Dec. i, 1894.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
"All vegetation likes light," are his ipse di.rit, 
are the only words in his effusion worthy of 
even a passing notice ; and the depth of them 
takes one's breath away ! The question is, should 
they be treated seriously as argument, or only with 
the chaff they deserve. Of course all vegetation likes 
light ; but as nature goes in Ceylou, " tea " vege- 
tation must be hard to please, indeed, if it does 
not get enough "light" in the 3ii5 days of over 12 
hours each, without sulking and refusing to flush, 
"in November only," if it should not get Us "usual" 1 
amount of moonlight also. Let us see what this- I 
amounts to. The light of the moon ("light" being 
the question now before the meeting-house, gentle- 
men f) is to that of the sun as 1 to 350,000 ! And, 
if we take 7 or 8 days before and after full moon 
as only being worthy of notice, we get about 15 
nights of moonlight, whose value, as "light," is 
equal to 15 days of sunlight divided by 350,000. Now, 
15 nights of 12 hours each are equal to 180 hours= 
10,800 minutes=648,000 seconds of time, or to less 
than 2 seconds of sunlight. This small fraction 
admits of large multiplication for cloudy weather 
without amounting to much. In more northern 
climates, the moon's light, as such, plays a much 
more important part than in these monotonous 
parallels, but no one, saving the ignorant peasantry, 
attributes "seasons" to the moon. All nations 
have from the earliest antiquity used the moon for 
" times," but not for seasons. In Ceylon the 
"sun's warming influence" is "always" great, 
but that "factor" alone does not make our 
seasons. How summer and winter are made in Europe; 
rains, and winds, and dry weather in Ceylon, are 
simple problems. But there are also what I have 
called the sun's " fathomless influences" also to be 
taken into account : the direction of his rays, or the 
angle at which they strike the ground amongst others. 
Are there not enough, without lugging into November 
specially, the miserable factor of a few extra seconds 
of light rendered by the moon ? I have not denied, 
that a certain infinitesimal effect on plants can be 
traced to the moon — hard to prove though it be — but, 
in Ceylon, it is equally distributed over all the 
months ; the sun only is responsible for the regular 
sequence of seasons here as elsewhere. 
Of what earthly use would it be to " K.T.B.'s" 
of the tea districts, if Jaffna College were to come 
and squat near Kandy, or nearer still, if they are 
"unable to follow his reasoning " 1 Cannot Jaffna 
College dispense his " grit" (whatever that may 
mean) to us ignorant planters as well from Jaffna 
as from Kandy. ONE INTERESTED. 
TEA FLUSH AND " GROWTH " GENE- 
RALLY AND MOISTURE AND HEAT. 
Dear Sir, — Your correspondent "Ignoramus " ought 
to be a Romanist with his fondness for authority, 
especially seeing that he recognizes no other 
authority but that to which he has already yielded. 
On a previous occasion at his request I stated the 
source from which I obtained certain opinions, but 
he completely ignored it. I never supposed my 
statement in this case would be questioned but only 
its applicability, which, of course, I would not presume 
to assert, It is a matter of common observation in 
countries where there is a winter that most trees 
and shrubs stop growth in late summer and autumn 
and prepare their buds for the next season's growth. 
It has been remarked, for example, that the next 
year's crop of apples can bo fairly estimated by 
examining the buds in the autumn. " Prof. Asa Gray 
of Haward University, who has been, porhaps, the 
leading authority on Botany in the States, says, " an 
ordinary bud of a tree or shrub develops to form 
the growth of the season — tho bud usually has a 
considerable number of parts ready formed in mini- 
ature before it begins to grow, ana has a full store 
of assimilated sap accumulated in the parent stem to 
feed upon." " The strong buds which in many trees 
and shrubs crown tho apex of a stem when it has 
completed its growth for tho aoason, often exhibit 
tho whole plan and amount of the noxt year's growth," 
t In the larger number of our trees and shrubs, 
he whole year's growth is either already laid down 
rudimentally in the bud, or else is early formed, and 
the development is completed long before the end of 
summer." In countries where there is no proper 
winter the hot season gives the same needed rest; 
The same authority says : " The requisite annual 
season of repose which in temperate climates is attained 
by the lowering of the temperature in autumn and 
winter, is scarcely less marked in many tropical 
countries where winter is unknown. But the result 
is there brought about not by cold but by heat and 
dryness." He says also that " in autumn, the 
rootlets continue for a time slowly to absorb the 
fluid presented to them . This 
sap undergoes a gradual change during the win- 
ter and deposits its solid matter in the cells of the 
wood." The presumption is that the same is true of 
the period of rest in the tropics. Further, he says 
that rapid growth when there is an abundant supply 
of water to the roots, depends on the amount of exha- 
lation from the leaves, which in turn depends to a 
great extent " on the capacity of the air for moisture 
at the time, and upon the presence of the sun." Rapid 
exhalation causes a rapid rise of sap, which enables 
the plant or tree to use what it has prepared and 
stored. 
President Clark, of the Amherst Agricultural College, 
found that the suction on the roots of a maple tree 
while putting out its leaves in May, was equal to 
about a column of water eight feet high, but in 
June the suction disappeared being apparently balanced 
by the pressure, which in April Defore the leaves 
appeared was in excess. Dr. Goodale, Professor of 
Vegetable Physiology at Harvard University, says 
light has very little effect on growth when there is 
assimilated material stored up, though it is essential 
for assimilation. But that heat has a very decided 
influence on growth. " The rapidity of growth gene- 
rally increases with elevation of temperature above the 
lower limit until a certain maximum is reached, above 
this, which is called the optimum, the rapidity dimin- 
ishes." He gives tea as one example among others 
from experiments of Vries and Ktippen, as follows : — 
Temp. Fahr. 
Growth. 
64 deg. .. 
1 
74 „ 
11 
78 „ 
20 
83 „ 
26 
86 „ 
64 
92 „ 
69 
97 „' 
21 
I think that the above shows that although rapidity 
of development depends upon moisture and heat, the 
amount of growth is in a measure dependent on 
previous preparation in a comparatively quiescent 
state— Yours truly, JAFFNA COLLEGE. 
P.S. — It might help to elucidate the matter to 
state that the process of assimilation is the forma- 
tion of carbhydrates from the carbon dioxide of the 
air and water of the sap, by the agency of the 
chlorophyl under the influence of light. These are 
stored in the parenchyma and are composed of 
dextrine and similar substances. And a further 
elaboration called metastasis takes place in the nxerW 
tem-cells, forming protein and other quaternary com- 
pounds from the nitrogenous and other compounds 
in the sap absorbed trom the fertilizers or soil. 
This seems to indicate that these processes tako 
place to a considerable extent in dry hot weather 
when there is little growth. 
R F A PM P QQ os * a }* describing a really 
U Ln I I" COOi genuine Cure for Deafness, 
Ringing in Ears, <S:c. , no matter how severe or long- 
standing, will he sent post free. — Artificial Ear- 
dnuns and similar appliances entirely superseded. 
Address THOMAS KEMPE, Vrtokia Cham- 
bers, 19, Southampton' Buildings, Hoxboun, 
London. 
