866 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May r, 1883. 



threw up a good sucker ; a few days after, I weat 

 up to have a look at it, when I fouud that the earth 

 had beea t\kea out of trenches that might have done 

 for a double-cutting for a small railway, and there 

 was no dnubt that these trenches drained the sap 

 out of the soil, and Raliwana was at that time a 

 wet district. When I threw up Palanicotta and went 

 up to Hattarabage what was my astouiihnieut to 

 find, that every tree on the then estate had been 

 stumped and every stump had thrown up a sucker 

 and formed a good tree, and Hattarabage wa< a very 

 dry place.— Yours truly, ') F. HALLILEY. 



[We believe in too much moisture being bad and too 

 little being equally bad, eriually witii oar correspond- 

 lent ; but in the benefit of weeds we do not and are 

 not likely to believe. — Ed.] 



COFFEE-LEAF FUNGUS-CARBOLIC ACID- 



AND CROPS— THE TRUE REMEDY FOR 



PLANTERS' TROUBLES. 



" Gold'ne Friichte seh' ich gUUien, 

 Wiukend zwischen duukelm Laub ; 

 Und die Blumen. die dort bliihen, 

 Werden keines Winter's Raub." 



Dear Sir, — I have read with much interest the 

 letters which have appeared in your columns by 

 " W." and others on coffee-leaf lUsease and its treat- 

 ment by carbolic acid. In my own small way I have 

 also tested the truth of the statements made by 

 " W. " and I have found that a saturated solution 

 of water contained 4 per cent of carbolic acid._ " W." 

 doubts, however, whether the acid is volatile. If 

 not volatile it cannot come into contact with the 

 funo-us, and is useless. This is " W." 's surmise. 

 Wliether volatile is the correct term to use I doubt 

 very much. I have tested the air in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of trees surrounded by tins of acid, 

 and I have found that the air contained carbolic acid. 

 I cannot sav in what state it exists, whether in the 

 form of vapour, or very small particles. We know 

 that saft exists in the air in the form of very fine 

 dust in the neighbourhood of salt lagoons, &c., and 

 I am inclined to believe that the acid must exist 

 in the same state. Finer appliances than I possess 

 would settle this point, and some of your Colombo 

 chemists might inform us on the point. 



I have not been able to observe that any good has 

 resulted from the exposing of the trees to this acid. 

 I think the experience of those who have used it 

 will corroborate my views. As a cure for leaf- 

 disease, carbolic acid is valueless. Are we then to 

 look helplessly on the ravages of the Hemileia mstafrix, 

 convinced that no cure is available ? I think we must. 

 The wise planter cultivates his coffee carefully, sees 

 that his wood is in order : in fact, that his estate 

 is in perfect order, should the blossom and the fa- 

 vourable weather come. He knows that this is all 

 that is in his power. " God alone giveth the in- 

 crease." He repudiates these miserable tins of acid : 

 the cheeseparing which saves a few cents to his pro- 

 prietor, but leaves his trees unpruned, his house uu- 

 swept for the coming guest, and when that guest 

 comes in the shape of good blossom, with fine favourable 

 weather to set it, he is unprepared to receive him, 

 and the opportunity is lost. The- cheeseparing has 

 cost the proprietor thousands. I appeal to the planters 

 in general, if this is not the case with very many. 

 Just now there is a finer prospect of crop than we 

 have had for several years. The guest has come 

 unexpectedly, and those whose houses are prepared 

 to receive him benefit to the full, but those whose 

 wood is not in order, to whom cheeseparing seemed 

 the acme of good management, lose the gulden op- 

 portunity. They cannot but benefit by the golden 

 shower, but they do not benefit to the extent the 

 careful husbandman does. . Favouring seasons alone 



can mitigate, if not cure, this curse which has ruined 

 so many fine estates. Artificial remedies are sought 

 in vain. The fungus is the result of laws which we 

 know to be invariable ; natural laws the workings of 

 which we can but weakly investigate. The fungus 

 will disappear as it has appeared under the influence 

 of these laws. Days of humiliation and fasting have 

 been proposed as a cure. Let us fast antl pray by 

 all means. It becomes us to do so, at all seasons, 

 and it is not for us finite beings to limit the power 

 of God, by saying these laws cannot be altered, and 

 ergo our prayers and fastings are of no avail. We 

 know that natural laws are never altered in response 

 to human prayer, but I maintain that it is still our 

 duty to fast and pray, and trust to God to give us 

 the increase in His own mysterious all-powerful way. 

 Brighter prospects are now dawning on our beloved 

 little island, and many hearts are fluttering with 

 nascent joy which erstwhile lay in dust and ashea. 

 —Yours, &c., NIKMAND. 



Sugar. Coffee and Copra in Fiji are thus noticed in 

 the Fiji Times : — " Sugar has so decidedly taken the lead 

 of other productions incur islands and the returns from 

 it are so clearly to be the first proof of the fertility of 

 our soil, that no apology is required for giving it the 

 first place, apart from the large cupital invested. I<ut 

 coffee a is product not to be passed by, although, 90 

 far, it has taken no very marked position on the ex- 

 port list. Most unfortunately, a severe blow, in Aug- 

 ust last, spoiled the blossom on the older plantations 

 in Taviuni, and the other estates are not vet of 

 sufEcient age to yield a crop. We can scarcely have 

 a doubt, however, but that another year »ill shew 

 marked progress in this cultivation also and it will 

 then be found profitable to get efficient machinery 

 to clean the berry and present it in a marketable cnn- 

 dition, without having to send it to Ceylon, as was 

 done with the small shipment recently reported on. 

 " Of the other products that we may hope to see expor- 

 ted, we have not yet sufficient experi-nce to speak with 

 confidence, and, while sanguine that these will one day, 

 coiitribuNi very largely to the general prosperily, we 

 must bide for time to develope, practically, their value." 



On Some New Species of OrrECnLiONiDiE [beetles of 

 the weevil tribe] from Ceylon. By Francis P. Pascoe. 

 (From the Annals and 3Tayazine of Natural Histoi'y for 

 February 1863, p. 121.) — The Ourculionidie described in this 

 paper were collected by Mr. George Lewis during a recent 

 visit of five months to Ceylon. His captures amounted to 

 over 10,000 specimens, including 1,200 species.* No such 

 collection has been made before ; indeed, I believe, since Sir 

 Emerson Tenuent's time, only a few stray specimens have 

 ever reached this country. Notwithstanding the rich veget- 

 ation, the insect-fauna of Ceylon is rather tlisappointing so 

 far as large and gaily-coloured species are concerned ; but 

 some of its apparently peculiar form are unusually interest- 

 ing. The Curculionid.'e number about 70 species ; of these I 

 have only here described the duplicates. They were, as will 

 be seen further on, almost entirely collected in the mountain 

 district of Dikoya, at altitudes varying from 3,800 to 4,2U0 

 feet. Galle and Colombo, lying on the shore, are " rich in 

 species." Mr. Lewis only spent a week in one and about 

 three weeks in the other ; but very few Ourculionidie seem 

 to have been met with. The following is a list of the species 

 here described; — 



Afioninte.—A^ion maculipes, hab. Kandy; A. seneipenne, 

 hab. Kandy. 



AtteLabmce. — Apoderus pulchellus, hab. Dikoya. 



R/iinoiitaceniiie. — Rhynchitea clavatus, hab. Dikoya; Eugnamp- 

 tus marginatus, hab. Kandy. 



.-l/ci[//«^F. -Alcjdes Lewisii, hab. Dikoya; A, ruptus, do do; 

 A. curiiilis, do do; A. guttulatus, do Bogawantalawa; A. 

 suspensus, do Kitulgala; A. argutor, do Dikoya. 



Zi/gopinte. -FoU&Uaj, u. g.; P. miuica, hab. Galle. 



Cri/ptor/i>flichhia.—Ami>hiahu3, u. g. ; A. turgidns, hab. Dik- 

 oya;" A. agrestis, do 'lo ; Phrygena, u. g. : P. ephippiata, has; 

 D'ikoya ; Sti attis, u. g. ; S. biguttatus, hab. Dikoya ; S. vestiglalib 

 hab. Di koya. __^_ 



*For an interesting account of the visit, see Trans, 

 Entom. Soc. 1882, pp. 475-483. 



