276 
FHK  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
Oct.  I,  1896. 
HYBllIl)  COFFEE. 
We  recently  made  some  enquiries  of  a scientific 
friend  regarding  the  interesting  question  of  coffee 
hybrids.  In  sending  us  the  answers  that  we  print 
below,  our  correspondent  remarks : “ 1 hope  the 
answers  will  draw  a fuller  discussion  on  this  very 
interesting  subject.  No  one  appears  to  have  studied 
the  life  history  of  the  coffee  flower,  and  without  that 
it  is  impossible  lo  say  what  its  nature  is.  We  know 
that  it  is  hemephroiite  and  fugacious.  But  we  do 
not  know  if  self  or  cross-pollination  is  favoured  by 
the  sexual  organs.  Tlie  fact  of  its  being  a highly- 
scented  flower  seems  to  point  to  the  latter  alterna- 
tive. Some  short-lived  flowers  are  self-fertilised 
while  the  flower  (corolla)  is  still  in  bud.  [This  also 
occasionally  takes  place  with  coffee. — En.]  My  own 
opinion  is  that  the  coffee  flower  must  be  to  some 
extent  pregnated  with  foreign  pollen.  The  bushes 
swarm  with  bees  and  smal'cr  insects  directly  the 
flowers  open.” 
(Juestion. — ^Will  a hybrid  coffee  plant,  if  perfectly 
isolated,  give  seed  true  to  name  and  properties  of 
hybrid  ? 
Answer. — A coffee  hybrid  may  not  seed  at  all.  Some 
hybrids  are  quite  sterile,  while  the  majority  are  less 
fertile  than  pure-bred  species.  But  some  are  as 
fertile  as  the  pure-bred  plants.  It  is  not  known  if  a 
coffee  hybrid  has  ever  been  produced— naturally  or 
otherwise. 
Q, — What  are  the  best  means  of  effecting  isolation  ? 
A. — To  cultivate  the  hybrids  separately  from  the 
pure-breds  and  to  induce  flowering  at  a slightly 
different  season. 
(j, — Would  not  the  best  method  to  perpetuate  the 
hybrid  be  to  graft  it  on  to  the  pure  bred  stock? 
^t._Xt  is  by  careful  selection  of  the  fittest,  es- 
pecially in  the  seed,  that  the  hybrid  element  in  a 
plant  is  beat  preserved.  Ilybrids  have  usually  a 
tendency  to  revert  to  the  conditions  of  their  ancestral 
stock.  Mere  grafting  would  not  protect  a hybrid 
from  the  fertilising  influence  of  pure-breds. 
Being  convinced  that  our  correspondent  had  failed 
to  grasp  the  meaning  of  our  last  question,  we  put 
it  again  in  a different  form  and  at  greater  length. 
The  following  is  the  answer  : — 
“ I’m  afraid  I misunderstood  your  original  question 
re  the  preservation  of  kind  by  grafting.  But  as  now 
put,  your  meaning  is  very  clear.  As  the  desirabl-i 
(pialities  possessed  by  an  individual  plant  are  not 
always  (indeed  rarely)  reproduced  from  seed,  it  is 
usual  to  propagate  such  an  individual  by  the  inser- 
tion of  buds,  cuttings,  layers  and  grafts.  By  these 
modes  of  propagation  the  actual  characteristics  of  the 
kind  are  reproduced  and  multiplied.  The  coffee 
bush  can  be  readily  propagated  by  the  imertion  of 
cuttings  and  layers,  so  that  there  is  no  necessity  (un- 
less for  a particular  purpose)  to  undertake,  the  more 
laborious  process  of  grafting.  It  is  also  feared  that 
grafted  bushes  would  get  broken  by  the  w'ind  on  most 
estates.  But  how'ever  that  may  be,  the  fact  remains 
tiiat  special  qualities  in  habit,  growth,  size  or  yield, 
may  in  each  case  be  retained  by  divisional  propagation. 
Wliere  grafting  is  desirable,  with  ail  materials  at  hand, 
a man  and  boy,  eaiuiing  together  about  Rs.  12  per 
mensem,  could  easily  turn  out  100  grafts  a day  ; and 
if  a little  pressure  was  put  on,  1,50.  But  taking  the 
smaller  estimate,  ;i,000  grafts  for  12  rupees  is  not  a 
heavy  matter.” 
A natural  query  arises:  how  about  the  Brooke-Mockett 
hybrid?  Prom  the  above  it  would  seem  clear  that 
high  cropping  powers  cannot  be  expected  from  hybrids. 
The  greatest  adv.antage  to  be  derived  would  be  perhaps 
to  get  a tree  nearly  equal  to  .\rabica  in  cropping 
powers,  with  the  hardier  constitution  of  Liberian. 
Further,  that  if  a good  hybrid  is  obtained,  it  is 
beyond  all  question  that  the  safest  way  to  propagate 
it  true  to  name  would  be  by  cuttings  or  gr.itts,  etc. 
We  do  not  ourselves  claim  to  bo  an  authority  in 
any  way  on  this  question,  but  wo  would  suggest  that 
an  easier  and  certainly  much  surer  way  of  obtaining 
an  extra-good  strain  of  coffee  would  be  by  the 
methods  so  successfully  employed  at  homo  in  obtain- 
ing “pedigree”  wheat.  Devote  a small  and  iso- 
lated field  °to  seed-boaring  alone.  Rigorously  cut 
out  all  poor  croppers,  and  bestow  the  best  and 
most  thorough  cultivation  possible  to  the  re- 
mainder. Note  carefully  the  heaviest  croppers, 
and  among  these,  those  freest  from  disease 
of  any  kind.  Pick  from  the  latter  only,  and  plant 
from  this  seed  another-seed-field.  The  process  could 
be  developed  adinjinilum,  with  a gradually  better 
result  each  generation.  Another  way  would  be  to 
mark  the  biggest  and  healthiest  croppers  throughout 
the  estate,  and  when  pruning,  or  at  some  other 
convenient  time,  make  cuttings  or  layers  and  plant 
these  in  as  isolated  a spot  as  possible.  The  seed  from 
the  best  of  these  should  be  something  quite  out  of 
the  common,  we  believe. 
We  have  invited  other  scientific  correspondents  to 
give  us  their  views  on  Hybrid  Coffee,  and  we  should 
besides  be  very  glad  to  hear  also  from  practical 
planters  on  the  same  subject. — Planting  Opinion, 
Bept.  12. 
« 
VARIOUS  PLANTING  NOTES. 
COFl'KA  .VNI)  Te.V  CULTIVATIOX  IN'  M.VDKA.S.— 
We  read  in  the  Madras  Mail  that  the  total  nuin- 
her  of  tea  plantations  in  the  Madras  Presidency, 
e.xclusive  of  Native  States,  on  the  31st  December, 
189.5,  according  to  official  returns,  was  107,  which 
employed  4,39(5  persons  permanently  throughout 
the  year,  .and  (504  temijorarily  during  the  busy 
season.  The  area  under  mature  plants  was  (5,083 
.acres,  .and  under  immature  plants  712  acres.  1,940 
acres  liave  been  taken  lU)  for  planting  but  h.ave 
not  yet  been  planted.  The  quantity  of  uncured 
leaf  grown  w.as  27, 70, .881  lb  , and  the  (ju.antity 
of  leaf  manufactured  during  the  ye.ar  was  645,(558 
lb.  Of  the  107  plantations  99  were  on  the  Nilgiris, 
with  a tot.al  area  of  (5,015  .acres  under  cultivation 
and  200  acres  taken  up  but  not  yet  pl.atiteil.  The 
(piantity  of  le.af  cured  was  579,680  lb.  The  num- 
ber of  coffee  plantations  in  the  [‘residency,  c.x- 
clusive  of  Native  States,  w.as  13,033,  which  em- 
jiloyed  19,902  persojis  permanently  during  the  ye.ar 
and  15,366  [)ersons  tempoi-arily  54,921  acres  were 
under  mature  pl.auts  .and  9,032  under  imm.ature 
plants,  59,9()8  acres  have  been  taken  up  but  not 
yet  cultivated.  'Phe  total  yield  for  the  year  was 
11,005,1.37  lb.  '[’here  were  498  i»lantations  on  the 
Nilgiris  with  a total  area  of  24,869  .acres.  In 
this  District  53,116  acres  have  been  newly  taken 
up  but  not  yet  ))lanted.  The  yield  in  tliis  Dis- 
rict  was  7,507,2.80  lb. 
('[\ciioNA  Cultivation  in  Madra.s.— The 
total  area  under  cinchon.a  cultivation  in  the  Madras 
Presidency  during  the  year  1895-9(5,  according  to 
oliicial  returns,  w.as  2,595-96  acres  ; but  this  is 
much  less  th.an  the  .actual  .area  .as  many  of  the 
planters  have  failed  to  furnish  the  reipiired 
information.  The  largest  .area  w.as  on  the  Nilgiris 
l,935'50  acres  (but  the  figures  according  to  the 
village  .accounts  are  7, 226T1  .acres),  with  2,461,803 
mature  and  505,209  immature  trees.  The  outturn 
for  the  ye.ar  is  given  at  402,909  lb.  The  area 
culti\-.atcd  in  M.alal)ar  was(518’.50  acres  with  261,350 
mature  and  11,000  immatui'e  tress.  The  outturn 
of  bark  was  308,439  lb.  In  Mailura  the  area 
under  cinchona  w.as  4,495  acres.  The  plantations 
in  this  District  are  left  to  grow  wild  and  are  not 
barked,  as  it  is  not  found  profitable  to  work  them. 
In 'rravancore  1,479  acres  were  under  cultivation, 
with  798,674  imature  and  296,000  imm.ature  trees. 
The  outturn  of  b.ark  w.as  50(5,350  lb.  All  the 
]tlant.atioiis  in  Cochin  have  been  destroyed.  The 
area  of  the  Covernment  cinchona  plantations  is 
800'-18  .acres,  containing  1,475,193  mature  and 
155, .805  imm.ature  trees.  The  outturn  of  bark  for 
the  ye.ar  w.as  229,700  lb.  The  quantity  of  b.ark  h.ar- 
vested  <luringany  ye.ar  in  these  pl.antatious  is  regu- 
lated by  (he  re(|uircmeuts  of  the  factory  and  bear 
no  relation  to  the  amount  which  would  be  taken. 
