XXI 



attacked dried-up and utterly sapless trunks, in whose fibrous elements not a particle 



of nourishment could be supposed to dwell It is important to discover if 



a juicy or a sapless coffee bush is selected by the borer, and if so, by what borer. . . . 

 I believe that the white or red borer was originally indiscriminate iu his attacks, either 

 in shade or the open. I believe that the spread of insects has jijreatly increased by the 



absence of shelter for the birds of the forest I think that in many cases 



which have undoubtedly occurred, where the coffee in' the open has been so fearfully 

 injured by insects, the real cause has been that the warmth of such situations is 

 peculiarly favourable to insect development. iVIillious of eggs might be hatched iu 

 such situations, which would rot in a damp or shady position with the forest overhead. 

 Once hatched the larvae can only atlack the tree in which they are placed. Ii will be 

 asked, how do I account for the little injury done by the red borer in Ceylon, although 

 the coffee is almost all in the open ? I answer, the great and almost constant 

 dampness of the climate is inimical to the borer, and prevents his being so prolific as 



in warm and dry situations This view of the case is also borne out by 



the fact that in cool situations in India, such as estates at high elevations, the 

 destruction has hitherto been of little consequence; whereas the estates which have 

 suffered most seriously are iu every case, I believe, at low elevations with a high 

 temperature. It is a question, however, if a coffee tree can be too full of sap, too 

 moist, too juicy, or too succulent to present a favourable field for the attacks of the 

 dreaded white borer. All I say is, I doubt it. On examination of numerous trees, 

 I am led to believe that if the borer lar\3B had the power of selecting their food, they 



would undoubtedly choose the tree in which there was the most nourishment 



If I am correct in my argument, we at once grasp at one of the causes of the great 

 havoc of 1867. Man has transformed many a cool and shady forest into a hot and 

 shadeless coffee garden, and has removed the chief enemies of the borer, cold and 

 damp. Nature, for three years withholding her ordinary showers, has assisted 

 certainly, but may not the result be attributable to man ? May he not, by a too 

 indiscriminate felling of forest in hot exposed situations, have caused the great 

 increase in insect development, the results of which we now so bitterly deplore? .... 

 When I was clearing away jungle, four years ago, on my estate at Nemaur in the 

 Nuggur Division of the Mysore country, the Brahmins warned me against removing 

 the shade. ' If you cut the trees down,' they said, ' the sun will be very hot, and will 

 bring poochies' (insects). I was under the impression that the climate of Nemaur 

 was too damp and the rains too heavy for shade, or even partial shade, for the coffee, 

 but I find T was mistaken, and we are now actually planting shade in parts of the 

 estate. The elevation is about 2800 feet. It is also an interesting subject for inquiry, 

 if the felling and dying out of any bamboos or jungle trees have driven the borer to 

 the coffee. The theory that because in hot dry situations, unshaded from the scorching 

 rays of the sun, the coffee tree becomes exhausted and sapless, and therefore the more 

 liable to the attacks of the borer, who, in fact, pioceeds to that portion of the estate in 

 the first instance, and lays her eggs there in preference to the shady portions, may be 

 the correct one, but it does not appear to me to be so. One thing is plain, viz. that 

 throughout the coffee districts of South India, the trees in the open have suffered 

 incalculably more than those in shade. At least I am satisfied that this is so as 



far as regards Coorg and Mysore In Coorg there is a legend that when 



bamboos die insects are created in myriads and attack all trees. Now in 1867 the 



