May  I,  1897.] 
THE  TROPIC  A I 
AGRICULTURIST. 
galleries  are  filled  with  a paste-like  mass  of  granules 
or  spores,  or  with  threads  of  mj'celium,  in  which 
the  living  insects  are  sniTocated  and  destroyed. 
Injuiuks  Causht)  dy  Ambkosi.y  IIketi.ks  to  Living 
Plants. — As  a rule,  populous  colonies  of  these  beetles 
and  galleries  so  numerons  and  extensive  as  to  be 
capable  of  doing  serious  harm  are  found  only  in  trees, 
which  before  the  attack  began  w'ere  sick  unto  death 
with  maladies  for  which  the  timber  beetles  are  in 
nowise  responsible.  The  few  species  which  enter  the 
sapwood  of  vigorous  trees  do  not  form  large  colonies, 
and  the  effect  upon  the  health  of  the  tree  is  not 
appreciable.  One  or  two  species,  it  is  true,  have  the 
habit  of  sapping  the  life  of  twigs  or  small  branches 
with  an  encircling  burrow,  and  a species  of  Corthylus 
does  considerable  injury  in  this  way  to  y^oung  trees 
and  to  shrubbfry  in  the  forest. 
liEMF.niES. — From  what  has  been  said  of  the  nature 
of  the  food  of  these  beetles,  it  is  evident  that  any 
method  by  w'hich  the  entrances  to  their  galleries  in 
the  bark  can  be  closed  will  effectually  put  an  end  to 
the  progress  of  their  colonics. 
Perhaps  the  best  means  of  accomplishing  this  is  by 
coating  the  trunks  with  dendrolene  or  raupenleim. 
A light  brushing  or  spraying  of  the  bark  with  creosote 
or  kero-;eue  will  sometimes  accomplish  the  same 
result,  especially  at  the  beginning  of  an  attack.  Eut 
this  cannot  be  depended  upon  to  permanently  protect 
the  trees. 
♦ 
COFFEE  ON  THE  STRAITS: 
CEYLON  PLANTERS  TO  THE  FRONT. 
We  quote  from  Report  by  the  Acting  District 
Magistrate,  Mr.  B.  Rerkelev  Kuala  Kangsar,  for 
February : — “ Walked  to  Choping  where  there  is 
some  very  fine  coffee,  six  years  old,  and  a big 
area  being  planted,  and  on  to  Tepus  and  Blanja.” 
Also  from  report  by  the  Acting  District  Magis- 
trate, Krian,  .Mr.  R.  C.  Orey  for  February: — “'On 
the  19th  I drove  to  Alor  Pongsu  with  the  Col- 
lector of  Land  Revenue,  and  there  met  the  penghulus 
of  Bagan  Serai  and  Briah,  and  some  applicants  for 
land  in  the  direction  of  Briah.  We  walked  to  Kuala 
Briah,  and  then  went  up  stream  some  distance  by 
boat  to  see  the  lie  of  the  country.  The  land  here 
is  all  apparently  suitable  for  hendaiifi  cultivation,  and 
I am  informed  that  further  up  stream  good  land  for 
coffee  may  be  found,  but  we  were  unable  to  go  far 
up  the  river  on  this  occasion.”  Also  from  report  by 
the  assistant  district  magistrate,  Tanjong  Malaim, 
Mr.  Hamilton  for  February  : — “ Mr.  Tait  has  planted 
about  75  acres  of  coffee  since  October.  He  is  push- 
ing on  with  further  clearing  rapidly.  The  estate  looks 
very  well,  and  the  young  plants  healthy.  He  intends 
patting  in  a few  acres  of  tobacco  as  a trial  crop 
shortly.  One  hundred  and  seventy-four  acres  were 
demarcated  during  the  month,  leaving  a total  of 
527  acres  undemarcated.  The  moat  important  item 
during  the  month  was  the  prospecting  done  by 
Europeans  on  the  Klanang  Road.  The  land  here, 
the  excellence  of  which  had  hitherto  been  knowTi 
solely  to  native  planters  (mostly  Javanese),  having 
satisfied  the  prospectors,  two  applica'iona  for  five 
hundred  acres  each  were  put  in  by  Messrs  C.  R.  L. 
Learmouth  and  J.  D.  Toynbee.  Very  shortly  after 
this  Mr.  W,  Greig  came  down  and,  after  careful 
prospecting,  forwarded  three  more  applications  for 
610  acres  each,  from  Messrs.  F.  H Wiggin,  H.  M. 
Picken  (both  of  Ceylon),  and  himself,  respectively. 
Thus  the  aggregate  of  applications  from  Europeans 
during  the  month  amounted  to  •2,920  acres,  and  as 
these  applications  are  all  for  land  on  the  south 
aide  of  the  Langat,  where  no  applications  from 
Europeans  hive  yet  been  received,  the  importance 
of  this  new  accession  to  the  planting  interest  of  the 
district  can  hardly  be  overestimated.  It  will  certainly 
make  all  the  difference  to  Jugra,  which  with  a road 
to  Kuala  Klang,  may  now  certainly  be  expected  before 
many  years  are  passed  to  develop  into  fair-sized 
market  t >wn,  supplying  the  needs  of  the  agricul- 
tural population  which  is  beginning  to  accumulate 
at  KUuaiig,  Mirib  and  Bata  on  the  coast,  as  well 
803 
as  the  inhabitants  of  the  more  thickly  populated 
mukinis  of  Bandar,  Jiu'ga,  Telok  Penglima  Garang, 
aud  Tanjong  Duablas.  On  Monday  (15th)  I accom- 
panied Messrs.  Greig  and  Nisseu,  on  a visit  to 
Tanjong  Ru.  Arriving  at  this  well-known  point  in 
the  afternoon,  after  a long  row  and  a walk  along  the 
sandy  beach,  we  penetrated  for  upwards  of  a mile 
into  the  mangrove,  but  though  we  came  upon  small 
stretches  of  land  where  nibong  and  rattan  were 
growing,  the  land  appeared  to  be  too  low  in  this 
locality  to  grow  anything  but  coconuts,  and  we  had 
no  time  to  reach  the  higher  land  in  the  interior 
of  the  island  before  nightfall,  and  so  returned  to 
Jugra.  Next  day  (16)  Messrs.  Greig  and  Nisaen 
visited  Morib,  and  on  Wednesday  they  went  up  by 
river  to  the  river  end  of  the  Sungei  Buaia  Road 
and  returned  overland,  reporting  the  upper  end  of 
the  roads  as  being  in  a very  bad  state.  I had  no 
time  to  accompany  them  being  engaged  on  the 
annual  report.  During  the  rest  of  the  week  Mr.  Greig 
was  prospecting  at  Klanang;  Mr.  Nissen  returning 
to  Klang  on  the  19th.” 
“TEA  PRODUCING  COMPANIES  OF 
INDIA  AND  CETLON.” 
Such  is  theiitleof  a compact  volume  received 
by  the  mail  from  the  compilers  Me.ssrs.  Gow,  Wilson 
&,  Stanton,  the  well-known  Tea  and  Share 
Brokers  of  Rood  Lane.  The  book  is  one  of  172 
pages  octavo  and  .as  it  sliosv.s  the  history  and 
results  so  far  of  all  the  Indian  and  Ceylon 
Tea  Companies,  capitalised  in  sterling,  it  cannot 
fail  to  prove  useful.  From  the  preface  we  copy 
wo  sots  of  figures  of  interest  ; — 
Acres  under  Acres  in  Labour  Crop 
1895  Tea.  bearing,  emplyed.  produced 
lbs. 
Indian  4.50,000  375,000  600,000  135,500,000 
Ceylon  305,000  262,000  290,000  98,000,000 
755,000  637,000  890,000  233,500,000 
The  following  is  a summary  of  the  capitalisation 
and  of  the  working  results  of  the  year  1895  of  56 
Indian  Tea  Companies,  which  may  be  said  to  be  in 
full  working  order,  aud  consequently  their  aggregate 
figures  have  a value  as  establishing  some  sort  of  a 
standard : — 
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56  152,547  6,907,000  45  58,476,182  425  538,349  2’21 
£ 
7 15  7 
A similar  representative  table  cannot  be  given  for 
Ceylon,  as  so  many  of  the  Companies  are  interested 
in  other  products  besides  tea. 
Another  quotation  is  encouraging  : 
In  regard  to  the  future  of  the  industry  two 
features  present  themselves  for  consideration  * 
may  be  taken  that  there  is  a natural 
average  increase  in  the  consumption  of  tea  in  this 
country  to  the  extent  of  from  4,000,000  to  5 000  000 
lb.  per  annum,  and  That  markets  out- 
side the  United  Kingdom  are  continually  expanding 
ill  the  use  of  Indian  and  Ceylon  Tea.  ° 
Then  follow  the  100  pages  with  particulars 
of  Indian  Companie.s,  while  a second  division  deals 
with  some  52  Ceylon  Companies  alphabetically 
arrange  I,  giving  as  a rule  capital,  debentures 
name  of  diiectois  *vc.,  history,  situation  and  area* 
lesults  and  dividends,  ami  about  accounts,  voting 
o 
