5^4 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March i, 1887. 



were lying latent; it puts into circulation the capital 

 which had been lying iHle, 



It needs no illustration, however, to show that the 

 continued use or lime on this principle would sooner or 

 later exhiust the soil unless more manure were adde'l 

 Indeed, it is au old saying that lime "enriches the 

 father and impoverishes the son." There seems no 

 reason to suppose, however, that it could not be safely 

 used until the crops grown under its influence began to 

 indicate that the surplus of the soil's accumulation was 

 at an end, and that a further continuance of this 

 treatment would be drawing upon the soil's necessary 

 fertility. When that stage was reached, the u«e of 

 lime — always in moderation — need not necessarily be 

 discontinued — but stable manure should also be used. 

 Or the use of the lime could be discontiuued, and 

 artificial manures, with occasional applicatioas of 

 stable manure, substituted. 



We have thus presented the theory of the use of 

 lime, and of its application to soils rich in accumulated 

 manures. The general theory is reasonable enough, 

 and will, we should think, commend it<elf. But its 

 successful application in practice depends no doubt 

 upon a variety of conditions. Fortunately, we are not 

 altogether in the dark in the matter; for the action of 

 lime in a manner similar to that suggested has we l^arn 

 been already tried by a market ganlener at Balaclava, 

 and the results, we are giveu to understand, are very 

 favorable, there being a marked superiority in the 

 vegetables grown with lime as compared with those 

 growing in an adjoining plot in the same garden, and 

 which have been treated with the usual heavy dressing 

 of manure. 



It will be readily understood, from what we above 

 stated, that lime will have a similar action upon stible 

 manure that it has upon a soil ricn in manurial 

 accumulxtions. It does, in fact, liberate and render 

 immediately accessible to plants much of the remaining 

 4-5ths of fertile matt-^r which we stitad could not, 

 under ordinary conditions, be used for some years. 

 Hence, when lime is used together with sta'de manure 

 a much smaller quantity of the latt-^r is required thin 

 when lime is not used. So that in any case the 

 judicious use of lime is likely to prove very profitable 

 ito those concerned. And we would suggest that 

 some market gardeners, whose ground ha-; b en heavily 

 manured for years, should grow some vejjetables on, 

 say three adjoining plots, treating one with a small 

 qua-itity of lime only, another with lime aad a small 

 quantity of stable manure, aud the third with stable 

 manure only. It is necessary to point out that much 

 depends upon the proper application of the lime, 

 and as this is a matter of importance, we will recur 

 to it in a subsequent iss«e. — Melboin-ne Leader. 



Borneo Tobacco. — Shareholders in the Chinese Sabah 

 Land Farming Company will feel interested in the 

 following extract from the November number of To- 

 bacco : — On Thursday, October 14, there was great 

 excitement in the narrow footway called Fenchurch 

 Buildings, which connects Feuchurch St. and Leaden- 

 hall St. At No. 8 — the smartest house in the passage; 

 — is the firm of Messrs, Horatio N. D^vis and Co., 

 who, a year <>r two since, removed from their old 

 quarters at 107, Fenchurch St. The firm was founded 

 in 1722, and are the oldest tobacco-brokers. In the 

 capacity of tobacco-brokers for the British North Bor- 

 neo Company, they had offered for sale by public 

 tender the first shipment of tobacco to England from 

 that colony. The tobacco was divided into two lots, 

 i.e., 35 bales 1884 crop and 293 bales 1885 crop. 

 On the day of the sale and the three prece ling days, 

 samples of the tobacco, together with cigars made 

 from the several marks were on view. They were 

 keenly examined by experts of London ; Liverpool, 

 the tobacco centres of the Continent, aud even thp 

 United States. Opinion agreed that the tobacco was 

 equal in all respects to the valuable cigar tobacco 

 produced in the neighbouring island of Sumatra. At 

 two o'clock the tenders were opene t and the 'winners' 

 announced. So great was the excitement that the 

 prpsence of the police was required. The bulk of the 



tenderers were present, and some were full of con- 

 fidence. One was ,so full that he ha 1 ijone to the ex- 

 pense of rt-printing the marks of tobacco, so that he 

 might be ready to sell immediately he was announced 

 as the happy man. "When the tenders were opened, 

 Messrs. J. Siemss^n and Co. were found to be the 

 highe.st for the 293 biles, and Messrs. G. W. Brangwin 

 and Co. for the 35 bales. Dutch firms had been confid- 

 ent that no English house would be in a position 

 to secure the tender, an 1 it is, therefore, satisfactory 

 to see that they are beaten in Loudon in price for 

 the descriptiou of tobacco in which they thought they 

 had a monopoly. — Straits Times. 



The KiNMO.MD-KicHARDsoN Roller. — When we 

 touched on this subj -ct the other day, we did so 

 with diffidence, and w Juld not have done so at all 

 but that we desired to give our planting readers in- 

 formation concerning this new roiler which claims to 

 eclipse even Jackson's machine. We seem likely in 

 the not distant future to witness a veritable war 

 of tei-roller patents, an Armageddon, which, if it 

 should establish who has a right to a particular con- 

 trivance, will not be without its uses. But as the 

 remarks we made the other day regarding the Kin- 

 mond-Richardsou roller appear in one or two respects 

 to be inaccurate, we are desirous of correcting the 

 mistakes. We learn, from a letter received from 

 Mr. J. C. Kinmond for publication, that " although 

 he assisted in the design and construction of the 

 roder," as stated by us, he in no way introduces it 

 to the Ceylon public. " M-ssrs. Robey & Co. finance 

 mike and sell the Machines," we understand from 

 Mr. KiumOnd, and his visit to the island is not con- 

 nected with the introduction of the roller in any 

 way. In regard to the statement mide by us, on 

 the authority of a correspondent, that it took 50 per 

 cent, less power to drive one of these machines than 

 one of Jackson's of equal capacity — a statement for 

 which we were unable to account except on the 

 supposition the new machine was lighter and more 

 simply geared — Mr. Kinmond says that the rollers 

 are about equal weight, and adds " that the only 

 reason why the Kinmond- Richardson can be driven 

 with so little motive power is that the motive power 

 is applied direct to roll the leaf with the minimum 

 of loss in friction." We certainly shou' I like to see ono ol 

 these maehiops at work, for ocular demonstration is 

 very mucti more satisfactory than any other, und we 

 ire anxious to see a roller which p-^ofesses to work 

 with less friction and with hilf the motive power 

 required for the Excelsior. Mr. Kinmond's letter, 

 explaining the difiiculty we had in accoun'iug for this 

 we think it better not to publish, for such facts as 

 he has to give us, other than the correction of the 

 mistake we fell into, come with better grace from one 

 unconnected with the machine in any way. We have 

 seen a woodcut of the roller together with the ex- 

 planatory letter press. Its most noticeable feature 

 appears to be the circular motion of the lower roll- 

 iug surface which has a hitching action between each 

 stroke of the upper plate, the necessary pressure for 

 the roll being obtained by means of a weight in the 

 upper rolling surface a Ijusted by a screw as in .Tack- 

 son's. The whole business of and iiiterestin the roller 

 belongs to Messrs. Robey & Co. of Lincoln who intend 

 to push its sale in India and Ceylon. — Local "Timts." 

 [If the latter statement is correct the reticence and 

 difiidence of Messrs. R >bey k Co's local Agent are quite 

 phenomenal. He does not seem to have been our con- 

 temporary's informant, or so many inaccuracies regard- 

 ing the new roller would not have required correc- 

 tion amongst others from i\Ir. Kinmond, whose repu- 

 diation of direct interest in his own child is what 

 Mr. Thompson would term " most peculiar." The 

 Observer we may venture to assert, is read by the vast 

 majority of the planters of Ceylon, but neither in 

 person, by letter nor by advertisement has any com- 

 munication been made to our office, by an Agent 

 said to have come hither for the express purpose of 

 pushing the sale of a machine used only by planters. 

 The Agent is probably waiting until trial has es- 

 tablished the merits of the new competitor for the 

 favour of tea,raannfactnrers, — a wiserPRolve, — En.] 



