June  r,  1897.J 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
873 
— — 
To  the  Kdilij?. 
MANURING  OF  TEA  ESTATES  AND 
MR.  JOHN  HUGHES’  REMARKS. 
Dkar  Sir, — Tlie  net  value  on  the  increased  tea 
yield  will  temporarily  drop  to  one  set  of  factor-', 
hut  is  not  touched  on  another.  Cultivation  with 
artilicial  manures  may  bo  a means  to  one  of 
two  ends,  bush-making  or  crop,  and  to  take  the 
latter  with  no  care  of  the  former  is  but  cater- 
pillar policy  ! A heavy  pruning,  followed  by 
application  of  manure  [rrevious  to  a season  of  a 
“ rush  of  leaf”  will,  of  course,  aggravate  the  poor 
liquoring  teas  primary  flushes  give.  Rut  such 
drastic  measures  are  to  be  follovved  by  bush- 
training and  how  to  “tip  back”  etc  is  another 
tale.  Say  the  cover  of  tea  over  area  has  thus 
been  a tained  pruning  is  only  necessary  at  greater 
intervals  of  time,  your  second  application  of 
£ .'1.  (1.  comes  on  .six  months  after  the  2nd  pruning 
and  can  it  be  otherwise  than  that  better  leaf 
will  be  obtained  from  the  improved  wood?  I liave 
had  better  results  from  an  application  costing  R5 
an  acre  than  where  I have  spent  twice  the  amount 
and  this  is.  yet  another  tale. 
Ic  is  diflicult  when  writing  on  a subject  such 
as  this  to  refrain  from  running  into  other  than 
the  immediate  factors  and  these  major  tactics  of 
agriculture  are  a cheap  enough  education  when 
one  may  read  what  Messrs.  Hughes,  Ramber  and 
Cochran  have  to  say  and  so  keej)  a tea  farmer 
from  blundering  in  his  work  ; and  to  be  versed 
in  a little  elementary  chemistry  and  geology 
facilitates  a ready  understanding  of  their  writings. 
“REPLY  MARKED  GO.” 
RHANG  AS  A FERRIFUGE. 
Colombo,  April  27th  1897. 
Dear  Sir, — In  the  Ceylon  Observer  of  Saturda.y 
(24th  inst.)  inquiry  is  made  by  D.F.  (page  2nd 
“An  Olio  ”)  from  some  medical  man  as  to  whether 
“bhang”  is  u.sed  as  a febrifuge,  and  mention 
is  made  of  what  Knox,  in  his  “ Historical  Re- 
lation of  the  Island  of  Ceylon,”  says  about  it. 
1- have  referred  to  Knox’s  book  and  And  the 
statement  in  the  place  indicated  (page  154). 
After.  Knox’s  escape  from  Kandy,  he  proceeded 
Northwards  and  had  to  drink  of  the  water  of 
tanks  in  the  Vanni  which  he  describes  graphic 
ally  — “ having  no  springs,  we  were  fain  to  drink 
of  ponds  of  rain  water,  wherein  the  cattle  lie 
and  tumble,  whieh  would  be  so  tbick  aud  muddy, 
that  the  very  filth  would  hang  in  our  beards 
when  we  drank.”  He  goes  on  to  say  that 
he  had  been  accustomed  “ to  drink  pure 
spring  water  only,”  but  the  bad  water  he  was 
compelled  to  drink  brought  on  “ violent 
favors  and  agues.”  He  learned,  however,  of 
“ an  antidote  and  counter-poison  against 
the  filthy  venomous  water,”  which -is  thus  des- 
cribed:— “It  is  only  a dry  leaf;  they  call  it  in 
Portuguese,  Banga,  beaten  to  powder  with  some 
of  the  country  jaqgory,  and  this  we  eat  morn- 
ing aud  evening  upon  an  empty  stomach.  It 
intoxicates  the  brain,  and  makes  one  giddy,  with 
out  any  other  operation  by  stool  or  vomit.” 
A good  account  of  Indian  hemp  or  gunjah  may 
be  found  in  the  “ Rengal  Dispensatory  and 
Pharmacopoeia  by  W.  B.  O’Shaughnessy,  M.D., 
111 
Pi'ofossor  of  Materia  Medica  in  the  Medical 
College,  Calcutta,”  publislied  in  1841.  This  work 
was  the  basis  of  the  “ I’liarmacopmia  of  India” 
b.y  Dr.  Edw'ard  John  Waring,  published  by  the 
authority  of  the  Government  of  India,  in  IStiS. 
The  “ Pharmacopceia  of  India”  gives  the  thera- 
peutic uses  of  Indian  hemp,  but  it  is  not  stated 
that,  it  is  used  in  fevers.  Dr.  O'.Shaughnessy 
(afterwards  Knighted  in  acknowledgment  of  his 
great  services  for  ]U'ojecting  and  carrying  out  the 
system  of  electric  telegra]dis  in  India)  gives  a 
more  detailed  account  of  the  medicinal  uses  of 
Indian  hemp,  and  states  the  properties  which 
are  assigned  to  it  by  Sanscrit,  Arabian,  and 
Persian  writei's  and  by  modern  Euroi)ean  authors. 
No  mention  is  made  of  its  use  in  fevers. 
The  into.xicating  properties  of  Indian  hemp  or 
gunjah  were  well  known,  but  there  w.as  uncer- 
tainty as  to  its  medicinal  virtues.  Dr.  O’Shaugh- 
nessy made  many  e.vperiments  to  ascertain  the 
action  of  the  drug  (>n  man  aud  animals,  and  he 
gave  it  to  some  jjatients.  On  one  ])atient,  it  had 
the  remarkable  efl’ect  of  jiroducing  a cataleptic 
fit.  Dr.  O’Shanghnes.sy’s  investigations  satisfied 
him  that  it  is  a useful  reniedj'’  in  some  diseases, 
and  his  recommemlations  led  to  its  introduction 
into  European  medical  jiractice. — Yours  faithfullj’', 
JAMES  LOOS,  M.i).,  Retired  Colonial  Surgeon. 
TEA  PLUCKING. 
May  5th,  1897. 
Dear  Sir, — As  regards  the  letters  on 
tea  plucking,  etc.,  I should  like  to  know 
whether  it  has  been  ever  proved  that  coarse 
plucking  gives  a larger  yield  than  good  metlium. 
Take  this  instance:  iMariawatte  pluck  their 
famous  100  acres  once  a week,  to  get  in  4 pluck- 
ings  a month,  and  the  leaf  they  get  oll’it  by  this 
means  is  certainly  good  mediuni.  Supposing, 
however,  they  changed  their  system  to  10  days 
plucking,  they  would  only  get  in  .3  rounds 
instead  of  4 in  the  month,  they  would  get  coarse 
leaf,  and  cceteris  yaribus  would  they  get  a bigger 
yield  at  the  end  of  the  year  Mian  they  are, 
doing  now  ? Obseive  they  lose  a round  a month, 
and  the  bushes  would  get  far  too  liigh,  and  I 
imagine  it  would  be  a case  of  “ far  too  lightly 
plucked  ” by  the  V.  A.  at  the  end  of  the  year. 
The  yield  would  be  bigger  for  the  first  2 or 
3 months  ; but  afterwards  ! ! 
This  must  be  the  opinion  of  most  men  or  why 
aie  they  so  anxious  to  have  abundant  labour? 
The  answer  is  because  they  want  to  keep  well 
up  with  the  flush,  bully  the  bushes,  and  get 
their  estimates.  S. 
CACAO  CULTIVATION  IN  CEYLON 
AND  ITS  ENEMIES. 
Greenwood,  Madawellatenne. 
Dear  Sir,— I fully  agree  with  your  forcible 
articleon  “The  Cacao  Pest”  (see  ))age  801) 
1 must,  however,  take  personal  exception  to  your 
remark  : — “ The  iiress,  which  ought  to  have  been 
supplied  with  the  intormalion,  was  .singularly  free 
from  any  comment,  etc.” — As  far  back  as  July 
28th,  1890,  you  published  a letter  from  me  under, 
the  “ nom  de  jilume”  Eldorado,  mentioning 
the  lirst  cacao  disease,  about  which  even  a 
greater  reticence  was  observed,  and  which  was 
never  investigated  by  a scientist,  but  which  I 
had  good  reason  to  put  down  to  a root  Myce- 
lium and  not  to  Helopeltis  which  was  often 
absent  in  fields  badly  attacked.  This  | disease 
