45° 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[December i, 1883. 



started by the Scottish Arboncultur.il Society, under 

 the full expectation that it may lend to a school 

 of Forestry being established in Edinburgh. — I aiu 

 dear sirs, yours faithfully, J. ALEXANDER. 



[The Queen is Patroness of the projiosed Exhib- 

 ition, and it is to be supported by the leading societies 

 and individuals in Scotland. We give the prospectus 

 and classification beloiv, and we trust Ceylon will 

 make a good show of forestry products on this occa- 

 sion. — Ed ] 



INTERNATIONAL FORESTRY EXHIBITION, EDIN- 

 BURGH, 1884 :— PROSPE0TU.S AND CLASSI- 

 FICATION. 

 Class i. — Peactical Forkstkt. — 1. Implements, tools 

 etc., used in forestry, draining, enclosing, etc.; surveying- 

 instruments, chains, dendrometers, etc. 2. Models of for 

 esters' huts, charcoal kilns, timber slips, sluices, dams, 

 weirs. 3. Plans of river emb-iukmeuts, rafts, and ap- 

 pliances for floating timber. 4. Models and machinery 

 for transporting timber and transjjlanting trees. 5. Saw- 

 mills — wood-working and pulp machinery of every des- 

 cription, in motion or otherwise. 6. Fencing materials. 

 Classii. — Forest Pkoduce, Raw and M.anupactoked. — 1, 

 Collections of timber specimens and ornamental woods : a. 

 Indigenous or naturalised, b. Esotic. 2. AVoods used for 

 ordnance — as gun carriages, etc. .0. "Woods used for rail- 

 way nurjjoscs, natural and prepared. 4. Wood pavements. 

 5. Cooperage^tuKs, barrels, etc. C. Wood carving and 

 turnery, with tools used. 7. Basket and wicker work. 

 8. Fancy woodwork, including bog oak, veneers, parque- 

 terie, stained and coloured woods, etc. 1). M'ood engrav- 

 ing. 10. Bamboos, canes, reed.s, and manufactures there- 

 from. 11. Tanning substances — barks and extracts. 12, 

 Dyeing substances— woods, roots, flower.'^, etc. 13. Barks, 

 including oork. 14. Fibres and fibrous substances. 15. 

 Materials for paper manufacture. 16. Gums, resins, and 

 gum el.asties. 17. Wood oils and varnishes — including lac 

 of sorts. 18. Drugs, foods, spices. 19. Charcoal for 

 gunpowder, tinder, etc. 20. Peat and its products. 21. 

 Cones, seeds, and fruits of trees and shrubs. 



Class hi.— SciEvriKic Fokestrt. — 1. Botanical speci- 

 mens of forest flora. 2. Microscopic sections of woods. 

 3. Parasites — Fun^i and lichens injurious to trees. 4. 

 Forest fauna injurious to woods. 5. Entomology. — Useful 

 and noxious insects, and damage produced — as pine beetles, 

 weevils, etc., coffee borers, white ants, moths, carpenter 

 bees, locusts, etc., with specimens, as far as possible, illus- 

 vrative of the specific damage done by them. 6, Preser- 

 tative proces-ses applied to timber. 7. Geological speci- 

 mens and diagrams illustrating the different formatiou.s 

 adapted to the growth of trees. 8. Fossil plant* — col- 

 lections illustrative of the trees of coal measures, etc. '0 

 Trees found in bogs— oak, fir, etc. 



Class iv. — Ornamental Fouesjky. — Growing specimens 

 of rare and ornamental trees and naturalised species — in 

 tubs or otherwise. Rustic work — arbours, bridges, seats, etc. 



Class v.— Illusteative fokkstry. — Painting.?, photo- 

 graphs, and drawings of remarkable and historical trees — 

 Foliage and scenery. Delineations of trees in their 

 native countries, or of recent and important introductions. 

 Illustrations or jjhotographs .showing effects of blight 

 accident, or .any abnormal condition, including those of 

 parasitical plants. Sketches of work and operations in 

 the forests. N.B. — Special attention is invited to this class. 



Class vi. — F'orest LiTERAruiffi and Hisionv. — I. Re- 

 ports of forest schools — forest periodicals and other pub- 

 licalions— manuals and almanacs — treatises on measuring 

 and valuing woods — forest floras of different countries — 

 treatises on fixation of dunes, and on ancient or extinct 

 forests. 2. (a.) Working plans of forests, and plantations 

 of estates, valuations, surveys, etc. (b). Maps charts, etc,, 

 illustrative of the geographical distribution of forest trees, 

 and their altitude. N. B. — Special attention is invited to 

 section 2. 



Class vit. — Essays and Reports. — Essays and reports 

 on specific subjects, for which premiums are offered as 

 per separate schedule. 



Class viii.— Loan Collections. 



Class ix. — Miscellaneous. 



RUBBER : THE CULTIVATION AND THE HAIl- 

 VESTIN6 OP THE PRODUCT IN CEYLON. 

 Golconda, Haputale, IGth Nov. 1SS3. 



Dear Sir, — By today's tappal I send for your in- 

 spection 18 cakes of rubber from Rosebury estate ; 

 each cake may be considered half-day's work of a 

 cooly. The smaller cakes represent the collection 

 from trees from 12 to IS months old, and were ou 

 day of collection almost as large as the others from 

 trees 2.| to ." years. The milk from young trees ia there- 

 fore of a very inferior quality, and for this it is scarcely 

 worth running the risk of bringing valuable trees to 

 premature decay. " VV." has stated that the tree will 

 probably be sbort-lived, but a too early tapping is 

 not calculated to lengthen its life. 



If rubber does not fall much in price in the London 

 market, the rubber cultivation will pay handsomely, 

 as the milk from the older trees is as rich in com- 

 parison with the younger, as richly-fed cattle milk 

 is to poor skimmed. 



From early morning till about noon, the trees yield 

 mnst, and after that tapping should c-ase for the day, 

 as it is not worth injuring the bark of the tree for 

 all the yield ot milk. 



We have yet much to learn, but in our anxiety 

 after practical knowledge we should avoid the danger 

 of weakening trees by tapping too soon. — Youra faith- 

 fully, J. W. 



BLACKENED COFFEE LEAVES. 



Dear Sir, —The cause of the black disease being 

 lieither insects nor fungi, I must, of necessitj, conclude 

 that it is from within. But II. V. and B. D. are 

 closely allied, as you will see by the enclosed, so 

 that both are external and both caused by the un- 

 healthy state of the formation fluid. 



In Orr's Circle of the Sciences, "Organic Nature," 

 vol. ii, page 173, is the following:^" Fungi, moulds, 

 morels, mildews, blight and puff-balls grow for the most 

 part upon decaying matter." (He might have said all.) 



Then why should our coffee be an exception to 

 this general rule? Organic nature works by general 

 laws (see the fern period and the present), not by 

 hops and jumps, and my belief is that all and 

 every species of fungi are all an evolution from de- 

 caying matter. — Yours taithfnlly, J. HAWKE. 



[Mr. Hawke generabz-s widely from ihe occurrence 

 of spots on coffee leaves similar to those ouguui- 

 leaves, which are of atmospheric or of chemical origin. 

 Both this and He.mileia vaxtatrix, a distinct external 

 fungus, are due to the unhealthy state of " the form- 

 ation fluid " ! Then all fungi are evolved from decay- 

 ing matter. Mr. Hawke evidently means that the leaf 

 fungus is not the cinse but only the effect of decay 

 which had set tip in our coffee. All the evidence la 

 .against him. Decay has its own special fungi, but 

 h. V. is not one of them. It came and saw and con- 

 qnered not decaying but emineutly flourishing and 

 well-eared-for vegetation. — Ed.] 



TEA SEED AND RESULTING PLANTS. 



20th November 1S83. 

 Dear Sir, — Would your correspondent " H." (page 

 448) give us the distance of carriage and tell us how the 

 19^ maunds of Rookwood tea seed were packed ? 30,000 

 jAaid .sraised from amaund of seed is exceptionally good, 

 1 should think, and does credit to the grower. Seed 

 freshly gatliered with little or no carriage does generally 

 do well", i>ud what is "H."'s reason for advising 

 Indian tea seed, jat inferior, for supplies at a cost, 

 without nurseries, of R17 odd per 1,000 as experienced 

 in his own case, 9 miunds only giving 51,20U or 5, 088, 

 per maund? " H."'s letter shows one ougnt to buy from 

 a known tea and Acareful manager. — Yours, \), 



