734 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[March i, 1883. 



from other coiintries. When in Brisbane last January. I 

 spoke strongly on the subject to IMr. Pink against the 

 introduction of cofifee plants from any other country. With 

 regard to the supply of seed for coffee plantations, there 

 is already enough coffee grown in Queensland to plant up 

 some thousands of acres. Some time ago I was over some 

 as fine coffee as ever I saw in Oeylon for its age, on 

 Millicent estate, the property of Mr. Oostello. Had this 

 coffee been treated in the same manner as in Oeylon, I 

 doubt if Ceylon's best coffee could have compared with 

 it. Some of the last year's crop of coffee, cured and roasted, 

 was shown me, and a cup of this was simply delicious, 

 having all the fine tlavom- and aroma of the best coffee 

 — so much to be de.sired, but so seldom to be obtained 

 from coffee sold in this at the stores. From this it will 

 be seen that the climate and soil up North will produce 

 coffee in perfection. As to the soil — a good rich loam, 

 with ijlenty of stone both in rubble and large blocks, and 

 with a western aspect, will suit it best. In dry arid places 

 the large trees woidd be more beneficial than otherwi.se 

 if left as a shade to the coffee bushes, and the plants 

 might be topped at 4ft. 6in. where much shade is left, 

 but in open places it is usual to top them from 2ft. C.iu 

 to 3ft., according to the situation, whether exposed to 

 strong wind or otherwise. A steep slope suits coft'ee better 

 than flat land, though it grows luxuriantly on flat land for 

 a few years. The hill districts from Mackay northwards 

 will, where sheltered from strong winds, undoubtedly suit 

 coffee well, as it thrives and produces well in a variety 

 of soils. Cinchona should also do well from Blackay north- 

 wards, as the average rainfall here is similar to that in 

 in the districts in Ceylon where it thrives best. The 

 Cinchona officinalis should do well near Mackay; the G. 

 succiruhra, C. calisayci, and C. pnhescens from this north. 

 In the hotter parts of Ceylon 0. succiruhra does best; but 

 I have planted and grown fine calisayas side by side with 

 this kind. For the cinchona the more shade, as a rule, 

 the better, as the bark becomes much richer in shaded 

 than in exposed situations. The seeds of the cinchona very 

 soon lose their germinative powers if left lying openly 

 exposed to the air; it is far the best plan to put them 

 in tius and close them up carefully until sown. In send- 

 ing seed from one country to another, the tins should be 

 hermetically sealed, and not opened until the seed is wanted 

 for distribution to be immediately sown. I have just picked 

 and cured into "parchment coffee" the produce of a tree 

 growing under very unfavourable circumstances, and a small 

 tree iuto the bargain, which measured and weighed gives 

 a Uttle over a ton per acre! Now, a quarter of this per 

 acre would, in Ceylon at the present time, delight the 

 he.arts of the planters there. — Qiteetislander. 



DIVI-DIVI. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE " MADRAS 5IAIL. " 



Sir, — I .should say, at certainly not less than 10 feet 

 from each other. It lias a long tap root, like all of the kind, 

 and therefore is a deep feeder, like the "Babools" or Acacia 

 Arabica. It was introduced twenty-three years ago from 

 the seashore of St. Domingo, and Ouracoa. I should say 

 that in about three years it would give a return in pods, 

 which contain about 50 per cent, of tnnniiu and the price 

 Of the pods ranges from £8 to £10 per ton for tanning 

 purposes. A single full-grown tree .should yield some 751b. 

 of tanning material. Jjivi-divi is the commercial name for 

 the Pod. 



II. Srr, — Allow me to inform your correspondent 

 *' Planter" that, as far as I can remember, the IJivi-divi 

 or Cfpsa/piiiia Coraria attracted my attention in 1857, from 

 a notification in the District Gar.ette whilst I was Zillah 

 Surgeon of Cbingleput. 1 immediately wrote to the Collector 

 anil obtained a few seeds which I planted in the Dis- 

 pensary compound at Ching'eput, and when I left Chingleput 

 in 1865, there, were two or three fine trees growing fhere. 

 About the same time that I procured seeds Sir. W. C. 

 Sim, who was then Sub-Collector of Chingleput, brought 

 a few of these plants from Madras under the name of 

 Sumach, and planted them about his house. When I was 

 leaving, one of these plants near the house was about 5 

 or 6 feet in height, with a thin lanky stem owing to the 

 rocky soil on which it was growing, the ci'est of a hill; 

 notwithstanding it had a few llowcrs and fruit on its crown. 



A few fine trees may be seen in the Agri-Horticultural 

 Society's Gardens, as also at "Crampton's Gardens," Kilpauk, 

 and in some other gardens about Madras. In 1873, whilst 

 at Masulipatam, I saw some fine trees in a house then 

 occupied by Captain Eichardson, the Master attendant, 

 now of Calicut, who told me that several hundred tons 

 of the fruit was lying rotting under the trees, and he did 

 not know what to do with it; but the finest trees I have 

 seen was in a house occupied by Colonel Farrer, the Pen,sion 

 Pay Master at Chicacole. On my retmm I called the 

 attention of the Secretary of the Agri-Horticultural Society, 

 Madras, to the subject and suggested that some steps shouki 

 be taken to ship a supply home to be thrown on the 

 English m.arket, so that the subject might draw attention, 

 and I am not aware if any action was taken in the matter 

 by the Society. The Divi-divi, sometimes called Lihi-lihi, 

 is a very handsome tree, attaining a height of from 50 to 

 60 feet, with age. and a fine .spreading crown. In a "-ood 

 soil it grows rapidly, but in a poor one more slowly, and 

 will fruit in from five to seven years according to the 

 nature of the soil. It should be planted out from 20 to 

 25 feet apart either way. It is a deep soil feeder, and 

 will require attention and watering during the hot season 

 for the first two or three years of its infancy, after which 

 it wants little or no care. The wood is good and strong, 

 and may be put to many useful purposes. — .John Shortt! 

 — Yercaud, New Year's Day. 



FOREST SOILS IN COORG. 



(Indian Forester Dece.nher 1882.) 



The following facts regarding the forest soils in Coorg will 

 be of interest ; they somewhatupset the generally received 

 theories as to the formation of vegetable soil in forests. 



Coorg, as will be seen from the map, is a little coimtry 

 occupying a small portion of the Western Ghats, and 

 jutting out a short distance in the Mysore plateau. The 

 Western slopes of the Ghats are covered with dense lofty 

 evergreen fore.st, into which jungle fires never penetrate. 

 On the east is a belt of deciduous forest, varying from 

 four to six miles in width, which have been constantly 

 burnt through by jungle fires for time out of mind; and 

 indeed we may iufer that this has been going on for 

 centuries. Do not we all know that the natives of India 

 always burn the forests on principle, in order to "et an 

 early crop of young grass for their cattle ; in fact they 

 consider it a duty they owe to themselves and their neigh- 

 bours to burn off the forests as completely as possible. 

 Is it likely that this is a h.abit developed of late vears 

 and not rather one as old as the fu-st settlement of in- 

 habitants in the country? Then that the forest has been 

 much in the same state for the last 500 years is proved 

 by the existence of teak trees of that age, which evidently 

 grew in the same conditions from the first as they are 

 doing now. The almost invariable wide centre rings, two 

 to three in the first inch seen in these ancient trees, would 

 appear to give direct evidence of the young ])lant having 

 been constantly bmmt down every year, every time sending 

 up a larger shoot until a shoot is produced large enough 

 and high enough to ^ defy the jungle fire. This is the 

 process to be seen going on under our own eyes. A teak 

 plant, gi'own under other conditions in the forest, would 

 have six or eight rings to the first inch. AVe may then 

 I think inter that these deciduous forests were constantly 

 run over by fire 500 years ago, and have been ever since, 

 and probably were burnt for centuries before that. 



Now what is the result on the soil ? 



In the one case we have the virgin evergreen forest 

 of the Ghats in which fire never penetrates, constantly 

 giving back to the soil a vast amount of vegetable matter 

 in the shape of leaves, wood, and bark. On the other 

 hand high deciduous forest, the vegetable matter from 

 which has been constantly burnt by jungle fires for centuries. 

 According to preconceived notions there would be a thick 

 layer of vegetable mould in the former, and next to none 

 in the latter. As a matter of fact the very opposite is 

 the case. In the Ghat forests there is seldom more than 

 an average of six inches of vegetable mould, whereas in 

 the deciduous forests there is thickness of from I foot 

 to 28 inches. It mu.st be distinctly understood here that 

 I am not speaking of scrub jungle, but of higli and fairly 

 well stocked deciduous forest. 



