Stn. I, r886.] 



tHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



213 



throughout the entire Cordillera is of the same 

 character." 



The above are Mr, Thomson's own words and I 

 am sure Ceylon men will attach importance to 

 the remark about the soil being so porous that 

 the rain water rapidly passes away, and the 

 trees consequently do not suffer from wet feet 

 which has been a bad feature on many Ceylon 

 estates and is the result of an impervious subsoil. 



Indeed the dying-out of coffee in patches es- 

 pecially when situated under or in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of sluggish water-courses is now 

 fully recognized. As regards the analytical results 

 it is gratifying to know that in the matter of 

 the important mineral elements such as lime, 

 potash and sulphuric acid &c., the Ceylon soils 

 are certainly decidedly superior, at least those sent 

 me by the Planters' Association in connection with 

 the present exhibition and which are marked as 

 growing cinchona. Notwithstanding what Mr. 

 Thomson mentions about the soil being so porous 

 I notice that there is 4-823 of water in the air- 

 dried soil and also 21 per cent of oxide of iron 

 and alumina together, which would suggest that 

 the soil cannot be really so very porous or at least 

 not more so than some of the best cinchona soils 

 of Ceylon. In the matter of nitrogen it is above 

 the average of your soils as you will see upon 

 reference to published analyses in my report of 1879 

 but not above the average of the soils sent to me 

 this year and which are known to represent some of 

 the leading estates in the island. 



In one respect this soil is peculiar, the amount 

 of chlorine being unusually high. Whether this 

 is due to exposure to saline rain I have no means 

 of judging, but as the figures -118 stand they ap- 

 pear quite abnormal for a naturally fertile mount- 

 ain soil. 



It will be seen from the particulars of rain re- 

 gistered, that rain falls pretty equally throughout 

 the greater part of the year and that with a few 

 exceptions which I have had copied out, the 

 daily average is under an inch, although there 

 are two or three inches recorded as having fallen 

 in 24 hours. 



March, April and May appear to be the months 

 of greatest rainfall though October is always damp 

 and tops the list in 1885 with the heavy record of 

 20-47 inches. 



It will be interesting to compare these statistics 

 with those of your best cinchona estates, and I 

 will leave the figures for your consideration to- 

 gether with the analytical results of the soil.— 

 Yours very truly, JOHN HUGHES, F. C. S. 



Analytical Laboratory, 79 Mark Lane, E. C. 

 Aug. 6th, 1886. 



.Analysis of Cixchoxa Soil. 



From the Central Cordillera of the Columbian 

 Andes in the District of Chaparrel, Republic of 

 Columbia : — 



Analysed in the Air-dried Condition. 



100-000 

 .TOHX HUOHKS, F. C. S. 

 August 4th, 1880. 



Register of Rainfall at the Cinchona Plantations 

 Chaparrel, Republic of Columbia •— 



From October 18S3 From October 1884 From October 18*5 

 to September 1884. to September 1885. to April 1886. 



October 



?>ovember 



Decembei- 



1881 

 January 

 February 

 March 

 April 

 May 

 June 

 July 

 August 

 September 



10-53 

 Sr33 

 4-65 



6-88 



3-25 



15-65 



12-75 



15-25 



8-97 



2-98 



2-20 



5-50 



October 



November 



December 



1886 

 January 

 February 

 March 

 April 



20'47 

 5-84 



13 32 



8*62 

 5-11 



6-88 

 14-80 



Total inches... 75-04 



Total inches... 97*94 Total inches... 101*77 



Greatest Rainfall in 24 hours : — 

 From October 1883 From 0';tober',J1884 

 to September 1884. to September 1885 



From October 1885 

 to April 1886. 



October 10th 

 ,, loth 

 November 27tU 



,, 29th 

 December 3rd 



1884 

 January 3rd 

 February 11th 

 March 4th 

 „ 23rd 

 April ith 

 „ 14th 

 May 5th 

 „ 8th 

 June 1st 

 ,, 24th 

 „ -26111 

 July 12th 

 ,, 22nd 

 August 8th 

 „ 1 5th 

 September 3rd 

 „ 39th 



1-20 

 3-211 

 1-13 

 1-69 

 1-20 



1-30 

 1 40 

 4-00 

 2-77 

 1-50 

 1-15 



I'no 



1-25 

 1-12 

 l-.SO 

 2' 01 1 

 1-00 

 (f31 

 0-72 

 0-50 

 1-65 

 1-31 



October 4th 

 „ 5th 

 „ 15th 

 November 2nd 

 22ud 

 December .5th 

 22nd 

 1885 

 January 4tli 

 ., ' nth 

 February 3rd 

 .. I'th 

 IMarch 12th 

 26th 

 1st 

 nth 

 16th 

 nth 

 30th 

 June 7th 

 July nth 

 August 7tli 

 September 14th 

 30th 



1-70 October 



240 



April 



May 



7th 

 13th 



1-40 „ 14th 



1-00 „ 16th 



100 „ 17th 



1-30 „ 18th 



0-62 „ 21st 



November 5th 

 1-16 „ 22nd 



2-50 December 9th 

 1-84 „ 27th 



1-53 ., 2fith 



2-10 1886 



2-35 January 22nd 

 3' 11 „ 26th 



1-70 „ 27th 



1-46 „ 28th 



1-87 „ 30th 



2-29 February 11th 

 1-75 „ 24th 



0-38 March I at 

 1-00 „ 20th 

 2-26 April 9th 

 1-62 „ 21st 



1'46 

 4-10 

 2-11 

 2-10 

 1-20 

 1-.30 

 2-50 

 1-70 

 1-00 

 2-00 

 2-45 

 2-13 



1-60 

 1-20 

 1-25 

 1-70 

 1-80 

 2-ld 

 0-86 

 0-86 

 0-86 

 2-12 

 2-40 



CEYLON PLANTERS" ASSOCIATION: 

 ANALYSES OF TEA, COFFEE, CINCHONA 

 AND CACAO ESTATE SOILS FROM CEYLON, 

 BY MR. JOHN HUGHES. 

 Planters' Association of Ceylon, Kandy, 

 27th August 1886. 

 The Editors, the Ceylon Obseriur, Colombo, 

 Sins,— I beg to enclose for publication copj' of 

 interesting letters with reports from Mr. Hughes 

 on the representative samples of soils from some 

 leading tea, colfee, cinchona and cacao estates 

 transmitted to him for analysis in connection with 

 the Colonial and Indian Exhibition. — I am, sirs, 

 yours faithfully, A. PHILIP, Secretary. 



Analytical Laboratory, 79 Mark Lane, London, B.C., 



July 30th 1886. 

 A. Philip, Esq., Planters' Association, Kandy. 



Dear Sir, — Yours of the 21st June giving inform- 

 ation respecting the Rookwood soils 1, 2 and 3 

 arrived on Monday last, and I have much pleasure in 

 sending you the results of the analyses of the ten 

 Ceylon soils handed me about the end of May by Mr. 

 Shand, to whom I have also sent a copy of same. 



I am writing direct to Mr. Downall by this mail 

 sending him a copy of the analyses of his soil from 

 Dambatenne estate, and giving my opmion as to the 

 kind of manure likely to be most suitable. 



As regards these analyses it seems a favourable 

 opportunity to have them printed for the general 

 information of planters and those interested in coffee, 

 tea, cinchona, cacao, &c., and as these results in many 

 cases represent, or are at least supposed to repre- 

 sent as nearly as possible the average soil on certain 

 well-known estates, it would be desirable that the 

 air-dried samples of the soils themselves should be 

 placed for reference in some museum either in 

 London or Colombo. 



I will see Mr. Shand on the subject in meantime. 

 — Believe me, yours faithfully, 



(Signed) John Hughks. 



