972 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[June i, 1883. 



They a e covered with rough hairs, which makes them dis- 

 agreeable to the touch. 8ome of the varieties have leaves 

 deeply lobed, and those of some others are almost entire 

 The fruit of some of these varieties weighs as much as 91b.. 

 that uf others does not exceed 1 or 2 lb., and 4 or 5 pounds 

 may be reckoned the average weight throughout the gi'oup; 

 They ;tre in general cone-shaped, flattened at the base, or 

 spheroid. The quality of some of them is excellent, dry and 

 mealy like a potato; that of others is watery and inspid. 

 They are eitlitu' baked or boiled, and eaten alone, or with 

 pork or fish. Sometimes they are maile into puddings, or 

 buried under ground, and made hit o a Jlun-lrtii, /.f., native 

 bread. At all periods of the year there are some of the 

 varieties in fruit, but the fruit is most abundant from the. 

 middle of Feijruary to the middle of April. In some of the 

 native towns the trees are abimdaut, and groups of 20 or 

 more, may frequently be seen scitttered over land which had 

 been cultivated. Large numbers of trees were destroyed ui 

 the wars that constantly occurred between different tribes,— 

 the first acts of an invading force being to destroy food 

 plants and fruit-bearing trees of the tribe invaded. 



One or more of the varieties of the bread-fruit beaj- seeds, 

 but the most of them are barren. It is doubtful whether 

 these seed-bearmg trees are varieties of the A rtocarpns incL^a, 

 or if they do not form another species of the same genus. 

 The wood of the bread-fruit is used for some purposes by the 

 Fijians,but it is not so good as that o^ '■^JncXi.'" (A rtocai-wis) 

 uiti-yrifoJia) or the loiocrtrpu^ hir!<tita. It is soft, light 

 brown, with parallel veins of a reddish coloiu:. "When wound- 

 ed, the trees yield a large quantity of white sticky juice, 

 which is used for caulking the seams of canoes. The tree is 

 propagated by suckers attached to a portion of the root from 

 which the sucker has sprung. The young trees grow rapidly, 

 and in the third or fourth year after planting they reach a 

 height of about 16 feet, and begin to bear fruit. They have 

 a picturesque apj^earance peculiar to themselves, of which a 

 minute description would convey a very indifferent idea. 



The liread-fruit tree (Artocarptis incisa) is one of the 

 valuable indigenous productions of the island of Tahiti ; 

 ami as it bears at various periods in different parts of 

 the island, the fruit can be procured dm'ing the whole 

 year. There is also a variety with seeds, called by a 

 distinct name, which I have seen at Erromanga (New 

 Hebrides group), and it is also found at the Navigators' 

 and Marquesas Islands. The Artocarpu.'< delights in rich, 

 moist, and sheltered situations, and is not fomid on elevated 

 lands. The general name for the bread-fruit tree is Maiore; 

 there are twenty-four varieties.* A white viscid juice is 

 collected by incisions from the trunk, which is an ex-^ 

 cellent substitute for pitch. This tree attains the height* 

 of from 50 to 60, and a circumference of 6 feet. The 

 timber is excellent and durable, and is used by tlie natives 

 for building their vessels, as well as for other purposes; 

 its colour is reddish-brown, becoming darker with age ; 

 the sap-wood is hght yellow. Some of the native cloth 

 (named Hobuv anA Aaone} is manufactui'ed from the bark 

 of this tree, after undergoing the same preparation as 

 the bark of the Ante, or Paper Mnllierry {JSroiissonetta 

 jmpt/rifera) : this latter plant is a shrub, from the inner 

 bark of whichithe Poljiiesian islanders manufacture their 

 primitive cloth : the Japanese are said to use it in the 

 fabrication of paper. 



* 1. Faea. This is a mountain bread-fruit: the fruit is 

 long, of a large size, and very rough or tuberculated. 



2. Rare. The fruit is round, with a bright epidermis. 



3. Maive. One of the best kinds; it is a large and 

 roimd fruit, with rather a smooth skin, and the 

 leaves are more divided than in any of the other 

 varieties. 



5. Bucro. 



6. F<(i'jn(fc. 



19. 



21. 

 24. 



A loug fruit with smooth skin. 



9. Feiahnri. 10. Intiira. 



12. Jofni. 13. Faarn. 



15. O't'iitin. 16. Roru. 



18. Otta. 

 The fruits of these last-named eleven varieties are of 



large size. 

 Pcifara. 20. Afaiit. Eoth these bear small 



anil round fruit. 

 T<to, 22. Pafiii. -H. Aiuur/w. 



Maiore maohi (the common bread-fruit). 



OOFFEE LEAF-DISEASE. 



Final Repokt of the Committee appointed to inspect 

 Jlr. Schrottky's Oaebolic Teeatment fob Leai--Disease 

 on Claverton, Dikoya, Ceylon. 



Sitmmary of Operations Pursued. — Mr. Schrottky's sy.stem 

 consisted firstly in dusting the trees with a pink carbo- 

 lic powder twice at an interval of a week immediately 

 after pruning. This was done in the presence of members 

 of the Committee on 16th and 23rd April 1882, the weather 

 on each occasion, and for some days after being most favor- 

 able for the best results claimed for the dusting process by 

 Mr, Schrottky. This treatment was supplemented ten 

 days later by what l\lr. Schrottky terms his permanent 

 system of evaporization. Pleasured quantities of a much 

 more strongly carbolized powder were placed out in 

 covered coconut shells, 36 feet apart, throughout the 

 coffee. The powder was renewed fortnightly and stirred 

 up twice in this interval, say from 3rd May to 10th 

 November, when the supply provided for the e.xperiments 

 was exhausted. 



2.— Area Selected for Operation and approved by Mr. 

 Schi'ottky was a square block of 100 acres 10 year old coffee 

 bouuded on the North by the Dikoya river, on the south 

 and west by Claverton coffee, 7 and 9 years old and on 

 the east by Castlerea. This field as well as the two ad- 

 joining fields of Claverton coffee had all been manured 

 similarly in July-August 1881, but only the 100 acres had 

 been pruned previous to the experiments. The Super- 

 intendent's report to the Committee.of 20th April 1S82 stated 

 that " leaf-disease had been very virulent all over this 

 coffee from the end of June to the middle of October in 

 188 1 and caused great loss of crop dimng the earlier pick- 

 ings. The central portions of it and the river faces which 

 are intersected with mossy ravines were at all times of the 

 year iufected with the worst forms of the fungus and 

 from the signs of leaf-disease then present it appeared 

 likely to develop itself as fully in the same months of 1882." 



3. — Record of Observations Made h)/ the Vummittee, ISitpplied 

 ti/ the Swperiittendent on the Spot. — At the commencement 

 of the experiments leaf-disease was apparent everywhere in 

 iusucha modified form as is usual in the district at this time 

 of year (April): From May to Jidy it .spread very rapidly 

 on the uupruned coffee, while on the pruned and treated 

 100 acres the disease was scarcely perceptible. At the end 

 of Juue, when the committee reported progress, no more 

 striking contrast could have been presented to the eye or 

 a more conclusive proof in favor of the treatment been 

 wished for, but for the one fact that the 100 acres had been 

 pruned and the other coffee had not. There were how- 

 ever many minor circumstances such as the absence of 

 fungus in distinct patches anywhere and especially where 

 it had usually been most severe pre^dously, to induce faith 

 in the treatment. Also there was an eastern face with a 

 good crop I in it that had been only pruned lightly, which 

 was very free from any symptom of disease, while the mi- 

 pruned coffee on the same slope higher up was cempletely 

 eaten up with it. On the whole it seemed impossible to 

 attribute the good results obtained to prunini/ alone., 

 but, owing to the difficulty of making a fair com- 

 paiison, it was decided to compare the Claverton 

 100 acres later on with a field of Castlerea 

 colfee that ha'l been pruned at the smne time. This was 

 not done till (October, previous to which a very marked 

 attack of leaf-disease had been reported on the Castleri'a 

 field in July without any corresponding attack having 

 been noted on Claverton. The Committee made a careful 

 inspection of both fields on 12th October, and the balance 

 of upiuiou was strongly in favor of there having been 

 much less fall of leaf previously on Claverton than on 

 Castlerea, while the appearance of the Claverton coffee 

 left little to be desired in point of color and general 

 freedom from ilisease. It was, however, decided that, as 

 the sitting of crop was the real result looked for, no 

 opinion should be hazarded until after the blossoming 

 season. In November ami December a very heavy fall of 

 leaf was reported from Claverton, having apparently no 

 connection whatever with leaf-disease, although far in 

 excess of the ordinary fall of leaf which was occurring 

 on neighbouring estates at the same time. This abnor- 

 mal loss of green leaf favors the behef that some change 

 has come over the character of the wood itself and that 



