200 
THK TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
ISept, I. 1S97. 
If I mistal<e not Mr. Francis Beven then, for 
the first time, applied to Government for salt 10 
he issued to him for expeiiinental purpo.ses at 
wholesale price. In reply he was asked for figures 
of the probalde consumption of salt for agricul- 
tural purposes if issued at reduced rates^. ^ Ot 
course he could not answer so unreasoname a 
(luestioii unless all agriculturists became specially 
communicative and confided their jirobable le- 
(luiremeiits to him. Then the matter dropped. 
The reply to Mi. Francis Beven's reasonable 
and modest request of 1895 does not redound to 
the credit of Government as far-seeing, paternal 
or practical. Tne objections put forward are 
fanciful. No cooly will purify contaminated salt 
to sell it. He will hardly find a purchaser toi 
ib ■when it will he known far ami Avide tl'.at 
contaminated salt is being used on the estate he 
hails from. . . , ,, 
I attempted to revive the agitation for the use 
of salt in coconut cultivation so lately as last 
vear and iiuoted numerous authoiities in sup- 
port of its use in agriculture. My communica- 
tion was published in the OUerver without one 
simde word of couimout,* ami it led to no coiie- 
spoudcnce. I gave the matter np in disgust as 
no one danced to my piping. _ 
Now as to the method and tune lor applica- 
tion. Salt being so soluble it will not be advisable 
to apply It even in heavy soils oxce|>l as a top- 
Iressiim' and with tlie last lains ot the h.-\}. 
monsoon. Owing to its power of attracting mois- 
ture from llie atmos])here, it wid be lielplul 
Unvards enabling Oic trees to pass through tne 
trvino period (d’ drought. For districts suHcmig 
from "drought and where it becomes necessary o 
water not only coconut idaiits but trees as "ell, 
its use cannot but be of the utmost use. i y 
c-uidintv principle in cultivating a coconut estate 
IS to fet 110 product leave it but what is essen- 
tially necessary for financial purposes and to get 
into' it for application to the soil all 1 can. i 
for a time succea.sfnily re-ustcil the wis.i ol a 
former employer to sell his husks to hhre mills. 
He said T could get a return load ot lihrc dust. 
I was for getting the dust in addition, to keeping 
the husks. His wishes or orders as supreme 
prevailed in the end. I feel sure after Mr. Cochran s 
analysis of the husk he must feel sorry that he 
allowed so much valuable manurial niatter to be 
removed from his estate ami for only a mnall 
eonsidevation. 1 flunk Mr. C.ichran s calculations 
should not he the means of indneing intelligent 
planters t,o sell their husks if they get an otter 
for them above what they are worth as a manure. 
All waste products should be returned to the soil, 
after burning, as a rule, for substances that decay 
slowly. Of cour.se, there is a loss ot organic 
matter by this, but that is compensated for by 
the quickness of the results. _ _ 
The richness of husks and nranches m potash 
is well known to Ceylon dhoVfies though they 
are nob clieim«ts and they take |>ractical ad van- 
tan'e of their knowledge to the de.struction ot 
oiu clothes. Ill the Western Province the ashes 
of husks is used in the }dace ot soap to ;yash 
THE CACAO DISEASE. 
Sudugaiiga, Matale, 10th July, 1897. 
Dk.VK Sir,— I n solicitation of jnactical experi- 
ence in ihe matter, and under this to elicit as 
far as possilde what may be the cause of the 
disease which attends the Common Bed variety 
of Cacao at a certain age, would you kimlly 
publish the cncln.seil Correspondence.— I am, dear 
sir, yours faithfully, 
GEOKGE A. GBEIG. 
clothes, and in the Southern Province that of 
(be branches, or rather petioles. Alter raui had 
fallen onbnining branches f have picked up ciude 
potash in white crystals very sharp and corrosive 
to taste and touch. 
[The agitation to enable (.eyloa salt to be 
used for" agricultural ]mrposes, began first in 
JSGG, witliiii uur time, nnd lins keen iene\^ed at 
intervals since. — Ed. /Ml.J 
* 111 our absence again unfortunately ! En. 1,A. 
2Ii\ Cr- - 1 . Crrcig'ii Idler to 2Ir. Green. 
Sudnganga, iMatale, June 28tli 1897. 
B. E. Green E.=q., Punduluoy '. Dear Sir. — I was 
very glad to see from your letter of the 21st in the 
Observer of the 23id you were of opinion that the 
present causes of the disease affecting our cacao v:ere 
not directly traceable to any insre.t. 
I have a theory on foot that the spread ot *• can- 
ker” has been entirely due to having cut off suckers, 
which 1 base on the following points — 1st, I notice 
in cases where old trees have been allowed togrow 
with very little suckering or none at all, these re- 
main (so far) healthy and are for the most part not 
subject to disease; 
2nd. That canker predominates in the belter cacao 
where soil is richer; and ord, that the poorer cacao 
besides being unaffected looks better than it ever did. 
Taking the 2nd and .'Ird points into question I can 
only arrive at a reason for the diversities in these, 
iu the following : — That cocoa in the richer soil 
having borne abundant crops, and the in con- 
sequence (being unable to extend or renew themselves 
ill time owing to suckeriug) were iu a weak 
state, and diseased (and thereby subject to the 
attacks of insect and fungii resiiltiiig iu mortality. 
That the poorer cacao not having cropped to the 
extent of the other, though subject to the same 
treatment in every way, the limbs were in healthier 
condition enabling the trees to withstand the attacks 
of insects and fungi as well as respond to last year’s 
favourable weather. 
1 agree with you that the branches of a cankered 
tree, as a rule, are not affected, and this goes to 
prove, I would think, there is no infection iu the 
disease. 
It is well known, or it may not be, that branches 
renew themselves, and are auxiliaries to one another 
in different periods of fruiting, and cacao being a 
stem-bearing tree, so also, I maintain should stems 
have the same advantage in not being suckered at 
all at any time to either elongate themselves or that 
the tree have two or three limbs from the bottom 
as nature may provide. In having an increased num- 
ber of stems or timbs (the latter term properly 
speaking, and I 1 orrow this vantage after reading 
your letter ot the 21st), this would mean a further 
development ot primaries (?) secondaries, &c., and 
equalize the fruit bearing area, and possibly prevent 
trees over-bearing. And it is to over-bearing on 
the one limb I attribute weakness. I notice that if 
a tree does not give much crop in the autumn it 
generally responds in the spring and vice-versa. In the 
same manner this may account for extra cropping 
every altomate year. 
Of course the question now is in the present 
causes of disease in old cacao, — What is the best 
course to pursue for a cure ? 
In the theory I put forward the only answer is 
let all suckers grow. But (that inevitable !) in cases 
where the trees have been subject to a severe treat- 
ment of suckering it will take at least two years 
or perhaps longer to -prove the remedy. And this 
inasmuch as suckers will require the time to 
mature and assert them.selves fri in the roots, and no 
tree will be safe till it has a liniti auxiliary either 
i.i extended form or in two or more stems. Bike- 
wise suckers will die with the old stem or limb if their 
growth i.s not well advanced. 
I know of cacao tree.s (Common Bed variety) which 
have been allowed to run np and to all appear- 
