836 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
[June i, i"gi. 
South west base of the Shevaroj Hills, where the 
mines are situated, are hornblende, mica and taleose 
sohists, penetrated by d3’kes of basalt and layers of 
serpentine, which last is inlerseoted by a perfect 
network of veins of manganesite. The chromite occurs 
very irregularly in these veins in lenticular masses 
of various shapes and siz-.s ; one block was said to 
weigh a couple of tons. At a depth of from fifty 
to sixty feet water became troublesome in the mines. 
It is not surprising, therefore, that mining became 
too expensive to be continued with profit, there 
being no certainty as to the proportion which the 
chromite bore to the mass of rook which had to 
be removed. At the same time the demand for 
this ore was by no means unlimited, and the imme- 
diate effect of throwing the Indian Oie on the London 
Market is stated to have been to cause a fall in 
price.” The truth is that all ihe materials required 
for a successful iron industry are to be found in 
ndia, and only the energy to develop them is wanted. 
The lailure of the feeble attempts that have been from 
time to time to develop the iron ores seems to have 
been accepted as proof that they are not worth 
working. No other reasonable explanation for the 
Bupineness of oapitaliste in this direction seems 
forthciming. The power of India will grow with 
her iron, as without it the resourc e of the country 
can never be fully developed. — Times of India. 
COFFEE^KEDS. 
A correspondent of the Madras Mail (R. G. H.) 
questions the soundness of the view of an eminent 
English authority quoted by Mr. 11. H. Elliot, that 
it is a mistake to make a choice of Eced from the 
best trees on an estate to raise a nursery with, 
and that the seed should be chosen from trees 
grown on the poorest and most exposed situations. 
Mr. Elliott has very little doubt, according to his 
own statement, that the authorities he mentions 
are correct, and is also of opinion that the seed 
procured from poverty-stricken trees should be grown 
in nurseries composed of poor soil, to eiiEure, as 
must inevitably be inferred, a successful estate, 
aud yet he asks for some practical opinion on the 
subject. This would appear to in ioate a misgiving 
on the part of Mr, Ehiot, as to the ultimate success 
of a venture of the kind. If Mr. Elliot is so 
thoroughly satisfied about the correctness of the 
theory that would be presented to him, the best 
thing to do would be to go manfully to work and 
experiment upon it. Pianters generally are very 
keen in selection of the richest sites available for 
making nurseries upon, as also of procuring see l 
from the healthiest trees, and it is commoa for 
nurseries of long standing to be abandoned in favour 
of new spots owing to the soil being considered 
too impoverished to grow suitable plants for trans- 
planting into the field. Planteii are slow to experi- 
ment, and very few, if any, would be induced to 
make a departure from the method that has been 
in vogue since coliee-planting wae begun, unless 
unmistakable proof weie foithcoming that a greater 
measure of success had been found at the end of 
any innovation ; and where none will experiment, 
the information called fir by Mr. Elliot is bound 
for ever to remain a ‘‘ sealed book.” The majority 
of planters, Irave, at one lime or another, had 
experience of nurseries composed of poor soil, but 
in no single instance have I known ihr-mto beheld 
in fovour. I think it is Hull, in his “ Coffee Planting 
in Honiliern India and Ceylon,” wlio recommends 
liie growing of plants in poor nurseries if they are 
intended for planting out in old exhausted fields, 
nr in new cltarings not blessed with a rich soil, 
the idea being that the altered conditions under 
wnic'n jdanta transplanted from a rich nurs. ry 
into a poor field v/ouhl find themselves would prove 
fatal to them. There is a great show of reason 
in this, but it does not affect the question of seed. 
I was recently told by a gentleman that the trees in 
the best field on his estate were grown in an 
extremely poor nursery and were- filled with leaf 
disease when planted out. Here again the question 
of seed is not affected in any way. The plants 
may have grown up tickly and weakened owing 
to the poorness of the nursery in which the seed 
was sown, although the latter may have been obtained 
from the best trees imaginable, and when they found 
themselves in soil and conditions more akin to 
those in which the parent trees were luxuriating, 
the latent vitality in them, imbued from the latter' 
assericd itself and they grew up and proved them^ 
selves worthy of the stock they came from. Hull 
wrote in the palmy days before the advent of 
leaf disease, that dread scourge which decimated the 
once fine properties of Ceylon, and which threatens 
to become so serious a trouble to planters in India 
that, unless some remedy oan be devised to at least 
minimise its c-fects, the planters will have to seek 
“ pastures new," as Coorg especially is con-idered un- 
suited for the growing of tea. It is believed by 
planters of large experience that leaf disease does 
not come from any extraneous source, but is a sap 
disease,’* and that the seed is not free from the taint. 
Hence the necessity that is felt to obtain seed from 
toe least affected trees to raise nurseries with. The 
whole question resolves itself into one on the question 
of leaf disease. Trees grown in poor soil and in 
e.xposed situations would of necessity, from being 
so unfavourably placed, be affected with the scourge 
pretty nearly the greater part of tae year, and 
especially when there is an additional demaud mado 
on their strength to ripen the fruit on them, wliich 
can only be removed to be used as teed when 
thoroughly ripe. It frequently happens that these 
poor trees, especially if they have lost any consid- 
erabie portion of tJieir leaves, are incapable of 
thoroughly maturing the berries on them, they 
becoming, merely what is called ” white ripe.” It 
would, I am afraid, be impossible to grow highly 
tainted seed of this kind, especially in a poor nursery, 
flee of leaf disease, and they would give but a poor 
account of themselves in the fi Id^ unless kept entirely 
free of weeds, highly man ured, and otherwise 
carefully tended. High nursery beds thoroughly well 
drained are conducive to keeping plants as free as 
possible under existing circumstances, from leaf 
disease. I oont know how far the analogy sought 
to be established between wheat and coffee will hold 
good, but it is sufficient to know that wheat is free 
from fungi to make it of next to no account in 
this connection. The proposition propounded by 
Mr. Elliot might have answered in the good old 
days, but now I confess that I fear it has become 
somewhat probleruatioal. I shall have gained my 
reward if this feeble effort of mine to i fier soma 
‘‘ practical opinion” on the question will promote 
a healthy discussion which will lead to the elucid- 
ation of a subject of pre-eminent importance to 
the planting mciustry —Indinn Apriculturist. 
[We have no belief in this a’lturJ tiisory of 
propagating from interior seed ol inferior trees grown 
enpoorsoik We behove its author has abandoned 
it. — Ed T. a.] 
^ 
^ Eubies, — We cull attention to an 
interesting article from tho London Standard on this 
subject, given on page 8l0 as also to the letter 
io which Mr. E. W. Streeter re-assures buyers of 
precious stones in regard to the artificial ruby 
showing how it oan be distinguithei from a real 
g. m. 
* Wcicll r(-gar i ao gr, ad uouacu,c. Tu 0 
piscasH is propagated by sporOrS which of course taint the 
seed.— E d, 'T. .1, 
