Gold, Sport, and Coffee Planting in Mysore Part 14

Finally, I may remind the reader of the Tamul proverb which declares that "With plenty of manure even an idiot may be a successful agriculturist,"

and may add to it the English adage, which says to the farmer, "Never get into debt, but if you do, let it be for manure."

The work of bringing round an old and neglected plantation is by no means an easy one. The first thing to be done is to see to the physical condition of the land. This is sure to be hardened and deficient in vegetable matter, and this condition of things can only be remedied by applying large quant.i.ties of cattle manure or jungle top soil, or both.

Now it will generally be found impossible to obtain enough cattle manure to fully manure even fifty acres in the year, nor, if it could be obtained in large quant.i.ties, would cattle manure have nearly such lasting effects in ameliorating the condition of the land as would applications of jungle top soil, and besides, the latter, if procurable (which it often is), can at once be applied in large quant.i.ties, and at about one-half the cost of cattle manure, in the case, as has been previously shown, of the best top soil, and at about the same cost in the case of the most inferior quality of top soil. It is evident, then, that great efforts should be made to procure a supply of jungle top soil, and the best top soil could of course be carried from a considerable distance without exceeding the cost of cattle manure. With the cattle manure or top soil, bonedust and white castor cake should be applied at the rate of 8 cwt. an acre, and 5 cwt. of the former to 3 cwt. of the latter; and, if the planter is in a hurry for immediate results, he might put down a small dressing of nitrate of soda--say 112 lbs. an acre. With the addition of the nitrate I feel confident, after observing the results of it on one of Mr. Mangles'

estates in Coorg, that a remunerative crop would be picked in about two years after the application of the above suggested manures. I would particularly point out that, though the land, of course, must be well dug, the planter must not look to that alone for ameliorating the hardened condition of the soil, for however well dug, it will, unless cattle manure or jungle top soil should be applied, speedily run together again into as hardened a condition as ever. After the soil has been thoroughly manured and ameliorated in the manner suggested, moderate annual manuring will be quite sufficient for the future, for, as I have pointed out, coffee is not an exhaustive crop, though it is essential that a considerable supply of fertilizing matter should always be present in the soil. Where top soil is not available, red soil (kemmannu), if procurable, might be used with advantage, and the results of the experiments previously given seem to show that it might be even preferable to top soil.

After such an application of manure as I have above advised, the planter must be on his guard against producing such a heavy crop as will lead to an exhaustion of the tree, and a failure of the following crop. And should there be reason to apprehend an over heavy crop, it must be reduced by free handling and pruning.

In the case of a neglected plantation the trees are sure to be covered with moss and rough dead bark, and it is of great importance to remove this at once, and rub the trees down thoroughly.

When manuring, always leave here and there, and at some convenient point or edge of a road, a short block of coffee un-manured, perhaps about twelve trees, and next to that a similar block with double the dose of manure applied to the field, and note the results. In order to have the effects of the different systems of manuring under constant observation experiments with different manurial mixtures can be best conducted at places where four roads meet. I need hardly say that in the observation of results, nothing should be left to memory, but the planter, the moment he has observed any result, should on the spot write it in his note book. The experiments of most importance are the following:--(1) As to the manure best calculated to bring on vacancy plants rapidly in old and worn soil.

(2) To determine the value of potash as manure. (3) To determine the best time of year for manuring. (4) To determine how far it pays to manure little and often, as compared with manuring seldom but in large quant.i.ties. (5) How far the value of bones is due to their lime, and how far to the phosphoric acid they contain; and (6) how far it would pay to top dress old soil with earth taken from the adjacent, gra.s.s lands. Such are some of the many experiments that might usefully be tried. It would also be useful to experiment as regards native manurial practices. For instance, the growers of Areca nut palms, and pepper vines, make a mixture of Kemmannu, or red, or rather pink hued soil, which looks like recently-decomposed rock, black earth, and sheep dung, and apply the compost to their palms and pepper-vines, and it would be interesting to try such composts in the case of coffee. It would also be interesting to experiment with ordinary good soil taken from the gra.s.s lands. I am informed by a native farmer that the terraces on which ragi is grown, are occasionally dressed with such soil, and that the manurial effect of it lasts for two years, but no doubt the effect is much increased by the physical effect caused by the addition of the soil. The more I have studied these subjects the more am I convinced that the most, economical way of keeping up coffee land from a physical and chemical point of view is one of the many secrets yet to be discovered, and I would strongly urge planters to experiment. There is a common saying amongst farmers and planters that they cannot afford to make experiments. This is merely the refuge of the indolent and the ignorant. Experiments may, of course, be made on such a scale as to be hazardous or even ruinous, but they can be made in such a way as to be neither the one nor the other.

FOOTNOTES:

[54] I am now so satisfied with the capacity of these soils to keep themselves cool, that I am applying them as a top dressing to land deficient in shade and dry ridges. Since writing the above, I have ascertained from my manager the interesting fact that about seven weeks after putting down the red earth, newly grown white roots were found to be running all through this earth, though no rain had fallen from the time of the application of the soil up to the time the growth of the rootlets was observed. The adjacent land, to which virgin forest top soil had been applied, had no such growth of new rootlets, nor had any of the adjacent land, to which no top dressings had been applied. The red earth had evidently the power of taking in sufficient moisture from the atmosphere to stimulate a growth of young roots. The red earth was applied on February 20th, and no rain fell till April 7th. This growth of new rootlets, I may add, was also observed in another part of the plantation to which, a top dressing of the red earth had been applied.

[55] The full a.n.a.lyses of these leaves and twigs are given in the Appendix to Dr. Voelcker's work, "The Improvement of Indian Agriculture," which contains other a.n.a.lyses of interest to the planter. This important work should, I may repeat, be in the hands of all those interested in tropical cultivations.

CHAPTER XIII.

NURSERIES.

Since the introduction of the Coorg plant, it has been customary for Mysore planters to send annually to Coorg for seed, and they have always endeavoured to obtain it from the best coffee grown on the best land, and, as the results from this practice have been very satisfactory, it may seem that no better course could be suggested. But till all courses are tried it is certainly open to doubt whether this is the best, and I am now experimenting with seeds produced not from the richest, but from the poorest and most exposed portion of a Coorg estate (but of course neither so poor nor exposed as to be incapable of producing strong, healthy trees and sound seed), and I think it probable that seed from such trees will produce hardier plants than can be produced from seed gathered in rich and sheltered situations. As regards the climate from which the seed should be produced, one well-known planter, Mr. Edwin Hunt, writing in the "Madras Mail," Feb. 27th, 1891, says that he attaches the greatest importance to change of seed irrespective of the poorness or richness of the soil on which it has been raised, and thinks change of climate does as much as change of soil, and has for some years found it advantageous to procure seed from the wettest climate for the driest climate, and _vice versa_. I have had no experience on this point as regards coffee, but it may be interesting and useful from a shade-planting point of view, to note here that I have found that seeds of the jack tree from the dry plains of the interior produce plants which grow much more rapidly in the wet coffee districts than plants do which have been raised from local seed, and this naturally raises a question, I am now experimenting on, i.e., as to whether we should not procure coffee-seed from trees grown in the dry plains of the interior where the rainfall is less than half of that of our driest coffee districts. I may here note that coffee can be grown in low-lying sheltered land as far east as Bangalore if the coffee is irrigated. I was shown in 1891 coffee that looked well, and had borne well, in Mr. Meenakshia's gardens, some miles from Bangalore. One hundred and seventy trees planted 6 x 6 ft. in 1885 gave an appreciable crop in 1889, and in 1890 3 cwt. of clean coffee, or at the rate of upwards of a ton an acre. When I saw the trees in July, 1891, they were looking well, and had a fair crop on them. There was no shade except a bushy tree here and there. The proprietor, encouraged by his success, had been extending his cultivation. In the same garden I also saw cardamom plants about seven feet high and in blossom; these had been planted eighteen months previously. There were also some vines, grown from plants imported from Caubul, which produced large fine white grapes.

It is of course very important to select a good site for the nursery, and a ready command of water is essential, as it is both costly and unsatisfactory to carry to the beds even a short distance, and the aspect should, if possible, be northerly, as in that case very little shading is required if the ground is on a slope, as, if a line of trees is left at the head of the slope, a large amount of lateral shade will be thrown on to the beds. Next to a northern an eastern aspect, if the land is low-lying, with a hill or sloping land rising rather abruptly behind it, is by no means a bad situation, as the sun will be entirely off the land early in the afternoon. Should the planter unfortunately have to fall back on a southern aspect, this may be aided by leaving forest trees rather thickly on the western side of the nurseries so as to shield it from the afternoon sun, or a line of casuarinas may be planted on the west, and also on the southern side, so as to cast lateral shade on the nursery. A western aspect is to be deprecated, in consequence of the scorching heat of the afternoon sun.

There is a common idea, which I myself once shared, that it is always best to have your nursery on new land, but this is really not at all necessary if you renew your land by carting on to it top soil from the jungle, or even a mixture of any fresh soil that has not been trampled upon, and which has been mixed with cattle manure and some bone-meal. I consider it most important to retain the same site for the nursery, because, by growing casuarinas to cast lateral shade on it, you can ultimately dispense with shading the nursery, as these trees run up quickly, and attain a great height. The light, too, comes readily through them, so that their lateral shade is most desirable, and lateral shade, it must be remembered, allows the plants to benefit by the dew fall. I may add that the height to which the trees grow enables the planter to grow them at such a distance from the beds as to be practically unable to reach them with their roots.

As regards the best time for putting down the seed, opinions and practice have varied considerably, but it is now generally admitted that seed put down at Christmas, which will give plants with ten leaves on them in June (the planting season) are the most suitable for new clearings. Seed put down in September or October will give fine st.u.r.dy plants with one or two pairs of branches, and these are considered to be the most suitable for vacancies in old land. In order to do full justice to the last-named plants, they should, three months before planting out, be transplanted into small circular baskets, about the size of a small flower pot, and with wide s.p.a.ces between the wickerwork. These baskets should be filled with a mixture of dried cattle dung and good soil; they should then be placed on the surface of the bed and touching each other, and, when the plants are put out, they should be put down with the basket, which will then be quite filled with a ma.s.s of fibrous roots all ready to extend themselves into the surrounding land. When this course is pursued the plant receives no check, and its rapid growth is insured. If this method is not adopted in the case of replanting old land, or filling up vacancies amongst old coffee, many plants are sure to perish, and the survivors will make but poor progress. But in the case of virgin soil this course, though obviously a safe one, and freeing the planters from all anxiety as to a failure in the rains, may be dispensed with. Where baskets are expensive, or difficult to procure, pieces of worn out gunny bags answer the purpose fairly well, and I have seen them used on the Nilgiri hills.

The pits for vacancy plants should be dug shortly after the monsoon, and filled in soon after being dug, when the soil is quite dry, with a mixture of jungle top soil, bone-meal, and ordinary soil, or old, well dried cattle manure mixed with some fine bone-meal and ordinary soil. I have never used the nitrate of potash for manuring vacancy plants, but it has been used in Coorg with good effect, as may be readily understood by anyone who has had any experience of that valuable manure.

In conclusion, I may say that if the planter is not prepared to take all the steps necessary to insure the growth of vacancy plants in old land, he had far better not put down any at all, as he will find it to be a mere waste of money and labour, which is often more precious than money.

As regards the important point of topping, there are considerable differences of opinion. I am in favour of short topping, because the coffee thus more quickly and completely covers the ground, and the trees are more easily pruned and handled, and some planters top at from three to three and a half feet. Others again prefer four feet, and some four feet and a half, while I know of a planter who prefers a greater height, and cuts off the lower branches of his trees so as to turn them into an umbrella shape. The last practice I thought a very strange one once, but taking rot and leaf disease into consideration, I am by no means sure that, for our shade coffee, it is not the best, and at any rate feel quite sure that, as the lower branches in the case of highly topped trees soon become poor and thin, the practice of high topping, and removing some of the lower branches, is one to be decidedly recommended, and I am now adopting it on my estate. For, in the case of our shade plantation, if the coffee is short and thickly planted, so as to closely cover the ground, there is necessarily a great want of ventilation, and, when this is the case, rot must, from the great dampness of the ground, have a tendency to increase in the monsoon, while from there being no room for the pa.s.sage of air underneath the trees, the spores of the leaf disease will be preserved from being dried up and killed during the season of strong and parching winds. But quite independently of these reasons, it seems to me that the souring of the land owing to excessive saturation would be much lessened were there free ventilation under the coffee trees. And, taking all these points into consideration, I am now letting up all my short topped trees, which is easily done by letting a sucker grow from the head of the tree, and topping it when it reaches the required height. In places which are exposed, or fairly exposed, to wind, short topping would not be attended with such disadvantages, as in the case of the land in more sheltered situations, but for all sheltered situations it certainly seems to me that, with reference to the limitation of rot, leaf disease and the souring of the land, the trees should be topped at not less than four feet and a half.

The trees should not be topped until after the blossom comes out, as the result of topping at an earlier period would be to cause the trees to throw out a heavy crop on the primary branches, and more suckers, and so cause more trouble and expense in handling. It should be remembered, too, that in the case of all young plants if, before the first blossom, you cut the top, you check the growth of the roots. When topping, remove one of the topmost pair of branches as, if both are left, a split in the top of the stem is liable to occur. Should waiting until after the bursting of the blossom cause the tree to grow so high as to be affected by wind, the top may be pinched off by hand, and the tree afterwards topped at the proper height. This is often necessary in the case of shaded coffee, which is, of course, liable to be drawn up.

I have said that the evil of topping before blossom is, that a heavy crop is thereby thrown out on the primary branches, and I know of nothing more injurious to the young tree, or more certain to throw it out of shape, as the branch shrinks, and the tendency then is for the strongest secondary branch to take the lead. A judicious and full-pursed planter, it is true, would either remove the whole of the maiden crop, or at least from the three upper pairs of primaries, but the crop of the fourth year is apt to find a young planter with empty pockets, and he may not be able to afford the sacrifice; but he should in any case remove the immature berries, or blossom buds, from the greenwood of the primary branches, and if he refrains from topping before blossom, his trees may stand their maiden crop fairly well. But if the maiden crop threatens to be a heavy one it should certainly be lessened, as the following year there would be little crop, and much growth of superfluous wood, and an over heavy crop the succeeding year, and so on continuously. The trees would thus be thrown into the habit of giving heavy alternate crops, which is most injurious to the plant which, like all other fruit-yielding plants, should be worked so as to give even, moderate crops every year. But is it not evident that a heavy crop followed by a small crop and much superfluous growth must be extremely bad? for the trees thus produce an over heavy crop of berries one year, and an exhaustive crop of shoots and suckers during the next, and thus call for an extra expenditure of labour.

It is very important, by what is called handling, to keep the tree clear of shoots within six inches of the stem, and to remove all cross shoots and suckers and thin out superfluous wood as soon as possible. For we must constantly keep in mind that a given weight of leaves is as exhaustive to the tree as a given weight of berries. Prompt handling, and the removal of suckers, is also very necessary for the free ventilation of the tree, and especially during the monsoon months. I would call particular attention to the bearing that judicious and timely handling has on rot and leaf disease, as these are both much encouraged if the tree, at the beginning of the monsoon, has much immature foliage. We should handle them (and prune too, as is subsequently pointed out) so as to meet the monsoon as much as possible with well ripened leaves, and this can obviously be best done by preserving all the September and October shoots we can, and removing all the February shoots that the tree can spare. In connection with this subject, I would strongly advise planters to study Mr. Marshall Ward's third Report on leaf disease in Ceylon, to which I have elsewhere referred, and would particularly call attention to what he urges as to the advisability of giving every leaf that is to be preserved as long a life as possible, in order that it may feed the tree for the greatest possible length of time.

In our climate, anything approaching to heavy pruning is regarded as an abomination, and the general opinion is now in favour of shortening back long drooping primaries, removing cross shoots and wood that is not likely to bear anything more, and thinning out overgrowths of new wood. The most luxuriantly wooded part of the plantation should be pruned first, and the sticky coffee last, because, in the first place, it is important to stop the growth of superfluous wood as soon as possible, and in the second case, time will be given to the sticky coffee to throw out new shoots, so that the pruner can see exactly where to apply the knife, which is often a matter of difficulty, if he is dealing with trees quite exhausted from bearing a heavy crop, or from the land being insufficiently manured. It is very important to pare closely off the spikes left after cutting off a secondary branch, so that the bark may heal over the junction of the branch with the parent branch, as, if this is not done, the free circulation of the sap is checked. It runs up the branches, and, of course, cannot readily get on when it meets with a spike of wood sticking out of the branch. This spike or stump may be green or half or quite dead, but whatever state it is in the free circulation of the sap will be checked, and the quant.i.ty of sap in circulation for the benefit of the main branch will be lessened.

The time for pruning trees is obviously of great importance. Our present practice is to prune as soon after the crop as possible, and no doubt this follows the rule as regards all fruit tree culture, which is, that the trees, from the time of blossoming till up to the picking of the crop, should not be interfered with. But pruning at that time causes the tree to throw out much young wood which in the beginning of the monsoon is in an immature state, and, as Mr. Ward has pointed out (_vide_ p. 389), this succulent foliage is a good breeding ground for leaf disease. Mr. Brooke Mockett, too (_vide_ p. 401), has pointed out that leaf disease is worst in the case of trees which have been heavily pruned, and obviously because the heavier the pruning the greater the supply of succulent foliage. Such succulent foliage, too, is liable to be rotted away in the drenching rains of the south-west monsoon. So that, taking all the points into consideration, it is obvious that pruning should be so managed as to increase mature foliage, and, as much as possible, limit the amount of succulent foliage, at the beginning of the monsoon. How this object is to be attained it is difficult to see, but we can certainly do something towards attaining it by very light pruning; and I would suggest here that planters should make experiments both in pruning and manuring, with the view of growing the young wood earlier in the season. And I would suggest that planters might set aside say an acre, and leave the trees untouched at the usual pruning season, and confine their pruning to removing useless wood at the end of the monsoon. This, I surmise, would have the effect of throwing out new wood then, which would be mature at the beginning of the monsoon. Such experimental plots should not be manured after crop, but should be manured immediately after the monsoon. It certainly seems to me that, if we could both manure and prune at the end of the monsoon, we should attain, as far as it can be attained, the production of mature wood and leaves at the beginning of the monsoon.

Some planters, when pruning, remove moss and rub down the trees at the same time, but this, I am sure, can be done more cheaply and effectually as a separate work.

The removal of moss and rough bark, and generally cleaning and rubbing down the trees is a work of very great importance, and should be carried out once every two or three years. The injury arising from moss is too well known to call for any remark, but the reason why the removal of rough bark, and especially rough bark at the head of the tree, and at the junction of the topmost branches with the stem is of such importance is, that it is in the crevices of the rough bark that the Borer fly lays its eggs. When thus removing the moss and rough bark, the eggs may often be destroyed, and in the absence of rough bark to shelter them, it is probable that the insect would probably not lay the eggs at all, or that, if it did, they would either become addled, or fall to the ground. I may add here that we have found a piece of square tin the best thing for sc.r.a.ping down the trees, and that the hair-like fibre of the sago palm is an excellent thing for rubbing down the stems.

Though moss thrives best in damp situations, and on northern aspects, it sometimes exists on open and eastern aspects, and, when the latter is the case, the moss is certainly due to poverty of soil, and in such cases, in addition to sc.r.a.ping the trees thoroughly, an application of top soil mixed with lime, or bonedust, should be applied to the land. I may add that I have seen trees on a dry knoll, and with no shade over head, covered with moss, and this was no doubt owing to poverty of soil, which caused the bark to be in an unhealthy condition, and therefore a suitable home for the growth and spread of moss.

Digging and working the soil in order to keep it in an open condition is of great importance, because, to use for the second or third time the words of Sir John Lawes, "it is the physical condition of the soil, its permeability to roots, its capacity for absorbing and radiating heat, and for absorbing and retaining water, that is more important than its strictly speaking chemical condition." In other words, a moderately fertile soil, if maintained in fine physical condition, will give better results than a rich one which is in a hardened state. But to keep the soil in good condition, and yet comply with the fruit cultivators' chief axiom that, "from the time of blossom till the crop is ripe the roots should not be disturbed," is a matter of great difficulty--I might almost indeed say an impossibility. For, from the trampling of the people in their pa.s.sage up and down the lines, and the dash of the rain, the soil becomes exceedingly hard immediately after, or at least very shortly after the rain. Here, then, the planter finds himself between the devil and the deep sea. Is he to leave his soil in a hardened state from the beginning of November to the end of January, or perhaps the middle of February, or is he to violate the axiom which tells him not to disturb the roots till after the crop is ripened? And here I think the condition of things is such that he should come to a compromise, and dig up at the end of the monsoon a s.p.a.ce of about 2 to 2-1/2 feet up the centre of the lines, which, being the part always walked upon, is necessarily liable to be puddled and hardened, and then, after crop-picking is finished, lightly dig, or pick over and stir, the remainder of the soil, breaking, of course, all clods at the same time. By such a process we should prevent the central portion drying up and cracking, and aerate laterally the rest of the soil, and at the same time do as little damage as possible to the roots. I need hardly say that it is of great importance to begin with all those places where the soil is most hardened, as, should the planter not be able, from shortness of labour, to complete his digging before crop, he will at least have dug those places most urgently in need of cultivation. If the soil of the estate is pretty even in character, the hottest aspects will of course harden soonest, and should be dug first, but it may so happen that a hot aspect may have a soil of a loose and open character, while a north aspect might have a soil of stiff character, and here the planter must alter the rule so as to suit his particular case.

For digging, or rather loosening the soil at the end of the monsoon, my experience is that the four-p.r.o.nged a.s.sam fork is the best tool, and that for the light picking over of the whole of the soil after crop a light two-p.r.o.nged digger is best. This last tool is shaped like a mamoty, but with two p.r.o.ngs rather widely set apart instead of the broad blade of the mamoty. It being very light, it can easily be turned in the hand, so that clods may be broken with the back of the tool, and it can be used by women, which of course is of great advantage for pushing forward the work.

Renovation pits, as they are called, were once regarded as an excellent means of deeply stirring the soil, but, of recent years, have fallen out of favour with many planters, and I think justly so. These pits, or rather trenches, are dug in the s.p.a.ces between four trees, and are generally about fifteen inches in depth, as many in width, and about ten feet long.

Weeds and rubbish were thrown into them, and when they were filled with these, and soil washed into them, the pits were abandoned and another set opened. I am now satisfied that these pits did much damage by the sub-soil--which is often of an undesirable quality, and always, of course, more liable to run together and harden than the original top soil--being thrown on to the surface of the land. In fact, they did the same damage that the steam plough has often done at home in unskilful hands, i.e., turned a fine loose surface soil into one of an inferior character. Then the sides and edges of the pits harden and crack, and this of course adds to the heat of the plantation. But renovation pits may be put to an excellent use if employed in their character of water-holes, as they are called by the natives, and whenever land is liable to wash, they are of great service, and, though but small portions of our shaded plantations are ever liable to wash, a line of renovation pits should always be put on the lower sides of roads to catch the water that runs off them, and thus cause it to soak gradually into the soil. When renovation pits are used as water-holes no new ones should be opened, but the old pit should be cleaned out and its contents scattered on the surface of the land, not between the rows of coffee, as the soil would at once run into the renovation pits below, but around the stems of the coffee trees and in the lines. I have found that renovation pits, or water-holes, are of great value as water conservators, and wherever it is necessary to increase the supply of water for a tank, deep water-holes--say from 3 to 4 feet in depth and width--should be dug around the upper sides of the tank, and the rain water conducted into them by small channels. We have found, on my property, such an appreciable effect from even a moderate amount of such holes, that I am now largely increasing their number. A friend of mine has also found a similar effect in connection with his tank, though, I may mention, he had made the pits in connection with his coffee, and not with the view of increasing the water supply in his tank. I believe that this method of increasing the water supply would be well worth the attention of Government in connection with its numerous tanks.

The reader will remember that I have recommended applications of jungle top soil and other soil, and it should be remembered that such applications will, by rendering the soil more open, much lighten the work of digging, and this is a point that should be carefully estimated when calculating the expense of dressing the land with fresh soil.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE DISEASES OF COFFEE.

Though coffee in Mysore is liable to two diseases, and to the attack of one insect, these, when the cultivation is good, and the shade suitable in kind and degree, are not likely to cause any uneasiness in the minds of the planters. But it is, of course, necessary to go carefully into the whole subject of these diseases and the insect attack, in order to bring out fully the steps that should be taken so to cultivate and shade the coffee as to render these evils as innocuous as possible, and I have therefore, in addition to my own knowledge, taken pains specially to procure from two planters of long practical experience their views. The views, I may say, of Mr. Graham Anderson as regards leaf disease are particularly valuable, as he has paid much attention to the subject.

Leaf disease is the common name given to the attack of _Hemelea Vastatrix_, a fungoid plant which distributes its spores in the form of a yellow powder. These alight on the leaves of coffee, and in weather favourable to the fungus, will germinate in about a day, and the fungoid plant then roots itself between the walls of the leaves. After the plant has completed its growth, which it generally does in about three weeks, more spores are produced to fly away with the wind, or be scattered by the movements of the coolies amongst the coffee, and thus the disease spreads.

A great deal, of course, has been written about it, and those who desire more particular information may refer to Mr. Marshall Ward's report on coffee loaf disease in Ceylon. It is sufficient to say here that when the attack is severe the tree is deprived of its leaves, or of a large number of them; that much injury to the crop results; and that both the tree and the soil are heavily taxed in replacing the foliage that has been destroyed.

Leaf disease has probably existed[56] in Mysore as long as coffee has, but was, from the small amount of it, so entirely unnoticed, that, when I wrote my chapter on coffee in the "Experiences of a Planter," more than twenty-two years ago, I had never heard of it, nor, I am sure, had any of my neighbours. A trick, however, I once played on Mr. Graham Anderson's cousin about thirty years ago, enables me to trace it backwards so far with certainty. On coming through his plantation on one occasion, I picked oft a very large yellow coffee leaf, and placed it below the first of several plates with the aid of which he was helping his visitors. When the servant lifted the first plate, there was the leaf, and I said to my friend, "There are your golden prospects." Many years afterwards Mr.

Graham Anderson recalled the incident to my memory, and said, "That was the leaf disease." But it was not till leaf disease appeared in Ceylon in a severe form that our attention was called to the subject, and since then leaf disease has undoubtedly increased, and, in the opinion of one of the two experienced planters I have consulted, has caused much loss directly and indirectly, while the other informs me it has caused much loss on some estates. But I confess my own observation causes great doubts in my own mind as to whether the losses of leaves which planters attribute to leaf disease are entirely owing to that cause, and I was much struck with what Mr. Reilly, of Hillgrove Estate, c.o.o.noor, said to me on the subject; and when we were discussing leaf disease in general, he observed that it was often said to be the cause of leaves falling off, when their doing so was really owing to an over heavy crop of coffee. Then with our dry east winds many leaves become yellow and fall off, and some become so because they have been injured by the pickers, others from rot, and others from old age, and all these leaf losses are commonly put down to leaf disease, so that, taking all these points into consideration, I find myself quite unable to determine, even approximately, the amount of loss arising from _Hemelea Vastatrix_.

But of one thing, however, I do feel absolutely certain, and that is, that when the land is well cultivated, manured, and judiciously shaded with good caste trees, leaf disease may be reduced to such a degree that we need not trouble ourselves about it, and I feel equally sure that the most important of all the agents for controlling and limiting the disease is the shade of good caste trees. And as to the effect of shade upon _Hemelea Vastatrix_, I made particular inquiries when visiting estates in 1891 on the slopes of the Nilgiris, and conversing with planters on the subject. One manager went so far as to say that there was no leaf disease under the shade trees. Mr. Reilly, of Hillgrove Estate, said there was much less leaf disease under the shade trees. Another planter of great experience told me that leaf disease begins on the coffee in the open, and then spreads into even the finest trees under shade, but that those are affected in less degree. "In the end," he said, "You see the estate all yellow, but with green patches of coffee under the shade trees." In short, I found that all the planters I consulted were agreed in saying that there was but a small amount of leaf disease under the shade trees. The estates on the Nilgiri slopes have been originally all in the open, but latterly shade has been encouraged on some estates, but not to a degree which in Mysore would be called shade. However, the shade was quite sufficient, as we have seen, to ill.u.s.trate the important fact that shade can control leaf disease. And as shade can control leaf disease, I need hardly say that it is of the utmost importance (just as it is as regards Borer), to carefully fill up at once all spots where shade is deficient, because this deficiency encourages leaf disease, and forms a breeding ground for spores to fly into the surrounding coffee. Open spots here and there may not strike one at first sight as being of much importance, but if they are all added together, the planter will see that they will amount to a considerable area of land, and quite sufficient, at any rate, to inoculate his plantation with leaf disease.

The reader will observe that I have said that leaf disease may be reduced within practically speaking harmless limits if the coffee is judiciously shaded with good caste shade trees, and I would call particular attention to the term good caste trees, because bad caste shade trees will not control leaf disease. On the contrary, Mr. Graham Anderson informs me that he has seen worse leaf disease under a dense covering of bad shade trees than he has in the open, and he also informs me that, though shade is the backbone of our success in Mysore, he has had more misfortune from all causes when his estate was under the heavy shade of bad caste trees than he has ever had since, though many places are not yet properly covered with the good kind of shade trees which he had planted to take the place of the bad ones he had removed. I am much indebted to Mr. Graham Anderson for information on the subject of leaf disease, and he has been kind enough to enumerate the following conditions under which leaf disease is liable to occur in the cases of good soils under good shade:

"In the case of good soils under good shade trees," writes Mr. Graham Anderson, "leaf disease is liable to occur under the following circ.u.mstances, or at the following times:

"1. From the soil being saturated at some critical period of growth, particularly just when secondary growth commences in September.

"2. During the time when the plants are maturing a heavy crop.

"3. After the plants have been exhausted by ripening a heavy crop.

"4. After heavy weeds--particularly if late in the season.

"5. After a heavy digging where roots have been cut.