6oo 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January 2, 1882. 
ing thoroughly the main principles of the pursuit to 
which they have devoted their lives. If the external 
affection could be killed or kept from their trees, they 
know that health would be restored to the hitter. But 
if the fungus can neither be killed nor kept away, then 
practical science as well as theoretical dictates such 
treatment as will best support the trees under de- 
bilitating attacks. Judicious and discriminating man- 
uring and pruning are the planter's chief remedies, and 
science has no others to offer. Except in the covering 
of large spaces with one product, and, in some cases, 
planting up inferior soil, we cannot feel that planters 
have shewn ignorance or deserve blame. 
CINCHONA ROBUSTA OR MclVOR'S 
"HYBRID." 
We lose no time in giving a place to Dr. Trimen's 
comments on Colonel Beddome's Report, and it is 
with a feeling of- relief that we find our experienced 
Director and Botanist denying " the soft impeachment " 
that he had, equally with the Colonel, condemned 
the application of "hybrid " to the fast-grnwing, large- 
leaved and robust cinchona so long associated with 
Mclvor's name. After the explicit statements made 
by that veteran horticulturist as to hybridizing and 
the result in this plant which combined the good 
qualities of both officinalis and succirubra, it was with 
considerable surprize we read the following remarks in 
Colonel Beddome's Report on the Nilgiris plantations 
in addition to those we printed the other day : — 
Hybrids — I am inclined to disbelieve in any hybrid 
of Nilgiri origin; it has been stated that there are many 
hybrids amongst the " Officinalis " and " Calitaya " trees, 
but after most careful examination I can see no indica- 
tion of such, nor have any of our trees the characteristics of 
hybrids, which I am sure would not seed so prolifieally; 
individual twigs may be gathered from many '• Officinalis" 
trees and also from " Calisaya" showing great difference 
in the shape and size of the leaves, but the same differ- 
ence may be found on one and the same tree, and often 
on the same bough. We have varieties or sports of species, 
such as "Uritusinga" and " Angustifolia," varieties or 
sports of •' Officinalis," sometimes looking very distinct 
but at other times running into the type and not to be 
distinguished ; but of hybrids between distinct species I 
do not think we have any. 
Hybridizing experiments. — Though I do not believe in 
accidental hybrids between different species on the Nil- 
giris, I have no doubt that the different species could 
be crossed. I am not inclined, however, to recommend 
any experiments of this nature, as it would be use- 
less to attempt it without the services of a scientific 
gardener, thoroughly trained in the art of hybridizing, such 
as Mr. Dominey or Mr. Seden on the establishments of 
Messrs. Bull and Veitch, and such a man could only be pro- 
cured on a very high salary, and other expenses connected 
with any experiments of this nature would be very costly. 
The experiments would be exceedingly interesting and of 
great scientific value, but practically perhaps of no value. 
We have now in cultivation all the finest-known species of 
the genus, and it is not likely that hybridizing would improve 
the bark, or give us anything better than, or as good as, we 
now possesss ; so that we might be spending large sums to 
get some variations in leaf and flower, or perhaps in some 
cases sturdier growth. 
Prom a Wallaha correspondent we first received the 
news that Dr. Trimen agreed with Col. Eeddome 
that there were no hybrids, and since then we have 
had no light until the Director's letter came to hand 
today. After its persual, we think few of our readers 
will have any doubt that Trimen, Mclvor and Howard 
are right, and Beddome and Cross mistaken, in the 
view they have taken of both the pubeacens and 
smooth-leaved, robust cinchona trees— the "cinchona 
of the future " as some think — which are to be found 
freely scattered throughout the Ceylon and Nilgiris 
plantations. 
COFFEE CULTURE. 
We call attention to the letter of Mr. John Hamilton 
on page 607. On the supposition, which we suspect 
many will deny, that General Maitland Showers' pre- 
mises are correct, the important question arises whether 
ageratum, is left to its own sweet will for months, at 
certain seasons of the year, would not flower and seed, 
and so infect not only the adjoining coffee on the same 
estate but that on neighbouring estates. Looking at the 
mode of culture pursued in India and Java, many a 
Ceylon planter might feel inclined to let weeds grow. 
But he has to consult the wishes of neighbours who 
may not agree with him. How is the difficulty to be 
got over? On Kandanuwara estate, the sweeping of 
leaves and weeding were combined. Is it so still, and 
what are the results? 
BOTANICAL GARDENS IN INDIA. 
The Times of India has a very good article on Botan- 
ical Gardens in India, and their functions, from which 
we quote as follows : — 
A botanical garden ought not to be a mere pleasure- 
ground — it ought not to be a mere living museum of the 
various forms of vegetation ; but it should be the model 
for all private establishments ; it should aid them in every- 
thing that is useful in the vegetable kingdom. A Go- 
vernment botanical garden ought to grow every plant which 
is to known to have any useful application, and these 
ought to be distributed at a small charge to those who 
want them. We do not want our superintendents of bot- 
anic gardens to be mere market-gardeners, for, we be- 
lieve that the truest and surest foundation of economic 
botany lies in pure botany, and that the vegetable pro- 
ducts of a country can never be to their fullest extent 
utilised without the aid of scientific knowledge as a guide. 
But we think the principle needs enforcement that our 
Government gardens ought not to sacrifice economic botany 
for pure botany, but it also contains objects of purely 
scientific interest. Kew attempts to give an illustration of 
every possible use to which vegetable products can be ap- 
plied. The gardens at Kew have done a grand work in 
plant distribution in all parts of the world. • 
Our leaders will agree with the sentiment while they 
sympathize with the writer of the article in being made 
by the printers to say : — 
What it has done in such matters as cinchona, caou- 
tcheric, Siberian coffee is well known. 
Coffee . has a pretty wide range on each side of the 
equator, and in favoured positions it flourishes even 
somewhat outside the tropics. But certainly the latitude 
of Siberia would not suit it, although Liberian coffee 
seems destined to be printed "Siberian." " Caon " 
might be mistaken for cacao, but for the immediate 
sequence of the remarkable word tcheric, which resolves 
the mystery and shows that from "caoutchouc" or 
indiarubber two new and hitherto unknown products 
have been evolved by this compositorial genius. The 
concluding paragraph is as follows : — 
We wish to know what the botanic gardens of thi s 
Presidency have done towards their improvement. Thg 
climate of Poona is superior to that of Lucknow, the sojj 
