THF. TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
53 ^ ^ 
mT^T^^^female coconut trees 
SiB-I have never seen any mention of the 
fact i^at some coconut trees appear to be capable 
nnlv of Droduoing male flowers and are consequently 
only of P'^""^^^^ bear the ordinary email ma e 
S^" ;n miantSes but the bracts are void of female 
SZts aS r var"e\v of coconut tree produces 
bo h mafe and what appear to be. female flower but 
povu defect ve and incapable of lern- 
Saao^and though t^^ produce f^uit yet these 
last when opened are found to ooBs.st of only 
^^^ThXove'a're'far which have come under my 
bv any of your numerous readers if there are 
cy any ui ■'l,r,„_„,,„ s„ch a disastrous state of 
LTn^rfou d t obviatfd" or\voided and whether 
t^ees whTch have already been established could 
trees wuu," otherwise made to produce fruit.— 
be grafted or otherwis^e ^^^^^^ %UGGINS, 
I am, '^^-Q^j^g^Yale, S. Vincent, West Indies. 
rOn this very interesting subject. Dr. Trimen, 
as well as such coconut planters as Messrs. Jardme 
Lamont" Beven and others may have something 
interesting to say-— Ed. T. A.j 
PPYLON TEA IN SWITZERLAND AND 
AUSTRIA. 
Winterthur, May I3th. 
Dear Sib,-I am much obliged ^^^t^^rsu^p- 
. name m the list 01 tne sup- 
Sirof th"'ceyTn Tea Industry. . The sale 
Kevlon tea in this country is increasing slowly 
li,t sSilv. There are now also other sellers of 
a who probably buy it in London ; bu who 
luia „„„M\ Tipvpr have touched it, 11 1 naa 
^'7 t^^ beRSg In this way the Cevlon 
fea iitry is benSd also indirectly. I beg 
tea inaustry ^.^^ supporters 
Ke CeyL'Tea Industry the name of my friend, 
Mr W Weiner, 7 Bezirk, 5, Mentergaese V.enna, 
Yanital of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, 
i^ Je Wts made on behalf of Cylon tea were 
Lwiaed by the meeting of the Tea Fund Com- 
^mee on'Aliil 10th last.lo the minutes of which 
^nder the heading Ceylon Tea m Switzerland) 
please refer.-I, am ^^ajg^j^^ES OSSWALD. 
[July X, xSgl 
MALE AND FEMALE COCONUT TREES. 
Veysogoda, May 15tb. 
y.^,^ SiK _i am afraid I have nothing interesting 
+n «av !n re^ly to Mr. Foster Huggins's enquiries. I 
to say ^^''P'^ '".„08S a coconut tree produoing m^v e 
have cever o''™^ across a instances a tree is 
^°rwHru?abYe t'o mature its'frnit. I believe the f.ct 
Ti^fl Jirt producing iruit, even altbough they may 
of the flo^^^P^^fi^^'^^roves hat the flowers cannot be 
''"r "^lach^reeri^h/ve always rejiarded as the result 
KVem': gro^ver^ -P'^'^^lt cv'" 
v,»fnr« the kernel acquires oonsistency. 
^ f do not think it'qaite accurate to regard as a 
I . ,bat produce nuts consisting only 
r"ir outer husk I have heard these nuts described 
i:l'i'lnin who wat translating into English a no- 
Kr.aragreement from the vernacular, as s lU-born 
; I Ttirso tree« too, I consider as a result ot de- 
e ^ecd If the tr.e that produces these undes.r- 
LlT-k what ia without nuts can be rightly 
able nntH-it vigorous trnnk and a 
called c«..«» .v -have a "\^°"^' /^^^^ ^,,th pre- 
^° V I a heavy do^e of manure connisling mainly c f 
bonr'duBt i ll 'cure them of their bad habit. I 
have a very vigorous looking tree which produced 
nothing but husks. The appearance of the fruit bo- 
tokened Iheir emptiness. The same bunch bad on it 
nuts of various sizes and apparently of various ages, 
and would, if seen by him, have confirmed the con- 
tention of a member of the Metropolitan Bar that 
nuts ot various ages are invariably to be found on 
the same stalk ! I came to the concltision that the 
tree was wanting in stamina and gave it a very heavy 
dose of cattle manure, with bones and ashes ; that 
•was about a couple of years ago. I now find that 
the nuts the tree is producing seem to be filling out, 
end I have hopes that they will prove to be good 
ones. If it will interest you, I shall eend you a 
stalk with nuts of seemingly various ages. 
There are some trees that bear very heavily and 
the nuts are large and well filled oat apparently, but 
which are minus the kernel, or in some instances have 
it of a dirty brown colour and covering only a portion 
of the shell. Water is absent from such nuts. 
Whether it was present during the earlier stages of 
growth, I had never an opportunity of finding out ; but 
I suppose it was present in small quantity. These 
trees, too, can, I believe, be brought round by manuring 
withphospbatic manure. I have made a trial. 
The curs I would recommend for a barren tree i« to im- 
prove it oil the face of the earth. Surely Mr. Hugging 
cannot be serioui? when he enquires " whether trees 
(coconut) that have already been established could be 
grafted ?" Science will have to advance a good deal I 
think before such an operation becomes possible ; the 
idea is quite Yankee. 
Daring the seasons of the year that coconut trees 
bear heavy crops, empty or " still-born " nu^s increase 
in number proportionatelv. This proves I think that 
they are the result of impaired rigor in the tree, for 
at such seasons the resources of the tree are taxed to 
the utmost to mature the larare number of nnts they 
are carrying. Liberal cultivation lessens the number 
of empty cuts materially. 
Perhaps the Superintendent of the School of Agricul- 
ture and his Assistants, soma of whom claim to h»ve 
been bred under the shade of the coconut tree, can 
contribute something interestinsr on the subject. 
"When a coconut tree commences bearing, the first 
few flower epithes thro-vn out co"tain abortive blossoms, 
these are called in Sinhalese Boru mal or false flowers. 
The length of time a tree continues to throw out these 
Boru mal is dependent on its vigor and affords a sure 
index of its bearing capabilities through life. Weakly 
trees continue to bear abortive blossoms for years 
running, and when they do bear it is only a few nuts 
per annum. It is best both for the appearance and 
value of a young property to courageouslv root these 
cumberers out and to replace them with 3 or 4 year 
plants ; a supply of these is a necessity, they are better 
able to maintain the struggle for existence in a pro- 
perty where the root? of the trees cover the ground 
than a nursery plant. To attempt to get the bad 
trees to bear is an expensive and disheartening job : 
at the best they only repay what is spent on them. 
B. 
KUSH-KUSH YAMS. 
Dear Sir,— I am in a position to say kush-kush is an 
imported plant and 1 believe comes from the West 
Indies. Bleasra. Whyte & Oo, of Kandy deserve the 
thanks ot the public for its introduction into this 
island. A friend of mine bought about 20 tubera 
origiually from the above firm and first cultivated it 
on a leased land at Veyangoda, gralually extending 
its cultivation till he sold the yams delivered in Co- 
lombo to a good many of his acquaintances and 
public at KIO per cwt., at which rate it paid him. 
I was the means of getting this introduced into the 
Bentota district through the late Mr. Lewis Mej-dis, 
who got his tubers from Veyangoda. The proprietor 
of "Comilla" also obtained tubers from the same 
Bonrce and cultivated it a few years back extensively, 
and I am under the impression bad Messrs. Auwardt 
& Oo. as his agents selling it in Colombo. 
