June 1, 1900.] THE TEOPICAL AGRIC'ULTUEIST. 
843 
FUNGOID PESTS AND THEIR 
TREATMENT. 
Trio Lodge, Jail Boad, Borella, May 5th. 
Dear Sir,— I have read in different Ceylon papers 
something about a pest which is attacking tea. By 
the descriptions given I believe it is to be a fungoid 
peat. The methods recommended for coping with 
this enemy are cultivation, and manuring : they no 
doubt are very good as an adjunct, but by themselves 
are inadequate. 
As I have had to cope with both fungoid, and insect 
peats in Australia, my experience might be of some 
little use to the tea planters. 
The advantage and profit of spraying for fungus 
diseases is now placed beyond doubt in Australia and 
America. In order to obtain the best results, good 
cultivation, including drainage, and judicious manuring 
onght to be attended to, and if this is followed up 
by the constant and careful use of the spray-pump, 
the end will be found to fully justify the means. 
Amid the multiplicity of remedies and treatments 
there are three, which may safely be selected on 
account of their inherent value and of having stood 
the test of experience : — 
1. The Bordeaux mixture, 
2. Ammoniacal Solution of Copper Carbonate. 
3. Modified Eau Celeste. 
The following is the mode of preparation I adopted 
and which I found the easiest and best, and the for- 
mula : — 
Quicklime (to be freshly slaked) 4 lb. 
Molasses . . . . 4 lb. 
Bluestone (sulphate of copper) 4 lb. 
Water .. .. 20 gal. 
Take a wooden vessel, holding at least about 18 gal. 
of water, and place in it 4 lb. of quicklime which has 
been freshly slacked, cooled, and passed through 
a sieve. Next pour over it the four pouuds 
(41b.) of treacle, and run on a few pints of water 
from a tap to stir up and mix the ingredients 
well. Then make up to 16 or 18 gal. with water, and 
leave standing for a few hours, giving a good stir 
once in the interval. A clear treacle-coloured liquid 
18 the result, with the unused lime at the bottom 
of the vessel. Next take a wooden pail, hold- 
ing from two to four gallons of water, put the 
powdered bluestone in a coarse canvas bag and sus- 
pend it in the water until the sulphate is completely 
dissolved. Pour the solution of blue stone into the 
spraying machine, and decant or pour of the clear, 
treacle-coloured liqiuid into the same vessel 
without allowing the sediment to pass. This will give 
20 gal of beautiful greenish liquid, ready for spraying. 
If the soaking of the lime, and treacle and the solution 
of the bluestone is allowed to go on over night, the 
liquid will be ready for mixing in the morning, and 
while it is desirable to use the material as fresh as 
possible, yet if rain should intervene or any interrup- 
tion, the treacle and lime mixture will keep without 
injury for a few days. 
To get the best results use fresh lime, and lime of 
good quality, see that the bluestone of a deep blue 
colour does not contain an admixture of copperas 
or sulphate of iron and let the water used be cold. 
Only 56 parts of lime are required to neutralise or 
destroy the acidity of 250 parts of bluestone, so that 
between three and four times as much lime is over to 
render the mixture alkaline. When sprayed upon the 
trees and exposed to the air, the lime present will 
become convened into carbonate of lime, which will 
form an insoluble crust, and help to retain the copper 
salt on the foliage, while the sulphate of lime which is 
also a component of the spray will be gradually 
be disolved away. 
Spraying should be done thoroughly to be effectual 
and a fine mist is what is wanted, not a drenching 
downpour. If too coarse the fungicide is wasted, and 
the collecting in quantity on the leaves is more likely 
to do damage. A cool calm day is best for the purpose; 
when wind is bio winy there is a waste of material, and 
the spray is not uniformly distributed. The strength 
2 lb. 
2^ lb, 
li pt. 
32 gal. 
I should recommend for use among tea is 40 to 80 
gallons of water to the same quantity of material, 
a dilute solution being partiouarly necessary for the 
delicate foliage of the tea. lu cases where the spores 
of the fungus are on the under surface of the leaf, it 
is desirable that such portions receive the most 
thorough spraying. 
(2) AMMONIACAL SOLUTION OF COPPER CARBONATE. 
Copper Carbonate 3 oz. 
Ammonia (26 per cent.) . . 1 qrt. 
Water , . . . . 22 gal. 
In a wooden pail mix the Copper Carbonate with 
sufficient water to make a thick paste, and see that it 
is thoroughly wet ; next add the ammonia water, 
having a strength of 26 per cent., to dissolve the 
paste. When all is dissolved, pour the solution into a 
barrel and dilute the 22 gallons of water. This is the 
strength we use in v/inter in Australia, half the 
strength, or twice the amount of water to the same 
quantity of material, is what I should recommend for 
the tea bushes. 
(3) MODIFIED EAU CELE8TR. 
Eau Celeste, or azure-blue water, is a solution of 
bluestone and strong ammonia, while the modified 
form has the addition of washing soda. 
Bluestone (Sulphate of Copper) . . 
Washing soda (Carbonate of soda). , 
Ammonia (26 per cent.) .. 
Water 
Dissolve the bluestone in a wooden pail, in" say two 
gallons of water ; treat the washing soda in the 
same way and pour it into the first solution, stirring 
them well together. 
Before spraying transfer the solution to the spray- 
ing machine, add the ammonia and dilute to 32 gallons 
of water. This being the strength I would recommend 
for local use. 
It is very desirable that experimental committees 
should be formed in the infected districts to test the 
efficacy of various compounds and find out the cheapest 
and best for combating fungus diseases. The ex- 
periments should also consist of (1) Manurial treat- 
ment alone; (2) Chemical treatment alone; (3) 
Manurial and chemical treatment combined. 
The strength of the preparation"?, the best time 
and mode of application, the cost and the result can 
best be gauged by carefully conducted tests in the 
infected districts. 
While these points are being settled for local 
benefit and guiaance, it is not to be imagined that 
the application of these mixtures has not been 
sufficiently tested elsewhere, for in Australia we have 
used them successfully for years. Ceylon is just 
beginning to become alive to the fact that fungus 
diseases and insect pests threaten the tea estates. 
They must not be allowed to become the master, 
but the planters must master them, mainly on the 
lines of tho good old principle that " prevention is 
than better cure." — Yours faithfully, 
P. GEO. SOHRADER. 
TEA: OPTIMISM AND PESSIMISM. 
Upcountry, May 5. 
Dear Sir,— Who is "W.E.J." that he 
takes so one-sided a view of the contents of 
your columns ? He says " notes and letters " 
cry down tea " every day " and he cites ]ust 
one miserable timorous letter as his illustra- 
tion. Now for my part, I have been moi'e 
struck with the optimism than the pessimism 
of your colunms on tea. What about the 
series of articles on "Prosperous Tea Com- 
panies," W.E.J, ? Why if a steady series 
of 15, culminating in an 18 per cent dividend 
—a second series of 15's— then 10, 8 and 7 
per cent dividends all prominently dilated on 
editorially, don't cheer up tea men and 
prompt them to do likewise, what can? 
Then there was "Manuring" and such opti- 
