Nov. I, 1893.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
COCOA IN ECLTAJ30R. 
The British Consul at Guayaquil makes the follow- 
ing report in the trade and cultivation of cocoa in 
Ecuador: — j 
The cocoa harvest, though still falling short about 1 
10 per cent, of that for 1S',)0, was o'i per cent, in 1 
exees.s of 1891, viz., i}2.\,49:i quintals (ll,.'J52 tons), 1 
as compared with 209,835 quintals (9,368 tons). Prices J 
were well maintained throughout the year, and the ; 
Christmas crop of '■ Aftermath," was proportionately 
large. 
There is no special feature of interest to record 
in respect to the cultivation of the cocoa tree, both 
the system of planting shoots and raising from seed 
having been continued with varying success. The 
extension of various plantations has added consider- 
ably to the acreage, and as such developments 
bid fair to continue, the production of the cocoa bean 
is likely to be largely increased in the near future. 
It is worthy of remark that hitherto the increase 
in the crops has not been in proportion to the new 
fields laid under cultivation, but since seed-raising 
promises well, greater hopes are entertained of realiz- 
ing a proportionate return. 
The increase in J 892 proceeded principally from 
the Arriba (up-river) districts. Machfila and Balao, 
though having yielded more than in 1891, neverthe- 
less fell considerably short of the average, excessive 
moisture having affected the young shoots in the 
latter district, whilst the River .Jubones, in IMachala, 
overflowing, inundated and completely destroyed ex- 
tensive plantations. 
The export of cocoa direct to England is becom- 
ing smaller every year. This, to a certain extent, is 
doubtlessly due to competition of the colonial product, 
but probably more to the fact that the propaganda 
established in Germany, thi'ough direct sales to choco- 
late manufacturers in the small towns of the interior, 
has put a stop to the old system, under which such 
manufacturers drew their stocks from the large im- 
porting firms of London. The consequence is that 
the supplies for the Continent go now direct to their 
destination, and the imports of England represent 
only what is actually consumed theie. — Oil, Paint and 
J h till ffiportci". 
SUGAR CANE DISEASE. 
Pr. Cobb, of the Sydney Department of Agri- 
culture, in speaking at Harwood on tlie sugarcane 
disease, which he has been lately investigating, said 
that he found in the field seven or eight different 
fungus pests which were attacking the cane, but they 
did not reduce the cane yield more than 2 per cent. 
From strict investigations he had discovered that 
the failure or disease in the cane was due to the 
presence of a gummy matter which blocked up the 
passages of the sap vessels in each fibre. In each 
stalk of cane there were upwards of 1-000 of these 
fibres, each containing two or more^ canals for the 
carriage of moisture up and down, lie proposed to 
call the disorder in future " gumming." It was practi- 
cally a new disease, and had never been thoroughly 
investigated before. In affected stalks it would be 
found that at the base of the arrow there existed a 
cxvity tilled with offensive matter called " pus," and 
the presence of which was often erroneously attri- 
buted to the borer. The gum was generally found 
more abundant in the plant cane and at the top of 
the two-year-old stalks than anywhere else. After 
lie had fully satisfied himself that the disease was due 
to this gum, he then set to work to fiud out the 
cause of its existence. By putting it underneath his 
powerful microscope he found t'lat it contained my- 
riads of microbes. They were so minute that it would 
take iiO,OUO of them, laid one after the other, to 
uuiko an inch in length, and one drop of gum con- 
tained upwards of 10,000.000 of tliem. lie had no 
doubt that they were the cause of the disease. As 
a further experiment he had inoculated the healthy 
stalk of a cane with gum, to see if the disease would 
develop there. It would take time to learn tho result. 
This gummy matter was iu Queensland as well as 
in New South Wales. The reason of the disease being 
more prevalent on the lov/er river, than up the river 
was the greater rainfall on the lower river and the 
less depth of soil, which prevented drainage. One 
remedy was better drainage. Like snmt in wheat, 
the disease spread in the seed, because healthy stalks 
could be found in badly affected fields. It was pos- 
sible, of course, for the disease to spread in other 
ways, but that mode of infection would be slow. 
Another remedial measure was to plant no sets, ex- 
cepting those that were apparently free from gummy 
matter. If such a plan were followed up rigidly the 
disease would be gradually overcome. He also sug- 
gested the importation of new plants, and was glad 
to say that steps had been taken in this direction 
a few days since. Besides the arrival of American 
and Queensland plants last year, some had arrived 
from New Guinea. They could not pay too much atten- 
tion to new kinds ; this course had been found suc- 
cessful with wheat farmers in this colony. He also 
strongly I'ecommended the rotation of crops, vyheje 
at all practicable. — Indian Agricultarist. 
• * 
CLOVES. 
A re:ent issue of the Keii-Jialletia publishes a most 
interesting letter from Sir Joseph Banks to the Earl 
of Liverpool, dated August, 1796. It contrasts the 
indifference of the British Government towards mat- 
ters of practical or utilitarian botany with the wise 
vigour of the French. Before that date, it appears 
the authorities of the Isle de France had alreadv 
begun to circulate a list of useful plants cultivated 
at the Royal Gardens which colonists might have 
on application. As the editor of the Bulletin observes, 
Sir Joseph suggested a hundred years ago that impor- 
tant function, which the establishment at Kew has 
but lately begun to fulfil—" the transference of useful 
plants from one part of the globe to another." We 
have not the Earl of Liverpool's reply ; doubtless it 
was commonplace —not worth citing. "But the great 
botanist was tempted to write by a brochure presented 
to him, which recounted the introduction of the clove 
tree to the island of Dominica, by Mr. William Urban 
Buee. This gentlemair obtained some plants from 
Cayenne in 1789, and again from Martinique in 1791. 
They began to bear in 179,5, yielding a great profit, 
and Mr. Buee, a true philanthropist, lost no time in 
publishing the facts for the instruction of his fellow- 
colonists. He also introduced the bread-fruit, cinna- 
mon, black pepper, " and many sorts of fruit trees 
from different parts of the world." At the present time 
the clove and the cinnamon are wild in nearly all the 
AVest India Islands; but there are no plantations, and 
the export is comparatively trifling. It is sad to hear 
that this good man was ruined in the end, struggling 
vainly against a stupid Government, which imposed 
a higher duty on West Indian spices as soon as they 
began to enter the market, yielding to the jealousy 
of influential persons engaged in the eastern spice trade. 
One of the trees Mr. Buee planted is still alive and 
hea'thy. 
Gold and silver alone, amongst all the products of 
the earth, have caused such misery as the clove with 
its allies, the cinnamon and nutmeg. They rank with 
the choicest and the rarest gifts of Heaven. The 
great Rumphius, who first examined the clove with 
the eyes of science in its native home, declares it 
" the most beautiful, the most elegant, and the most 
precious of all trees." Mankind in general are not 
worthy of such a blessing. "Hence the Almighty, 
allotting his gifts to the several regions of the world, 
placed cloves in the kingdom of the Moluccas, beyond 
which by no human industry can they be propagated" 
— an cror. The spice trees have indeed "the fatal 
gifts of beauty." When a clove is decked with its 
clusters of scarlet buds, when the fruit of the nut- 
meg opens, showing its black polishel seeds in their 
nest of Vermillion mace, travellers dispute which is 
loveliest, but all agree that they have no rival. Both 
had a most limited habitat before man interfered with 
Nature's designs. The nutmeg is said to bo indige- 
nous in the suuill island of Lontar only : the clovo 
occupied live little islands on the coast oi Gilolo. It 
