May f, /882.J 
TEE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
97' 
pari of tho plant is the leaves and young lops and by 
distillation those yield a volatile oil tYuin which essoii.-o 
ol' Patchouli is props rod; sachets of Patchouli, however 
are made ot'tlio coarsely- powdered leaves. (Jenuine Indian' 
shawls ami Indian ink Hen: tennerly d isl'i n" ui lied liy their 
odour of Patchouli, hut -inee the perluino h.,s hoeumo common 
in Europe the test duos not hold good. Ill effects, such as 
fees of -appetite and sleep, uorvous attacks, &,-, have been 
ascribed to I ho exeessivu employment of Patchouli as a 
perfumo. | A.8.]— Ed.] 
" JAK" TREES AS SHADE FOR COFFEE ; WIND 
BELTS AND LEAF-DISEASE. 
24th March 1882. 
Deab Sir, — 1 hope somo more experienced pen than 
mine will take up, pro bono publico, the question of 
the benefit jak trees afford to coffee, or any other cul- 
tivated thing beneath them. 
Meanwhile I submit, with all deference, my opinion 
of tins tree, viz., that it does far more harm than 
good Oil a coffee estate, lias any one known coffee 
bear heavily, or even fairly well, when under tho 
lnllucnce of tho artocarpaceous foliage V I have not. 
This I will say, that, where jaks are encouraged, coffee 
will fail. 
Years ago I remember being struck with the lux- 
uriant fohage of some coffee (Arabian) which was 
growing beneath these trees, but crop there was none. 
The constantly falling leaves too choke up drains and 
litter the ground for a considerable space around. 
As for the value of the timber in 20 years' time, 
that is as problematical, not to say ridiculous, as the 
belief that half our island's backbone will retire to 
tho old country during 18S2 millionaires. No! no!! Jak 
treos may be all very well for a year or two, and 
promise to do as much as the bubliest of bubble 
Companies, but after that period has become incor- 
porated with the past, and their roots begin to know 
tlnur way about, look out for your cofl'eo near them, 
ami wonder till doomsday, if you like, why it never 
boars and appears to be fading away. 
It may seem ridiculous to say so, but, I take it, 
you requiro to sacrifice 10 acres for windbelta to 
secure to half that area of coffee immunity from wind. 
Many think that leaf-disease may be shut out with 
the Wind. Eveu if this be granted, will it pay ?— 
^ ours truly, p ^ 
■ARBOUC ACID AND THE COFFElfi LEAF FUN- 
DUS :— M R. SCHROTTKY'S EXPEB I MENTS. 
Colombo, 25th March 1S82. 
D»AB Sir,— Your esteemed correspondent " G. W." 
has overlooked the circumstance that all during Nov- 
ember and Decomber 18S0 and the early part ot 1881, 
1 did very little beyond watching and observing in 
detail the effects of carbolic acid, used in various 
ways, in solution in water, a9 vapour, etc., upon the 
ditlerent forms of the fmi-u-, l oth in the field and 
under the microscope, and that I recommended the 
use of this agent only after careful comparison with 
tho effects on the fungus of neaily all other chemioala 
that I, us a chemist, could think of as likely to prove 
useful remedies against cofft-o leaf disease. Yours 
faithfully, EUGENE 0. 8CHBOTTKY. 
COCOA CULTIVATION IN CEYLON 
J)l LB Sir,— No doubt whatever can exist in tho 
mind of any ono that cocoa will grow and grow pro- 
fitably, in any well selected locality in Ceylon. It 
has no very serious enemies to contend with, and 
What there arc, appear only to attack it to am dfl ree 
during the. two first year, ol it- -ivwth, and as it eet- 
lip, their harmful inlluences do rcase rather than 
extend. IhrOUghbat Ceylon there ale several well 
aged cocoa trees all 
averaging upwards ol 
Baddagarna, iu the C 
I saw trees said to I, 
forty years ago bearin 
girth. On I'allakolle 
argoly, most of them 
da to the tree. At 
ict, a few years Abo. 
hum 
igaiu, 
travel and n 
ono great ol 
i-l. 
lyar's ear dun 
which yields n« 
places at Kaduganawa, S; 
u ithout any special caro, ai..., 
the coffee around it has become "all stem 
and almost all gouc out, the cocoa retains it 
goes on bearing. All these facts any one wl 
ake inquiries can ascertain for 1 
jection iu the eyes of many wil 
ness in coming into bearing. In the lowcountry for 
three years no crop can be expected, and in tho fourth 
year it will only yield sufficient to pay expenses for 
that years cultivation. After that, however it will 
steadily yield paying crops, and will year 'by year 
increase in its yield probably upas far as Say to the 
10th year. As far as any experience' goes in tho 
North Western Province, I find that K50 per acre will 
pay all expenses of cultivation and upkeep, except what 
is necessary for securing the crop, and which should 
not as far as I can calculate exoeed E3 more per 
cwt. Ihus i, a crop of 5 cwt. the acre should ba 
placed in Colombo at about 1180 per acre and would at 
present prices realize E.200, leaving a profit of Rl^O 
per acre, i. e. R12,000 for 100 acres-which is not a 
very sanguine expectation when compared with the 
bearing ot the many matured trees before referred 
to. 1 here will, however, always be great care neces- 
sary in selecting laud for its growth ; windy ridges 
must be avoided, and rich sandy loam above all other 
soils suits it best. 
As far as our experience goes, we have been far more 
successful iu growing it under shade, our best clear- 
ings being where the large trees and underwood have 
been removed leaving sparse shade of jungle from 20 
to ,W feet high. The drip and roots of the larger 
forest trees are decidedly injurious and barm the 
young cocoa. The shade left would average about 20 
tect apart at first, and we have found it better 
to supplement these by a few planted Halmalflfl' 
jaks, to take the place of tho irregular forest trees 
and forming the earlier shade. Planted thus we 
have found the cocoa grow stronger and faster than in 
opcu clearings, where its progress appears to be coutin- 
1 v y . r* P ped by the heat of a "holly unshaded sun. 
JNext year we hope to have 2.30 acres yielding 4 cwt. 
the acre, and the lollowing year's crop will no doubt 
very much exceed that. I have had no experience of 
what cocoa will do in old colfeo, but from what I havo 
seen in Dooinbera, where the soil is good, it certainly 
appears to thrive and carry out what Mr. Fraser says 
of it, "that cocoa will make the soil." J'ho great 
drawback to its growth upon now land will always be 
the length of time before it comes into bearing. Yet 
with all those who can afford to wait, they certainly 
cannot do bettor than benefit by the lirst full crops 
seemed by a plethora of plant food, which can only 
!»• round on new land. From tho information ad- 
duecd it would appear that, practically spoiling, cocoa 
is a permanent tree, which would in no way fall off in 
its bearing qualities for sixty years at h ast ' W.F.I.. 
[N. H. — Wo use tho word " cocoa" instead of cacao 
ami cpell "coconut" without the "a" to distinguish 
the palm. — Ed.] 
Pi 
demand 
CEYLON TEA IN' LoNI ON. 
33, B as in g l ia ll Street, Lomio.v, b.c, 3rd March 1SS2. 
8m,— Tho ton market is mill v. rv qi i. t. but (ho 
is belter than it wo*. luo fbllowinf ley ion leu 
