ArEiL I, 1891 .] 
THE rr<opmAL 
721 
takpii heretofore), the Council are of opiniou thatsiiuulil 
a reallj useful ant! practical nia' liiue bu invented, i liat tho 
iriv^-utor would find it mure to bis advaiitate to patent 
the machine and ])lac 6 it before the public, rather than 
to claim the Government award, winch, indo = s made 
an UDUsua ly large one, would nut be commensurate 
with the iivant gi-s the inventor would then be called 
nponio resign. 
4. From the inquiries made by one of their number 
during a receut visit to England, the Com cil have 
reason to believe that the demand for Hhea fibre for 
ftiperior pui'posr.s is still very lirui t;d, aid the manu- 
facturers prefer to buy the fi rein its rough, st state, 
rather than cleRo, their profit heing denved from 
cleaning and working this np into thread, between 
the price of which and clean fibre there is but a tmali 
margin. 
. 0 . Ag regards further inquiries into the systems 
followed in various parts of Chi .a, thp Couuc 1 desire 
me to say that Mr. Ho.sie’s report seems to .afford all 
the information which can be de.sired, and would in- 
dicate that, though the systems may uiffei' locally from 
the standard, there is net om ugh encoura.iremont in 
what is now known of that, to warrant their recom- 
mending any large expendi ure in acq'iirini.'' fmther 
infoiniatioe . — From I’rocecdini/s of the Agricultural and 
Horticultural 6'ocietg of India. 
THE COCOA BEETLE. 
Flis Excellency Srr ^y. H. Hu chin-ou has, it is said' 
appointed a Ooinmissiou to enquire into the circum- 
stances of the ravages of the Coc a BeeTe, "irro- 
bably one or more kinds of longicorn Beetles undeter- 
mined,” the same as we have here. The Cfreuuda 
Chronicle says that “acres aud acres of trees chiefly 
of young growth have already falFir vie ims to it aud 
many more are threatened.” Tho plan they hryve 
found effectual is the same that we commonly use, and 
con ists in employing numbers of young boys and 
girls who dig cut the laruo from under tire bark. 
Tlie Chronicle adds ; — 
“ Unless it is employed generally, however, by 
every pl intsr aud manager it will not t.e of much 
avail, for as fast as one destroys the grub on his 
property the full grown insect proiluc- d and nurtured 
in the fields of his less careful Ufiglib rirs, v/ill attack 
liis trees and keep up a mpply of grubs. United 
effort on the part of the planting body nf cur island 
istberefore absolutely neceesary, it a foe that thri aiens 
to be desperate is to be suppressed ere it assumes un- 
conlrollable power.” 
The difficulties with the Cocoa Beetle therefore in 
Greneda are similar to our own ‘with regard to the 
Parasol Aut. One thiug is certain wi h regard to this 
pest, and that is very con.soling ; tlm Boo' les almost 
invariably coniine thc-ir attention to trees .'3 or 4 yrars 
old. In the lust number of Timehri Mr. Elivan Brag 
reports on the degtruotivo Cjualities of some miuuto 
Scolytid Bee'le which have been known only to attack 
Cocoa plants within the last year, but whic'i,ho says 
have been the cause of death to the plants over a 
Very onsiderahlo area of plantations. Mr. C. Water- 
house of ti e British Musettm of Nv'ur.al History de- 
termines them as XyLhonts ■pexforana . — Trinidad 
Agricultural Record. 
— I I I — ■ 
UvA North-West, Feb. ‘28th. — This has been a 
moat abnormal season — a very mild, warm N.-E. 
monsoon. Jan. fine; but first 18 days of Feb. rain 
every day, 9 inches, old, misty weather since ; dry, 
thin wind, cold. Thermometer seldom went below 
GO'i’ and as seldom exceeded 70°. A deal of the coffee 
crop is early Lot a very ugly sample. Early 
pruned tea has Hushed fairly well, but unpruned 
shut up. It has been a good senson for new clear- 
ings, and few supplies slioud lo required. 
, Sinhalese &e. doing their best to got hold nf 
some of our coffee, but our own coolies being the 
chief thieves they arc hard to catch at it ; they 
watch Durai and the watchman 1 Glad to see some 
find grevillea shade stops green bug ; but it is not 
BO io my experienoo. (Jcll'oe wants to die out, 
Artificial Fertilisation of Cinchona Flowers. 
— A Mr. J. Bosch has recently suggested a process 
for the artificial fertilisation of cinchona flowers, 
which is attrecting a great deal of attention in 
Java, EO much so that the Dutch Indian Government 
have appointed a commission to investigate the 
process, and report as to tho results.— C/i«nisf and 
Druggist. 
Southern Indian Industries, — The Mysore Go- 
vernment has granted a concession to Mr. W. F. 
Peter Hay, of Hunsnr, of the exolusive right to 
manufacture sandal oil within the Mysore State for 
a period of ten years from the dale of commencing 
d.s'illatioD. subject to certain conditions. A royalty 
of 3‘25 pie per cz. weight of oil manuiactured and 
issued is to be paid to Government once in three 
months. The concession is conditional upon work 
being stated within one year. — Indian Engineer, 
Feb. ‘28th. 
“ Amheestta Nobilis.” — This splendid legu- 
minous tree is reported to have been seen in 
flower within the past few days, in the Museum 
grounds— a very unusual experience in Colombo. 
It flowers in Peradeniya, but scarcely matures 
any seed, We quote from the Treasury of Botany 
as follows : — 
Amherstia, \ genus of the Pea family 
named io iiom ur of the Countess AraberKt. ., 1 . «oi5i7i« 
ia the only species. It g-rows near Martaban, In the 
Mai ly.in penin.sula, and attains a height of about 
forty feet. When in flower, it is said to be ‘ one of 
the moat lup Tb objects imagioablp, nnrivalled in India 
or in any other piart of the world.’ The leaves are 
equally piiioate, large, aud, when young, of a pale 
purple colour. ‘ Tho flowers are large, scentless, aud 
of a briabt vermilion colour, diversified with three 
yellow .-p. ts, and disposed iu gigantic ovate penduloug 
bunches.' The tree is cultivated in some of the larger 
English garduig; but rcqm.ing eo much space is 
seldom met with in colli ctious 'I'he Burmese name of 
the plant is Thoca, ivnd handfuls of tho flowers are 
offered kelore tho images of Buddha. 
Salt f ir Agricultural Purposes. — We have 
a great deal of sympathy with the object which 
a correspoudont has in view in the letter (see “ B.”) 
addreBSOd to us on this subject The efforts made a 
good many years ago, by the Planters’ Association to 
get the Ceylon Government to agree to allow salt be 
used, free of duty, as a manure, were very persistent 
and forcible. Nor did theGoverament of the day 
refuse attention : on the contrary a whole series of ex- 
periments were made with the view of seeing how 
salt could bo so mixed and adulterated as to 
make unfit for human food, while still useful for 
agricultural purposes. But success in their experi- 
ments was not attained. We always felt, however, 
that the standard fixed was a too stringent one. 
Practically, we cannot conceive that any estate 
coolies or other of the lowest of the people would 
have tried for a moment to utilise for food, soma 
of the manure mixtures then tested. But the 
Government refused to run the risk and so with 
superabundant stores of salt available, none can 
be used as manure, however beneficial it may be 
demonstrated by “ B.” and others to be. For this 
reason, even more tban on account of the tax on 
food,wd should like to see the Government monopoly 
of salt removed. We do not believe any hardship 
is involved by the tax on the people so far as the 
comliment is concerned ; on the contrary in 
remote districts we feel sure the poorest of the 
naiives have salt made available to them at far 
cheaper rates than if, without tax, the distribution 
were bit to private enterprise. But it is certainly 
very hard that such a tax should prevent salt 
now lying idle, being utilised in agriculture where 
its application is desirable. 
