128 
THE  TROPICA! 
AGRICULTUKIST. 
[Aug,  I,  1895. 
SpiiiNii  Vallkv  Cui'Ki’.b;  Co.,  Li).— We  are 
now  enabled  to  i>ul)lish  the  Report  of  the  sister 
Company  that  of  “ Uuvali,”  given  yesterday, 
Mr.  Allred  Brown  being  Chairman  of  both.,  and 
the  Colombo  Commercial  Co.,  local  Agents.  Tlie 
Spring  Valley  is  not  quite  so  prosperous,  but  its 
total  'of  per  cent  of  dividends  is  likely  to  im- 
prove ami  the  Company  has  done  well  to  acquire 
Kottagodde  estate  adjacent  to  Spring  Valley  and 
which  has  a good  deal  of  tea  further  advanced 
than  that  on  the  main  property.  We  think  this  is 
bound  to  strengthen  the  “ Spring  Valley  ColVee  Co.” 
Pl.\ntkrs,  Manure  and  an  Analvtical 
Expert. — Our  London  Correspondent  in  writing 
about  the  need  of  an  Expert  on  the  spot  for 
planters  to  consult  in  connection  with  their 
manuring  operations,  forjiot  that  we  ha\e  Mr. 
M Cochran,  M.A.,  E.C.S.,  who  has  already  done  so 
much  .rood  analytical  work  here,  and  in  conjunc- 
tion wuth  Mr.  Hughes,  and  who,  we  have  no 
doubt,  often  now  is  consulted  by  planters  to  test 
the  manures  they  buy  or  import.  Mr.  Cochran's 
Manual  lately  imblished  by  us,  ought  to  be  in 
the  hands  of  all  i.lanters  engaged  in  extensive 
manuriii'r  operations ; for  it  contains  a vast 
amount  of  information  of  service  in  a variety  of 
ways  to  Managers  of  Estates. 
i’HE  Strangest  Insect  in  the  V dked.— 
The  .weto,  as  the  Maoris  or  natives  of  New 
Zealand  call  it,  or  Hi^ialis  vircscens,  as  naturalists 
term*  it,  is  found  in  New  Zealand,  and  is  a 
verretabie  caterpillar  of  from  three  to  four  inches 
in^ieiurth,  and,  so,  far,  science  has  not  been  able 
to  say'’  whether  it  is  a vegetable  or  an  insect.  It 
is  always  found  at  the  foot  of  large  myrtle-trees 
that  have  beautiful  red  tlowers  on  their  stems, 
and  a beautiful  creeping  clematis  as  white  as 
the  snow  The  Maoris  call  this  tree  by  the 
name  of  rata.  The  aweto  buries  itself  among  the 
roots  of  the  rara,  a few  inches  below  the  ground, 
and  there  lives  until  it  is  full  grown,  when  it 
under.mcs  a most  wonderful  change.  '1  he  snore 
of  a ”ve«etable  fungus,  termed  by  naturalists 
Sophivria  rohevtsii,  fastens  itself  to  the  ned<  of 
tlie  caterpillar,  just  between  the  head  and  the 
Hr«t  rimq  and  then  grows  upwards  to  the  height 
of’^froursix  to  eight  inches.  Many  people  assert 
+Rni-  Hipio  is  never  more  than  one  stem,  but  such 
not  the  case,  for  some  have  been  found  with 
tWd  stems,  although  very  rarely.  Tl.e  stem 
shoots  up  out  of  the  ground,  above  w here  thecatcr- 
idllar  is  living,  about  two  or  three  inche.s  ; below 
the  eartb  it  grows  into  the  aweto,  until  it  fdls  up 
pverv*  possible  spa(;e  within  the  outer  skin  without 
phanmm'  the  form  of  the  insect  in  the  slightest 
w-iv  ^vhatsoever,  but  simply  substituting  a vege- 
table matter  for  animal  matter  As  soon  as  this 
takes  place  both  the  plant  and  the  caterpiller 
Wome  dry  and  hard  and  die,  but  retain  exactly 
form  a.,  wta.  alive.  Tl.e  rvl.ole  l..e^v  a 
brown  colour,  and  the  insect  appears  a woo<  mi 
Sterpillar,  with  a huge  horn  standing  up  from  the 
back  of  its  neck.  How  the  caterpillar  manages 
to  proi-agate  its  species  no  one  can  te  I.  U.sually 
t P caterpillar  becomes  a id.rysalis  the  chry.sah.s 
, a moth,  the  moth  ays  ego-s,  and 
t dse"  c-s  again  become  caterpillars,  ami  so  on 
wSSu, unstopping.  Mtvny  ^ 
the  plant  shoots  up  from  the  back  ol  tin.  uik 
of  tL  aweto.  Ono  l>'at  the  aweto  has  a slimy 
sMM-w.CP  oo/.ing  out  from  its  neck,  which,  while 
for  its  only  foo'l,  catches  the  seed  of  the  fungus 
1 lU  'it  fast  there  fill  the  latter  begins  to 
“'ll'"''  Vllm  ti  lLb,,,.|r..,l  all  ll.c  vc,.ct.l,la  Ufa 
^ f V.f  tl.P  aweto  it  must  nalurally  die,  lor  it 
finds  further  nourishmeut.  The  aweto  is  often 
Jound  numbers.— OjJinwn. 
The  Directors  oe  Ouvah  CtiMPAXv  Limited— 
have  a very  satisfactory  Report  to  jiresent  this 
time  and  we  congratulate  the  sharelndders  on  its 
contents.  A full  (i  per  cent  for  the  year  will  be  re- 
alized in  dividends  and  the  pros|)eets  are  good. 
The  £10  paid  shares  of  the  Companj'  w hich  a few 
years  ago  were  under  £3,  are  now  fast  aiiproachiiig 
liar. 
Ca.mrhor  Tree  Cui/itvation.— We  attract  at- 
tention to  further  interesting  extracts  given 
elsewhere  bearing  on  this  subject.  We 
have  no  doubt  that  a good  many  planters  will 
give  a full  and  fair  trial  to  the  tree,  now  that 
jflants  have  been  made  available.  Our  contem- 
porary of  the  “Times”  takes  an  utterly  wrong 
view  of  the  coiujiari-son  which  may  be  instituted 
with  cinchona.  Is  he  ignorant  ot  the  fact  that 
the  bark  tree  (iroved  the  salvation  of  .scores  if 
not  hundreds  of  Ceylon  jilanters — the  bridge  which 
enabled  them  to  cross  from  the  era  of  “coffee” 
into  that  of  “teaV”  That  there  came  a wild 
rush  and  loss  of  money  afterwards,  carries  its 
own  lesson  for  the  future  camphor-tree  jilanter  ; 
but  certainly  the  lesson  is  not  that  there  should  be 
no  fair  tiial  of  the  new  product.  It  will  be 
time  enough  to  bring  up  the  latter  jiortion  of 
our  cinchona  experience  when  we  see  a few 
scores  or  hundreds  of  acres  under  camphor 
beginning  to  turn  into  thousands  ; if  such  a time 
should  ever  come. — Meantime,  Mr.  Nock  informs 
us  that  he  has  not  got  a tree  large  enouglq  he 
thinks,  to  experiment  w’ith  ; but  he  has  coppiced 
.some  at  Hakgalla  with  good  effect  and  may  be 
able  to  collect  from  oO  to  100  lb.  of  bark  and 
twigs  to  experiment  with.  Perhaps  Mr.  Cochran 
of  Colombo  could  give  an  opinion  as  to  the  value 
of  the  product. 
The  Eive-Fingered  Orange.— The  five- 
lingered  orange  is  a queer  thing.  It  grows  in 
exactly  the  .shape  of  a human  hand,  with  a thumb 
and  four  fingers.  It  is  a half-open  hand,  that  of 
this  curious  fruit,  and  the  close  resemblance  to  a 
lean,  long-nailed  Chinese  hand  is  startling.  Even 
tlie  nails  are  identical,  har<l-pointed  and  claw- 
like, tiiqiing  the  orange  fingers  with  a length 
equal,  ill  some  cases,  to  three  inches.  It  is  no 
interloper  in  a well-regulated  family  of  oranges, 
but  a regular  member,  belonging  to  the  orange 
variety.  It  has  a family  name  and  a 
Christian  name  (d‘  its  own,  but  its  pet 
name  is  “ live-tjngered  orange,”  and  nobody 
but  the  botanist  cares  to  call  it  by  the  long  one, 
which  means  the  same  thing.  The  orange  tree 
is  a ragged  little  shrub  that  does  not  average 
more  than  live  or  six  feet  in  height.  It  does 
not  grow  straight,  and  it  would  be  ^ery  diffi- 
cult to  liml  two  consecutive  inches  in  the  entire 
tree  whose  line  of  ilirectioii  is  the  same.  K\en 
the  branches  grow  in  S].iiral  forms,  so  tli.at  the 
width  of  the  tree  is  often  as  great  as  the  height. 
There  is  a generous  siqqily  of  thorns  hidden 
under  the  leaves  ; they  are  slender,  tough,  and 
long,  and  are  located  in  all  sorts  of  unexpected 
]ilaces.  The  leaves  are  fleshy,  long,  and  narrow, 
and  of  a dark  green  colour.  They  resemble  a 
lemon  leaf  more  than  an  orange  leaf.  Indeed, 
in  lioth  this  instance,  and  in  the  colour  of  the 
ripened  fruit,  this  singular  plant  seems  to  claim  a 
\ery  (dose  coiisiushiii  to  the  large  lemon  family. 
The  flowers  come  out  in  .lune  and  duly,  and  are 
very  similar  in  a|ipearance  and  odour  to  the 
ordinary  orange  blossoms,  save  that  instead  of 
the  familiar  creamv  while  colour  they  have  a 
delicate  pinkish  tint  wldidi  is  \erj’  lieautiful. 
They  commonly  grow  in  clusters  <>f  two  or  three 
blossoms  on  alternate  nodes.  The  strangest  thing 
connected  yitli  the  prefume  is  that  it  is  tHg 
