January i, 1889.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
443 
scaly bugs are much .sought after by many probatory 
insects which would increase and form part of the 
environment of coffee wherever and whenever the 
pest was present. The degrees of their influences are 
dependent upon many causes, although I think your 
correspondent may rost assured aft ar the first two years, 
that the worst form of the evil has passed. .Such 
has been the result ol my observation in variousdistricts ; 
bebides, the existence ol such tempting food as scaly-bugs 
in vast, numbers cannot long remain without collec- 
ting around tbem ever fresh and increasing swarms of 
rapacious enemies. How far the coffee tree has suf- 
fered in i's constitution in the meantime is a'so a fac- 
tor in determining its period of successful cultivation 
after the enemy has left the scene of its undesired 
labours ?— APHIS." 
We next come to a gentleman who like " Aphis" has 
had a long experience of coffee in 11 variety of 
districts : — 
" When your (Jdapussellawa correspondent says -It does 
not kill cultivated coffee,' I do not know wbat ho means, 
or whore he has boon. 1 have no hesitation in 
s lying it has killed cultivated coffee within the last 
year. Whole acres in Maturata have gone clean out, 
and been cleared away to make room for tia. The 
manager of 'Seaton' estate, Maturata, wrote me no 
Inter than 1st current: — 'The coll'oo nbout the s'.ore 
has become black with bug' (greeu bug). (Uasgow 
estate is far away from Maturata, but even there 
we have suffered badly from green bug, and though 
it is not very bad at the present moment, it may 
return again in full force whenever 1 lie dry weather 
sets in. I consider Mr. is extremely sanguine 
in this matter, and 1 think there is nothing to 
show that green bug is leaving us. I would be only 
too glad to think he was right, but I cannot teJ it. 
I drew Mr. John Br vvu's attention to an invention 
at home for destroying such pests, viz. Strawsou's 
a machine which can be run over a farm by one 
horse, and can east tt line spray of kerosene oil at 
Che rate of t> acres au hour. It does no harm to 
vegetable life. The effect is as of a spider's web of 
B fine morning after rain, covering the bushes. If we 
could run it by means of coolies along our estate 
roads, and spray even -1 acres in an hour or two, we 
might soon dispose of insect pests. I hope Mr. 
Brown will bo able to bring out a machine suitable 
for our requirements, and so enable us to keep coffee 
free from insect pests. 
" We have not, however, got rid of our old enemy, 
leaf disease, yet. The fall of loaf just now is as bad as 
it has over been." 
An t.va planter writes: — 
" If our friend could answer the question ' What num- 
ber of generations is bug going to run P' we might be 
able to give our opinion if coffeo will hold out long 
onough, hut I fear it is quite a mistake to suppose 
that greeu bug does not kill cultivated coffee. At all 
events it so thoroughly impoverishes aud weakens the 
lungs of the coffee, that in many instances the troes 
becomolike dried sticks and die oft' in patches. 
" I do not advocate cutting out coffee affected by 
bug so long as a hope remains of its producing crop 
to pay cost of upkeep; but 1 cannot too idrongly 
urge the opinion that while sticking to tho coffee thus 
affected, the planting of tea, where moans are available, 
should not be delayed. 
" \ ery l'.ttlo can be said in support of coffee out- 
living this most serious of all pests that have attacked 
our old staple. I have II HI acres of this estate with- 
out a berry, and but for bug it would have given a 
good blossom. This no ordinary proprietor can stand 
if it goes on year alter jear; jet 1 have seen coffee, 
worse than v I have, recover apparently. Unless 
the. course ui green bug i< about its cl'iee, ooffee 
inuM g.>, u I - a> ; in many instances it is going off 
in pate lie-, and much of the coll., that Ins l„ u 
frequently attacked by bug is so weakened, thai it 
r«iinot mature the crop as it did in former days." 
Mr. Qeo, Wall writes: — 
"I know no reason why the greeu bug should dis- 
appear after mi'/ number ..f gen, rations It will per- 
sist. 8,3 long as the conditions which favour its propa- 
gation last, whatever these may be. 
"The black bug, when it first visited our plantations, 
spread over nearly the whole country, and disappeared 
very soon over the greater part; but it lingered in certain 
localities in different parts of the country for 10, 15, or 
even 25 years, to iny knowledge. In some of these p'aces 
every remody was tried in vain. In one ease, after nu- 
merous efforts, to extirpate it had beeu tried in vain, the 
trees were cut to the stump and tho primaries left with 
only one eye each. The leaves and branches were 
burned and the tree stumps were scoured and limed. 
Tho rosult was that the young leaf buds that came 
upon the troes that survived the treatment were thickly 
beset by the bugs as soon as tbey appeared ! 
"My experience of the green bug is that unless des- 
troyed it will kill the coffee trees. At any rate I have 
not known any ti withstand a persistent attack of 
'6 years." 
Next, we have the valuable opinion of Mr. Giles 
F. Walker of Bogawantalawa :— 
"November 2nd, 1888. 
"I do not know whether there is any scientific chance 
of green bug dying out of itself, but black bug seems 
to alford au analogous instance, so that we may not 
unreasonably expeot the present pest, if not to go 
away completely, yet to assume a mildly chronic form, 
which would do comparatively little harm. 
"Mr. 's assertion that this bug does not kill 
'cultivated coffee' depends upon the meaning you at- 
tach to the expression 'cultivated.' Used in the loose 
general sense, cultivated coffee has undoubtedly been 
killed to a very large extent. That we should have 
suffered less had we manured more liberally goes 
without saying : but how many men could afford to 
risk the expense of heavy manuring in the face of 
the earlier ravages of the bug aggravated by leaf 
disease? 
"The bug this s ason is in these districts much less 
severe than it was last year, though it is still present 
here and there more or less. If it is tending towards 
a milder chronic form we can combat both it and leaf 
disease very largely, by more liberal cultivation ; and 
we can alford to do this iu view of the present and 
prospective prices of coffee. 
"We are by no means ' out of the wood, yet, but I 
would certainly advocate the retention of all good 
aud fairly healthy coffee and the careful pruning 
and handling of it under any circumstances. 
"Eaoh year no doubt sees a further acreage on every 
estate, over which coffee has to give place to tea; but, 
so long as any doubt remains, I would give coffee the 
benefit of that doubt. 
"A good thorough forking up of the soil with 15" 
grapes I have found very beneficial to trees that have 
Suffered from bug or leaf disease, and the cost of this 
is not heavy." 
Again, a gentleman of cxperienco in Southern 
India, as well as in inspecting estates in Ceylon, 
is good enough to answer our inquiry as follows: — 
" When on my rounds I received the note from you 
respecting ' green bug ' and the value of coffee as a 
product. 
" Iu the first place, I would remark that siuco I 
came to Ceylon I have gradually formed the follow, 
ing opinion, viz., that leaf-disease and greeu bug have 
beeu the result of want of tillage of the soil, I. e., 
deep forking ; nf'or many years of hand weeding aud 
a considerable portion of the laud covered with moss, 
&e., the land bus become sour. Then agaiu, shade has 
been too ranch negloeted, I mean the planting of 
propor shade tret 3 when coffee was planted iu the 
field. 1 know all tho varieties suitable to the Iudiau 
climate, but would say that Ficut ulonKrutii would 
bo the best for Ceylou where tho climate is uot too 
wet. I have planted this year at Kondesalo 50 acres 
of cacao with coffee (from ; oorg seed) and tho above 
fig trees as .>Aii(/( the coffee is 6 by .V and cacao VI' by 
In' shade the same. 
" I am led t.> in ,.ke these remarks i n ' shsu, .' because 
in South Coorg, whore the roffeo is under cultivated 
sloide and the land is « . ,| forked at less! once a year, 
