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THE TROPICAL AGRICtnLTURIST. 



[Atoil 2, 1883. 



when the fiat had gone forth to abandon estates if 

 they could not put their crops free on board at 21s 

 per cwl ! Afterwards, when such extreme rigour was 

 no longer necessary, the cooly supply interposed a 

 difficulty. Coolies came over, as a rule, for the crop 

 months only, in those days ; and when the crop was 

 over, three fourths or more of them insisted on re 

 turning to the Coast. I have known them go without 

 their i)ay sooner than be detained. Many attempts 

 to institute clean weeding were foiled for want of 

 labour to carry on the successive weedings in time. 

 Failing such succession, the weeds gained head again, 

 and the estate relapsed into its former condition ! 



In the meantime, those few estates which had been 

 opened on a correct eystem, and «ere never allowed 

 to become weedy, stood out in such strong relief by 

 their fine appearance that the most sceptical Hallilean 

 would have been converted by the contrast. Such was 

 the the wholefome dread of weeds on young estates, 

 that Capt. Jolly preferred to allow some crop to fall 

 rather than to incur the risk of delaying the work 

 of weeding, and I well remember seeing bis coolies 

 busy weeding when the crop was dead ripe and actu- 

 ally dropping from the trees. 



It seem incredible that now, after all these years, the 

 experience of those days should be appealed to in de- 

 fence of weeds, and that, too, on the score of preventing 

 wash ! Perhaps we may live to witness attempts to 

 resuscitate the mamoty, as being the instrument to which 

 we were indebted (if we had only known it) for the 

 splendid crops we used to get ! ^Y- 



ON WEEDS IN COFFEE. 



Mysore . 



Drak Sir,— You have been kind enough in the 

 interests of coffee planters to permit space for the 

 ventilation of this subject. I write therefore, trusting 

 in your kind couaideration to permit some views that 

 may, l)y being studied, prove beneticial to all, and 

 I cannot do better ttian place in the first instance 

 the peculiar penetration of a mind like Maclvor's : — 

 "The science of chemistry may be said to be as yet 

 in its infancy. It has only reached that ijoint, which 

 contributes more to our infonuatiou than our benefit. 

 Speaking without formal precision, the chemist can 

 break down, but ho cannot build up, — he may de- 

 compose but he cannot combine. This process of 

 destruction adds to our information. It enables us 

 to ascertain with certainty the exact elements of 

 which bodies are composed. How changed would the 

 whole future of bcience be, if it were possible for the 

 scientific man to place these separate elements in 

 chemical combination. It is this defect which places 

 the most consummate skill, the most elaborate pro- 

 cess and apparatus of the chemiet in despicable in- 

 significance when compared with the daily results 

 produced by the meanest weed we trample under 

 our foot. There we find this humble organism 

 secreting the various elements required to build up 

 its system and as carefully rejecting such as are not 

 necessary; the stem, leaf, petal and seed, each select- 

 ing and placing in chemical combination the peculiar 

 elements of which they are composed." And in con- 

 clusion to this Maclvor has most interestingly added: 

 " This certainly is a laboratory at which a wise man 

 would not refuse to take a lesson." But how little is 

 really known about the action, invisible, of vegetable 

 life and most especially of the roots, and their fibres. 

 How little indeed does the most scientific researcher 

 know of the taking and giving of vegetable matter 

 from soil and atmosphere, from moisture and heat — 

 in light and in darkness. How are the necessary 

 elements for " building up " separately and distinctly 

 secreted and brought visibly into action and shown 

 in stem iu leaf, in petal and fiually back to the 



same seed from which the vegetable had its origin. 

 It is clearly to be seen that weeds or no weeds iu coffee 

 requires most special considoration and cannot be dis- 

 posed of at haphazard by "e.x-cathedra" utterances. 

 There must be a patient and careful invesiigation, 

 The components of the weed must be first ascertained 

 before it can be said to deprive the coffee of nourish- 

 ment. It may possibly be proved that some weeds re- 

 move deleterious matter from coffee-growing lands, 

 and BO assist. Some weeds, such as surface fibrous rooted 

 grasses, bind up the top soil and will not allow either 

 the influeuce of the .rays of the sun or 3-et water 

 percolation to proceed, It is clear these require 

 digging out and scorching up. Than again tlie "goat 

 weed," awellknown prolific weed, will be found when 

 closely studird to be a benefitto the_;jtani if not lost to 

 the place that it germinatetl in. The component parts 

 of this weed are wellknown to be the same as iu coffee. 

 But as this is a soil-opener by its root process, an 

 entirely top surface feeder iu its growth and its develop- 

 ment by air and water in the rains is very great 

 indeed. There can be no reason that in its death, laid 

 by the side of the oufi'ee stem and root scorched by 

 the sun, it will not prove a provident fund of rich 

 manuring. It may iu its green state be placed in 

 renovation pits,but these should be left open, thus prevent- 

 ing souring the soil by fermentation and the projecting 

 perhaps insect life iu decay. To this weed, if coffee 

 leaf and twjgs of pruned coffee be added, a good 

 return will have been made to the soil obtained in 

 excess from nature's progress. It is clear ; weeds and 

 no weeds are questions open to a close investigation by 

 every member iu coffee and the experience of each 

 would, I feel certain, be very acceptable to those who 

 are interested in the Tropical Agriculturist of Ceylon, 

 and the experimental observations ' in every-day life 

 on different areas would afford a fund of iul'ormation 

 (practical) for guidance without any cost by simply 

 taking areas as they came under observation. These 

 areas need not be large ones. Quarter acre plots would 

 be quite sufficient left bare and then in different soils 

 of different weeds. The object of this letter is onjy. 

 suggestively to produce facts with reference to weeds 

 on estates, whether the result "be for good or for evil." 

 The evil can then be set aside and the good availed of. 

 —Yours faitlifuUy, G. H. KEARNEY. 



Just a note for general observation. It may not be 

 generally known and at the same time it may possibly 

 be that it nlay not occur everywhere, but it is worthy 

 of a trial in all places : if an estate has giassy areas 

 in the rains, by scraping with a mamotie during the 

 rains, when the rainfall is not at its heaviest, and 

 removing the grass, the next crop of weeds that 

 oeme will be the "goat weed." It seems strange, but 

 it has been so with me.^ — Gr. H. K. 



Japan Pea Seed. — A tolerably successful experiment 

 with the Soybean, Soja hixpido,, was made last year 

 at Saidapet, but the Government entirely concur with 

 the Government of India iu desiring that the cultiv- 

 ation of this valuable bean should be extended. To 

 this end they resolve to request that Government to 

 supply 500 lb ofthe seed as recommended by the Agri. 

 cultural Department. — Madras Mail, 



Mahoganv Plant.s. — The Honorary Secretary, Agri- 

 Horticultural Society, Madras, recently wrote to the 

 Government, stating that there are about 250 mahogany 

 plants G inches high, safe from damping olf, now for 

 sale in the gardens. The Government order on this 

 ia to the effect that every effort should be made to 

 further the cultivation of this valuable tree, which 

 was reported in 1870 to have succeeded admirably at 

 Nilambur. Tlie Conservator of Forests, Southern Di- 

 vision, will include mahogany among the various trees 

 and plants, experiments with which were directed by 

 the orders of Government last year. — Madras Mail, 



