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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



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" THE TEOPICAL AGRICULTURIST." 



(From a Plantiiuj Correi^pondent.) 

 The new volume of the Tropical AgricuUiirist 

 reached me a few days ago, and I have revelled 

 in its contents for 3 or 4 hours after dinner every 

 night since. What a wonderful compendium of 

 information it is. I was not surprised with the 

 work, as after the Directory it would take a 

 great deal to excite such a feeling, but I made a 

 discover}' in connection with it which caused me 

 a good deal of annoyance. It was this, that all 

 the useful information which at great expense of 

 time and trouble, I had clipped from the columns 

 of the daily paper and pasted in a book kept for 

 the purpose, reappears here ready to my hand at 

 a moment's notice by reason of the index, saving 

 me all the trouble of searching through a volume of 

 indexless pages, and is besides augmented by a 

 vast amount of valuable information which I had no 

 other means of reaching. I found the book of im- 

 mediate i^ractical service to me too, on a question 

 of horse-power which I had to settle at once, 

 and upon which I would probably have had to 

 take and pay for an engineer's opinion. I doubt 

 whether he would have accepted the price of the 

 T. A. as his fee. You may naturally ask why I have 

 not been a regular subscriber all these years. I 

 was under the delusion that I couldn't afford it. 

 New bocks, magazines, papers &c. cost me on an 

 average fully E200 a year. When the T. A. was 

 first published, I said " No, I cannot afford it. 

 I've reached my limit of expenditure on literature." 

 But I must in justice to myself explain that I 

 was under an entirely erroneous impression re- 

 garding its price. I cannot tell you how, but some 

 way or other I had got the notion into my head 

 that it cost K20 a year, and the impression was 

 only removed by the appearance of your recent 

 circular. You know how hard it is to remove such 

 Impressions. Having once made up your mind that 

 a thing is unattainable you cease to think of it, 

 so it was in my case, and it was only when I 

 sat down to address my propi'ietors on the subject 

 of its being subscribed for by the estate that I 

 discovered my error. That letter was never sent. 

 I want the 7'. A. all to myself from this date. 

 Why it 's little more than the cost of a dozen of 

 beer, and there are few men in Ceylon who regul- 

 ate their house expenses so carefully that a 

 single bottle of beer more or less per month would 

 be reckoned of importance. 



COCONUT" CULTIVATION IN CEYLON: 

 THE APPLICATON OF LIME. 

 (Bi/ (HI old Coconut Phntter.) 



The Tropical Agriculturist has not succeeded 

 in lighting up some of the dark places in the 

 land of its birth, witness the enquiries of " Agri- 

 culturist " in Ceylon Observer of 8th July. As, how- 

 ever, I have never been appealed to in vain for 

 any informati m that my reading or experience 

 can supply, the following are my views regarding 

 the use of lime in coconut cultivation : — 



The amount of lim.e directly required by the 

 coconut plant, ia so small that two bushels per 

 acre would be an ample supply for ten years, 

 supposing the soil originally deficient in that 

 element. 



Lime is not used in agriculture as a direct 

 manure, but for its chemical and mechanical action 

 on the soil. Quicklime warms a cold soil, opens 

 and loosens a stifi' sjil, and quickens into active 

 fertility an inert soil. The application of lime 

 is always beneficial on heavy compact loams, and 

 ia combnatiou mih ctraining on iiata where the 

 19 



rain-water is neither readily absorbed nor flows 

 freely off, such soils contain much organic matter 

 in an inert state, which the contact of quicklime, 

 reduces to the state of available plant food. On 

 what are called hungry soils, that is, poor loose 

 sands and gravels, the application of lime can do 

 nothing but injury, except in minute quantities. 

 On such soils as lime will do good to, not lesa 

 than 20 busliels to the acre should be given (50 

 bushels is better), and in this climate it should 

 be dug or ploughed in to save it from being 

 washed off in heavy rains. It should be spread 

 as equally as practicable over the whole surface. 



THE ASSAM TEA EEPOET. 



The Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Assam 

 has just issued the usual Report on Tea Culture. 

 During tho course of the year 21 new gardens were 

 opened and 10 closed. The tendency is still appa- 

 rent, and probably will be for a considerable period, 

 of amalgamating smaller gardens with larger. The 

 total number of gardens in existence at the end of 

 1885 was 041. 



The followuig figures exhibit very clearly the steady 

 growth of the industry : — 



Under Under Total area of 



mature immature land held by 



l''ears. plants. plants. tea-planters. 



Acres. Acres. Acres. 



1880 .. 120,512 33,145 566,277 



1881 .. 133,293 25,1.34 706,648 



1882 .. 156,707 22,144 783,362 



1883 .. 161,707 27,746 1)23,664 



1884 ,. 1.58,158 31,691 913,476 



1885 . . _ 1.59,876 37,634 921,891 

 From this table it appears that there has been a 



decided increase giuce last year, both iu tho area 

 under cultivation and in the total area held by tea- 

 planters ; and it is satisfactory to note that the tea 

 indu-try continues to expand in Assam. The Deputy 

 Conmiissioner of Nowgong says : — 



" To make tea cheaply the area, wherever practicable, 

 must be increased. The same establishment and tho 

 same buildings do for, say, 150 acres as for 100, while 

 the cost per pound is materially reduced." 



The Deputy Commissioner cf Sibsaugor writes : — 



" The theory of extension is that more work can bo 

 got out of existing establishments, * * * and ex- 

 perience seems to show that much larger areas can be 

 worked under the same supervision than was formerly 

 thought possible." 



The Deputy Commissioner of Cachar also takes the 

 same view, and quotes the opinions of some ^of the lead- 

 ing planters in his district to support it. 



The total area returned asunder cultivation is 197,510 

 acres, as against 189,852 showu at the close of 1884. 

 The details accordiug to the various districts are given 

 below : — 



Total ., ., 189,852 107,510 



The figures given by district officers for 

 the years under report give a total yield of 

 53,617,620 lb., or an increase of 2,490,82 1b., when com- 

 pared with 1884. 



The estimate of the Tea Association was 51 ,226, 05 lb. 

 that is, something less by 2,392,015 lb. than the figures 

 of the district officers. This difference is explained by 

 the fact that maDy utitive aud private European coa* 



