462 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [November i, 1881 
Ferguson will be able to recollect the source from 
■whence he got the seed. A historical account of these 
trees, when we know the source of the seed may be 
interesting, since as far as I know they are among 
the oldest amongst their species in the country, 
while the analysis leaves no doubt of their being pure 
" Ledgeriana."— Yours faithfuly, Wm. SMITH. 
Analysis by Messrs. Howards London, of 8 sam- 
ples of C. Ledgeriana bark taken from trees 5£ years 
old, grown on Mattakelly Estate, Lindula :— 
Mark and Quinine Qui- Cinchoni- Cincho- Quini- 
number. Sulphate = nine. dine. nine. dine. 
[. No. 
1 
12-8 
9-6 
do 
2 
12-3 
9-2 
do 
3 
12-3 
9-2 
do 
4 
86 
6-4 
0 6 
do 
5 
8-0 
6-0 
09 
01 
0-1 
do 
6 
9-4 
7-0 
0'2 
01 
do 
7 
9-4 
7 0 
03 
0-1 
do 
8 
8-8 
6-6 
Trace 
01 
GUM TREE LEAF DISEASE AND THE 
CONSEQUENCES. 
Lindula, 24th September 1881. 
Dear Sir, — While I was in England two years ago, 
my gum trees were almost annihilated (in fact one 
or two were killed) by a peculiar leaf disease, which 
appears in the form of round spots, varying according 
to the size of the leaf from pin's head to a three- 
penny bit. Hemileia does its work from the stem 
outwards towards the tip of the branch : but this 
disease commences at the tip and works in towards 
the stem. It has all the potency of the true leaf 
disease, and is, 1 am sorry, to say this year not only 
stripping the gums of all their foliage, but playing 
havoc with my cinchonas, especially unfortunately with 
my Ledgeriana. That the disease comes from the gums 
is beyond doubt, for every piece of vegetable matter- 
near a gum is affected, while there is not a vestige 
of the disease where there is no gum. I have some 
sixteen varieties of eucalyptus, and as far as I 
can see they all suffer alike. I herewith send you 
leaves of gum, rose, oleander, gladiolus, strawberry, 
plum, and cinchona, to show how similarly, indis- 
criminately, and virulently this fell enemy is doing his 
work. You will observe that the spots gradually sur- 
round the leaf, as it were, and then make short work 
of the centre parts. As the eucalypti have been, and 
are being, introduced into the country by thousands 
(I might safely say millions, for I know of estates 
where to each cinchona a gum is planted as shelter), 
I have thought it right to make this fact public. — I am 
yours faithfully, kAROLY FURDO. 
[Mr. Marshall Ward, to whom we referred the box of 
leaves with a proof of "Karoly Furdo" 's letter writes : — 
"I have carefully examined the leaves sent, and fail to 
discover any mycelium in them. Why does your cor- 
respondent dignify the spotting (which is a common 
enough phenomenon, and which I have long observed 
on many plants) with the name of ' leaf disease' ? " 
Of course our correspondent did not mean the spot- 
ting was the same as coffee leaf disease, but what is 
this attack which results in the dying out of gums 
and cinchonas through the loss of leafage, and which 
seems to spread from leaf to leaf, unless it be a leaf dis- 
ease ? Have planters in other districts noticed this gum- 
tree leaf-disease and its effects? It seems more allied 
to the coffee leaf rot disease of Coorg, than to the 
Hemileia vastatrix. Curiously enough in an Australasian 
recived by this mail, we find a paragraph headed 
" The Blue-gum an Enemy of Insects," as follows : — 
" That the blue-gum is not an enemy of all insects 
is determined by the fact of its being itself a prey 
to more than one speciet. This, however, may be 
quite consistent with the power claimed for it, of 
keeping away rom fruit trees certain insects that com- 
monly infest them. The Maryborough Advertiser has 
found on Chinaman's-flat a Mr. Mills, who is said to 
protect his apple and other fruit trees from the at- 
tacks of insects by calling in the aid of gum leaves. 
In spile of annual devastation proceeding in his 
neighbours' gardens, it was noticed that Mr. Mills 
serenely cultivated his produce without much demons- 
tration, and, in fact, appeared to abandon himself to 
the luxury of smoking under his own vine and fig- 
tree iu comfort, and in supreme indifference to the 
raids of the insect worlds Yet, at the end of the 
season, it was always found that whilst his busy 
neighbours had meagre crops, Mr. Mills's trees were 
crowded with ripe blooming fruit. Inquiries were 
made as to the reason of this, when it was 
elicited that Mr. Mills makes a practice of strewing 
eucalypti branches in his garden in proximity to his 
fruit trees ; and, further, he makes a rule of bring- 
ing large green strips of bark from the bush, which 
he fits round the stems of his fruit trees and ties 
thereon. The result is that Mr. Mills garden is 
singularly free from insects, and thrives whilst others 
are blighted."— Ed.] 
"THE POTTERY TREE." 
Kelvin Grove, Colombo, 29th Sept. 1881. 
Dear Sir, — Wheu I sent you my notes on the 
kumbuk tree as a lime-producing one, I overlooked 
the enclosed cutting, which I made from the Forres 
and Elgin Gazette of 19th May 1880, referring to 
another tree so remarkable for the quantity of silex 
in its bark that it is called the "Pottery Tree." The 
genus Moquilea contains several species, and belongs 
to the order ChrysobaLinacae, common in the tropical 
regions of Africa and America, two genera of which 
Parinarium, and Parasteroon, are natives of British India, 
and are included in the order of Rosacese, in the tribe 
Chrysobalanese by iSir J. D. Hooker ; but none of this 
tribe, exist in Ceylon. The Moquilea utilis must be a re- 
cent discovery, as I cannot find notice of it in any of 
the books to which I can refer. Here then is a new 
product to be introduced to Ceylon, the specific name 
of which indicates that it is a useful one. 
By the way is it not a mistake to call the Pithe- 
colobium Saman " the rain tree" (see the paragraph 
quoted by you from the Madras Mail, at the bottom 
of the 1st column of the 3rd page of the Ceylon Observer 
of the 22nd inst. )? In Don's Gardeners Dictionary, 
2, 432, No. 32, a description is given of the Ccesal- 
pinia pluviosa, D. C, and it is called the Rainy 
Brasilleto, and I suspect this is the true rain tree 
and that its name has been transferred to the P. 
Saman, though I heard reasons given for this latter 
being called the rain tree in consequence of its droop- 
ing leaves enabling the dew or slight rain to fall 
on the ground beneath . — Yours truly, W. F. 
(Extract referred to.) 
One of the most remarkable of those trees which 
bear a stony or silicious bark is the ' ' pottery tree " of 
of Para, on the Amazon, termed "Carapia" by the 
Brazilians, and known to botanists as the Moquilea 
utilis. It is a magnificent tree, and sometimes grows 
to 100 feet before branching. The wood is exceed- 
ingly durable, being largely impregnated with flint ; 
but the principal value of the tree lies in its bark, 
which is used by the Indians for furnishing the raw 
material of pottery. It is not that vessels are made 
from the bark itself, as they are sometimes made 
from gourds and calabashes ; but the bark is burned, 
and the silicious ashes mixed with a proportion of river- 
clay make a strong and serviceable ware. — CasseWs- 
Family Magazine. 
