March i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



767 



REPORT ON OLD AND NEW PRODUCTS 

 IN CEYLON : GRUB AND PROPER 

 CULTIVATION. 

 Agvapatana, Dimbula, 16th Feb. 



The weatlier has been wet here for the last 

 three afternoons, and on the 13th it came downi in 

 torrents. Yeaterilay p.m. rain again : wliat might 

 be termed a fine planting day. It is to bo hoped tliat 

 we have now got the last of it for at least tlie next 

 two montlis. The coti'ee blossom now in spike is most 

 favonrable, and the valley covered with luxuriant 

 verdure from one end to the other, and little of leaf • 

 disease to be seen. Cinchonas are also at present 

 looking liealtliy and few red flags appearing, but after 

 heavy falls of rain and wmd combined we may expect 

 a good few deaths, and must devise some plan to 

 avoid tins destruction to cinchonas at all stages of 

 growtii. Much has been written of canker and its 

 causes and the tarring of roots suggested. If it were 

 proved to be an insect that was the cause of canker, 

 no doubt tarring the roots would be of much 

 advantage, but wliere it seems to be from rain water 

 the case is rpiite different. Let anyone interested go 

 to the eiuchoua field in a storm of wind anil rain and 

 watcli tlie ett'cct of tlie «ind upon the cinchona tree 

 lailen \vith seed, tossing it to and fro. making an 

 opening at the neck of the tree, and tlie rain-water 

 rushing down the stem into the roots of the tree. 

 This action of rain-water kills the feeding rootlets and 

 stops all circulation of the sap from the roots of tlie 

 tree, and of course canker gets in and works its 

 destruction, wliich takes a long time, as tlie cmchoiia 

 tree is such a succulent plant and feeds itself for a 

 time from the foliage. From observation of trees and 

 plants of all ages from 18 months to 5 or 6 years 

 old that have been shaved and thatched, the number 

 of deaths have been but very limited where the work 

 has been carefully done. What accounts for this is 

 that the tliatch is put well down and spread out on 

 the ground at the neck of the tree and thus throws 

 off the rain-water from the roots, and those inter- 

 ested would better watch the effect of this for them- 

 selves, and we might save our hundreds of thousands 

 yearly by simply thatching the stems of plants directly 

 they are large enough for the wind to get hold of them. 

 To those who have had practical experience in planting 

 cinchonas in new clearings, have they not noticed nice 

 healthy plants after heavy rains die off in thousands 

 in all the parts that have wash from rain-water and 

 the plant is tirst injured at the neck, not the roots, 

 ami this is from rain-water. It will be very interesting 

 to know the component parts of our rain-water : if we 

 had them analyzed at the proper time, tliat is, the 

 heart of the S.W. monsoon, then we may find out tlie 

 source of the many diseases we make such a fuss 

 about. Renewing cinchonas bark has been most 

 successful even in the case of young plants of the 

 officinalis variety. Time will shew this method later on. 

 Ten has not been a suceess when planted 

 at stake, it takes too long to grow at this elev- 

 ation and I.'; apt to be attacked by grub and crick- 

 ets, l)ut when it has been planted with nursery 

 plants tliere is scarcely a failure, and old bushes 

 are vigorous and loaded with seed, 8 years old, 8 

 and 10 feet high on an average. 



Saptiti almost refuses to grow. The plant is not 

 in its element hero I fear. 



Guiiif) grow well and no appearance of disease, 

 but we top them down here and are trying to get 

 up shelter belts, as recommended by Mr. Ward. 



Ah (•.-('/■"■«■ — ^Ye may always expect to meet with 

 disappointment when we have to work in old soil. 

 To be euccessful with nurseries, we want virgin 

 soil. Keplantiiig or growing in old soil, except the 

 land 18 tboioughly disinfected, is eure to meet with 



difficulties. An old planter, in passing through the 

 Agras the other day, remarked that we had the 

 proper Uva climate litre, and said : Your coffee is 

 now siuiilar to what Kahagalla was at the same age, 

 and this same ' Uva Kahagalla' did not bear until it 

 was in its teens." The reason of this is that our 

 timber is mostly of a very hard variety, viz., Dainba, 

 Naualia, Kecna, Meru, Kordallie, etc., and at this 

 altitude the roots takes a long time to decay. It 

 is well known the destruction that smnll holes have 

 wrought to the coffee tree and also contract and 

 scamped work. We have seen estates on which this sys- 

 tem had been adopted in cutting a new road afterwards, 

 when the small pit the coffee tree had to exist in 

 the roots as thick and as many as the hairs of your 

 head, and not one outside the pit, confined iu some 

 like a flower pot and actually turning upwards to get 

 out and the .lelds at the age of 4 and 5 years look- 

 ing seedy. Oh what s the matter here ? Grub, grub, 

 Not a bit of it, only bad cultivation, (irub, we will 

 always have, more or less, but the more we cult- 

 ivate and the deeper the cultivation the fewer the 

 grubs and less tlie destruction. Som? of us remem- 

 ber the time wlien pitting for colfe' the hole was not 

 sufBcient until Ramasaniy when he got doivn in it 

 could hide himself. What about grub.s in those days ? 

 On estates where the timber has been of a soft nnt- 

 ure the good returns are much earlier, and when 

 the grindstone is well worn by the felling con- 

 tractor this is a sure sign that it will take some 

 time before the estate will give a good returu. Hard 

 timber are also mostly surface feeders, and nutil the 

 roots decay the coffee wdl not be at its best, and 

 aa this is the case with all the high lands in the 

 Agras, there is a bright future in store for this senii- 

 Uva climate yet, and the time may not be far dis- 

 tant when the largest to the smiillesi estates may 

 send down from 7 to 8 aud 10 thousand bushels 

 of good parchment coffee, and also tliiee tons of 

 splendid renewed bark. Coffee plauied on patana lias 

 never been of Icng life, and the reason of this is be- 

 cause the coffee tree is never iu its eltmeut when 

 the absence of jungle roots are iu the soil, and 

 the coffee tree never at its best until the roots 

 are in a state of decay to allow the feeders of 

 the coffee plant to take up their place, aud until 

 this decay takes place we ought to have recourse 

 to deep cultivation, and, as onr soil is a rather stiff 

 rich loam, we require lime to mix with our soil 

 etc., and we may yet combat with leaf - disease. 



THE CEYLON COFFEE CROPS AND 

 SEASONS. 



Mr. Giles F. Walker of Bogawantalawa has once 

 again favoured us «ith copies of his carefully pre- 

 pared Meteorological Statistics completed to the end of 

 last year. These with the notes, are now in the hands 

 of the printer and will appear shortly ; but in 

 the meantime we may quote from the aeoompanying 

 private letter to ourselves, the following remarks of 

 more than ordinary interest at present : — 



" If, as I think, I am right in considering that 

 we have here (ir. the rainfall and temperature 

 returns) a proof that season has had much to do 

 with the late miserable coffee crops it is most cou- 

 solatory. Leaf-disease is not the only factor in the 

 question : and bad seasons come and go, but don'l 

 last fiir ever as hmiilcia may i o. It is interesting 

 to note h"W exceptional cold seems of late generally 

 prevalent almost all over the world — over a great part 

 of it at any rate. Heavy snow.storms at !>inda and 

 elsewhere, and snow lying in the plains of South Af- 

 ghanistan. A correspondent writing to me from Eng- 



