would be certain to give a good crop, and give them an extra
quantity of manure, and also diminish his application of manure in the
case of such parts of the plantation as might be yielding a small crop. I
may here mention that, from reliable information received from Coorg,
results there have shown that it is best to apply a portion of the manure
after crop to strengthen the blossom, and a portion after the heavy
monsoon rains are over to strengthen the trees and assist in maturing the
crop.

But the most important point, perhaps, as regards the best time for
manuring is the bearing that the time of manurial application has on leaf
disease, and Mr. Marshall Ward in his third report on leaf disease (p. 15)
has some most valuable remarks on this question. "The object of the
planter should be," he says "to produce mature leaves as soon as possible
and keep them on the branches as long as possible." Now if leaves are
produced in April and May they become attacked by the fungus while still
young, and in August and September the ripening crop is left bare on the
branches. But the leaves which were in bud in December are matured and
well hardened, and have already, by living longer, done much service to
the tree. He then points out that when certain districts in Ceylon
suffered from a bad attack of leaf disease in July, "a large surface of
young and succulent leaves were ready to receive the spores of the
Hemeleia." The germination of the spores was rapid, and the young leaves
were soon destroyed. The planter then, he says, should manure and prune so
as to grow matured leaves during those months when the least damp and wind
may be expected. And the same remarks are evidently equally valuable as
regards rot, and show us the necessity of modifying our manurial and
pruning practices so as to enable the tree the better to contend against
it as well as leaf disease. All manuring, then, which leads to the
production of young succulent foliage just at the beginning of the rains
should be avoided, and the same remark applies equally to pruning. But I
shall again return to the subject when writing on pruning.

As to the best method of applying the manure, great differences of opinion
and practice exist. At one time in Mysore it was customary to cut a
shallow trench in the shape of a half moon around the upper sides of the
trees about two feet from the stem, and deep enough to contain the manure,
which was then covered in with the soil