88 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 4,1887. 
subjected, and everything horticultural for that matter, is not the ordeal 
of the exhibition but the dining table. 
In “Experientia docet’s ” first communication long pruning and 
nothing but long pruning was the theme, and so in harmony was it with 
my feelings—so likely to give fruit abundantly in due season—that I 
gave him a review, which proved acceptable. Anyhow, it is acknow¬ 
ledged, page 389, May 19th, 1887, in view no doubt of another “ review ” 
equally as favourable ; but his reviewer had the audacity to question 
his deductions. Allow me to assure your correspondent that it was with a 
desire to give his long pruning its place that 1 replied to his letter. I 
did not, and do not, think unorthodox pruning entitled to credit for 
producing better results in Grape-growing under the specified conditions 
indicated, therefore felt it incumbent to counteract the tendency of 
such teaching. That I have endeavoured to do as a simple duty, for 
who could have dreamed of such a treat being in store for the readers 
of the Journal of Horticulture at the beginning of the dog days, as 
that we are favoured with (page 4) by “ Experientia docet? ” When 
everybody was overwhelmed by heat it came (to me at least) as a re¬ 
fresher. Our friend will perhaps now see the propriety of leaving the 
back seat and take a front one, as we (the orthodox) are liberty-loving 
enough to allow him to sit where he pleases, all seats being free. 
Now for the practical side of the “ advocacy of long-pruning Vines 
under certain specified conditions,” which, as before stated, had no rela¬ 
tion whatever to “ border influences in improving the Grapes,” but now 
(page 389, May 19th, 1887) credit is given to fresh soil and manure, yet he 
has the boldness to assert that the Vines at Cole Orton Hall and The 
Firs owe their bettered state to long pruning. I do not think the Vines 
at Cole Orton Hall help “ Experientia docet,” for, according to his own 
showing, long pruning is unnecessary when Vines root freely near the 
surface of a good border, and the growths are trained thinly and the 
foliage clean. Mr. Henderson, it seems, set to work like a sensible man, 
pruned on the principle of selecting, and cutting to the best eyes, let 
them be situated where they may. Yes, Mr. Henderson was a “sensible 
man ”— >-o., first “ caught the hare ” before giving instructions how it 
was to be cooked ; cut hard back—an orthodox practice, got fresh canes, 
and rejuvenated the Vines. That, with border renovation, is, as I take 
it, the cause of Mr. Henderson having “ swept the boards ” on so many 
occasions. As to the Vines in the brick frame winning £300 in prizes, 
the Vines had not only the advantage of a properly made border, but 
they were “ top-dressed, and fed with the right food, and in right quan¬ 
tity, and at the right time.” Yet we are asked to note “ the fact that 
the pruning was unorthodox ” in the laterals being shortened to the 
“ best eyes.” Mr. Henderson is dearly on our side. The old Vines had 
gone wrong. Refusing to answer to the spur, the rod was brought into 
play. Mr. Sanders acted no doubt wisely in dressing the border with 
lime and applying fresh soil and manure. But I am reminded of over¬ 
looking the fact that in one instance the results of the long pruning was 
unmistakeable ; there were the two systems together—the orthodox and 
unorthodox—and the latter had the “ best Grapes.” I fail to see that 
the roots were beyond control, but they had the benefit of a favourable 
rooting medium. The Vines, it seems, only wanted a chance, and got it 
—increased vigour by encouraging growth and maintaining it. 
Perhaps “Experientia docet” will explain what he means by 
“ orthodox nonsense.” Tell us of a case where Vines in a cold wet 
border have been made by long pruning alone to yield satisfactory crops 
of Grapes. If not able himself, perhaps he may be in a position to 
refer us to some veteran that has made Vines grow fruitful in a border 
composed of unsuitable rooting material. Your correspondent’s inten¬ 
tion is no doubt good, but he forgets there are cases in which no remedy 
is effectual save a thorough renovation of the borders, and that his re¬ 
marks on long pruning being a panacea for unfruitful Vines may 
lead to that extension of the premises he portrays. That is an aspect of 
the question not to be overlooked, as it is calculated to make victims of 
orthodox brethren, whilst leading the unorthodox further astray. 
Return, brother of the spade, to the pathway of the orthodox, in 
which provision is made for the Vines to take root downward and bear 
fruit upward, bringing with you the wanderer back to the fold — 
G. Abbey. 
INDIAN EXPERIENCES. 
(Continued from page 52 6, last vol.) 
THE COFFEE LEAF DISEASE. 
As stated in my last paper, I returned in 1871 to the Wynaad from 
the Neilgherries, after an absence of some five years, to find matters 
relative to Coffee planting greatly altered. As a crowning blow to the 
hopes and prospects of the planter, leaf disease had taken firm hold of 
the plantations that had struggled through all the other ills that the 
Coffee plant is heir to, and was making such rapid and destructive 
progress as seemed to have paralysed the planter and well nigh caused 
him to give up in despair. The disease appeared first in Ceylon a year 
or two previous to the above date, then amongst the Coffee estates of 
Travancore, the most southern limit of Coffee cultivation in India. 
From Travancore the malady gradually travelled northwards till it 
reached Wynaad, Coorg, Mysore, and the most northern limits of the 
industry. With regard to Ceylon, I believe that at the earlier stages of 
the leaf disease Dr. Thwaites unhesitatingly recorded his opinion, after 
close and careful examination of the subject, that the disease would 
only finish its march of destruction with the death of the last Coffee 
tree in the island ; and although he subsequently modified this opinion, 
I, for one, am inclined to believe that Dr. Thwaites’ first impression was 
a correct one. It is at least quite certain that no more formidable 
enemy, or one more difficult to attack and subdue, has ever appeared 
on the earth to test the powers of scientists and the patience of any 
community of cultivators. To accurately describe the ravages of this 
mysterious fungoid growth on the leaves of the Coffee trees, and the 
consternation it caused throughout the Coffee districts of Southern India., 
is no easy task. I had seen the Potato blight in its worst form, as well 
as other kinds of plant diseases and injury by insects in England, and 
of course I had come face to face with the wide-spread injury caused to* 
Coffee plantations by bug, borer, drought, &c., but such an affliction as- 
this leaf disease, at once so rapid, devastating, and ruinous in its nature,- 
I had never before seen, nor even dreamt of. It took a stout heart on. 
the part of any planter to boldly face the difficulty, and after the first 
shock had passed over to begin courageously to battle with the disease- 
and endeavour to eradicate it by a higher system of cultivation than lie- 
had previously resorted to. This was done in numerous instances, and: 
large sums of money were again spent in artificial and other manures in 
order to sustain the vigour of the plant and, as it was supposed, to* 
render it less liable to the attacks of the fungus ; but up to the time I 
left the country in 1877 all this expenditure of energy and money had', 
resulted only in a partial and limited degree of success. 
The fungus could be seen more or less on the leaves of the Coffee- 
bushes throughout the whole year, but the time of its greatest appear¬ 
ance was between the endingof the south-west rains—about the middle of 
September—and the end of crop-gathering—the end of December. At the 
latter date it was no unusual sight to see plantations denuded of leaves- 
and with quantities of fruit of a greenish yellow colour, which refused 
to ripen, and which had to be gathered in that state, dried in the cherry r , 
and afterwards pounded out in mortars, yielding Coffee of a very inferior- 
quality. The fungus, or rust as it was sometimes called, first appeared? 
on the leaves in the form of spots of a bright orange-red colour, which- 
gradually merged into each other till the whole of the back of the leaf 
became covered with a thick coating of the fungus, resembling a red 
powder, staining the fingers freely when touched. On the first 
appearance of the fungus in the form of spots alluded to above, each 
spot contained a small worm about 3-l(!th of an inch in length, which, 
could be easily seen by the naked eye ; but whether this little worm or 
maggot was the outcome of the growth of the fungus on which it fed, 
or whether it was the attack of the insect on the leaf which caused the 
growth of the fungus, no one seemed to be able to say, but the presence 
of the insect was an undoubted as well as a curious and interesting fact. 
As the fungoid growth spread qn the under side of the leaf the upper 
surface gradually became yellow, owing no doubt to the tissues of the- 
leaf being destroyed and ending in the leaf falling. The disease was 
not confined to Coffee under any particular condition as regards culture, 
but appeared everywhere, on highly cultivated estates, on estates- 
receiving cultivation only in name, on the trees remaining on abandoned 
plantations, and on trees that had sprung up from stray seeds in the 
jungle, so that it would appear that the disease was propagated by the- 
spores floating in the atmosphere, detecting a congenial lodging place on 
the leaves of the Coffee plant, wherever or in whatever condition 
found. 
An idea sprung up in the minds of a number of planters—after it 
was found that the highest cultivation it was possible to adopt had but 
a limited effect in checking the disease—that such a deterioration had 
taken place in the constitution of the ordinary Coffee grown in Southern 
India from some cause unknown, that it was absolutely necessary to- 
procure “fresh blood” in the form of a distinct species of Coffee^ 
possessing, if possible, a more robust constitution. Just at that time- 
the Liberian Coffee was much spoken of, and an English firm of nursery¬ 
men was raising plants from seed procured direct from the West Coast 
of Africa for export to India or elsewhere to anyone wishing to try the- 
experiment. I was induced amongst others to order a Wardian case of 
plants to be sent out, which was done very promptly by the firm alluded 
to. The case contained seventy plants in thumb pots, and so admirably 
were they packed that every plant reached me in perfect health after a 
voyage and journey covering some forty days. The case reached me in 
December. I opened it at once and shifted the plants, which were then 
only about 3 inches high, into larger pots; they at once started into- 
growth, and by planting-out time had grown into strong, healthy plants- 
of an average height of 1 foot. These 1 planted out very carefully on 
a piece of good land on a new plantation I was then engaged in* 
forming. The plants did not make much progress in the open ground 
during the continuance of the heavy monsoon rains ; but as soon as- 
these began to moderate the plants began to grow rapidly, and by the- 
time the dry weather had fairly set in had produced shoots of a very 
satisfactory growth, and leaves of an enormous size in comparison with 
the ordinary Coffee of the district. As time went on I found traces of' 
the leaf disease on the young Coffee trees of the ordinary type, of which 
I had planted some 150,000 at the same time as the Liberian species ; but 
no appearance of disease of any kind on the plants from England. 
Matters grew gradually worse with the common species of Coffee on 
the estate till at last they were utterly divested of every leaf and left to 
weather the ensuing hot season under bare poles as best as they could. 
The Liberian plants resisted the disease for such a length of time that I 
thought they were going to be proof against it ; but in this I was 
mistaken, they caught the contagion at last and perished more rapidly 
than the plants of the old species of the same age. This was a very 
disappointing and disheartening experiment to me. It cost the 
respectable sum of 500r., or £50, which was, of course, thrown to the 
winds. I may also add that this particular plantation, although formed 
