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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[April 2, 1883. 



observation, time to come to matiirity, still the way in 

 which the latter came on, while other trees around were 

 affected and died, augm's, I think, well for such treat- 

 ment being successful, and I now mean to apply it on 

 a large scale, having, I am sorry to say, a terrible dose 

 of this disease in my succirubra fields. 



" I think in shaving and not coveiing the healthy 

 portion of the bark as I did I was ^vi-ong." 

 We had heard of, and on a small scale practised 

 by way of experiment, this process of shaving oft' 

 cankered bark, but we certainly had not cut into the 

 wood 01' covered the shaved portion. Our correspond- 

 ent's treatment is what the doctors would call "heroic." 

 Indeed a similar process is common enough in 

 human surgery, a cankered limb being often removed 

 so as to save life in the remaining portion of the 

 body. The new blister-canker or mortification generally 

 first appears on a small portion of the stem, and were 

 it attacked and removed in its incipient stage and 

 the wound covered up, it seems highly probable that 

 tens of thousands of valuable trees might be saved. 



BARING THE BOOTS OF CANKERED CINCHONAS. 



Our correspondent refers to root canker as being 

 curable by his shaving out process, and one of the 

 first matters which engaged our attention on visiting 

 St. Regulus was the process adopted to counteract 

 this deadly aS'ectiou. Mr. Eweu Hay Cameron claims 

 that on St. Kegulus was first tried the root-baring 

 process, and that, should its success be fully and 

 finally established, the credit of initiating the treat- 

 ment should be awarded to iVIr. Parsons, the same 

 gentleman who adopted the simple yet effective measure 

 of bringing grubs to the surface by spreading sacks 

 over the ground. Mr. Parsons, like Mr. ( ameron 

 himself, is an enthusiast in all that relates to cin- 

 chonas. It seems that more than a year ago Mr. 

 Nock of the Hakgala Gardens was requested to come 

 down to see and if possible suggest a remedy for 

 trees suffering from or threatened with root canker. 

 Mr. Nock was of opinion that the canker, if not 

 cause I, was aggravated by the damp earth which was 

 generally heaped against the collar of the plant. This 

 was new doctrine, certainly, for a few years back 

 one of the great remedial measures enjoined was to 

 heap earth above the plants in the shape of horizontal 

 pyramids so that the rain wash might be diverted from the 

 roots and go down on each side. To bare the roots 

 would surely give a severe shock to the trees, and 

 1 reminded Mr. Cameron of the treatment to which 

 vines in Ceylon are subjected to compel them to bear 

 fruit. " If,' I said, "your object was to obtain a 

 copious supply of seed from your trees then I could 

 understand the root-baring process and the inevitable 

 shock which accompanies it." Mr. Cameron in reply 

 stated that the process fell greatly short of that ap- 

 plied to the vine, inasmuch as only the large spread- 

 ing roots ought in the case of the cinchonas to be 

 bared, it being a detect in the process if the feeding 

 rootlets were exposed or cut. It seems that Mr. 

 Parsons follwed out Mr. Nock's hmt by reflecting 

 that in passing through a forest it would be observed 

 that a great proportion of the trees liad their large 

 lateral roots standing abo\eground. What the forest 

 trees found good for them miglit be good also for the 

 cinchonas. -AH right,' we remarked, "for groves 

 of cinchonas which, like forests, have a self-su) plinl 

 shade ; but here I see the process applied to ist ate 1 

 trees and to the rows of trees on each side of jour 

 paths. The roots being exposed to the full blaze of 

 the sunlight and heat, the trees must surely suffer." 

 '■It is only natural to apprehend such consequences," 

 was tlie re.^|)on.se, " hut Lie ti ecs you are hmkmg at 

 have had tli'ir roots exposed ' for more than a year , 

 .ind I ask you if you ever saw liner or healthier growth 

 than (hey present." A large number of the plants 

 referred to were officinahB, the kind most liable to 



disease and premature death, and we could only say that 

 never in Ceylon had we seen finer trees : those on 

 Dodabelta were no doubt larger but thtn they were 

 much older. Mr. Cameron's oldest trees (officinalis) 

 are only seven years planted, and yet a large pro- 

 portion of them range about 19 inches circumference 

 of stem; while a fine specimau of rubusta is 21 inches. 

 I.s Cinchona robmta A hybrid ? 



By the way, Mr Cam'Ton, while believing in hybrids, 

 does not regard Cinchona robusta, the tree of the 

 vigorous growth and specially dark green, glabrous 

 leaves, as a hybrid, but as a distinct form. Has 

 any planter been able to set this question at rest, by 

 following hybrid plants from their infancy until fairly 

 developed ? Our impres.sion was and ts that experi- 

 ence had quite settled the fact that from a union of 

 sucoirubra and officinalis resulted hybrids some of which 

 leaned to the succiriihra parent in foliage and were 

 often pubecent, while others looked more like officinalis, 

 having dark green, glabrous leaves, but far excelling 

 officinalis in tali and luxuriant growth. Mr. Cameron's 

 officinalis, however, left little to be desired in vigor- 

 ous growth or height, whether the eeven years old 

 specimens along the paths, or those in a couple of 

 splendid groves in which theie is scarcely a vacancy. 

 SUPERIORITY OF CUTTINGS OVER SEEDLINGS. 



Mr. Cameron is inclined to attribute the success of 

 these trees to the fact that they have originated from 

 surf&ce-feeding cuttings obtained from Hakgala. This 

 profession of faith in the superiority of cuttings over 

 seedlings is another proof of the wide differences of 

 opinion which exist or have existed amongst those 

 interested in cinchona culture. I well remember that 

 when the "dying-out" process firsi commenced on a large 

 scale, after rainfall so excessive as to lead to a land- 

 slip in the Hakgala gardens, the feeling was strongly 

 expressed, amongst others by a well-known Uva visit- 

 ing agent, that the premature decay of the plants 

 was due to the very fact tliat they were derived 

 from cuttings and so had no taproots. There can 

 little doubt, on the other hand, that much fatality 

 has been due to the collection of seed from immature 

 plants, and it is a characteristic of C. officinnlix to 

 flower and seed iit an early age, — at least in India 

 and Ceylon. Plenty of seed can now be obtained from 

 well-matured trees. Mr. Cameron believesin and pract- 

 ises the excision of blossom and fiuit stalks from hia 

 younger trees ; biit apart from some millions of selfsowu 

 seedlings, there is seed enough on the seven-year-old 

 officinalis trees to etock the whole country-side. For 

 the young plants in his two officinalis groves Mr. 

 Cameron olitaiued a good market last year, but it 

 was a great disappointmc.i j (o him tliat, after having 

 had, for a fair period, a practical monop ily of ledger- 

 iana seed from Java, he was able to sell so few 

 plants from his nurseries, — only enough to cover his 

 expenditure, instead of giving him, as he had hoped, 

 a couple thousands of pounds profit. In better times, 

 it cannot be doubled, the whole of the plants in the 

 ledgeriana nursery would have been re.idily bought 

 up at the price of K30 per 1,000 fixed on them ; 

 but what is to be dune when not only are thei-e 

 planters with no money to spend : but agents who 

 have no funds to advance : estate agents here being 

 often themselves but the agents of wealthy firms or 

 moneyed men at home, whose faith in Ceylon has 

 failed from the unfortunate decline in coffee'? 

 HARD CASES. 



Some of the tales afloat of descent from affluence or 

 competency to poverty and worse — a burden of debt — 

 are heartrending. Comparativel.v happy are s. me 

 who get released from liability by giving up tlieir 

 properly. Take one case: two gentlemen pani a few 

 years ago £18,000 cusIl for a coflee estate which h^id 

 just yielded 6,000 bushels of parchment, worth, than, 



