300 MR. H. MARSHALL WARD ON THE 
help to throw light. The economic aspect of “ leaf-disease,” as 
affecting the coffee-plant and the production of a large staple, 
need not be here commented upon; for the proper apprecia- 
tion of the facts and their bearings, however, it may be advisable 
to state shortly some peculiarities of climate, &c. under which 
coffee is cultivated in a tropical island such as Ceylon. 
If we confine our attention to the coffee growing, for ex- 
ample, on the hilly slopes of the great south-western coffee- 
districts, the following general statements are true. The trees 
are arranged in rows on the hill-sides, the stems some 5 to 
6 feet apart and under 5 feet high: the branches and main stem 
of each tree are so pruned and trained that they form a thick 
shrubby head of leafy shoots, touching, or nearly so, the corre- 
sponding branches and twigs of each nearest tree. Apart from 
changes produced by special causes, the normal course of pheno- 
mena on a mass of trees such as has been sketched during the 
year would probably be, shortly put, somewhat as follows. 
During the dry hot season from January to March few 
young leaves are formed, but the foliage already on he 
branches is actively at work, under a blazing sun, supplying 
materials for the flowers, which succeed one another in clusters 
during this time, and for the future demands of the trees; occa- 
sional showers or rainy days supply necessary moisture to the 
roots, but little or no dew forms during the dry nights towards 
the end of the period. The wind (which during the early part 
of the year may be plentiful, but is commonly slight later) is 
dry, and comes chiefly steadily from the N.E. 
Some time near the beginning of what we may term the second 
three months (April to June), the rainy weather sets in, and the 
hitherto dry atmosphere becomes more or less saturated with mois- 
ture. Anobvious consequence of these changes is the renewal of 
growth on the part of the trees, and new leaves and shoots are 
rapidly formed in the early portion of this period, while the fer- 
tilized flowers produce young fruit in the successive clusters. 
During the showery weather, or at periods more or less alternating, 
the wind is frequently gusty and heavy. On the whole, however, 
while the dry and often drooping coffee of February and March 
has to depend on occasional rains to bring out its numerous 
flower-buds, the April and May rains fill out the young fruits and 
force new leaves from the buds, and a general state of turgescence 
is enjoyed by the tissues of the plant. The warm cloudy days 
