834 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [June i, 1887. 



but a few desultory fragments of coffee left to 

 Ceylon, 



There are no known remedies, and tboec who 

 are squandering money upon experiments, may just 

 as reasonably drop their coin into the depths of 

 the Indian Ocean. As for liinc. it is exactly the 

 luxury this bug most dearly loves. To the " nau- 

 seous gases " theory and digging round the roots 

 to enable their escape, I say " rubbish and fiddle- 

 sticks." 



Coffee does not produce fi to 8 cwt. per acre with 

 nauseous gases at its roots, but fields with fine heal- 

 thy crops upon them have been, nevertheless, 

 attacked and killed in one season by bug. 



The immediate starting of substitutes for coffee 

 is the remedy, solely, for properties where coffee 

 is attacked, but where it is still "The King" 

 fragile monarch tho' he be. 



And until such remedy be largely applied and with 

 every prospect of success proved, were a Governor of 

 Ceylon to give even a passing thought an to Kail- 

 way Extension beyond Nanuoya, be the gauge 

 broad or narrow, it should entitle him to con- 

 signment to some such establishment as Bedlam. 



ONE EXPEKIENCED. 



GREEN BUG IN UVA :— No. II. 

 Dear Sir, — Yes. we have green bug here 

 and have had it for some time, longer than 

 we ourselves know, for it is so like the old black 

 bug which never did us any harm to speak of 

 and never spread over an entire estate as it did 

 in wet districts. Green bug, so far as I have been 

 able to judge, is very similar in its action, that 

 is to say, whilst it has diffused itself rapidly over 

 a large extent of country in a short time, nowhere 

 that I know of in Uva. has it affected more than 

 a few isolated patches on estates and in no case 

 that I know of has it killed the coffee. Weak, sickly 

 coffee or sickly plants of any kind are always more 

 liable to disease and more severely affected than 

 healthy plants. It would be folly altogether to 

 ignore and shut one's eyes to the fact that green 

 bug is on our coffee, but I would ask the Uva 

 planter to look back on the past and " seeing 

 take heart again." Green bug, serious as the evil 

 may prove, will no more kill our coffee than has 

 leaf-disease or black bug. Let Mr. Deaker con- 

 tinue to cultivate well, keep his trees well open 

 to sun and light, prune judiciously when his 

 "powder will be dry" and he may "trust in 

 Providence " and a good soil. 



OLD UVA PLANTER*. 



COFFEE AND GREEN BUG :— No. III. 



Deak Sik, — Having been challenged as it were 

 to say something about green bug and having 

 been accorded the privilege of being allowed to 

 stand-by — and watch a considerable part of Mr. 

 Green's operations in working out the life-history 

 of the insect, I venture on making a few observ- 

 ations. The discussion which has arisen about the 

 Lecanittm viridc may be considered by many to be 

 rather late in the day — when about two-thirds of 

 the acreage of coffee in the island has been de- 

 stroyed by it. However, " better late than never " 

 may I think be exemplified here, as I hope to be 

 able to show that there are several reasons why 

 attempts to destroy the pest in certain situations 

 are more likely to be successful now than they 

 have been in the past. The principal reason which 

 gives planters hopes of eventually overcoming the 

 enemy is the very characteristic which first drew 

 my attention to the fact of its being a new species 

 of coccus — even before I had seen it, — the fact that 



*Not a proprietor we may add.— Ed. 



it flourished most and was more destructive on dry 

 low-lying estates than on high, wet and exposed 

 fields. The year ISfiO was a very dry one in the 

 Central Province until crop time, and then it com- 

 menced to rain, and continued doing so more or 

 less for about two-and-a-half years on end. In Ram- 

 bodde — and wmilarly situated districts — black bug 

 literally smothered certain fields and estatep and 

 did immense damage. On Weddamulle estate where 

 I was then stationed, there was a young field at 

 an elevation of about 4,300 feet, bearing a fine 

 crop when the bug got a grip on it, and the green 

 berries — rolled off — might have been swept off the 

 ground literally by the bushel. I don't suppose 

 a tenth part of the crop ever came to maturity, 

 and that small portion was wretched, small, de- 

 formed stuff. The bug in some stage was always 

 present for years after, though the black fungus 

 was not always prominent. The young bushes 

 were growing fast, and a day or two's sunshine 

 was sufficient to enable the leaf to throw off the 

 covering of black, but as soon as the wet set in 

 again, a black wave swept over the surface in a 

 very few days, and the result was very dishearten- 

 ing. The new bug on the other hand seemed at 

 one time likely to absolutely annihilate the trees 

 on the hotter and drier fields and only to partially 

 aff'ect those at higher elevations. The new bug 

 was at one/ time said to absolutely destroy the 

 vitality of the trees, but I am told that many 

 fields, given up as totally gone, have come round 

 again. The old bug, however much it damaged 

 the crop, and the foliage never got so far as to de- 

 stroy the life of the tree, nor did I ever see 

 in the case of black bug, what I have seen in green 

 bug, and that is the ground below and around the 

 trees covered with the black fungus which accom- 

 panies the attacks of both varieties. When the 

 green bug had advanced to where I was residing 

 it was evident that in long spells of wet weather, 

 a very large proportion of them turned mouldy 

 and died, and I learn that the cold this last dry 

 season has caused an immense destruction amongst 

 them especially where there has been a touch of 

 frost on the trees. This is the point where Dim- 

 bula and Dickoya planters, and the men of upper 

 parts of Uva may hope to make a successful stand. 

 As tar as I can learn, the bug has not spread 

 evenly and badly over large areas, but has ap- 

 peared in patches larger or smaller as circumstances 

 have been favourable, and these patches are at a 

 comparatively high elevation. The enemy is neither 

 so numerous nor so vigorous as it was when the 

 good folks of Matale and Elkaduwa and 

 neighbouring districts, had to retire from the 

 contest baffled and disheartened. The climate 

 of the higher districts i.s in their favour, and 

 they have gained the experience which was 

 wanting in the early days of the contest. If our 

 old friend Holloway could do so much in the way 

 of a remedy at Wattagama, the men who enjoy 

 the advantage of higher elevation and more favnur- 

 pble climate as well as being subject to less vigorous 

 attacks of the pest may well hope that their 

 labour may not be in vain. In regard to treat- 

 ment, Mr. Holloway only repeats what is well-known 

 to all agriculturists when he points out that 

 rendering the trees as healthy and vigorous as 

 possible, enables them the better to withstand the 

 attacks of insects, fungus and all tho other ills of 

 vegetable life, such as too much drought, too much 

 rain ; and, on the other hand, everyone who has 

 lived on an estate cannot but see that weakly tress 

 first fall victims to such attacks, sooner or later, 

 according to their condition. This, however, is no 

 argument against the late Mr. Nietner's theory. 

 He used to argue— and at the time being merely 



