November i, 1882.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



3S1 



I was glad to see " W. D. B. " 'a letter about the 

 goofl crop he has in Dimbula on manured coffee. My 

 expei'ience here is the same, and I can show good crop 

 on fields from 4 to 50 years old (native or plantation 

 trees) again this year. 



I have now with me Mr. J. T. Sturm, Naturalist 

 and Chemist t he was a pupil under Prof. Hneckel* 

 of the Jena University, and is now learning coffee and 

 other produce planting, &c. , &c. 



" G. W."'s removal of plnnts in pots affected with 

 leaf-diaease to another spot when in. a few weeks not 

 a sjieck of the funyus was to be seen on the plants 

 is a further proof that a change of atmosphere has 

 caused tlie funa"s to disappear. Coffee trees con't be 

 shifted about ; so we must apply disinfectants which 

 are at the same time good for thi* plants. Again, I 

 must request planters to give a fair trial to "wood 

 ash and lime," dusted on the trees when wet. If very 

 much atticked, J basket good cattle manure well 

 saturated with urine around the stem of the coft'oo 

 tree and scaiter J coconut shell full of lime over the 

 manure. I warrant that the best and quickest as 

 well as cheapest means of getting rid of leaf-disease 

 and securing paying crops. — Yours truly, 



J. HOLLOWAY. 



What ails our coffee trees ? — (1) the eoil they live 

 in is full of had gas and pooe ; (2) the atmosphere 

 gets impure from the gas coming out of sod (observe 

 lower leaves always drop first) ; (3) want of nourish- 

 ment of the proper kind and at the right time (see 

 good crops by good cultivation) ; (4) want of purified 

 atmosphere and tonic to the leaves when first attacked 

 withleaf-disease (lime purifies and ashes tonic). — J. H. 



[Coffee on virgin soil of good quality has been no 

 more exempt from leaf-disease than that grown on 

 worn-out soil. What evidence can Mr. Holloway ad- 

 duce for his bad gas theory, beyond the inconclusive 

 fact that the lower leaves wither first ? — Ed.] 



INSECTS FEEDING ON THE COFFEE FUNGUS. 

 Badulla, Sept. 9th 1S32. 



Dear Sir, — Thinking that a new trait in leaf- 

 disease has been discovered by me a few weeks 

 back, I now send by tappal a matchbox filled with 

 diseased coffee leaves. You will observe a number of 

 insects of all sizes apparently feeding on //. V , and 

 these are only to be found on diseased leaves and 

 on the lower side of the leaf oulv : these insects 

 are very lively, and wander about all over the leaf ; 

 consequently they may get out of the box in the 

 transmission through the post. Should this be so, 

 I shall be glad to send you more, as they can be 

 found in thousands on all bidly diseased patches. 

 Aa this pest was first discovered here, would it be 

 too Uiuoh to hope that, perhaps, the cure may aho 

 come fiom this portion of the coffee district? — Youra 

 faithfully, PLANTER. 



[The well known Thrips, described in "Garden Pests." 

 page 63. These small insects feed on various plants and 

 other vegetable substances. It is very doubtful whether 

 they will do any appreciable good in Badulla in the way 

 of checking the * peed of hfmileia. They consume a con- 

 siderable quantity of the spores of the fungus, but 

 scatter much about the leaves. Had they not such 

 succulent food to feed upnn, they would probably 

 attack thu tender leaves and blossom of the coffee tree. 

 Pollen is their favorite food, but they have doubt- 

 less been attracted in large numbers by the sporesof the 

 fungus. This insect attacks cinchona leaves in. some 

 (listricts, but does not appear to domuch harm. — Ed.] 



* It is to be hoped Mr. Stiu'm is more of a gentleman 

 than is liis conceited master. — Ed. 



49 



CEYLON CEARA RUBBER AND THE RECENT 

 LONDON VALUATIONS OF THE PRODUCT. 

 Peradeuiya, loth September 18S2. 

 Sir,— I send for publication a copy of a letter ad- 

 dressed by me to Mr. E. S. Grigson. in answef to 

 some questions fromliini, arising out of Messrs. S iver's 

 report on the samples of Ceara rubber I submitted 

 to them.- I am, sir, yours faithfully, 



HENRY TRIMEN. 



R. Bot. Garden, Peradeniya, 1 4th Sept. 1882. 



Dear Sir, — With reference to your questions re- 

 gardinj; the samples of Ceara rubber from the Gard^- 

 lately reported on in London, I can give the following 

 information : 



I am ignorant of the cause why some of the rubber, 

 became sticky. Nothing was mixed with the milk vvbich 

 was simply dried in the sun ; and all came from 

 the same 9 or 10 trees. When sending tlie samples 

 to Messrs. Silver I thought it well to separate the 

 sticky from the other, expecting there would be a 

 difference in value ; but I was not prepared for the 

 report of the analyst. The sand was contracted by 

 some of the milk falling on the ground round the 

 stem. 



The report shews clearly the extreme importance 

 of careful collection. 



So far as Ceara rubber is concerned, I think we 

 get it better in tears and strings allowed to dry in 

 the stem than by any other way at present tried. 

 This, too, is the form in which it comes into the market 

 from Brazil. 



If this method be followed, it wiU be well to plant 

 rather closely with a view to securing straight stems 

 and discourage branching low down, i he liquid milk 

 is very liable to drip on to the ground instead of 

 trickling down the stem, if the latter be not fairly 

 vertical. At the same time the trees must not be so 

 close as to draw up the stems unduly and render them 

 spindly. 



As regards the periods of collecting, I believe that 

 this will resolve itself into a question of expense, and 

 would vary according to circumstance-'. Little harm 

 appears to be done by an exhaustive extraction of 

 milk at one operation extending over several days. 

 In a large plantation, no doubt tapi' ng mit.'ht be 

 almost always going on in suitable weather, but ex- 

 periencemiistshew whether more rubber will be obtained 

 from any individual tree during its life by partial 

 taijpings frequently repeated than by annual ones of 

 a more exhaustive character. 



The milk from young trees certainly contains a 

 less proportion of caoutchouc; but the latter is, I should 

 suppose, of equal qtialili/, though requiring moredry- 

 ing to obtain pure. There is thus, perhaps, not any 

 great objection to milking young plants, especially as 

 every thing woukl lead one to believe that the tree 

 cannot be a long-lived one. 



I think I have answered all your queries ; and, as 

 the matter is one of general intere.-.t, I think it 

 right to send a copy of this reply to the newspapers 

 for public information. — I am, yours faithfully, 



HENRY TRIMEN. 



E. S. Gkioson, Esq. 



THE VALUE OF NITRATES IN PLANT LIFE. 



16tli .'^ept. 1882. 



Dear Sir, — " X. " 's letter in your icsue of the 13th 

 instant seems to reqiiiie some reply from me. 



Referring to my letter of 15th August, my argument 

 in re the loss of nitrates amounted to this :- that the 

 loss was greatly overestimated by ">^." and that it 

 had little to do with the present infi rtilitj' of coffee. 

 "X. " has covered a good sheet of paper in inferring 



