June i, 1888. THE TROPICAL 
The chlorophyll which, in the form of granules, 
is elaborated in the parenchymatous tissue of the 
leaves and stalks, is always present in ordinary green 
plants, and is indispensable to their life, science 
having proved that this substance is charged with 
the important functions of absorbing carbonic acid, 
decomposing oxygen, and forming starch and sugar. 
At'tho latter part of the year when the lewes fall, 
it is converted into a' colorless sap, and is returned 
towards the roots, to bo stored up during winter. 
Should the action of the chlorophyll be distur- 
bed by any injury of the parenchyma, the 
process of assimilation stops, the plant sickens, 
the green oolor of the leaves pales, parasites appear, 
and thtt leaves fall oil'. I have recorded my success 
in the discovery of the cause of a disease which had 
raged with destructive effects for fully 40 years, and 
have labored to help nature in her unchangeable laws, 
principally by a supply of suitable nutrition, as the best 
means to obtain robust plants, from which alone a 
plenteous supply of good fruit can be hoped for, and it 
now remains for me to bring forward my suggestion 
for combating a disease of the same kind which is des- 
troying the coffeo plant. 
The simplest, and, as I believe, the best experiment 
consists in sprinkling the coffee plantation with a 
solution of one kilogramme of carbonate of potish iu 
a hundred litres of water, which will suffice for 100 
square metres of ground, the sprinkling to be re- 
peated after an interval of 14 days to insure the 
extirpation of all the spores. This experiment can be 
made at a trifling cost. Out of the fertilizers above- 
mentioned, viz. phosphate of potash, phosphate of 
soda, carbonate of potash, and gypsum, which were 
used with such signal advantage already described, I 
have been induced to give preference to carbonate 
of potash by tho consideration that the fully de- 
veloped foliage of the potato plant, elm &c, has 
been .found to contain a considerable quantity of 
potash, as much as 17 to IS per cent, and iu the ex- 
periments made the chlorophyll granules were 
elaborated in great quantities ; and , as this substance 
is indispensable in the physiological functions of 
plants my choice was fixed. 
[By a later report from Java we learn that 
all the carbonate of potash in the place had been 
used in this coffee experiment, but that it was 
too soon to judge of results. — Ed.1 
«. 
NATIVE TEA— TOBACCO — COTTON — IN TJVA. 
(From a Ourrexpoitdent.) 
Your instructions are certainly explicit enough. 
" Go back 30 years or so of your life, but retain in 
mind your past 'l~> years' experience of Uva." Very 
well, my dear sir, "morally wrong and physically Lm- 
pos-ible," and why should I do it if I could r I Mi 
well, just to say whether in Mich case you would look 
elsewhere for better native tea gardens than you will 
find in Uva, say live yours heuce, aud cotton for the 
Colombo mills, and fruit for the Colombo market, 
aud pasturage for cattle on 1,000 hills, aud — "Hold on 
please —your order is big euough iu all conscience 
without any more ' aids.' 
It is difficult to say what the villagers of Uva may 
or may not do; but 1 think iu all probability they 
will require full five /ears, perhaps double the time, to 
make up their minds whether it was a sufficiently 
I >p lit able cultivation to bo worth their while to 
go in for it. Then again it is a moot question, and 
utio to bu solved only by expert nn , whether or not 
the greater part of native I'va 10 I by ior profit- 
able growth of tea. The rainfall mostly results 
trom storms which, eoinineiicing in the liillleliua 
countrx, gather up around tho " 1 Mmhu and 
Naiuiiuaktnti ranges and then . irk ro" , by llapu:ule 
to New (lulway, whilst nouiu of them strike Naruii- 
gnhi and cross to 1 ' Japus-ollawa. A great dual of 
moisture Is ilischai gi il on the lull topi and ranges, 
whilst the central plateau and vallov* are very iLry. 
All the ravines and nullahs near the villages in this 
central portion ol I'va are r\ I ready ui cupieil by padd \ - 
fluids, audit is only when you g. ( Ld MM) loot ol the 
AGRICULTURIST. 829 
ranges that you find chena and jungle, and along the 
Walapane side from the Elephant Plains and through 
the Madulla villages. Outside the Haputale range a 
different condition obtains, but then cou/es tin; ques- 
tion of wind aud drought. On the Wilsou's Bungalow 
side the same difficulty arises, aud down by Passara 
and Lunugala the soil is poor and the climate dry. I 
am told that the old coffee gardens should and would 
be utilized as tea gardens, but I cannot see it. The 
greater part of the coffee was grown under the shades 
of "kekuua," " kitul," and other native trees, and in 
turn gave shelter to the cattle of the villager. It was 
grown iu a semi-jungly condition, aud required no cul- 
tivation; ulmost all the attempts at gardens, topped and 
cultivated after the fashion of the estates, were failures, 
or lasted but a very short time. Of course I mean the 
small gardeus amongst the villages ; not such large 
estates as those opened by the estate kangauies near 
Narangalla and Spring Valley. 
Tea could be grown under the same conditions, but 
would have to be pruned, and the plucking would be 
tedious and expensive. The best soil left in the cen- 
tral plateau of Uva lies in the saddles, and well up 
towards the tops of the hills, and not along the lower 
slopes. For untold ages the surface of the country 
has been periodically denuded by fire, and the heavy 
storms of rain fa 1 ling on the hillsides cause a heavy 
wash which accumulates in its progress, and by the 
time it gets well do.vn the slope cleans off every- 
thing in the shape of vegetable deposit, leaving in many 
places the subsoil and slab rock fully exposed to the 
sun and wind. 
For native tea gardens we shall have to look to the 
wetter districts ; those which are exposed to the wet 
monsoons, Dimbula,Kotmale,and Balangoda, all round by 
Katnapura, aud the western face of the Adam's Peak 
range. 
Referring to Udakinda, there is a great want of 
tre^s. When living uear Wilson's Bungalow many 
years ago, it appeared to me that the jak, kitul, 
kekuua, and other village trees were cut down or died 
from natural causes, and none were either planted by 
the villagers, or seemed to grow spontaneously as 
they do in wetter districts. As, far as I know the 
same conditions obtain at the present day, and Uva 
becomes more bare and treeless every year.* 
There is little doubt the Tamil and .Moormen 
boutique-keepers will plant up tea gardens, and 
get their debtors to work them free for nothing as 
they used to do with coffee, aud if they grow at all 
they will pay, as they cost nothing. 
Tea, to do well iu Uva, will have to be plauted on 
the mountain ranges and not amongst the " untouched 
patanas, " so you need n't estimate any great addition 
to the exports under native-grown tea from that part 
of the island. 
How about Tobacco 1 Udakinda has, I believe, the 
credit of growing the finest tobacco in Coylou, and 
far back in the Sixties we used to get commissions 
for Badulla cigars, aud send considerable quantities 
to England. 
I believe myself that the natives could be educated 
into growing tobacco very profitably in Uva in small 
patches highly cultivated ; the style of culture would 
suit native ideas to a T, and if the headmen would 
only interest themselves in i', a large profit would 
accrue to tho native population. Of all the proposi- 
tions that have appeared for cultivation of paying 
products iu Uva, I consider tobacco far away tlu uost 
likely. 
Ab for Cotton I have never seen the rn'fivuiion be- 
yond the limits of a garden, but from what I read 
and hear, 1 don't think any lur^e extent 'I land in 
Uva would be suitable. Tho Hut black soil of the 
* This if a most serious statonieot and de«cril>- a 
a state of tilings urgently demanding inn ■•• 'inent. 
We do uot believe that eu' ting oo mi mOUU loroat 
lessens rnii if ill ; but we have a viv.d sense ui the value 
of trees producing shade, conserving moisture aud 
gradual.y ameliorating * >ll and climate. Tree planting 
on ilt» patanas ought to !«■ parried out vigorously 
uud eileiisivi'ly. -Eu. 
