854 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May I, 1883. 



and to refer our suffering to " folly, deceit, inflation, 

 exaggeration," and such like impotent causes. Though 

 unanimous in Pai'liament as to the cause of the pre- 

 vailing agricultural distress, and in the desire to ob- 

 tain some remedy, there was no agreement as to the 

 remedies proposed. What wonder : a remedy for 

 seasons — a remedy for the immutable laws of the 

 universe ? No : our hope must be in aoquiring a 

 linowledge of those laws. 



Recent research has shown that the measure of 

 direct sunshine, as compared with veiled or interrupted 

 lioht is a potent factor in the vegetative processes, 

 efpeoially in those of fruition. The comparisons in- 

 stituted ' in our columns yesterday between tempera- 

 ture recorded in Bogawantalawa and that in Lindula, 

 illustrate the fact that all our other records of the 

 weather are fatally incomplete until this one be com- 

 prehended amongst them. Here is a point to be 

 gained, and probably a more important one than 

 most of tliose we have hitherto bestowed our pains 

 upon. It has recently been shown that electric light 

 will, for a time, at least, support vegetation, but fails 

 utterly to promote fruition. Here again is a sug- 

 gestive fact. There are others which might be brought 

 forward, but enough has been said to shew the im- 

 portance of the field for observation and research 

 thus opened up — an importance not lessened by the 

 hope that we may shortly be favoured with a cycle 

 of seasons as favourable to the planters of Ceylon 

 and the farmers of Britain as the past series referred 

 to, has been the reverse. 



PLAN I ING ON THE HILLS OF CEYLON. 



LEDGERIANAS ON YARROW. 

 I quote information which will be interesting and 

 useful to readers of the Tropical Agriculturist : — 



" Yarrow, Pussellawa, March 24th, 1883. 

 "It has struck me that it would be advantageous to cin- 

 chona growers generally if you would kindly personally 

 look at the remarkably fine ledgeriana trees growing 

 on Yarrow, as also the very successful nurseries of 

 plants and seetlliugs established from carefully selected seed. 

 " There appears to be a general belief that ledger plants 

 raised from seed cannot be relied upon to come up true 

 to type : however true this may be in regard to imported 

 seed, our experience certainly is that with seed carefully 

 harvested from .selected trees of the true ledger type the 

 plants may be relied upon to come up true to type. 



" It would also I think be well worth your while to 

 inspect the clearings we have successfully opened of ledgers 

 raised from Gammie's seed, the plants in wliich are grow- 

 ing vigorously ano certainly dispel the current idea, as to 

 the delicate constitution of this variety and the difficulty 

 of growing it. I may here mention that these clearings 

 have received no greater care or attention than would 

 have been bestowed on the supposed hardier varieties, not 

 even being staked during either of the monsoons. In 

 spite of this I think it may safely be stated that it would 

 be difficult to find .either m this or any other district finer 

 clearings of the same age of any other variety. 



" Where elevation and climatic conditions are favorable 

 a'lil soil of an open nature, there seems little doubt of 

 ledger growing freely and yielding the be.st results, filr, 

 Lnurie, the part proprietor and superintendent of Yarrow 

 had occa.sion a few weeks ago to cut out a 5^ year old 

 ledger tree: the result in dri/ bark (root, stem and branch) 

 is 10 lb — this certainly is a most encouraging return. The 

 tree in question was a well-grown one, but even with a 

 lower average, which might be expected from a large 

 number of trees, the return would still be mcst remuner- 

 ative con.sidering the high value of the bark. 



"AVith regard to iinmeries — a general impression appears 

 to prevail that ledger seed is much more difficult to pro- 

 pagate than seed of other varieties, s a matter of fact 

 in no year have our luirseries been so successful in point 

 nf outturn as during the past, when ledger seed wasalmu.st 



exclusively planted, the tendency certainly is to over" 

 coddle plants raised from seed of this valuable variety, 

 and many failures may be traced to this cause, whereas, 

 in cases when the seed has received the same treatment 

 as the commoner varieties, the results have been eminently 

 satisfactory. 



" AThat do you think of the accompanying piece of ledger 

 bark from a 5J year old tree?" 



We are naturally gratified to have such strong con- 

 firmation of our opinion that plants from ledgeriana, 

 seed will generally come true to type, and as to the 

 successful growth of the trees the desiderata clearly 

 are good climatic conditions and (above all) free soil. 



A SPLENDID SPECIMEN OF BARK FROM A 5J YEAR OLD TREE 



Most of our readers are aware that not only is the 

 bark of ledgeriana rich in alkaloids but large in sub- 

 stance : thicker even than succirubra bark. Knowing 

 this, I was, nevertheless, taken by surprize by the 

 specimen sent me of the 10 lb. dry bark taken from 

 a 5i year old tree at Yarrow. 1, t os per lb. that 

 would mean £2 10s realized from one tree !) There 

 were three planters present when the packet was 

 opened, and they all insisted that the inner portion 

 of what was claimed to be bark was really wood. 

 But, ligneous as it looked, I said : " No, not wood ; 

 cambium," and sure enough when pieces of the sup- 

 posed wood were cut away and masticated they gave 

 out a bitter so intense as to leave no further doubt 

 of their bona f'dns. My thought of the bark, there- 

 fore, is that it is splendid, and I hope yet to follow 

 Wordsworth by singing of Yarrow not only visited 

 but revisited. The experience obtained on this estate 

 in Pussellawa, by Mr. Wm. Smith at Mattakelly, and 

 by Mr. E. H. Cameron at .-^t. Regulus — not to mention 

 other cases, — is conclusive in favour of good seed of 

 the most valuable of the cinchonas succeeding well 

 in nurseries and the resulting plants growing well in 

 the field, where conditions of climate and soil are 

 favourable. Where pure ledgerianas will not grow 

 well, hybrids will probably succeed, including those 

 resulting from a union of succirubra, of which I saw 

 some during my recent journey, which resemble those 

 on this estate in luxuriance of foliage and robustness 

 of growth. — In this, which will probably be my closing 

 letter " From the Hills " on this occasion, I think 

 readers of the Ohscrcer will acknowledge there is a 

 good deal of interesting and valuable information on 

 cinchonas and their culture : thanks to correspondents 

 and friends. 



THE DWARF BAMBOO AS A COVERING FOR SHAVED 



CINCHONAS. 



Has any cinchona grower tried the dwarf upland 

 bamboo as a covering for shaved trees, and with what 

 result ? The leaves will, no doubt, rapidly wither 

 and drop oft', but the stems can be thickly laid on. 



TEA AND Shelves. 



An Assam planter of a good deal of experience, a visitor 

 to Ceylon, accompanied me in a walk over our tea-fields, 

 and expressed pleasure and surprize to see such growth 

 at such an elevation and on such steep features As 

 regards the soil, he agreed with previous visitors as 

 to its excellence. He was equally pleased with our 

 tea-house arrangements, especially the multiplying of 

 leaf- withering space by means of shelves (wooden 

 frames covered with cloth) held up, one above the 

 other, by the simple device of a knotted rope. That 

 idea for utilizing space he will carry back as a pre- 

 sent from Ceylon, the youngest of Indian tea dis- 

 tricts, to Assam, the oldest. As I write, at J p.m., 

 the rain, which commenced about half an hour ago, is 

 pouring. What its effect on coffee may be remains 

 to be seen, Ijut, as there is no blossom out now. it 

 will probably be as beneficial to coffee as it certainly 

 will be to tea and cinchonas. 



