August i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST/ 



91 



anxiety. One thing he had observed was that what was 

 called Caracas cacao which was really Trinidad cacao, 

 was almost entirely exempt, it seemed to have an im- 

 munity from this disease. He had thousands of these 

 scattered about amongst the coffee, and, whilst the other 

 trees were very badly attacked, these were vigor • 

 ous and strong and had not the slightest signs of disease, 

 and therefore it became a question for future cult- 

 ivators whether they would grow red cacao or this 

 more hardy fora&tero. This was all the information 

 he would give them on the subject. 



Mr. Ross said, speaking for' Matale, he might say 

 the disease did not exist there to his personal kuowlege. 

 It certainly did not exist on the acreage coming 

 under his inspection, where, his experience was 

 similar to Mr. Vollar's. He had heard of its ex- 

 istence in Mataie on a small scale and his informants 

 had told him that it was only on exposed ridge, 

 His experience with regard to cacao was that where- 

 ever there was suitable soil and a sheltered situation 

 nothing could getoverit. With regard to the appearauceof 

 the,trecs being as Mr. Jardine had put it, as it' a blast of 

 tire had swept over it, he had seen that on a ridge 

 of land where the jungle had been cleared. Before 

 the shelter \va3 cut down the cacao was vigourous 

 and there was not the slightest sign of the disease, 

 but it had this appearance very shortly after. 



Mr. Jardine :— I wold ask Mr. Eoss if this part 

 of his estate is under shade. 



Mr. Koss: — It was, but it is not now: the jungle 

 there has been cleared. 



Mr. Jardine : — It was under shade before; and now 

 it is cut down you have no disease ? 



Mr. Ross : — We have a large acreage under shade 

 and some exposed. 



Mr. Jardine : — You cannot say from that that 

 the shade has prevented the disease ? 



Mr. Ross : — I cannot, we have cacao shaded and 

 unshaded. 



Mr. Vollar remarked that he did not attribute it 

 at all to the fly. He knew a man who put mosquito 

 curtains round the trees and fumigated the trees and 

 the same apptrance was on the trees a fortnight after. 



Mr. Clarke said he might mention that on an estr.t • 

 above Matale, on which there was no shade, he hunud 

 for the disease and only discovered it on two trees. The 

 superintendent said there was more on the younger 

 saplings but he failed to find it. 



Mr. Melville White said he endorsed Mr. Vollar's 

 view entirely. His experience of cacao was not great 

 — be had 50 or 60 acres, He had observed it as much 

 as he could, and his experienee was that where shade 

 has been cleared off and the soil is poor this appear- 

 ance conies, but wherever coffee is g< od, which is an 

 argument that the soil is good, there cacao is un- 

 affected. Ho knewruany superintendents in Matale had 

 searched very carefully for this fly ; and on one estate, 

 where there was considerably over 100 acres, two super- 

 tendents were busy for two or three hours looking for 

 this fly, and they only succeeded in finding one, and 

 he thought it was quite impossible for one fly to have 

 done all the damage. He did not Ihink the disease 

 was known in Matale: there was only a few in. 

 dividual trees affected, and, as far as he had been 

 able to see, where shade was more considerable the 

 disease was less appaient and where shade ha 

 cleared off there the cbsease was virulent. There had 

 been no trees killed with him, and he bad heard of 

 none in Matale. 



Mr. HolloWAY said he had a few remarks to make 

 with reference to cacao, lie had found the same as 

 Mr. \ ollar that cacao under shade was certainly bet- 

 ter than without shade. Especially was this so 

 ui.il r crotons. Crotou seemed to keep the flits 

 off, and he found of all shade trees it was 

 the bi st, because it kept the disease away and was 



a product too. He certainly recommendeel crotons to 

 be planted where cacao was, and with reference to the 

 varieties of cacao he had found the furastero a much 

 hardier tree. He kept four species of trees on his 

 estate and he found from the Trinidad cacao that, 

 evidently some of the pollen had been taken from the 

 other trees, and the effect of it upon the red cacao 

 was to make the tree variegated. 



Mr. White : — One question I would like to ask. 

 Mr. Jardine says most of his cacao was planteel by 

 itself ? 



Mr. Jardine: — No: the bulk of it was planted in 

 Liberian coffee. I would just like to elicit one other 

 piece of information. I would like to ask Mr. Vollar 

 does he mean shade or shelter? Is his cacao under 

 shade or is it simply sheltereel from the wind? 



Mr. Vollar : — We have a shelter from the wind ; for 

 shading this portion of the estate jack trees are 

 planteel here and there. We have parts however 

 which are open to the south-west wind, and it is 

 ou these ridges we have about 100 trees affected, and 

 about two acres are affected by the fly where we have 

 no shade. It is a very strange thing, but where the 

 jack-tree shade commences, there tbe fly stups. 



Mr. T. N. Christie said he knew very little about 

 cacao, but on the occasion of a recent visil to toe 

 cacao districts he was simply horrified to see the 

 hold this disease hael upon the trees, and, notwith- 

 standing what had been said about shade anil soil, 

 he bad seen that nurseries in the best soil and under 

 shade were just as bad. 



Mr, Jakdi e said he could corroborate that from 

 his own observation. On an estate not far from his 

 there was a nursery of red cacaos and a nursery of 

 forasteros. About 90 % of the red seed was destroyed, 

 while of the forasteros not a single plant wastouched, 

 anel they were growing side by side. 



Mr. Koss said he must say his experience with regard 

 to nurseries coincided with Mr. Jardine's but after 

 treating them with wood ash the plants are quite 

 vigorous. He could not make out what caused the 

 disease. 



Mr. Jardine said he would attribute it to nothing 

 else but an insect, and the marks of it would be seen 

 on the plants. 



Mr. White thought it strange that they could not 

 see the fly at all. 



Mr. Jardinb imagined that it was a very minute 

 insect. 



The Chairman : — This subject has been already re- 

 ferred to the Government. A firm in Colombo found 

 that properties under their charge bad suffered to such 

 an extent that they eleiiued it eo importaut that 

 they addressed the Government and the Government 

 acting upon their suggestion and express wisli have 

 deputed Dr. Trimen to examine the particular estates. 

 I won't mention names because under these circum- 

 stances it is better to speak only of facts themselves. 

 Regarding one property which was the especial subject 

 of the correspondence I have alluded to I have since 

 been told by gentlemen' on properties adjoimug and 

 who were therefore very competent to judge, that 

 there was reason f'>r thinkiug blight was responsible 

 for the very severe distraction which had taken place 

 there. Of course I am not called upon to state what 

 these conditions were but they confidently assured me 

 it v i s to those special conditions the severitv ol the 

 attack was due. My own personal attention sa s 

 directed by Messrs. Bosanepaet & Co. quite recently 

 to this matter, and siuce that time I I ave made 

 several visits to cacao estates with the result that I 

 am satisfied, that, at least, in several, I may eav the 

 majority of cases, the so-called disease is one >. 

 we have been familiar with for some time but 

 attributed to wind. That this had been 

 wind was in the first pUco not questioned and una 



