192 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRlCULTURliST. 
P.iS',— Is  there  any  reliable  pauiplilet  ))ublislieil 
on  the  subject  of  cocomit-growini^ '! 
[We  regret  to  say  that  our  Manual  “ All 
about  the  Coconut  Palm  ” is  out  of  print  ; but 
a fresh  edition  is  being  prepared,  and  in  it  Mr. 
Dunnian  •will  find  all  the  information  he  re- 
quires, including  the  mode  in  which  the  black  and 
red  beetles  are  killed  on  nlantations  in  Ceylon. 
There  must  be  Tamil  coolies  in  the  Straits,  we 
.should  think,  who  know'  the  kind  of  iron  rod  with  a 
bend  or  hook  at  the  end,  used  to  get  at  the 
big  black  beetle  in  his  burrowings  in  the  top 
and  heart  of  the  palms.  The  red  beetle  is  a 
far  more  serious  customer  ; but  there  is  nothing 
for  it,  b#t  to  hunt  him  down  and  cut  down 
and  burn  at  once  all  trees  affected  beyond  cure 
which  jirobably  contain  a family  of  the  beetle. 
Clear  the  estate  too  of  all  rubbish  likely  to 
give  cover  and  then  the  attacks  ought  to  be 
greatly  diminished  until  they  finally  disappear. 
—Ed.  T.A.] 
THE  PLANTERS  AND  THE  INDO-CEYLON 
RAILWAY. 
Dear  Sir, — Your  recent  article  on  the  P.A. 
Committee’s  memo,  on  labour  is  much  to  the 
point.  It  is  evident  from  what  appears  in  your 
contemporary’s  article  that  the  Chairman’s 
draft  was  considerably  modified  in  Commit- 
tee, and  if  the  editor  of  the  “Times”  is 
correct,  for  some  reasons  properly  so.  This  must 
be  said  for  the  Chairman,  that  his  draft  may 
not  have  conveyed  his  own  views  say  on  the  rail- 
way to  South  India,  but  may  have  been  intended 
to  summarise  the  opinions  in  regard  to  it  held 
by  various  sections  of  the  Planting  Community. 
What  do  the  Committee  mean  by  the  cruue 
paragraph  : — “ The  question  of  the  Indo-Ceylon 
Kailwaj'  seems  hardly  within  the  rant'e  of  nractical 
politics  as  yet  ” ? If  the  Committee  had  adued  “but 
it  will  be  no  fault  of  the  P.A.  Committee  if  it  con- 
tinues in  that  state  longer” — a very  excellent  point 
would  have  been  carried  in  support  of  a movement 
that  must  better  our  condition  as  em])loyers  of  the 
Indian  coolie.  You  hear  some,  but  veiy  few  planters 
saying: — “If  w'e  joinour  estates  to  the  Indian  villages 
by  Railway,  we  place  Ceylon  in  the  same  po.sition 
as  estates,  say  in  Travancore  with  the  labor  in  the 
villages  adjoining  them.”  What  noirsense  ! It  will 
cost  the  Indian  labourers  at  least  Ji3  to  going 
singly,  or.  R2to  3 in  gangsfrom  Matale  to  India, 
and  that  is  a sum  the  India  cpolie  will  think  twice 
before  he  s])ends.  For  every  cooly  who  will  leave 
to  go  home  by  railway  we  shall  have  two  coming 
back,  for  in  any  sudden  dilliculty  arising  on  an 
estate  from  leaf  coming  in  too  abundantly,  the 
Manager  will  be  able  to  send  a Kangany  with 
1150  to  the  Coast  in  30  hours,  and  m a week 
he  would  return  with  a gang  of  coolie.s.  If  every 
planter  will  take  the  trouble  to  think  over  this 
matter,  he  will  see  that  the  Planting  Industry 
must  be  benefited  by  quick,  comfortable,  and 
safe  Railway  transit  service  from  India  to 
Ceylon.  I can  understand  the  little  mag- 
nates of  our  Ceylon  Civil  Service  having 
the  feathers  in  their  little  wings  ruffled 
by  the  idea  of  Ceylon  having  its  Civil 
Service  carried  on  more  in  harmony  with  its  size  if 
we  had  closer  communication  with  India  ; 
but  I .see  no  rea.son  why  the  Planting  community 
need  fear  any  harm  to  its  Indian  labour  supply, 
when  brought  into  real  touch  with  the  regions 
from  which  that  .supply  is  drafted. 
If  the  Chairman  took  the  trouble  to  draft 
what  was  on  the  whole  an  able  Memo.,  so  as  to 
bring  the  discussion  on  the  Labour  Question  to 
a point,  I believe  he  could  bring  his  clear  level 
[Sept.  2,  1895. 
head  to  draft  a Memo.  011  the  jiros  and  cons  of 
the  Ceylon-lndian  Railway,  that  his  Committee 
would  li<dc  into  shape  .so  as  to  piove  conclusively 
that  our  Planting  interests  will  be  most  mate- 
rially strengthened,  so  far  as  its  labour  is  con- 
cerned by  a Ceylon-lndian  Narrow  Caiige  Rail- 
way.—Yours  truly,  PROCRESS. 
CEYLON  AND  INDIAN  TEAS : PURITY 
AND  PROTECTION. 
J uly  27. 
•*  “pause  for  a reply.”  You  shall  have 
it ! India  .sends  140  million  lb.  of  tea  into  the 
markets  of  the  world  and  its  purity  is  unchal- 
lengeil,  althougli  o million  lb.  of  China  tea  is 
annually  imported  tor  business  (?  blemling)  piir- 
po.ses  into  Calcutta. 
Ceylon  sends  out  90  million  lb.,  has  .a  prohi- 
bitory imjiort  duty  of  50  ]>er  cent  on  value  of 
tea  (monstrous  anomaly  in  this  year  A.D.  1895) 
to  ensure  purity ; and  yet  on  at  least  two 
occasions,  some  of  its  tea  produce  lots  been 
stopjied  by  Customs  authorities  as  “unfit  for 
human  food.” 
uiore : — Ceylon  tea  averaged  8id  ]ier 
lb.  last  year,  falling  year  by  year,  notwithstand- 
ing  Its  protection  of  50  jicr  cent  duty.  Indian 
tea  averages  a penny  more  and  imiiroved  its 
jiosition  la.st  year,  notwitlrstanding  that  all  the 
protection  it  gets  is  5 per  cent. 
Send  the  above  and  your  yesterday's  paper 
with  my  compliments  to  Mr.  Chamberlain  and 
let  liim  see  how  his  latest  Colonial  C.M.G.  has 
lieen  arguing — as  a Manchester  man  and  Free 
Trader.  I enclose  my  card.— Yours  truly, 
(A'NIC. 
THE  “LADY  BEETLES”  IMPORTED  TO 
FIGHT  “GREEN  BUG”  ON  COFFEE. 
St.  Leonards,  Niiwara  Eliya,  July  28th. 
Dear  Sir,— I regret  to  inform  you  that  the 
Beetles  “ Vedalia  Cardinalis”  to  destroy  green 
bug  sent  by  the  State  Board  of  Horticulture, 
California,  to  Mr.  E.  E.  Green  have  all  arrived 
dead,  owing  to  their  having  been  packed  in  a 
clo.sed  pill  box. 
I have  written  to  Mr.  Cran,  Chairman  of  the 
Board  of  Horticulture  advising  him  of  the  con- 
dition the  beetles  arrived  in  and  asking  liini  to 
forward  another  lot  suitably  packed.— I am 
CHAS.  H.  BAGGT.  ’ 
PLANTING  IN  THE  NORTH  BORNEO  • \ 
LETTER  FROM  MR.  PRYER. 
Sandakan,  July  7th. 
Dear  Sir,— A further  few  notes  from  here  may 
not  be  uninteresting  to  your  readers. 
Coffee  pl.\nting  is  always  more  or  less  in 
progress,  luit  not  on  a quarter  the  scale  it  ouglit 
to  be.  Still  a few  more  acres  here  and  a Tew 
more  acres  there  are  jmt  in  almost  monthly,  while 
the  existing  g;u-dens  .are  alw.ays  improving.  Some 
of  my  coffee  is  now  ten  feet  high,  of  a hand- 
some pyramidical  shape,  .and  the  branches  crack- 
ing with  the  weight  of  fruit.  This  last  fact  is 
largely  owing  to  dry  weather  during  the  last  three 
months  having  retarded  ripening  and  as  soon  as  rain 
.sets  in,  picking  will  be  proceeded  with  rigorously. 
I was  looking  .at  some  10  months’  plants  a lew 
days  .ago,  they  were  over  4 feet  high,  well  sh.apcl, 
and  were  showing  fruit  as  large  as  small 
marbles,  with  any  quantity  of  buds  forming, 
these  were  from  8 leaf  seedlings ; but  the 
latest  idea  is  to  put  in  plants  alreaily 
