September i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



163 



heavy pruning, bj' manuring, or by irrrigation, can 

 be good food for the worms, and trees that are shaded 

 or deprived in any way of their proper quantity of 

 sunlight are equally objectionable. 



I have mentioned the s:ipu as being probably one 

 of the trees best suited to our purpose. In "Silk in 

 India," compiled by Mr. J. Geoghegan, £ find the 

 following note on the silk of Anlhava Assnma — (a 

 closely allied species if not a variety m rdy of A. 

 l>aphia): — " Champa : the silk produced from the worm 

 feeding on this plant; [mkhdia) gives the hnest and 

 whitest silk." There is another tree which may prob- 

 ably Le made use of, since it is commonly met 

 within the jungle over 4,t00 feet elevation. It is the 

 tree the leaf of which so closely resemlJcs the tea 

 leaf that coolies are hardly able to distinguish them. 

 It is probably Eiirija serrala. The Atlas worm feeds 

 on this trie in Ini/'ia, and there should be no diffi- 

 culty in getting the Tasar wonn to feed on it also. 



Ill Dimbula worms of Atlas, Selene and Mylitta 

 have been reared on the Avocado pear and on 

 loqiiat, and in their wild state these three species may 

 be found oa the so-called " pataiia oak," the kahata. 



There are other species of wild eilk-producers, the 

 cultivation of which might give even better results 

 than the Tasar, bit tiie acclimatization of these is 

 a matter of time, and the commercial value of their 

 silks has yet to be ascertained. — Yours faithfully, 



PEKCY N. BRAINE. 



THE COFFEE PLANTING ENTERITJZE IN 

 CEYLON : ITS DRAWBACKS AT PRESENT. 



July 24th, 1SS3. 



Dear Sir,— The purport of my last letter was an 

 endeavour to shew wherein our mis-directed rcmedi- 

 cal measures for H. V. had failed, and that the 

 further blunder of indiscriminate cessation of cultiv. 

 ation was hardly t-urpassed by the next move, when 

 ciuclioua planting received exclusive attention, even 

 to the extent of being put alongside the already 

 heavily handicapped coffee tree, and yet we are sur- 

 prized at the failing-otr of its productive p:i\ver ! 

 Such treatment I hold, even in the palmy days and 

 iinder the most favorable circumstances of immunity 

 from pe.sts, suitable si-.isons, and yonng trees, could 

 have but ended dis.astrously. Verily it *s a matter 

 of surprize that coffee has life left in it to tell its 

 woeful tale. 



E.Khaustiou, unsuitability of soil and altitude, are 

 elements in tho combination, the noticing of which 

 I approach with less trepidation that I should have 

 a few years since when colfee was onr only resource, 

 for no one cared to believe that either of these con- 

 tingencies were applicable to his estate. Here, too, 

 tho " fungus " was made the scape-goat ! It goes 

 without saying, however, that had the possibility of 

 such been sooner recognized, attention would have 

 been turned to substitutes before they were so rudely 

 forced upon us. 



You will remember the howl of indignation th.at 

 burst on Sir Uercules Pi,)biusou* when he vent- 

 ured to insinuate, in a memorable dispatch, that 

 coffee might not prove a permanent imlustry" in 

 Ceylon. I doubt not, but that he was led to this 

 rational conclusion in reflecting on the habits of 

 fruit-bearing trees in more temperate climes, for do 

 not they all require frequent renewing, and replace- 

 ment when at length the artificial methods adopted 

 in forcing crops impair their vitality ! Might we not 

 have read a lesson from nature itself? Are not all 

 fruita and other trees sooner or later replaced when 

 they are left to nature's laws? In short, is it not 

 a racognition of this law which renders rotation of 



* Was it not in a speech of Sir Wm. Gregory ? — Ed, 



crops imperative if they are to be remunerative ? 

 Why therefore should coffee alone have been exempt 

 in any respect from a law so universal? I say that 

 an earlier recognition of such a possibdity would 

 have saved much anxiety and a great deal of money. 

 But because such is undoubtedly the case and be- 

 cause the all-pervading fungus latterly swept away 

 the small and fitful profit margins, is that any good 

 reason why every estate and every district shoutd be 

 deemed worthless as coffee producers ? Where ex- 

 haustion arises from age or where estates in coffee 

 never could have been protitable there m.ay yet be 

 a bright future in store for them, for I agree with 

 Mr. Bo-.auquet when be says there is not an acre of 

 opened land that may not by dint of patient and intelli- 

 gent energy, be turned to advantage in some product. 

 Exhaustion through the wash of years, I look upon 

 as irremediable, and I think it may not be out of 

 place here to sound a" note of warning to those who 

 meditate the substitution of tea for coffee : where 

 nothing but subsoil I'emains disappointment only can 

 result, more especially so where the " lay " is steep 

 and the land cannot be worked up. The existence 

 of such places is no reason why the whole industry 

 should be branded. The fungus but accelerated by 

 a few years only the end of such ; on con-iparati\-ely 

 young estates and with rational treatment, good 

 crops may yet be counted on. 



It would not be diHicult to name many old estates 

 which or as many years have given anuu d returns of 

 from 30 to 40 per cent, on the original cost and opening 

 out of the land ; where can we find another agricultural 

 industry that has better eirnedfor the soil the short rest 

 that substitution of anotlier product entails; or for that 

 matter the more lengthened one of utter abandon- 

 ment, or any industry that less merits the indiscrim- 

 inae deelaiuation of croakers? Grub comes next 

 in my list, and althougli a more tangible pest than 

 our "bogy'' fungus, the means of r.ciding ourselves of 

 its ravages must be similar to those I suggest for 

 the more subtle enemy. Few planters believe in tho 

 formidable proportions which these insects have 

 reached. A tree is seen almost leafless, and it is at 

 once concluded that H. V. is the cause thereof. Of 

 recent years tliere has been so little disturbauce of 

 the soil that their increased numliers liave not at- 

 trao'ed attention. I have frequently been assured by 

 neighbours that they had no grub, but on cireful 

 search being made there they were in large numbers. 

 I am strongly of opiuiou that the ravages of these 

 insects have more to do with the falling-olf in 

 the bearing i-ower of our coffee trees in thw younger 

 districts of Dimbula, Dikoya and Maskeliya. than'all 

 the elements iu the combination jjut togetlier. 



The instinct aud voracity of theje creatures are mar- 

 vellous, for they will destroy aud greedily devour al- 

 most any vegetable or animal substance they fall in 

 with, aud they have a wonderful faculty for select- 

 ing lirst,^ as food, that which is most palatable to 

 them. Coffee rootlets seem to be their .special weak- 

 ness; but even the bitter rootlet of cinchona, iu the 

 absence of the former, is not despised by them, nor 

 is that of grass and almost every description of weed. 

 I am told that they will not "attack the roots of tea 

 hushes, but of this I am very sceptical, and, were 1 

 planting it where 1 knew they existed, I should 

 adopt every possible means of reducing their uunibers. 

 In dealing with this pest, we have not been content 

 with a patient and persistent course of ameliorating 

 measures. The well-known applications of lime and 

 salt as insect destroyers have been scouted because 

 forsooth some pseu'o e.v:periinentalist pave forth that 

 he had seen the insects living thrivingly in these. 

 If they are elFective in other countries, "when all the 

 conditions are observed in rendering them so, wliy 

 should they not be so here ? 



