Dec. I, 1885.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



44f 



PLANTING IN NETHERLANDS INDIA. 



{Tnaishih-d/oiilu- "titiaiu Tiiiiex.") 



A horticultural journal appearing in Holland as- 

 serts that at Tottenham, in England, a very rare 

 plant the Priiiiiihi Impi-rialh has been induced to 

 tiower. This bit of information, liowever seemingly 

 uninterestins to many, will bo found of interest 

 when it is borne in mind that this kind of plant, 

 so far as known, is found ouly on the top of the 

 Pangerahgou, a mountain ten thousand feet high 

 within the Preanger Regencies in Java. Hitherto 

 endeavours had been made to grow it within hot- 

 houses in Europe but always with little or no 

 success. Thirty .>tars ago, unless we are mis- 

 informed it Howered in Holland too, but afterwards it 

 was no more seen in hothouses. In the Himalaya, a 

 I'limiiUi is met with resembUng so greatly the above- 

 mentioned variety as to be almost identical. 



Messrs. De Lange, Van Den Berg, Suermondt, 

 and Van Delden, four of the principal and oldest 

 European Residents of Batavia, thoroughly experi- 

 enced in commercial and plantation matters, have 

 petitioned the King of the Netherlands for the 

 appointment of a commission made up partly 

 of oUicials and partly of private individuals with 

 a high official at their head to imjuire into the 

 state of plantation enterprise throughout Nether- 

 lands India. 



By last advices the coffee leaf disease has shown 

 itseff at Bonthain and Macassar, and has even 

 made its appearance at Menado. As contagion is 

 inadmissible, from these places being so widely 

 apart, the disease must have arisen from local 

 causes. On one estate in Java where diseased 

 cotiee leaves had been systematically plucked off 

 and burned, the disease has been so effectually 

 checked that the trees looked healthy and bore fruit 

 which fully ripened. 



The Java < viirnnt has just published returns of 

 the vicUl of produce in private estates throughout 

 Java" and Madura in 1883 and 1884 the figures 

 showing : — 



piouls 



) Amsterdam 

 \ pounds. 



Mr. Juta, a retired naval officer and now busi- 

 ness manager in Surinam, affirms in a Java idaut- 

 ing journal that the Death and Ellwood machine 

 which, during the competition held in November 

 1881 at Calcutta gained a prize valued at 21,000 

 guilders as the best working libre separating mach- 

 ine, answers satisfactorily not only for rameh but 

 also for jute, hemp, aloe, pineapple leaf and New 

 Zealand Hax. By means of this machine, with- 

 in the tropics, during fairly dry weather, 

 rameh may be cut in the morning, passed through 

 the machine, pressed into bales, and forwarded 

 before sunset. The General Fibre Company at 

 London now. buys u\> rameh at about 420 guilders 

 per ton which yields it a handsome profit. Accord- 

 ing to him rameh growing will assuredly en- 

 sure enterprising persons an abundant source of 

 income. 



Another con'espondent of the same periodical ad- 

 vises planters in Java now that coffee is borae ; 

 down by leaf disease, low prices, and enhanced j 

 land assessment to take to cinnamon giowing. It I 

 seems, so he says, that cinnamon growing well as I 

 it does up to height of 1.500 feet above sea level . 

 requiies less care and less e.tpense at the start than 

 coffee besides having the advantage of commg into 

 60 



I bearing within live years. The bark, branches, and 

 I leaves of tlie cinnamon tree all may be turned to 

 I profit in some way, even oil and tallow being 

 [ among its products. He estimates tliat a cinnamon 

 tree in bearing yields yearly a net gain of 1,000 

 guilders per boiiw. 



I ♦ 



I HEMILEIA VASTATRIX IN SOUTH jVFRICA, 



1 The destructive coffee leaf fungus has now reached 



i Africa, tiie very home of (he coffee plant, and as 



there is frequent communication between tlie South 



African British colonies and Brazil, all the chances 



! seem to be that the disease will soon reach the 



I latter country. We may well ask if coffee is 



doomed. We quote from the report of the Durban 



Botanic Society, which has been sent to us : — 



Ilcmikia Vaxtutii.v.— On 24tli 5Iay, lHt(4, I re- 

 ceived from Lower TJniziaikuhi tluco leaves taken 

 from a Coffee Tree affected with "Leaf Disease." 

 After a close microscopical investigation of these 

 leaves. I became conviuced that the fungus upon tbenj 

 was undoubtedly the destructive ll,mil,ia Wixtalri.r ; 

 but, for furtlier certainty, I immediately forwarded a 

 portion of the leaves to Professor Macowen, Director 

 of the Botanic Gardens, Capetown, a gentleman who 

 has made this class of plants a special study. Ashe, 

 however, did not feel quite satisfied, he forwarded 

 the specimens to the Ihrector of Kew Gardens, with 

 a request for a telegraphic reply. On the 3Uth of 

 Juno I received copy of telegram from Kew, confirm- 

 ing the decision at whicli 1 had arrived as to the 

 identity of the fungus. In the meantime, in couipany 

 with A. H. Bisset, Esq., recently engaged in coffee 

 cultivation on a large scale ui Ceylon, where the 

 Hemileia had been so destructive, bad an interview 

 with the Colonial Secretary on the matter, as a re- 

 sult of which. Government agreed to reimmerate the 

 owner of the piece of Coffee for as much of his crop 

 as it might be found necessary to destroy. In doing 

 so, every precaution was taken to prevent the snores 

 from being carried to adjoining estates, and up 

 to the present time I have not heard of the disease 

 having appeared in that locality, and the owner of 

 the infected estate, in answer to my enquiry, says : — 

 "The Coffee in tliis District is all looking remarkably 

 w'ell, and there is the promise of good crops. " 



I am glad, therefore, to report that the prompt 

 action of Govenmient in this matter appears to have 

 Ijeen attended with complete success so far as the 

 District of Lower Umzimkulu is conoerlied. 



On August 14th, 1884, I received from Mr. Behrens 

 General Manager of the Natal Land and Coloniz- 

 ation Company, Limited, specimens of diseased 

 leaves from Coffee, Trees on that Comijany's estate 

 at Reit Valley, whicli microscopical examination 

 showed to be literally covered with the fungus 

 lleiiiilria ]'usfut,i.i- in full fructilication. It should 

 he stated that the Ileit Valley estate is at least 

 100 miles in a direct line from' where the fungus 

 was first noticed, nor can 1 learn that there had 

 been any direct conimuiiicatiou between the two 

 estates. On Kith June, I bad written to the Manager 

 of I!eit Valley, calling his attciitiuii to tlio a])pear- 

 aiice of the disease at Uuizimkuhi, and asking him 

 to keep a good look-out, so that the matter might 

 be dealt with on its first appearance. On the ISHh 

 June, ho replied "up to this date 1 have not seen it 

 hero." I now learn that nearly the whole estate of 

 Reit Valley is infected and that the trees will have 

 to be destroyed. 



At the suggestion of the Assistant Director of Kew, 

 I issued a i:iruiilar recommending a trial of Morris' 

 Sulphur and Lime process on any estate where the 

 fungus may again appear. Coffee estates in Natal 

 arc now so few and so far apart tliat there is hope 

 that by vigilance the Colony m.ay be; cleared of the 

 pest, if planters will only assist by keeping a good 

 watch on their plantations and destroying all aband- 

 oned or useless trees. 



During the past year, IHKI, two ether pests have 

 appeared in the Colony, each of which will require 

 careful watching to prevent serious losses; — 



