July i, 1881.] THE TROPICAL 
Orange and Flowery Pekoes. We believe both these 
estates adopt the same processes of manufacture. For 
a sound bulky tea, the Kodanaad Estate takes a 
high place. Tnis estate alone manufactures no less 
than four hundred thousand pounds of tea per annum. 
The sati-factory results above will do more to push 
Indian tea iu Australia than a year's advertising. 
CUKE FOR COFFEE GRUBS. 
We very seldom forget a handwriting (any more 
than a face) we have once seen ; but we are puzzled 
to identify the old colonist and probably contributor, 
who sends us the following "pencil notes " by last 
mail from the Highlands of Scotland. Certainly, his 
contribution to the "grub" discussion could not have 
arrived at a more season;>bl<: time, for the evil is 
at this moment uuder the consideration of the Com- 
mittee of the Planters' Association, and will probably 
lorm a topic of remark at the general meeting to 
be held early next month. "Grubbing" with the 
aid of pigs is surely worth a trial. Here is what 
our correspondent says :— 
" Enclose, say, a quarter of an 'acre of badly grubbed 
coffee with upright stakes with waratchies interlaced 
sufficiently strong to prevent a pig breaking through : 
into this enclosure put 2 or more healthy Hungry pigs 
with a bucket of water and sufficient poonac daily to 
keep the paudies in life merely, and let them hunt with 
their noses for the rest of the living— make them work 
for their grub in fact, and in a fortnight I would be sur- 
prised if there is a grub left in the enclosure— the drop- 
pings from the pigs will also in a great measure pay for 
outlay in poonac, and if a really well fed and educated 
"sandy" is wanted for the bungalow there he is! 
Thirty years ago— alas ! — I remember a fearful epi- 
demic of typhoid fever having set in, in a large set of 
coolie lines— the mortality was fearful. A medical 
man was engaged and stationed on the estate to watch 
progress. He at once ordered the coolies to be re- 
moved from the lines to the store, or any other avail- 
able houses, and condemned the old lines to be burned. 
This was done and a si'e for a new set was looked for. 
This was fixed upon a very badly grubbed bit of coffee, 
as useless for further cultivation. I remember the ap- 
pearance of the white dried stems and branches with 
just a leaf here and there to shew there was still life in 
the plant. Well the lines were built, coolies dwelt therein 
and once more the sound of song and tomtom 
arose among the survivors of the unfortunate 
Kirew who dwelt in the old lines on the pat- 
ana. The coolies were allowed small patches for 
gardens, as the ground was considered worthless for 
ooffee cultivation. They also kept pigs, and with the up- 
turning of the earth, grub hunting, the plot was in a 
very short time like a newly ploughed Held ! In less 
than six months, tender young leaves began to come out 
on the dried brauches, and in the following year they 
came out abundantly, looking as glossy, fresh, and 
green as any planter would like to see. Grand healthy 
trees took the place of the old dried ones, and up 
till 1862, when I saw them last, ihey were perfection, 
and bearing, 1 should say, 15 cwt. per acre, at least. 
.Some will say that this occurred only in the im- 
mediate neighbourhood of the liner', but no; tbe im- 
provement stretched for acres round, and wa* clearly 
traceable to the grubbing of the pigs. The experi- 
ment cannot cost much, and I hope it will be carried 
out with favourable results. Pigs, it is true, help 
themselves to coffee berries, but a wreath of the 
Longdeu thorn, or any other substitute, would prevent 
them from putting their noses where thi y were not 
wanted ! Should the experiment be found a success, 
unproved hurdles, Mich as they keep sheep in the 
turnip Holds here, could be made :it little expense.'' 
AGRICULTURIST. 91 
COFFEE LEAF DISEASE AND MR. SCHRQTTKY'S 
REMEDY. 
Linddxa, 14th May. — Although it is a dull time of 
the year, our district is not entirely void of work 
interesting to coffee planters. I rtfer to the operations 
which are going on for the expulsion of our worst 
enemy, leaf disease. But is it necessary to name it 't 
For it is ever in our thoughts, a source of continual 
anxiety and biting care. 
Passing through Gleneagles on Friday morning, any 
one would have thought that snow had fallen in the 
night. A portion of the estate looked quite white. 
The cause of this was soon apparent, for along the 
lines of the coffee arose great puffs of smoke, as if our 
artillery had been brought up to extirpate the long 
suffering coolie. 
On getting nearer, however, I saw that the coolies 
themselves were casting on the winds handfuls of pink- 
ish white powder, so fine and light that the slight 
est breeze carried it along in rolling clouds, en- 
veloping completely, trees, coolies, and superinten- 
dents. The effect on the trees was as if 
they had been snowed upon, every leaf being as cover- 
ed with the powder as the lilacs and laurels along 
the Clapham road are with dust on the evening of 
the Derby day. The coolies looked like millers but 
seemed as jolly as sand boys, though the powder is 
annoying enough at first, and results, until one gets 
accustomed to it, in a pretty strong fit of sneezing. 
This was the scene of Mr. Schrottky's process oi 
vaporization, and whatever the ultimate effect may 
be in keeping a«ay or checking the disease, the applica- 
tion is most thorough. Not. only the leaves, but the 
branches, the stems of the effee trees, and every 
inch of ground is covered with the impalpable powder, 
and the smell of it is all-pervading. What chiefly 
recommends itself to me in this method is the sim- 
plicity and ease and thoroughness with which it per- 
formed, and I think Mr. Schroitky can be con- 
gratulated in having devised this practical form 
of applying carbolic acid to the trees as a cure 
against leaf disease. All authorities seem to agree in 
considering carbolic acid a specific for parasitic fungoid 
life, but the difficulty of applying it, seemed insur- 
mountable, as no one ever thought of applying it but 
in a liquid form. It was a bright idea to incor- 
porate it with a dry medium and use it as such 
an impalpable fine powder. The success of the ap- 
plication if success there bo as I heartily hope, will 
be due entirely to this. I hear that 60 average 
coolies have yesterday gone over nearly SO acres, and 
Mr. Schrottky hopes to finish the estate (about 200 
acres) on this, the second day. 
Mr. Graham Anderson's revelation of tbe views ol 
the Java Government in reference to coffee leal 
disease certainly astonishes us. Apart from the pro 
bability that the statement about a reward (which 
was certainly published in Batavia journals) wa* 
never officially communicated : was in fact a plant 
er's or merchant's idea misconstrued — the wish being 
father to the thought : yet how can we reconcile the 
official answer that hemilei". vastntrxx in Java bae 
never assumed a serious form, with the actual re- 
sults of the present coffee season in Netherlands India 1 
Is it not shown on the same official authority that 
we must go back to 1834 to get a coffee crop s> 
small as that anticipated for this year from Java, 
and to what but leaf disease can this extraordn an 
falling-olf be attributed? The Java authorities would 
seem to be blinded to the tact, and yet, only last 
year, they proposed sending au expensive Cominis 
siou to travel t' rough Ceylon and India aud report 
on hemileia ra.s(ati-ix ! 
