September i, i 
tm tflOP!DAL AQRIOULTUmSTi 
To the Editor. 
Zk^k REVISITED, 
Sana Estate, Ratnapura, Oeylon, July 27th. 
DEiR " 0B3BBVBB,"— " The OeyloM Planter on the 
Prowl " has (I verily believe) good reason to thank 
lisaven that he is not as other men are, when he 
sees the want al " go " in other nations. 
On revisiting, il And planting Java stands 
iust about where it did, when I was there in the 
year of our Lord 1883. " General Funk " seems 
to prevent them going in for any bold stroke oi 
planting enterprise. While, in the 8 years gone 
by, the whole face of Oeyloa has been changed for 
the better :— our brothers in Java as a class are 
still crying over the low rate for the cinohona unit, 
and are inclined to growl at the Brunswick quinine 
manufacturer and at the former rival, the Ceylon 
planter. 
Buitenzorg Botanical! Gardens are as pretty and 
instructive as ever ; and Dr. Treub is making 
experiments with my indigenous tea seed I took 
down with me. It only took 10 days from Ratnapura 
to Buitenzorg, and when the eases were opened 
thtty were found quite fresh, contrasting favorably, 
it was said, with what had been imported from 
Assam a month or 6 weeks or so en route. 
Further, Dr. Treub has kindly promised to keep 
careful ' count and reckoning ' of germination &c. 
and to send me full details, 3 or 4 months hence, 
when the experiments are completed, and these I 
will send you on receipt for publication in your 
Tropical AgricuUurislj. a periodical I found as 
much appreciated in Java as in Ceylon :— even 
perhaps more thumbed and carefully studied there, 
than here. 
My boss-kangani TirrimaUy whom I took with 
me will have great yarns to spin in the lines when 
he gets back to the estate, about the volcanic wonders 
oi Papadava which we also visited. Judging from 
the copious samples of sulphur he secured, his 
thoughts were in Ceylon, like the Dying Gladiator. 
God bless the Duke 1 
It must not be imagined that the Dutch planters 
are not aware of the superior merits of a high 
class indigenous seed as compared with the original 
China jfit wnioh they planted first ; recent high 
prices, from a few Java estates growing 'indigenous,' 
have accentuated the belief. In fact, I saw some 
leaves from Mr. Van Hengst's estate that 
equalled anything we can show in Oeylon, but their 
trees are mostly young, and not seed-bearing as 
yet, for a large demand. 
What impresses one is the seeming sloivness with 
which they act, and the want of boldness in going 
in for a " brand new stock, lock and barrel " policy, 
when the old musket is found, and proven, unfit. 
Since the events of A. D. 1870 even a Frenchman 
recognises sowc merits in Horr Krupp's manu- 
facture 
Individually, they are as hospitable and goo3- 
naturcd as ever, i Wiis at Soel-ahoemi the day of 
their Planters' Association meet, and was invited 
tj be present, but I did not think fit to go: it would 
not have been etiquette to have talked ' quiaa a-id 
its compounds" ; — a rod rag to a buil, or a sp^rk 
(however insignificant in itself) in a powder 
magazine. 
To eum up the whole matter ; — They need more 
new blood. If Sumatra (north of the equator) were 
annexed by the Straits Government, the Atcheen 
row would soon be settled; while if Jaca (say lOS^ 
E. Long. Greenwich) were partitioned (aa a heritage 
for Young Australia), there would still be enough 
playground left our Dutch cousins between Batavia 
and Walkoop Bay, for them to romp around in. — 
Yours truly, WM a SAM'nTHnw 
WM. G. SANDISON", 
KAPU, KAPOK, AND PULUN, 
Colombo, July 28tb. 
Dear Sib,— Could you or any of your numerous 
readers inform me and the general public through the 
medium of your journal, the correct meanings of 
kapu," " kapok," and " pnliiu." 
So far as I am aware the term "kapu" is applied 
by the Sinhalese to weaving cotton, and "pulun" is 
usually applied to what is known as tree cotton or 
silk cotton. But the proper meaning of " pulun " is 
any soft fibrous subPtance. Hence the Sinhalese epeak 
of " kapu pulun," weaving cotton; " imbnl pulun," 
the tree or silk cotton, and"wara pulun," the cottony 
substance found inside the poda of the Calatropis 
gifiantea. The word " kapok " is a commercial terra 
of recent introduction to designate the tree or silk 
cotton, the "imbul pulnn" of the Sinhalese. There 
\» a certain amount of confugion in the use of these 
terms especially among colonists ; and it will be useful 
to know their proper meanings. — Yonr.i truly, 
KATU IMBUL. 
[In our issue of the 11th we had on these words, 
to which we would refer our correspondent. — 
Ed. T.^.] 
AN ENEMY OF TEA. 
Uva, July 31st. 
Deak Sir,— By today's post I am sending you 
some sort of caterpillar that I found devourinc; 
my tea : every leaf on one bush was perforated 
and they had begun on several others. Are wa 
to consider them an enemy of our tea ?— Yours truly, 
INQUIEEE. 
[Our entomological authority writes : — " Cater- 
pillars of a moth of the genus Psyche, living in a caso 
constructed from fragments of leaves, and lined 
with silky threads. They can certainly be con- 
sidered an enemy to tho tea tree, while they 
themselves are well protected from enemies They 
are very common and widely distributed."— 
Ed. T. A.1 
THE COFFEE SEED FROM BURMA. 
Diggings, Aug. 1st. 
Dear Sir, — The coffee seed sent me by my son 
from Rangoon came up in the nursery all well 
but I am sorry to say now, the small plants havj 
not " enjoyed immunity from leaf disease," and 
I intend writing to tell him so. — Yours very truly, 
JOHiN STEPHENS. 
ENGitiYiNG ON Mbtai,. — A Russiau olectricim of 
the name of Kolomtirow i.s reported in the St. 
Petersburg papers tj have devised a process of 
photographing and (-;) graving on metals by menus 
of el-'ftrioity, rendcrijg the etching luothod uu- 
nfcessiuy. He is abiuit to stirt f.jr abroad to dispose 
of his ixi\enti'^\i. —Electrical Review. 
Planting and Labour in Soctthern India 
form the siu''^j 'Cl of an arliulo in the Madras 
Times given eisewhc-ra. It will be seen that the 
planters across tho water are as badly oft for 
labour as their Ceylon brethren, whom the 
Madras Times recommends to copy in forming a 
united Association like tho Planters' Association 
of Ceylon, 
