Jan, I, 1898.J 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
469 
CRYPTOGAMIST FOR CEYLON. 
Mr. J. B. Carruthers, who arrived at Colombo 
by the mail steamer “ Himalaya ” from Eng^land, 
last month, accompanied by Mr. Dickman of 
Wariapola estate has come out to Ceylon, we 
believe, to conduct new investigations into the 
cacao disease. Mr. Carruthers went up to Kandy, 
where he was expected to remain about ten days. 
Mr. Carruthers has not been appointed or en- 
gaged by the Government. The London corres- 
pondent of our morning contemporary says : — 
The Colonial Office, being of a dilatory nature, shewed 
no inclination to appoint a Cryptogamist to inquire into 
the disease, so Mr. Dickenson has taken the matter into 
his own hands. I hope that Ceylon may benefit by Mr. 
Carruthers’ visit ; he has many qualifications for the 
work before him. He has for some time past been 
working with his father who was till quite recently 
Keeper of Botany at the Natural History Museum, 
S. Kensington, and is now Consulting Botanist to the 
Boyal Agricultural Society. Mr. J. B. Carruthers 
has therefore had ample opportunities of acquiring 
considerable and varied experience, and I may say, 
has also been very successful in his treatment of several 
fungus pests here in England, especially in connection 
with larch trees. He is recommended by Mr. George 
Murray, the present Keeper of Botany at the British 
Museum (Nat : Hist :) as “ thoroughly fitted by train- 
ing by natural ability and by performance to carry 
out such an investigation ” as that in connection 
with the Ceylon cacao trees, 
It may interest such of your readers as are Pres- 
byterians to learn that Mr. W. Carnrthers, f.e.s., the 
father of this rising cryptogamist, combines with the 
highest scientific attainments in his own special 
branch a very pretty knowledge of the “ Shorter 
Catechism ” drawn up two hundred and fifty years 
ago by the Westminster Assembly of Divines. Yes- 
terday was celebrated the 250th anniversary of the 
day, 25th November, 1647, on which the flouse of 
Commons ordered 600 copies of the Catechism to be 
printed. In literary commemoration of the event 
a book has now been published giving a photogra- 
phic facsimile of the document as then printed, with 
an historical introduction and bibliography by Mr, 
Carruthers, himself a prominent member, of the Pres- 
byterian Church in England. 
The London correspondent of our evening con- 
temporary says : — 
It may be that the Colonial Office (notwithstanding 
the Kew people having decidedly said they saw no 
necessity for sending any one from England) have 
decided to act ; it may be that a wire has come from 
Sir West Ridgeway upon which the Colonial Office 
people have promptly acted ; or it may be that 
Messrs. Dickenson and Martin Pirie have secured 
sufficient support to their efforts to obtain £300 
guaranteed by those interested in cocoa cultivation, 
and have closed arrangements with Mr. Carruthers 
and sent him off to catch the season. Mr. Leake, as 
Secretary of Ceylon Association in London, sent a 
circular to the leading cocoa proprietors here giving 
the facts up to date, and asking for adhesion to 
the above guarantee, but the replies were not of 
that nature that would enable Mr. Dickenson to act 
But Mr. Dickenson has put his back into this busi- 
ness and deserves the greatest credit for all he has 
done. If his efforts have moved the various firms and 
individuals, armed as he was with the subscriptions of 
himself and Mr. Pirie, and, moving quicker than 
Government action moves, if he has carried his point 
and despatched Mr. Carruthers, he doubly deserves 
credit. I may mention that Professor Marshall Ward 
named a Mr. John Parkin, a demonstrator under 
him, but not more than two or three and twenty 
for the post. Mr. Carruthers is 30. His father, now 
retired, was many years at the Natural History 
Museum at Soueh Kensington and is now Chemist 
to the Boyal Agricultural Society. He has been, I 
hear, very strongly recommended for the Ceylon 
post by his father’s successor, Mr. Murray, undej. 
whom he has been working. 
1 have just heard that Mr. Dickenson has himself 
engaged Mr. J. B. Carruthers, and they have left 
today via Brindisi. 
THE CACAO DISEASE AND A 
SPECIAL CRYPTOGAMIST. 
We give Mr. J. Carruthers a hearty welcome 
to the island, and trust thaf his mission may 
result in lasting benefit to our cacao industry 
and in credit to himself. The name of his 
honoured father as well as his own have long 
been familiar to us, and from what we have 
heard of Mr. Carruthers' ability and past investi- 
gations— especially as to a disease affecting larch 
trees— we are very hopeful that practical good is 
likely to result from his visit to Ceylon. We 
feel sure he may depend on the hearty co-opera- 
tion of Mr. Willis, Director of the Botanic Gar- 
dens, , and of Mr. E. E. Green, Honorary Ento- 
mologist, as well as of the several planters in the 
island who have paid attention to the pest which 
has injured, and still troubles, their cacao fields. 
While admiring and giving special credit to the en- 
terprise of the private proprietors— represented by 
Mr. Dickenson— who have brought out the 
C/yP^^fgamist, w;e trust that the way will be made 
plain for an official engagement for Mr. Carru- 
thers, so that he may be able to study the 
cacao disease not on one group of estates in a 
single district; but wherever it is found, and so 
furnish an exhaustive Report and, let us hope 
suggest a sufficient remedy. If it be true that 
Mr. Carruthers is the bearer of a letter from Lord 
Selborne, Under-Secretary of State to the 
Governor, we may feel hopeful that His Excel- 
lency will agree to make the visit, inspection 
and Report, more or less an official one, arrang- 
mg that the three experts— Messrs. Willis 
Carruthers and Green — should, as far as possible, 
co-operate to the desired end, namely the over- 
coming of this cacao pest. 
GEM-MINING IN CEYLON. 
We call attention to a specially iiiterestin" 
letter from Mr. W. S. Lockhart, Managing 
Director of the Ceylon Pro.specting Syndicate, 
Limited, which is about to commence active 
operations in Ceylon. Mr. Goldie and “ the 
plant” may, by this time, be on the way, 
and Mr. Lockhart himself is likely to follow 
erelong. We are clearly on the eve of im- 
portant developments in connection with this 
department of industry in the island, and about 
this w'e shall have more to say in another issue. 
The Experiment of Importing Orange 
from Australia in ordinary cases without refri- 
gerating en route, has not been a grand success, 
judging from the out-turn of the fruit ex- 
“Lusitania, wdiich must have been disappoint- 
ing to shippers. Not a .single ease out of 1,157 
catalogued was sound, and many lots contained 
so much waste that two boxes w'ere required to 
make one sound when re-packed. Prices ranged 
from 6s to 17s ; but it must be said that the 
Iruit was delicious, and sure to find favour if 
shipments can be made in better condition.— 
Grocers" Joiirnal, Nov. 13. 
