August r, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



1?$ 



labour and money have been expended to little pur- 

 pose in sulphur and lime, carbolate of lime and other 

 mixtures, and experiments, and so little money is 

 now available, that at first he must be contented 

 to prove a success on a limited area to inspu'e due 

 faith in the utility of more general treatment. One 

 old Ceylon planter writing to us by last mail says : 

 — " Be prepared for Ceylon coffee in Febiniary next 

 blossoming out at a rate not seen for a good many 

 years; it wanted rest and it has got it ! " Now it 

 is possible that some may be inclined to say coffee 

 is bound to do well next year, whether treated for 

 leaf-disease or not ; but this argument will not do 

 for the majority who hold out no such prospect. 

 Besides, Mr. Storck should arrive here in the midst 

 of the usual July-August attack of leaf fungus, and, 

 unlike Mr. Schrottky, as we understand the matter, 

 Mr. Storck can go to work with his cure and shew 

 its effect on the pest at once, without waiting for a 

 particular seasou. 



COFFEE LEAF FUNGUS :— MR. STORCK 



ABOUT TO VISIT CEYI.ON. 



Udugama, June 23rd. 

 Dear Sir,— I send you enclosed a letter I received 

 from Mr. Storck. This was in reply to a letter 

 from me, in whicli I offered to give Mr. Storck 

 R'2,000 on the condition that he did, by his treat- 

 ment, and at the cost he stated, viz. £2- 10s. an 

 acre, keep both a Liberian and an Arabian coffee 

 estate free from leaf-disease for a year. If the ex- 

 periment succeeded, the expenses of treatment were 

 to be borne by me ; if it failed, by Mr. Stnrck, There 

 can be no doubt that Mr. Storck himself has every 

 confidence in his cure, or he would not come all 

 the way from Fiji to experiment. As I believe his 

 system is being carried out on several estates in 

 the island, we ought soon to know if it is doing any 

 good.— I remain, yours faithfully, T. S. DOBREE. 



Belmont, Upper Rewa, Fiji, April 3rd, 1882. 

 T. S. Dobree, Esq. 



Dear Sir,— Yours of Jan. 2Sth is just to band, and 

 I am glad to notice some degree of confidence in my 

 treatment expressed therein. It is just possible that, 

 by the time this reaches you, a publication in the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle may have appeared in Ceylon, 

 giving an account of the manipulation, etc., of tlic 

 system : hut since writing it I have smnewhnt changed 

 my tactics, and the thing had better be left untried, 

 until I come myself. 



I shall try and get away from here in about two 

 months, so as to be in good time for a campaign in 

 the N. E. monsoon, and we may then arrange about 

 the experiments you speak of. 



Should you give publicity to this note, I would le 

 glud of the opportunity of convejing any thanks to the 

 Editor of the Observer for his graceful act of attention 

 in sending me Mr. M. Ward's third paper on //. V. 

 which reached me since writing to hira last. — I remain, 

 dear sir, yours faithfully, Jacob P. Storck. 



THE CEYLON AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 



A public meeting was held at Mr. C. H. de Sty-a's 

 spacious othce today (June 24th) in order to ee- 

 tablish the Association mentioned above. As will be 

 Been by a reference to the names of some of those 

 present, the Sinhalese, Tamil, and Burgher com- 

 munities were fairly well represented, the wealthiest 

 oftbe SiaUalese being specially well represented. 

 11 



Mr. C. Bkito had much pleasure in proposing that 

 Mr. C. H. de Soyza take the chair. No one 

 had a larger interest in the agricultural tnterprize 

 of this island, he felt sure, than Mr. de Soyza. 



Mr. Barton Grindrod (of the firm of Griudrod, 

 Jenkins & Co.) seconded the motion. 



Mr. C. H. DE Soyza thereupon took the chair. He 

 said :— Gentlemen, before proceeding to the busmess of 

 the day, I would like to express to you my gratitude 

 for so readily attending here, to make a be{;inning of 

 such a useful work. The necessity for an institution 

 of this kind has long been felt here, and, seeing the 

 depression in prices at the prtsent time, I tliought it 

 my duty to lose no tune to call such a meeting, and I 

 would ask your kiud help and encouragement. How- 

 ever anxious I might be, I need not say that I would 

 be helpless without your united and individual support. 

 I am extremely thankful for your readiness in agreeing 

 to work, together and this augurs well for the success 

 of the proposed Association, which, if properly carried 

 out, will, without doubt, be a boon to our country. 

 Now, gentlemen, I wdl not take up yiur time any 

 further but proceed to the business of the day. 



The Hon. P. Rama Nathan then rose and i-aid 

 the chief object of that meeting was embodied in 

 the resolution which had been put into his hands 

 by the Chairman. That object was to promote tlie 

 interest of those engaged in the cultivation an^l sale 

 of Ceylon products. He consideied that the time 

 chosen by the Chairman for calling that meeting to be 

 very opportune. Any cnmmon misfortune would weld 

 together opposing forees, and at the present time of 

 depression he had no doubt that men of v,aried 

 opinions would unite in the formation of this Asbo- 

 ciation, .and contrilnite heartily to the success and 

 prosperity of that institution. {Hear, bear). There 

 could be no doubt that the instimtion proposed 

 would be of great use to this colony and 1. 1 the 

 natives especially. If the Europeins who were so 

 well able to look after their own affairs — who had 

 their newspajjer presses, their influential friends in Eng- 

 laud and their wealth to back up their opinions, think 

 it, or thought it, neceseaiy some 30 years .ago to estab- 

 lish aa AsBociation to support their agricultural 

 industries he had no doubt thiy could auree 

 with him that arguments still greater would be 

 fouud for establishing an Association amongst them- 

 selves similar to the Planters' Association. They 

 did not intend to be in opposition to the Phititers' 

 Association, but rather to work conjointly with them 

 in so good a cause as the agricultural interest of 

 this country — working unitedly, eo as to terve one 

 and the same interest. He asked tliem to consider 

 with him for a time the interests at stake, so far as 

 the natives were considered, in the agricultural en- 

 terprise of the colony. If tbey turned to "Ferguson's 

 Directory" (a book leplete with information upon agri- 

 cultural questions) they would find that "here are about 

 301,000 acres o( land under coconut cultivation and 

 about the same number of acres of land in coffee 

 plantations. Now they would agree A\ith him in his 

 statement that most of the coconut pi mtatious were 

 in the hands of natives, ami, as regards coffee the ex- 

 poit returns shewed that as much as one-filth or one- 

 sixth of the produce was native coffee ; besides this 

 there Wiis a great deal of plantation coffee raised bj- 

 the energy of the natives. As regaided cinnamon, 

 30,000 acres were under cultivation, aud almost the 

 whole of it was in the bunds of the natives. If in 

 terests of such value, amounting to severals million 

 or pounds, were in their hands, he did not see why 

 an Association such as the Planters' Association should 

 not be initiated and worked by them. They had 

 wealth in their midst ; they had iuteliigence and 

 energy in their midst. What then was wanting 

 on their part to do that which Europeans had 



