970 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May i, 1882. 
fact, in which Mr. Schrottky's own treatment has 
been declared to have aggravated rather than abated 
the disease. In the present state of matters, any 
equitable decision is simply impossible. There are 
probably few planters who would altogether reject Mr. 
Schrottky's claims, but there are fewer still who would 
admit them, unless, perhaps, to some very limited 
extent, as a sort of compromise. How then shall the 
planters determine as to the fact of success or its 
measure, and adjust the balance fairly between the 
two parties ? That is the question. 
If fairly and scientifically treated, the question ad- 
mits of an easy and conclusive answer. There is no 
doubt whatever as to the efficacy of carbolic acid as 
a powerful antiseptic. I suppose that tbere are few, 
if any, planters who have had the least doubt as to 
the fatal effect of carbolic acid on all living vegetable 
ti-sues. It may, therefore, be assumed without ex- 
periment or question that this agent, if applied to 
growing hemileia would destroy it. It is equally 
certain that it is capable of destroying growing coffee. 
The problem for solution, therefore, is so to apply car- 
bolic acid as to kill the hemileia without mateiially 
hurting the coffee also ! 
Mr. Schrottky has certainly succeeded in applying 
carbolic acid in such measure and manner as to do 
no appreciable harm to the coffee ; but it has yet to 
be shown that in these cases he killed the hemileia. 
He thinks that he did, but in nearly all the experi- 
ments he has tried, he certainly failed, and in a few 
only has partial success been claimed. In the most 
favourable case for Mr. Schrottky's claim, that of 
Gangapitiya, it is a matter of opinion, and the very 
judges themselves are doubtful. In fact, the question 
cannot be settled by any such experiments aB have 
yet been publicly tried. The scientific procedure would 
he to submit spores and growing hemileia in the la- 
boratory to acid of ascertained degrees of strength, 
and to test the vitality or otherwise of the my- 
celium and the spore by subsequent microscopic ex- 
aminations. If mild fumes such as inflicted no injury 
on the coffee plants in the laboraiory were found to 
have destroyed the vitality of the hemileia or its spore, 
both or either, then one important step in the in- 
quiry will have been established. The only remain- 
ing question would then be as to whether the same 
treatment could be practically and economically car- 
ried out on a large scale in the field which had suc- 
ceeded in the laboratory. 
Up to this time, however, it does not appear that 
any one knows whether fumes of carbolic acid, mild 
enough to be harmless to coffee, would be fatal 
either to the hemileia or its spores. Until that question 
is settled the application of such fumes to hundreds of 
acres of coffee is simple folly, neither more nor less. 
Carbolic acid in powder was one of the very first 
remedies tried for leaf-disease before Mr. Schrottky 
ever came to the country. It would be interesting to 
know why it was abaudoned by the original experi- 
menters. Was it found that even in strength sufficient 
to severely injure the coffee the hemileia spores came 
off scatheless? I rather think so. 
You will remember that, when Mr. Morris tried his 
sulphur cure, his first step was to examine its effect 
on the sporeB and filaments, and the result was the 
discovery that the spores retained their vitality and 
the filaments only were killed. It was this effect 
on the filaments that inspired faith in his treatment 
and encouraged many planters to prosecute experiments 
on a large scale. And the last phase of the Morris 
sulphur and lime cure was that the application must 
be so timed as to kill the filaments. To kill the 
spores was proved impossible by any *uch means. W,e 
all now know that in fact the filaments had nothing 
to do with hemileia at all ; and there was ail cud 
of the sulphur cure. 
The tenacity of life in those low organisms is mar- 
vellous. I germinated hemileia spore? after they 
had been subjected to fumes of sulphurous acid 
which would have killed the coffee, root and branch ! 
I remember my old friend Tbwaites putting some 
acari uuder his microscope after they had been im- 
mersed in spirits 50 per cent, over proof for many 
hours and they quietly walked away under bis eyes! 
Likewise the germs and spores of some infusoria 
possess a vitality which is proof against couditions 
usually regarded as absolutely incompatible with life. 
I wonder whether Mr. Schrottky knows what strength 
of carbolic acid would kill a spore of hemileia, 
and what, effect that same strength would have on 
coffee ! But until that is definitively known, nothing 
whatever can be said to have been done effectually in 
regard to the cure of hemileia by carbolic acid fumes. 
G. W. 
P. S. — I thank you for directing my attention to 
Mr. Ward's last report and subsequent letter; and 
also to Mr. Storck's remarks ; which I have read since 
writing the above letter. The highly dangerous nature 
of carbolic acid, as pointed out so forcibly by Mr. 
Ward, and the doubtful results of most of the experi- 
ments which have been made with this agent on a large 
scale, seem to confirm strongly my recommendation 
to study the treatment, and to work out the retults 
to a definite issue, on a small scale, before attempting 
further extended application. Mark also that Mr. 
Ward actually germinated spores which had been for 
24 hours subject to an "overpowering atmosphere" of 
carbolic acid, thus confirming the suspicion expressed 
in my letter to the same effect. 
NEW PRODUCTS :— PATCHOULI : INFORMA- 
TION WANTED? 
Maskeliya, 21st March 1882. 
Dear Sir, —I shall be much obliged if you, or any 
of your numerous correspondents, can give me some 
information about the cultivation and preparation of 
patchouli. 
I procured a few small patchouli plants from Pera- 
deniya about 18 months ago, and they are now shrubs 
from 18 ft to 22 ft in circumference, a mass of foliage, 
but with no sign of flower or fruit. 
Is the scent extracted from the leaf, seed or root? 
How is it obtained ? What is the market value of 
the produce? And what is supposed to be the yield 
of each bush or 100 bushes ? Also, could it be grown 
at a profit in a wet district, elevation 3,000 ft? 
Answers to anv, or all, of these questions will greatly 
oblige.— Yours faithfully, W. T. M.K. 
[All we can give is from the " Treasury of Botany" 
as follows : — 
Pogostemon. — A rather numerous genus of Labiatce, con- 
sisting of tall herbs found in various parts of tropical Asia, 
but principally in India and Ceylon, They have opposit 
stalked leaves, and flowers collected into dense clusters or! 
whorls forming terminal interrupted spikes or close panicles.! 
The flowers have an unequally five-toothed calyx ; a some- 
what two-lipped corolla, with the upper lip tbree-lobedl 
and the lower entire and rather longer; and four nearlyf. 
equal stamens longer than the corolla, and sometimes! 
slightly bent downwards, the filaments usually covered! 
with long hairs, and the anthers one-celled. 
P. Patchouly affords the celebrated Patchouli perfume 
or Pucha-pnt of •tin- Hindoos. It is a shrubby herb about] 
two feet high, a native of Sylhet, Penang, and Malacca ; 
and has broadly egu-shaped stalked leaves beiween three) 
and four inches in length, with the margins slightly lobed! 
and round-toothed , and both terminal aud axillary dense 
spikes of small whitish flowers tinged with purple. Al- 
though the odour of Patchouli is certainly peculiar, andj 
even disagreeable to some people, it is highly popular* 
not only in Europe but in India, where it is one of thej 
commonest perfumes found in the bazaars. The odoriferous 
