THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, i88r. 
To the Editor of the Ceylon Observer. 
"'SELF-FERTILIZED COFFEE FLOWERS " 
AGAIN. 
Maskeliya, 9th August 1881. 
Dear ^ir, — I would wish to add a few remarks to 
a letter of mine, which you published in your valu- 
able journal a short time ago, concerning "self- fertil- 
ized coffee flowers and the result" ; and any subject 
connected with our principal product, if well ventil- 
ated and discussed, cannot but be beneficial to our 
knowledge of its successful cultivation. I drew at- 
tention to the fact, that Darwin (who is our greatest 
authority on this subject) had said, that "if telf- 
fertilizition was continued through several generations, 
the plant at length becomes altogether sterile" ; and 
rilso that "nature abhors perpetual self-fertilization." 
As an instance of the latter, if we look into 
YouattV book on Cattle, their breeds and marage- 
meiit, we read: — "The breeding from close affinities 
— the breeding in and in — has many advantages to a 
certain extent. It may be pursued until the excellent 
form and quality of the breed is developed and estab- 
lished. It was the source whence sprung the cattle 
and the sheep of Bake well, and tha superior cattle of 
Colling ; and to it must also be traced the speedy 
degeneracy — the absolute disappearance of the new 
Leicester cattle, and in the hands of many an agri- 
culturist, the impairment of constitution, and de- 
creased value of the new Leicester sheep and the short- 
horned beasts." The Rev. H. Berry in his Prize 
Essay remarks that "close breeding, from affinities, 
impairs the constitution, and affects the procreative 
powers, and therefore a strong cross is occasionally 
necessary. In the breeding of horses and greyhounds 
for' racing and sporting purposes, it is a well known 
tact that it is arranged that (in stud parlance), 
the breeding should bo twice in and once out; so 
that a cross every now and then may stop any 
bad effects from close affinities. Further,, in the 
human race, it has been proved that intermarriage 
continuously between close relations has led to most 
pernicious results. 
If we take these facts which relate to mammalia, 
as being equally applicable to other systems of life, 
such as the vegetable kingdom, we must allow that 
laws that act on the one will act in a similar man- 
ner on the other, and therefore what will produc- 
degeneracy in the one will have an equally dee 
leterious effect on the oiher. Now in plant life, we 
liave a very large proportion of flowers that are so 
constructed as to preclude all possibility of self fer- 
tilisation : some by having male and female flowers, 
and others that have been so formed as to prevent 
fertilization, except by extraneous aid, generally per- 
formed by the help of various kinds of insects. Coffee 
is like u ither of these, it is a self-fertilizer, and 
has, unfortunately for the present generation, obeyed 
the common law of nature, and degenerated, estates 
opeue 1 during the last ten years or so have a similar 
soil to those of thirty years past. Old planters of 
long standing have said for the last two or three 
year j , that the seasons have returned to the old 
standard : we cannot now blame inferior soil or extra- 
ordinary weather for the want of crops. How is it 
that old estates of thirty and more years working 
compare favourably in their bearing capacities with 
the younger districts ? For the last forty years, 
clearings have been planted from seed taken from 
trees grown in previous clearings, and which we have- 
no reason to doubt sprang originally from one parent 
stock ; consequently our present young trees are from 
seed which has been self-fertilized for several genera- 
tions. In the case of cattle, we learn that con- 
tinual in-breeding impairs the constitution, and 
affects the procreative powers. No one will 
deny that coffee has not the 6treDgth and vigour 
that it used to have, and this is generally laid 
down to the effects of leaf disease : it is more 
than probable that leaf disease is one of the- effect?, 
and not the cause, of want of vigour in the tree. If 
the constitution, so to speak, of the tree had not pre- 
viously been impaired, disease would not have shown 
itself, or at auy rate the tree would have been able 
to have shaken it off in a short time. Disease can be 
kept under, as it were, by a liberal application of 
stimulants, but it can only be kept so for a certain 
period, for the shattered constitution must eventually 
give way ; and it follows that, if the constitution be 
gone, the procreative powers become exhausted. It 
may be said that, if leaf disease is a result, indirectly, 
of an impaired constitution in plants grown from a 
young generation of self-fertilized seed, how is it that 
old coffee is attacked ? The old trees have their age, 
and consequent weakness, against them, and living as 
they do, in an atmosphere contaminated by an epi- 
demic of such a virulent type, must naturally be ex- 
pected to receive some of the seeds of the disease. 
That coffee can be easily cross-fertilized, I have no 
doubt, as I have succeeded in doing so, by removing 
the stamens from flowers, whilst in spike, and after- 
wards, when fully opened, depositing on the stigmas 
pollen from another tree : these set Well, and will, I 
hope, be shortly ripe enough to sow. At the same 
time, to test the possibility of their having set in spike, 
stamens from other flowers were also removed, and 
nothing further done to the flowers : none of these 
set. Not being a proprietor, and so liable to be 
moved at any time, I am not in a position to try this 
to any extent ; but any one who could afford the time 
and had the inclination to experiment upon it, and prove 
its practicability on a large scale, would confer a 
boon upon future planters, by being able eventually to 
supply plants which might be designated disease-proof. 
Another interesting and at the same time valuable 
experiment would be the fertilizing of the ovules of 
Arabian coffee, by pollen obtained from the Liberian 
variety, and vice verm. — Faithfully yours, SWADDY. 
ALOE FIBRE. 
Auchintoul estate, Belihuloya, 13th Aug. 1881. 
Dear Sir. — Some time ago I noticed a letter in 
your paper re aloe fibre, which induced me to try 
the experiment, and I have now the pleasure of en- 
closing you samples shewing the result. 
I may mention that I have about 60 tons now 
under treatment (of course this will only turn out 
six tons of fibre).— I am, dear sir, yours faithfully, 
w. Mcdonald young. 
[The samples are very satisfactory : we sent them 
round the Fort, so there ought to be a demand for 
our correspondent's G tons ! — Ed ] 
CINCHONA STUMPS. 
15th Aug. 1881. 
Dear Sir, — Your correspondent " Ignoramus " asks 
for information regarding cinchona stumps, and I take 
the liberty of replying to him : 
1. Officinalis is p- eferable to succirubra, owing prob- 
ably to the roots being smaller. 
2. The plants should be stumped after being pulled 
out of the nursery and before planting. Stumping 
them while in tho nursery and allowing them to 
remain induces them to sprout, and the suckers will 
be damaged in being planted out. 
3. I heard of no objection and everything in their 
favor. The roots should be trimmed with a sharp 
knife, as in the case of coffee stumps, and the plant 
