548 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Feb.  I,  i897._j 
There  is  without  doubt  much  in  native  treat- 
ment of  cattle  disease  even  in  Ceylon  worthy  of 
investigation  and  aqualified  Veterinary  Surgeon  should 
be  able  to  do  some  useful  work  in  this  connection. 
0UYCX12S  lilllNOCEKOS 
has  of  late  being  doing  great  damage  among  the 
coconut  trees  in  Cochin.  The  Superintendent  of  the 
Calcutta  Museum  recommends  the  following  treatment. 
Searching  for  larvae  and  pupae  and  destroying ; 
capturing  the  adults  by  attracting  them  to  fires ; 
cutting  down  the  affected  trees  and  burning  to  ashes. 
The  Agricultural  Department,  Madras,  suggests  in- 
jecting the  holes  made  by  the  pest  with  kerosene 
oil,  or  a strong  soap  solution. 
Under  the  head 
“ HOHTIC  l'LTl'R.\L  NOTES  ” 
in  an  Australian  paper  occurs  the  following  memo. 
“Mr.  Chamberlain’s  collection  of  orchids  is  worth 
from  £1.5,000  to  £20,000.  The  collection  of  the 
Dowager  Empress  of  Germany  is  worth  nearly  double 
that  of  Mr.  Chamberlain.  Miss  Alice  Rothschild’s 
collection  of  roses  is  valued  at  £10,000,  while  Mr. 
Astor  (the  liberal  donor  of  £2,000  to  the  Indian 
Famine  Relief  Fund)  paid  £1,500  to  an  English 
grower  for  the  stock  of  a single  variety  of  rose,  which 
is  said  to  have  been  introduced  into  Europe  fjom 
Damascus  by  the  crusaders,  appearing  first  in  England 
in  1306. 
RHEA* 
Mr.  W.  Gollan,  Superintendent  of  the  Govern- 
ment Gardens  of  Saharanpore,  whites.- — '*  I suppose- 
like myself,  you  are  often  bothered  over  rhea.  Mr. 
Ribbentrop,  Inspector-Generl  of  Forests,  published  a 
note  upon  it  in  the  Pioneer  a few  weeks  ago,  and 
since  its  appearance  I have  had  no  end  of  letters 
about  it.  In  his  article  he  mentions  £7  per  ten  as 
a paying  price  for  the  dried  ribbons  landed  at 
Bombay.  I dare  say  the  Rhea  Fibre  Syndicate  would 
lik  ito  purchase  them  at  that  figure:  considering  it 
takes  R75-4-0  (6  4-7-05  S'*'  f''’-  2</ per  rupee)  to  can  v 
a ton  of  rhea  from  Saharanpore  to  Bombay,  I do  net 
see  where  the  grower’s  profit  comes  in.  Rhea  is  one 
of  those  erratic  plants  that  will  grow  or  exist  any- 
where in  India,  but  to  make  it  produce  even  one 
good  crop  of  wands  in  Upper  India  districts,  it  re- 
quires the  richest  of  soils,  further  enriched  with  ex- 
pensive dressings  of  manure.  Our  highest  outturn  is 
a ton  of  wands  per  acre  weighed,  after  stripping 
off  the  leaves,  which  yield  from  3 to  7 per  cent,  of 
ribbons,  according  as  they  are  well  cleaned  and 
scraped  or  not ; so  it  takes  from  three-and-a  half  to 
seven  acres  of  land  to  produce  a ton  of  ribbons,  which 
will,  according  to  Mr.  Ribbentrop,  fetch  £212-2i  to 
the  grower  in  Bombay  after  meeting  freight.  Alter 
the  grower  has  paid  land  rent,  irrigation  charges, 
cultivation,  cost  of  stripping  the  ribbons  from  the 
wands,  drying,  packing,  delivery  to  railway  station, 
etc.,  I greatly  fear  liis  £2—12—4  will  be  noueat  ; 
in  fact,  at  Mr.  Ribbentrop's  price,  he  will  have  to 
draw  upon  his  banker  pretty  considerably  after- 
spending  the  above  to  even  produce  his  ton  for 
which  he  is  to  receive  £7  at  Bombay. ’’ 
It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  letter  that  there  is 
no  profit  to  be  made  in  the  cultivation  of  rhea  in 
the  North-West,  unless  prices  go  up  considerably, 
and  it  is  probable  that,  at  the  present  rates,  rhea 
cultivation  in  Assam  will  not  pay.  So  far  the  Rhe.a 
Fibre  Syndicate  do  not  appear  to  have  quoted  f.  o.  b. 
rates  for  Calcutta. 
It  would  be  as  well  for  members  cultivating  rhea 
to  note  that  though  plantations  are  made  on  rich 
soil,  further  enrichment  is  necessary  to  i-Mse  a remuner- 
ative crop. — Indian  and  Ka.ilern  Enjineer,  Jan.  16. 
COFFEE  STENOPHYLLA. 
There  are  now  three  specimens  of  this  variety  of 
coffee  growing  on  the  Nilgiris,  one  of  which  is  at 
Burliar  and  the  other  two  in  private  gardens.  Ti  ey 
* Extract  from  “ rroceedings  and  Journal  of  the 
Agricultural  and  Horticultural  Society  f India.’’ — 
July  September,  lb%. 
are  apparently  the  only  specimens  of  this  variety  left 
in  Southern  India,  and  were  kindly  sent  us  by  Mr. 
Cameron  of  the  Bangalore  Lai  Bagh,  as  they  were 
not  ft'und  to  thrive  there  at  all.  The  U.  P.  A .would 
do  well  to  obtain  a consignment  of  the  seed  through 
the  Kew  Gardens.  The  following  details  regarding 
this  variety  of  coffee  is  taken  from  the  Kew  Bulletin, 
p.  167,  of  ISl);!:— 
The  narrow-leaved  “ wild,’’  “ bush,”  or  native  coffee, 
is  sometimes  found  wild  on  the  hills,  and  is  more 
often  cultivated  by  the  natives  than  the  Liberian. 
It  grows  very  freely,  and  appears  to  yield  quiet  as 
much  as  the  Liberian  but  it  is  somewhat  longer  in 
coming  into  bearing.  Both  the  natives  and  French 
traders  at  Freetown  say  that  it  has  a superior  flavour, 
and  prefer  it  to  the  Liberian.  In  fact,  latterly,  a 
certain  amount  has  been  exported  to  a wholesale 
French  dealer,  who  is  said  to  sell  it  at  4 francs  .50 
centimes  a lb.  as  “best  mocho.”  Gonsideiing  that  it 
is  worth  in  Freetown  about  6d.  a lb.,  this  should  be 
a fairly  profitable  trade,  and  a trial  shipment  should 
be  made  by  the  English  merchants  to  find  out  exactly 
what  the  market  value  in  Liverpool  would  be.  The 
plant  appears  to  thrive  best  on  the  higher  hills  about 
Sierra  Leone,  on  gnoeissose  or  granatic  soil,  and  can 
be  grown  from  500  to  2,000  feet.  Probably  it  may 
be  grown  both  above  and  below  these  limits.  - Planting 
Opinion,  Jan.  t). 
♦ - 
The  Famine  and  the  Tea  1ndu.strv  is  the 
subject  of  editorial  remark  in  the  Indian  Plan- 
ters’ Gazette  to  hand.  Our  Indian  contemporary 
cliaracterises  tlie  laissez  faire  policy  of  tlie  Su- 
lireme  Government  as  suicidal  in  tlie  extreme  and 
fraught  w'ith  the  most  dire  consequences.  Deal- 
ing with  the  famine  as  allecting  the  tea  industry, 
the  I.P.G.  says:  — 
To  tea-planters,  specially  those  in  the  Brahma- 
putra and  Sunn  I Valleys,  the  matter  is  one  of  very 
grave  moment.  How  aro  they  to  feed  the  enorm- 
ously lai-ge  labour  force  dependent  on  them  ? Leav- 
ing aside  monetary  considerations,  where  are  the 
vast  quantities  of  dl/dn  the  rice  which  will  be  re- 
quired to  feed  some  700,000  souls  to  come  from? 
Futher,  considering  the  deficient  means  of  com- 
munication, how  are  regular  supplies  of  food,  in 
quantites,  to  be  implicity  relied  on  ? If  the  Railway, 
Steamer  and  Carrying  agencies  fail  in  their  transit 
arrangements,  and  Planters  hold  no  guarantees  that 
their  food  stocks  shall  arrive  punctually  to  time, 
how  cvn  Managers  of  Gardena  rest  satisfied  that  they 
will  always  have  a sufficient  stock  of  rice  in  hand 
to  meet  all  demands?  In  the  event  of  a deficiency,  they 
will  nut  be  able  to  fall  back  on  local  supplies  for, 
practically,  they  would,  in  such  case,  have  to  be  rec- 
koned upon  as  nit.  At  the  best,  local  supplies  are 
wholly  inadequate  to  meet  a severe  strain  The 
mercantile  tea  agency  houses,  as  well  as  the  plan- 
ters dependent  on  them  for  their  rice  supplies,  are 
having  a most  anxious  time  of  it.  The  capital  to 
Eurchase  stocks  of  paddy  and  rice  is  not  wanting 
ut  the  question  is  how  are  continuous  and  sufficient 
supplies  to  kept  flowing  into  the  tea  districts  of 
Assam,  Cachar,  and  Sylhet  to  meet  the  enormous 
demands.  The  scarcity  will  in  all  probability  extend 
over  a period  of  six  or  seven  months  yet  to  come, 
so  that  the  trouble  is  now  only  commencing. 
Whether  the  Indian  Tea  Association  are  taking  their 
cue  from  the  Indian  Government  and  waiting  and 
watching  events,  we  cannot  say;  but  as  yet  it  has 
taken  no  action  in  the  matter,  so  far  as  the  out- 
side public  are  aware.  If  the  advice  of  planten-  is 
taken  and  faithfully  followed,  the  responsibiliy  will 
be  taken  off  the  shoulders  of  the  agency  houses  in 
Calcutta,  but  if  ignored  the  firms  will  only  have  them- 
selves to  blame  for  the  dire  results  which  are  sure  to 
accure  in  the  future,  if  adequate  action  is  not  t.ikun 
and  promptly  carried  out.  We  trust  that  tiio  Indian 
Tea  Association  and  the  agency  houses  in  this  city 
will  soon  make  known  the  measures  they  liavo 
adopted  to  meet  the  great  strain  there  will  un- 
doubtedly be  on  their  resoures. 
