288 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1882. 



without the slightest objection being raised to its 

 ochjur. As a matter of fact, it has no odour when 

 properly seasoned ; but we find that, when it has been 

 for auy length of time in water in a green state, it 

 acquires a very powerful aud unpleasant odour, which, 

 though disappearing almost, if not entirely, as the 

 wood becomes dry, reappears when it is again sub- 

 jected to moisture, or the steamy atmosphnre nf a 

 ship's hold. As I said before, I find that others have 

 used this wood as well as cursilves ; and I know of 

 chests composed partly of other woods and partly of 

 bucknee, of which, however, a single board in its 

 oftensive state is quite sufficient to infect the whole 

 box; my object in mentioning this now is that others 

 may protit by the experience we had to pay for. — 

 Yours faithfully, C. W. HORSFALL, Manager. 



MR. STORCK'S TREATMENT OF COFFEE LEAF 

 DISEASE. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE "FIJI TIMES." 



SlK, — When republishing my letter in the "Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle" of February 18th last, on my sys- 

 tem of permanent vaporisation for the cure of the 

 coffee leaf disease, you were not aware that a portion 

 of it, the introductory matter, and upon which I placed 

 peculiar value as showing the train of thought which 

 led me to my invention, was only referred to as "re- 

 viewing previous attempts that had been made." Al- 

 though 1 have upon genera) grounds no reason to 

 complain of adverse criticism from such an authority 

 as the "Gardeners' Chronicle," the editorial remarks 

 contain what may be misleading to others iu what it 

 says about the "depth to which fungus may pene- 

 trate." I now send you copy of a summary of the 

 part omitted, wdiich please be kind enough to give 

 space in your next issue. 



In some of hie remarks upon coffee leaf disease, 

 Dr. G. H. K. Thwaites, of Ceylon, speaks in con- 

 nection with Mr. Morris's sulphur and lime treatment 

 of the mitigating efl'ects of sulphurous gases upon the 

 potato disease in the neighbourliood of certain copper- 

 works. In a very clever paper which appeared in the 

 Ceylon Observer lately, the partial immunity from coffee 

 leaf disease of some districts in Java was explained by 

 the presence of sulphurous vapors in the atmosphere 

 produced b.v neighbouring volcanoes. Although the treat- 

 ment of HtmUeia has, with lime aud sulphur, proved 

 a failure practically, the idea of acting upon the fungus 

 through sulphurous acid gas evolved by tlie contact 

 of sulphur with lime — in shoit— of an atmosplierical 

 treatment remains correct. The fault of the treat- 

 ment lay in the manner of application of the material 

 direct to the plants, and of necessity, to the soil : 

 its effects upon the fungus were too evanescent and 

 the formation of sulphurous acid in appreciable quaut- 

 ities absorbed by the soil, disastrous to plant life. 



The first instance of atmospherical treatment, 1 wit- 

 nessed in the winter gardens aud forcing hcus;s of 

 Germany, where earthen platters, partly tilled with 

 lime and sulphur were variously disposed all over 

 the houses, and the practice answered very well 

 under the shelter, aud confinement of glass-roofs but 

 how to adapt it to the open field was another matter. 



Soon after the introdrction of coffee leaf diiease 

 into this Colony, I had without any artificial aid, 

 and only guided by the instincts of a gardener, made 

 certain observations, followed by experiments, which 

 convinced me that a thorough and lasting cure of 

 leaf disease was possible. The first attempts 1 made 

 were by direct applications, "dustings," -A'ith various 

 substances, killing the spores as fast as they appeared 

 on the principle of pulling a weed before it seeds ; 

 by dailj dustings with moderately caustic coral lime 

 I succeeded in exhausting the spots of spores form- 

 ing and ripening in the tissue of the leaves after 

 about oi^ht weeke. Of two Liberian trees treated 



iu the same manner with sulphur and lime one 

 died a elow death, whilst the other after bfing 

 cured, was only saved by timely and carefid trans- 

 planting it^to sweet soil. All the trees tnated in this 

 manner, with the exception of some which were 

 reinfected afterwards through laborers from an ad- 

 joining district, remain clean to this day, twenty-three 

 months 



But direct treatment by hand, even if practicable 

 and correct in principle, with bulky material such as 

 lime, etc., must always be lanorioua aud expeusive, 

 sul.ijoct to interruption by the weather, and open to 

 failure thi-ough careless performance. Besides these 

 drawbacks such treatment must be comparatively value- 

 less except on an estate, isolated or capable of isolation, 

 because unless the treatment became general in a dis- 

 trict or a province, infection would be re-imported 

 from adjoining plantations as f«8t as the manual treat- 

 ment could keep it under. 



Whilst carrying on aud making my observations on 

 the above experiments I never lost sight of the practie. 

 ability of a system of vaporisation adapted to the open 

 field, and by degrees matured my " method of perman- 

 ent vaporisation." 



Carbolic acid in its quality of an antiseptic, has for a 

 considerable time past b^en emiJoyrd agoiuat various 

 fungoid organisations, as also again.st Hemikia V'astatrix, 

 but against the latter with only indifferent success, 

 owing to the manner of application w'hich in every 

 case thi.t has come to my knowledge to this date, was 

 direct, manual, and therefore unreliable and expensive. 

 My method is purely atmospherical, etc. 



Jacob P. Storck. 



Belmont, Rewa River, 

 June 5th. 1S82. 



Sericultuke. — The silk industry in the Mysore pro- 

 vince some years ago provided occupation for thou- 

 sands of people ; the export of raw material was large; 

 there was a great demand for silk cloths from Mysore 

 which were famed in the East and in Europe, and 

 the revenue to the state from Sericulture was an 

 item not to bo despised. But bad times came, the 

 worms were attacked with disease and died out, 

 means were wanted to replace them, people grew dis- 

 heartened and gradually from a very flourishing 

 occupation, the silk industry almost became extinct. 

 Recentlv, however, attempts nere made in several parts 

 of the province to revive silk manufactures, and within 

 the past two years the cultivation of the mulberry 

 for food for the silk worms has pushed aside in 

 many places all other garden cultivation. We would, 

 therefore, draw the attention of the Mysore Government 

 to the necessity there exists of directing the en- 

 deavours of the cultivator.? into proper channels by 

 which all possible risks of failure might be guarded 

 against. The Agriculture Department of India have 

 made arrangements for supplying such of the Local 

 Governments and Administrations as are prepared to 

 join iu the experiment with small quantities of silk 

 worm eggs of the univoltine variety for the purposes 

 of silk- worm rearing. Wo surmise there is nothing 

 to prevent an experiment of this kind being carried 

 out iu Mysore. But to do this properly the cultivation 

 of mulberry should be extended and cominonced at 

 once in localities selected for trial. We believe the 

 kind of mulberry found most suited for the ordinary 

 silkworm is the 7tiorns miilticau'h cuttings of which 

 can also be had from the Agricultural D.'partment. 

 There .are t>io kinds of mulberry cultivated in Mysore 

 for silkworms — one indigenotis, w-hioh is preferred 

 by natives owing probably to its easT culiiv>rtion, 

 the other an imi^orted kind, which, though said to 

 be the best, does not find favor with the native cult- 

 ivators. — Madras Mail. 



