Ootacamund lake when that body of 
water was lowered, and in fact almost drained, 
while the reclamation of the upper lake wa* in 
course of pron;ress, and appear to hare become very 
plentiful within the last two years. — Asian (Oota 
eamund Cor.) 
COCONUT PLANTING NOTES, N-W. 
PROVINCE. 
THE WKITHER. 
Marawila, Jan, Sth. 
The New Year dawned auspiciously for us with 
seasonable, i.e. wet weather. We have not had 
much rain so far, only slow, persistent drirzles, 
but the indications of rain and the non disappear- 
ance of the rains of tlie N.-E. monsoon, are much 
to be thankful for. Most of the rain that fell 
during the last three months was from the S. W. 
I* was only in December that we had a little rain 
from the N.-E, 
COCOXUr PLANTING. 
The lask crop of the year has been a bib better 
than the previous o:ie, but this has not been of 
much help to the desiccating mills in this district 
for it pays sellers better, it seeing, to concert nuts 
into copra, ih into sell to the milU. i'liis is the 
first time, I believe, in the history of the mills in 
this district, that they ha 1 not sufficient nuts to 
keep them constantly g'>in», A record piice Mir 
coconut-^ in the heap — RoO 12 per 1,000— w^s la.eiy 
announced from the Nfgombo district. Wiih 
what truth I cannot say, but it was stated that the 
rica paid was due to rivalry between bidders. 
In this- district the nuts of an estate were 
put up to auction and fetched K50"50 per thousand 
for making copra. Considering that the cost of 
tr*Qsport of nuts is R2 per thousand more from 
this district than from Negombo, the price re- 
alised must be considered eminently satisfactory 
by tli« lucky, youthful proprietors. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Poisons in India and Ceylon.— In the 
course of an exhaustive review of the 
Pharmacy and the Drug-trade in 1901 tha 
Chemist and Druggest says:— "India and 
Ceylon are practically without pharmaceutical 
organisation, although their trade interests, 
so far as medicine purchasing pow -r is 
concerned, are great. The sale of poisons 
has been can trailed in Ceylon during the 
year by a new Ordinance, which, however, 
does not call for special fitness in the sellers. 
Several suggestions have been made for 
better controlling the sale of poisons in 
India. The subject deserves the senous 
attention of the Governments, but is attended 
with greater diflQculties than can be imagiae4 
by people at home/' 
