December i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



4^3 



To the Editor of the Ceylo?i Observer. 

 COFFEE AND LEAF-DISEASE IN FIJI. 



Levuka, 'Joth August 18S2. 



Sir, — In a recent issue of yuur paper, there waa an 

 article upon the subject of Mr. Storck's cure for coffee 

 leaf-disease to which you added the follovviag note :— 

 "■ Physician cure thyself is an old proverb, but Mr. 

 Storck has not killed leaf-disease in Fiji, where it is 

 really virulent." I don't know from whom you 

 obtained your informal ion, but whether or^ not it is 

 coriect you can judge from the following : — Some time 

 ago I applied to the owners of two coffee estates in Fiji 

 for per.niesion to try Mr. Storck'b remedy on then- 

 properties. The rejjly I received from the owner of 

 100 acres was that he waa not afraid of the disease 

 and he thought it would do him no harm ; but as a 

 favour he would allow me to experiment upon one acre 

 only. The reply from the owuer of 350 acres stated 

 that "the disease existed only to an inappreciable 

 extent as regards any injurious effects. He did not wish 

 to pick any greater crop, for his trefis were bearing 

 just as heavily as he cared to see them, and, as the 

 disease did not affect the quantity or quality of the 

 crop, he should be inclined to spend any sum, however 

 small, in manure to fortify their bearing capacity." 



The general opinion in Fiji about leaf-disease is 

 similar to the above and scarcelr any one is afraid of 

 the damage it does at present. Whilst the plantations 

 are young and vigorous this belief ni.iy be well founded ; 

 but whether it will when the soil gets exhausted, may 

 be problematical. — Your obedient servant, 



wm fillingham parr. 



[Our inforuiation as to the virulence of the disease 

 in Fiji was from a trustworthy correspondent. Mr. 

 Parr's friends make liglit of the fungus. So did Ceylon 

 planters for about five years subsequently to its first 

 appearance in 1869. — Ed.] 



A MONSTER CINCHONA TREE GIVING 30 ft 

 SHAVINGS. 



October 14th, 18S2. 

 Dear Sir, — Today I have spoke-shaved the largest 

 cinchona smxirubra tree in the district. The shavings 

 weighed 30 lb. Who can beat this famous tree of 



UDAPUSELLAWA ? 

 [In Ambagamuwa and some other districts 40 lb. 

 have been shaved off. — Ed.] 



CARBOLIC ACID TREATMENT OF COFFEE 

 LEAF FUNGUS IN DIKOYA. 



Clavertou, Dikoya, 16th Oct. 1882. 



Dear Sir, — There has been so much reference in 

 your columns of late to the carbolic treatment for 

 leaf-disease that I venture to offtr a few remarks 

 from my own observations here on Mr. Schrottky's 

 experiments, which are being conducted over a square 

 block of 100 acres. I am not at liberty, as one of 

 the Dikoya Comoiittee, to express any opinion on 

 the results, but this I may si^y that so far 

 from the carbolic having been proved a failure on 

 Claverton (and this is I belieto the most essentially 

 test experi'iient that h.is yet been attempted) I have 

 been pressed both by members of the Committee 

 and outsiders to continue the experiments for at 

 least three months after the present joint contribu- 

 tion of R3,000, has been expended. This will he 

 from December tb April next. Offers of subscription 

 have already been made me, but, as the district has 

 not >et collected its share towards the existing ex- 

 periment, 1 feel bound to decline them. 



I would suggest your applying to Mr. Schrottky's 



agents, Messrs. Lewis Brown & Co., for reports on 

 the proceedings up to date, which they will secure 

 in duo course, and, if you consider the movement 

 sufficiently deserving of support you might open a 

 subscription towards a fund for conductin^^ the ex- 

 periments on a more extended scale. I mean by 

 this the carrying out of any suggestions not included 

 in Mr. Schrottky's programme, that might be thought 

 likely to throw further light on the subject : such, for 

 instance, as inoreasing the strength of the acid on 

 certain portions of the field by way of comparison with 

 others. The reports are at present only open to the 

 subscribers. The treatment commenced in April with 

 Mr. Schrottky's original plan of dusting the trees with a 

 carbolic powder, supplemented by a system of evaporiza- 

 tion, which I consider to be an improvement on Mr. 

 Storck's method. So far, and that is from the commenc ■- 

 mentof the S.W. monsoon, the'lOO acres have been singu 

 larly free from disease while surrounded by coffee 

 more than usuully affected by it. It is still, however, 

 an open question with many whether the good results 

 manifestly olitained are due to the carbolic or to early 

 pruning, and, until the Committee are unanimous on 

 this point, they decline to commit themselves to any 

 public expression of opinion. Moreover, even admitting 

 the success of the treatment so far, it would be impossible 

 to say whether there may not be some fresh phase in 

 the history of leaf-disease, such as a general attack 

 in dry weather, with which the carbolic may be unable 

 to battle. 



With regard to the comparative merits of Mr. 

 Storck's and Schrottky's methods of evaporization, I 

 find that the powder used by Mr. Schrottky has this 

 advantage over Mr. Storck's : that it gives off the 

 gases evenly, while it appears tome tliat, in the water 

 combination, it does not give them off at all, the acid 

 lying at the bottom of the water. Mr. Schrottky's 

 method is open to the objection that the cost and carriage 

 of a powder prepared in Colombo to theestmeis ex- 

 pensive, while the acid must lose some of its stren^'th 

 by storage. To those who are now experinientiug I 

 would suggest putting out the pure acid in tins or 

 coconut shells containing say 4 oz. river sand to J an 

 oz. of the acid. 1 am inclined to think that this will 

 be found sufficiently porous in itself to give off the 

 gases without any occasion lo stir the misture up dur- 

 ing the intervals of replenishmg. — Yours truly, 



E. H. SKRINE. 



WHAT AILS OUa COFFEE TREES?— No. 7 



Sir, — It would have been better if I had pointed 

 out in my last letter the wide difference b.tw-'en 

 the external attack of a fungus such as hemileia, and 

 the mti^rnal operation of one like the potato bli ,;ht. 

 The difference cannot be overestimated. It is as 

 great as that between a cut finger, or a bruised siin, 

 and an ossifying heart, or a softening brain! Murk 

 the difference as it is shown by a comparison of the 

 case of the coffee tree with that of the potato plant ! 

 The liemileia affects none of the permanent structures 

 of the coffee tree, but is confined entirely to the 

 leaves, which are at most but temporary memler.s. 

 On the other hand, the peronospora aticks the vitaa 

 organs of the potato plant, peimeates its whole fabric, 

 and destroys root, branch and tuber 1 The worst |i08- 

 sible attacks of hemil-ia, when the affected leaves 

 have been oast off, leave the trees absolutely free 

 from disease, with all their essential, permanent org los 

 intact and vigorous, — and the fruit i\\sy bear con- 

 tinues ti> be the very finest in the market. The 

 peronospiira, on the other hand, reduces its victim 

 and all its org.nism to a ''stinking, loathsome mas* 

 of corruption." So Sir W. Gregory once describLil 

 to me a field of blighted potatoes ! The utmost phy- 

 siological effect of heniileia on the coffee tree is to 



