March i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
637 
PLANTING REPORTS FROM THE HILL- 
COUNTRY OF CEYLON : 
A SOLITARY RIIODENDRON TREE — BOTANICAL SPECIMENS 
— VARIEGATED FOLIAGE. 
Nanuoya, Feb. 15th. 
The soenory along both routes in grand and 
beautiful exceedingly, but in some respects that 
seen from the road which . starts from Nanuoya 
bears away the palm. At the commencement nearly 
three miles pass through estates, of which only 
ono mile is woodland, likely to be soon cleared, alas I 
In one bit of transitional forest, the opening of 
the service road has revealed the novelty on the 
western side of the Nuwara Eliya range of a 
rhododendron tree. It is in a ravine, close to a 
stream, at an altitude of about 5,400 feet, and 
seems a solitary specimen. It was, when discovered, 
in line flower, the blossoms being apparently 
larger and of a darker crimson colour than the 
flowers of those which so abundantly adorn the grass 
lands and lino tho stroams on the eastern side of 
the range. The leaves of our specimen are certainly 
much longer and more acute than those of tho 
ordinary variety. A specimen of this rhododendron 
was sent to Dr. Trimen, together with branches 
in blossom (lovely white and sweet-scented flowers) 
of that fitio-foliaged sijmplocos, the roots of which 
when rotting in the ground produco a fungus 
that poisons numbers of tea bushes to death, 
generally when such bushes are in thoir prime. 
There went to the eminent botanist, in addition, a 
specimen of the large myrtle-like flowers and the 
peculiar seed-vessels of a very handsome Australian 
oucalypt, which in shape and colouring of foliage 
differs much from its congeners. We have failed 
to identify it with any of the species figured in 
Von Mueller's " Euoalyptographia." A conspiouous 
tree now in full flower in the jungle is one which we 
popularly distinguish as "the wild toon." The foliage 
rotiembles that of I 'edrela toona, but tho timber is said 
to be poor. But far beyond any floral beauties of 
the mountain forests, striking as some of them 
must be pronounced, are the exquisitely rich and 
varied tints which the leafage is now assuming : 
ruby rod, light pink, orange, yellow, bronze, mauve, 
shading away to pure white in the case of the 
" flush " on oome trees. Tho curious feature in 
our tropioal forests is that they ohoose the spring 
to put on tho livery which tho woods of temperate 
climates wear in autumn. The effeot is occasionally 
bo rioh that even lengthened experience does not 
provent a travoller from fancying that a particular 
tree has clothed itsolf fully in flowers of blood-red, 
scarlet or pink. It is, however, tho young foliage 
which after tho lapse of some months deepens into 
greon, of lightor or darker shades. The rounded 
crowns of the keena trees aro everywhere conspicuous 
from their perfectly circular shape, their predomi- 
nance in hoight and tho colouring of tho dense, 
minute foliage. But no one who has not seen the 
spring glories of our upland forests can appreciate 
tho wonderful beauty of some special hillsides 
and ravines. A curious effeot is sometimes noticed, 
the forest on tho side of a hill range appearing 
to be torraced : ono sot of treos rising over another 
ee ; . This is no doubt duo to subsidonco of tho 
soil from the existonco of springs or diffused 
moisture 

COCOA CULTIVATION IN COLOMBIA." 
Cocoa in om. of the most important articles of pro- 
duction in Colomhin. It in in daily uao in every house- 
hold, tlch and poor, in ev. ry .ii-triot of tho country, 
* I runi a CuusuUr Report ou tuu Agricultural Con- 
dition of Colombia. 
to quite as groat an extent as tea is in England. 
The departments of Tolima and Cauca produce the 
gieatest quantity, but it is more or less grown in 
every part of the hot country. It is mostly planted 
on newly-disforested laud, on the slopes of the moun- 
tains, at an elevation of from 1000 to 3500 feet. 
Tho variety chiefly grown in Colombia is different to 
that of Venezuela, which produces the Caracas cocoa, 
the pods being much larger and containing a greater 
number of beans; but as the number of pods pro- 
duced by a tree is smaller, it is probable that on 
the whole the Venezuelan variety is the more pro- 
ductive of the two. Tho quality of the Colombia 
cocoa is little, if at all, inferior to that of the Vene- 
zuelan, but it is little known in commerce, as only 
an insignificant amount is exported, the supply scarcely 
satisfying the demand of the country. It is cultivated 
here in much the same way as in Venezuela, though 
perhaps less care is generally taken here to keep the 
plantations in proper order. It is a crop which re- 
quires constant care and labour to weed and clean 
the ground, and freo the trees from the numerous 
insects, especially caterpillars, which inie>t them. A 
most destructive disease has lately attacked the eocoa 
trees in the south of the Tolima, which is one of 
the richest districts of Colombia. One plantation of 
12,000 trees near Chaparral, produced only 175 pounds 
of cocoa in 1887, instead of some 18,000 pounds, which 
at 1.J pounds a tree would be a fair average crop, 
according to the general calculation here. These trees 
were sixteen years old, and therefore in their prime ; 
some cocoa trees, if healthy, bear for from sixty to 
eighty years. No investigations seem to have been 
made into the nature of this disease, and no remedy 
has been suggested. Meauwhile, the cocoa industry 
over a largo portion of the most productive district 
of the country seems to be threatened with entire 
ruin. The cocoa tree begins to bear iu three and a 
half years in the hottest districts, and in five years 
at an altitude of 3500 feet. It is carefully sbaaed 
for the first year; plantains, or more rarely sugar 
cane, being planted for the purpose. Trees are also 
planted, which as they grow up give permanent shade 
to the plantations ; a species of Erythrina is most 
commonly used for this purpose on account of its 
rapid growth. Cocoa is one of the most, perhnps the 
most, pajing crop grown in the country when once 
it is established; but the initial cost of planting it 
and keeping the plantation in good order for the first 
four or five years deters many people from growing 
it. As compared with coffee, a plantation of cocoa 
of a given number of trees costs nearly twice as 
much to establish ; but once in full bearing, it has 
the great advantago that no machinery and very little 
labour is required for preparing the beans for tho 
market, so that the profits are much greater. If land, 
however, were not so obeap as it is in most of the 
cocoa districts, coffee would have a great advantage, 
since four times as many coffee trees can be planted 
to the aore as cocoa trees, and the value of the pro- 
duce of a given number of cocoa trees is only from 
two to two aud a half times as great as that of the 
same number of colfee trees ; but as the value of 
laud is merely nominal, cocoa is the more profitable 
crop of the two. — Pharmaceutical Journal. 
THE POTATO DISEASE. 
For many years past tho potato disease has curtailed 
the cultivation of tho tuber on the Nilvjiris, and then: 
appears littlo prospect of tho complete extirpation of 
the epidemic. Tho present custom of storing tbo 
seed is at the root of tho matter, as far as a general 
epidemic is concerned. It is well known to fungolflgUt* 
that fungi have their times and seasons as will a. 
other plant growths, and that certain spores c rift, 
which are called " resting spores," from their oostom 
of biding their time an I coming to maturity when 
the season for tbeir development is present, rcmainm; 
uninjured by changes of teniperaturo and by <->n«i l< r- 
ablo changes of their physical state, and which ar« 
not destroyed uulcss au aotual rhomioal change is 
