290 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September r, 1881. 
practically stumbled on perhaps the most intricate 
theoretical subject and by placing his views for a 
scientific un lerstanding thereof he may even assist 
those gigantic minded bodies, the " hem " of whose 
mantle he may not deem himself worthy to touch, 
but, who in the interest of the world and the only 
too humble opinion of themselves come forward most 
manfully to assist mankind and solve th ir problems. 
I have but one fear : that at the very first glance at 
the simple heading of my subject weary-tired and 
worried, heads and hearts will only be too ready to 
rush to an exclamation at once : 
" Oh, we have had enough of all this ! We know 
all about it ! This no use, it won't phiz ! Bnt in 
jour land of ' bide-a-wee ' '." I only ask to be 
heard out and it will be that you yourselves will 
be able hereafter to prove the results of your 
"short crops" and "leaf disease." My heading is 
"pruning." I only ask you to follow me in what 
you do and I propose to show you only this much: 
that the "one" important matter has not received 
that due consideration to which it is most assuredly 
entitled for the best result*. 
Let me get a fair position for my subject. So I 
shall start with the entering of the seed into the soil, 
till by half evolution of " crosses," the coffee plant 
with its primaries answer to that height (say 3 feet) 
at which you intend it to stand. Here man pro- 
poses to dispose of God's W'>rks contrary to his ruling 
and he does a process oiled " topping." What are 
man's hopes ? That the wind will not blow the plant 
down — and that the cutting of the "sap "will force 
into other channels, and so strengthen his plant. Oh! 
erring mortal ! What are your results ? Projections 
the most unnatural ; suckers, upward shouts and down- 
ward shoots, backward shoots, gormandizers, and other 
confusions. You have bleeded the head of your stream 
of sap too close to your roots ; and you have lost 
sight of a most important point that while you have 
reduced the natural height of your plant, you have 
done nothing to the root itself, the energetic worker 
and the supplier of the necessities of the plant above 
the soil, according to their nature. How have you 
proposed to remedy your evil of "topping''? By 
removing all these unnatural now trying proj ctions. 
And what do you effect ? Sicken your roots for they 
sent up these different saps for different executions. 
Branches, pith, leaves, etc., to bring back to them 
light, heat and carbonic acid gas. But alas ! there has 
been no return, for man in his superior knowledge 
has been most ruthlessly removing all that nature was 
issuing forth from the roots to the very leaves for a 
return ot streng:h ; but is now exhausted as all love's 
labour has been lost, and mother earth unable to stand 
this sort of straiu begins to call tor strong stimulants 
known as " manures" and unless this is fully supplied 
"cup fails" and "leaf disease" results. 
Just read at this point " 1 ab ries's" deep rosea: ches. 
He tells you distinctly " Nature makes no blunders ;" 
that the plant in its growing, grows up with a 
stem putting out primaries. These extending themselves 
horizontally throw out " secondaries." These in their 
turn " Tertiaries." He says and let us have it in his 
own word-" : — " they are placed by pairs on both sides, 
all spread out ho/izontally and vvith a direction in 
eorne measure towards the circumference. If any should 
(jrow upward or downward, they would become intri- 
cate and the tree embarrassed." Bat nature "can 
neither be perplexed nor intricate," because " the 
boughs from the ground will extend wider as they 
are nearer the source of vegetation so that the shape 
of the tree is pyramidal. All those brandies three 
orders or more garnixh it richly, hut us all a r e hori- 
zo/ilid Iroiit, heUm upwards, all diverging from the centre, 
more 0* lew, all placed either at the four faces of 
the trunk or both sides of the matted branches (pri- 
maries) the profusion of nature, ' 
" Can neither be perplexed nor intricate." 
"If such happen to be the unintentional effects of 
Art, art must redress them." Surely, our doin.s of 
removals of upwards, downwards, backwards, and 
suckers is not redressing the introduction of our evil. 
— «It is making it more grievous to the plant and hc-nce 
to all those who are trying to grow it. 
Let each of us examine this matter for ourselves. 
Do we not want all the fruit we can get? Can we 
get it by removal of all the very growing material 
that is sent up from the roots to produce it ? This 
excess energy of man and plant is wasted for an 
" ideal " in my humble epinion of a good looking 
plant. Not that I do not think that good looks are also 
desirable, and can be worked out. 
My suggestion, therefore, is that since you do top 
the plant at three, four, or five feet height ; so you 
should in like manner nip the primaries, Beeondaries, 
&c, when overflow by suckers appear. I cannot do 
better than give you a figure by which to convey my 
view of this subject. Supposing 1 had a stream at 
head so great that it must overflow its banks. The 
only way I could reduce its strength and still have 
the whole of the water would be by guiding and direct 
ing it below into different chann Is and thus force 
it a great deal, so as not to lose a drop of the 
water, and so we ought to treat the coffee plant 
when it is overflowing with its sap. Let it- get to 
its extremities, and if it offers to overflow, you have 
then to divert it ;that is give at its extremities space to 
flow onward. 
In concluding this a little hastily, I have to add 
that I shall send you a set of rules, giving my 
views of pruning, which will clear up my writing, 
if there be .auy misunderstanding about it. — Yours, 
G. H. K. 
CINCHONA STUMPS. 
Dikoya, 11th Aug. 1881. 
Bear Sir, — Your correspondent "Stumps" is quite 
right in recommending planters to plant cinchona 
stumps in preference to plants. I have been in favor 
of the former for the last two seasons, and out of 
the thousands I have, put out, scarcely one has 
failed or Ven dried up with the drought. The diffi- 
culty is where to get them ! Plants even are not to 
be had, except at a high price.— Yours truly, 
A PLANTER. 
CINCHONA STUMPS. 
Sir, — Will some one kindly enlighten me On the 
following points ? : — 
1. Is 1 he method of planting equally successful 
with suceirubra and offic'nalis ? 
2. Should the plants be stumped in the nursery 
some time previous to putting out. If so how long? 
and at what height above the ground ? 
3. Is there any objection to this mode of planting ? 
Its advantages ^re obvious in a monsoon like the 
present, especially when plants are not A I. — Yours, 
etc., IGNORAMUS. 
" Ilang-ilang. — The Manila manufacturers of e-sence 
of Ilang-ilang are going about excitedly, and are actively 
at work producing this essence for exportation to 
Paris, with every prospect of a profitable result. It 
is said the essence of Ilang-ilang of good quality is 
quoted there at 400 to 425 francs per kilogramme. 
Trade is benefitted, but it should not be forgotten 
that when the perfumers of Paris have once bought 
each a couple of bottles of Ilang-ilang they buy no 
more for a long time, and the price of the article 
may fall.- Straits Times, 9th July. 
