[March r, 1898. 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
639 
gang of armed ruffians is despatclied to the haunts 
of deer ; and the slaying and collection of hides 
and horns and peafowl feathers goes on gaily. 
Should any official he in the neighbourhood 
a certain quantity of jungle jnoduce is kept 
ready in case of necessity. The licence and the 
produce will of course be forthcoming on the 
appearance of tlie G. A. or any of his subordinate'. 
Needless to say the hitles, horns and meat will not. 
It is with these marauders tliat the Game Protec- 
tion Society desire most earnestly to uea! ellec- 
tu.ally ; and not believe rne, with the usually un- 
offending villager.— Yours faithfully, E. (t.' 11. 
CACAO IN UJvlAVELA DIS TllTCT. 
Kaduwella, Ukuwella, dan. 2-2, I8hS. 
Dear Sir, — Might I suggest that you )iublish 
names of correspondents who write so dolefully 
to you about Cacao Disease (so caileci) 
and its probable effects. Has it never .struck 
you that you are allouing your paper to be 
made a medium for the systematic depreciation 
of all cacao property. On this estate, I have 
not seen any of the disease your correspondents 
write about. Marakona, an estate in the neighbour- 
hood is also free from any disease, and dare say 
the same can be said of a great many more 
estates. Why should the value (in the market) 
of these estates be run down by allowing 
anonymous correspondents to write as if the whole 
of the cacao estates in Ceylon Avere plague 
stricken ? 
Is it any new thing for cacao to die off in 
patches after a very wet season or even for 
coffee or tea to die out in small patches here 
and there ! 
I have known coffee to die out from no ap- 
parent cause and the same with tea. Do you 
remember the Indian planter iliscovering a disease 
in the tea plant in the Kalutara distiict which 
was going to wipe out tea entirely? This was 
some G or 7 year-! ago, but I am told tea is stil 
extensively grown in Kalutara. 
Eight tree.s have died out on this estate since 
I took over 2^ years ago : -t of tlie.se were 
killed by white ants, and hud no tap root, and 
the other 3 died from, what I suppose is, the 
mysterious disease, supposed to affect cacao, but 
which I put down to wet feet. 
1 would not have troubled you with this letter 
did not I consider it a duty I owe to my em- 
ployers to protest against the wild wuiting of 
anonymous correspondents re cacao prospects. I 
do not think it is too much to ask that men 
who write on tlm .subject should sign their letters 
so that one may be able to judge ot the value 
of the opinion offered or the /ac^i stated. — Yours 
faithfully, JOHN MACDONALD. 
[Mr. MacDonald’s letter reminds us of letters 
we were accu.stomed to get from some coffee 
planters before Mr. Marshall Ward’s arrival in 
Ceylon. Not liuu we mean the parallel to go 
further; for we are very pleased to learn of 
estates and districts, where cacao is nourishing. 
But we can assure Mr. MacDonald that we have 
allowed no one to write on the subject without 
being certain ol his personal exiierieuce .and re- 
sponsibility and of Ids having a good purpose 
in writi'ig. Now, for instance, our last contri- 
butor wrote, as he did, in oidor to show the 
Government, the urgent need of attention and 
of its em]i!oyiug an Amrlvtic.al Chendst, as well 
as a Cryptogami.fct, to ai(l Mr. Willis in the 
Cacao investigation. Our present correspondent 
is fortunate in being in a district little affected, 
w'e believe ; but suppose ne was in charge of a 
plantation such as was last described, and its 
proprietor at heme, would he feel justified in 
wrmng in his own name and prod'aindng the 
property— or would he feel justified in reniain- 
ing .silent, while the Government did nothing to 
investigate the cause of the Cacao dying out in 
Ins neighbourhood? — Ed. T.J.] ^ 
niESH-WATEll FISH. 
Dear Sir,— Now' that water is at a loiv ebb in the 
helds and water-courses in the suburbs around 
Colombo, fresh water Jish is brought for sale in large 
qmantities into the town, where it finds a ready 
m.arket, almost exclusively among natives but 
there are a few v.arietie.s of these fish which 
are acceptable to the European [lalate ; of these 
may be mentioned the liila, the anda and the 
a-dlHfovwa : all these v.arieties are more or less 
known to the older residents upcountry When 
)iroperly cooked these fish are delicious and 
wholosonie. 
That esteemed iqicountry resident, the late 
G.A.C. was a great believer in the hda and 
he w'lote in praise of it to the Observer in the 
early seventies and maintained that the lula 
compared favourably with English soles. An 
old District Judge of Negombo insisted on havine 
welliqmviuas (Ceylon whiting) for breakfast every 
morning, and growled fearfully at his “boy” if 
he failed to procure them ! ^ 
The (Ceylon eel) is also very much re- 
ii.shed: old J)r. Loake w’as always well satisfied 
w'lth a meal when the menu included stewed 
ee s. Very fine ones used to be caught in the 
lake near Captain s Garden, nearly opposite the 
doctor s residence. q 
[The Cold Storage and Befrigerating Managers 
aie on tlie lookout for local supplies of fish 
fim^-ED 
PLANTAIN FJ.OUK. 
Ds.ut Sir,— I should bcgl,.d if any of veur leaders 
could tell me where I could obtain plantain flour; 
I should mentU'.n tnafc it is required for purposes of 
expenment on the resu t ot which will be determined 
Its suitability for certain special purposes. About 
28 lb. is wanted tor the test. Is there here an 
opening for a new industry, or is at present the local 
demand for the frmt in its raw state a.s food so 
great that it lully equals the supply? From what 
I know of plantains, the ordinary table ki^a are 
too sugary for conversion into flour, unless, perhaps 
when treated in the unripe state. PossiWy the 
curry plantains would answer better. I am told hv 
an esteemed correspondent that he once made 
plantain flour, but found it did not pay P^sXv 
since then, however, ciicmnstances may have altereff- 
and I shall be glad if this letter elicL LforSn 
on the subjeet.— Yours faithfully, c. W. H 
Dear Sir,— In reply to C. W. H.’s enquiry, there 
IS no pla ntain flour made in Ceylon at present, but it 
an article in which an immense trade might be devel- 
oped. Fir gen. ral purposes the ‘ curry ’ plantains are 
most Bmtable : the sweeter kinds, if taken before they 
lupen, would be useful for cakes and dessert biscuits 
The preparation of the flour is simple and inexpen- 
sive, and as o the cost of the fruit, the difference 
neturen wholesale and retail prices is so large that 
glovers would be very glad to see not onlv a new 
inmistry spring up in the manufacture of flour, but 
another, perhaps of almost equal importance, the pre- 
paration of dried and crystallized plantains, for which 
we have in Ceylon several varieties specially suitable. 
-Tours faithfully, ^ PLANTER. 
