March i, 18S3.I 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURISf, 



757 



HOW TO APPLY FERTILIZERS. 



Many orcliardista iu (':iliforuia are awakening to the 

 nrcessity of maintaiuing the fertility of their orciiards 

 by the application of manures of different kinds, and 

 it will be tinii'Iy lo iutrodnoe some facts concerning 

 the method of upplicatiou. There is a right way and 

 a wrong way, and fortunately the proper nieihod 

 can be sliowii by a series of systematic experiments. 

 A writer for iho Countri/ Oentleman gives the follow- 

 ing :— A rule adopted by old writer give the length 

 of the roots as equal lo the branches above. It is 

 .safe to say that this rule does not indicate generally 

 more than a tenth of the ground which the entire 

 roots really occupy. Many years ago I made au ex- 

 periment on a row of i)each trees planted in grass and 

 within a fe* feet of each other. They had been set 

 three or four years, and were eight or nine feet high. 

 Within a few feet of one end of the row the ground 

 was made very rich with a heap of manure. Its stimul- 

 ating effect upon the nearest tree was such that the 

 shoots made in one season w'ere t«o feet and a half 

 long. Tlie tree, which stood seven feeG from the 

 manured ground, made shoots lifteen inches long, and at 

 eleven feet distance the shoots grew seven or eight 

 iucbes. At lifteen feet no pei-ueptible effect of the 

 manure was visible, the growth not exceeding three 

 inches. The experirnent howed ihat a decided benefit 

 was gaini'd to the tree ats eleven feet di-tance tlirougb 

 the few rnots on one side, and that the roots formed 

 a radiating circle at laest twenty-two feet in diameter 

 The absurdity of the practice of applying a small heaep 

 of manure at the base of the trunk of a tree is obvious. 

 — San Fi-aiicinco Weekly hronide. [An old planter 

 gave his opinion the oth r dav that in too close plant- 

 ing, with roots meeting, lay the explanation of much of 

 the falling- off in coffee crops. — Ed.] 



NEW PRODUCTS IN THE LOWCOUNTRY 



OF CEYLON: 



GENERAL REPORT FOR JANUARY 1883. 



LiBKRIAN CorFEB— t'0C0.\ — NUTMEGS— ClOVE-S — RUBBER 



Teak — Gamboge -Friit—S.igo—Peppei:— Tea. 



This has been on the whole a dry moLtU, though a few 

 showers fell at intervals of teu days. About the middle 

 of the month, the strong land-wiud ceased, and it has 

 since been calm and occasionally cloudy. 



The variety of cofi-ee that suffered most from the H. 

 r. is throwing out many suckers from the stem, but 

 uothing on the hare br.inches, while every leaf, as it ex- 

 pands, becomes the prey of the pest. Such trees as have 

 been only partially denuded of leaves are throwing out 

 secondaries, but with the same result — every fresh leai 

 becomes infected. Such as came out of the ejjideraie 

 with little damage have taken a fresh start of regular 

 growth, and promise well, it they can only weather" the 

 next storm of spores. The largest blossom of the season 

 was out on the 22nd and has all set. Of course there 

 was none on the entirely denuded trees, but on the p.arti- 

 ally denuded it was full, and on the least scathed 

 very large : that is to say, there is as muoh crop as can 

 be packed on the trees. 



The COCOA is recovering from the effect of the wind 

 but many of the trees still look bare and ragged. When 

 the tree, however, has weathered through the first two 

 years, it seems to have acquired a fund of ritality that 

 rapidly repairs any damage sustained from the weather, 

 unless the soil is too poor, or the situation too bleak, to 

 permit them to get into form at all. Even in such situ- 

 ations, if they siu-vivc the first eighteen mouths, they do 

 not die outright, but continue struggling, and sending up 

 fresh stems, as the old ones wither, till a spell of favour- 

 able weather enables them to branch, and then it is 

 safe to become a tree. As soon as the stem is sur- 

 mounted by a crown of branches a foot long, it comes on 

 with a rush, adding six inches to the length of the 

 branches at every monthly flush, till checked by unfavour- 



able weather. I bavo three year old trees here that 

 completely shade a circle twelve feet in diameter, and, iu 

 one case, the lu-st crop is seventy well-established pods, 

 and so little does the tree feel its work that suckers 

 have to be stripped from the stem almost weekly.* There 

 are fresh trees coming into bearing week by week, and, 

 as I said iSst mouth, there will be an appreciable crop 

 twelve months hence. I begin to believe in this product. 

 In a carefully .selected soil, and exposure, we may safely 

 calculate on five hundredweight per acre, on the average 

 of years. This at SOs gives 400s=K240. The most liberal 

 cultivation and all other expenses of bringing to market 

 would be amply provided for by R120, leaving E120 as 

 the profit of the proprietor. After encountering the 

 enemies of the plant, termites, crickets, a species of cater- 

 pillar, and a minute insect that preys on the young leaves 

 and tender bark, we have now to make the acquaintance 

 of the foes of the fruit. So far I have only met with 

 two. One day, I fouud five ripe pods on one tree, and 

 two on another, with the husks torn opeUj and thfe seed 

 abstracted. At first I thought it had been a thief, of 

 the genus homo, variety Sinhalese, but on reflection I 

 came to the conclusion that a human thief would not 

 have sought the least accessible spot on the property 

 when he could serve his purpose equally on easier ground^ 

 Moreover he would not have torn the husk open- with 

 his teeth, or nails, leaving the empty shell on the tree 

 when he could have carried it otf bodily, with so 

 much less trouble. Finding this solution untenable 

 I had to choose among flying-foxes, squirrels, and crow.s', 

 and I have not yet settled the point. t)ut a couple of squirrels 

 were seen disporting themselves among the rocks, suspici- 

 ously near the scene of plunder. The other enemy is a 

 small worm that eats through the husk and enclosed 

 seed before it is quite ripe. I have only fotmd one pod so 

 perforated, but that was utterly ruined. 



Since the dry weather came, the few caedamost plants I 

 have, took a start, and are now growing rapidly. It seems 

 after all to be that rain was the retarding element. 



A nursery of 800 nutmegs produced 240 plants, one-half 

 of which are probably males, and can only be eliminated 

 after flowering, at the end of four or five year.s, . I am' 

 however encouraged to extend this cultivation from the 

 large crops this tree yields after the fifth year, and the 

 promising condition of a few plants on another place, 



I liave afew CLO\'E plants down, but in this dryweather 

 the growth is very slow, but most of them look healthy. 



The Ht'BBEE trees are taking a rest during this dry sea- 

 son, I had a good crop of seed, but when I set about col- 

 lecting it ofl' the ground I fouud that some one had 

 been there before me. I have made enquiry, but have 

 fouv(\ no clue. I had no suspicion that any one would touch 

 it, but after the deed was discovered I recollected that 

 RIO per thousand is still demanded in .some quarters, and, 

 perhaps paid. So I ceased to wonder why Sinhalese villagers 

 or estate coolies should desire to possess it, 



I have land ready for a pinery, and only wait for a few 

 showers to get plants of the best Iriuds, At the trojiical 

 garden, a Kew pine of 19 lb, has been achieved on in- 

 different soil, and from the v^ery- superior appearance of 

 the few plants of this kind I possess I expect still better 

 results. Of all the fibre plants with which I am acquainted, 

 that of the Kew i>ine is the finest and the strongest — far 

 too valuable for paper stuff, but especially suitable for the 

 manufacture of thread or linen of the finest quality. In 

 any mechanical process of extracting the fibre from the 

 fresh leaf, the waste would be enormous, but, if Ekman's 

 process can be applied on a smaller and less costly scale 

 than that needed for a large paper mill, a vast trade could 

 be created under the auspices of a local limited com- 

 pany in a couple of years. The quantity of fibre-Jielding 

 material in any circle of ten miles, radius that goes to 

 waste in the lowcountry of Ceylon woidd keep a factory 

 at work without any special planting for the purpose. The 

 promoting of a company is not in my line, but I bestow 

 the idea on the public gratis, and I hope it will be taken 

 up by some one, with the necessary qualifications of per- 

 sonal influence and busmess habits. 



Of TIMBEE TUBES, teak grew freely for the first two 

 years, but it is growing little or none now. Certain ' 



T Has any attempt been made to laise trees frdin sucb suckero 

 — Ep. 



