December i, 1890.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
on their way from Kohima, to quell the disturbance. 
Altogether we are having quite a lively time, and it is 
likely lo continue throughout the winter season. It is 
more cold weather thau ever. The ground is becoming 
as hard as bricks, and I expect I shall have to reduce 
the hoeing tasks in order to get proper work. Five 
weeks .ago the lodallis went up to the head into the soil, 
with their own weight. 
The neem trees are looking dull and wintry. My 
commission on the ssason’.s working begins to look 
very distant, and I am afraid there is but little chance 
of tlie proprietors seeing their way to double my salary. 
— Oorrespoadent of the “ Knylishman.” 
^ — — 
CEYLON UrCOUNTRY PLyVNTING REPORT. 
PORCUPINES, CACAO BARK AND TEA SEED— ANOTHEB 
ENEMY OP TUB CACAO PLANTER — THE CACAO THIEE 
AND THE VILLAGE HEADMAN— A MYSTERY SOLVED. 
Oot. 21Sl. 
Men who know what havoc a porcupine can 
make in a cacao garden will be pleased to learn 
that dearly as that animal loves to tear the bark 
off the cacao tree, and destroy the pods, yet he 
is fonder of tea seed. An estate which was sur- 
rounded with scrub, infested with porcupines, and 
which suffered considerably from their ravages, 
has for some time now been wholly free of this 
plague. A field of tea has come up close by. The 
other night a porcupine was shot among the tea. 
The Sinhalese watcher had for some nights before 
been hearing a cracking sound among the tea 
trees, but could see nothing. Watching more 
carefully, he discovered a porcupine which he shot, 
and in the morning it became quite clear that 
it was the tea seed the brute had been 
after, and on which it had been freely feasting. 
A worse enemy of the cacao planter is 
the Sinhalese rogue. The manager of a cacao 
garden told me the other day how about half-past 
six in the evening his watcher caught one of 
these fellows a little way from the boundary, with 
several measures of the fruit in his possession. 
An attempt ivas marie to run the man in, the 
watcher offering his services to the extent of being 
prepared to swear that he caught the thief on the 
estate; but was told that he must stick to the 
truth. He did this, and the magistrate acquitted 
on the ground that there was no proof that the 
cacao had been stolen. The planter felt a little 
sore, and when his feelings were in this tender 
condition he had a visit from the local headman. 
This worthy had come to condole, which he did, 
adding as a reason for this miscarriage of justice, 
and perhaps too as a hint for future guidance : 
“ Sir, how can you expect to got the thieves pun- 
ished in the Police Court, unless you tell lies ” ! 
The planter says that the next man that is caught 
won’t be taken before the magistrate, neither will 
any lies be told about him, but he will assuredly 
be punished ! 
There was a row in a cacao garden, owing to 
a number of branches having been broken. Care- 
less gathering was supposed to be the reason, but 
yet it could not be satisfactorily brought home. 
After a bit, the watcher, out after squirrels, found 
the culprit and shot him. It was not a cooly, but 
a big scaly creature which Lad gone up the tree 
after red ants, and the weight of whose body had 
caused the damage mourned over. One lives and 
learns. Peppercorn. 
^ 
The LiiAvES of the Duboisia llopwoodii, an 
Australian shrub, arc chewed by the blacks as a 
substitute for tobacoo. They contain an alkaloid 
called piturine, which, according to some chemists, 
is identical with nicotine, or at least closely allied 
to Globe, Oot. 10th. 
MJLGHERRY" TEA DOING WELL. 
Wp notice in Mr. AY. G. and H. Thompson’s Indian 
Tea Oircubu-, of the 25th ultimo, that 107 chesls Koda- 
naad Nilgherry tea sold at prices ranging up to Is 
7^d the broken pekoe realising that high figure, whilst 
the pekoe souchong fetched ll|d. These results, 
which surpiEs Ceylon and equal some of the best nor- 
thern mapufactures, should euoourrge Nilgherry plan- 
ters. Climatic influences may affect the yield of Nil- 
gherry estates, but when the manufacture is carried 
out with the best maohmery, and in accordance with 
the most approved processes, the quality leaves nothing 
to be desired.— J/, Mail, Oot. 20ih. 
HIGH AND LOW CINCHONA PRICES. 
The now unusually high price of Is per lb. was 
realised on Tuesday by a few lots of very fine bark — 
the first being two bales of renewed officinalis shav- 
in,gs from Ceylon, and the next 10 bales bold Ledge- 
liana stem chips from India. For one small case of 
renewed quilly Succirubra chips from Ceylon the un- 
usually high figure of 8d per lb. vpas also paid. At 
the other end of the scale the lowest price realised at 
the auctions was that paid for 3 bales Succirnbra 
twigs from Ceylon, which sold at fd per lb. Some 
years ago, when 2s 6d or 3s was a usual price for red 
chips, such twigs were thought cheap at lOd per lb. 
This week also 1|I per lb. was the best offer that 
could be obtaiued for some damaged soft Colombian 
bark, imported as far back as May 1880. The broker 
was not at liberty to accept this bid, and bought in 
the parcel at 2gd per lb., plaintively observing that 
when he offered it the last time — ten years ago — he 
rejected an offer of Is 91 per lb. for the same lot. 
The parcel was a small one, and the loss to the im- 
porters — apart from the cost of the warehousing of 
the bark— probably not over 200L About a decade 
ago oft’ers of 4s per lb. were more than once refused 
for a specially fine brand (Z O) of this same variety 
of cinchona, but the owners of these lots were com- 
paratively fortunate, as they have since been able to 
clear them at about 8d per lb. The largo quantity 
of Oalisaya bark from the South American plantations 
formed a feature of tho auctions. Nearly 90,000 lb., 
mostly of recent import via Liverpool or Hamburg, 
passed tho hammer, and two-thirds of this was sold. 
It rnust not be forgotten that this bark is nearly 
twice as rich as tho average Ceylon or Indian hark. 
Most of it is bought by the English quinine-makers. — 
Chemid and Druggist, Oot.lllh. 
• 
“THE CEYLON TEA COMPANY LIMITED.” 
As we fully anticipated the leading gentlemen 
connected with the local Tea Fund have seen the ne- 
cessity for organizing a Limited Company to carry 
on after a commercial fashion the business created 
through the operations of the Fund’s Agents. 
This was made very clear in the case of Russia 
the other day, when it seemed so great a pity not to 
pick up at once the interest and good-will created by 
M, Rogivue. We therefore highly approve of the 
new Company, into which we have no doubt, 
the Ceylon Tea Fund will eventually merge, and 
we are glad to see it is to ba supported by lead- 
ing planters and merchants. It is proposed to 
begin with the modest capital of R100,000 and the 
main object is to deal with the Continent of Europe 
as may be seen from the list of agencies appended. 
We quote as follows: — 
The objects of the propofed Company are the sale of 
Pure Ceylon Tea, the pushing, advertising and gene- 
rally making known Ceylon Tea throughout the world. 
To enable the question “ where can wo buy Pure Cey- 
lon Tea’’ to bo answered by and on behalf of Ceylon Tea 
growers. To supplement and support the action of the 
Ceylon Tea Fund” by attending to the execution of 
orders for Ceylon Tea, and tho appointment of Agouti, 
