JVLY 1, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



71 



Hunt, and one or two other gentlemen. Plants grown 

 from C'oorg seed are cvi'tainly not fice from leaf-disease 

 on any estates that 1 have had tbe opportunity of 

 observing it, but then on tlie only estate on which I 

 have seen Nalknaad plants growing they were literally 

 eaten up with Heniikia before- they were a year out 

 in the field. These plants show no distinctive shape 

 in them different to other Coorg plants, anrl a neigh- 

 bour of mine reports the same i>f his Nalktiuad plants. 

 I don't donbt the coffee at Nalkuaad itself being all 

 tliat is claimed for it, hut I dou't think we have 

 suthcient data to go upon that it will reproduce the 

 same much-desired results elsewhere with any cert- 

 ainty. I think you must attach more importance 

 than Mr. Middlcton intended to liis advocacy of the 

 N.'dkna^id variet}', as I do not think he has had suf- 

 ficient opportunity of judging of its merits person- 

 ally, or in cimiparisou wiili other Coorg plants, as 

 his plants, I think, are scarcely a fair criterion of re- 

 sisting leaf-disease, his rainfall beiua: so heavy, and, 

 as far as I am aware, they are planted amongst card- 

 amom.^ where very dense Bh?.<le (too dense evtn 

 with a very much lighter rainfall for coffee) ia ab- 

 solutely necessary : they have never yielded a fair 

 crop, and I do not think it can be a fair test of 

 the resisting powers of cnffee from leaf-disease, un- 

 less it has borne a good crop at least, this being 

 particularly the case with yoimg Coorg plants. I 

 imagine most My.sore planters must have stared, »heu 

 tliey read the statement that Mr. Elliott's estates 

 had been free of leaf-disease in con-equence of shade ! 

 It is the first time I have heard of such a hippy state 

 of things, and it woidd be news that would travel 

 far and wide. All planters here (I must except Mr. 

 Elliott, I suppose) will admit that shade is no pre- 

 ventive of fungus, as a proof of which I need not 

 mention the native gardens, which as a rule are 

 planted under the densest primeval forest, and un- 

 doubtedly they have suffered worse t..an the Eu- 

 ropean gardens, which are comparatively in the open. 

 A very large percentage of the former were utterly 

 ruined by it ! 



I observe that C. leilrjeriaym seedlings are supposed 

 to die off from the effects of a minute snail. I could not 

 understand the cause ; tried more and less watering 

 without avail. A friend passing through advised 

 sprinkling them with flowers of sulphur out of a pepper 

 pot at intervals. 1 am trying it, but have not yet 

 had time to decide upon its merits, but I can say 

 that apparently it does them no harm, which is of 

 some little importance anyhow. 



Liberians are not much in favor hire, and cn'tainlyas 

 a rule the.v don't appear very promising. I have, h'lw- 

 ever, 4 plants here brought out as seedlings from 

 bnlbs late in 1S75 and are planted in open land and 

 not jungle and have had very bird treatment. La t 

 yeai- they gave me about 1,700 beans, and I have this 

 season already picked over 2,000 beans, and have as 

 mauy'more I imai;ine on the trees. They are very hant!- 

 some plants, closely branched, but their progeny do 

 not promise the same, instead showing a disinclin- 

 atinu to throw out priniarie.'i. They were loadid with 

 Jlemikia the first year, but have not had a trace of 

 it since. 



I find that Ledger seed comes up almost without 

 a failure when it has nothing but the finest (nearly 

 as fiue as in an h^ ur-glass) rivei- sand over it, limt 

 invaiialily 1 have had very heavy I'ailurts when earth 

 has bi-eu mixed with tlie sand. In botli eaees merely 

 Buliicient to cover the seed was sprinkled over, and 

 watered with a hair bru.-h lightly. I remember see- 

 ing the fine coffee adjacent to Mr. Mann's bungalow 

 in Mercara about n dozen years afjo, and was told 

 that the extraordinary results in the way of crop were 

 due to manuring and irrigation, no mention was made 

 uf the fact of its being jS'alknaad seed. 



My remarks have extended them"elves info such a 

 long leKer that I fear you will be inclined to put 

 it where many a more important and interesting one 

 has gone ere this, nam-ly the waste-paper basket, as 

 a hint not to offend again. — Yours faithfully, 



MAHSEER. 



[Our correspondent gives us interesting and useful 

 information : the Liberiau coffee plant clearly requires 

 a nioister climate and lower elevation than are found 

 in Mysore or Coorg.— Ed,] 



"THE GARDENS OP TUIj; SUN" AND TROP- 

 ICAL AGRICULTURE. 



Dkar Sir, — I send you some extracts, which you 

 may think worth inserting, taken from " The Gardens 

 of the Sun," by P. W. Burbidge, the great botanist, 

 The book is a record of his travels in Borneo and the 

 Sula Archipelago, and is as interesting as all such books 

 are : but one very noticeable peculiarity of the author's 

 style is his invariable adherence to Cardinal Wolsey'a 

 motto of I'ljo et rex ineus. In every instance it is " I 

 and Mr. Veitch," "I and Mr. Cowie," &c. Otherwise 

 he says his say well, — Yours faithfully, 



KAROLY FtJRDd. 



Ants. — " The species of ants vary much in size. One 

 is a tiny red fellow, but little larger than a cheese-mite, 

 and scarcely visible : others are black, their bodies being 

 an inch in length." (P. 126.) (This does not quite come 

 up to the Cliinese aut, one foot long! — K. F.) 



Sago. — " We stayed at one httle sago station, where 

 the natives were preparing the raw jjroduct. The pro- 

 cess is very simple. The trees are cut doivn just as they 

 attain matm-ity, the time being known by the production 

 of the branched inflorescence. The leaves are removed, 

 and then the trunks, which are ten to fifteen feet long, 

 and as thick as a man's body, arc . .split longitudinally 

 into two halves. A man then cuts out the pith, with 

 which the whole centre of the trunk is fijled. This re- 

 quires some skill. The implement employed for the pur- 

 pose is an axe, formed by a bamboo stem, fixed in a 

 stout wooden handle, and lashed with rattan. By repeated 

 strokes of this instrument the pith and fibres are scooped 

 out in thin layers, care being taken to cut it out as free 

 from lumps as possible. The piUped pith is then carried 

 m baskets to a washing apparatus. This consists of a 

 rudely constructed vat, elevated on piles, beside a river 

 or brook whence fresh and clean water is plentifully ob- 

 tainable. From the vat a spout conducts the water into 

 a trough below. The bottom of the vat is covered with 

 a mat or bark-strainer. The pith is now placeel in the 

 vat, and trodden, water being occasionally poured over it 

 diu-iug the progi-ess, and the result is that the fine sago 

 starch is waished through, and settles in the bottom of 

 the trough below, the coarse particles and other impur- 

 ities being retained by the strainers, at the bottom of the 

 treadiug-vat. After the fine .sago has been allowed time 

 to settle in the trough, the water is run off, and the 

 white pretty-looking mass below is packed up in bags, and 

 sold to the Chinamen, by whom it is again washed and 

 dried, previous to its being shipped to the Singapore 

 market. Two species of sago palm grow here, forming 

 stout-stemmed trees, 30 or 40 feet in height. They are 

 readily distinguished by the one having smooth bases to 

 the sheathing leaf-stalks, while the other has the leaf- 

 sheaths set with stout black spine. The smooth variety 

 is most aljundant. The dried leaf-sheaths of tliis palm 

 arc utilized m the manufactm-e of neat baskets, being neatly 

 sown together with sti-ips of rattan, and fitted ivitli lids. 

 Kattans are much used in liouse building, the largest tim- 

 bers being secured by their aiil ouly." (P. 176.) 



Leaf-disease, &c. — " I saw coffee bushes growing ap- 

 parently wild around the little farm-houses on the cool 

 hill-sides (ui Sulu); especially on Bu'at Dah.in, which I 

 ascended a few days after our retm-n from Eu'at Timan- 

 tangis, and every leaf was fresh and green without a 

 trace of the leaf fungus, which of late years has proved 

 so hm-tfnl in Ceylon. The cocoa jnelding Theobroma docs 

 equally well and fruits freely, forming indeed what may 



