Jan. I, 1887.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



47i 



« 



To the Editor of the " Ceylon Observer." 



THE VALUE OF LIME TO PLANTERS. 



Analytical Laboratory, London E. C.Nov. 19th 1886. 



Deae Sik, — I believe you see the Field every 

 mail and if so, you will notice an article on Lime, 

 on Nov. 13tL which may be of interest to the 

 readers of the T. A. You remember I recommended 

 the more extended use of lime, while in Ceylon 

 and have frequently referred to the subject in 

 letters from here. I have had so many practical 

 proofs of the great beneit from the judicious 

 use of lime in some of its numerous forms, that 

 I find the testing of soils as to the presence or 

 absence of a fair supply of lime one of the most 

 important points to be ascertained before consider- 

 ing the kind of- manure likely to be most suitable 

 for such soil. — Yours in haste, JOHN HUGHES. 



[The paper in question by Mr. Hughes in the 

 Field, will be found on page 470. — Ed.] 



COIR FIBRE REFUSE, 



lOlh Dec. 1880. 



Dear Sik,— The manurial value of fibre refuse 

 is, I see, again being discussed m your columns. 

 With all due deference to the veteran "C. S." and 

 his greater "inventive genius and mania for ex- 

 perimenting" than Mr. David Wilson's, I submit 

 that Mr. Wilson's allowing heaps or mounds of this 

 valuable refuse to accumulate on Horrekelle, is not 

 "a good excuse for his successors not doing more 

 than experiment with it." Mr. Wilson cannot be 

 allowed to have been anything more than an ama- 

 teur engineer. He was by no means an agricul- 

 turist. Very many people imagine that because 

 they' own properties and take an intelligent interest 

 in their cultivation, they are, therefore, competent 

 practical agriculturists. To say that because "such 

 a man came to the conclusion that " Horrekelle fibre 

 dust could not be beneficially used," therefore, 

 his conclusions are to be accepted as final, is 

 absurd in tlie extreme. If fibre dust is of no 

 manurial valuo, which I by no means admit, yet 

 it possesses a liigh agricultural value owing to its 

 absorbing properties and owing to its being so re- 

 tentive of mQi>ture. As a "vehicle" for all arti- 

 ficial mauuri^s these properties ought to make it 

 invaluable. It is wellknown that roots absorb 

 manure, and to do this moisture must be present, 

 or the manure will remain inert, therefore, a sub- 

 stance that can absorb "12-5 its weight of water" 

 and in which "evaporation proceeds much more 

 slowly" than in open vessels, must be of immense 

 value for application with manure, especially 

 in a dry climate and in a sandy soil through 

 which moisture passes as through a sieve. If a 

 cattle establishment, a sine qua non on a properly 

 cultivated coconut estate exists on Horrekelle, 

 what better bedding can be found to absorb all 

 the liquid deposits of cattle ? 



No one suggested as " C, S."' imagines, fibre 

 dust to be used as a top-dressing by itself for 

 coconut plantations. Mixed with artificial manure 

 it can v.ilh advantage be deeply ploughed into the 

 " Hoi rekelle sand." it will, in decomposing, improve 

 the texture cf the soil and x^revent its too rapid 

 drying. I must join issue with "C. S." when he says 

 that put into holes the benefit is remote and is 

 reaped only when it becomes humus. I maintain 

 that if put round trees after the sand has been 

 scooped out, the benefit is immediate. Coconut 

 trees revel in moisture which when absent 



cause tbe kpiv^s W turn ^'§11qw m^ droop. 



The benefit which so much moisture, as say 15 

 baskets full of fibre dust represent is not to be 

 despised, especially in a period of drought. With 

 'a Decauville Portable Railway the "vast mounds" 

 a of valuable substance could in a short space of 

 time be placed in the right place. 



If " C. S." has ever seen a heap of coconut husks 

 burnt, he will have observed that in the resulting 

 ashes there are cakes of potash salts. By asserting 

 that fibre dust is of "no value as a fertilizer," 

 does he assert that potash is present only in the 

 fibre and not in the dust? The purity and strength 

 of these salts is so great, that in the villages the 

 husk-ash takes the place of soap with the Dhoby. 

 —Truly yours, A. W. B. 



P.S.— " C. S." not growing brinjals successfully in 

 fibre dust proves nothing. 



A New Planting Company.- The Mammoth and 

 Alpha Skull Estate Syndicate, Limited, was registered 

 on the 3rd iust., with a capital of £20,000, in £1 shares, 

 to take over lauds, estates and properties in India, 

 and iu particular the Mammoth and Alpha Skull Estate, 

 situate iu the South-East Wynaad in the Nilgiri District 

 of the Madras Fresidency, —Flanters' Gazette. 



" Gallella Tea Estates Company Li.mited. 

 — Is the latest addition to local planting Companies 

 and we are glad to find that under the auspices of 

 Mr. C. H. Wilkinson,— a well-known planter with 

 about a dozen years' experience— this Company 

 brings in entirely fresh capital into the Colony, 

 The Gallella property of well-nigh .500 acres with 

 200 acres in tea from 4 years old downwards, about 

 100 acres good coffee and some cinchona, has been 

 purchased from Messrs. Cross and Ballardie for a 

 cash sum in sterling on behalf of a few capitalists, 

 who are associated with Mr, Wilkinson, belong- 

 ing to the Enghsh Midland counties, Gallella 

 teas have already made their mark in Mincing 

 Lane, averaging up to Is oid, Mr. Wilkinson 

 settles down as local manager, and the directors of 

 the Company hope to find a direct market for 

 their teas in the country commanded by Leicester, 

 Derby and Nottingham. We wish the Gallella 

 Estates Company all success, 



N.iTivE Agkicultuke .an'd Ploughs in India. — 

 — Says the Pioneer : — 



" The writer whom the Times, Las employed to de.-icribe 

 the Indo-Colonial Exhibition tells us that all attempts 

 to introduce improved agricultural implements iu India 

 have failed ; that as the hard soil below three inches is 

 completely sterile, deep ploughing would prove a dead 

 loss to the farmer for probably five years ; and that the 

 experiment farms and agricultural iustitutious of India 

 have had no eilect on Indian agriculture. These state- 

 ments are altogether too sweeping. If the writer had 

 taken the trouble to look at the list of implements and 

 machines "used with marked success in India during tho 

 years 18S2-83 to 1885-86 " he would have found 16 differ- 

 ent ploughs of an improved make iu use, one American, 

 several European, and some merely improvements on 

 the old country ploughs. Still less accurate is to say 

 that experimental farms have been a failure. To take 

 only one of many examples, the Cawnpore Experimental 

 Farm manufactures and sells two .sorts ot improved 

 ploughs, and imports another for distribution among the 

 cultivators. During thf years 1S83-S4 and 1SS4-85 some 

 400 of these ploughs were sold. It is no doubt true that 

 very much yet remains to be done to meet the wants 

 and overcome the prejudices of the native agriculturist 

 but a good start has been made by these experimental 

 farms. Without professing a knovvledge of agricultural 

 chemistry, we must beg leave to doubt the five years' 

 loss entailed by deep ploughing. Taking the average of 

 a]] the experiments at the Cawnjiore Farm in 1SS4-85 

 deep ploughing gave an increa-e over the ordinary 

 shallow Country ploughing of i53o per cent, when the 

 land was ploughed 9 inches deep, and 43-5 per cent, 

 when ploughed 5 inches deep, although the shallow 



plougbiijp W6IQ twicQ as J[iequeut as the d^en,' 



