764 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March t, 1882. 
This law was similar to the one of 1831, although defining 
more particul irly who should be considered parties, 
principals, accomplices, &c, and declaring the trade 
piracy. Like it, it declared that t the blacks thus illeg- 
ally introduced, should be returned to their native 
country, and that they should be put out to service for 
a term of years in order to earn us much as would pay 
their return passage. This term of year, was not 
to exceed fourteen. That this law was passed at the 
instigation of the British Government, I can gather from 
a series of lectures delivered by a distinguished Brazilian 
in 1873, where the lecturer gives the following lament :— 
" Notwithstanding the measures adopted in this law, which 
ought to convince England of the good intentions of the 
Brazilian Government, she [England] still maintained the 
Aberdeen Bill promulgated in 1845." 
I find that this called "the Aberdeen bill" subjected 
Brazilian ships and Brazilian subjects to the judgment 
of British tribunals, if they were suspected of carrying on 
the traffic in Africans. 
The subject was discussed some two years ago about 
the time that an Abolition Society was formed in Bio de 
Janeiro. The right of the Brazilians to hold as slaves 
negroes brought into the country, after the passing of 
these laws, was (two years ago) stoutly defended by some 
of the ablest men in the Imperial Parliament, and amongst 
the advocates in favour of this illegal bondage, was the 
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in the last Cabinet. 
Our leading journal in Bio de Janeiro declared then that, 
if the law of 1850 were carried out, over 500,000 human 
beings now held as slaves ought to be free, and that, by 
the law of 1831, nearly a million Africans and their 
descendants* are at present illegally held in bondage. 
I have been informed by many people that it was 
partly owing to the evasion of these laws that the 
troubles began with Great Britain in 1861. Although the 
affair of the stealing of the cargo of a shipwrecked vessel 
and supposed murder of the crew on some of the south- 
ern coasts was the main cause of quarrel, yet the out- 
comeof the settlement in 1864 was the passing of a law on the 
24th September of that year, declaring all negroes free who 
were imported since the passing of the abovementioned laws. 
This law, like all the others, wrung out of Brazil at 
the instigation of a foreign Power, was also not heeded ; 
and, again, dust was thrown in the eyes of Great Britain 
by the passing of the so-called Emancipation Law of 1871. 
The draft of a scheme of emancipation was first pro- 
mulgated and discussed both in Brazil and Europe in 1867. 
By it, slavery was to be abolished entirely in the year 
1900. I have, to this day, great difficulty in convincing people 
in this country — who remember the discussion — that by the 
law, as ultimately passed, all who were slaves at the passing 
of the law remained in bondage until releasedby death. 
I say dust was thrown in the eyes of the people of 
1 Great Britain : first by promulgating the draft of a law 
giving a stated number of years when slavery was to cease 
entirely, and then passing an act four years after leaving 
out that most important clause, and, second, in making 
people believe that the fund established under the new law 
would soon free all. The decrease at the end of ten years 
including deaths is only per cent, as shown by their own 
returns, which I shall show to you further on. A. S.B. 
COFFEE PULP AS MANURE AND LEAP- 
DISEASE. 
Nuwara Eliya, 17th Jan. 1882. 
Dear SrE, — Has it never occurred to any scientific 
planter that the use of coffee pulp, as a manure, 
might be injurious to the health of the coffee tree ? 
What plant, or animal, can naturally be expected 
to thrive fed on its own refuse ? And anything more 
damp or sour than old coffei pulp cannot well be 
imagined. In my opinion, the cause of leaf-disease 
must be in the tree itself, and that trying to cure 
diseased leaves is simply beginning at the wrong end. 
I may be " all out , in thinking that the use of pulp 
has anything to do with the existence of what is 
called Hemileia, but, failing science, we must trust to 
some lucky guess for a cure.— Yours truly, 
IGNORAMUS. 
[ Caustic lime should be added to the pulp.— Ed.] 
JOTTINGS FROM COORG. 
Jan. 17th, 1882. 
Deae Sir,— As a subscriber to your valuable paper(the 
Tropical Agriculturist), which, by the way is — though 
in many instances unstated to South of India planters, 
as our systems are so different— thoroughly appreciated 
here by all who read if . As a subscriber, 1 say, I do not 
think I should let this month pass without letting you 
know how we are getting on here " over the water." 
This year has been a mo t exceptional one. In tact, 
I think I may almost suy we have a! last got our 
long-lool;ed-for " bumper," and heaven knows it is 
wanted in the present .state of the coffee market. 
Most estates are getting 10 and 20 per cent over 
their estimates, and all, in the bamboo district at any 
rate, slightly over. This pleasant state of affairs is, 
I think, greatly accounted for by the late and 
unusual rains a e have been recently getting, between four 
and five inches in November ; and about one and a 
half inch ushered in the new year with cold mists 
and sharp east winds This, of course, will not seem 
at all strange to you in Ceylon, but it is almost 
unprecedented here, and has kept our heavily laden trees 
in good heart, and most estates have a very fair 
show of wood for this year. Pruning and manuring 
are now in full swing, and most of us hope to have 
our coolies paid off by the end of next month. The 
little cinchona we have looks well ; several nice fields 
of succirubra and pubescens of the last two years' 
planting is about all we can boast of at pre- 
sent. Nearly every estate is now going in for it, 
though none do so entirely, except one near Mer- 
cara, which was bought from Government several 
years ago. The little bark which has already been 
sent home has, 1 believe, fetched very fair prices, 
and there is no reason why it should not continue 
to do so, as our climate and soil, especially in the 
Ghauts, is very fairly suitable for it. It is gen- 
erally planted here in the coffee rows, three trees 
of coffee to one cinchona. It then serves a double 
purpose. One or two have small plots of Ledgeriana 
Calisaya brought from the Neilgherries, but nothing large. 
Clearings look well everywhere ; no leaf-disease to 
speak of, and little or no borer showing yet. It is 
a great thing crops are so good ; something to liven 
us up on our estates, as our gay and festive Town 
of Mercara is, as usual, as "dull as ditch-water." In 
fact, the drive or ride in alone requires all the pa- 
tience of Job to stand, without imperilling your 
soul, as you are in imminent dread of either your 
springs breaking, or your nag going dead lame owing 
to the good( ?) condition of the roads. Our executive 
engineer having discovered a novel method (for In- 
dia) of making the roads passable — a method, I think, 
for its deep thought and ing>-nuity deserving of great 
credit — namely the laying down of long stretches of 
metal in the middle of the road withoutthe slight'-efc at- 
tempt to bind it, and to prevent traffic along the sides 
and to enable the road to get into good order in a cheap 
way, large boulders and trunks and trees are placed 
on the unmetalled portion regardless of the risk to 
human life and limb, to say nothing of that to your 
horse's legs : and this is done, now of all times, when 
our coffee is being despatched to the coast and Ban- 
galore, but perhaps that is a part of the plan. I must 
not, however, encroach further upon your valuable 
space and have only done so at all in the hope it 
may induce other of my brother planters to use your 
journal as a means of thoroughly ventilating any 
moot point, and to assist one another in the culti- 
vation of our common staple, coffee. — Yours &c, 
CHERRY RIPE. 
LIBERIAN COFFEE AT A HIGH ELEVATION. 
Shawlands estate, Lunugala, 21st Jan. 1882. 
Dear Sir,— As you wish for information with re. 
