28 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July 2, 1883. 



conspired to ei'ect a new species with which their 

 names should be associated, then no one will deny 

 the fittingness of the Jsemesis which has overtaken 

 them. "The old man eloquent," who is quinine 

 personified, figuratively points the finger of scorn 

 at them and says: "You may have the honour and 

 glory of discovering and describing a species, cert- 

 ainly, but the species is not C. LeJijeriana, Moens 

 aud Trimex, but a wretched grey-bark mkrantha. 

 But, more probably, you have mistaken for Ledfjpriana 

 the male form of a Calisaya-like mkrantha V If Mr. 

 Howard's position is established, then Mr. Moens and 

 \)v. Trimen will have to cry " Peccavi !" and walk 

 softly and speak humbly, clothed in sackcloth and I 

 ashes for a protracted season! One thing is quite { 

 certain : that, as we remarked when we saw the plate, 

 JJr. Trimen was unfortunate in his specimen. It iDas 

 poor and stunted. Nevertheless it may have been 

 true Ledgeriana, for nothing could be more stunted 

 aud bushy, with a dozen small stems instead of one 

 good stout trunk, than the undoubted progeny of 

 Ledger's seed which we saw on the Nilgiris. But 

 tlie bark of those veiy bushes sold for l'2s 8d per lb. 

 Our inclination is strongly to believe that Dr. Ti'imen's 

 tree had the same origin (seed from the Xilgu-is) as 

 the magniticent trees on Yarrow estate, which Mr, 

 Howard distinctly recognizes as true Ledgerianas. 

 » » » ♦ » * 



Mr. Mclvor's initial mistake, which we and others 

 repeated in Ceylon, was to try and grow the 

 Ledgerianas in the highest and most exposed 

 portions of plantations. In such situations many 

 grew, but did not flourish as they have done 

 between 2.000 and 4,000 feet. With good soil and 

 shelter, however, we have no doubt Ledgerianas 

 will grow fairly well between 4,000 and 6,000 feet 

 altitude. That Mr. Moens should have blundered 

 as he is represented to have done, seems to us in- 

 credible, when we remember all his discriminating 

 reports, and recall our own personal experience of 

 the readiness with which, on the ground of peculi- 

 arities not obvious to our unpractised eye, he at 

 once distinguished the true Ledgerianas from the 

 infei'ior species and varieties. "That," he said, as 

 we went over the plantations together, " is <7. Schuh- 

 ki-aft, that C. Hcmhirliana, that C. Josephiana, and 

 that C. Javanica, all inferior kinds which (except 

 a few specimens preserved for experiment) are to be 

 rooted out. But here is the true Ledgeriana with 

 its long-petioled leaf and its blossoms looking dowTi 

 at you." If Mr. Moens does not know Ledgeriana 

 when he sees it, we shall next doubt Mr. Proctor's 

 knowledge of the worlds of space, formed and in 

 course of formation. It was from Mr. Moens that 

 Mr. Howard received the undoubted specimens which 

 he figured and described. Did Mr. Moens lose his 

 senses when he deceived Dr. Trimen into the belief 

 that a niicrantha was true Ledgeriana. and did Dr. 

 Trimen become obli\-ious to all his carefuU botanical 

 training and indifferent to his scientific fame and 

 moral responsibility, when the decision was arrived 

 at to erect Ledgeriana into a distinct species, and to 

 give as its type a male micrantha ? ! That '" some 

 one has blundered" is evident, but "who'/" is the 



question. * 



« * * * * * 



Meantime, it may be well to advert to the " rojo" or 

 i-ed-leaf peculiarity. AH the Calisayas at certain stages 

 influenced by drought or other reasons show brilliant 

 coats of foliage, varying from dai'k red to the brightest 

 scarlet. We have made beautiful collections of such 



» All this must now be read iu the light of Mr. T. N. 

 Christie's letter subsequently received, shewing that the 

 plant described and figiu-ed by Dr. Trimen was an un- 

 .loulited Ledgeriana, the bark of which gave on analysis, 

 over 11 per cent sulphate of quinine. — Ed. 



leaves which have been much admired, and we caii 

 imagine the magnificence of a Ledgeriana tree "500 years 

 old " so (temporarily) clothed. But, besides this 

 tendency, a large number of the Calisayas, when 

 young, have leaves richly purple or red on the 

 under side. We have ateady mentioned that Mr. 

 Moens, in order to test the (doubtful) value of such 

 trees, gi'cw them in a separate portion of a plantation. 

 Our own impression is that although green leaves 

 and white blossoms are, geyurally, the best indic- 

 ations of true Ledgerianas, yet the red-leaved and 

 pink -blossomed trees are not to be despised until 

 their bark is tested. As a matter of fact adult 

 Ledgeriana trees have all green foliage : at least we 

 I'cmember no exception. For beauty, the old trees 

 with then' small green leaves are not to be com. 

 pared to the young plants with theii' rich, red velvety 

 foliage. Dr. Trunen's plant, if Mr. Howard is right, 

 is a pseudo-Lcdgrriana and a micranthoid, whicli is 

 very dreadful ; but there is some consolation in the 

 hope that all varieties of Calisayas may find refuge 

 ui the bosom of Weddell's mkrocarpa. Theie is 

 still, therefore, a locus pmnitentice for the Dutch and 

 British sinners, if they will but confess their ei-ror. 



There is an abstract of Mr. Howard's paper, but we 

 prefer to wait for the full report. Mr. Howard will 

 be the more lenient to erring brother botanists steing 

 that he confesses to having sent seeds of micraatha 

 to Jamaica as those of Ledgeriana. He was dec. ived 

 and then he was an agent of deception. With hia 

 warning against the cultivution of the impostor 

 niicranthas which simulate Calisaya, we quite concur ; 

 but for reasons repeatedly given, of vigorous growth 

 where Ledgerianas refuse to live, and of gradually 

 improved bark under cultivation and renewal, we 

 stand up for our old red-bark friend succitubra. 

 He is not an aristocrat, like Ledgeriana or calisaya 

 verde, but he is a useful member ot his family never- 

 theless. Apart from improvement from mere age, 

 the renewed bark seems to come nearer to that of 

 Ledgeriana at every shaving and renewal. How long 

 this process may go on, we cannot say os yet, but 

 clearly, while following Mr. Howard's advice as to 

 growing the best kinds, and especially Ledgeriana, 

 where and when we can, let us make a distinction 

 (as the Cardinal said with reference to the Pope's 

 soup and its atEiiity to hot water), and let the dis- 

 tinction be iu favour of growing what will best 

 succeed in. our exposures, soils and climates. Mr. 

 Christy's zeal in the cause of Calisaya virde and 

 morada is as noticeable in its way as Howard's 

 jealousy for the reputation of the true "rojo " Cali- 

 saya, and we trust and hope that all the best cinchonas 

 yet will be grown successfully in Ceylon. 



COFFEE PROSPECTS IN COORG. 



Mekc.\RA, May 20th. — As one interested, I h.ave the 

 greatest pleasiu-e in communicating to the South Indian 

 world the cheery and prosperous outlook tliere is before 

 us, planters, during the ensuing season. My former letters 

 were doubtless gloomy enough, and with reason, for the 

 crop of 1882-83 was one o£ the most terrible failures in 

 the annals of the cotfee industry in the country. The 

 causes and its results I have already described. The planters 

 who sent their coffee to be cured at Messrs. Morgan and 

 Sons, Maugalore, speak in the highest praise of the manner 

 it has been attended to. In some instances the turn-out 

 was at the rate of S3 parchment bushels to the ton. Xew 

 machinery has been lulded to their works, by means of 

 which, the silver-skin, all-to-be desired in coffee curing is 

 kept on, aud not broken off as in former years. This 

 silver-skin, I may ad<l, is a specialty of the highest class 

 of Mocha coffee, and until this year has never been arrived 

 at by our coffee, whilst the prices realised in the London 

 market have fully satisfied the highest expectations. Second 



