io44 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Tune i, 1882. 
season than any of the existing ones possess will be a great gain and should prove of signal 
benefit. It will also be the means of bringing into the northern districts numerous food- 
plants, &c, of the moister climates, many of which can be readily grown there, provided only a 
constant water-supply can be assured. 
IV.— Economic and Useful Plants. 
Commission on the Introduction of New Cultures. — With the view of assisting planters to 
develop new industries, and also to relieve the strain lately put on this establishment and on 
the Royal Gardens at Kew — resulting from numerous demands which their organization was not 
framed to meet, and to supply which is no part of their proper duties — the Secretary of State, at 
the instance of Sir J. Hooker, recommended the appointment of a small Commission to enquire 
into the possibility of framing a scheme of Government assistance outside of Botanic establish- 
ments. The Planters' Association at about the same time addressed Government on the subject 
of aid in obtaining in quantity such seeds as the better varieties of cinchona and Ceara rubber. 
As a result the Commission has recommended a scheme in which Government undertakes to use 
the Imperial machinery at its disposal to procure the plants and seeds required, if the planters will 
institute a permanent body to communicate and work with Government in the matter, and under- 
take the distribution, &c, to applicants. I trust that this arrangement will meet the case, and 
regulate satisfactorily the relations of the Botanic Gardens to the agricultural enterprise of the 
colony. At the request of the Commission I prepared a memorandum (published as an appendix 
to their report) on the work done by these gardens in the introduction and acclimatization of 
useful plants in Ceylon, which sufficiently demonstrates their great direct utility to the colony. 
Cofee. — The principal interest of the year has naturally been the publication of Mr. Mar- 
shall Ward's third and final report on leaf-disease, a document which for careful accuracy and 
laborious thoroughness is all that could be desired or expected.* As it seemed iudeed to leave no 
point of practical importance to be investigated, I fully concurred in Mr. W^ard's view that a 
prolongation of his enquiries during a third year, as originally contemplated, was unnecessary. 
With reference to his work, I feel myself warranted in saying that we now know definitely and 
exactly the life and ordinary mode of dispersion and propagation of the coffee- fungus, that a vast 
distance thus separates us from the state of things formerly existing when nearly all was uncer- 
tain, and that we shall not do wisely if we neglect to act in accordance with the present level of 
our knowledge. The sooner it is generally recognized that the principles of action are now settled, 
the better. The evident unwillingness to accept this position it is, no doubt, not difficult to 
account for, but I cannot too strongly insist that the hope of relief must be based on a common 
agreement and co-operation on the sound principles of action now given, and the abandonment of 
the paralyzing notion of the chance discovery of a " cure." i would earnestly recommend all 
concerned to re-read with attention the 7th — 12th paragraphs of the Cryptogamist's report, and 
consider the state of things it reveals. I have already expressed my opinion in support of " a 
general combination to destroy spores and hinder their dispersion" ; the actual methods to be 
employed for effecting this, I thiuk it is the province of practical agriculture to devise. They 
must necessarily vary according to the peculiarities of seasons and climate in particular districts 
and even individual estates, and, almost equally, with the special circumstances connected with 
estate management ; but the guiding principle will be ever the same, — to diminish the chances of 
infection, and prevent or avoid the lodgment of spores on the leaves by every check and device 
possible. 
But a general co-operation is a prime necessity, and I venture to hope that all interested 
in this important industry will recognize their public responsibility to assist in limiting the 
dissemination of the disease. , Especially, should owners of estates which have quite gone out of 
cultivation feel themselves called upon to see that their now useless trees, which have become 
merely a focus of disease, be rooted out and destroyed. 
There is also another important factor which cannot be overlooked in the consideration of 
remedial measures on a large scale — that is, the condition of the native coffee. This is in some 
considerable degree under Government control, and should be simultaneously dealt with. The 
* 'I lie more strictly technical portions of Air. Ward's microscopic researches on Hemileia have appeared in the 
number for January, 1882, of the "Quart. Journ. Microsc. Science," illustrated by three excellent plates reproduced 
tnhu tlie author's drawings, 
