86o 
[June t, 1898. 
THE TROPICAL 
A LEAF FROM THE PAST. 
Colombo, 20th May, 1898. 
Dear Sir, — I found the enclo.sed photograph of 
sketclies made by C. R. Hall, in looking over some 
old relics of the past:— (1) “The last days of 
coffee killed by leaf disease, grub and bug”; 
(2) “In 1883, dawn of prosperity in the midst of 
ruin.” Excliange was much higlier then and 
freights three times as high as they <liave been 
for years now. Still prices for coffee remain 
the same in the markets of tlie world, and but 
for disease, Ceylon Avould have remained pros- 
perous with good old coffee. 
Fifteen years have passed and we have hard 
times again. No disease this time ; exchange 
lower ; freights ditto, and over-production can- 
not be pleaded— is qualittf. Why don’t some- 
one try coffee again ? or would the disease re- 
vive with the revival of coffee ? — Yours faith- 
fully, L. S. 
[First, the price of coffee has fallen very much 
of late owing to bumper crops in Brazil ; secondly, 
ordinary coffee when planted, is at once beset 
with its old fungus-enemy, nor does Liberian 
escape. Many have been the experiments made 
with new coffee seed : — Mocha by the late Capt. 
Bayley ; hybrid-Coorg-fungus-proof seedinDum- 
bara, and Liberian on a big scale in the Kelani 
Valley ; but we fear few if any have answered, 
— The allegorical sketches sent to us are clever 
and interesting , and full of melancholy remini- 
scence of a time of dire disaster in Ceylon : we 
sincerely trust that days so dark and dep'essing 
may not visit us again. — E d. T.A."\ 
PADDY AND WEEVILS. 
Colombo, May 23. 
Dear Sir, — ’A serious trouble seems to threaten 
the villa,gers of Sina and Hapitigam Korales. 
When I was there last week, I was informed 
that paddy of the last crop belonging to several 
people is rendered utterly useless by the grains 
of rice in the husk having disappeared within a 
short time of the paddy having been stored in 
the granaries, I have scarcely a doubt as to the 
cause of the mischief being the weevil. Why 
paddy of this particular crop should be so weevily, 
and whether future crops will be liable to the 
same danger would be worthy of investigation. 
Both well-dried and stored hill and paddy 
are said to be growing equally bad. In a short 
time, unless a remely, easily available to the 
villager, is prescribed to him without delay, to 
arrest the progress of this evil, his prospects until 
the next harvest will be gloomy.— Yours truly, 
, AGRICOLA, 
BAW RICE AND OUR CEYLON 
COOLIES. 
Sir,— I think 1 am right in saying that a few 
years ago 100 bags of raw rice would have been 
difficult to sell at Colombo. Lately several tliou- 
saml bags have been landed and the “ Lancashire” 
is now landing about 15,000 bags. 
What becomes of this rice? Is not the Tamil 
coolies’ preference for so-called boiled rice a mere 
fad, and if the raw lice were is ued to them 
with tact would they not very soon become ac- 
customed to it and accept it freely? Get a little 
of eacli kind and try it and you will lind there 
is very little difference. If the Tamil coolies can 
be induced to use the raw rice, there only re- 
mains the question of cost, and there would be 
no need to send Commissioners to Rangoon. — 
Yours, UNIVERSAL PROVIDER. 
AGRICULTURIST. 
LOTUS LEAVES : (NYMPHAiA LOTUS.) 
Dear Sir, — It is not generally known that there is 
a brisk trade carried on in Colombo in Lotus leaves. 
In the ponds and fields in the suburbs, men and 
boys may be regularly seen in the mornings collecting 
these, which they tie up into bundles and carry into 
the different meat and fish markets in the town, and 
they are readily purchased by the fishmongers and 
butchers. These leaves are used for wrapping up fish 
and meat sold, in the same way as paper is in the 
Western markets. Every servant who goes marketing, 
if he does not carry a bag or a basket is supplied by the 
market man with a leaf or two, in which to wrap up his 
purchases, the charge m.ade is j cent for a couple of 
leaves, thousands of leaves are thus sold daily and a 
lucrative trade is carried on by the collectors. It is a 
strange irony of fate that the sentimental Lotus of 
Poets should be put to such ignominious uses ! C. 
[“ To what base uses may we come Horatio!” — Ed. 
T.A. i 
DRUG^ RRPORT. 
Cinchona. — Last week’s A.msterdam auctions con- 
tained a total of 625,862 kilos, of bark 1,376,896 lb.) 
of which 592,300 Jilos. (1,303)060 lb.) was manu- 
facturing bark and contained the equivalent 
of 28,874 kilos. (1,010 590 oz. of quinine sulphate. 
The average quinine value was 4 85 per cent, the 
lowest bark containing 1 28 per cent, and the 
highest 8’81 per cent. The unit varied from 4'75c. 
to 6c., the average being 5 20 against 4'25c. paid at 
the April sales. Bark containing 7,482 kilos, of 
quinine (260,870 oz.) sold at 5e., and all but 1,971 kilos, 
of the rest at from 5'25o. to 6o. There was nothing of 
particular interests in the sales, and as our space this 
week is limited the foregoing particulars must suffice. 
The next sales will be held on Thursday, June 9th. 
Oil, Lemonouass. — A quiet market, at 4^d to 5d 
per oz. — Chemist and Bmggist, May 14. 
THE INDIa’n TEA CROP. 
The General Committee of the Indian Tea Asso- 
ciation have issued the following figures showing an 
estimate of the Indian tea crop of 1898 : — Original 
estimate of crop of 1898 : — Assam, 63,851,592 lb ; 
Caehar, 22,181,980 lb. ; Sylhet, 26,630,540.1b. ; Dar- 
jeeling, 8,145,520 lb.; Terai, 3,101,600 lb.; Dooars, 
25,795,480 lb. ; Chittagong, 982,000 lb. ; Chota-Nagpore, 
193,600 lb. ; Kangra, 1,800,000 lb. ; Debra Doon and 
Kumaon (Estimate), 2,000,000 lb. ; Private and Native 
Gardens (Estimate) 4,000,000 lb. ; total, 158,681,312 lb. ; 
being 10,428,904 lb. over the actual outturn of the crop of 
1897. Estimating shipments to America the Colonies 
and other Ports, with local consumption at 18 millions, 
there will remain about 1401 million lb. for export to 
Great Britain. — Fnend of India, May 26. 
Ceylon Tea Companies. — Tlie Directors’ Re- 
ports of two more well-known Companie.s — the 
“Scottish” and “Rangalla” — -will be found on 
page 848. Both suffer from the hard time of low 
prices and high exchange, the dividends of 
the Scottish falling from the usual 15 to 10 
for 1897. and that of Rangalla from 10 to 6 per 
cent. The estate.? in both cases are reported to 
be in good order under excellent local manage- 
ment. — We have also to draw attention to our 
special report of the proceedings at the first 
annual meeting of the Ceylon Proprietary Tea 
Estates Company which owns the Beaumont 
Group in Pussellawa, as well as some MasUeliya 
(Forres) and Dimbula (Radela) e.states. That 5 
per cent of dividends should be declared the 
first year and under present circumstances was 
riglitiy deemed satisfactory and tlie shareholders 
seemed well-pleased with their prospect*^, voting 
bigger fees to the Directors than they desired 
to have !— Incidentally we are sorry to learu that 
Mr. P. H. Wiggin, the Coinjiany’s manager in 
Ceylon, though at home, was ill in hospital, 
