194 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



JAVA'S NEW " COFFEA ROBUSTA 

 DISAPPOINTING. 



Coffee-growing has Jong been in a bad way 

 in Java, owing to the ravages of disease among 

 the plants, and many planters in despair have 

 abandoned their estates or have turned to rub- 

 ber. But the hope of others rose high on the 

 discovery of a variety of the berry known as 

 Robusta, which was reputed to be both good 

 and disease-proof. Those who took to the new 

 kind of coffee, however, find disappointment 

 again dogging them. Brokers in Holland who 

 tested samples of it report that the coffee is 

 inferior in quality. It can only come into de- 

 mand when theie is a lack of better kinds. — 

 Straits Times, Oct. 14. 



THE LANTANA PEST. 



A vigorous letter on this subject appears 

 in this issue. The exact value or curse of 

 lantana is arguable : but it would be an 

 excellent thing if a rule could be brought 

 in to the effect that all occupied land should 

 be kept clear of undergrowth, including Lan- 

 tana. Ihe P W D, Local Boards, and village 

 Committees might set the example and clean 

 up road reservations, which are often — even 

 about Colombo— in a very dirty condition. There 

 is nothing that strikes the traveller in India 

 more forcibly than the clean condition in which 

 land is kept there. 



Oct. 16. 



Dear Sir, — You did 60 nobly in the Opium 

 Question. Now, will you help in this matter ? 

 You, dwellers in the metropolis, cannot imagine 

 the nuisance and expense this shrub is to out- 

 side dwellers. 



It was, I understand, first introduced into 

 Ceylon from Australia by Lady Horton 75 years 

 ago, who had it planted in Government House 

 gardens. And now it has spread till it has 

 become the scourge of the country. Whole 

 villages are eaten up by it. grazing destroyed, 

 paths obliterated, small garden crops overcome ; 

 a dense jungle of it grows up on all sides, every 

 season increasing in area by mighty strides, 

 from each new crop of blossom and seed. What 

 is to be done ? The natives will sit quietly in 

 despair and see their land eaten up unless 

 stimulated to do something from outside. 



Can Government at least not insist that its 

 C'oivn oivn \ands shall not be the grand breed- 

 ing-beds of this pest, whence the seed is borne 

 on all sides to be the devastation of small 

 private holdings ? 



I speak feelingly. It is vain for me to go to 

 the expense of clearing my land when the 

 adjoining Crown land is one dense jungle of 

 lantana whence all the seed will be carried to 

 my newly-cleared land by the first wind. 



If on all Government grounds the lantana 

 were at least cut down close to he ground and 

 burned once or twice a year, it could be not only 

 very quickly done, giving work to the un- 

 employed, but literally at the expense of only 

 one or two rupees per acre. This, though not 

 clearing the roots, would prevent the spread of 

 blossom and seed. 



Having looked to the cleansing of its waste 

 lands, could not Government require that all 

 occupiers of premises belonging to Government 

 Schools, Post Offices and Dispensaries should 

 keep their land clear and that all officials of 

 every grade, including village headmen 'i That 

 all these be required to keep land and gardens 

 in their own immediate occupation clear ; and 

 that headmen be instructed to direct the atten- 

 tion of all villagers under their control to this 

 matter. P. W. D. Inspectors and Irrigation 

 Officers to see that streams are clear of this 

 overgrowth. In this district every watercourse 

 runs through and is overhung by a dense jungle 

 of it. It is a rank feverish plant, and if the 

 overworked officials named cannot see to it, the 

 creation of Inspectors to deal with this pest 

 would surely be worthwhile. Unless we all pull 

 together, public bodies and private individuals' 

 vast tracts of land will be not only useless them- 

 selves, but breeders of devastation to all grazing 

 and small crops. 



Villagers are mostly very poor and seldom 

 have time, money nor inclination to labour at 

 this nuisance after their ordinary daily toil is 

 over. But if every man and boy would do what 

 he can, by arming himself with a stout stick and 

 slashing off blossom and seed as he went to and 

 from to work, a great deal could be done towards 

 keeping paths clear, and preventing increase. 

 This seems like a suggestion to ladle out the 

 ocean with a spoon ; but what is to be done ? 



The 5th of November is approaching. Can 

 schoolmasters not tell their boys of the vast 

 bon-fires English lads make at this season, and 

 send or take out companies of energetic school- 

 boys aad get them to make huge bonfires of the 

 pestilent growth. 



I trust the " Times ol Ceylon '■' and all other 

 local papers, English and vernacular, will copy 

 this letter, and that my crude suggestions may 

 produce other and better ones. Could we not 

 form a " Lantana Extirpation League " and give 

 prizes or do something ? 



Here, Mr. Editor, is a Christmas Competition 

 ready to your hand : R5 for the best suggestion. 

 — Carried out by Christmas. Other suggestions 

 earnestly solicited. If we let it alone for an- 

 other 75 years, Ceylon will be one huge jungle 

 everywhere outside a town. — Yours truly, 



ANTI-LANTAN A. 



INTERNATIONAL RUBBER 

 CONFERENCE. 



Mr Kelway Batnber on the Rubber Industry 



in the East. 



At the International Rubber Conference in con- 

 nection with the International Rubber and 

 Allied Trades Exhibition at Olympia. in London. 



Mr M Kelway Bamber lectured on 11 The 

 Cultivation and Preparation of Rubber in 

 the East. " Sir Henry Blake presided over a 

 large audience. The lecturer reminded all in- 

 terested in the Industry more haste less speed, 

 and the cheapest and most rapidly grown and 

 manufactured rubber was not necessarily going 

 to prove the most profitable in the long run. 

 Eastern Planters and manufacturers had to pro- 

 duce rubber that would 



