352 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1881. 
It was very funny, after an absence of nearly six 
months, to be merely permitted, daring three days' 
time, to converse with my wife, who had been await- 
ing somewhat impatiently my delayed arrival ! But 
such was the quarantine regulation. 
[Referring to the people of Cyprus, and some women 
lace-workers, he says :— In the Greek Church they 
have an immense number of saints, and their days 
must all be observed. One woman has just told me 
that next Monday will be Saint Somebody. with-a- 
long-name's day, and if sbe should work on the lace 
or sew, she would lose her eyesight.] 
I shall write to Mudaliyar Jayetilleke very soon. 
I hope his bees, as well as the others I left in 
Ceylon, are thriving, and I await with much interest 
later developments in this direction. 
As yet I have no news from those at the Govern- 
ment Agricultural School in Java, but hope to hear 
Soon. With kind regards to all, I am, very truly 
yours, Frank Bentox. 
STORM OF HAIL, RAIN AND WIND IN HAPU- 
TALE. 
Under the Haputale Pass, Sunday, 4th September 
1881, 4,300 elevation above sea level. — It has been 
with some difficulty I have at last found a dry spot 
in the bungalow to put pen to paper, to advise you 
of the grandeur of the storm of wind, rain and 
hail which we have just bad.'* Between 1 and 2 p. in. 
we were aroused to the fact that there was some terrific 
force approaching from the Pass by the roar of 
wind and water : so strong was it that coolies on the 
estate roads had to hide wherever the least shelter 
of rock or bank was at hand. To have tried to make 
way, either with or against such a storm, would have 
been dangerous. The hail was blown with such force 
that the bungalow verandah was literally strewed 
with what looked like Ceylon white sapphire?, each 
from a quarter to half an ioch in size, and had the 
same appearance as if a tamby had been scattering 
his cut crystals about to the delight of the children, 
but they could not understand why they melted in 
their hands. The hailstorm lasted for some eight 
or ten minutes only. The rain gradually softened down 
and fell moderately ; and in an hour from the time 
it commenced all was quiet ; but the thunder is still 
audible from the Kandapola direction. This one 
hour's rainfall will, it is to be hope-d, help towards 
sending out a large blossom, as hitherto we have not 
had the rain to complain of your respected "Haputale 
Ella" correspondent wro^e about. It is the opinion of 
many here that had we had more rain — not light showers 
— last month our spring crop prospects would be" 
brighter than they are. However, there is still time 
for a very good blossom, if the two monsoons don't 
run into each other now. 
COFFEE LEAF DISEASE. 
It is a subject of remark that wind-blown patches 
of coffee, and even whole estates exposed to the force 
of the south-west monsoon, seem to ripen their crop, 
after the usual August attack of leaf disease, better 
than the more sheltered areas. How is this ? One 
explanation offered is that, after being stripped of 
their leaves during the burst of the monsoon in May 
and June, such wind-blown trees get a young flush 
which is then in a condition to resist the periodical 
attack of the fungus, and so the trees are nourished 
at the most critical period in reference to the ripen- 
ing of' crop. In the Kaudy districts, August is now 
regarded as the month in which the worst attack of 
Hemileia vastatrix is annually developed. In the case 
of well-sheltered coffee, when a bad attack is experienced 
the leaves nearly all drop off, and, of course, there 
is no time to make up for the loss during that crop 
season. So much has this view of the case impressed 
some planters, that they are determined to try the 
effect of a partial stripping of leafage during April 
and May next year, in order to induce a young 
flush at the critical period for disease. The planting 
community are now anxious to see the report on Mr . 
Marshall Ward's further investigations, which is about 
due. It has been stated that the only discovery of 
practical importance made is the means of determin- 
ing with more or less precision, some time beforehand, 
the date at which an attack of the pest may be ex- 
pected, but then, unless the diseased leaves can be 
collected and burned, this is not likely to aid much 
in stopping the prevalence of the disease. 
So far, sulphur and lime is still the favourite mix- 
ture for application, and with referenco to the state- 
ment made by several experimentalists that the applica- 
tion of this mixture, under Mr. Morris's instructions, 
positively injured the coffee busheB, we find a possible 
explanation of this injury in a similar experience in 
the treatment of the vine. Here is a "Horticultural 
Note" on the subject from the latest number of the 
Australasian : — 
Experience often lends a useful warning to garden- 
ers. Good and useful as is the lime and sulphur 
solution as a dressing for peach trees and vines affected 
with mildew or aphis, it appears that it should not 
be employed without taking reasonable precautions 
against its getting to the feeding roots. The roots of 
trees in the open ground would, usually, be out of 
reach, of harm, but those in pots must always be in 
danger ; that, at, least, is to be inferred from the 
following English extract :—" It is my usual practice 
to fruit what vines I have that remain unsold, and 
this year I had left a tine batch of Alnwick seedling. 
Having some of that valuable mixture for peach trees 
— Scotch snuff sulphur vivum, and quicklime in 
equal parts— with it I painted some of the young 
canes, planted them, and shortly after commenced 
syringing. This washed the mixture down to the 
roots, and instead of the vines growing they died, and 
on pulling them uptheioots were all black and dead. 
The same fate undoubtedly has followed the applica- 
tion of other mixtures when reasonable precaution has 
not been taken." 
Sulphur, it will be remembered, has been found a 
specific against the oidium fungus by French vigner- 
ons, and now it seems a check has been placed on 
the ravages of the still more terrible enemy, the j 
insect phylloxera, and a great industry saved from 
ruin. We read as follows : — 
In The Australasian of January, 1875, we gave the 
snb=tauce of an article in Revue cler Deux Mondes \ 
on the "Phylloxera Vastatrix," written by M. Plan- 
chon. Ia this article the writer gave a full and graphic 
description of the scourge that was rapidly destroy- "I 
ing the French vineyards, together with .some of the i 
remedies that had been tried. In the Revue of 
Juue last there is an article on " The American Vine 
in France," from the pen of Mdme. la Duchesse de < 
Fitz-James, a vineyard proprietress in the Gard. The \ 
writer points out in ber opening remarks that the ' 
area under vines in France had increased from » 
1,046,000 hectares in 17SS to 2,500,000 hectares in $ 
1868, when the furl her extension of viticulture was I 
stopped by the appearance of the phylloxera vastat- 
