r»EC. I, 1897.1 THE TROPICAL 
LOCUST PESTS. 
Tlie advantage of having an “ honorary 
Entomologist,” and one so well qualified for 
the post as Mr. E. E. Oreen, is well illustrated 
in the official corres[;ondence, which we re- 
publish from the Gazette. The visitation 
of locusts referred to must have been 
identical with that in the Hapitigam Korale 
of the Western Province, to which we drew 
attention at the time. It is evident from what 
Mi. Green reminds us of Mr. Nietner’s ex- 
perience that different districts of Ceylon are 
liable to sudden visitations of locusts from 
time to lime ; but on so limited a scale that 
so far no extensive mischief lias ever been done by 
them according to existing records. Nevertheless, 
to be forewarned is to be forearmed ; and we 
trust Government will very urgently impress 
an all headmen the importance of collecting 
and destroying the locusts’ eggs as described 
by Mr. Green. It is satisfactory to learn from 
him that, as regards coconut palms, the same 
precaution — tarring a circle round the trees — 
which prevents attacks from rats, will probably 
go far to prevent the locusts getting up the 
palms. 
<» 
RAMIE CULTIVATION. 
INTERVIEW WITH MR. J. M. MAC- 
DONALD OF THE STRAITS 
SETTLEMENTS. 
Mr. J. M. MacDonald (of the firm of MacDonald, 
Boyle & Co. of London) — to whom prominent 
reference was made in a previous article on 
Ramie cultivation has been recently on a visit 
to Ceylon. He ai rived here from Singapore and 
continued his journey via Bombay to London, 
leaving Colombo by the outgoing P. & O. steamer. 
He read our article, from many of the statements 
of which he at once intimated his dissent, and 
subsequently granted a representative of ours 
an interview at the Galle Face Hotel. 
“You have,” said Mr. MacDonald, “called 
me a sanguine man with regard to my 
figures, but as a matter of fact these figures 
are considerably understated. I do not say 
that they apply in the slightest degree to 
Ceylon. I know nothing of Ceylon or of its soil 
or capabilities. 1 was simply asked by Mr. Wick- 
war, of the Hill Club, to call here on my way 
home and see some of the planters, and give 
them my views with regard to Ramie, and ex- 
f laiu what my machinery and process can do. 
have, therefore, brought my machinery to 
demonstrate the whole process from beginning to 
end, and to show that from the moment of cutting 
the stem to the time of producing the white 
filasse only two hours and a half are occupied. 
Your article is not sufficiently specific to let 
me know the other points on which I am thought 
to be too sanguine, but if it is on the point of 
production it would be as well to give the follow- 
ing absolutely authentic information : — 
PRODUCTION. 
“ In planting Ramie the cuttings should not be 
placed more than eighteen inches apart. I 
advocate only twelve inches. The closer (in 
reason) that cuttings are placed the better 
for two reasons : (1) that no weeding would be 
necessary after the plants are 3ft. high : (2) the 
stems grow perfectly straight without lateral 
branches which are very deleterious to the 
43 
AGRICULTURIST. 
fibre. The first cutting can be taken in thred 
month.s, but to be on the safe side we will say 
six. Many experts have said that the first cut- 
ting from a plantation is useless, but here you 
see (showing a stick of Ramie) a three months’ 
stick which has been produced from the estate of 
Mr- Thomas Gibson, the Secretary of the United 
Planters’ Association at Klang (Selangor). You 
see that the stem is 5ft. high: it is at least 
half an inch in diameter, and with perfectly good 
and strong libre, which you can find by taking 
hold of the fibre and pulling it. This stem is 
one of those produced from a cutting about six 
inches long, planted only three months before the 
stem was taken. The stool contained altogether 
fifty stems in vigorous growth, which no doubt 
in six weeks’ time would have produced about a 
lifth of that number of mature stems. This plant 
is one of a number which Mr. Gibson had dug 
up and showed at a meeting of the United Plan- 
ters’ Association of the Federated Malay estates. 
RAPIDITV OF PRODUCTION. 
“ With reg'ird to the rapid production in the 
Straits Settlements, we have the evidence of Mr. 
Gibson’s plantation, where, as I have already stated, 
in three months’ time there is a crop of stems ready 
to cut and plentiful supply .coming forward, 
a fifth of which in .six weeks will be ready for har- 
vesting. Now, instead of taking three months as the 
earliest cutting, we will assume that it will take 
six months to produce three stems and not six. It 
becomes necessary to consider how many steins 
can be produced to the acre and what the weight 
of cho.se stems would be. During the course of 
the experiments at Kuala Lumpur in Selangor, 
carried on before a meeting of the United Planters’ 
A.ssociation, a trial was made of a given num- 
ber of stems taken haphazard from a heap lying 
there. It was found that the mean of fifteen 
stems, small and large shoots, weighed 4 '8 ounces 
each, but for the pnrpo.se of our calculation we 
will say four ounces. Taking, therefore, cuttings as 
having been put in at 18 inches apart this would 
give eight to the square yard or 38,720 to the 
acre. Assuming that each plant only produces three 
stems each in three months and calculating these at 
4 oz. each it is found that you can obtain thir- 
teen tons per acre, and inasmuch as the stems 
renew themselves every six weeks this will 
give an aggregate of 78 tons of stems per acre 
per annum. Bear in mind that this calcula- 
tion only assumes a production of half the quantity 
actually produced from Mr. Gibson’s estate.” 
Mr. Macdonald here handed to our representa- 
tive a printed report of the proceedings of the 
United Planters’ Association, which fully bore out 
his statement. 
now RAMfK Is DEALT WITH ! 
“We will notice now the reports of the ‘ex- 
perts,’ when they speak of obtaining so many 
cuttings per annum, varying from two to four. 
The practice has hitherto been to mow down the 
whole plantation, hand over the stems to natives, 
when they are stripped by hand, and then the 
ribbons are dried and packed into bales and 
sent away. A native has to produce a certain 
quantity of ribbons per day. It is per- 
fectly immaterial to him whether he strips 
mature or immature stems, and the result is 
that in one bale of ribbons we obtain in some 
cases as many as twelve classes of fibre. I 
need not point to you that this cropping system 
is a very objectionable one inasmuch as stems 
from six inches to two ft. high, which would be 
the large majority of the stems, are utterly de- 
