26o 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct.  i,  1892. 
It  is  an  undoubted  fact  tbat  the  arets  are  the 
origin  of  an  enormous  extent  of  damage  in  the 
Government  coffee  plantation.  Consequent  on  bad  up- 
keep, nothing  has  been  done  to  cause  the  destruction 
of  this  insect.  In  1881  a Controler  in  the  public 
sorvioe  informed  mo  that  in  the  eastern  < xtre- 
mity  of  Java,  a vast  extent  of  coffee  plantations 
had  been  “ written  off,”  in  consequence  of  the  injury 
caueed  by  these  larvss.  In  ihe  residencies  of Pekoiongan, 
Tegal  and  Cheribon  I could  point  out  a great  Dumber 
ot  such  abandoned  coffee  plantations.  Are  the  Govern- 
ment ooffee  harvests  not  greatly  diminished  ? 
Seeing  that  the  Acadecnie  des  Sciences  of  Taris  has 
attracted  attention  to  the  damage  caused  to  agriculture 
by  this  insect,  and  that  numerous  f .reigu  agricultural 
periodicals  have  for  some  time  past  been  publishing 
articles  devoted  to  this  subjict,  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  the  rulers  of  Java  will  invito  the  Director  of 
the  Experimental  Garden  and  Laboratory  at  Buitenzorg 
to  institute  an  elaborate  research  into  the  nature  ot 
the  Botrytis  Tentlla.  and  its  properties. 
Should  the  proposed  remedy  be  found  effective  it 
becomes  not  only  the  interest  of  the  governing  powers 
to  have  the  whole  question  thoroughly  examined, 
but  by  acting  with  promptitude  in  tha  matter  muoh 
good  may  be  done  to  Indian  cultivation. 
The  Hague,  June  1892.  (Signed)  H.  J.  PniNS. 
[The  exemption  in  Ceylon  of  tea  from  attacks  of 
grubs,  so  fatal  in  former  days  to  coffee,  is  remarkable. 
We  have  seen  dense  swarms  of  cockohafer  beetles 
on  a coffee  estate, — by  s diking  a eucalyptus  with  a 
stick  we  have  dislodged  dozens  from  the  stem,  and 
we  know  as  a fact  of  millions  having  been  captured 
and  killed  on  one  property,  while  coffee  was  the 
culture.  Now  that  tea  has  been  substituted  the 
sight  of  a beetle  on  this  estate  is  as  rare  as  that 
ot  a black  swan.— Ed.  T.A.] 

AGRICULTURE. 
Manures  and  Manuring. 
II. 
It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  remarks  I intend 
makiDg  on  this  very  large  and  important  branch  of 
Agricultural  Science  are  ex-cathedra.  Manuring  is  a very- 
interesting  and  a very  difficult  subject  and  I,  unfor- 
tunately for  me,  not  having  received  a technical 
training  can  speak  only  as  a practical  and  enthusi- 
astic agriculturist,  who  by  the  aid  of  much  thought 
and  observation  is  trying  to  apply  the  principles  of 
Agricultural  Scienoe  to  his  daily  duties. 
In  drawiug  attention  to  the  communication  on  a 
substitute  for  cattle  manure,  you  speak  of  applica- 
tion in  holes.  I thought,  this  form  of  application 
was  out  of  date  now, avd  that  the  scientific  and  more 
beneficial  plan  of  spreading  the  particles  of  manure 
over  the  soil  and  forking  it  in,  was  gencraly  prac- 
tised. The  objections  to  manure  holes  are  that  the 
benefit  of  the  manure  is  limited  and  the  holes  be- 
come one  mass  of  rootlets,  which  of  course  is  cut 
at  the  Dext  application.  The  belter  plan  will  be  to 
sprinkle  the  manure  over  the  soil,  leaving  a clear 
space  of  about  15  or  18  inches  round  the  bushes, 
and  to  fork  it  in  with  mamoty-shaped  3 — pronged 
forks.  In  practice  it  will  be  found  that  this 
system  is  not  more  ' expensive  than  cutting  holes 
and  fiilliug  them  up  sgaiu,  while  for  efficiency  the 
two  systems  cannot  be  mentioned  together.  It 
may  be  asked  why  I mention  mamoty-.-haped  forks 
specially.  Because  I have  seen,  and  read  in  the  dis- 
cQssion  in  your  columns  ou  forking  for  tea,  the  evils 
oi  long  pronged  shovel-shaped  forks  io  the  hands  of  care- 
less and  ignorant  cco  ies.  They  are  driven  deep  into 
the  soil  near  the  bashes  and  levered  towards  them  in 
such  a way  as  to  all  but  root  them  out.  No  wonder 
a tea  planter  finds  his  hushes  "shut  up”  for  a con- 
siderable period  after  deep  forking.  It  may  he  said 
that  on  many  estates  the  lie  is  too  steep  forfirkiDg. 
It  is  well-known  that  wash  is  less  on  a free  than  on 
a stiff  soil,  and  surely  soil  that  is  subjected  to  the 
battering  effect  of  frequent  showers  of  rain,  aggravated 
by  tho  action  of  coolieb’  feel  once  a week  or  ten  days 
when  it  is  in  a moist  and  sticky  state,  will  be  all 
the  better  for  letting  eun  and  air  into  it.  If  some 
consider  it  essential  to  bury  the  manure  in  the  6oil, 
I found  very  satisfactory  remits  in  coffee  cultivation 
fellow  the  application  of  manure  in  shallow  depres- 
sions formed  round  the  bushes  by  6crapiug  away  with 
small  3 or  4 proDged  forks,  the  soil  round  the  stem 
to  a distance  of  18  inches  or  2 feet.  If  the  coolies 
sre  taught  to  be  always  facing  the  bushes  durmg  the 
operation  of  scraping  away  the  soil,  the  primary  roots 
will  be  combed  out  and  not  broken,  and  the  shock  to 
tbe  bushes  will  be  slight. 
Io  connection  with  tbe  frequent  stirri  g of  the 
soil,  perhaps  you  have  not  forgotten  that  I csrried 
ou  a rather  acrimonious  (I  sny  it  with  regret)  dis  - 
mission  on  this  subject  with  a veteran  Coconut  Planter. 
Tbe  position  I took  in  ii  was,  that  those  who  advo- 
cate and  reoemmeud  it  where  perennials  occupy  the 
ground,  showed  a blind  adliereuce  to  the  teschii  gs 
of  Agricultural  Science,  which  they  adopted  without 
modification  or  extension  os  circumstances  required. 
Tbat  if  by  the  breaking  up  of  the  soil  and  the  com- 
minution of  its  particles  tl  ey  were  rendered  soluble 
and  available  as  plant  foi  d,  then  it  was  opposed  to 
reason  to  disturb  the  roots,  the  mouihs  ot  a tree, 
just  as  they  were  beginning  to  feed  on  the  food 
rendered  available  by  the  process  of  stirriug  the  soil. 
It  was  particularly  gratifying  to  me  to  find  the  views 
I enunciated  on  this  subject  confirmed  io  the  ‘‘Gen  ral 
Items”  of  ihe  last  issue  of  the  “ Magazine  ot  the 
School  of  Agriculture.”  ‘‘It  is  certainly  opposed  to 
commonsense  to  suppose  tbat  the  annual  oestiuction 
or  mutilation  of  the  effective  leediug  roots  of  a tree 
should  promote  its  health  and  luxuriance;  on  the  con- 
trary it  is  calculated  to  e ffect  serious  injury.”  Under 
these  circumstances  a careful  planter  will  hesitate 
breaking  the  feeding  roots  of  bis  tea  bushes  by  annual 
forkings  in  addition  to  the  mutilation  the  bsshes  suffer 
by  the  hacking  they  undergo  and  which  is  dignified 
by  the  uame  of  pruning.  I may  mention  en  passant 
that  I was  always  inclined  to  the  belief  that  the 
cutting  of  manure  holes  with  maiuoties  had  a great 
deal  to  do  with  the  bold  leaf  disease  had  ou  ihe 
coffee  bushes  thus  enfeebled.  How  then  it  may  be  asked 
can  the  manuring  of  tea  estates  be  carried  on  with- 
out mutilation  of  the  rootlets  ? This  is  an  impossi- 
bility, but  the  operation  of  manuring  e .u  be  so  carried 
on  as  to  cause  a minimum  of  injury  to  the  feeding 
roots.  The  system  I practice  even  with  so  liardy  a 
tree  as  the  coconut  is,  to  dig  manure  one  year  in  the 
space  between  four  trees,  the  next  year  in  the  space  bet- 
ween the  trees  across  the  line  of  coconuts  and  in  tbe  year 
following  in  the  space  along  the  line  of  coconuts.  By  this 
means  all  the  feeding  roots  are  never  disturbed  during 
any  one  operation,  tbe  whole  suiface  of  the  ground 
is  stirred  and  manured  though  Dot  at  the  same  time, 
the  shock  to  the  tree  is  lesseued  aDd  the  effect  of  the 
manuring  is  increased.  If  any  one  will  take  the 
trouble  to  sprinkle  manure  between  every  four  of 
his  tea  bushes  and  fork  it  in  with  msmoty-shaped 
forks,  he  will  find  the  cost  about  a fourth  of  cuttiDg 
manure  holes  and  covering  them  up  again. 
Though  not  a tea  planter  myself,  I carefully  follow 
everything  connected  with  its  cultivation  as  bearing 
on  Agriculture.  I read  with  interest  the  experience 
of  planters  that  manuring  gave  them  a weak  tea. 
Tea  and  tea  aloae  surely  cannot  be  an  exception  to  the 
rule  that  manuring  improves  and  does  no>  deteriorate 
