July i, 1881.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
*3 
will make it liquid again. For this purpose it must 
always be warmed. It is a good plan to put the bot- 
tle containing it in boiling water or hot water to 
accomplish this. 
THE MADRAS GOVERNMENT AND CINCHONA. 
The Secretary of State hardly gave a satisfactory 
reply on the 8th ultimo in the House of Captain 
Price's question, whether the Indian Government 
undertook the planting of Cinchona in this country, 
to encourage private enterprise in that direction, or 
to compete in the open market with private trade. 
The Marquis of Hartir.gton is too shrewd a states- 
man not to see that the question interests a large 
and influential body of men, who will not re-t 
satisfied with evasive replies or half measures. He 
added that the Madras Government found some diffi- 
culty in following the example of the Government 
of India, and manufacturing its febrifuge on the 
spot. What the difficulty is, and by whom cre- 
ated, were points left untouched, and it is these 
which other authorities have taken up hotly, and 
exposed to the detriment of the Madras Government. 
Jt, m;iy not be generally known that a committee 
sat to report upon the financial results of Mr. 
Broughtoii's factory at Ootaeamund for the manufact- 
ure of amorphous quinine a little before that gentle- 
man quitted the LI ills, disgusted with the treatment 
he had received, and sat upon by tyros, who grew 
more positive in assertion, the less they understood 
of the subject they had been called upon to investi- 
gate. Mr Markham in his recent work on chin- 
chona, exposes the fallacies of the report. 
The Madras Government submitted a calculation by 
which it was made to appear that the 'amorphous quinine' 
was produced at a loss. In the years 1872 and 1873, 
the quantity produced was 445 pounds. By arbitrarily 
charging the factory with £2,500 for the hark, and £583 
for the cost of working and interest on plant 
and buildings they made out that the 415 lb. 
Alter Mr. Mclvor's death, the Commissioner of the 
Nilgiris was in charge, and as a Collector of revenue, 
I succeeded in obtaining a large income, to which his 
! attention was exclusively directed. The latest blunder 
has scarcely yet become public in England, namely, 
the transfer of this Government property to the 
Forest Department, a Department that has hardly yet 
I done anything for the country, or justified the enorm- 
ous cost at which it is maintained. A strong 
movement is now on foot in Ceylon, which has, within 
I the last few years, commenced to 6end cinchona 
I bark to the English market. Corresponding action 
I among the planters of Southern India is needed to 
avert the disastrous effects of this competition with 
I private trade, which the Indian Government seem not 
disposed to abandon without a struggle. — South of 
' India Observer. 

Japan Tea. — With the exception of one million, 
pound- to Canada and half a million to England, all 
the .Japan tea exported was sent to the New York 
I market during the last year. — Home and Vohniil Mail. 
" IndjOBKi-— This substauce, so favourably spoken 
I] of hy Mr. Moensas a substitute for moss iu covering cin- 
chonax, is thus referred to i>v Crawford in his Malay 
I dictionary :—"/juk (.lav. duk). The black horse hair-like 
I substance at the insertion of the fronds of the gomuti 
I plant. II >riissim ijom ///('. :in«l from which cordage ism de." 
1 Marsden's dictionary describes it thus : — " Jjn or fuju, a 
I vegetable substance resembling horse hair which envel- 
1 ones the stem of the annu, or borassus g unutus. J t is 
I also known by the names of gamulo and o ibn negro." In- 
1 ink (or in Dutch spelling indjnrk) is the Sundance form 
I of the word. The tree lias n ereat in .ny naiive names, and 
1 is known to botanists as th- J n , ija narcharifera. The 
I only one in Colombo flowered and died some years ago 
I at Mr. Justice Diaa's house. 
To the Editor of the Ceylon Observer. 
LEAF DISEASE AND THE DIFFERENT 
VARIETIES OF COFFEE. 
June 1st, 1881. 
Sir— In the last Weeldi/ Observer you remark 
about the Peradeniya Gardens' report :— " The new 
kinds of coffee seed introduced from the Blue Moun- 
tains, Jamaica, and from Coorg, with a view to over- 
coming leaf disease, have by no means been a success, 
the fungus attacking the plants freely and in some 
cases very severely " — omitting to mention Dr. Trimen's 
important qualification : " There is indeed very little 
re»son to suppose that any variety of C. Arabica is 
'disease proof.'" Even other species are the hosts 
of the Hemileia parasite ; our native wild species, C. 
Travancorensis, and the African C. liberiea, are both 
susceptible ; yet it by no means follows that all suffer 
equally in health. 
I remember it was said the first imported plants of 
Liberian coffee were badly attacked by leaf disease, 
but after a time they threw it off. That this is likely 
to be so with the other new varieties would seem 
to be indicated by Dr. Trimen's further observation :— 
" It is worth remarking that a small plantation of 
this (Blue Mountain) variety made at Henaratgoda is 
in a very healthy condition, the plants, now one 
year old, three or four feet high, and commencing to 
flower."— Yours truly, NUBLUD. 
COFFEE LEAF DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 
2nd June 18SI. 
Dear Sir, — I am glad to see Mr Oliver W. Jones' 
letter in your paper giving an account of his further 
investigation to prove that the first cause of leaf 
disease is an insect (moth). This was my opinion 
as written in a letter to you some time ago and 
now referred to by Mr. Jones, but you differed from 
me and expressed yourself to the contrary. You, 
no doubt, believed that Messrs. Thwaites and Morris 
ought to know best. I do not pretend to dispute 
the ability of these gentlemen nor to make out that 
I can hold even a candle to them as far as learning 
goes ; but, with all due respect for those authorities 
and Mr. Ward, it has often been the case that when 
doctors cannot agree or cure a person iu humble 
position and without much learning is called in or 
drops in by accident, and with a simple or plain 
treatment, which would be scoffed at by the doctors, 
cures the patient. I differ from Mr. Jones as regards 
gathering up diseased leaves. I have found by scatter- 
ing wood-ashes and lime over diseased leaves where 
there are lots of leaves from shade trees also on the 
ground, there was no spreading of the disease, but 
the coffee got more vigorous. 
Leaf disease, as a rule, first appears on ridges and 
in patches. As soon as discovered, fork in lightly some 
manure around the trees and scatter coral or country 
lime over the forked grouud ; also throw wood-ash 
and country lime over the trees. The latter may 
have to be repeated but the lime and wood-ashes is 
! a manure, and no doubt Mr. Storck's treatment in 
Fiji will be nearly the same, as no outward vapour 
or application which does not help to strengthen the 
trees will ever do. 1 have driven leaf disease away 
w ith the above treatment (it appeared at different times 
in patches), kept my trees in good heart, and got 
good crops. — Yours "faithfully. J. II. W. 
[There is nothing in J. H. W.'s experience in- 
compatible with the disease being a fungus, while 
there are a thousand proofs that the attack line 
nothing to do with an insect !— Rt>.] 
