April f, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



759 



instead of adopting the safer but less remunerative method 

 which is followed in Mysore of growing coffee under primeval 

 or secondary shade, oilier mistakes were made m laud 

 having been taken up for cultivation without regard to 



the excessive rainfall and the steepness of the hillsides. 

 The forest, which crowned the mountain crests and covered 

 the rocky spurs, was indiscriminately felled, so as to obtain 

 a large open field for coffee, by which means the estates 

 were deprived of valuable leaf manure and the greater 

 portion of them became exposed to the full blast of the 

 south-west monsoon, or the still more trying hot east 

 winds. So. long as labor was cheap and plentiful, the 

 system of hand wee ling, which- caused little disturbance 

 of soil, was followed; but as it grew dearer, the mamoti 

 inative hoe) came generally into use for the removal of 

 weeds, which grew rank and Ion.' from not being eradicated 

 in time. It would not have mattered much, had the lands 

 been comparatively flat as in the "Bamboo" and in the 

 Wynaad where it ii practised with advantage, but in a 

 mountainous country with a heavy rainfall varying from 

 111! to 240 inches in the year, it loosened the surface 

 soil so greatly as to lead to its being gradu. Uy washed 

 away; and the trees thus became unable to assimilate 

 nutriment, even when supplied to them in the form of 

 expensive manures. The system pursued was not only 

 faulty, but climatic influences and pests, over which the 

 planters had no control, have greatly tended towards the 

 deterioration of estates. The seasons have proved of late 

 years most unfavorable, especially on the Sampaji Ghat, 

 where the early blossom showers, which are expected in 

 the end of March and iu April, did not fall till May, which 

 was too late to ensure the healthy development of the 

 blossom and fructification of the berry during the monsoon. 

 The coffee trees have suffered also from borer' (xyh/trcchus 

 quadrupes) bug, (Lecanum coffees), and leaf rot. and lastly 

 from the leaf disease (hemileia oastatrix) which has caused 

 so much loss in Ceylon. It may be safely asserted that 

 the pioneers, who obtained free on application large tracts 

 of forests from Government and had the advantage of 

 cheap labor, and the valuable tempest arising from the 

 burnt forest to aid cultivation, weretheonly persons who 

 derived substantial profits; but it was only for the first 

 few years, and chiefly from the high prices paid to them 

 for the land by the companies which they succeeded in 

 establishing. As profits decreased through mismanagement 

 and the ravages caused by t'le borer, less funds were 

 available for high cultivation, which became essentially 

 needed, owing to the rapid deterioration of the soil. The 

 result has been that all the companies were wound up 

 within a few years, and many of the estates fell at almost 

 nominal prices into the hands of the managers and agents, 

 who, though experienced men, became thus possess d of 

 much more land than they could well cultivate. Subsequently 

 with adverse seasons the condition of the estates lias been 



passing from bad to worse. Tile humus having been washed 



away, it seems nnl, a question of time as to when their 

 entire abandonment will trtke place. On many estates only 

 long rows of weather-beaten sticks are tube seen, bearing 

 a few shrivelled leaves with a few patches of good coffee 

 still left in lowlying valleys and in sheltered nooks. Such 

 being the case it is no ground for surprise that these 

 properties have now no market value; for when put up 

 to auction no bids are made for them. There are a few 

 estates, which are not quite so bad as others, owing to 

 good management and high cultivation ; but it is doubt- 

 ful whether any of the forest or ghat estates have of 

 late years been worked at a profit sufficient to meet the 

 interest on advances made by firms, any realized in one 

 year, such as the last, being fully absorbed by the losses 

 which have accrued in the years preceding or following. 

 These statements are supported by the testimony of 

 unanswerable facts. Between the year 1870 and 1S80, 

 le\47!> acres of coffee land were abandoned, and are now 

 overgrown with lauthana; in 1881, 5f>3 acres; in 1882. 

 2,15G acres; in the current year resignations have been 

 received for 2,314 acres, making a grand total of 23,569 

 acres, which at 1!2 per acre( the assessment charged | represents 

 an annual loss in revenue to Government of R47,138. The 

 loss of capital to those who have invested in the enterprise 

 cannot be so accurately stated, but it may be roughly 

 estimated at £67,000; Although planters have become 

 wiser after their dearly bought experience, it cannot be 



denied that errors were made by the authorities in the 



''""" tment by the free grant 'to them of too extensive 



tracts el fore t land without any stipulations as to the 

 rations of belts of forest and the mode of culture. 

 Government did net however remain wholly callous to the 

 losses which Wen taking place .for, consideration was shown 

 in the remission of the assessment due on portions of 

 estates which had to be abandoned; while others received 

 in exchange valuable land in the "Bamboo*" by which thev 

 were enabled to recoup the losses which they had sustained 

 on ghat land. The latter arrangement was, however so 

 obviously detrimental to the interests of Government and 

 uniair to new-comers, that it had to be discontinued: 

 Lately, the continued losses which the planters generally 

 have suffered, and the sight of the deserted bungalows and 

 covered estates, which meet the eye all along the 

 Sampaji ghat, and in the greater part of the forest, and 

 the Mercara plateau, have necessitated the grant of still 

 more liberal concessions in the way of remissions and 

 suspensions of assessment, in the hope that proprietors 

 and mortgagees, notwithstanding the difficulties which 

 surround them, may be encouraged to undertake the cultiv- 

 ation of other products, such as cinchona, cardamoms, tea 

 and rubber on lands which are unfit for coffee, and the 

 abandonment of which has been frequently contemplated." 



FUNGI AND DISEASES OF PLANTS. 

 i />'// T. J. Bm-rill, Illinois Industrial University.) 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF FUNGI. 

 The idea is too common that such things as mould on 

 moist bread, black velvety stains on the surface of Peaches, 

 &c, may spontaneously occur through some combination' 

 of climatic effects, without the necessity of pre-existing 

 germs of each particular kind; but these things no more 

 arise iu this manner than a young Peach tree starts from 

 a ball of clay peculiarly mixed, or from the seed of an 

 Oak. Each fungus produces its own seed-like bodies 

 "spores," and from these alone is their reproduction pos- 

 sible. One mildew dues not change it into another one. 

 and none are anywhere developed except as offspring of 

 parents, as among the higher inhabitants of earth. Where 

 therefore, the germs of any particular parasitic fungus do' 

 not exist, no possible combination of circumstance or of 

 things can cause such fungus to spring up into life and 

 development. Were it not for the existence of the special 

 kind 01 spines capable of germination, no amount of showery 

 i v.i.nlil make Wheat rust, nor fog and rain cause 

 Grapes and Peaches and Apples to rot. Neither are these 

 spores gifted with any powers of distribution beyond that 

 afforded in the regular order of nature. They are carried 

 by the wind, but cannot float in still air; gravitation as 

 surely bungs them to earth, save when carried by stronger 

 forces, as it; rh.es cannon balls and meteorites. As we 

 gain knowledge of tie- facts ami processes of Nature the 

 powers el good or evil genii el' the air diminish, ami at 

 lasl their existence is altogether denied. No one of in- 

 telligence now believes witches by acts of will blast the 

 crops asd curse the fields. The reign of universal law 

 affecting alike the minute and the great, the inorganic 

 and the organic, the dead and the living, the nerveless 

 and the sentient, is acknowledged and verified by the 

 science of our day. Things do or do not take place, not 

 according to chance or supernatural power, but according 

 to the regular and orderly procession of natural law estab- 

 lished and perpetuated- by Him in whom there is no 

 variableness nor shadow of turning. Every effect has its 

 cause, and we ought never to think any of these causes 

 are past finding out or beyond the comprehension of man. 

 With the knowledge we now have concerning all. includ- 

 ing the most obscure and minute species of living things, 

 there can be no hesitation on the part of the informed 

 iu accepting the present existence of any fungus growth 

 as positive proof of a pre-existence of its special germ, 

 and of the development of that germ under sufficiently 

 able conditions. Plant diseases occur as new in given 

 localities, though the soil, climate, and cultivation of crops are 

 as nearly as possible as they have been for many years. 

 ' It is only recently that one the mildews on American Grapes 

 appeared in Europe, though it is already widely spread 

 on the continent and is the cause of much alarm. The 



