314 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[November i. 1883, 



few iudigenows or China plants through them, accord- 

 ing to the elevations for which the seed will be re- 

 quired ; this in any case cannot but be beneficial. — 

 Yours faithfully, SWADDY. 



CHARCOAL, COAL, TEA AND ME. T (EA) 

 GRAY. 

 Maskeliya, 20th Sept. 1883. 

 Dear Sir, — What Mr. T. Gray said at the district 

 meeting lie'.d ou the loth inst. was, relative 

 to filing tta by machinery, "That lib. of coal 

 would fire 2 lb. made tea, and that 1 lb. charcoal 

 wo lid only fire 1 lb. tea " Charcoal costs on an average 

 noio 1 cent per lb. , and coal will b^j delivered for 

 RoO per ton, including all charges— when we have 

 the railway to Dickoya, Mr. Gray meant of course — 

 cost of wood for the charcoal is not included in the 

 1 cent per I'd., merely cost of lahour ; at present lib. 

 charcoal costs J cent. As wood gets scarce, it 

 will cost a good deal more. The Sirocco-man says, 

 " when using coal-fuel, this apparatus generally 

 turns out at the rate of about 21b. of dried tea, to 

 each pound of fuel consumed." Mr. Gray did not say 

 at the meeting that it takes 2 lb. charcoal to fire 

 1 lb tea. He knows better from daily experience. Tlie 

 worthy man who sent you the particulars of the 

 meeting made a mistake. ^Yhen he has to make 

 his own charcoal, he will know better. — Yours truly, 



ANCHOR BRAND. 



COFFEE CULTIVATION AND WEEDS : NEW 

 PRODUCTS AND HOW TO MAKE COFFEE PAY. 

 Mari.a, 20th September 1S83. 



DE.m Sib,— I quite agree with you. Mr. Halliley 

 should rest quiet now and let those who wish to 

 try his remedy to grow weeds to bring coffee round. 

 I "for one will not try. I hold small weeds when 

 manuring coffee in holes to be a help to otlier 

 manures. If manure is thrown over the surface, then 

 mixiil with surface-foil and small weeds — bring 

 all into hole— other times keep estate clean. 

 Estates with a very rich soil will stand weeds, but 

 in poor soil, as I know from personal observation 

 in my neighbourhood, even when forked under, the 

 system is a failure. 



On the other hand if shade is grown — jak, sooria, 

 croton, deniata, milila, &c. — and the roots of the 

 trees are all cut off for IS inches below ground and 

 branches cropped or trimmed when required to ripen 

 the wood on the coffee, you will theu bring up the 

 nourishment which has pasted the coffee into foliage, 

 which afterwards drops off and is the best assist- 

 ance to other manures yoa can give the coffee. 



I have noticed for the last three months we have 

 suffered a good deal by loss of coffee leaves and crop ; 

 this I cannot lay to leat-disease, as we have very 

 few spores about and as the trees under shade carry 

 their crop and leaves well. 1 firmly do believe the 

 cause to be something unusual in the rays of the sun, 

 and am now planting croton as a shade and product 

 all over the coffee. I have had many visitors, and 

 one and all are satisfied that we have the crop. All 

 they can find fault with is that we have bad patches 

 here and there. Considering some of the coffee 50 

 years old and more in parts, and as we know of their 

 having given previous years heavy crop, we on the 

 estates here can make every allowance, especially as 

 we know these trees will recover and give us good 

 Crops again. I have supplied all my Arabic coffee 

 ■with Arabic coffee plants, in which my faith is not 

 ill the least shaken. I can however show splendid 

 cocoa throughout the coffee, cinchona and tea along 

 coads, and pepper and vanilla around trees — a native 

 rott'tsti vauillery and a cardamom lield. So we do not 



neglect new products, but never will I neglect Arabic 

 coffee while it gives me such handsome returns. I 

 firmly maintain that surface-manuring with patent 

 manures iu jjast years, with cinchona planted through 

 the coffee, not changing our pruning season when 

 our weather seasons changed, had more to do with 

 short crops now than abnormal seasons. 



In surface-manuring you regain old and make new 

 rootlets near the surface. ' le slightest change of 

 weather will be felt by th- j rootlets ; ifi dry weather 

 they lie dormant, in too .uoh wet, they are weak- 

 ened. If you grow wee ' , they eat up your manure ; 

 but if yon cut air or manure holes one foot in depth, 

 then mix your manure and soil as above described, 

 you will feed and strengthen middle rootlets and get 

 roots to go further down in the soil. The holes to 

 be half-filled in the lowcountry so as to catch .-.s much 

 rain-water as possible as well as wash in the high, 

 country, fill your hole and stamp it in the rainy seasonj 

 but leave holes open as long as possible in dry 

 weather; prnuenowin September all superflous wood, 

 theu prune again in March or April in upcountry 

 and in January and February in lowcountry. 



For how much ol the present hard times are some 

 of our Visiting Agents to blame. Very often they have 

 a man employed to superintend large estates with in- 

 suflScient experience who can suggest nothing when 

 they come round, and their hurried visits over estate 

 will seldom enable them to find out the wants. Some 

 gone mad ou Liberian coffee, some on rubber, some 

 on tea and some on cardamom, ordering these to be 

 planted perhaps in very unsuitable land, or to be 

 dibbled where holes ought to have been cut and some 

 assistance with manures given; if a failure, then they 

 run down the country. Ceylon is my adopted country, 

 and I can prove in many instances the country is 

 run down as played out, whereas it was only the 

 ignorance of those iu charge to work the estates as they 

 ought to be worked in; often false economy, laziness, 

 ignorance, or some wild goose hobby, where common- 

 sense, thought fulness and a few extra rupees spert 

 in proper time would have done the needful and 

 good profits made. 1 admire a reading like Mr. 

 Armstrong's experience, gained by careful thought 

 and work. We have other good planters in ilr. 

 Taylor of Loolcondura and Mr, A Ross of Aluwihare. 

 It is men of that stamp we want, and I hope there 

 are many more in Ceylon like them; these men are 

 able and willing to work up their estates and not 

 bother with estimates, same as myself on Maria, yet 

 I am sure they make their estates pay better than if 

 they had an elaborate estimate cut down by a V. A. 

 and afterwards by Colombo agents, both of whom do 

 not kuow the actual requirements so well as the 

 superintendent if he is a good, thoughtful, steady 

 planter of sufEcient experience. — Yours truly, 



J. HOLLOWAY. 



COFFEE CULTURE : MANURING BOR THE 

 BLOSSOMING SEASON. 



20th SeiJtember, 1883. 



Deak Sib, — Will some ol the independent members of 

 our planting community try the effect of manuring for 

 the blossoming season as well as for crop, for it is really 

 as much required at thut time. If some of them would 

 try the experiment and report results, they will be 

 found of value at this period of short crops. Flowering 

 is an exhaustive process requiring a lar^e amount of 

 nourishment, and the sugar planter is so well aware of 

 this that he cuts his canes before they flower, lest the 

 process should exhaust the juice aud therefore rob him 

 of his labour aud profits. A greater quantity of the 

 nourishing sap than is generally imagined is required 

 to su]iport the llower, aud as the roots can only take a 

 eertam amount, from the soil, it foilow« that, if this b 



