812 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[JUxNR 2, 1902. 
gathering season they aie given itniunerative 
work. Tlie most common objection that lias been 
raised to the efitablislinient of an Ainericau tea 
iniustryhas been the dili'croiice in ihe price of 
labour in America and in tlie E :sf, but with a 
full appreciation of its force as applied to poorer 
grades, there seems to exist a good profit in the 
production of those higher grades in whose culti- 
vation cheap labour plays a minor part. And in 
addition the home tea production has this fur- 
ther advantage, that the final drying of the leaf 
need not be carried to the same e.xtreme degree 
of lieat, whereby a .sacrifice of inmdi that is 
agreeable and beneficial in llie flavour is entailed. 
As we have pointed out befoie, and as the Brit- 
ish Ciyusul thinks possible, if the American Gov- 
ernment were to place an import duty on tea, 
and the home-grown tea industry were to mak« 
rapid progress when so fostered, the Indian and 
Ceylon tea imports to the United States would 
be affected ; but that is in the far future. Mean- 
time we learn from New York that with the 
passage of the War Tax Repeal Bill the tea 
market shows signs of renewed activity, and in 
favour of this it may be noted that the stock of 
tea is small. — H. and C. Mail, April 18. 
MOSQUITOES AND MALARIA IN 
ITALY. 
A CONSULAR REPORT. 
The British Consul remarks in his Report An 
the Trade for South Italy for 1901 :— 
The sut)ject of mosquitoes and malaria, which 
was mentioned in the Report from this Consulate 
(\o. 2,550, Annual Series), is still attractinsf con- 
siderable attention in Italy, and mote especially in 
this l>istrict where a large area is snbiect to 
malaria. Next to Sardinia, tlie Province of Basi- 
licata is the largest malarious trace in Italy, and 
therefore the most interested in the extermination 
of the disease. The most fatal season occurs in 
the months of August and September, but the 
further we go South the longer does the dangerous 
season continue, so that in Basilicata security can 
rarely be enjoyed or reckoned upon until tlie 
month of October is past. 
MOSQUITOES GO BY TRAIN. 
M isquitoes dislike wind and when it is high 
they take refuge where they can, Hence they 
are not transported by wind as has been often sup- 
posed but they move from place to place on or 
about men and animals and any baggage which 
attracts them, a fact which explains isolated cases 
and epidemics which have occuned in places dis- 
tant alike from marshes and stagnant water. 
Some interesting cases of ff ver, o.ving to this cause, 
occurred at the station of Termini near Rome, the 
cases having probably originated from mosquitoes 
conveyed by the Teiraci.n train which crosses 
the most deadly piirt of the Poritiiie marshes. 
A.N ANILINE DYI^ EFFICACIOUS. 
There is a special aniline dye ivhich when dilu- 
ted, even to tlife extent of 0'06o31 per mile, is aid 
to kill the larvHB. Tlifc well-kno.vn pastilles and 
powder, similar to ordinary insect powder, which 
can either be burnt or distributed by means of 
bellows, may aKo lie mentiotietl. This powder is 
made of llie flowers of the irjirelhrum roseiim, A 
herb extensively grown on the Dalmatian coast, 
the cultivation of which is being tried nearCeprano 
a town in this district about half-way between 
Naples and Rome, It is found that valerian 
root, powdered and mixed with the other, reuderii 
it more cfKcacious. 
THH DIFFICULTY ABOUT DRUCS. 
Experiments have been made in the past sum- 
mer by Professor Grassi to combat the malady by 
the use of drugs. In this he has obtained a great; 
measure of success, but here again the expense 
of the drugs and the difficulty of gettins; the large 
quantity necessary, taken at regular time.s, will 
form an insuperable difficulty in the case of the 
peasants. Having selected one of the mo>t mala- 
rious places in Italy, Ostia at the mouth of the 
Tiber, Professor Grassi and his staff have adminis- 
tered six pills a day to adults and a pro- 
portionate dose to children, the pills being com- 
posed of a compound called "Esanofele," a harm- 
less drug compo'-ed of quinine, arsenic, iron and 
bitter herbs. Which salt of quinine or iron, and 
the proportions used of each of them, has not' yet 
been disclosed, but Ur Grassi, in his recent work 
(which is in course of translation into English), 
speaks most highly of the results and the tabula-' 
ted statistics of the Ostia treatment appear very 
favourable, though these are too long and too 
complicated for reproduction here.—BIadras Mail, 
April 23. 
— 
PLANTING NOTES. 
The Union Estate Company of CtTLON 
—is certainly one of the unfortunate ones 
—no dividend for five years and the 
prospect is not brilliant, apjiarently, 
unless there is a determin;ition to 
abandon any non-paying fields or pro- 
ducts and to stick to what we heard 
long ago described as the really very line 
Hayes property. At the same time, the 
Directors deserve credit for giving up half 
their fees while no dividend is declared ; 
—but why not mention this in the Report? 
rt is certainly a fact of special interest to 
shareholders and well-deserving of a sentence, 
apart from what may be shown in the 
Recounts. The continuation of our full 
report will be found elsewhere : the " beck- 
ing" was unusually long drawn out. 
Arsenic and Treacle.— It is good newa 
that the ravages of locusts can be controlled, 
if not checked, by means of arsenic and 
treacle, in Natal, we read, that the locust 
plague is now easily controlled by this 
simple means. It would be interesting to 
know how the remedy can be applied over 
an extensive area. Coconut planters mav 
do well to try them for beetles ; and why 
not for porcupines ? The latter pest renders 
ooconut cultivation almost impracticable in 
parts of the island. The Pallegama Grant 
suffered severely from porcupines ; estates 
in the Kurunegala-Puttalam districts are 
said to have been badly smitten by them ; 
in the Southern Province, the extension of 
Cinnamon cultivation is explained by the 
difficulty of growing coconuts owing to the 
destructiveness of porcupines ; and even 
from the Kelani Valley we hear of im- 
mense damage done to promising planta- 
tions by their fondness for stems just sis 
they begin to show above ground. We should 
like to hear from some of our more experi- 
enced planters, European and Ceylonese, as to 
the best means of checking the depredations 
of porcupines — apart from catching them at 
mischief and then blowing them up ! 
