March i, 1883.} 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



741 



Inuuus and abundance of the fertilizing salts ; or that 

 the former can be dispensed with, while tlie latter 

 are present in fair abundance even in our lower sub- 

 soils. Of course, the upturned soil by road-sides is 

 generally well aerated before being planted up with 

 cinchonas, and gradually nitrogenous and other fer- 

 tilizing suljstances are washed down from the road- 

 sides. There can be little doubt, we think, that if 

 the expense could be afibrded of digging or steam- 

 ploughing cinchona estates to a depth of two feet, 

 planters might calculate on the survival over the 

 area planted of a large proportion of their tiees. 

 Wind, which shakes the plants, loosening them in the 

 earth, and wet which enters the orifices created by 

 the wind, leading to "damp feet," canker and decay, 

 would still claim thek holocaust of victims, and our 

 readers must not run away with the idea that wind 

 is not^ as fatal to cinchona plantations on the Nilgiris 

 as it is in Ceylon. If we saw flourishing plantations 

 at Neddiwuttum, we also saw one on the pass going 

 down to Gudalur which had been absolutely blown 

 out of existence. This was only one of sevei'al Go- 

 vernment plantations which had wholly or largely 

 failed, and on a private estate, the site of which (an 

 apparently well sheltered valley) had been specially 

 chosen by the late Mr. Mclvor, only one fifth of 

 the plants put in survived to maturity. The ex- 

 perience there was what we have so often known 

 in (.'eylon : as soon as the forest m the apparently 

 perfectly sheltered valley was felled, .Eolus seemed 

 to let loose all his winds to rush down into 

 and eddy round in the devoted scene of an 

 experiment which seemed so promising. And even 

 oil tlie Madras Government plantations at Dodabetta, 

 Neddiwuttum, Pykara, &c., which have been most 

 successful, actual counting revealed the fact that more 

 Ihan Jijty per cent of the plants on which tlie late 

 Mr. Molvor reckoned in his successive annual reports, 

 had perished. The estimated and the actual numbers 

 of trees compared thus : — 



Total .. 1,190,458 ... .569,031 

 In the case of the Pykara estates, the number actually 

 counted was only 45,758 against 304,484 estimated, 

 so that the Nilgii'is, like Ceylon and like Dogberry,' 

 "have had losses." The whole secret of such success 

 as has resulted in the case of the Nilgiri plantations, we 

 believe to be due to the " two feet of rich free sur- 

 face soil." That also was the secret of the trees 

 being al)le to flourish side by side with luxsuriant 

 weeds, including marigolds so tall that fifteen deer 

 were started out of their shelter just before the 

 period of our visit iu 1S77. The subsoil and rock 

 formations of the Nilgiris are, like those of Ceylon, 

 ■ gneissic, but as Mr. Hughes' specimens of soils from 

 the Nilgiris were taken only from the "two feet of 

 rich surface soil," while many of the Ceylon specimens 

 analyzed must have included portions of clayev sub- 

 soil, tlie latter fact must be allowed for when we come 

 to institute eomiiarisons, as well as the different modes 

 in which silicates, soluble aad insoluble have been es- 

 timated in the two cases. The rich surface soil of 

 the Nilgiris is described as largely mixed with quai-tz 

 gravel, while the silicates are divided into '• pure 

 quai tz sand " and " insoluble silicates," instead of 

 soluble and insolul)le silicates as in Mr. Hughes' 

 Ceylon analyses. For purposes of comparison we take 

 is analyses of Dimljula soils. There are 8 analyses 

 of Nilgiri and 9 of Dimbula soils, so that the materials 

 Si 



for comparison are ample. What stands as " water 

 lost at 212' F." in the case of the Dimbula soils, is 

 amplified iu the Nilgiri analyses into " hygroscopic 

 moisture (ilried at i;i2'' Fahr.)" In the ease of Dim- 

 bula the figures ranged from 2-9S0 in the soil of an 

 estate 28 years in coft'ee, rainfall 120 inches, to 10-120 iu 

 one 9 years old and witli 170 inches rain. Tlie Nilgiri 

 figures, it will be observed, range much lower, from 

 1_-5S0 to 4 '760. " Organic matter and water of com- 

 bination " are given together in the Dimbula analyses, 

 the figures ranging from 8-380 to •20'460. Adding 

 the two together in the cause of the more detailed 

 Nilgiri estimates, w-here they are separated, v\-e get 

 8 '080 as the lowest and 19-780 as the highest. The 

 nitrogen in the Dimbula organic matter ranges from 

 •160 to -403, the lower quantity being on the estate 

 28 years in coft'ee ; the higher in the soil of a plant- 

 ation only 7 years old. In the Nilgiri soils the pro- 

 portion of nitrogen ranges from so low as -107 to so 

 high as -503. The proportion of carbon in the or- 

 ganic matter of the Dimbula soils was not shewn, so 

 that comparison except in the case of carbonic acid 

 is impossible. In the case of the Nilgiri soils it 

 will be observed the proportion of carbon in the 

 organic matter ranged from -970 to 4-454. Carbon, 

 we suppose is only or mainly valnable as a material 

 for building up the structure of plants. Nitrogen has 

 a much higlier value, but Mr. Hughes did not at- 

 tach much importance to the proportion in Dimbu'a 

 soils, except as an indication, wlien plentiful, tljat 

 the land liad not been deleteriously washed. 

 Oxides of iron and traces of manganese in the Dim- 

 bula soils (generally excellent for tea) ranged from 

 4-530 to so high as 11-018. But the Nilgiri soils gave 

 from 7-OSO to the enormous proportion of 26-870. Of 

 course, some of the best soils in the world owe theu- 

 colour to per-oxide of iron, and it does not seem that 

 even more than a proportion of one-fourth iion was 

 injurious on the Nilgiris. On the other hand, the 

 Kev. Mr. Alibay held that iron iu the wrong form 

 it was which rendered so many of our Ceylon patana 

 soils sterile. For tea the proportions of iron and 

 alumina ui the Dimbula soils are not too high. The 

 alumina with us was found to range from 4993 to 

 18 472. The latter figure, however, was in the case 

 of the oldest estate, 15-912 being the highest in the 

 case of a young plantation. Alumina (which indicates 

 clayey soil), it will be seen, ranged on the Nilgiris 

 from 6-968 to 16 349, so that but for the greater 

 stifi'ness of our soils they could not be regarded as 

 much more clayey than those of the Nilgiris. Neither 

 tea nor cinchona seems to need lime to the same ex- 

 tent that eoifee does, and our Dimbula soils, with 

 the exception of that of an estate situated under a 

 limestone cliil, are very deficient in lime. The per- 

 centages run from -055 to •350, the latter, however, 

 quite an exception and from the cause named, the highest 

 percentage on any other place lieing -168. For coflee 

 cultivation Mr. Huglies advised the application of 

 lime, but we do not know that it would be beneficial 

 in cinchona culture, except as improving the mechani- 

 cal condition of the soil. This constituent in the 

 Nilgiri soils is, however, higher on the average than 

 with us, ranging from 078 to -481. 



Magnesia in the Nilgiri soils preponderates generally 

 over lime, which is not the case with the Dimbula 

 soils. In tlie Nilgiri analyses magnesia ranges from 

 -077. the lowest by far, to so high as -SUli, while in 

 the Dimbula soils the range is from -063 to -216. As 

 far as we know, the smaller quantity of magnesia in 

 the Ceylon soils would be rather in their favoiu'. il 

 their mechanical condition were only better than it 

 generally is. 'We now come to, perhap.s, the most 

 important constituent of soil next to phosphoric acid 

 viz., potash. In this ingredient the Nilgiri soils have 

 the advantage, the proportions ranging from -031 to 



