262 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[September 1, 1882. 



■was deputed to go to China to study tea-planting, and he 

 forwaaied seeds to the Indian officials for the purpose of 

 experinifuting in India. These, we believe, were planted 

 out in Kuraaon, one of the earliest— if not the very earliest 

 —gardens was Hawalbagh, which was only recently disposed 

 of to Dr. Oldham. From that nursery— for it was little 

 else— seedlings were distributed to the neighbouring districts, 

 and hence it conaes that the variety iu vogue in the Upper 

 Provinces is the common China. Various experiments 

 have been made with the Assam indigenous variety, and 

 also with the hybrid, but the generally received opinion, 

 until very recently, was that the climate did not suit 

 these jats. We feel convinced, however, that the plants 

 never got fair play, inasmuch as the mode of planting 

 out the China seedlings, peculiar to the Doon, was followed 

 in the case of the others. This plan is to compensate for 

 the small habit of the Cliina plant, by planting several 

 Btedlings to form a bu.sh. The general rule has lieen to 

 plant, from 3 to 7, or even more, to form a bush— 

 we have ourselves counted 32 in some cases.* The 

 consequence is, that an Assam indigenous or hybrid 

 has no chance of living under such treatment. The 

 China plant is in all essentials a bush, whereas the others 

 develop the habit of a tree, and we would never think of 

 planting seven flr trees iu one hole. About the year 1876, 

 a popular medico, with a penchant for tea, planted out a 

 few acres of hybrid by way of experiment, and took the 

 precaution to plant them singly. Here and there where 

 the seedlings were delicate, he planted two, with the 

 intention of eradicating which should turn out the weaker, 

 and the result justified his good sense. They grew apace, 

 and when the writer saw tliom last, in 1871?, they gave promise 

 of being the nucleus of a good garden. We feel sure that 

 hybrid will there, as in other districts, turn out the favorite. 

 In 1876, an unusually long spell without rain, told very 

 heavily on the gardens, and on all sides the ravages caused 

 by the heat were visible, while a few hybrid and indigenous 

 scattered here and there over the gardens, showed no 

 sympton of feehng the drought at all. The reason was 

 of cour.se not far to seek. The tap root of the tea plant 

 goes deep into the earth, and this is particularly true of 

 the hybrid, whose root we have traced to the depth of 

 seven feet.f hence bushes with such tap-roots, sought their 

 nourishment at such depths, that they were practically 

 beyond the reach of suffering from a temporary drought. 



The value of laud is high. There are vast stretches of 

 fine land in the hands of Government, but it might as 

 well be swamp-land for any value it is to investors. .Go- 

 vernment are willing to lease out grants of 500 acres to 

 bona fide cultivators, but there is always that abominable 

 forest clause, which prevents any but idiots from taking 

 up a grant. The forest clause reserves all timber on a 

 grant to the department, so that the lessee cannot cut a 

 tree, and must plant his tea under the densest shade. 

 Again, to the departmeut is reserved the right of felling 

 and removing the timber, without being liable to com- 

 pensation for injury done by the process. It will be seen 

 from this that leasing waste laud is out of the question. 

 The land under forest reservation is about 600 square 

 miles, much of which is suitable for tea, and with the ad- 

 vantages which tea planters enjoy iu the Doon, a large 

 portion of this would speecUly be put under tea, if the 

 " dog-and-manger " policy of the Government were only 

 departed from. 



Now that the rage for " rasp " has somewhat abated, 

 we look for an increase in the value of the teas grown 

 in Upper India. For years back these teas have ranked 

 low iu pubhc estimation, solely because the jat of plant, 

 and particularly the climate, made it impossible to manu- 

 facture " rasp " to order. This was a disadvantage to the 

 proprietors of the gardens in Kumaon, Dehra Doon, and 

 the Kangra Valley, and their teas were little esteeined in 

 Calcutta. The planters, however, had the satisfaction of 

 knowing that their teas were good and wholesome, and 

 that they did not require to be diluted mth China Con- 

 gou to neutralize the ch-ug-like flavor of the " rasp." Now, 

 however, that we are returning to our proper senses, and 

 are looking out for Indian tea intended and fit to be drunk 

 pure and unmixed, the delicate flavour of the teas of 



* Thirty-two !— Ed. 

 t H. B.— Ed. 



Hindustan, will unfailingly improve in value. For a long 

 series of years, the shares of those companies have been 

 quoted at a considerable discount, and although some of 

 them made fair dividends, the want of sympathy with the 

 Calcutta market has kept down the value of the shares; 

 a revival in demand will however speedily remedy this, 

 and we may soon hope to see those gardens becoming 

 valuable properties. — Indigo f/aiiters' Gazette. 



ON COFFFE LEAP DISEASE. 



(Quarterli/ Jounud of Microscopical Science, January 1882.) 



On the Morphology of Hemileu vastateix. Berk, aud 



Br. (tlie FoNGUs of the Coffee Disease uf Ceylon). By 



H. Marshall Ward, B.A., on special duty as Crypto- 



gamist to the Ceylon Government. (With Plates I, II, III.) 



[The paper is strictly scientific, but we think it well to 



publish it, so that all the information possible on the 



subject of the deadly coffee fungus may be available. It 



appears that bacteria complete the destruction commenced 



by Hemileia vastatrix, aud that_ both Abbay and Morris 



mistook for developments of the leaf fungus organisms 



which had no connection with it. — Ed ] 



During the past twelve mouths the progress of my 

 investigations into the-life history of Hemileia vastairix, the 

 fungus so prominent iu the so-called '• coffee leaf disease " 

 of Ceylon, has resulted in the accumulation of a series 

 of facts concerning its structure and development which 

 have been hitherto undiscovered, or, in some cases, mis- 

 understood. Sulficiont material being now at hand to throw 

 light upon the morphology of this remarkable parasite, I 

 purpose bringing together shortly the main points which 

 have been established.* 



Since it is not intended to enter upon any speculations, 

 and none of the numerous physiological and pathological 

 phenomena of " leaf disease " can be introduced here, it 

 appears unnecessary to discuss at length the previous 

 publications on the subject of " colfee-leaf disease."t ^ In 

 so shortly referring to them no inattention is implied, 

 but it will be impossible to clear up points of difference 

 without numerous figures in addition to those hereto annexed. 

 Nor is it necessary to enlarge upon the history, so far 

 known, of this serious pest to one of our most important 

 cultivations. I shall therefore proceed at once to the 

 immediate object of the present paper. 



The external appearance of a leaf severely afi'ected with 

 the " disease " is characterised as follows : — Small, cloudy 

 yellow spots appear on the under side of the leaf; any 

 oue of these may be observed to increase in area and 

 depth of colour, spreading ceutrifugally from a poiut in 

 a more or less circular mauuer. Sections of such a spot 

 show that a young mycelium is spreading in the laeuufe 

 between the cells of the leaf, and that the discoloured 

 are corresponds to that occupied by the mycelium. In 

 a few days small groups of orange-coloured, granular bodies, 

 appear externally, and, rapidly increasing in numbers, soon 

 form an orange-red powder on the under side of the 

 leaf ; this pulverulent " rust " consists of the spores \ 

 developed by the internal mycelium. They arise in rosette- 

 like groups from the stomata to which the myceUal branches 

 have direct access from witliin. As age progresses the 

 yellow colour of the " disease patch " becomes darker, 

 and at length browu iu the centre ; the brown colour, which is 

 due to destroyed leaf cells, &c., spreads ceutrifugally as before, 

 and at length a shrivelled, dark-brown blotch of dead 

 tissue is all that remains of the affected area. 



This is the typical mode of development of the 

 " disease spot," and there are several points of importance 

 regarding it. The oldest part is always the centre, and 



* Mr. Marshall Ward has reviewed the whole course 

 of his investigations, especially in relation to the economic 

 aspect of the subject, aud the possibility of remedial 

 measures, in a final report to the Ceylon Government 

 (Colombo, Sessional Paper XVII, 1881).- [Ed. 'Q. J. M. S-.'] 



t They are chiefly — Ahhay, ' Journ. Linu. Soc.,' Dec, 1878 ; 

 Morris, ' Joiuru. Linn. See.,' March, ISSO ; and a valuable 

 summary of the whole question up to 1880, by W. T. Thiselton 

 Dyer, 'Quart. Journ. of Mic. Sci.,' April, 1880. Smaller 

 papers by Cooke, Berkeley, Thwaites and Morris, are re- 

 ferred to iu these. 



J The evidence which proves this will be found belgw. 



