September, 1912.] 



215 



red beetle, from the larval stage. It was at first thought by the official 

 advisers of the Government that the beetle took 18 months to little short 

 of two years, if I mistake not, to develop. It was, however, proved by 

 Mr. Francis Beven that the red beetle developed in a few weeks. Subse- 

 quent scientific investigation confiimed this view, and it is now accepted 

 almost as a certainty that maturity can be reached in about eight weeks. 



The Bleeding Disease. 



So far, the coconut palm has flourished in Ceylon for centuries with 

 no real danger threatening it. Great therefore was the consternation 

 caused when, four or five years ago, there appeared on the scene the active 

 fungus which caused what is populaily known as "The Bleeding disease" 

 Fortunately, most proprietors were alive to the danger that would follow 

 neglect. They set to work in adopting suggested remedies, and in experi- 

 menting with new remedies, with the happy result that the disease has 

 been got under control. 



In Conclusion. 



The results of scientific research are now being applied practically 

 to almost every field of human knowledge. Agriculture is now exalted to 

 a science. The cultivation of coconuts has long been purely experimental. 

 While we would welcome all that scientific methods can do to improve 

 the cultivation of this great staple product of the Island, we must remem- 

 ber it is practical experience which can alone test and use intelligently 

 the theories of scientists. All that I have written is based on experience. 

 I gladly place it at the service of the Association for whatever it is worth ; 

 and hope it will elicit statements of the practical experience of others 

 whose claim to be heard is greater than mine, 



CUBAN TOBACCO. 



Heinrich Hazzelling of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Washington, 

 deals with this subject in a reprint from the Botanical Magazine. 



The want of uniformity which is so striking in Cuban tobacco fields 

 shows that no systematic effort has been made to improve the tobacco 

 plant there, and is to be attributed to the special methods of agricul- 

 ture in vogue, 



The difficulty of raising seedlings in the plains owing to the fungas- 

 infected condition of the soil makes it necessary to establish nurseries 

 on new lands in the mountains. The resulting seedlings are packed 

 in bales and despatched to their various destinations. The seed for 

 raising these nurseries are not selected, but gathered indiscriminately 

 from the suckers of the aftermath. 



Experiments were begun in 1908 wiih a view to remedying the existing 

 state of affairs by inducing pure-line cultures. 



One of the commonest experiences in transferring plants from one 

 region to an entirely different one is that the transfer is accompanied by 

 great variation during the first year : but where pure-strains are selected, 

 there is no tendency to breaking up of the type. 



The tobacco plant is extremely susceptible to changes in environment, 

 but such changes affected all the plants of a pure-strain alike, and do not 

 ciuse a breaking up of the type. 



