JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AXD COTTAGE GAR DEFER. 
291 
April 14,1887. ] 
regular intervals of 10 or 12 feet apart amongst the Coffee plants, and 
over the whole area cultivated. This was done with the object of sup¬ 
plying shade to the Coffee plant, as a preventive of the evil effects of 
long continued droughts, and the still more destructive effects of the 
larvae of the Coffee beetle, or borer as it was usually called. The I’oin- 
■ciana was raised from seed, and was of rapid growth, attaining the 
height of 15 to 20 feet in the course of two and a half years, and form¬ 
ing wide heads. Subsequent experience proved that the tree was useless 
for shade, losing its leaves, or most of them, in the dry season, or just 
at the time they were most required, so that about the year 1875 it was 
not uncommon to see in the Wynaad estates from which every trace of 
the Coffee tree had vanished, and with only Grasses and low undergrowth 
-beneath the spreading arms of the Poinciana trees, which covered the 
■whole of the land originally planted with Coffee. When it is stated 
that not a few of these extinct Coffee estates were from 100 to 200 acres 
•each, the glory of the Poinciana when in full flower may be more easily 
imagined than described, doubtless excelling in grandeur anything ever 
■seen in its native island of Madagascar. 
Before completing my remarks on the Bamboo district, I would like 
to make further reference to the borer insect mentioned above as an 
-agent that has played no inconsiderable part in the fortunes of the 
English Coffee planter in southern India of late years. With Coffee 
realising £100 per ton and upwards, with the rapid and full maturity of 
the tree on Bamboo soil, and the splendid yield of from 10 to 15 cwts. 
of berry per acre, which was at one time no unusual crop, planters for 
a time might lac excused if they looked upon the district in something 
■ of the light of a future El Dorado. But whilst hope was high, and the 
planter exerting all his energy on the cultivation of the plant from 
which he hoped ere long to derive a competency, a tiny enemy was 
secretly at work which was destined at no distant date to blast his 
brightest hopes, and bring him, in many instances, to financial ruin, the 
ansect working incalculable havoc among Bamboo estates wherever they 
were situated. In fact, to such an extent did the mischief increase that 
■estate after estate was abandoned in despair, and it is extremely doubt¬ 
ful if kt the present time there is in existence a single Bamboo estate 
in the district I am writing of. The author of all this widespread 
destruction was the larva of a species of the Coleoptera, and although it 
really began its work on the Coffee plant about two or three years after 
planting, it did not usually reveal itself by the death of the trees till the 
fourth or fifth year. The perfect insect, in the form of a winged beetle of 
•about an inch in length, with brown wings and brown and yellow body, 
made its appearance about the month of May, but was never seen in any 
great numbers. The eggs were most likely deposited under the bark of 
the Coffee trees during that month, the larva afterwards making its way 
into the interior of the stem, the larger branches, and even the roots, 
till these were so completely eaten and tunnelled that it required but 
very slight exertion to break the tree off, which usually happened at 
the collar or close to the ground. This could be done before the actual 
•death of the tree, and so completely was the tree gnawed and eaten in 
most instances that its existence for many months must have depended 
solely on the comparatively uninjured state of the bark. 
The attacks of the insect were by no means limited to the Coffee 
trees grown on the Bamboo land, those on the Ghaut slopes receiving a 
fair amount of attention on the part of the beetle, but with rather 
•different results. Instead of the tree perishing in the fourth or fifth 
year of its growth, as was the case on the Bamboo land, it maintained its 
health and strength—at least to all appearance—and kept on bearing 
crops for a great many years, although eaten by the larva to as great a 
degree as trees on the neighbouring Bamboo estates. This might pro¬ 
bably be traceable to the cooler and moister nature of the climate, 
higher elevation, nature of the soil, and other causes. 
The state of affairs at last became desperate with those who had in- 
■rested large sums of money in the opening up of Bamboo land from the 
•destructive inroads of this puny insect, and planters began to complain 
loudly both through the medium of the newspaper press of the Presi¬ 
dency and the Planters’ Association of Wynaad. These complaints and 
discussions eventually arrested the attention of the Government of 
Madras, and some time about the year 1866 they deputed Dr. Bidie, M.D., 
of the Madras Medical Establishment, to proceed to the Coffee-growing 
-districts of Coorg, Wynaad and the Neighherries, and make a thorough 
investigation into the cause of the widespread destruction by the borer 
insect. Dr. Bidie was well known for his scientific attainments, and in 
the opinion of the Government performed the work allotted to him ably 
and well. At the conclusion of the tour his report on the matter was 
printed and published by the Government, who also accorded their best 
thanks to Dr. Bidie for the way he had conducted the inquiry. The re¬ 
port was not received by the majority of planters at the time with any 
great amount of favour, it being thought that the Doctor did not spend 
sufficient time in the different districts, and instead of visiting represen- 
■tative estates, as it were, only in each district, he ought to have made 
a more comprehensive examination of the subject by visiting Coffee 
estates labouring under more varied conditions. I remember, however, 
that my impression at the time was that Dr. Bidie’s report was an excel¬ 
lent and valuable one, and contained numerous hints with regard to 
sites of estates, manuring, and general cultivation that it would have 
been better had the planter more fully and promptly acted upon than he 
■did. On one point of the report, however, planters of all shades of 
opinion agreed—namely, that the recommendation of growing the Coffee 
plant under living shade so urgently pressed by Dr. Bidie as the greatest 
hope the cultivator had of holdi ig the borer in cheek, and thus prolong¬ 
ing the existence of his plantation, was a sound one, and one that was at 
once taken advantage of by both Europeans and natives. 
Trees of various kinds were allowed to grow up spontaneously on old 
plantations, whilst such trees as Artocarpus, Ficus, and the splendid 
Poinciana above alluded to were raised in large quantities from seed, 
and the seedlings planted simultaneously with the Coffee on youngclcar- 
ings with more or less success. Dr. Bidie admittedly obtained his idea 
of the beneficial effects of living shade on the Coffee plant from 
observing, during his tour of investigation, small patches of Coffee of 
great age and luxuriant growth nestling close around the stems of the 
Jack tree (Artocarpus integrifolia) neat- many a native dwelling, and 
yielding fair crops when not a single Coffee tree was to be seen in the 
open in the near neighbourhood. He took up this fact and pressed it 
upon the notice of planters with considerable success and benefit ; and 
although the subsequent system adopted of cultivating Coffee under 
shade did not prove a complete death blow to the borer, it was un¬ 
questionably a step in the right direction, extending as it did the limit, 
of the plant’s existence, planters being compensated for the reduced 
annual yield of crops by the diminished growth of weeds and conse¬ 
quent reduced annual working expenditure. 
Dr. Bidie was also a great advocate for high cultivation as a means of 
sustaining the plant in robust health, and thus enable it to resist more 
effectually the attacks of the grub ; but as there was in many cases a 
difficulty in obtaining manure in sufficient quantities to be of any real 
service over a large area, shade was resorted to as a substitute. The 
Poinciana proved useless as related, but better results attended the 
planting of the Jack tree and numerous species of Ficus. F. glomerata 
was amongst the best, as it was a deciduous tree, losing its leaves during 
the cloudy weather of the monsoon, by the end of which a new crop had 
developed. Coffee under this tree always looked green and healthy, 
although of course not so robust in stem or branch as that grown in the 
open. Seeds of these numerous species of Figs were largely deposited by 
birds over the ground, and wherever the seedlings appeared they were 
carefully attended to, and pruned as they grew up, and as their growth 
was very rapid an estate was soon covered by what appeared at some 
distance to be simply a part of the surrounding jungle. Several species 
of Artocarpus which are found wild in the district were allowed to grow 
up in a similar manner, as were many other kinds of trees. The Jack 
tree was either raised in nurseries, or the seeds were placed in the pits 
prepared for the young Coffee trees, and allowed to grow up together. 
This for some reasons, was considered the best shade of all, but the 
branches and leaves formed such a dense head that they required 
pruning at intervals. Cattle, and deer too, were extremely fond of 
browsing on the leaves, so that the young plants required considerable 
tending before they got beyond the reach of their enemies. The trees 
fruited freely, and generally began to bear about the fifth or sixth year 
after planting. There was a considerable variety to be found on an 
estate where great numbers of the tree were planted distinguishable by 
habit of growth, form of fruit, and shape of leaves. It was really a 
strange and wonderful sight to see a large area covered by these trees in 
the fruiting season. The huge fruit (in many instance a single one 
being quite a load for a man) hanging in clusters from the stems and 
thicker branches. The seeds are much relished by the natives, and are 
not despised by some Europeans. They are usually roasted before being 
eaten, and the yellow pulp surrounding them is also eaten. 
The system of growing Coffee under shade was not, I believe, first 
practised in the Wynaad and Coorg, but was adopted many years before 
in the district of Munzerabad in the province of Mysore ; but rather a 
different plan was adopted. Instead of the land being at first entirely 
cleared of jungle preparatory to the planting of Coffee, only the under¬ 
growth was cut over arid burned. The remaining trees of higher growth 
and various kinds were thinned out only, and the Coffee plants put in 
rather thickly under the shade of those that were left. The drip from 
the high trees retarded the growth of the Coffee considerably ; but 
eventually it got a good hold of the ground, but always displayed stems 
and branches of attenuated growth, estates yielding regular but small 
annual crops. 
The shade experiment in the Wynaad though, as I have stated above, 
did not prevent but only delayed the destruction of the Bamboo estates. 
By degrees the trees got thinner and thinner, and as it was sheer folly 
to attempt to replant with any hope of success plantations were gradu¬ 
ally left to themselves, it being no longer of any use continuing their 
cultivation with a view to profit. Grass and other noxious weeds soon 
gained the mastery, the jungle fires of the ensuing dry season completing 
the destruction the borer had begun. Before the total extinction of 
the Bamboo plantations the leaf disease had made its baleful appear¬ 
ance, assisting the borer in the work of ruin, and no amount oE shade 
was of any avail in keeping off its attacks in the slightest degree.— 
Planter. 
(To be continued.) 
CALCEOLARIAS IN THE FLOWER GARDEN. 
Calceolarias arc familiar to all who have had anything to do with 
(lover garden embellishment during the last twenty or thirty years, but 
they are not now so common as they were. Like the good old Holly¬ 
hock, they have not succeeded so well in recent years as they did at one 
time, but they are as valuable for flower-bed decorat ion as ever they were, 
and both the dark brown and yellow-flowered varieties arc exceedingly 
showy in July, August, and September, and even later. We have 
always kept them, and have several beds of them in the flower garden 
annually. They are wintered in cold frames, and do not require any heat. 
