360 THE COCCUS OF THE COFFEE-PLANT. 
observed it on the Lime, the Guava, the Myrtle, the Rose, Careya 
-arborea, and Vitex Negundo,—the two last are common roadside trees. 
It seems, however, very certain that until within the last five years it 
has not been known to attack the Coffee-plant. In most of the dis- 
tricts that I have just visited, the Coffee-trees of the villagers were 
found to be quite as much affected as those on plantations. In the 
Botanic Garden at Peradenia there is scarcely a tree that is not 
somewhat infested. It is, therefore, scarcely possible to believe that 
had the Coffee “bug” been in existence in Ceylon previous to the 
present epidemic, its effects must have been observed at one period or 
another on the native Coffee. 
Some managers of estates believe it to have been introduced to them 
on young plants brought from native villages, but, on questioning them, 
I found that they had no better grounds for their assertion than con- 
jecture. On Mr. Fairholme’s estate, at Dimboola, it was first seen, 
about two years ago, on a single bush in the only part of it that is 
planted with village plants. The bush was taken up and burned, and 
no bug has since appeared on that portion of the estate. Had the pest 
been brought from the village, it is not at all likely that it would have 
been confined to a single plant. 
If, as Mr. Anstruther supposes, the nature of the soil and bad 
planting have anything to do with its origin, Capt. Robertson’s estate 
of Lapallagalla is one of the most likely I have seen in Ceylon to have 
given birth to it, or at least to have afforded an excellent field on 
which to begin its ravages. The soil of it, as well as of nearly all the 
surrounding estates, is of a very clayey nature, and consequently the 
holes that were dug for the young plants must have acted like pots 
without outlets, to retain the moisture that drained into them from 
the surface ; and that they must have been well supplied with moisture 
_is certain, from the fact that the district is one of the most rainy in the 
island. The roots of the plants must also have found great difficulty 
in penetrating through the sides of the holes; and, indeed, the whole 
appearance of the trees shows that matters are not going on well 
with them at the bottom. Nearly all of them have a lanky look, 
throw out few or no lateral shoots from their lower branches, and on 
an average only yield, at the best of times, from four to five cwt. of 
Coffee per acre, or about one-half of the usual crop of pipa estates 
in other districts. 
_ (To be continued.) 
