Dominica.—

Dr. Imray writes to us:—" I am glad to say that the Liberian coffee cultivation may now be fairly considered as established in this island. The fine, healthy, luxuriant trees on my small plantation, with a crop of berries on many of them, afford sufficient evidence of the climate being congenial to the plant. The cultivation is successful, and only awaits extension by others taking it up. I have several thousand seedlings planted out in the open, and thriving well. I lost a good many seedlings, however, by putting them out when too small. To ensure their rooting they should be pretty well grown before they are transferred to the field. Protection of some kind or other is also advisable at first, as well from the scorching rays of the mid-day sun as from strong winds. When fairly rooted and growing, the plants are hardy enough, and will bear a good deal of exposure and neglect.

"My trees still remain free from the attacks of that dire scourge of the coffee plant in this part of the world, the Cemiostoma Coffeelum, and yet not altogether exempt from its attacks, especially in the first stage of its growth. As I shall relate, I had planted many hundred seeds in boxes and bamboo joints, and they showed above ground at the usual time, about six weeks after planting. At first the seedlings appeared quite healthy, but after a time I observed brown spots on the cotyledonary leaves. I did not pay much heed to this appearance, believing the plant altogether impervious to the assaults of the white fly, but as they rapidly became all affected in the same manner, I carefully examined some of the brown spots on the leaves, and found to my horror that the destruction was unmistakably caused by the larva of the white fly ! I was quite taken by surprise, as the grown plants had escaped its ravages. It was, however, only the seminal leaves that had been attacked, but if they were destroyed before the stem leaves were formed the plant would certainly perish; and, indeed, in this manner many were lost. I killed the larva in the leaves, and brushed off the chrysalis wherever it appeared, and thus saved most page 21 of the seedlings until the stem leaves began to grow; and these, as you may suppose, I watched with great interest as they grew, and to my intense relief discovered that the insect left them untouched. The seedlings steadily increased in size, throwing out fresh leaves, and most of them have been planted out in the field, and are thriving well, with not a speck of the blight on them.

This is a notable and curious fact in the history or study of this destructive creature. There were no blighted coffee trees growing very near to these seedlings, but in the adjacent field were some trees with the blight on them. From these the moth, by a marvellous instinct, or whatever the impulse that guides it may be called, had found out among myriads of other leaves the cotyledons just as they had emerged from the ground, and decided that they were exactly suited for the deposit of its eggs, and the nourishment of the larva when hatched.

"This, however, is not the only attempt the insect has made to gain a footing on the Liberian coffee. On carefully examining the large trees some six or eight months ago, a few leaves were found where the insect really had established itself, but in a very feeble manner. Some of the larvæ were lively enough, but others small and weak, and the skeletons, if I may so speak of others that had died, were found in the brown patches of the leaf, when the upper and under cuticle were separated. Very few cocoons were observed, and these were smaller than usual.

"There must have been something exceptional in the structure of those leaves that the insect had selected to deposit its ova, and from the blight not having extended it may be inferred that, although the eggs of the fly were deposited, and the larva when hatched had found its way to the cellular structure of the leaf, this was not found in sufficient quantity, or of such quality, as to form a healthy pabulum; hence the larva either died in the leaf, or formed a small and weak chrysalis which failed to produce the moth. Be that as it may, the very reassuring fact remains that the blight did not spread, and that at the present time the insect is not to be found in any of its stages among the well grown trees or the seedlings, although carefully searched for. The most striking point is, that though the seminal leaves were rapidly devoured, the stem and branch leaves of the seedlings remained untouched. Doubtless the soft juicy substance of the seminal leaf affords suitable nourishment, while the reverse is the case with the comparatively dry and fibrous parenchyma of the ordinary leaf.

"The fact of the Cemiostoma attacking the seminal leaves of Liberian coffee has a very important practical bearing in the cultivation of the plant in the countries where this blight exists. For if nurseries of Liberian coffee are formed near to a single tree with the blight on it, the seedlings will be quickly attacked and, possibly, all destroyed. Nurseries should be established as far distant as possible from the blighted coffee trees, and the seedlings should be assiduously watched, so as to destroy the insect in its larva state as soon as a brown spot indicates its presence, and this may be done by simply scraping the spot with the nail. When the stem leaves appear, and have grown somewhat, the plant is safe. I gave a few seeds to several page 22 persons in the island, but these, so far as I learn, have for most part failed, the plants having died, and from the description given of brown spots having been seen on the leaves, I have no doubt the white fly was the cause of their destruction. I purpose sending some remarks to the local paper soon, giving instructions as to the mode of cultivating Liberian coffee, and warning all of the absolute necessity of protecting the seedlings from the ravages of the white fly, or very few will be saved."