March i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



5S7 



The Phylloxeea Pest in France.— The average 

 yield of the French vintage for the four years from 

 1875 to 1878, inclusive, was 1,275,000,000 gallons. 

 The last three vintages have decreased at a greater 

 rate than 100,000,000 gallons per year, and now 

 it is reported that in the vintage of 188G more 

 than one -fifth of the yield was produced from dry 

 raisins and dregs of the first and second press. 

 Although it is beginning to be the fashion to as- 

 cribe this decrease chiefly to mildew and other 

 causes, the presence of the phylloxera must be re- 

 garded as one of its principal causes. After a 

 variety of researches only one method has been 

 found to effectually kill this in.^ect, and that is by 

 inundation, begun in November and continued for 

 forty days. The vineyard on which this experi- 

 ment was tried was one of the first to be attacked. 

 In 1867 the wine produced was 925 hectolitres ; in 

 1868, 40 ; in 1869, 35 ; in 1870, the first year of 

 submersion, 120 hectolitres. Since that year the 

 quantity produced has gradually increased, until it 

 has nearly reached its normal figure, and the vines 

 have regained their vigour. The commission ap- 

 pointed in France, which publish every year such 

 a heavy report, have chiedy studied methods for 

 killing the insect underground, and but little pract- 

 ical benefit has attended their action. Had they 

 directed their energies to a policy of extermination 

 above ground very different results might have been 

 attained. — Colonies and India. 



A Tour throuhh the Brazilian Coffee Dis- 

 tricts.— By permission of Messrs. Behrens & Lands- 

 berg, the following interesting Santos report, dated 1st 

 September, was reprinted in INIessrs. Oarey & Browne's 

 weekly circular of the 21th October. — "We have lately 

 visited Campinas and around as far as Sao Carlos do 

 Pinhal and Belera do Descalvado. The impression 

 received ou the spot may interest our friends. Brazil 

 is an undeveloped mine of wealth, and, whatever may 

 have been said or written against it, there are many 

 bright highlights perceptible. The labour (juestion is 

 by far more serious than we dreamt of. It should not 

 be lost sight of, being a great factor in the reckonings 

 with coffee tor the next six years. There are yet vast 

 territories suitable for the cultivation of coffee ; but 

 without bands to harvest it, it is no use thinking of 

 extension. Even with improved machinery, which 

 replaces a great deal of manual labour, we have seen 

 planters in despair, unable to get hands for gathering 

 in the crop, although offering higher wages — and this 

 with a medium of 1886-87 crop, which in all likeli- 

 hood will not prove beyond 2,000,000 bags. Of course, 

 as long as there are no statistical bureaux, all crop- 

 estimates must be more or less guesswork. The balance 

 of the 18S5-S(! crop left in the interior has surely been 

 over-estimated ; wherever we came, no more old coffee 

 was to be seen. What is wanted here are hands ! Many 

 attemps have been made to attract colonists, but, we 

 are afraid, without the proper understanding of the 

 situation. Planters offer colonists, a neatly built house 

 and garden, against which they have to engage them- 

 selves to work for 3,000 reis per day as long as planters 

 require their labour for the harvest. Gernaans, in fact 

 the Saxon race, are the preferred colonists. Now, con- 

 sidering that Brazil wants colonists who stay, found 

 a home, marry and intermarry — unlike the Latin race, 

 which conies here to earn a scanty amount in order to 

 retire on rice and com to their mountains — this doe.s 

 not seem to us to be the way to persuade Cxermaus, 

 Scandinavians, or Crofters. L^fortunately, the large 

 landowners here are disinclined to selling laud, which 

 must sooner or later not only prove shortsightedness 

 but to their detriment. Lookingatthe f^tates — Canada 

 and Australia — where land is given to colonists, it is 

 evident that some inducement must be held out to 

 get out of the dileinma. {_'hurch marriage being too 

 ■expensive, civil-mairiage, so far illegal, ought to be 

 recognised at once. Not until such radical changes 

 are made. ;ind only then, will the labour problem 

 have a chance (if being solved. If not enforced, we 



may see in the next future crop yields go down for a 

 time. The 1886-87 crop has suffered from two causes — 

 from frost in some parts, from drought in others. We 

 have seen plantations where two to three feet of the 

 branches have died.joff, and to recoup such damage, 

 means one to two years. The incessant rains during 

 the last month produce another anxiety ; plenty of 

 coffee on the terreiros is mildewing and much under the 

 trees is washed away." — Grocer. 



Manurino Cinchonas. — From the Madras 

 (Tovernment we have received the following cor- 

 respondence. Messrs. Arbuthnot and Co., ad- 

 dressed Government on 2nd December 1886, thus : — 



A\^e have the honor to acknowledge with thanks 

 receipt of the Director's very interesting report on 

 the (rovernment Cinchona Plantations for 1885-86, 

 furnished us in accordance with G. O., dated 20th 

 November 1886, No. 7,034. 2. We observe that the 

 expernnents in manuring cinchonas in order to as- 

 certain the effect upon the alkaloids were on a very 

 small scale, and that the Government, in its order of 

 15th instant, express the desire that investigations 

 should be continued with trees of other varieties. 3, 

 We venture to suggest that experiments should be 

 conducted upon a far larger number of trees, and if 

 no selection of any particular varieties is to be made 

 for the purpose that it shall include C. fiiiccimhra 

 and C. Rohuata. We propose ourselves to experiment 

 upon C. Ledyeriana, both with cattle and other man- 

 ures. 4. It occurs to us that since the date of the 

 Director's report further experiments in manuring 

 may have beeu conducted and the results ascertained 

 and if so, we should be very glad to receive particu- 

 lars. We may mention that mainly influenced by the 

 advices of the Director's letter of 9th November 

 1885 to the Collector of Malabar, we have abstained 

 from manuring our cinchonas (though recommended 

 by planters to do so), as according to that letter ex- 

 periments made up to that date had shown that the 

 yield of alkaloids per pound of bark was not increased, 

 by manuring. 5. We therefore have the honor to 

 request that Government will obtain from the Dir- 

 ector or the Quinologist, as the case may be, and 

 communicate to us the expression of his opinion 

 whether, taking into consideration the views held in 

 November of last year, and the result of the experi- 

 ments conducted in the past season, he would recom- 

 mend manuring of cinchonas from a commercial point 

 fo view, and if so, whether cattle or artiiicial man- 

 ure would be the more beneficial. If he be of opin- 

 ion that the latter is the more desirable, we should 

 be glad to know his views as to what components 

 would be the best. Possibly the investigations of the 

 Government Quinologist into tke inorganic constitu- 

 ents of cinchona bark may have arrived at a suflScie- 

 ntly forward stage to indicate the class of manure 

 that would have the greatest effect in increasing the 

 quantity of alkaloids. 



Dk. M. A. Lawson replied as follows : — 

 I am at the present time carrying on the extended 

 experiments as to the value of different kinds of man- 

 ure, and the iirst harvesting of the manured plots 

 will take place next April, after which the bark will 

 be analysed and any information will then be com- 

 municated to you. 2, Mr. Hooper's report on the in- 

 organic constituents of cinchona bark, printed in G.O. 

 No. 1,032, of the 24th November 1886, is the first of 

 a series of analyses which he is engaged upon the 

 result of which will be communicated to Government 

 in due course. 



We are surprised that after the resuHs obtained 

 by Maclver and noticed by Broughton any doubt 

 of the effect of manuring should be entertained, 

 although we can well understand hesitation to 

 apply manure to a production the market value 

 of which has gone so low. Those who manure 

 now, however, may have their reward a few years 

 hence. We should suppose that a very large pro- 

 portion of the bark sent from Ceylon was from 

 trees growing amongst colfee and so manured 

 equally with the primary cnltivation. 



