328 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov. 1, 1898. 
CACAO AND ITS FUNGUS: 
ERTENTION OF MR. CAERUTHIiUS, F.L.S., ON THE 
CEYLON OFFICIAL STAFF, CALLED FOR. 
Tlie old saw that " Experience teaclics fools " 
has loiif? af,'o been discieclited ; for it is only the 
vise wlio henelit in this way ; a fool, never ! 
Still, like many another untrue statement tlie pro- 
verb lives on, to mislead the unwary. In Ceylon 
it would seem as if often the school of experience 
had closed its doors, and that the teachings of 
the past were to remain disregarded. Facts 
from which golden lessons might have been do 
duced, influence nothing : and tiie old hap-iiazard 
style of trusting to things coming right somehow, 
reigns today (juite undisturbed, as if theie had 
been no bitter experience in the days that are 
gone, nor pitfalls in the future. 
AVe are led to write in this way from learn- 
ing that Mr. Carrutheis — our Cacao Ex^ 
pert — is shortly to leave the island: and 
his departure appears to be as nothing to the wise 
Government of Ceylon. We have preached 
tor many a long day on the duty of the author- 
ities to assist the agricultural inteiests of the 
island by providing at public expense the best 
scientific guidance to help them in keeping well 
abreast of the world, and to enable them to meet 
at an early stage tlie incoming of any new pest 
or discnsc which was likely to jeopardise those 
interests. Uut Ceylon today stands pretty much 
where it was : — the lirst of Crown Colonies through 
the energy and "go" of its Col')i.ists, and the 
most backward in scientilic ccjuipiiient tlirongh 
the niggardliness and wrong-headedness of the 
Government which lavishes salaries in certain 
over-manned civil departments, and grudges a 
few thousands of outlay in a truly reproductive 
direction. We see this in the matter of Mr. 
Carrutliers. He was landed iiere tl rough 
private enter[)rise, and although when lie 
was caught, the Treasury did contiibute 
.somewhat towards his expenses, had we waited till 
the odieial workl had found him,- the Cacao disease 
would have done its work; and if he had been 
secured at last his advent would have been as in- 
opportune as was that of Mr. Marshall Ward, 
too late to do anything except to demon- 
strate in a scientilic M-ay, that hope was 
lied, and the enterprise was doomed. Mr. 
Carrutliers during his stay amongst us has 
impressed all who have had dealings with him, 
as being the man who is specially wanted, a 
a permanency in Ceylon : enthusiastic, energetic, 
resourceful and skilled; and much good has already 
resulted from his expert advice, liut the 
campaign is not by any lueaiis over, nor the 
fungus disposed of, and that he should leave us now 
in the thick of the business, as it were, does seem 
particularly unfortunate. From many sides we hear 
of the dying out of Cacio, which is likely to be 
increased, now that the back of the drought is 
broken, and the welcome and much-needed rain 
has fallen. For Avith the moisture about, the 
fungus will spread fast, and the unpleasant 
sight of diseased trees will be sure to 
mortify the grower. With more experi- 
ence, who knows how necessary it might 
be for Mr. Carruthers to revise and extend his 
system of cure ': To cut out the diseased patch, 
and pro]>erly shave the bark around it, may t>e 
what ix neeited ; but we hear that this is not 
alway8«ncce.s«ful to arrest the fungoid growth, and 
othsr measures migiit be recommended as the re- 
sult of extended observation. Then it is far from 
being established that tlie spread of the fungus is 
due to shade ; for, trees in tlieo|ten, die and are dy- 
ini'. That the want of potash in the soil has been 
thought to have something to do with the heavy 
mortality is another i<lea ; although the vigour 
witli which healthy suckers spring up, wouM see.ii 
rather to point to the roots being healthy and tfie 
soil suitable. Then there is the fun^'us on the |>ods, 
who knows how properly to tackle thai audded 
trouble ? Indeed up to this date the problem has 
been as yet but half-worked out, and for the Cacao- 
growers of Ceylon to be deprived at this time 
of their "guide, counselloi and friend" when he 
hiiiiiself is ii«pcful of having the euemy by the 
throat, greatly ami rightly worries the planters 
concerned. Many men who have money sunk in 
Cacao estates, feel tln« keenly, and the early re- 
call of Mr. Carrutliers will soon be a ceneral 
cry One such Planter writes : — 
"Our Government like big schemes evidently, a 
railway to Jaffna, for example, where such a scoop 
is taken out of the island s surplus in one dip, as 
would meet the outlay for a trained band of scien- 
tilic agricultural expei ts for a generation to come. 
His Excellency may desire to hand down his 
name as an up-to-date railway man, and leave 
his mark in that dreary region of the North- 
Central Province; but he is more likely in niy 
opinion, by this [lolicy, to stop progress in the 
future, to hasten the going back of planting 
prosperitj' and to increa-ve the burden of the 
people who are now crying out for 'free rice.' 
As compared with a Scientific Department of 
Agriculture this railway to the North is a« noth- 
ing. The whole country deiieiids for its pros- 
perity on the well-being of the planting class, 
and this covers the Native as well as the Euro|>ean, 
and yet in spite of the enormous stake which 
the whole Colony has in Planting success, that 
scientilic help which other Colonies enjoy, and 
which is so much needed here at all times— tor 
one never knows what new trouble may appear — 
is denied to Ceylon. You increase scfiools, you 
tabulate the scholars. You pass laws of all kinds 
in the Legislative Council ; you build breakwaters 
and run wild about sanitation and a dozen of other 
good things ; but in all the progress of the day 
the keen eye of the reformer has never lighted 
on the reform we )dead for--skilled scientific 
advice for agriculture." 
Surely, if ever an outbur.st was pardonable, 
the above from a vexed Cacao planter comes 
into the category. The writer is wrong, however, 
i'l thinking " the reformer" ha-s never urged a 
Department of Agricult ure. Let him refer to our 
illustrated book on Ceylon so far back as 1884, and 
he will lind this very want prominently urged, 
while each succe.ssive Governor since has had it 
pre.ssed on his attention. We have even urged that 
Cadets for the Ceylon Civil Service should like 
their compeers for Java, go through a course of 
Agricultural Instruction. Still, it is true that 
Ceylon is today almost as backward in supplying 
good scientific advice to Agriculturists, as it was 
a generation ago. We stand still while the 
■world moves on, and if the Colony has held its 
own, ana maintained its premier position, it has 
not been through any paternal coddling on the 
part of the Government ; nor is coddling wanted. 
