[August, 1912. 



food." Mr Warner also calls attention 

 to the marked changes in the climatic 

 conditions. The wet and the dry seasons 

 are far less marked than they formerly 

 were, and if spells of " Indian summers,'' 

 to use his own term, come in the midst of 

 the wet season, so do short spells of wet 

 occur when extreme dry heat prevails. 

 All this is bound to affect the trees 5 



TO EXCITE OR RETARD THE FLOW OF SAP, 

 AND HENCE CAUSE BOTH LEAVES AND 

 PODS TO FALL. 



The last time we were in the Tropics, 

 having to visit an estate every week- 

 end, we noticed this particularly. From 

 Jannary, 1906, to May 1908, very few 

 Sundays passed on which some rain did 

 not fall. It may, at times, have been 

 hardly noticeable, certainly not enough 

 for an umbrella ; at the same time rain 

 did fall and showed that the "dry sea- 

 sons" were not regular. 



" All this tends to show, that with the 

 enormous clearances of forest and wood- 

 lands that is going on every day through- 

 out the Tropics, a new order of things 

 as regards rainfall and climatic condi- 

 tions must be looked for, and taken into 

 consideration when planting up estates. 

 If drains are needed during some months 

 to run surplus water away from the 

 estate, they may be needed at other 

 times to serve as irrigation canals to 

 conduct the water to the trees, and so 

 equalize supplies. Although theorists 

 can prove that ploughing between the 

 trees damages the roots, practical men 

 can show that, whilst this is true, the 

 lack of cultivation, the absence of mulch, 

 and the presence of excessive root- 

 growth, brought about by 



STRAINING AFTER SOIL-MOISTURE, 



enfeeble the trees and reduce the yields 

 far more than careful and judicious 

 cultivation between the trees can ever 

 affect them. So the old order of things 

 changeth and new ideas must always be 

 listened to and entertained." 



Mr. Warner sums up as follows :— 

 " The principal causes of change of 

 leaf are : 



" (1) Vicissitudes of weather, hot sun 

 and high winds, alternating with heavy 

 ' plumps ' of rain in our, so-called, wet 



season. 



"(2) Excessive over-head shade with 

 corresponding root-system, and insuffi- 

 cient nourishment to withstand sudden 

 vicissitudes, in other words, we may say 

 indifferent cultivation.* 



" The remedies are : 



" (1) Intensive cultivation and manur- 

 ing. 



" (2) Abolition of, or diminution of 

 over-head shade, and substitution of 

 wind-belts and hedges ; and by the 

 adoption of mulching and ground- 

 shade." 



In face of the above opinions, given by 

 practical men, always in the land be- 

 tween the trees planters troubled with 

 excessive change of leaf, or loss of young 

 pods, would do wellac least to try tillage 

 and manuring, as well as a clean mulch, 

 before letting the trou bl and its attend- 

 ant short crops, go by as ireremediable. 

 —Tropical Life. 



*In our "Soil and Plant Sanitation," lis. 

 post free, and in "The Future of Cacao Plant- 

 ing," price Is. 2d. post free, we deal very fully 

 with the question of over-shading, and the evils 

 of deforestation. 



SOME FACTS ABOUT CAMPHOR." 



Yokohama, 1st July, 1912. 

 To the Editor, Tropical Agriculturist, 

 Dear Sir,— Re M Some facts about 

 Camphor" by Ambrose Warner (from 

 the Agricultural Journal of the Union 

 of South Africa, Vol. Ill, No. 1, January, 

 1912) reproduced in the Tropical Agri' 



culturist, Vol. XXXVIII, April, No. i, 

 allow us to refute the defamatory re- 

 marks made therein on the Japanese 

 Camphor seed stating that " The Japan- 

 ese have a way of doctoring it before it 

 leaves the country in order to prevent it 

 germinating 5 a favourite dodge is to 

 kiln-dry it." We are surprised to notice 



