248 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct.  j, 
the  fact  that  the  tea  plant  was  uiore  healthy  and 
profit-yielding,  wliile  coilee  continued  to  shew 
the  disease  and  to  he  very  uncertain 
in  profits  or  to  yield  none  at  all,  were 
suHicient  answers.  Moreover,  Mr.  Ward  was 
reassured  by  learning  how  very  hardy  the  tea 
plant  with  its  deep  roots  into  the  subsoil 
proves  with  us  in  Ceylon  and  its  special  suit- 
ableness for  our  leaf-growing  climate ; while,  so 
far  at  any  rate,  no  dark  cloud  a]>pears  on  our 
horizon.  Nevertheless,  no  one  with  the  welfare 
of  tea  and  of  the  colony  at  heart  can  do  other- 
wise than  desire,  with  Professor  M.arshall  Ward, 
to  see  our  tea  plantations  or  districts  “ broken 
up,”  that  is  to  have  something  else  besides  a 
continuous  expanse  of  the  one  product.  We 
have,  of  course,  in  the  high  districts  far  more 
of  tree  belts,  boundaries  and  groves  than  in  the 
coffee  days ; but  Mr.  Ward  would  evidently 
like  to  see  every  tea  estate,  if  possible,  marked 
oH’  from  its  neighbourhood  by  goodly  belts  or 
groves  of  fuel  or  timber  trees — or  why  not,  in 
some  cases,  by  fields  of  India-rubber  yielding 
trees  or  vines’'  This  is  a subject  on  wliich  we 
have  to  write  separately  very  soon ; for  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  there  is  a great  future 
before  “rubber” — indeed  the  demand  for  cycles 
alone  is  increasing  every  day  and  the  price  of 
the  raw  product  is  rising.  Ceylon  tea  jdanters 
should  take  the  hint  betimes  as  far  as  i)ossible. 
But  none  tireless  may  we  commend  the  bold  and 
enterprising  few  who  have  been  of  late  replanting 
coft’ee  in  some  parts  of  Ceylon,  and  we  would  ask  if 
more  cannot  be  done  in  this  direction ’?  In  Uva, 
weknow,  planters  are  not  so  much  afraid  of  the 
fungus,  as  of  the  coccus,  bug-insect  ; and  in  this 
connection  we  have  to  introtluce  to  special  notice, 
a letter  from  Mr.  E.  E.  Green  which— to  our 
great  regr  et — has  been  delayed  nearly  three  months 
in  delivery,  through  an  oversight  at  one  of  our 
old  addre.sses.  The  letter  is  as  follows  : — ■ 
Bearsted,  Maidstone,  Kent,  17  May— 96. 
Dear  Mu.  Ferguson, — On  back  you  will  find  ex- 
tracts from  letter  from  Mr.  Kcebele — re  the  importa- 
tion of  Lady-bird  beetles  from  Ilonolulu. 
He  seems  to  think  we  should  get  them  direct  from 
Australia.  But  here  again  is  the  difficulty  that — 
unless  very  great  care  is  exercised — the  parasites 
of  the  beetles  may  be  introduced  as  well ; which 
would  completely  nullify  the  utility  of  the  under- 
taking. It  would  require  an  experienced  man  to  col- 
lect the  beetles  and  keep  them  under  observation 
for  some  time  before  liberating  them.  From  the 
tenor  of  his  letters  I gather  that  Mr.  Kcebele  him- 
self might  be  willing  to  undertake  this  work — for  a 
consideration. — Yours  very  truly, 
E.  Ernest  Green. 
(Copy  of  letter  from  Mr.  Albert  Kcebele  to  Mr.  E.  E.  G.) 
Honolulu,  21st  April,— ’96.— It  will  be  useless  to 
attempt  sending  living  specimens  of  Coccinellidae 
(Lady-bird  beetles)  to  Ceylon  from  here.  Of  the 
many  sent  from  here  to  California,  none  arrived  safe. 
Why  not  get  them  at  their  home  in  Australia  ? 
Later  I may  be  able  to  do  the  work  for  the  Ceylon 
planters.  Surely  it  would  not  cost  them  much  if 
all  help  together.  And  I could  guarantee  that  the 
work  would  be  ]properly  and  successfully  carried  out 
without  any  mistake.  All  things  look  well  here  : the 
coffee  trees  are  now  practically  clean. 
The  fact  that  the  lady-beetles  have  cleared  the 
coffee  trees  in  Honolulu  of  bug,  i.s  a great  en- 
couragement to  planters  in  Ceylon  and  India  and 
the  Straits  to  take  steps  to  introduce  them  into 
their  plantations  ; but  how  is  this  to  be  done  ? 
We  fully  agree  witli  Mr.  Green  that  the  wise 
plan  would  Ire  to  employ  Mr.  Kicble  himself  to 
do  the  work — as  indeed  he  oilers.  On  the  other 
liand,  there  are  so  few  proprietors  now  with  any 
appreciable  area  under  coli'ee  in  Ceylon,  that  the 
needful  contribution  might  come  rather  heavy 
1896, 
on  their  acreage  in  comparison  with  tire  pro- 
spective return.  Miry  not,  therefore,  ask  coffee 
estate  proprietors  in  Coorg,  the  Straits  and  even 
Java  lo  join  in  the  mission  Mr.  Kieble,  on  his 
way  up  from  t,*ueenslaiid,  could  deliver  a jrortion 
of  iris  consignment  at  Batavia  (or  wherer  er  fixed) 
and  to  an  agent  for  the  Straits  at  Singapore  or 
Peiiiurg,  before  coming  on  to  Colomlro.  Who 
will  move,  among  the  Uva  jrlanters  interested, 
to  make  the  necessary  inquiry — or  perhaps  the 
first  (or  a simultaneous)  move  would  be  for  Mr. 
Green  to  get  an  estimate  of  cost  from  Mr. 
Ko  ble — his  own  salary  or  allowance,-  travelling 
exi)en.ses  and  contingences,  and  then  to  invite 
contributions  from  all  coffee  irroprietors  or  intend- 
ing planters  in  the  countries  or  districts  named. 
Mr.  Kmble’s  mission  might,  possibly,  mark  a 
new'  era  in  the  history  of  coffee  in  Ceylon — 
marvellously  chequereil  and  romantic — full  of  ups 
and  downs — as  that  history  has  been  in  the 
past.  j.  K. 
FARMING  IN  .SOUTH  AFRICA.* 
Professor  Wallace  has  done  something  to  be 
proud  of  in  this  work.  After  his  annual  course  of 
lectures  at  Edinburgh  clo.sed  iu  Marcli,  fStfo,  Ire, 
at  the  invitalion  of  the  Governnient  of  Cape  Co- 
lony, started  on  a four  months’  tour  in  .South  Af- 
rica for  the  purpose  of  investigating  its  agi’icultu- 
ral  condition  and  resources.  Every  facility  was 
granted  him  for  carrj'ing  this  out  eirectually.  J'he 
literature  of  the  subject  was  placed  at  his  dispo- 
sal, introductions  to  the  leading  farmers  were 
given  him,  through  the  fruit  and  wine  gi’owing 
districts  of  tire  w’est  he  was  accompanied  by  a 
horticultural  expert,  as  coiiqianion  in  the  stock- 
rearing districts  he  had  Dr.  Hutcheon,  the  well- 
known  colonial  veterinary  surgeon;  and  even  nature 
favoured  him,  for  he  tells  us  that  although  tire 
nights  were  chilly  his  journeys  w'ere  performed  in 
bright  clear  winter  days.  The  chief  danger — and  we 
confess  that  it  made  us  eye  the  book  askance 
for  many  days  as  it  lay  on  the  table — was  that 
he  would  compile  one  of  these  huge  mountains 
of  dry  fact  and  ariil  disquisition  wliich  the  agri- 
cultural mind  so  often  builds  up.  But,  luckily 
for  the  reader,  Profe.ssor  Wallace  lu-efen-ed  to 
write  a book.  He  has  many  sympathies  outside 
of  tillage,  and  he  gives  one  the  impre.s.sion  of  an 
intelligent  open-minded  explorer  keenly  intent  on 
farming,  yet  with  an  eye  that  seldom  mi.s.ses 
anything  of  human  interest.  The  volume  has 
also  the  advantage  of  being  in  the  best  sense  of 
the  word  illustrated.  For  instance,  you  may  fol- 
low the  author’s  account  of  the  I'oute  on  an  ex- 
cellent .series  of  maps  produced  by  Mr.  Bartho- 
lomew, and  one  is  helped  to  realize  the  des- 
criptions by  excellent  photograj.hs  of  scenes 
and  homestead.s,  of  carts  and  markets  arid 
rivers,  of  all  that  comjtoses  Ali-ican  rural 
life.  Tire  plan,  after  a number  of  preliminary 
chaiiters  devoted  to  the  ])hy.sical  features 
and  geology  of  the  district,  is  to  deal  with 
the  various  branches  of  faiining  in  succe.ssion. 
One  of  the  most  interesting  of  these  is  the  chap- 
ter on  viticulture.  The  Huguenots,  who  arrived 
iu  1088,  brought  with  them  vine-sticks  fionr  the 
South  of  F’rance,  where  the  heavier  clus.ses  of 
wine  are  maile,  and  (he  colony  soon  ol>tained 
a repruation  for  its  sweet  wine.s — sweet  Cons- 
tantia,  for  instance,  was  at  one  time  a favourite 
* “Farming  Jndustric.s  of  ('ape  Colony.’’  By 
Bobert  Wallace,  F.  E.  S.,  i(.c.  (London;  I’.  S Ki..,r 
and  Son.) 
