June t, 1881.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
i ♦ 
To the Editor of the Ceylon Observer. 
COFFEE LEAF DISEASE AND MR. WARD'S 
SULPHUR AND LIME EXPERIMENT : THE 
FINANCIAL IMPOSSIBILITY OF GATHER- 
ING AND DESTROYING DISEASED LEAVES. 
Dear Sir, — In Mr. Ward's lecture delivered be- 
fore the Planters' Association, special reference is 
made to a certain sulphur and lime experiment, de- 
tails being given of several highly satisfactory results. 
No mention, however, is made of any unsatisfactory 
consequences, of the possible existence of which even 
there is neither hint nor warning. And yet there 
were several adverse circumstances, apparently as 
resultant as the more favorable. If the birth of 
a new idea is hard to bear, if the revival of an 
exploded notion is yet more painful, — the suppres- 
sion of some of the particulars < f an important 
experiment is more unendurable still. Mr. Ward ought 
to know the danger of a half truth and to have realized 
that such a garbled narrative as bis was only calcul- 
ated to mislead the planters, and place himself in a 
false position. The community can afford patiently to 
await any theory or explanation that may be forth - 
coming, but meanwhile I think it is entitled to de- 
mand full details of this particular experiment with 
all its supposed results. I complain of no ideal danger. 
A proprietor has found fault with me for prematurely 
disposing of his stock of sulphur, and with a super- 
intendent for the ill-success of his S. and L. applica- 
tion, though probably it was neither better nor worse 
than hundreds of others, while it will be more through 
good luck than good guidance if many estate owners 
have not been again seduced into further sulphur and 
lime expenditure. 
Putting the sulphur and lime treatment aside, the 
most general urgent recommendation of science has 
been the collection and destruction of our diseased 
coffee leaves gathered as they fall. Mr. Ward eays : 
"' You will never get rid of leaf disease as long as you 
you allow the diseased leaves to remain on the ground 
as they are now. No specific can be successful so 
long as you leave the leaves there." I am afraid 
that on this point also the teaching of science 
and the experience of practice will be found incom- 
patible. 1 have neither the means nor inclination 
to try this further recommendation, and must leave 
its trials to others who have; but so far, I think, 
I but express the opinion of many old and experi- 
enced planters, when I say that the risk of fire, 
and impoverishment of soil, the expense, the labor, 
and the time required for this treatment, if ad- 
equately carried out would be such that, if coffee 
badly affected cannot be made to pay without it, 
it certainly never will with it, and that it would 
be better to at once submit to tlie inevitable, than 
to be allured on by false hopes into a heavy and 
profitless expenditure. But further, if I understand 
Mr. Ward aright, the spores on fallen leaves on 
rocks or ground, anywhere, but under the living leaf, 
if left to themselves must die. They shoot their little 
tubes, which grow and fill and burst, and 
there's an end of it. But if disturbed, as in the 
process of collection they must be, myriads will be 
diffused through the air, only to attach themselves 
to the living foliage of the surrounding trees, and 
run their full course once more. I do not say that 
the thorough and careful collection and destruction 
ol the diseased leaves would not lead to a mitiga- ! 
tion of the pest, but I feel no certainty that it would 
pay, which is the grand end aud aim of tlie prac- I 
tical coffee planter.— I renaiu, yours truly, 
A. C. K. BORRON. I 
TOBACCO CULTIVATION. 
Veyangoda, 4th May. 
Dear Sir, — In an article on the cultivation of to- 
bacco in the Negombo district, in your Directory 
of 1876-8, it is said that by means of movable cattle 
pens the ground intended to be planted with tobacco 
ought to have an inch of cattle manure. I take it 
that this mode of treating the ground is necessary 
only in poor sandy soils. I have a piece of land 
to be planted with tobacco, the soil of which is 
fairly rich and approaches a sandy loam. I have n't 
sufficient time before me to go over the ground with 
movable pens. In the absence of cattle manure, 
will any of your correspondents who cultivate to- 
bacco kindly inform me what is the next best man- 
ure to be used, Will lime or ashes do? The cul- 
tivators in Dumbara or the pioneers in Trincomalee 
will be able to enlighten A GREENHORN 
[Try bones and poonac. — Ed. 0. 0.] 
NEW PRODUCTS IN THE COFFEE DISTRICTS. 
Dikoya, May 4th, 1881. 
Sir,— In view of the already many fatal reverses 
sustained in coffee property since leaf disease and 
bad seasons combined have made themselves felt, aud 
though granted that much has been done in the 
right direction, is it not the case that — owing in some 
measure, possibly, to a loyal prejudice in favor of the 
'old horse,' but largely too to restricted expenditu e— - 
the planting through the coffee of suitable new pro- 
ducts has very generally been done in only a half- 
handed and not thorough manner ? 
It is the case, I think, that working proprietors and 
V. A.'; now very generally recognise the expediency of 
doing so, and have acted and are acting accordingly, as 
far as means at their disposal permit. But, as to absent 
proprietors and mortgagees, as a rule, realizing this as 
keenly as they ought, it is only necessary to look around 
at the large areas of only, coffee still to be seen, 
to doubt it. If good crops rule again— well and 
good — but suppose they do ! What tremendous outlay 
need have been, or need be incurred, in planting out 
other things, or what loss can arise from the doing 
so? If coffee is to hold its own again generally before 
other things, as a paying investment, it will have 
to be known within the next three }'ears ; and cannot 
anyhow, as far as cinchona is concerned, enough be 
realized from the latter, if dug out, to more than 
cover its expenses ? You and all others experienced 
will emphatically answer Yes ! to this. I feel sure : 
provided of course the land &c. is suitable: and where 
in the new districts is it not? In the case of offi- 
cinalis and Calisaya varieties, anyhow, little or no 
damage will have been done the coffee, even though it 
be planted, as I consider it ought, tree for tree : and 
I think it will be conceded that those who took 
this view, aud earliest and to the fullest extent acted 
on it, have proved themselves the knowing ones. 
On the other hand, in the case of coffee prospects not 
improving in the future, in what position stand those 
severally interested in an unprofitable estate with 
nothing hut coffee on it, aud other products not insti- 
tuted to a sufficient extent?— Can it pay proprietor, 
mortgagee or agent, to continue working it ? Aud if 
not, I need hardly ask what that estate has absolutely 
done for them all! With a fine show of c >coa coming 
up, or a few hundred thousand cinchonas, there 
is a fair prospect of its paying all part'es to 
struggle on and wait. And is a suggestion now 
out of place to mortgagees and agents, and more particu- 
larly, perhaps, to tlie large capitalists at home, whose 
support. I take it, may at present be considered the 
mainstay of the planting enterprise generally for their 
own iuterests' sake, as to helping their clients with their 
approval and funds, to fully fortify their properties 
