S34 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[April i, 1882. 
was that the remedy would be worse than the 
diseae. And so the aot(i)-bug discovery was laughed 
out at court. But the existence of nests of red ants 
on coffee bushes is no more of a laughing matter than is 
an attack by a black snake on the nest of a " laugh- 
ing jackass," the subject of a most animated group 
shewn* in the Queensland Court of the Melbourne 
Exhibition and now re-deposited in the interesting 
museum which all visitors to Brisbane ought to see. 
The plucky fight even to the death in defence of their 
young made by the great kingfishers against the for- 
midable reptile is a grand s!ndy :■ the stuffed specimens 
having all the animation of life. That and more 
may be said of the red ants which haunt some of 
the Liberian bushes on Udapolla, and which from 
it has been found most difficult to dislodge 
them. We should think that applications of lime, 
or lime and sulphur, sulphur fumes, or carbolic 
acid, would prove effectual. Probably there is 
attraction other than the dense foliage of the coffee 
bushes, but this matter we failed to investigate. 
Perhaps information as to the possible existence of 
nectar-yielding insects on the bushes, or some glutin- 
ous exudation on the stems or branches may be 
forthcoming from the intelligent and observant super- 
intendent. We muat not forget to say that the holes 
on Udapolla are 20 inches wide and deep. 
Mr. Leecbman, besides the care, intelligence and 
industry which he brought to his task, was specially 
fortunate in his first planting season. We are in a pos- 
ition to make use of the details of an experiment 
which, although it now promises to be a success, was 
commenced and for a couple of years carried on in 
the face of conditions of meteorology, insects and 
reptile life (for there can be no doubt that the small 
lizardB, instead of destroying the mole crickets, aid 
and abet them and other insects in cutting down the 
young plants,) most trying and disheartening. The 
scene of this experiment is on good soil in the Siyane 
Korale, seven miles to the right of Henaratgoda 
railway station ; the sanitary conditions being better, 
we should say than at Udapolla. For luxuriant growth 
of weeds and abundance of insect life, however, we 
should say that the scene of our experiment is 
equal to any site in Ceylon. Except that a rock, 
like porphyritic granite, is more abundant, standing 
up in fantastic shapes, we should say that in undulat- 
ing features, elevation, exposure to wind, etc., the 
Siyane Korale estate closely resembled that in the 
North-western Province. From nigher contiguity to 
the Peak ranges, there ought we should think, to 
be more rainfall. The gentleman who has mainly 
conducted this experiment was recently asked for its 
history from the commencement. Extracts from his 
candid and interesting statement, may be of use to 
some of our readers, as warnings as well as encourage- 
ments. Both here and on Udapolla the discovery had 
to be made that Liberian coffee plants, stumped be- 
fore being put into the field, will not (/row. Once 
rooted, the case is different. But here are the details: — 
"On reviewing the whole subject of this estate, 
I suppose I am expected to begin at the beginning, 
and, however much against the grain, assume my 
share of blame for the early failure and loss, that 
look place on first opening ; but, in taking my 
share of blame, I must assign 3'ou yours, though 
in both cases censure should be mitigat'-d by the 
consideration that we were both in ignorance of 
how to deal with the new plant we took iu hand, 
and, like all new beginners, especially those who think 
they know a thing or two, we made mistakes, and 
suffered for our mistakes. 
" Eighteen months before you had land to put them 
in you purchased 1,000 plants then of the proper 
size, for putting out in the field. The seller en- 
gaged to keep them for twelve months, as they then 
were in bambocs. Within six months, a large number 
of them perished, from various causes, and they were 
then planied out in prepared ground, two feet apart, 
where they remained for fifteen months, before the 
place was ready for theru here, and they were then 
from three to five feet high, and many of them in 
flower. They had therefore to be stumped, and I did 
not then know that Liberian coffee would not patiently 
bear being stumped; that only a small percentage will 
grow at all; and a still smaller become good trees un- 
der the most favourable circumstances: and the circum- 
stances were not favourable. The plants had to be 
brought 25 miles; but they were carefully taken up, in 
a wet afternoon ; were conveyed, during the night, 
and were all planted and shaded before noon next 
day. The rains continued heavy for three days after 
planting, when they suddenly ceased, and we had no 
more for three months. At the end of twelve months, 
there were still one-fourth of the 1,000 alive, but by 
far the greater part of those were plants taken from 
a younger nursery to make up the tale. Some few of 
the larger stumps that had been long given up, 
began to grow, after being thiiteen months in the 
ground, and have since become tolerable plants. 
" For upwards oftwelve months, before the purchase 
^of the land, you had been collecting plants from 
various sources, at your house in Kollupitiya, where 
they were put into soil, composed of a greater or 
less depth of road wash over seasand, and they 
began to perish as soon as the roots reached the sand. 
Many had died before they could be taken, and 
many more had got their death before removal, how- 
ever favourable the season, or however skilful their 
subsequent treatment might have been. I was not 
aware of that fact, two-and-a-half years ago, but it 
has painfully impressed itself on my mind since, and 
determined me never again to plant in the field any 
but healthy Liberian coffee plants, and, if it sub- 
sequently looks unpromising, to pull it up, and re- 
place it with a better one, if I have it. 
■' When I took charge in April, the land had been 
felled and burned ; the fire had been a, very bad 
one; and tin re remained a very heavy job of clear- 
ing up, before lining and holing could be proceeded 
with. If I could have got the people of the 
neighbourhood to go on with the work, on the 
same terms as they had done the felling, time 
would have been saved, and some of the planting 
have been done in the only safe time for plant- 
ing, that the whole season afforded, but, as soon as I 
took over charge, the villagers made a demand of 
20 per cent increase on the wages for which ihey 
had been working. Had I given in to this, I would, 
have laid up a- iund of trouble that might have 
lasted for years. I therefore obtained a contractor 
from a distant village, who promised to bring his 
own people. As soon as I found that he did not 
bring his own people, but employed the very neigh- 
bours, who had struck for higher wages, on their own 
terms, I dismissed him, and gave the «ork 10 another. 
The mistake of which I had to gather the fruit at 
the very beginning, was not giving out a felling and 
clearing eontract but commencing the work with 
Sinhalese labour by the day. 
