DjiC. 1, .1899.] 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
189 
■was furtlier decided that as only 50 per cent of sub- 
scribing estates was represented at tlie meeting, 
all members of the Association should be supplied 
with voting papers on the proposition and the 
amendment, in order that they might have the 
opportunity of ratifying or rejecting the above 
proceedings. — Madras Mail, Oct. 28. 
A SHADE IN CRAZE. 
( Communicated. ) 
With reference to the remark of "Finem Respice " 
in the Ceylon Observer regarding shade for tea, it 
shonld be generally known that when tea was first 
planted in Cachar and Sylhet, shade was deemed 
requisite ; this false impression prevailiug down to the 
autumn of 1860 and among some planters even to 
ten years later. Even Dr. Jamieson of the N.-W. 
Botanical Gardens in his remarks on Fortune's re- 
port, shews an inclination to adhere to the fallacy. 
In 1860, a Kew man, who had had subsequent Indian 
experience at Sibpur under Dr. Anderson, put in an 
appearance in Cachar, and to the surprise of the 
few men then in the district, took up a block of grass 
land entirely destitute of timber. Previous to this, 
Silooorie, the two Jaliugas, and one or two gardens 
ia the Chutla upon which a large amount of timber 
had been left standing, exhibited an array of strag- 
gling bushes the result of constant drip. So 
marked was the success of patting plants out in the 
open at Doodputli that, in 1861-62, down came the 
timber in all directions, the improvement becoming 
apparent within a few week?, in the tilling out of 
the stems and branches, and greater development of 
vegetation. Shade in Assam has never been resorted 
to since ; and as we happen to know something of the 
Wynaad and Southern India in general, we would 
strongly deprecate, in the interest of proprietors there, 
as also in Ceylon, its adoption for tea. At certain 
exposed spots in the Nilgiris we know that many 
planters have endeavoured to counteract the effects 
of the violent wind that sweeps across coffee planta- 
tions when the plants are blossoming by planting 
belts of Acacta dealhata, but the remedy, owing to the 
tendency of the roots if these plants to ramify in all 
directions, has proved worse than the evil is 
was hoped to mitigate. How high may he ask 
does "Finem Respice" intend to permit his 
kevea to run ? Like all plants of the rubber yielding 
species the para requires and draws from the soil 
all the properties it possess is and will be found to 
flourish best upon land occasionally subject to sab- 
mergence, as is demonstrated on the upper water of 
the Amazon, Orinoco and some of the streams in 
the different Gnineas. The rubber is found under 
similar conditions on the Congo and Gambia suffi- 
ciently proving it to be a most exacting plant ; so 
that any variety put down between the rows of either 
tea or coffee can only be at the expense of the 
latter. 
All true caoutchouc yielding plants are vines ; we 
think that fact was established years ago by Sir W. 
Hooker, father of the present eminent botanist, when 
curator of Kew. Any plants put down between the 
rowa will open up the soil, but as such plants as 
para develop, they will most assuredly uproot the 
■weaker plant. As far as mere planting goes Assam 
has been demonstrated to be the land par excellence 
for tea, neither Ceylon or any part of Southern India 
being able to compete with in the full average of 
either quality or outturn, an:! though quite willing to 
admit that conditions of cultivation must necessarily 
differ under different aspect of climate, elevation, 
rainfall, etc., we unhesitatingly afBrm that wherever 
tea is considered unable to get along without shade 
that locality is utterly unfit for the plant. This is 
the reasons it has failed in both Trinidad, Jamaica 
Cbnd Other of the Went India Island. 
We do not belong to the " creeper " fraternity,* 
but our botanical experience dates from the winter 
of 1854, in addition to what we learnt by a pretty 
close attendance at Kew ; whatever knowledge 'WO 
possess has been acquired in hill and plain, in tho 
West Indies, and in almost every district in India 
from Cape Comoiin to Mussoorie and Karachi to 
the Sal ween. "Finem Respice "adduces five reasons 
for planting para rubber between the rows, everyone 
of which emphasises what we intimate in regard 
to his having got hold of an unsuitable locality for 
tea. Crowding plants together upon a hillside or 
land subject to a rush of water may prevent 
wash, certainly, but ■will inevitably choke the 
plants so jammed in, and to open up the soil by 
this means would expose it to the first contingency. 
If a plantation needs a wind : guard, the sooner it is 
abandoned for some less exposed site the better ; if 
people will go up into the clouds for the sake of a 
pleasant climate like many of the Nilgiri planters 
have done, they must be prepared to put up with 
such exigencies as the proceeding entails. Instead 
of mitigating fungoid growth and lessening the number 
of insects, the merest tyro knows that the denser 
the vegetation the greater will be the development 
of these parasitical pests. Paragraph (f) would seem 
to imply the intention of permitting the plants bet- 
ween the rows to attain full dimensions, which, would 
ensure the destruction of either tea or coffee. The 
concluding remark as to para not being umbrageous 
enough to require lopping raises a suspicion, in oar 
minds, that " Finem Respice " has got hold of the 
wrong plants. It leaf is -wanted from tea, or coffee 
cherry is expected to mature, lopping will have to 
be adopted, the effect being a free distribution of the 
gum all round, which can hardly prove beneficial to 
either fruit or flush, and it will assuredly kill the 
rubber plant as the same process did in A.ssam 
and the Upper Valley of the Ohindwin. — Calcntta 
Planter, Oct. 28. 
MALABAR-WYNAAD PLANTING NOTES. 
Wynaad, Oct. 25. — Tlie ■weather has beisn 
cloudy, nuiggy and showery during the past fort- 
night or three weeks, and a good deal of very heavy 
rain has been recorded. But notwithstanding this, 
we are still about 10 per cent, below our average 
to date. 
Leaf disease has not attacked Arabica cofTea 
more acutely than usual, except on certain well* 
defined fields of estates, where the blight seems 
to recur regularly towards the close of the S W 
Monsoon. Upon Liberian trees, the rust has, 
however, been severe, and the coming season's 
Liberian crops will probably prove disappointing. 
On the other hand, Arabica is furnished with an 
abundance of vigorous young wood, and, given a 
good season, next year's crops should equal, or 
exceed, those ot 1898-99. 
Prices of food grains in the local Bazaars do 
not appear to have been enlianced by the exports 
from the West Coast ports to liorabay and 
estate labour has no difhculty in supporting it* 
self on the usual subsistence allowance. Coffee 
picking has been commenced, but it seems doubt- 
ful whether bushel picking will commence much 
before the middle of next -.nonth, excepc on a few 
favoured proiierlies, which enjoy exceptional cli- 
matic advantages. The low ])rices which have 
been realised for some months past from the ma- 
jority of teo. gardens in Wynaad, has proved a dis- 
appointment to those who confidently anticipated 
that with the f^plendid soil all over the plateau (as 
compared with Ceylon) prices would rule high, 
with the advent of experienced^ 
■* " Creepers " are unknown in Assam. They arg 
purely a Ceylon production — Ed., Flmter, 
