March i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



727 



flourishing in their coppiced state than over they did 

 even iu their original condition. There hiia been 

 scarcely a single failure, from the coppicing process, 

 and from many of the stools a score and even thirty 

 fresh stems have sprun". Although not a single stem 

 seems to have been thinned away, there are from 

 6 to 12 specially robust elems in each case, which 

 have been shaved and which, although no covering has 

 ever been applied to them, look as it they would 

 bear hnlf-a-dozen more half-yearly shavings at least, 

 before the necessity of cutting them down in their 

 turn arises. On these robust and luxuriant plants, 

 or rather groups of plants, it is difficult to see a 

 single withered leaf : disease there is none. The 

 luxuriance of the plants might be attributed to the 

 double portion of fertile soil on the lower side of the 

 path, but some of the bushes on the upper side of the 

 walk are equally flourishing of coume there was the 

 shelter of the coflFee to begin with, and now the abundant 

 foliage of the coppiced groups affords shelter, apart 

 from favourable position. But after all is said and 

 allowed for. it seems difficult to account for the superior 

 vigour of the earlier C. officinalis planted in Ceylon 

 end the delicacy and liability to "die out" of the 

 later generations of plants. Seed gatliered from iui- 

 mature plants may account for a good deal of the 

 disappointment with this kind, but unsuitable con- 

 ditions of soil, and climate, which are impossible of 

 previous discovery by the most experienced and sagaci- 

 ous planters, seem the main causes of failure and 

 disappointment. Happily the hybrids between this 

 species and succirubra seem likely to atone for the 

 disappointment, and we see no reason why calisaya 

 hybrids should not be equally successful. We had 

 just been regretfully expressing the conviction that 

 these upper regions of Dimbula were too high and 

 too cold for the successful culture of the valuable 

 ledgerianas, when our companion reminded us of the 

 wonderful success on Cairness, and said : " Halliley 

 also has been very successful." He did not refer 

 so much to fine ledgerianas growing at intervals 

 along the path, down to Lome store, as to 

 quite a number planted alongside the cart-roati, 

 at an elevation of at least 5,100 feet. Those, 

 below the Clarendi.n Rock locked especially well 

 and this seemed strange considering that they 

 were growing in the very face of the south-west 

 monsoon. But it is not the wind which striki-s 

 diiec'ly on the face of a steep which is so deleteri- 

 ous, as that which is sucked, syphon-like, through 

 gorges and eddies fiercely over hill sides. In calm, 

 hot weather, too, the reflected warmth from the 

 face of the rock must have a forcing effect on the 

 plants. Many of them look exceedingly well now, 

 and 1 sincerely trust they may continue to flourish. 

 The third to the fourth year, however, is the crucial 

 period for calisayas (including ledgerianas) as well 

 as for officinalis. We could not help noticing that 

 the coffee on Clarendon, like that on Lome, DesB- 

 ford, Abbotsford, and all the neighbouring estates, 

 was wonderfully free from leuf-disease and looked ex- 

 ceedingly promising for next year. My companion 

 remarked with significant emphasis: "Yes: and it 

 has improved wonderfully since ihe thorough weed- 

 ing tlie estate received in December." The sigui. 

 ticance of the remark and the justifica'ion of public 

 allusion to the favourable fact, ia that Mr. Halliley 

 of Clarend<m is the great champion of weeds.* Like 

 many others hia practice ditiers from and is 

 better than his theory. Before the cart road 

 was opened, it fell to me frequently to pass 



* My companion of this morning regards the comparat- 

 ively new *' Badulla weed" or wild mignonette as even 

 worse than " white weed." The new weed, if left in the 

 ground, seeds in its tliird month. , 



through Clarendon estate, and it gives me pleasure 

 to testify that I never saw it looking better in the 

 present and more promising for the future than is 

 now the case, in re the three-quarters of a million 

 or more of cinchonas scattered over Dessfurd and 

 Lome, the remark was justly made; "If only one- 

 fourth of them reach maturity they will constitute a 

 fortune." With a considerably large proportion of 

 officinalis, I suppose Abbotsford does not come behind 

 the two estates named in number of trees planted 

 out, and if the canker confines itself, as seems prob- 

 able, to the higher elevations, the future of cinchona 

 seems likely to compensate for the disappointment 

 with coffee, which, however, appears destined to revive. 

 That is the opinion of those who know most about 

 it. As for tea, having now seen and compared the 

 plant at the highest elevation on .-Vbhotsfiird, where 

 alone the new disease has attacked it, and the richly 

 luxuriant and healthy growth from 5,300 feet down- 

 wards, my strong inclination is to hope that the 

 attack will turn out to be local and partial, and that 

 the disease will, ere long, disappear, without doing 

 material damage to the product on which so much 

 of the hopes of Ceylon planters and those interested 

 in the prosperity and progress of the colony now rests. 

 So bo it ! 



Noticing that a good many aloe plants {Fnurcroya 

 (jii/antea) had been planted out on Dessford and Lome, 

 I learned that the object was to have readily available 

 a supply of fibre to tie mana grass or other covering on 

 shaved cinchona trees. Mr. Halliley's experiment 

 proves conclusively that the bark will renew perfectly 

 without the application of any covering, but it also 

 seems proved that in renewed bark left uncovered fhe 

 inferior alkaloids and not the superior will preponder 

 ate. Covering, which is a very expensive process, 

 however effected, is, therefore, deemed a sine qua iion. 

 To my question why New Zealand flax was not grown 

 for fibre, the reply was that the plant, though yielding 

 a splendid fibre, was too slow a grower. Aloes grow 

 quickly, and so does mana grass. Paper, as generally 

 obtained, is costly and perishable, and if tar or other 

 covering is put on the paper there seems danger of 

 destructive fermentation. A retired paper-maker, who 

 is travelling through Ceylon and is deeply interested m 

 the island and its industries, has suggested that the 

 waste edges, 3 to 5 inches wide, cut from sheets of 

 paper iu the mills, might be available at a cheap rata 

 and might suffice for covering trees twice over. We 

 have no doubt the experiment will be tried, if it ia 

 quite certain, at it seems to be, that covering the trees 

 after shaving is essential in securing a maximum 

 deposit of quinine in the bark cells. Has the experiment 

 been fully tried of low quality, coarse cloth manufac- 

 tured from waste jute ? Cloth made shoddy fashion 

 might be quite porous enough to prevent fermentation 

 and yet quite effectual as covering. 



THE NEW CANKER IN CINCHONAS — THE GUM LEAF-DISEASE ON 

 TEA — TEA IN THE LOWCOUNTKY — SAUNE MOISTUEE AND 

 DISEASE IN VEGETATION — RAINFALL IN 1882. 



Having now seen a considerable area of growing cin- 

 chonas, I can testify that the new cankering disease 

 is absent from the vast majority of the plants. The 

 reasons for anxiety are its continuance for so long a 

 period and its insidious effects on the stems of Ihe 

 plants it attacks ; young ones especially. In our own 

 case, coppicing is going constantly ou, and apparently 

 with considerable success. We can only trust trees 

 at elevations below 5,000 feet may be spared en- 

 tirely or may suffer but slightly. As regards tea, 

 that also has as yet been attacked by the U.if 



