June i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST.* 



955 



^■ixxx^Bp(xMence, 



In the Editor of the '■'■Ceylon Observer:' 

 DIVI-DIVI CULTIVATION. 



Heneratgoda, 20th April I8S3. 

 Sir,— 1 heg to .annex extract of a letter just received 

 From an expeiieuci-d divi-divi plautfr in India. 

 Trusting it will be useful to the majority of your 

 readers, yours faithfully, J. P. WILLIAM. 



(Extract referred to.) 



" I am in receifit of your letter regarding the cultiv- 

 ation of ' divi-divi.' There are so many appKcatious for 

 the seed of tliis tr-ee, .and each application rcqiming full 

 iustructious as to the proper method of its cultivation 

 I find it difficult to keep pace with the demand, 

 .aud as it has been so strongly recommended by the 

 Govenior-General of India, I think the least the Govern- 

 ment could have done vpould have been to publish a pam- 

 phlet explanatory of the modes to be adopted. 



" 'llie beijinnhuj is of the utmost importance as with 

 a false stai-t the ending vrill sm-e to be disastrous, and I 

 feel very sure fi-om information I have received that m.auy 

 of the speculators in this enterprize will look on then- spec- 

 ulations with dismay. The first thing to be very cautious 

 aljout is the selection of the seeds which should come from 

 mature trees and mature ti-ees alone. The seeds which I 

 have used have been taken from trees upwards of twenty- 

 five years of age aud upwards of thii-ty feet in height, 

 the result being that the young trees m the plantation 

 from six to seven years of age show themselves iu such 

 fine coniUtiou and have given such bumper crops for the 

 year IS82-S3. 



"Now about the jjreservation of these deUcate seeds : 

 they must on no accoimt be exposed to tho atmosphere 

 uutil the nm-series are ready to receive them. Kept in 

 hermetically sealed pods they are perfectly safe, but in 

 scucUng them upcouutry to save extra charge for carriage 

 I send them iu clean dry bottles well corked and well 

 dammered to protect them from the atmosphere. Iu 

 sowing them iu the nm'sery little holes not more than one 

 quarter of an inch deep .and seven inches apart have been 

 universally followed by me. They are not sown deeper 

 than a quarter of an inch, as the sim would not have 

 the necessary power to force their genuinatiou and iu point 

 of fact, when I h.ave foimd some of the seeds fail 

 I have had them dug up half-iucli and three-quarters of 

 ,an inch deep and have usually founl that they had genu-' 

 inated at that depth, but had been smothered by the 

 extra moistiu'e, and the httle seedlings which are of so deUc- 

 ate a character, could not penetrate the extra soil above 

 them. The reason for setting them seven inches apart 

 is that when ready for transplantation they can be cut 

 out with a ball of loam without injm-y to the tapiroots, 

 wliich will be in about six months after sowing, when 

 they will be from two to three feet iu height. 



"Tho plan adopted by me in planting out was to have 

 pits dug three feet square and at least two feet deep 

 and twenty-two feet apart ; the pits were then filled iu 

 with a little manure and sand noixed with the loam. 

 Chaimels are then cut fi-om pit to pit, so that water dis- 

 charged at the higher level would, as a natural circum- 

 stance, run down to the lower. This watei-ing process I 

 have found to be necessary during two or three of the 

 hottest months in the year. Plants uuder unusually fa- 

 vom-able cii-cumstauces have given small crops in the 

 second year- ; they nearly all blossom .after the third year. 

 The produce, however, would not besuitable for propag- 

 ation, but somewhat suitable in the industries, dyemg, 

 t.anuing aud making ink. 



" jVu ounce of the seed, if properly attended to at the 

 begiuning should yield on an average 1,2.50 seedlings: at 

 least, that luis been my average. For tlie fii'st two years 

 a httle atteutiou should be given in cuttihg away the side 

 or spring branches, in the thii-d year the lower branches 

 especially the weak ones should be pruned away and tho 

 plant made to assume as much the appearance of a tree 

 as possible. In some instances this has not been accom- 

 plished under fotrr years. 



" On the subject of preserving them from the atmosphere 



uutil ready to be sown there is a very curious fact which 



I have omitted to mention. In each seed there is the 

 spawn of a maggot wliich biggins his boring explorations 

 after 36 hom-s' exposure to the au-. In three days the maggot 

 will be foimd to emerge .at the apex of the seed totally de- 

 stroying the gei-m which contains a good deal of saechaiine 

 matter .and hence it is useless labour to sow such seeds !al- 

 though I hear it is commonly done throughout southern 

 India. A native yoimg gentleman who has been _workiug 

 with me as accoimtaut and auditor for the last 15 mouths 

 has taken gi'eat interest in the cultivation of the " &n- 

 tlivi," aud, if sufficient inducement offers, he says he is 

 wilUug to proceed to Ceylon and superintend as many 

 plant.ations as may be within an easy distance. 



"In no case must the bottle be opened until the nursery 

 is ready to receive the seeds, as I have known the borer 

 to start when seeds have beeu exposed barely one hour. 



"I may mention that ' lUvi-divi ' wiU not thrive at a 

 higher altitude than '2,000 feet." 



MESSRS. CALVERT & CO. ON CARBOLIC ACID. 



Sir. — ^In your paper of Feb. 2.3rd we note a state- 

 ment * that carbolic acid exposed to tha open air 

 does not eraporale. This cannot be considered an 

 accurate opinion, as we could tender numerous proofs 

 to the contrary ! 



In a paper " On the treatment of pulmonary disease," 

 read before the Medical Society of London on the 

 12th iust., we find it stated ihat " carbolic acid has the 

 siugular property of volatilising in exactly the same 

 proportion as the water with which it is mixed (i. e. 

 dissolved) ; and thus it is the most suitable for all 

 antiseptic methods of treatment." 



Regarding its possible lUWti/ as a remedy for the 

 coffee leaf-disease we canuot venture an opinion, and 

 it is a matter for simple exp''riment, but of its good 

 effect iu vapor ou the bacilli or germs developed by 

 fevers, feet and mouth disease, epizooty, consumption, 

 and otlier kindred ailments there can now be 

 no doubt, beoau-e the fact is generally admitted 

 by medical aud scientific men who have oare- 

 iully investigated the question and can vouch for 

 the' results of their experiments. Professor Koch's 

 remarks on carbolic acid being iimrt when dissolved 

 iu water or oil are so opposed to an enormous ma.ss of 

 scieniitic evidence by eminent meu (including Profess- 

 ors Lister, Tyndall, Crookes, Nussbaum aud Bays 

 Lankister) that we may reasonably assume Profess- 

 ors Koch to be at fault if he has been cu-rectly 

 reported. Anyone can test the questiou by adding 

 carbolic acid to a watery solution of some putresjible 

 matter in the ratio of 1 part acid (also known as phenol) 

 to 5U0 parts of the solution and comparing it,, after 

 some weeks, with part of a similar solution not 

 treated with carbolic acid (phenol). 



It is clearly proved that all so-called microoooei 

 or bacilli are themselves developed from siiores, or 

 eggs, which have so tenacious a vitality that tliey 

 cannot be destroyed by prol.mged boiling or even by 

 stron J solulious of any antiseptic; but these spores 

 when" gradually developed are readily killed in the 

 firsts stage of their life, as bacilli or microbes, when 

 encompassed by carbolic solutious or vapor. 



In view of the facts regarding these spores, as ex- 

 pounded by Prof. Tyndall, it is easy to see why a 

 continuous disinfection for varyiug periods becomes 

 needful to ensure complete destruction of spore life, 

 which can only be attacked effectively after passing 

 into the bacilli or active stage. 



The subject of this letter, being of very general 

 imorutauce, will, we trust, justify its insertion in 

 your p.aper. -Yours truly, F. C. CALVERT & Co. 



[The subject is certainly a very interesting me, and 

 for ourselves we can say that we cannot uu ierstand 

 any person with a nasal organ doubting the vaporiz- 



• By Mr. Geo. Wall.— Ed. 



