NOTES OX RECENT RESEARCH. 



505 



that the moth h\vs its eggs upon the skin of the fruit or upon the adjacent 

 leaves ; that after the petals fall the calyx of the flower remains open for 

 a few days and then closes ; that the grub feeds for several days in the 

 chamber formed by the closed calyx. Now, if the Paris.green is applied a 

 few days before the calyx closes, some will be deposited in the tube, and 

 this will be protected w^hen the calyx closes and remain there sufficiently 

 long for the grub to reach it and be poisoned by it. This feeding in the 

 cavity at the top of the fruit is the only feeding the larva does outside the 

 Apple. 



Spraying is not so effective with Pears, as in this fruit the calyx-lobes 

 do not close up as in the Apples, thus leaving the poison more exposed. 



Spraying must therefore be done before the closing of the calyx-tube 

 of the Apple in order to be effective. — F. J. C. 



Cultivation of Coffee. 



Coffee Culture, Shade in. By 0. F. Cook {U.S.A. Dept. Agr., 

 Dir. Bot., Bull. 25, 1901). — A most useful and interesting contribution 

 to our existing literature on this "commercial crop" subject of tropical 

 agriculture. The author advances the belief " that leguminous shade 

 trees, in addition to the effects produced by shade trees in general in 

 protecting the soil from erosion, drying, and heating, and in preventing 

 the mechanical injury of the coffee plants by wind, have the same bene- 

 ficial effects on coffee as clovers and other leguminous plants have on the 

 crops with which they are so commonly rotated, that of adding nitrogen 

 to the soil, and thus, mthout expense, increasing the fertility and produc- 

 tion of a plantation." 



It appears that this system of leguminous trees, which serve both as 

 shade plants and fertilising agents, has been followed by successful 

 Central American planters for some considerable time, without under- 

 standing the true reason. 



In regard to a vast amount of literature compiled on the subject, we 

 have those who insist on shade as the " first essential to the life of the 

 coffee " plant. On a glance at the genus Coffea, which belongs to the 

 natural order Ruhiacece, it will be noted that in their natural habitat 

 plants are seldom found under dense forest growth, but are more numer- 

 ous in partially shaded positions on the borders of African forest areas. 

 This is urged as a justification for insisting on shade being of primary 

 importance. 



As a direct effect of shade only on cultivated areas, it would become 

 apparent in the diminished yield and inferior quality of the crop. It may 

 therefore be deduced that neither^shade nor altitude are primary require- 

 ments for successful culture. It may safely be assumed they are impor- 

 tant only as regards " conditions of sunlight, temperature, moisture, 

 and soil." 



Although shade trees have been stated previously as not being a 

 primary requisite, yet they are an indirect factor in conserving the mois- 

 ture of soil, limiting the growth of weeds, and forming a protection against 

 injury by wind. 



The coffee plant is particularly susceptible to drought, especially 



