854 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



[May i, 1885, 



as' tea does, but this comparatively delicate plant 

 requires deep rich soil aud shelter from wind, ii not 

 in every case shade. To me, whose experience of 

 cacao was its having been blown out of existence 

 within less than twenty miles of Colombo by the 

 winds of the south-west monsoon, it was beyond ex- 

 pression refreshing to see the luxuriant groves of Theo- 

 broma (food for the gods) in the Valley of Dumber 1 , 

 at Wariapolla, at Kawudupelella, and en route north- 

 wards to the thirty-third mile, where, on the sides 

 of the remarkable, isolated, twin-summited mouutaiu 

 of Arunagala, a promising plantation has been op a • 

 So far, and cveu beyond, the rainfall is sufficient for 

 cacao, and probably for tea. The richness and the 

 depth of the noil was evidenced iu the valley of 

 Matale by the truly enormous size of the primitive 

 forest as well as by the luxuriant growth of th e 

 planted shade trees. In Mr. R. Fraser's exquisitely 

 lovely valley of St. Antonio, I first saw worthy 

 specimens of the Erythrina known as Sots immortelle 

 or Maclre de Cacao. Nothing which I saw of the 

 " dadap " in Java impressed me favourably — quite the 

 reverse indeed — aud when I was in the Dutch island 

 at the latter end of 1SS1 the planters had transferred 

 their love for it as a shade tree to the luxuriant 

 but brittle AlbivJa faohiccana, the great merit of which 

 was said to be that its leaves hung vertically at 

 night, so permitting the fall of the clews, an idea wholly 

 unscientific. This nlbizzia is really a good shade tree, 

 but its extreme brittleness renders it dangerous to 

 cultivation aud even to human life. The some- 

 what allied tree, the Inga Saman, of magni- 

 ficent growth and lovely acacia blossom, is not a 

 good shade tree. Mr. Fraser is enthusiastic about the 

 merits of the Madre de Cacao, alleging that, besides 

 its giving shade at the proper time and in the proper 

 proportion, its roots draw up moisture from the 

 subsoil for the benefit of the cacao iu droughty 

 weather. This opens up a most interesting question 

 and may largely explain the good effects of the 

 Sau tree (Albizzia stipulata) ou the tea bushes 

 amidst which it is planted iu India, seedlings of this 

 tree in nurseries being actually credited with good 

 effects on the tea seedlings in coutiguity to tliein. 

 Is it not possible that the roots of the Sau tree 

 and those of the South American Erythrina may 

 have the power of pumping up not merely water, 

 but water impregnated with fertilizing matter which 

 the roots have the powtr of decomposing ? Had I 

 known nothing of the Boia immortelle beyond the 

 grandly luxuriant trees of a few years old which 

 1 saw on Wariapolla covered thickly with leaves as 

 large as those of Fiats elaslica, I should have pro 

 nouueed its shade too dense, hut, like all the Erytlir- 

 ilias, it is a deciduous tree aud is said to cast its leav< s 

 (valuable as manure) just at the season when the 

 protected culture least needs and can best di p insi 

 with shade. One thing is certain: that the Boia i/11 

 mortelle is a great acquisition to our list of line 

 foliaged aolnd flowering trees, a list already so rich. 

 Mr. Uoss of Kawudupelella holds that there can be 

 no better shade for cacao than jak, although grown 

 amongst tea its effects on that otherwise hardy plant 

 are deadly. Mr. Ross in clearing for cac would 

 leave no natural shade. He would make a clean 

 sweep and create shade. Mr. Fraser dees not agree 

 with thia view nor in the preference of jak to the 

 immorteolt and such differ as of opinion between 

 experts try " the live wits" of novices liki 1 y self en- 

 deavouring 1 1 learn, Sambo and his master " 'sputede \ 

 a whole day on one occasion, because the forme 

 asserted that sandy ground was good for squashco 

 ind the latter agreed with him; but " the cot 

 of this proposition '' came under my purview during 

 my wanderings, when nerienced planters had 



a hot argument over their precious " ledgers." nsf 



the estate books but the monarch of cinchonas. One 

 held that he had done rightly iu lopping off all the 

 side branches from his trees, whilst the other 

 cherished his primary and secondary branches 

 aud asserted that, deprived of them, the trees 

 would grow up spindly and poor. The disputants 

 parted "each of the same opinion still," leav- 

 ing to me the difficult task of deciding. On the 

 particular question of ledger cultivation, I feel 

 inclined to say no more than that where planted 

 by themselves the branches ought to be left ou to 

 about the fourth year, when the' lower ones can be 

 pruned off aud the bark utilized. But, if grown 

 amongst tea, even ledgers ought to be pretty severely 

 lopped. But the general and orthodox view now is, 

 that tea, like the Turk, " cau bear no brother near 

 the throne," and that not even stray cinchonas ought 

 to be tolerated amongst the chief new product. This 

 belief is being practically applied, cinchonas going 

 the way of coffee, and I loave readers of the Observer 

 j to judge how largely the extirpation of the fever 

 j trees, in favour of the exclusive claims of tea, is 

 likely soon to affect the export of bark from Ceylon. 

 j For myself I can say, that, holding my eyes open 

 during my recent jouruey from Colombo via 

 j the Kelani Valley, Dolosbage and "the northern 

 j districts," to " the young districts," I was equally im- 

 pressed with the magnificent groves of flourishing 

 cinchonas, existing in favoured situations and the 

 ruthless determination to make a clean sweep of every 

 plant growing in land intended for tea. Mr. T. C. 

 Owen will, I feel sure, forgive me for quoting his 

 weighty authority. Passing through the old coffee 

 Estate of Hatale which he is converting into what 

 will be a tine expanse of tea, I said, looking at the 

 splendid young cinchonas which had beeu planted 

 over the estate : " It will surely be a sore problem 

 to solve, what to do about these flourishing cin- 

 chonas." " Out they must all come ! " was the prompt 

 aud emphatic reply. So it is, wherever tea has beeu 

 planted amongst either coffee or cinchonas, aud even 

 where the intention aud the desire wa3 to preservo 

 old coffee for the sake of a possible " one more 

 crop," the fiat of destruction has gone forth. The 

 process was hastened by the advent of black bug 

 (the first great enemy of Ceylon coffee forty years 

 ago), the scale ii sect coming to complete the ruin 

 which the fungus had commenced and was carrying 

 ou with so much virulence. Coffee, especially native 

 coffee, weakened by repeated attacks of leaf- diseases- 

 was iu mauy cases actually suuffed out of existence 

 by the resuscitated coccus plague. 



Facing Poodalgodde in Rangala, Mr. E. J. Young 

 pointed out to me in a lino Kandyan township, 

 the scat of a Ratemahatmaya, above the line 

 of the green terraced rico fields, patches of grey 

 skeleton twigs, such, I may remark, as may be seen 

 on an abandoned coffee estate a few miles on the 

 railway below flatten. What I looked at from 

 Toodalgodde were the skeletons of the bug-killed vill- 

 age coffee, aud the willingness of the natives now 

 to work on tsa estates — a most important factor 

 in the certain success of the enterprize — is due to 

 the people thus being deprived of the main re- 

 source by which they obtained a little money when 

 they wanted it. But in the case of coffee grown by 

 Rurop ans, cultivated and therefore better able to 

 resist ile attach of the coccus, the result was largely 

 similar. For. apart from the fact that the growth of 

 tea under the shade ol co'ffei hushes was scarcely at 

 all lateral, but upwards and spindly, it was found 

 the well-named "black bug" (the brown insect 

 ; ever accompanied by a horrible black blight) 



was spreading from the old coffee -to the young tea 

 lisastrous effect. Death to old coffee was there- 



