828 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [June i, 1888. 
Councils. The supply to them, however, will be on 
payment of the cost of mauufacture, but the 
charges that will be incurred by the Medical Stores 
for bottles, packing, carriage, &c, should be foregone 
until the usefulness of the drug has become generally 
recognised, The price will then be raised to the full 
cost of supply. 
+ 
GIANT TEA TREES IN CEYLON. 
Of course the term " giant " is used only re- 
latively, the bushes grown for leaf-yielding purposes 
ranging under four feet. In contrast we give the 
measurements of some grown on Abbotsford estate, 
Dimbula, for seed-yielding purposes, — purposes which, 
owing to the high jat of the tea, as well as the high 
altitude at which it is grown, have not in some 
cases been yet fulfilled by trees which are twelve to 
fourteen years old. The elevation in which the 
trees are grown ranges from 4,700 to about 5,200 
feet, — that is the trees which have been measured, 
for there are trees reserved for seed purposes up 
to 6,000 feet. At an elevation of 2,000 feet or 
thereabouts such trees (high class Assam hybrids) 
would be in full seed-bearing in their fifth year. 
Few with us yielded much seed before the eighth 
year. 
Measurements of 20 Seed-bearing Tea Tubes on 
Loweb Abbotsfobd Estate. 
% , M 
ft. in. 
1 30 0 
2 28 6 
3 26 0 
4 24 9 
5 22 0 
6 28 6 
7 24 6 
8 21 6 
9 29 6 
10 27 9 
a © a 
o.2o 
in. 
48* 
40i 
39 2 
37£ 
35 5 
34 
34 
33 
32 
32 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
*• a ® a 
ja a a o 
•s Mm 
ft. in. in. 
24 6 32 
31 3 31 
27 0 30 
32 0 21 
32 0 13 
31 3 25 
30 6 23 
30 6 28 
30 0 29 
30 0 24 
* Circumference of tre9 84 feet ; greatest diameter 
30 feet. 
Mr. John Eraser, who took the measurements, 
writes : — 
" As these measurements of the tea trees have been 
taken rather hurriedly, I may have omitted several of 
the larger trees on the estate, as there are a larger num- 
ber of them from 20 to 30 feet in height with a 
girth of stem ®f from 20 to 30 in. ; but I do not 
think there are auy which will be found to exceed in 
size the first 3 or 4 on the list. 
" The first 13 are given on account of their large 
circumference of stem, and the last 7 on account of 
their height. No. 15 is one of the original plants 
left in the nursery, where they are all extremely tall, 
but very spindly trees owing to their having been 
grown so close together. The trees are all single- 
stemmed ones, but No. 1 appears to have originally had 
several stems, which have, however, combined and now 
form a single stem which would make a great many 
forest trees hereabouts feel rather small. Looking 
at this tree one feels inclined to ask why not grow 
the fuel required for tea-making on the tree itself ? " 
No. 1 on the list is our "giant," par excellence, in 
succession to the original big tree which was 
wrecked in a storm, but which is again growing freely. 
The present giant has, it will be seen, a stem 4 
feet in oircumference. It is only 30 feet high, but 
then look at the enormous area covered by its mass of 
branches, 84 feet round with a diameter at one 
place of 30 feet. No other tree quite equals this in 
umbrageousne^.;, though it yields in absolute 
height to one of a number of trees, left to 
grow close together (far too close) in a nursery of 
December 1874. The greatest height of any tree, 
it will be observed, is 32 feet. In the jungles of 
Assam ancient trees were found 45 feet high, and 
we believe 60 feet is the extreme height to which 
a tea tree has been known to attain. Are there 
any in Ceylon with better growth every way 
than those of which the measurements are given ? 
If so what is their history ? The room occupied 
by the giant and many other trees like it is 
very great, and ought to be calculated when 
estimates of yield of leaf per acre are made in 
regard to the leaf-yielding bushes amidst which 
the seed-bearers (about a couple of thousands) are 
scattered. As yet, however, the big tea trees are 
too valuable to be used as firewood. Tea bushes 
allowed to grow up would, it is evident, make 
excellent fences and even break-winds. Our big 
trees, when no longer required for seed-bearing 
purposes, will yield leaf well when cut down. Mean- 
time, they are exceedingly ornamental, some of 
them closely resembling the finest nutmeg trees, in 
beauty of foliage and elegance of form. 
THE COFFEE LEAF-DISEASE. 
A PLAN FOR COMBATING IT. 
[Translated from the Soerabaia Courant of the 19th 
March 1888, by J. D. Y. for the Ceylon Observer.'] 
The following plan proposed for combating the 
coffee-leaf disease has been received from Heer Cham- 
berlain Mak, residing at the Hague : — 
The report of Dr Burck, Joint- Director of the Na- 
tional Botanical Gardens at Buitenzorg, which ap- 
peared in the Bataviasch Handelsblad of the 13th Dec. 
last, kindly sent me by a friend, I have read with 
great interest. Desirous to co-operate heartily in con- 
tending against the disease, I wish to record certain 
facts in hopes of their furthering the discovery of its 
cause, and facilitating the search for a remedy. 
I have been earnestly endeavouring for several years 
to trace out the cause of the potato disease known 
under the name of Pe"ronospora infestans, allied to the 
fungic mildew known as Peronospora viticola and He- 
mileia vastatrix on the vine and on the cuffee plant. 
This disease has generally been attributed to important 
atmospheric changes occurring chiefly in the month 
of August, at a temperature of 20 deg. to 25 deg. centi- 
grade during wet weather. True it is that the pest 
spreads widely under these circumstances, but it seems 
to me an error to assign them as its cause. 
Repeated experiments made with various kinds of 
fertilizing matter, and compared with one another, 
have confirmed my opinion. Potato fields, manured 
with phosphate of ammonia and carbonate of ammonia, 
showed all the symptoms of the disease to such an ex- 
tent, that in six weeks two-thirds of the potatoes were 
entirely decayed. On the other hand potato plants 
manured with phosphate of soda, carbonate of potash, 
and gypsum, displayed no vestige of the disease, and 
the crop of potatoes was abundant and perfectly 
sound. 
I was now in possession of proof that the origin 
of the disease was to be sought for in the nutriment 
of the plant. Seeing that unsuitable manure had 
brought it on, this I look on as an important 
phenomenon, and consider my success complete. 
The nutrition of plants stands in close relationship 
to their whole organization, and is a consequence 
of the limited space to which they are confined. A 
plant has within itself the faculty of producing oganic 
combinations, such as starch, albumen, &c, out of 
the inorganic matter which it absorbs such as carbonic 
acid and water. The substance indispensable for this 
physiological function, and which alone is endowed 
with the power to exercise it, is the parenchyma. 
The conversion called " assimilation " of the inorganic 
matter takes place only under the influence of 
suulight. The work thus performed by the sun is 
stored up in the assimilated vegetable matter. This 
can now supply the strength necessary for the exercise 
of vital functions by the plant itself, or it can serve 
as food if consumed by man or the lower animals. 
