Seft. I, 1897.] 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
The Labor question had been receiving the at- 
tention in Go\ernmenb, ami amongst other 
suggestions the peopling of Assam by the 
surplus population of other Provinces was 
one •Jeserviug of very serious consideration. 
The Hon. Mr. Turner referred to the handling 
of tea at tiie jettie.s and warehouses and pointed out 
how difKmilt it was vviien coolies had the hand- 
ling of packages, to make them r.se that care 
they should use, and it was only by' putting on 
extra European supervision that this could he 
done. That had been done and he thought with 
satisfactory rc.sults. A resolution was unani- 
mously carried that the rate of subscription for 
the current yeai' from each garhen belonging to 
the Association should be one anna per acre 
under cultivation. 
EXPEPJMENTAL AND BOTANICAL 
CARDENS, ANURADHAPURA. 
I wa.s agreeably surpidscd to fiml cacao doing 
so well in the gardens. The coiuluctor, ?,Ir. 
Gooneratnc, tells me that last year he gaAlieied 
the largest crop. 
The oranges have done fairly well. Eiom the 
garden I have ilislrilmted l)oth in the town and 
amongst the villagers on my circuits jak, Liberian 
coffee, cacao, and other ]>lants. 
A larger number of fruit trees should be 
grown for the free distribution amung.st the 
villagers ; it is useless to expect payment, for 
the villagers will not buy plants. Free distri- 
bution will, I feel sure, do good, and I fully en- 
dorse what Mr. Nevill stated in his report for 
1893 
The gardens here, if to be of any use to the Pro- 
vince, should introduce and test the varieties of 
well-known fruit trees and vegetables grown else- 
where or in Ceylon as well as introduce new kinds. 
Little nurseries should be made of trees useful for 
food or affording by profit or luxury an incentive 
to careful home culture by the peasantry. Soinsops, 
pomegranates of better quality than now exist, 
oranges, lime.^, even country damsons, uguressa 
plums. West Indian papaw's, and all such fruits couid 
be sov/n on small plots of ground for distribution to 
the villagers. 
The eucalyptus trees are doing well. The 
mahogany trees in the town look better than 
tliey did since I had them manured, and I dare- 
say the extra amount of rain last year has 
lielped them. There are some very line maho- 
gany trees in the Government Agent’s grounds, so 
that it is fully established that this tiee will 
thrive here, — Mr. Bi/rdc’s Ad. Report for 1896. 
CACAO CULTIVATION IN CEYLON. 
THK HAUDIKR KtND.S AND AN EXPERIMENT 
IN GRAFTING SUGGESTED. 
Mr. E. E. Green sends us the the following 
interesting note : — 
“There seems to be little doubt but that the 
red variety of cacao is less suited to our climate 
than the Forastero stock which has a more 
vigorous growth and resists to a great extent all 
diseases and blights. Agriculturists all over the 
world seem to be turning their attention more 
and more to the cultivation of disease-resisting 
varieties of plants. In this connection you should 
note Prof. Marshall Ward’s remarks in the last 
nnniljer of Nature {.June 10, 1897, p. 122, lines 
14 to 33). It would also be interesting to try the 
effect of grafting the more delicate ' red ’ on to 
the hardier ‘yellow’ stock.” 
1 69 
From Nature we take over the following portion 
of Prof.' IMarsliall Ward's review of a book on 
the Diseases of Plants," by Dr. Tubeiif, wliieli 
is given the lir.st place ia the weekly scieiitilic 
journal : — 
One of the most striking and important features 
ia this new book is the far too meagre note on “selec- 
tion of hardy varieties ” — the word “hardy” does not 
acoarately translate the oiigiual. Er-om all sides 
we are 007 ." hearing that different varieties of vines, 
potatoes, wheat, etc., show different disease-resisting 
powers, and Tubeuf says, “ Ao important method 
for the protection of plants from disease , . . con- 
sists in the selection and cultivation of varieties 
and species of plants able to resist the attacks of 
p.ii'itsitio fungi.” 
The very brief account of what has done with 
the vine, and the reference to what has been dis- 
covered abo>tt wheat, will only leave the reader- 
hungry for more iui'oi'uiation. 
.Tn Eriksson and Henning's exhaustive volume on 
V. ’neat-rust — to wh’ch I can discover no reference 
here, the author conhaing his remarks to a note 
they published last year in the Zeiltichrift f. 
1‘ li'Mztnkrankheiten — the student wdl find that as 
matter of fact s;.ma varieties of wheat suffer little, 
and others much [rom Picceinia. 
I rcjneiiiber being strongly impressed, in 1880-81, 
by the varied differences between tne llemileia 
on cohee and that on Caitlhiuni in Ceylon, and 
even then threw out the bint that the former had 
been derived from the latter ; but the comparative 
immunity of Cofi'ea Libtrica as constrasted with 
C. Arahica, suggested that it was not impossible 
that a disease-resisting coffee should be found. 
The subject is complex and bristles with difficulties • 
but that is no reason for hesitating as to the ex- 
perimental inquiry ; and indeed it has already been 
commenced in several counU-ies, as the reports from 
Australia, America, and elsewhere show. 
Another feature of interest and importance in Von 
Tubeuf’s book, is the chapter on “ preventive and 
combative measures,’’ involving the treatment of 
diseased plants by moans of chemicals. Here, again 
I notice a lack of attention to the English litera- 
ture; Berkeley, and others of our countrymen, had 
experimented with subihur in various forms, long 
before most of the autborities mentioned had taken 
the matter up. Still, it is quite true, the introduc- 
tion of Bordeaux-mixture, and its employment on 
the enormous scales adopted in Prance, Australia, 
America and elsewhere, have taught us much, and 
suggested more. It is a common mistake to supipose 
that the intelligent apqilioation of remedial measures 
to plant-diseases does not pay — there are plenty of 
witnesses to the contrai’y ; but, unfortunately, school 
and university courses generally have allowed of 
so little attention to the knowledge that must 
be utilised in carrying out such measures, that even 
skilled farmers, foresters, and other cultivators of 
pilants, have to enter upon these expierimeuts quite 
unequipped for carrying them out puoperly. 
Tubeuf’s chapter on the “ economic importance of 
diseases of plants ” may be coraially— if .sadly 
recommended to all who are interested in the 
very necessary extension of technical education by 
the institution of agricultural schools and colleo-es. 
He quotes the losses due to the Californian vine- 
disease (1892) at 10,000,000 dollars ; in 1891 the wheat- 
rust cost Prussia over £20,000,00, and Australia 
something like £2, .500,000. Even allowing for laro-e 
exaggerations — though reports from Sweden, Indfa 
Ceylon, the West Indies, and elsevdiere suggest simi- 
larly large losses from fungus epridemics— in these 
estimates, it is evident that wo have here to deal 
with the annual losses of which even a saving of a very 
few pounds per cent would be worth consideration • 
and the comparatively meagre experiments to hand 
hold out hopes of much more considerable saving if 
steps are taken in time, with a due and intelligent 
knowledge of the problems to be faced, and °tUe 
iBethods of facing them, * 
