TtlE  TROPIC \L  AGRICULTURIST. 
555 
Feb.  r,  1897.] 
I am  not  of  opinion  that  there  is  much  need  of 
an  expert  specially  for  blights  All  that  is  required 
are  observant,  thoughtful,  practical  men,  methodical, 
with  a scientific  cast  of  mind,  and  withal,  and  above 
all,  enthusiastic.  It  must  be  admitted  that  most 
gardeners  and  agriculturists  sent  out  to  tea  commerce 
perhaps  wdth  too  little  home  experience  for  this 
task ; still  I doubt  not  there  are  several  men  con- 
nected with  tea  in  India,  if  set  aside  to  devote 
their  entire  time  and  thought  to  the  matter, 
would  be  able  in  time  to  accomp'ish  much.  In 
addition  to  the  agricultural  chemist  one  such 
mighteven  be  deputed  to  each  group  of  blighted  districts. 
There  is,  I learn,  no  hope  held  out  of  pecuniary 
aid  from  Government.  Upon  the  whole,  this  may 
not  really  be  a disadvantage,  because  Government 
support  would  reasonably  be  accompanied  by  Govern- 
ment control.  If  there  can  be  absolute  certainty 
about  anything  regarding  this  appointment  it  is 
this:  The  Tea  Association  should  engage  the  most 
competent  and  suitable  scientific  officer  procurable, 
and  if  such  be  secured,  there  is  no  one  in  India  I 
have  heard  of  competent  to  “ supervise  his  work.” 
He  should  only  be  under  the  direction  of  sound 
business  men  financially,  and  must  be  allowed  a free 
hand  in  regard  to  his  scientific  investigations,  being 
at  the  same  time  led  clearly  and  fully  to  understand 
that  the  success  of  his  efforts  to  benefit  the  tea  in- 
dustry shall  ba  to  his  own  advantage  and  vice  versa. 
But  the  Association  must  not  be  too  impatient  of 
results.  No  one  can  doubt  that  that  the  scientific 
officer  will  always  be  vary  glad  to  receive  sugges- 
tions and  information  from  anyone  Government  may 
depute,  for  the  good  of  the  industry,  to  interest  him- 
self in  and  furnish  information  bearing  upon  the 
investigations.  But,  depend  upon  it,  the  control  or 
supervision  of  the  scientific  researches  of  a compet- 
ent officer,  as  suggested,  could  hardly  fail  to  mar  the 
efficiency  of,  if  not  wreck  the  undertaking. 
Neither  can  I agree  that  the  use  of  the  Govern- 
ment laboratories  would  be  advantageous  as  a rule. 
The  scientific  officer  must  have  his  own  laboratories, 
though  only  a small  bungalow  or  part  of  one.  It 
would  be  impossible,  for  instance,  to  obtain  any 
reliable  results  in  the  chemical  investigation  of  the 
processes  of  manufacture  unless  the  labora'.ories  be 
close  at  hand.  Government  would  no  doubt  place 
their  laboiatories  aud  appai'atus  at  the  disposal  of 
the  scientific  officer  if  necessary  for  any  special  in- 
vestigation. 
In  regard  to  a suitable  “scientific  officer,”  labora- 
tory accommodation,  apparatus,  and  instructions  to 
be  framed  to  insure  continuity  of  research  in  the 
event  of  inevitable  changes,  I believe  the  Association 
could  not  do  better  than  consult  Dr.  John  Augustus 
Voelcker  (Ph.  D.,  B.S.,  &c.),  consulting  chemist  to  the 
Iloyal  Agricultural  Society  of  England,  who  devoted 
thirteen  months  throughout  India  to  an  inquiry  into 
its  agriculture  (mainly  in  its  scientific  bearings),  and 
the  qualifications,  equipment,  and  appointment  of 
agricultural  chemists  for  the  country. — II.  ami  C.  Mail, 
Jan.  1. 
COFFEE:— THE  ONLY  WAY  TO  LM- 
PllOVE  OUR  COFFEE  STRAINS. 
ADVICK  FRO.M  DR  MORRIS,  DIRECTOR  OF  THE 
ROYAL  KEW  GARDENS. 
The  following  i.s  a letter  in  answer  to  some 
queries  of  ours,  forwarded  through  a friend,  re- 
garding the  advisability  of  replacing  the  disease- 
stricken  coffee  seed  of  South  India  with  new 
and  preferably  wild  strains.  Our  readers  will 
note  that,  barring  the  valu.able  suggestion  of 
beginning  the  experiment  with  first  rate  Blue 
Mountain  seed  (which  has  already  been  acted 
upon  in  a careless,  haidiazard  manner),  the  gist 
of  the  sound  advice  Dr.  Morris  gives  us  is 
identical  with  that  which  appeared  in  our  issue 
of  December  5th  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  J. 
Cameron,  of  Bangalore. 
There  is  one  thing  we  would  strongly  impress 
upon  our  readers,  and  that  is,  the  iinprovement 
of  our  strain.?  is  surely  a pkmttr's  imttcr.  It  i? 
a work  in  whicli  everyone  of  us  can  take  our 
part,  though  the  first  steps,  i.e.,  tlie  introduc- 
tion of  first  rale  Blue  Mountain  coffee,  might 
fitly  be  underlaken  by  the  United  Planters’ 
A.'^sociatinn. 
Writing  under  date  of  14th  December  1896, 
Kew,  Dr  Morris  says: — 
The  suggestion  [i.e.  about  going  tack  to  the  wild 
stock, — Ed]  is  similar  to  many  that  reach  me 
from  various  parts  of  the. world.  It  is  based 
really  on  a misapprehension  of  the  means 
adopted  by  highly  skilled  horticulturists  in 
working  up  improved  stocks  of  cultivated 
plants.  Instead  of  going  back  to  the  original  wild 
stocks  these  people  start  from  the  best  of  those  now 
existing  and  by  careful  selection  and  cultivation 
produce  strains  of  the  highest  merit. 
Although  plants  affected  b}'  disease  may  have 
deteriorated  individually,  yet  in  a large  area  there 
would  be  found  numerous  indiv  duals  of  healthy  con- 
stitution and  quite  capable  of  responding  to  the 
inufluences  of  improved  cultivation  and  a rvise  and 
skilful  selection.  If  you  go  back  to  the  wild  stock 
you  have  to  traverse  a fresh  all  the  graduations  of 
iinprovement  already  obtained,  with  ]ro.ssibly  no  better 
result  than  at  present. 
The  o.ily  way  to  really  improve  the  present  coffee 
plant  is,  as  you  [our  friend,  who  forwarded  the 
letter. — Ed.]  suggest,  to  carry  on  systematic  experi- 
ments extending  over  several  generations  and  seizing 
upon  every  indication  of  improvemmt  to  fix  it  at 
e.tch  stage  until  the  desired  result  is  obtained.  To 
some  e.xteut.  but  not  in  a very  scientific  way,  im- 
prqvoineut  had  taken  place  in  the  character  of  the 
coffee  cultivated  in  the  Blue  Mountains  of  Jamaica. 
The  plants  are  prolific,  bear  large  beans  of  good 
colour,  and  the  produce  is  possibiy  the  best  of  any 
appearing  in  European  markets.  It  often  fetches 
142/  per  cwt.  The  quantity  is  small  owing  to  the 
difficulty  of  obtaining  forest  land  suitable  for  extend- 
ing the  cultivation. 
If  the  planters  of  Southern  India  were  to  import 
selected  seed  from  the  Blue  Mountains  of  .Jamaica 
the  results  would  be  much  more  satisfactory  than 
starting  with  really  wild  plants.  They  would  then 
start  where  the  .Jamaica  people  have  left  off. 
We  always  take  up  any  new  species  or  varieties 
of  coffee  that  we  meet  with,  aud  we  distribute  plants 
for  purposes  of  e.xperimeut— in  fact  to  furnish  the 
raw  material  for  planters  to  work  upon  if  they  like. 
Coffee  stenopJnjIla  is  a case  in  point.  This  is  very 
near  C.  arabica  and  may  indeed  be  a wild  form  of 
it.  I do  not  suppose,  however,  that  planters  will 
take  the  trouble  to  work  at  the  wild  plant  for,  say, 
twenty  ye.ars  in  order  to  get  an  improved  variety. 
Experiments  on  a small  scale  are  worthless.  It  is 
imrely  a planter’s  matter,  to  he  solved  ouli/  on  the  estates 
whtre  coffee  is  laryely  grown.  [The  italics  are  ours. 
— Ed.]  Only  one  plant  in  ten  thousand  may  show 
any  characteristics  of  a desirable  character,  the  same 
as  in  the  sugar  cane.  Although  some  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  seedling  canes  have  been  grown,  only 
two  have  shown  any  special  characters  of  a valuable 
kind. 
If  it  is  proposed  to  import  Blue  Mountain  coffee 
seed  from  Jamaica,  correspondence  might  be  opened 
with  Beresford  S.  Gosset,  Farm  Hill  Coffee  Planta- 
tion, Hagley  Gap  P.  0.  Jamaica.  He  is  a reliable 
man  who  has  excellent  coffee  fields.— PZa.'?imp  Opinion, 
Jan.  9. 
« 
JAMAICA  FRUIT  IN  LONDON. 
Considerable  interest  was  exhibited  yesterday 
in  Coveqt  Garden  in  connection  with  the  sale 
by  auction  of  tlie  first  consignment  of  Jamaica 
fruit  received  direct  from  the  island  in  this  country 
by  the  steamer  Port  Victor.  The  market  was 
unusu.ally  crowdel,  tlie  le.ading  wholesale  dealers 
in  Manchester,  Liver|)ool,  ami  Glasgow  being  re- 
presented. An  inspection  of  the  fruit,  which 
was  packed  in  cases  of  two  sizes,  showed  that 
