4°4 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST.- [November i, 1881. 
September, it is pouring in bucketfuls, the rain 
having increased daily in volume and duration for ten 
days past. 
The weather being so favourable for planting, all 
the open land has been occupied, and all failures filed in. 
The coffee plants were, as usual, attacked by crickets, 
immediately on being put out ; but after the iirst week 
their ravages gradually ceased and are now almost 
entirely at an end. About five per cent of the plants 
were cut, but more than one-half of those are growing 
again. Indeed, on this occasion, the cutting has been 
chiefly of leaves, instead of stems, but the former is 
probably the worst evil of the two, as the loss of 
leaves is almost certain to be followed by dise.se. 
HemHeia, I am sorry to say, is appearing at more 
points than is at all agreeable. On plants that have 
lost their lower leaves from any cause before they 
begin to branch, it is almost certain to appear, and 
recently I have found it bad on those that were in 
most vigorous growth. I stump every plant on which 
I find it, so as to give them the chance of making a 
fresh start. Some of them, however, have become too 
weak to make an effort, and die off, while others shoot 
out at once ; but since I began stumping none so 
treated are sufficiently advanced to show whether the 
disease has been carried forward to the fresh shoots. 
Many of the older trees suffer more or less from the 
disease, but it is not so virulent on them as on the 
young planis; but once settled it remains always. 
Some of the varieties are absolutely proof against its 
attacks, but others are peculiarly liaMe. The stout, 
thick, leathery leaf is unaffected, while th? lonu', smooth, 
thin leaf is spotted all over. Trees with close foliage 
are less liable than those with the branches wide 
apart on the stem, and the leaves wide apart on 
the branches. Trees partially shaded are more 
liable than they are in the open field, and even 
the shelter of a rock seems to render them more 
susceptible. When a young plant under one year old 
is attacked, the fungus seems to ripen very rapidly 
and the yellow dust covers the back of the leaf m 
large quantities— in fact, if any use were found for 
it in the arts, it might be collected to pay, at 10s »n 
ounce. On the older trees, it never covers the whole 
leaf, but appears in spots, while no yellow dust is 
found. A few days ago, while inspecting a six feet 
tree a good deal spotted with the disease, I observed 
on a newly fallen kahata leaf the same spots and 
perforations as on the coffee. On further examina- 
tion, I found all the kahata trees on the place af- 
fected with the same disease. It may be something 
other than the Hemileia, but the effect is the same. 
I will send you a leaf or two of each for scientific 
inspection and comparison. 
The growth of the plants put out from nine to 
eleven months ago is highly satisfactory, Seed sown in 
June last year; plants with three pairs of leaves, put out 
in October, November and December, are now from 15 to 
30 inches high, and the most forward have as many 
as five pair of branches. There are probably fewer 
varieties than the imported seed sown. Still there 
is a very decided difference in the height at which they 
begin to branch, though much less in the size and 
leaf. Generally the largest pair of leaves are 
those that precede the first pair of branches, and I 
bave them here 12 inches long and 7 inches wide. 
I bave not sufficient experience as yet to offer an 
opinion as to which of the numerous varieties are 
likely be most profitable to the cultivator. The first 
object will be to rt-ject all that shew themselves 
most susceptible to leaf disease ; and this will include 
all that have smooth thin leaves, all that have the 
lighter shades of green, and all that are of peculiar 
open foliage. Other characteristics may appear unde- 
sirable hereafter, but this is the extent of my present 
knowledge. Some monthi ago, I described a dwarf va- 
riety, that turned up on another plantation, and which 
would be amply provided with room at three feet 
apart. But this is not the only .small variety. Some 
early bearers are not larger than the Arabian spe- 
cies of the same age, and others are even smaller. 
On the whole, I should say that 100 superficial 
feet is too large a space even for the largest kinds, 
and the space allowed should be regulated by 
the size attained by the selected varie'y. As for 
the pioneers who have planted with such plants 
as they could get, they must make the best 
of the results of ignorance. I have here several 
plants that have produced pure white or varie- 
gated leaves in the midst of otherwise healthy 
growth. I do not suppose this to be a settled variety, 
for some of them have returned to the normal green 
after sporting the white on several leaves and even 
on several branches. I have here one curious plant 
with variegated leaves green and white, six inches 
long and little more than an inch wide, no doubt a 
permanent variety, lor the results of which we must wait. 
I by no means pronounce the soil and climate here 
unsuited to the cultivation of cacao, but we must pay 
for our ignorance and presumption in one -way or 
another. I ignorantly presum* d that I could cultivate 
Liberian coffee and cacao on the same ground wi h 
advantage to both. The truth turns out to be, that 
cacao needs shelter, and has no objection to aba lute 
shade. Liberian coffee utterly rejects shade, and re- 
tains or regains its upright position in the fiercest 
wind that blows. If any friend of mine wanted to 
plant cacao in the low lands of the Western Pro- 
vince, I would say : clear your land, put down plan- 
tains at 12 feet the first year, and put out your 
cacao in the interspaces in the second year. The 
plantains will wear out in four years, and the cacao 
will then be ab'e to shift for itself. After all. there 
may be some necessary fact that my experience has 
not caught : for I had congratulated myself that some 
of my trees were out of danger from the enemies of 
their infancy, when all at once the patch of finest 
trees I had, began to drop their leaves, and within 
a week branches that had extended to four feet 
from the stem had not a leaf left. That it was not 
to failure of the roots that this phenomenon was 
due appeared withiu a few days, for the lower part 
of the branches became clothed with fresh and luxuriant 
foliage Some of the branches I pruned down close 
to the stem ; some I cut entirely down to the stem y 
and some I left untouched. I will report the results 
in each case as they appear. They were the largest 
trees I had, due to the most sheltered situation, and 
their failure at this stage I dare not attempt to 
account for, as trees much less sheltered and nearly 
as far advanced have not so suffered. Finding that 
I would have plants over after all the open land was 
planted, I felled between three and four acres in 
July. Rain came the day it was finished, and it 
has rained every day since. I, however, caught an 
opportunity of getting a tolerable fire through it, and 
cleared it up ; but the wet and stormy weather now 
in force has left some of the heaps unburned till 
the arrival of forty-eight hours of dry weather. After 
all, the whole work has been done twenty par cent 
under the lowest tender for contract. I Avould have 
been glad to have it ready for planting in this weather, 
but I still hope to complete the operations on it 
before the end of this month. I am lining so as to 
put 605 plants to the acre. This will make the new 
piece uniform with a former planting in the event 
Of its being finally settled to quincunx the latter— an. 
operation I am now convinced will be advantageous in 
the face of the failure of so much of the cacao. 
I am sorry to say that the last planted cacao has 
suffered even more than the former plantings from 
whiteants. In six weeks two-thirds have disappeared, 
