July 2, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



35 



dition, hi3 method in writing for the publication by 

 the press of Ceylon, and will be bouud that few 

 would attain to the dignity of examination by an 

 official committee. J. P. S. 



[It would be well for Mr. Storck'a own credit that 

 he visited Cejlou, for the general impreasion now is 

 that the carbolic gas cure has been far more a failure 

 than that by lime and sulphur. The feeling is strong 

 that, if Mr. Storck's remedy had been successful even 

 in his own case, the Fiji planters would not neglect 

 it as they have done. — Ed.] 



AN INSECT ATTACKING TEA PLANTS. 



May 25ht, 1883. 



Sir, — A considerable number of tea plants about 

 here have gone out this year, and I have been puzzled 

 to account for the cause. The tea plants in ques- 

 tion, from one year old up to four, had lost a portion, 

 from § to 1 inch, of their stem bark just about the 

 level of the giound. A cooly has today brought 

 me a poochie which he says he caught biting a tea 

 plant in the part mentioned. I enclose you the 

 poochie for your inspection, a .1 shall feel obliged by 

 your informing me whether it has anything to do 

 with the matt,,r.— Yours truly, PLANTER, 



[The insect, a small green beetle, unfortunately escapi d 

 before we could pet it identified ; but the damage may 

 have been caused by the black or brown grub, which by 

 ringing young ooiiee plants, just at the junction with the 

 soil, often necessifavtes repeated replantings. This grub 

 has usually dom little harm to tea beyond nippiug 

 the top of nursery plants which have grown again. 

 Crickets are great tea pests in India and in the low- 

 country in Ceylon, — Ed.] 



THE FUTURE OF COFFEE. 



Kandy, 25th May 1883. 

 Sir, — Is coSee doomed to extinction inevitable and 

 irretrievtible ? For my part, I have no desire to write 

 dogmatically on a subject of such importance, for only 

 a very wide experience of its history, condition, and 

 prospects, in every district in the island, can justify 

 the expression of a decided opinion. After a long 

 absence from the country, and tlie continual receipt 

 of bid news from Ceylon — of leaf-disease growing 

 worse and worse, and crops growing shorter and 

 shorter — I was surprized, on first visiting the cofifee 

 districts, to find the trees apparently in such good 

 heart and vigor. I thouglit I never saw them looking 

 better. Leaf-disease seemed to me to be conspicuous by 

 its absence, and I asked ; " Why do these trees not 

 bear ?" The answers usually were a simple reiteration 

 of the fact, that pruning and manuring produced new 

 wood, and^ew leaves, but very little crops. Even 

 where good blossoms came out and set, ihe berries could 

 not be depended upuii to ripen. Failing to see the 

 affected leaf disfiguring every tree and every branch, 

 as was the case ten years ago, I jumped to the con- 

 clusion that not leaf disease but some abnormal 

 and mysterious atmospheric condition was the true 

 cause of our calamity. This might change suddenly, 

 and restore to -the coflfee its old fertility, and to the 

 country its old prosperity. But further observation 

 has compelled me to modify this opinion. While I 

 took tliat view, I persuaded myself that everything 

 pointed to the fact that we were on the eve of a 

 change. I am now, however, of a difll'eient opinion. 

 Nothing, it seems to me, but the immediate disappear- 

 ance of leaf-disease will save from destruction the 

 remnant of the coffee which has not already been 

 virtually killed by it, and by it alone ; the end being 

 accelerated of course by neglected, because, apparently, 

 profitless cultivation. What I failed to see in the 

 apparently luxurious coffee, until it wai pointed out to 



me, was that the effect was produoed by entirely n w 

 leaves, and that the inside old wood upon wluch 

 ought to hang an almost impenetrable mass of old 

 foliage, was quite bare and leaHess. Professor Attlield, 

 in a recent paper on the mp 0/ plants, calls the '• leaf 

 system" of a tree its " great digesting, or rather, 

 developing and transpiring apparatus" ; and, although 

 there is nothing new in this, it is as well 

 sometimes to be reminded of it. He further 

 says that "the substance of a tree" (which of course 

 includes crop, or its seed) is formed from the sap, 

 which is caused to circulate by. "chemical force"; 

 and that this chemical force is derived " from the 

 heat force poured on to its leaves by the sun." Now 

 there must be a very great difference between old matured 

 leaves and the new leaves hanging only to new " wood." 

 The function of these latter must be restricted to 

 the service of the new wood, and can have little to 

 do with the economy of the tree, or the circulation 

 of the sap. Leaf-disease has deprived the tree of this 

 essential part of its system. What wonder, therefore, 

 that the tendency — in order to restore this equilibri- 

 mu — is to run into leaf instead of into crop (where 

 the trees are still vigorous) or that little or no effect 

 is made at all where the tree has already been for 

 a season deprived of its entire leaf system, except a few 

 at the ends of the branches, which at last disappear 

 also, leaving . the bare and ruined trees now seen on 

 thousands of acres, to which each year will add 

 thousands more ? Judicious pruning and manuring and 

 favourable aspects and lay and soil will preserve 

 coffee so treated and situated the longest. The question 

 is : how long will it be (if leaf-r'isease continues its 

 ravages) until the bust and last of the coffee, shares 

 the fate of that which has already succumbed ? Per- 

 haps, not one only, but many, of your correspondents 

 will give their views on this question. 



Would you also be good enough to republish a short 

 and concise account of the life-history of the leaf-dis- 

 ease ? The ignorance that prevails on this subject ia 

 astounding. Notwithstanding its importance I have 

 not found one who could tell me anything of the 

 earliest, iutermediate and last stages of its life and 

 action. OLD PLANTER. 



[We shall look up the subject and try to give a 

 succinct summary. — Ed.] 



CALISAYA VERDE LEAVES. 



Dear Sir, — I send you various leaves of Calisaya 

 verde plants. You will note they have nearly all the 

 characteristics of the typical Ledgerianas, but, as a 

 whole, perhaps show a heightened red in the uuder- 

 leaf and midrib. I do not think all Ledgeriana trei s 

 lose the red foliage. I have trees of 2J years which 

 still shew the deep red on the underleaf. 1 his, of 

 course, is quite distinct from the red colour leaves 

 assume at certain periods, or previous to decay. There 

 are, I believe, several sorts of Calisayas distinguished 

 in Bolivia by the red or yellow in the leaves and 

 midrib or by the gn-eu of the leaf, such as Morada, 

 2amba Morada, Roja, Narangada, and Calisayi verde. 



I am sending samples of verde bark to Mr. Howard, 

 which perhaps may be of interest on analysis. The 

 trees, however, are now only 4' 6" or so — at a year 

 old— and are the result of small 4-leaved seedlings put 

 out to save the season. — Yours faithfully, 



J. V. H. OWEN. 



P.S. — The leaves may be of interest to any who 

 may wish to examine them. 



[We did not fail in our latest article on Mr. How- 

 ard's Ledgeriana-mkrantha paper to point out the 

 difference between the natural red colour of the leaves 

 of some Ledgerianas and the brilliant red to scarlet 

 colours assumed by the leaves of all the calisayas 

 when in a state of decay. The collection of leaves 



