102 
THF TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[August i, 1891. 
TLANTINGI PROGKKSS IN WEST IIAI’UTALE, 
CEYLON. 
We have the following news of n little known 
diatriot whioh is yet to hold up its head with tea 
and railway oommunioation oloae by. Our oorrea- 
poodont writea : — 
“A oon»idersble rbsnge has taken place in the 
Kalupahana Volley within the la.st 18 montha. Mr. 
Mayow haa about 100 acres in tea on Hray estate ; 
Mr. Orchard has a lair acreage now on UOaveria, and 
has jnat Bold a half aharo to .Mr. E. liateaon of 
Broughton. Mr. Mills (Weat Hoputalel has the largest 
acreage j but I am not auro what it is. He also 
has a factory ; Mr. Anderson on Moneratenno too has 
some acreage in tea. Our tea la giving ua at the rate 
of dOO lb. of raatle tea an acre, and as our laud was 
good virgin soil bought from Uoveromont at abuut 
R40 per acre, wo may reasonably expect a better 
yield atill when our trees are older. Mostofusweiit 
in at first for oiuohona olfioiualis (our elevation 
bring high) which soon died out ! One good thing 
about it waa it took little or nothing out of the 
soil I There is wind in the Valley, but we fiud we 
can “dodge" it tbiiv succeesfully with belts. The 
Ohiya Valley, where there is to bo a railway atatiou 
(or aidiug), is quite close to the Kalupabaua Valley, 
and we hope Clovernmeut will cut a road fur ua 
which will uot be au expensive one.” 
Vabiui) Ubus 01’ UllUA OJl ilAMIK. — Wi; 
lately surprised to learn that rhea was a good food 
for silkworms. Now wo are told that “steam pipes 
are now made of ramie fibre, and the material is 
pressed so closely together by means of hydraulio 
machinery, that it has a tensile strength two and one- 
half times that of steel” 
OoKi’itEiN Biuair..— The Joriuil do Cummercio pub- 
lished on the 6th a letter ostiraaling the Rio and 
Santos ooffee crops at 4,000,000 bags each. Tho writer 
says that this oollee will bo sold for over 1.000,- 
000,000 francs or 350,000,000* in gold, equivalent 
to 660,000,000* in paper money at its present value. 
— llio yews. 
Oemmino in RakwaNA.— M r. lisddeley, the gemming 
expert Irom Ratnapura left tod iv (16th,) for Europe 
intho “Myrmi ion” his services being no longer required 
in oounooiiou with gemming operalions in Rakwana. 
Mr. Ha.ldoloy confirms what our R ikwsiia curresp m 
dent reported— namely, that the pits are being all 
closed there, good stones not being It.rthcoming. And 
yet good stones are on sale each week io Colombo. 
Where do they cumo from and how are they obtained 'f 
Until this question is settled and proper step.s arc 
taken to proveot thoft at the gem-pits, it need not bo 
expected that gemming will be found a profitable en- 
terprise for Europeans in Ceylon. — Local “Times.” 
A Pi.ANTEii ON Tuub. — Mr. W. G. Sandison, of tea- 
seed fame, is down in Colombo again, awaiting tho 
“Salazie” whioh is to convoy him to Java, where be 
means to spend about six weeks and then return to 
the island. Mr. Bandison is essentially a peripatetic 
planter, and is continnally on his travels. Ho haa 
been to Java before, on which occasion, ha says, he 
went on pleasure, and be adds that “ Ceylou chappies 
may take the hint that Java is the place to go 
to enjoy oneself ; ” bat this time, ns wo stated re- 
cently, he proceeds there on busmens. When ho 
returns he says, ho means to go to Madagascar, but 
ha has ’not made up his mind yet as to whether he 
will ptcceod there direct or visit the “old ooimtry 
first.*^ Most likely he will do the latter, for, though 
he has passed over a quarter of a century m travel, 
chiefly in the Bast, be keeps up the love for his 
homo in Scotland, whioh h« visits often, and his 
jndgmont of whether a thing is goo<i or bad de- 
pends very greatly on whether it comes trotn near 
Inverness or far from it. It is not generally known 
that Mr. Sandison was formerly in the Manipur 
district, near tho scene of the recent rising. He 
was, however, engaged there in planting, and came 
within an aoe of getting killed by the natives jast 
before he left.— /inL 
Ceylon is marobing on I Even if the rubber 
crop is not yet what was expected, the colony is 
doing well in other things, and it will supply rubber 
in time. It is agitating now for an exhibition, 
not of its own products only, but a oosmopolitan 
affair, at which nil nations may show the goods 
they want to sell in the tropics. — Indiaruhbtr 
Journal, June 8th. 
The Death -deahno Ahaeon. — Wooden crosses, 
marking ihe graves of immigranls, are as 
plentiful aa the rubber trees on tho banks of 
one or two Amazon tributaries. Tho Purus 
river district has only a population of 10,000, 
instead of the -10,000 which we might expect 
from tho immigration that has taken place. — 
Ibid. 
" Bermuda in May.” — S uch is the title of au 
exceedingly graphic and interesting description of 
tho group of coral islands about twenty miles 
square, which, like tho Bahamas, are largely re- 
sorted to by Amorioans who seek change. This 
aceoiint appears in Garden and Forest, a valuable 
Anicrioan publication, whenoe we shall transfer it 
to tlie Tropical AgricuUurisl. Apart Irom the in 
digenouB oedar and the introduced elder tree of 
Britain much of tho loading vegetation is such as 
prevails in Oeylon. 
Rice Cultivation in the United States. 
— An elaborate ariielo on this sutijeol, illustrated 
by engravings, principally from quaint Burmese 
drawings, appears in the Louisiana Planter and 
Su(/ar Manii/aclnrer, After a skotuh of the history 
of rice culture and the kinds used and modes of 
cultivation in Egypt, Ohina, India, Burmah, Ooylon 
A'o. Tho whole prooesa of growth and “ manu- 
faoture ” in tho United States is desoribed at groat 
leogth. We have marked the arliole tor the 
Tropical AyricuHurist, because hints useful in Oeylon 
may be obtained from the widely different mode 
of culture observed in the Western land whither 
rice aeoms to have come from Madagascar. In 
slavery lime the enterprise waa of great importanoe, 
but it was ruined in tho Civil War and the writer 
of the paper is not hopeful of its revival to any 
groat extent by meana ot expensive free labour. 
Wo have hill rioo and irrigated rice in Oeylon : in 
Carolina the grain is amphibious, — grown in 
water, but ripened on dry soil. 
Tea.— A writer on “ Etiquette " in a con- 
temporary emphatically observes, “ It is not usual 
to offer a soooudeup at afternoon ten 
it is not as if tea were a meal." Let us hope 
(writes “ Miranda ” in the Lady's Pictorial) lew 
people will be so inhospitable as to bo guided 
by this churlish view of the meagerly supplied 
teapot. Talking is thirsty and fatiguing work, 
especially when combined with the pretty behaviour 
necessary where one’s hostess is a smart acquaint- 
anoo rather than the iamiliar friend whom one 
would have no soruplo in asking to replenish 
one’s oup, and it is an odd way of welcoming 
guests, indeed, to limit them to half the re- 
freshment they would have bad at home, 
though judicious, no doubt, when a repetiton of the 
visit is not desired. “They always gives suoh a 
nice tea,” is a remark one frequently bears made 
with much appreciation, and people hardly realise, 
perhaps, how much the popularity of their “ day ” 
depends on the comfort of this little meal — 
for meal it must certainly be aooounted, considering 
tho lateness of dinners. Partially warmed cakes, 
served on a oold plate with little islands of hali- 
me'ted buttor on them, stale bisouits, bitter, over- 
drawn tea, or tepid “ water bewitched,” wiU dis- 
hearten the most cheerful guest, yet suoh experiences 
are by no lObans unoommou in making afternoon 
oalls. 
