MAKCir 2, i88 S .) THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



„-,, 



FOREST TREES AS THE BANE AND 

 ANTIDOTE OF TEA BUSHES: 



THE POISON TREK OF CEYLON— THIS RENOVATING TREK 

 OF ASSiM AM. ITS WONnKRFUI. PBOPERTIES— WORTH 

 1BYINQ AMONQST Ol.D COPl'KE AS WELT, AH IN TEA USD 



TWICE AS MUCH TEA LEAF YIELDED UNDEIi THE SAO 



TBEE, 



We recently noticed pretty fully our identification 

 of a tree growing in the forest in Dimbula, as the 

 poison tree, the trunk and roots of which, in the 

 process of decomposition, prove fatal to considerable 

 numbers of tea bushes, as many as a dozen of the latter 

 sometimes dying around one trunk of the tree in question. 

 Having sent specimens oE roots and foliage of the 

 living tree to Dr. Trimen and Mr. W. Ferguson, they 

 were able to specify the tree as Symplocos ob'-icsce, 

 Mr. W, Ferguson having previously decided from the 

 characteristics of the timber that the tree was a 

 symplocos. As most of the species of trees so named are 

 possessed of powerful juices which act as taus or dyes, 

 our inclination has been strongly to believe that the 

 tea bushes were killed by the juice of the symplocos 

 when their feeding rootlets came in contact with its 

 roots or trunk, But we have reason to suppose that 

 Dr. Trimen, who has kindly promised to report fully 

 on the tree and its properties, leans to the belief 

 that the mischief is due to baccitli or fungi de- 

 veloped in the process of decomposition of the sym- 

 plocos. Pieces of root taktn out of the ground in 

 which they had been buried for half-a-dozen years 

 or more were certainly marked by products of de- 

 composition : fuug.il or insect, Dr. Trimen will prob- 

 ably say. We await with interest the doctor's re- 

 port ou a tree which tea-planters certainly ought not 

 to leave, as they do other forest trees, to the natural 

 process of decay in their plantations of tea. We 

 have stated that our attention was first called to 

 the tree and its deadly effects on tea bushes by an 

 Assam planter. But, if from Assam we heard of 

 the bane of tea, we now from the same quarter 

 hear of another tree, Albizzia stipulata, which is an 

 antidote to age in tea bushes, and exhaustion or sterility 

 of soil, and also a preventive of blight. This tree, 

 the Assamese name of which is sou, and which, it 

 seem*, was formerly ranked with the acacias, grows 

 on the Himalayau slopes to the altitude of 4,000 

 feet above sea-level. It ought, therefore, to flourish 

 to any height in Ceylon in which tea is cultivated. 

 Wonderful and most encouraging details respect- 

 ing this tree are contained in a pamphlet which has 

 been issued by the Calontta Tea Syndicate. There 

 are albizzias in the forest flora of Ceylon, but. we 

 are not certain as we write if A . stipulata is in- 

 cluded. If not, we have no doubt the seeds can 

 easily be procured. So satisfied are many Assam 

 planters of its virtues that they are diligently plant- 

 ing it out amongst their tea at the rate ol 100 trees 

 to tho acre. It is of rapid growth, so that it will 

 speedily yield that partial shade to which some < f 

 its beneficial effects are attributed. There may be 

 some property in the leaves inimical to blight, which 

 never attacks tea under its shade, although it may 

 be virulent immediately beyond the scope of that 

 shade ! That is much, and in this tree we think 

 we Bee the answer to the objection of Ceylon planters 

 growing vast expanses of tea, and consequently Buffi r- 

 ing again, as we already have done, from alleged out- 

 rages on nature's balance by devoting attention ex- 

 clusively to the growth of one product. But tho 

 leaves, even when the moderate foliage of tho 

 sir", tree reaches the surface of the soil, cannot, 

 it would sewn, possibly bo the cause of the 



marvellous renovation of exhausted bushes and 

 sterilized soil, which the growth of the san or Al- 

 bizzia stipulata over a tea Held is said to produce, tine 

 theory is that the great roots of tho tree penetrate 

 and draiu the subsoil, while its la'eral roots open up 

 and ameliorate the surface Boil. But some positive 

 fertilizing action or property, above and beyond drain- 

 ing and opening the soil, seems to be possessed by 

 the tree, for Mr. B. S. Peal, one of the oldest, most 

 observant and .scientific of the Assam tea planters, 

 records that even in the process of decomposition the 

 benefits conferred by this plant on soil and cultured 

 plants is much greater than in the case of other 

 forest trees. It would thus appear that the sum is 

 the very opposite of our symplocos ; a nourisher in 

 stead of a destroyer of useful vegetation, and it may 

 be an experiment worth trying what the effects ol 

 Albizzia stipulata may be on old coffee land and on 

 coffee bushes, diseased from attacks of leaf fungus, 

 bug, grub and other "enemies of the coffee tree." 

 Besides our native alb'zzias one has been introduced 

 from Java. In consequence of a glowing a count of 

 the merits as a shade tree of A. Alolluccana, in a 

 report on the Bnitenzorg Gardens by a former Director, 

 wo obtained seed, and the tree grows luxuriantly on 

 Abbotsford up to over 5.000 ft. , the foliage closely re- 

 sembling that of the magnificent "Madagascar tiee," 

 Poinciana regia. But the extreme brittleness of the 

 tree renders it a nuisance, and, as we saw in Java, 

 renders it mischievous and even dangerous as a shade 

 tree. There i3 no such objection stated in the case 

 of the Himalayan albizzia. It is only said of it 

 that its timber is not very durable, and yet it is added 

 that it is used for furniture, &c. 



We may say that Mr. Peal while testifying to the 

 merits of the sau tree and " even better " the me- 

 deloa, which he identifies with Albizzia elata, mentions, 

 also the names of trees, hingori, sawa and sum, 

 which are inimical to tea. On turning to Gam- 

 ble's valuable Manual of Indian Timbers, we find 

 that the above are veruaculur synonyms for 

 Himalayan oaks, ashes and birches I This is 

 curious, because in Johnston's Agricultural Chem- 

 istry the oak is placed first in the list of trees 

 which add value to soils by the shedding of tin ir 

 leaves. But then the oak, like the Tuik, "bears no 

 biother near the throne." We do not understand 

 that the Himalayan representatives of our leading 

 European forest trees possess any sptc ficr.lly in- 

 jurious quality. It is only prcbable that tiny use 

 up the fertil zing const tuents of the soil aid 

 leave nothing or but little frr the tea. But, as 

 we suspect Symplocos obtusa of an absolutely poisonous 

 property, so Mr. Peal asks regarding the bene- 

 floial trees ; " What is the chemical that the 

 eau and medeola roots evolve ? Worth knowing." We 

 should think so, for he states;— "Tho benefit to 

 tea is obviously neither shade nor drip, but seme 

 chemical process due to the roots, as the c fleets on 

 tea is often seen long after the tiee has been felled, 

 and the stump aloDe remains, at tinns dfad." Jr,st 

 so, it is the dead stump and roots if Symi-hcos 

 obtusa which kill our tea btuhes, and we si oiild 1 ke 

 to know what the chemical property is which either 

 directly or through the agency of o.ganisms which 

 it develope proves fatal to young ad health) . ea 

 bushes' which have the misfortune to Le [.lanted in 

 contiguity to this fatal tree. 



Our readers will not understand us as advocating 

 shade trees for tea in Ceylon j but if soil can be 

 improved and blight waidd off, by interpe^ing Albizzia 

 stipulata through the plantations, a very great gain 

 may be secured, and experiments are worth trying. 

 Having thus given the gist of the statements inn- 

 tained in the pamphlet issued by the Calcutta Tea 

 , Syndicate, wo bow proceed to make extracts from (bat 



