672 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  [Appil  i,  1H97. 
will  find  the  oniissious  iu  no  way  impair  the  weight 
of  h is  crushing  I'cjoinder. 
Colonel  Tiiompson  says: — ‘ I',  is  diffiuiU  to  con- 
ceive how  £7-10  0 per  ton  at  Madras  (now  reduced 
to  £7)  could  by  any  raeani  swell  to  U170.”  Blessi's. 
Parry  and  Co.  tell  me  they  can  supply  the  (ibro  al 
R7  per  bale  of  1 cwt.,  on  rail  at  Madras.  Add  another 
R30  for  cost  of  carriage,  ( i fair  estim  ile,  seeing  that 
the  majority  of  estates  are  many  miles  from  the 
Railway  Station,)  and  the  present  price  comes  to 
R170  per  ton.  In  Colonel  Tuompson’s  prospectus  it 
was  claimed  that  Jadoo  fibre  would  be  useful  in  two 
ways,  so  far  as  coffee  planting  was  concerned,  (i) 
In  the  “raising  of  nursery  plants.”  (M)  In  “ bring- 
ing on  supplies,”  a d with  these  uses  I dealt  in  my 
original  letter.  In  regard  to  the  fii-st  I said  “ now 
as  to  the  cost  of  raising  nursery  plants.”  The  pros- 
pectus states  that  a 3 bushel  sack  of  Jadoo  should  be 
sufficient  for  “raising  4.')0  (nursery ) plants.”  The  ton  is 
said  to  contain  GO  bushels,  so  that  the  cost  per  plant 
would  beabontSs  pies.  Thismeans  an  expenditure  of — 
about — Rl,650  on  the  puirliase.  of  Jadoo  alone,  in  the 
case  of  a nursery,  for  a 50  acre  clearing,  planted 
5’  X 6'.”  Colonel  Thompson  siys  this  c<alcula' ion  is 
wrong  because  I “ have  taken  the  quantity  of  Jadoo 
equired  for  a seed  bed  large  enough  to  raise  450 
Beedlings  at  a time” — it  will  Pe  observed  that  Colonel 
Thompson  admits  the  quantity  given  in  thq  prospec- 
tus, a three  bushel  sack  for  450  seedlings  is  correct — 
'•  (but  which  could  be  used  again  and  again  so  that 
20,000  seedlings  could  be  raised  from  it)  as  the  I asis 
of  a calculation  based  upon  the  original  450  seedlings 
being  the  whole  quanli  y that  could  be  raised 
out  of  that  amount  of  Jadoo.”  Tne  circular  saj-s 
nothing  about  the  possibility  of  using  a given 
quanity  of  Jadoo  “again  and  again,”  but  this  does 
not  affect  my  cale.ulatinn  in  the  smallest  degree.  If 
it  takes  a 3 bushel  sack  to  raise  4.'>0  seedlings  (as 
Colonel  T.iom[)sou  admits)  then,  with  the  price  of  a 
ton  at  R170,  each  seedling  would  cost  3§  pies,  and  a 
nursery  for  a 50  acre  clearing  planted  ,5'  x 5'  would 
entail  an  expenditure  of  Rl,650.  Colonel  Thompson 
draws  an  alluring  picture.  You  buy  your  3 bushel 
sack  of  Jadoo,  and  raise  your  450  seedlings  by  its 
aid  every  year  for  the  term  of  your  natural  life. 
Then  you  leave  it  to  your  successors  as  an  heirloom, 
who  do  the  same,  and  so  on  to  the  crack 
of  doom.  The  only  drawback  is  that  as  a 60  acre 
clearing  would  require  a nursery  of  1)0,000  plants  as  a 
minimum,  and  as  you  can  only  raise  a nursery  once 
a year,  it  wonhi,  at  the  rate  of  4,50  plants  per 
annum,  take  about  200  years  to  plant  the  clearing 
up.  The  new  light  th.at  Colonel  Thompson  throw’s 
on  Jadoo,  viz.,  that  it  can  be  used  for  a series  of 
years  as  it  does  not  lose  its  efficacy,  would  of  course 
reduce  the  cost  of  a nursery  in  subsequent  years,  so 
far  as  the  purchase  of  Jadoo  is  concerned.  Before 
I leave  this  question,  I would  add  that  it  is  “ diffi- 
cult ” for)  one  not  in  the  know  •'  to  conceive  ” how' 
Jadoo  call  be  used  again  and  again.  The  testimonials 
printed  with  the  prospectus,  and  those  given  in  the 
Madras  Mail  of  the  0th  December,  imply  that,  when 
Jadoo  is  used  iu  a mu sery,  it  encourages  root  growth 
in  a wonderful  way,  and  that,  when  the  seedlings 
aip  large  enough  to  be  put  out  in  the  field,  the 
fibre  is  a mass  of  fibrous  roots.  Hovy  then  is  the 
fibre  to  be  retained  for  future  use.  without  serious 
injury  to  these  fibrous  roots?  I trust  Colonel 
Thompson  will  make  this  point  clear.  With  regard 
to  the  second  use  I said  (I  quote  from  my  original 
letter),  “ But  these  figures  pale  into  insignificance 
before  the  cost  of  ‘bringing  on  supplies.’  The  pros- 
pectus gives  3 peck  as  the  quantity  each  supply 
should  receive. 
= 3 16  bushel, 
or,  say,  1 bushel  for  5 plants, 
1 ton  for  3C0  plants, 
= 9 ans.  per  plant  ” 
On  this  head  Colonel  Thompson  says“  the  amount 
of  Jadoo  requi'-cd  for  raising  seedlings  in  beds  to  sup- 
ply .50  acre.s  would  be  certainly  not  more  than  5 cwt. 
and  would  cost  therefore  JlJ‘2-8  instead  of  111,6.50 
as  calculated  by  Toda.”  Bvery  word  of  this 
(jcuteuto  is  jfifteciuivte,  and  it  is  hete  that  Cylottel 
Thompson  gets  into  a state  of  more  “hopeless  confu- 
sion” than  anywhere  else  in  his  letter.  In  the  first  place 
I never  said  that  “ the  cost  of  raising  seedlings  in 
beds  to  stipjdi/  50  acres  w’ould  be  111,6.50.”  The  cal- 
culation in  which  those  figures  were  given  had  re- 
ference solely  to  cost  of  a nursery  for  planting  up  a 
50  acre  opening.  Colonel  Thompson  is  evidently  un- 
able to  distinguish  between  planting  up  a new  clear- 
ing, and  supplying  an  old  estate.  (Query.  Has  he 
ever  seen  a coffee  estate  ?).  Further  the  large  quan- 
tity of  Jadoo — J peck — given  in  the  prospectus  as 
the  amount  necessary  for  each  supply,  shows  clearly 
that  the  prospectus  did  not  contemplate  the  “ raising 
of  seedling!  in  beds”  as  supplies.  It  meant  that 
that  amount  of  Jadoo  should  be  applied  to  each 
supply  in  the  field.  Again,  it  is  not  in  the  power  of 
Colonel  Thompson  or  anyone  else  to  say  that  the 
amount  of  Jadoo  I’equired  for  “raising  seedlings  in 
beds  to  supply  50  acres  w’onld  be  certaiely  not  more 
than  5 cwt.”  or  an;/  fixed  amount,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  ‘ supplying  ” is  a variable  quantity. 
Granting  that  J peck  is  the  right  amount  of  Jadoo 
for  each  supply  (and  Colonel  Thompson  does  not 
deny  it),  how  many  plants  would  5 cwt. — the  amount 
fixed  by  Colonel  Thompson  as  sufficient  for  a .5') 
acre  clearing— cover  ? The  ton  contains  60  bushels, 
so  5 cwt.  w'ould  contain  j of  this  or  15  bushels.  At 
1 bushel  for  5 plants,  this  w'ould  mean  (5  by  15)  =75  sup- 
plies. Well  A's  50  acre  clearing  (lucky  dog  !)  might 
need  only  75  supplies,  while  B’s  clearing  of  a similar 
extent  might  need  7, .500.  What  then  becomes  of  Colonel 
Thompscu's  fixed  price  of  R12’S  for  supplying  50  acres  ? 
On  the  lines  marked  out  by  Colonel  Thompson,  it  is 
impossible  to  arrive  at  any  definite  conclusion  as 
to  cost  of  supplying.  My  calculation  is  the  correct 
one,  viz.  that  if  it  takes  J pjck  per  supply,  then 
it  costs  9 at.s.  per  plant,  with  Jadoo  at  R170  per 
ton.  One  thing  is  obvious  from  Colonel  Thompson’s 
letter  that,  however  great  his  theoretical  knowledge 
of  the  merits  of  Jadoo  may  be,  he  knows  abso- 
lutely nothing  about  its  practical  application  to 
coffee.  The  figures  given  in  the  Jadoo  prospectus 
are  either  right  or  wrong  (and  Colonel  Thompson 
in  his  letter  implies  they  are  right).  These 
figures  are  a 3 bushel  sack  of  Jadoo  for  450  plants 
in  the  case  of  a nursery,  and  5 peck  for  each  supply 
(to  be  applied  of  course  in  the  field).  If  these 
quantities  are  right,  my  calculations  are  right,  in 
spite  of  the  tissue  of  nonsense  contained  in  Colonel 
Thompson’s  letter.  If  they  are  wrong,  the  sooner 
Messrs.  Parry  and  Co.  (who  have  a practical  know- 
ledge of  coffee  planting)  correct  them,  the  be  ter  for 
everyone  interested  in  the  question  of  Jadoo  bre. — 
Planting  Opinion,  Feb.  20. 
LPiCTURE  OX  RHKA. 
An  interesting  and  instructive  lecture  entitled 
“ Rhea^ — its  History  and  Prospects”  was  delivered 
a*  a meeting  of  St.  Andrews’  Guild  on  the  evening 
of  the  12ih  by  Mr.  J.  Melrose  Aruot,  r.c.s.  There 
was  a large  attendance.  The  lion.  Sir  John  Wood- 
burn  (President)  presided  and  introduced  the  lecturer. 
The  lecturer  dealt  with  the  subject  in  detail.  At 
the  outset  a description  of  the  plant  was  given,  show- 
ing its  essential  features  by  means  of  diagrams  and 
growing  plants.  Then  the  history  of  the  plant  was 
passed  in  review,  and  the  lecturer  stated  that  the 
fisherfolks  of  India,  China,  and  the  South  Sea  Islands 
were  probably  the  first  people  to  make  use  of  the 
fibre  and  to  cultivate  the  plant,  which  he  said  they 
still  contine  to  do.  He  then  handed  round  samples 
of  the  hand-cleaned  fibi'e  which  had  been  obtained 
from  the  fishers  of  Dinagepore  at  a cost  of  R2  per 
seer.  The  methods  of  cultivation  and  propagation 
followed  in  Asia  and  China  were  described,  and  it 
was  pointed  out  that  arich  sandy  loam  in  a warm  and 
equable  climate  with  a good  rainfall,  well  distributed 
throughout  the  year,  is  the  most  favourablecircum- 
stance  for  the  production  of  good  crops,  which  may  her 
gathered  four  or  five  times  per  year.  The  lecture 
then  insisted  upon  the  necessity  for  liberal  manuring 
Aud  careful  euUiYfttjou,  cutoiciug  the  point  by  lucauci 
