S88 
THE TROPSCAL AGRICULTURrST [February 2, 1891. 
THE PREVENTION OF LEAF DISEASE 
IN COFFEE. 
TO THE EDITOR OE THE “MADRAS TIMES.” 
Sir, — Some of your plauting readers might be dis- 
posed to try whether the immersion of coffee seed in 
hot water previous to sowing would have the effect 
of preventing partly, or altogether, leaf disease- The 
idea was suggested to me by reading part of an article, 
of which the enclosed * is an extract in the London 
Standard, and I also enclose an extract t from Ste- 
phen’s Book of the Farm, shewing how seed was 
pickled to prevent smut in barley, wheat and oats. 
Some weeks ago, I steeped 2 lots of coffee seed in 
hot water of 120 and 130 degrees Fahrenheit, res- 
pectively, for 5 minutes, after soaking it in cold water 
for 15 hours previously. It was quite soft and was 
sown immediately. It has come up strong and vigorous, 
and I am making nurseries with the seedlings. Next 
year, if I am spared, I shall steep some in still hotter 
water, say 135 degrees, as the cold moisture in the 
seed after soaking in cold water cools the water 
considerably. 
S, E. Wynaad, 19th Julylr90. T. M. 
Enclosures. 
* Extract from Standard of November 6th, 1888, 
Home and Foreign Aoricdltube. 
Farmers who have not finished sowing their wheat 
may with advantage study the results of some important 
experiments in the prevention of bunt and smut carried 
out by Mr. Jansen, of Copenhagen, and recorded in 
the new numbt-r of the R 'jal Agricultural Society’s 
Journal Mr. Jansen has found by repeated trials 
that hi th the fungoid diseases referred to can be pre- 
vented by immersing the seeds of wheat, barley or 
oats in water of the temperature of 127 to 135 deg'ees, 
Fahrenheit. In the case of wheat and oats immersion 
for 6 minutes, without previous soaking fuffiees, but 
the husk of barley adheres so tightly that it is necessary 
to soak the grain in cold water for abont 12 hours, and 
afterwards to place it iu hot water f-ir 5 minutes. 
It is important to observe tbit a temperature of 136 
degrees is the extreme allowable with safety. This 
prevention is recommended for wheat instead of the 
ordinary plan of dressing the seed witli sulphate of 
copper or other chemical preparation, because we are 
told the latter treatment is injurious to the grain 
and the crop grown from it. 
Sulpha te of copper in the quantities generally used, 
Mr, Jansen says, destroys not only the fungus but 
from 3 to 10 per cent of the seed corn; whereas 
water, at the temperature mentioned above is harmless 
to the grain, though destructive to the fungus, nor 
is this all, for the experimenter finds that the vitality 
of the plants not killed is impaired by sulphate of 
copper so that their average weight in autumn is di- 
minished. This year he found that the yield of wheat 
in plots sown withhe?t disinfected seed was 30 per 
cent, more in grain and 23 per cent, more in straw 
than that of plots sown with grain dressed with the 
chemical preparation. 
Extract from Stephens’ Book of the Farm, Vol. 
1. Para 2307. 
Seed wheat should be pickled, that is subjected to pre- 
paration in a certain kind of liquor, before it is sown, 
in order to insure it against the attack of a lungal 
disease in the ensuing summer called smut, which 
renders the crop comparatively worthless. So i e f;ir- 
mers affect to despise this precaution, as ■ ritii »ti g- 
in an unfounded reliance on an imagirary epetifi : 
but the existence of smut, and its baneful effect upon 
the wheat crop, are no imaginary evils; and when 
expeiience has proved, iu numbi rltss instances, that 
steeped grain prevents the appearance of this serious 
disease, the small trouble which pickling imposes may 
surely be undertaken rather than place the entire 
crop in jeopardy. Why pickling tho seed should have 
the effect of preventing the smut in the crop is a 
((uestion more easily asked than answered ; and it is 
perhaps because it has never received a satisfactory 
answer that pickling is disregarded by some fanpers. 
Jifo valid objection can be stated against tho practice,' 
for the palpable fact stands obv ous to conviction, that 
one field sown with pickled wheat, and otherwise 
managed in the utuai wa , will escape the smnt, 
while the adjoining one managed in exactly a similar 
manner, but sown with wheat in it,? ordinary state, 
will he almost destroyed with the disease. 
I have seen such a case tested by two neighbouring 
farmers, the Messrs. Fenton, Jaie tenants of Nevay 
and Eas.sie, in Forfashire. It is true that on some 
farms, wheat sown in its usual state, escapes the disease, 
which I have heard the late Mr. Oliver, Lochend, 
near Edinburgh, state was the case on his farm ; and 
it is also true that pickling does not entirely prevent 
the occurrence of the disease on other farms; but such 
cases do not prove that every farm n-ust also be free 
of smut, indeed no one, beforehand, can aver that 
any farm shall be so, and while so much uncertainty 
exists, the safer practice will be to pickle the seed, 
the expense being a mere trifle. 
It is now an ascertained fact that vaccination will 
not insure immunity from small pox, yet it certainly 
very much modifies its attack, when it does occur, 
and precisely so is the case wilh pickling wheat. 
[There is no harm in trying experiments, hut 
the misery of it is that plants, the most healthy and 
robust as they spring from the ground, get at once 
infected, if leaf disease is in the locality or country. — 
Ed. T. a J 
^ 
The Foochow native paper states that the tea 
trade in Formosa this year, has been very brisk, 
and that the Douglas Company had three steamers 
carrying the tea . — China Mail. 
Sulphurous Acid is now being used to act upon 
starch under pressure and at a high temperature. 
The product, after neutralisation, is Schumann’s 
universal gum, which is soluble and extremely 
adhesive, and closely resembles gum arabic, which 
is now very scarce and dear.—Jiulia-Hubher and 
Gutta-Fercha Journal, Dec. 8th. 
Nev/ Zealand Flax. — Says the Next) Zealand 
Herald “ The import of New Zaland flax into the 
United States under the McKinley tariff should give 
this industry a fillip, and lead to its more extensive 
introduction for manufacturing purposes into the 
Great Republic. Captain Webb (of Arnold, Cheney 
and Co.) states that the duty formerly charged was 
25 dollars, or £6 per ton which was a pretty heavy 
impost. 
A New Industry has sprung up in Germany with 
young leaves of the strawberry. These are taken, 
carefully dried and used instead of Chinese tea. They 
are said to give a decoction nearly approaching 
that of tea in flavor, and having the same refresh- 
ing influence. In many parts of England the leaves 
of the raspberry, hedge bramble and of the sage 
are commonly taken as a substitute for tea. The 
Chinese use the common sage very largely in 
flavoring tea for their own use . — Mildura Cultivator. 
A Botanical Diecovery. — A very important discov- 
ery is reported from Goa, writes a correspondent. 
For what can be gathered from a pamphlet issued 
by Mr. B. F. da Costa, a gentleman well-known in 
Portuguese scientific circles, he claims to have dis- 
covered in the milk of Nivol-Cantein (Euphorbia 
nerlifoHa) an admirable substuute for guita-percha- 
The plant is abundant, and grows wild iu the Concan 
districts, generally used for hedges. Mr. da Costa 
in desciibing its qualities, says ihat it is insoluble 
in water, it softens under heat, and hardens in the 
cold. It receives and retail s a given moulded shape, 
can be cast into very thin sheets, and is capable of 
receiving the minutest impressions on its surface. 
It is liable to become sticky, if exposed to the sun. 
In its dried state, it is of a chocolate colour. In 
fact, it has all the properties of gutta-percha. 
— Pioneer, January 2nd, 
