36 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Jtjly 2, 1883. 



no* sent by Mr. 0\vea are all luxurinnt and some 

 shiw vBry beautiful purple colouring and pink vein- 

 in;;;. Excepting, perhaps the very large pure green 

 leaves, all the other types are familiar to iia as 

 occurring in the folinge of trees grown from Leilgeriana 

 seed receivedfrom Jiva. In some oases, those of large 

 leaves, \vith purple colouring ou the undersides, we 

 should have suspecto 1 miorantha, but that Mr. Howard 

 sp.ike 80 strongly in favour of Mr. Christy's speci- 

 mens. W'l sincerely trust that Mr. Howard's report 

 of the bark will sh >w strong affinity, if not identity, 

 with the l)03t Ledgerianas. The growth of the plants, 

 as recorded by Mi- Oweu, and the luxuriance of 

 the le;vvea are all that could be desirod, and we are 

 very sanguine that even Mr. Howard may yet be 

 satis lied with the extent to which the best quinine- 

 yielding cinchonas are grown in Ceylon. The leaves 

 lie at our offieo for inspection.— Ed.] 



SEASONAL INFLUENCE AND SHORT COFFEE 



CROPS-MORE ESPECIALLY IN HIGH 



DISTRICTS IN CEYLON. 



June 2nd, I8S3. 

 Dear Sir,— In the Observer of 30th May, your 

 oeneral planting con-cspondent says that we cannot 

 oompliin th vt the past blossoming season has been an 

 abnormal mie and yet the crop is short. 



In taking up the seasonal side of the question, I 

 am aware that I am advocating an unpopular cause ; 

 but I am still rash enough to maintain the opinion 

 that the season is mainly responsible for the difference 

 between paving and non-paying crops. In the first 

 place, the calculation was that, after euch a sea&ou 

 of wet and low teoiperature as we had experienced 

 from the time that the last S. W. monsoon set in till 

 the end of the year, we should have an unusually 

 dry blossoming season. A wet blossiming season in 

 fact following upon a wet S. W. monsoon was an 

 unknown experience in the memory of the oldest 

 planter. Now the blossoming season just ended was 

 not an' abnormal one if it had followed a season of 

 moderate rainfall, but was nevertheless a far less 

 favorable season than we had ;reaeori to expect after 

 such -months of continuous rainfall as we had been 

 favored with from the setting in of the previous S. W. 

 monsoon. Up to the middle of February, there was 

 no blossoming weather whatever and at that date the 

 hopes of most planters were at zero. From that tune 

 till the real burst of tlie present S. W. monsoon, the 

 season was of a fairly favorable character in the 

 middle and lower lying districts, while in the higher 

 districts rain fell every ten days. I maintain that an 

 unsually dry blossoming season, such as we had 

 reason to look for, was alone capable of doing 

 away with the ill-ell>ots of tlie previous immoderate 

 rainfall, and that in all the years since leaf-disoase 

 set in never was blossom formed and crop set 

 therefrom under gVeacer difficulties. The March 

 blossom, from which most estates expect to get such 

 crop' as they have, was only converted from leaf 

 into blossom by the sun which shone upon us for 

 •I short three weeks after the February rains ceased. 

 In the middle of February the coffee was running to 

 leaf as fa';t as it was possilile to do so, and this 

 leaf was pulled up short aud converted into blossom, 

 contrary to its previous intention and much against 

 its will. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that 

 a laffc proportion of it failed to set, seeing that 

 t'le weather had once more become undecided at tlie 

 time of its opening. From that time forward the 

 weather never held up fine for more than a fort- 

 uiaht continuously, and the history of the April 

 lilossom is only too sadly present to the minds of 

 M to need recounting. 

 ■^r -h is a pretty true record, generally speaking. 



of the blossoming season of 1883, not an abnormally 

 bad one doubtless, but still far from being a favour- 

 able one, taking into consideration what had pre- 

 ceded it. 



The reason why the ' seasonal ' view is looked 

 upon with such disfavour is that the old planters, 

 who are naturally referred to as the local oracles, 

 cannot get out of their minds tho pre-leaf-diseaso 

 era. when coffee was capable of putting on a crop :n 

 nnfavoiirablo seasons even. No one, as far as I 

 know, denies the ill-effects of leaf-disease, but still 

 we have had iiaying crops during the period of its 

 reign whenever the seasons were favourable. I hold, 

 therefore, that coffee, though leaf-disease has made 

 it more sensitive to the effects of uufavourablo 

 weather than it used to be in former days, will etill 

 give us remunerative crops in the future when the 

 good seasons return, aud that it is the combination 

 of adverse influences which is responsible for its 

 present low condition. Remove one of them for a few 

 years and it will again gather up its strength to stand 

 as the leading cultivation of the country. — Yours 

 faithfully, W. D. B. 



[We do not know that the seasonal theory is so 

 unpopular as our correspondent supposes ; although, 

 in respect of the older districts at a medium and 

 low elevation, we certainly have heard it said that 

 the blossoming season was simply " perfection. We 

 suppose a large number hold the view that the 

 higher districts suffer from abnormal seasons added 

 to the effects of leaf-disease, but that had leaf- 

 disease never appeared our coffee trees would have 

 continued to give fair returns even in the face of 

 unfavourable seasons. We tiust our correspondent's 

 sanguine viewa may be speedily justified, but the 

 good time coming has been " lang o' comin', lang 

 o' comin'." — Ed.] 



LEDGERIANA FLOURISHING IN POOR SOlL. 

 Kaloogala, 3rd June 1883. 



Dear Sir, — The following details are interesting as 

 showing the comparative growth of cinchona ledger- 

 iana and succirubra. 



In 1879 I planted a poor piece of patana coffee 

 with purchased plants of cinchona succirubra. Last 

 year only I discovered that one of the trees amongst 

 those planted at that time was a true Ledgeriaiia. It 

 was rising three years old before I found it out, and 

 had received no special care, neither is it growing in 

 the spoil of a road or drain, and has always in fact 

 had exactly the same chance as the suoeu'ubra sur- 

 rounding it. 



The measurements of the Ledger tree and the succi- 

 rubras on each side show that the former, at this 

 elevation aud in this climate at least, will jn'ovr as 

 fast as succirubra, to say nothing of the bark being 

 nearly twice as thick. The measurements of the succi- 

 rubra show a very slow growth for the Jige, -the 

 soil being exceedingly poor, but it is satisfactory to 

 know that Ledger will do well in a poor soil. No 

 holes were cut for any of the plants put out in this 

 patch. The measurements were taken in March last 

 and the trees were planted in November 1879. [3 

 years and 7 months. — Ed.] 



The elevation at which they are growing is about 

 2,800 feet. 



Ledgeriana Tree. 



Height 12 feet 



Girth at foot li} inches 



,, at 1 foot from ground ... 9.i ,, 



Succirubra Ti'ee. 



Height ... .: ... ... 9i feet 



(iirth at foot 9| inches 



,, at 1 foot from ground ... 7§ ,, 



