Nov.  I,  1895. J 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
327 
Tea  Planting  in  Ceylon,— “ Voyaficur  ” 
must  he  credited  witli  affording  readers  of  The 
Field,  a very  livelj'’ as  well  as  instructive  account 
of  tea  planting  in  Ceylon,  and  his  winding-up 
will  be  generally  appreciated. 
Victoria  Kegia.— There  is  now  growing  in  the 
Victoria  Tank  of  the  Royal  Botanic  Society,  in 
the  gardens  in  Regent’s  Park,  one  of  the  finest 
plants  of  the  Victoria  resria  ever  seen  in  London. 
The  surface  covered  by  the  plant  is  over  foiir 
hundred  square  feet.  There  are  ten  gigantic 
leaves,  each  measuring  over  seven  feet  in  dia- 
meter, while  several  beautiful  flowers  are  open 
almost  at  once. — Standard,  Sept.  7. 
R0AD.S—R0AD.S— Roads  !—  It  is  very  likely 
that  our  next  Governor’s  term  of  administra- 
tion in  Ceylon  may  be  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant as  regards  “ roads  ” as  well  as  railways 
and  tramways,  of  any  in  our  record.  Rot  only 
do  we  hope  to  see  all  the  sections  of  road 
and  the  bridges  required  to  serve  and  feed  the 
Uva  railway,  taken  in  hanil  and  disjiosed  of  ; 
but  the  long-talked-of  connection  between  the 
Southern  and  Sabaragamuwa  provinces  by  road 
should  be  effected,  both  by  way  of  Morawak 
and  Colonna  Korales,  and  towards  Hambantota 
for  the  salt  traffic — a triune  junction  would 
seem  to  be  wanted,  the  termini  being  Pel- 
madulla,  Hambantota  and  Matara.  Then  again, 
the  Central  and  Sabaragamuwa  provinces  sliould 
have  their  road  communication  by  way  of  Boga- 
wantalawa  and  Balangoda,  apart  from  district 
extensions.  Tramways  in  Colombo  should  at 
last  be  inaugurated,  and  a light  locomotive  lino 
from  Nanuoya  through  Nuwara  Eliya  to  Uda- 
pussellawa,  as  the  pioneer  of  several  more  to 
follow ; but,  of  course,  still  more  important 
would  be  the  inauguration  of  the  metre-gauge 
for  our  R^orthern,  and  we  trust  Indo-Ceylon, 
railways.  Altogether  the  next  five  or  six  years 
should  witness  a big  step  onwards  in  material 
improvement  in  Ceylon. 
Tea  Seed. — No  wonder  though  tea  planting 
should  still  be  pursued  so  vigorously  in  Ceylon, 
seeing  that  considerably  over  hali-a-million  lb. 
weight  of  tea  seed  valued  at  R.329,000  was 
imported  from  India  during  the  two  years  1893 
and  1 894  ; — 
lb.  R Value. 
1893  . . . . 324,075  — 128,502 
1894  . . . . 207,410  and  9 pkgs.  200,168 
Up  to  date  this  year,  the  import  is  much 
less,  the  total  being  R35,360  as  may  be  seen 
from  the  following  statement  kindly  supplied 
by  the  Collector  of  Customs:  — 
Statement  shoioing  the  quantity  and  value  of 
Tea  Seeds, 
Imported  from  the  several  ports  of  India,  from 
January  to  August,  1895. 
Date 
Name  of 
Whence 
No.  of 
1895 
Steamer 
Imported 
Cases. 
Value 
January 
2nd 
ss  City  of  Cambridge 
Calcutta 
20 
1,114 
do 
16th 
ss  Logician 
do 
74 
3,373 
do 
17th 
ss  Culna 
do 
62 
2,763 
do 
17  th 
ss  Logician 
do 
88 
4,000 
do 
18th 
SS  City  of  Cambridge  do 
201 
18,000 
do 
23rd 
ss  Virawa 
do 
6 
220 
Februarj 
’ 1st 
ss  Newshera 
do 
77 
3,850 
do 
6th 
ss  Vita 
Tuticorin 
4 
100 
do 
6tll 
ss  Amra 
^ do 
6 
1,50 
March 
5th 
ss  Aska 
do 
3 
100 
March 
12th 
S3  Aska 
do 
3 
60 
May 
13th 
ss  Aska 
do 
3 
100 
June 
17th 
S3  Aska 
do 
2 
1,500 
August 
15th 
S3  Vasna 
do 
6 
300 
R35.630 
R.  Reid, 
Principal  Collector, 
Colombo  Customs,  lOth  Sept. 
Coconut  Planting  in  North  Borneo. — The  Go- 
vernor of  British  North  Borneo  has  ordered  that  any 
native  planting  30  coconut  trees  in  the  year  shall 
be  exempt  from  poll-tax  The  trees  will  become  the 
property  of  the  planters. — S F.  Press. 
Java  Co. — The  States  Gazette  contains  the  statute 
of  the  Agricultural  Company  Ngobo  in  this  city,  with 
a capital  of  fl  300,000,  which  has  been  fully  subscribed. 
The  company  is  to  work  the  Ngobo  estate  in  Java. 
— L.  and  C.  Express. 
CooRc;  Planting. — The  Coorg  correspondent  of  the 
Planter  states  that  Mr.  .Tames  Chisholm’s  estates 
have  been  converted  into  a Company : one  pound 
shares.  He  believes  the  management  remains  in  the 
same  hands. — M.  Times,  Oct.  4. 
Plantain  Trees,  Producers  of  Electricity  1 — A 
Saigon  Journalist  bas,  it  is  alleged,  discovered  that 
the  juice  of  banana  trees  acting  upon  zinc  and  cop- 
per batteries,  develops  electricity.  By  connecting  a 
number  of  banana  trees,  with  piles  inserted  in  in- 
cisions, he  worked  a telephone  2,500  metres  long  for 
eight  months. — M.  Mail. 
Froren  Lilies  from  Australia. — The  Orient  steam- 
ship “ Ophir  ” has  brought  home  from  Sydney  a 
bouquet  of  Australian  lilies  enclosed  within  a block 
of  ice.  They  have  been  sent  to  the  care  of  the 
Agent-General  for  New  South  Wales  with  the  re- 
quest that  he  will  ask  Her  Majesty  to  accept  them. — 
London  Times,  Sept.  5. 
The  Hampton  Court  Vine. — “Old  Colonist” 
referred  to  this  vine  the  other  day.  We  read 
in  a paper  by  this  mail : — 
That  wonderful  vine  in  the  gardens  at  Hampton 
Court  maintains  its  reputation.  Though  it  is  127  years 
old,  and  has  once  this  season  been  pruned  of  2,000 
bunches  of  fruit,  it  has  now  over  1,200  “ massive 
clusters”  in  process  of  ripening. 
Roads  in  North  Travancohe. — The  beautifully- 
raded  elephant  tracks  which  have  for  so  long 
eeu  the  only  substitute  for  roads  in  North  Travan- 
core  will  soon  be  discarded.  The  very  punishing 
Sylhet  Tea  Company  is  now  hard  at  work  iii  finding 
outlets  from  their  property  direct  to  Cochin.  This 
means  sixteen  miles  of  roads  through  the  Company’s 
property  and  another  twenty  to  the  existing  road  and 
river  service  to  Cochin. — Planting  Ognnion. 
Mr.  M.  a.  L.awson,  Superintendent  of  the  Govern- 
ment Gardens  and  Cinchona  Plantation  on  the  Nil- 
giris,  has  retired  from  the  Madras  service.  He  was 
formerly  Professor  of  Botany  at  Oxford,  and  in 
charge  of  the  exquisite  garden  which  stretches  along  the 
bank  of  the  Cberwell,  which  Macaulay  described  in 
a well-known  passage.  Mr.  Lawson  went  out  to  India 
twelve  years  ago,  at  the  instance  of  Sir  Mountstuart 
Grant  Duff. — Colonies  and  India. 
The  Borneo  Tobacco  Crop.— We  are  indebted  to 
Messrs.  Mansfield  & Co.  for  the  following  note  of  tobacco 
exported  (1894  crop)  during  this  year,  the  whole  of 
which  was  carried  to  Europe  by  Blue  Funnel 
steamers. 
Kinabatangan  2,185  bales  against  2,175  (1893  crop) 
Darvel  Bay  1,058  „ „ 866  „ 
Total  ...  3,243  „ „ 3,041 
of  the  above  2,614  were  shipped  to  Amsterdam, 
629  ,,  Rotterdam. 
— Borneo  Herald,  Sept.  1. 
Rhea. — A new  use  has  been  found  for  the  fibre 
of  the  Rhea.  In  making  the  new  American  yacht 
“ Defender’s  ” spinaker,  the  material  to  he  used  will  he 
Ramie  silk.  This  fabric  would,  if  properly  woven, 
no  doubt  take  the  place  of  cotton,  as  it  is  25  per 
cent  stronger  than  duck  when  dry  and  about  50  per 
cent  stronger  when  wet.  The  reason  for  its  very 
limited  use  in  this  respect,  writes  a contemporary , 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  only  the  Chinese  understand 
the  art  of  weaving  it  perfectly,  and  as  a consequ- 
ence it  is  dear.  We  think  that  the  secret,  if  any 
such  existed,  is  now  known  to  others  besides  the 
Chinese,  and  the  development  of  the  Ramie-working 
industry  on  commercial  lines  is  not  very  far  distant. 
— Indian  Engineer, 
