35° 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[November i, 1883. 



Now, after the mauifest success on Claverton estate, 

 the time liaa come whou your Plauters' A.'soL'iation 

 shcHild a^aiu taUe the matter iii baud c-'arucstly and 

 repeat th"ir jjetitiim to Government for a grant-iu-iiid 

 for the carrying out of a systematical, thoiough and 

 sitstahiffl trial witii a better cliauce of ol)taining that 

 assistance whifh the planting public are unable or un- 

 willing to give, than on a foimer occasion, when the 

 value of my syslem of periiiauent vaporization was, 

 as far as Oeylon is concerned, only problematical. 

 Should it come to the reabzation of such au energetic 

 movement, I will come over and superintend it in 

 person. I am on the trail of another important agent, 

 .and the planter.=i of the Kast shall have the benefit of 

 anything that by lengthened experience and dogged 

 perseverance on my purt may yet be accomplished. 

 FiuSiUy, to prevent any fartlier confusion in the 

 minds of operators as to the relative nature and pro. 

 prietorship of the two systeins of vaporization, I will 

 give the following short sketch : — 



Mr. Schrottky's system is a periodical, manual, and 

 direct application to the trees, of a carbolized powder, 

 Very much resembling the sulphur and lime treatment 

 and partaking of nearly all its defects. This material 

 is bulky (entailing the carriage of about 95 per cent 

 of ^\aste matter), laborious and expensive in applic- 

 ation, and uncertain in its eflfccts because dependent 

 upon the weather. It can only be used in dry 

 we.ather, whilst contiuuons or protracted rain mav 

 utterly prevent the obsei'v.ition of any degree of reg- 

 ularity in the periodical .applications, allowing 

 the fungus nver breatLiug time when it would 

 be most important to check it. Mr. Schottky's 

 permanent system is an adajitation nf my own for 

 anotlier form of his powder, which still entails the 

 tiansport of at least 75 per cent of waste useless bal- 

 last and a considerable amount of manual labor for 

 repeated stirrings up of the material iu the vessels, 

 whioh is calculated to act for a fortnight. In reality 

 Mr. Schrottky has no more claim to this permanent 

 treatment than I have to his process of dusting. 



My own system is entirely atmospheric and autom- 

 .atie ; it works in all weathers and works best when most 

 required, that is, during close muggy days .and sultry 

 showery nights. Mv latest improvement, the hollow 

 vortical cylinder placed ou to the bottom of my pattern 

 vessel and covered with bagging or blanketing, trebles 

 the evaporating surface and ensures the spontaneous 

 ev.aporation of every voldtile particle contained iu the 

 acid. The vessel can receive a supply for three months, 

 but, according to my olworv.ations, .and until I can get an 

 acid manufactured for this special purpose, I thiuk 

 monthly supplies of about two onuces of crude iicid at a 

 time the most eft'ectivo. If two ounces are found in 

 excess, you may either lengthen the periods of supply or 

 break off in the charge. 



My system should not cost more lhanX2 10s Od per 

 acre for the first year and Ic^s than half of that after- 

 wards. The saving planters will experience in the 

 matter of weeding, because there will always be more of 

 that on a field of bare trees than (in one carrying its 

 full foliage, will go a, long way to cover the expenditure 

 of the treatment. 



A great deal more might be faid on the report of 

 Claverton Committee, but I will not further encro.ach ou 

 your good nature, and remain, yours very faithfully, 



JACOB P. STORCK. 



CONTEMPLATIONS OF A OOPFEE-TEEE. 



Sir, — " There's life in the old tree yet," said one Dorai 

 to another as they Wiilked past me, pointing to a few 

 ripe berries on the end of my solitary leafy branch. 

 "Well," thiuk I to myself, "so there is, but for how long ?" 



Under my present treatment, I can feel about a dozen 

 grubs gnawing away at my roots, my hinves are diseased 

 niid drop oft me, and a colony of ants is destroying my 



stem under the moss with which I am now covered. A 

 big, tall suekt;r (almost the only green part about me) is 

 sapping my strength, and yet I'm alive. "Well, well, times 

 are indeed changed with me. Time was when the Dorai 

 would have got the sack for treating me so, but anyway 

 does now-a-days. My own opinion is that I could stand 

 one or perhaps two of these afflictions, but not the lot; 

 they do for me. The grubs would not trouble me very 

 much, if I had plenty of foliage to give me strength to 

 spread my roots, as of old ; neither should I fciel very 

 much the leaf-desease, if the grubs would only leave me 

 alone ; but to be attacked root, branch and stem, and 

 starved into the bargain, is a trifle too much for my 

 constitution. Though from here I can see fields, and 

 fields of vigorous fellow coffee-trees, older than 

 I, coveroil witla crop and leaves, because either 

 the grnljs have left that part of the estate, or leaf- 

 disease has spared it, and they have had .some nourish- 

 ment given to them. I am truly a nearly rootless, leaf- 

 less, moss-covered, neglected old coffee-stump; but bet- 

 ter times are coming, perhaps have come already. I know 

 from the conversations I now and then overhear that 

 some planters think the worst is past, and that I and my 

 fellows are now worth looking after and caring for a bit ; 

 and, to be candid, that's my own opinion too. For a week 

 past, the air has beenf uU of sidphurous vapors, which of course 

 has had some effect upon me. I feel as though I had been 

 physicked, but that conies only to help the turn in my^ condi- 

 tion which has alreaily taken place. Why, the treatment which 

 I have received for the last three or four years would have 

 killed me in my best time, years and years .ago ; and I'm 

 now getting on for thirty, still I'm alive. Only take a bit 

 of care of me and see wh.at I shall be next year. What 

 are you laughing at ? I only said "next year." 



I sliall not be sorry to have a neighbour or two, so long as 

 they don't come too near to me and will keep themselves to 

 themselves on the opposite hill, or the other side the river from 

 me. My roots won't stand any familiarity ou the part of any 

 other root whatever. I want all my ground to myself, 

 or I cave in. I'm one of the trees just above a cart-road, 

 so I can overhear a good deal of talk-as planters go up 

 aud down, which I'll perh.nps m.akc a note of and let you 

 have from time to time. I wish I was a tree just t>clow 

 the road — they seem as though they never had been any- 

 thing the matter with them. Well, the big, hot road pro- 

 tects them, and foods them and warms them. Why can't 

 I be protected and fed and Wiirmed ? I would give crops 

 then, seasons or no seasons, the same as they do. Then I 

 want pruning, which to me is the same thing as keeping 

 yourself clean, (.'leanliness keeps up your circulation, and 

 pruning saves wa^te of my sap and guides and forces it 

 into new wood. A few weeds don't trouble me so long as 

 they .are kept within bountis, and are not allowed to get too 

 big and harbour strangers. The white-weed aud I have 

 grown too long together not to have liecorae a bit reconciled 

 to each other, but my roots soon find out other intruders. 

 The least interference with them tells at once on my com- 

 plexion. Hullo ! there's a gang of coolies all about us. 

 Now what's going to hapoii ? AVhisk ! ott goes that terrible 

 sucker — Pooh I what a relief. 



Now the saw is half through me — off it goes ! six inches of 

 my top, and the moss and the ants are forcibly cleared 

 away from me, and all this in September. I feel better 

 already. Now all those dead and half-dead tough liranches 

 are cut oft', aud though there is not much of me left 

 I feel like a new tree, for what there is of me above ground 

 is now healthy and \igorous. These rains are already 

 forcing me to bud aud shoot, and I think new roots will keep 

 pace, as the worst mouth for my enemy, leaf-disease, is past. 



I do hope you'll come and see me next well, 1 won't 



say it if it m<akes you Laugh. I have been watching that Tea 

 a good deal and h.ave a good many remarks to make about 

 it, ou some other occasion ; and about that Cinchona too. 

 Ugh ! I shudder when I think of all the harm it has 

 done to me. It's Idlled more coffee than it's value would 

 restore. However, it seems ire are iu luck ou this estate, 

 for I overheard the Dorai say he was going to stick to his 

 coffee as long as his coffee will stick to him ; aud as it's 

 paying all the expenses this year, he's iu the right. 



I overhear peoiile who talk about what's in the papers 

 nearly everyday, and so I'm as well-informed almost as 

 though I read them myself. Armstrong and Owen hayo 



