and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



283 



of the bark, placed some of the exuding 

 matter from the diseased part of a tree in- 

 side, replaced the piece of bark and protected 

 the cut with grafting wax. I pointed out to 

 him that according to his theory, infection was 



CARRIED FROM TREE TO TREE BY CLIMBERS, 

 SQUIRRELS AND POLE-CATS. 



They will not adopt so elaborate a process of in- 

 noeulation,but will simply carry a small portion of 

 the bleeding stuff on their bodies, and place it on 

 the bark or in a crevice in it. I suggested that 

 he should try infecting trees according to the 

 upposed natural means of infection. If he 

 succeeded, his theory will be established. 1 

 told him 1 saw a young tree infected through 

 smooth bark, on which no crevice was apparent 

 to the naked eye. Later in the day, I visted an 

 estate in the Nogombo District, where I was 

 shown a tree that was attacked with the disease 

 a long time ago and was treated. The tree was 

 an old one. Above the treated porti m the bark 

 was dead and loose for about 10 feet. I think 

 this shows that the disease cannot penetrate 

 the hard wood of old trees. One always 

 meets with trees with dead and loose bark, 

 which may have been owing to the disease 

 before it attracted attention. I was asked by 

 Mr. Welldon how I accounted for 



TREES WITH HOLLOWED OUT CENTRES 



that one meets with always. 1 replied, it may 

 have been caused by this disease when it was 

 sporadic and did not, therefore, arrest atten- 

 sion. Now it had assumed a virulently epi- 

 demic form and must be stamped out. 



Hot tar should be applied to the cut-out 

 poition of a diseased tree. In how many cases 

 is this done ? When one is by, it is done, not 

 otherwise. An idea has occurred to me to 

 obviate this. An iron bucket of about half- 

 gallon capacity should be made with a fire place 

 underneath, something like the cans " Tey- 

 thanni'men (itinerant tea vendors) use. Pieces 

 of fuel can always be put into the fire-place, 

 and th9 tar will always be hot. I make a 

 present of this idea to the engineering firms 

 n Colombo. The demand for these, if moder- 

 ately priced, will be very large. 



THE COCONUT BLEEDING AND 

 OTHER DISEASE. — I . 



Veyangoda, Feb. 24th. 

 Sir, — Mr. Fetch's letter, published in Friday's 

 Observer, will be very widely welcomed for the 

 very plain and definite instructions it contains 

 on the treatment of coconut trees suffering 



from the stem disease. It was long needed. 

 It is also valuable because of the reasons 

 it puts forth why certain suggested re- 

 medies must fail to afford the desired 

 relief, The enforcement of the official re- 

 medy may te expected to follow the recent 

 proclamation of the disease under the Pests 

 Ordinance ; but voluntary measures, whether 

 preventive or curative, are always to be pre- 

 ferred to compulsory, as saving time, money 

 and friction. At any rate, let people first be 

 sought to be convinced of the good that is in- 

 tended, before compulsion is brought to bear 

 on them. To judge from "P>." 's letter in Satur- 

 day's Observer no such attempt was made in 

 connection with the demonstrations last week — 

 else he would not have had to act as interpreter. 

 Purely, the Revenue Officers and Headmen 

 should have been widely informed ; or, if they 

 had been informed, some of them at least should 

 have been present. I quite agree that Ne- 

 gorabo is more central and important than 

 Mirigama and there should be no difficulty, 

 as I believe is intended, in choosing centres 

 with reference to population and plantations. 



1 shall be glad to give every possible help to 

 Dr. Willis and Mr. Fetch in their efforts to 

 inform the villagers in this neighbourhood — not 



2 miles from the Railway Station. 



The long-looked-for rain came down in de- 

 lightful showers on Saturday afternoon and 

 measured nearly two inches. The drought 

 extended over five weeks, as, barring a cent on 

 29th January, the previous rainfall was '26 of 

 an inch on 16th of that month. Last night 

 there were gentle showers. The coloured leaf- 

 bud in cinnamon bushes had foretold the rain 

 for days past. It is almost always a precursor 

 of rain. p B 



II. 



Kandawela, Negombo, Feb. 23. 

 Sir,— 1 was glad to see in the local papers of 

 21st and 22nd instant, Mr. Petch's clear instruc- 

 tions as to the preparation of Bordeaux Mix- 

 ture for the Bleeding disease. It is now over 



3 years since attention was drawn to the bleed- 

 ing disease affecting the coconut palm by a 

 letter from Mr Nicholas in the Observer and 

 by sections cf the stem bting sent to the 

 Kachcheri by the headman of Uswetakeiyawa 

 (Negombo Canal), and only now, after the pest 

 has become general, have the directions been 

 published in the newspapers how to treat the 

 affected trees and prevent further spread of 

 the disease. But Mr. Petch does not explicitly 

 tell us in his letter what to do with the 



