262 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1883. 



n not, doesuot matter. Further, willing to give tlio 

 experiment every justice, I have for the laat 8 mouths 

 had uO tius with pure carbolic acid placed uuder 50 

 trees, the trees being all close together, aud the 

 acid renewed four times within this period, and I 

 exceedingly regret to say that I have not during this 

 time seen the least difference between these trees 

 and others not treated, not even ia retarding the fall 

 of leaf. All the conditions necessary for the testing 

 of the power of the acid ou the spores were, I thiuk 

 it will bo admitted, present here, aud as Mr. Marshall 

 Ward statt-s, tliat the only time the acid can have 

 any effect is when the germinal tube is exposed to 

 its iullueucj before entering the stoma, surely here, 

 if at auy time, its results would have been apparent 

 in the destruction o( these germial tubes ; but what 

 do we (iud — frerjuont crops of healthy spores ! Will 

 Mr. Storck object that here the esperiment was 

 conducted on too small a scale, then 1 refer him to 

 his own alleged cure of two Liberian coffee trees in 

 a Kroup of /!«•, by hanging a phial with a 3 per cent 

 solution of acid with water in their lowest branches I 

 Mr. .Storck wrote so positively, that I aud others 

 who tried his remedy were most sanguine of success, 

 and reluctant to admit failure, aud it was only when 

 month after month went by, and we saw no mitig- 

 ation of the disease, other than occurred naturally, that 

 we were forced to the belief that carbolic acid vapour 

 had no effect upon leaf-disease. Whether the carbolic 

 remedy proves a success or a failure, Mr. Storck is 

 entitled to the thanks of all Ceylou planters for initiat- 

 ing the experiments, and for the intelligence, patience 

 and perseverance he has shown in conducting them. 

 " It is better to have tried and failed, than never to 

 have tried at all.'' L'ke mauy others who have pro- 

 pounded a remedy for coflee leaf-disease, Mr. Storck 

 has been too sauguine, and has allowed his hopes to 

 outiun his judgment ; his having chiinged his method so 

 often proTes this, and that he was too hasty in his first 

 conclusions. My hopes of anj' good resulting from 

 further experiments are very small, but as Mr. Storck's 

 thiuks that some reparation is due from mo I will 

 willii-.gly carry out his directions as contaiued in his 

 letter of 6lh July, aud report results. The utensils 

 I have been using are round tin cups, 4^ inches deep, 

 4 inches diameter at bottom, 4J inches at top, fitted 

 with a lid that overlaps the cup, one inch all round ; 

 the space between the rim of the cup aud the lid 

 is li inch.— Tours truly, WILLIAM JAKDINE. 



P.S.— Mr. Storck refers to the expc-rimputs of the 

 C. C. Ltd. as the only one that was prop.rly con- 

 ducted. Have these expcriiiieuts been reported? The 

 experiments were, I believe, carried on in 15 separate 

 estates and by 15 diflerent gentlemen. If you could 

 get tliose reports published they w-ould perh.ips be 

 more conclusive than mine. W. J. 



[We hope the Manager of the Company will publish 

 the results of the experiments. — Ed.] 



CEARA KUBBER CULTIVATiEoN! 



Bon Efpoir, DiudamuU, 31st Aug. 18S3. 



Sir, — I shall be obliged if any of your correspond- 

 ents can give me statistics as to the yield of Ceara 

 rubber trees. The question before us now is "Will 

 they pay ?" They grow here vigorously. I have one 

 planted in March («eecl put down in February) now 

 C feet 6 inches high. Another thing, does anyone know 

 if it would auBwer as shade to coffee ?— Yours faith- 

 fully, JAMK.S P. SMITH. 



[Our correspondent may rest assured in securing- 

 throuf;h the 'J', A., all the information within our 

 reach: several short reports appeared lately and the 

 results of fuither experience win soon be made known. 

 Ceara Rubber is not to be the snccfes that was at one 

 time anticipated ; but it is too SQon yet to gay it has 

 proved a failare,— Ed.] 



COFFEE AND WEEDS. 



Dfae Sie, — Coffee planting since clean weeding has been 

 conducted ou some of the i»-inciples of horticulture. Though 

 everyone may not know the tlieory of horticulture, still they 

 know sometJiing about it by practice : they know that 

 nicely made beds kept smooth and clean look nice, and 

 they know that if they want a good garden they must 

 put in plenty of manure and in dry weather water night 

 and morn. The water is put ui to keep the plant pro- 

 vided with plenty of food, so that it mil not take up 

 water without a suiJicient supply of food. If a plant takes 

 up more water than a srdfieieut supply of food, it can only 

 have impoverished sap. If it has impoverished sap as soon 

 as it gets any bright sunshine the sap gets disorganized, 

 and the plants get morbid, and mildew sets in. The 

 watering in dry weather is done to enable the plant to 

 feed itself, as a plant cannot take up its food without 

 moistm-e. In coffee we might be able to supjrly the plant 

 with manra-e, hut we cannot water it in dry weather, so 

 that we must turn from horticultm-e to what coffee-planting 

 is called and that is agriculture. 



In agx-icultirre there must be au intermediate crop to regul- 

 ate the moisture and thus beuelit the main crop, that is, to 

 keep the soil moist in dry weather and absorb the super- 

 abuudaucG of moisture in wet weather, and thus prevent 

 the main crop getting sick in wet weather and being 

 starved in dry. In the above lies the whole secret of 

 " what ails oirr coffee." 



There is a time for everytlring, and now the jjlanters 

 have to learn when to weed and wlien not to weed. Those 

 that do not know will, I have no doubt, be taught by 

 their V. A.'s but do not forget that the white weed 

 contains the very essential food of the coffee ti-ee. — Yours 

 truly, G. F. HALLILEY. 



[We thiuk Mr. Halhley may now rest on his lam-els 

 in the shape of a mural crown of white weed. Every 

 planter will acknowledge that ageratum contains all the 

 elements of coffee, which it abstracts from the soU. Could 

 the weed be turned down into the soil, gi-eeu and seed- 

 less, then we gi-aut it woidd be valuable. But this weed 

 has a fearful capacity for seeding early and plentifully 

 and once it seeds the coffee elements ai-e lost to the soU 

 and the coffee ti-ee. Hence the hatred of planters for 

 white weed. Liebig advised the growth of lupins amongst 

 coffee, but only to he tm-ned over into the soil before the 

 flowering stage. To deave weeds or a subsidiary crop to 

 go on growing and propagating is as contrary to agri- 

 culture as to horticulture. — En.] 



MR. HALLILEY STICKS TO HIS WEEDS AND 

 SHEWS HOW THEY WERE TRIED AND 

 PROVED SATISFACTORY. 

 Dear Sir,— Some ten years ago, I told the then 

 manager of the Oriental Bank that planters must be 

 allowed to grow weeds. He told people that I was 

 visionary, but time has proved who was right. When 

 Haputale was first opened, the cry was " that there 

 was somethiug wrong with the soil," that in time 

 W.13 forgotten, and since all districts have been kept 

 clean, the cry h.aB been the weather, which is down- 

 right bl.asphemy,' when it is not the weather but the 

 cultiratiou that has gone wrong. It is not difficult 

 to see how the cultivation went wrorrg. When ihe 

 railway was opened, it was an easy matter for the 

 Colombo people to come upcountry. The planter said 

 that the man who kept his place clean got pushed 

 on aud soon found that unless he found the rule he 

 would lose his situation or credit. In the Ceylon 

 Observer of the 5th inst. there is an account of how 

 coffee is cultivated in "Java," by wdiich it appears 

 " that they have no weeding during crop and for one 

 month after, that during the blossom time they allowed 

 no one into the cuffee, and that coffee roughly handled 

 is sure to bring on the leaf-disease." Is not the way 

 coffee is cultivated in Ceylon, treating it roughly, by 

 pruning it year after year whether it wants it or not 

 and by kce|iing the land clean and thus making it 



* Now that 111-. Halliley has begun to use hard words, it 

 is tiias Ji* should be shut up.— Ed, 



