48 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1882. 



live stock. The races and management of cattle and 

 sheep are dealt with ami how such may most pro- 

 fitably be fed and fattened for the market. 



There are numerous tables showiug the materials 

 consumed by stock at various stmes of growth and 

 under varying couditiona. Other tables show ths food, 

 increase, manure, &c., of fattuuiug aniiials, as well 

 as showing the average composition of various kinds 

 of food and the comparative value of each. 



Wo congratulate Mr. Wrightson, who was formerly 

 Professor (if Agriculture at tlie Ruyal Agiicultural Col- 

 lege, Cirencester, and now of the North ^Viltshiro 

 Agricultural College, and hope before long t'> see the 

 advanced text book of the same series giving ua more 

 detailed information. 



FARMING AVITHOUT MANUBE. 



To the Editor of the "North British Af/riculturist." 

 SiK, — I keep no' Uve stock, nor shall I. I cau always 

 buy what manure I require ; but I am an advanced cult- 

 ivator, and hold what to some would appear to be strange 

 notions. In the early ages of the world, plants had to 

 grow without manure. The plauts had to grow first from 

 the bare rock, and animals had to feed on the plants be- 

 fore there was any manure. Now we have the accumul- 

 ated deposit of ages, which ouly requires cultivation to 

 supply the elements of nutrition that a plant requires. 

 Hence on good soil cxdtivation is an equivalent for manure. 

 Thoroughly good soil allows a free passage for the circ- 

 ulation of the air. The gases of the air act and react 

 GU the soil, or supply food direct to the roots and leaves, 

 so that every time we stir the soil it gathers a supply 

 of riches from the air (heaven). The gases of the air, 

 you at once see, are inexhaustible ; so are the locked-up 

 treasures of good soil. It only needs disintegration and 

 pulverization to yield food for 100 or even 1,000 crops. 

 Thus ou a piece of such land put into cultivation I would 

 grow a crop of wheat year by year of four or five quarters, 

 which might be sold at 40s per quarter, and still have a 

 profit after all the expenses of cultivation are paid for, 

 without auy manure at all, simply depending upon cultiv- 

 ation. 



The ordinary practice of farmers, and even gardeners, 

 is to hoe Land only to kill the weeds. An advanced cult- 

 ivator would hoe or dig it over, eveu it there were no 

 weeds, for the purpose of aerating the soil, and allowing 

 free circulation to the gases from the air. Soil worked in 

 this way (good soil I am speaking of) is in a great measure 

 self-supporting for moisture and also for gases of the plant, 

 which can be absorbed by the roots. I have been an ex- 

 perimenter for the last twenty years with soils, manures, 

 and plants, and have learned from failure as well as suc- 

 cess. I have a technical knowledge, and call myself a 

 specialist, and, when I plant my plauts, I see the future 

 of my plauts traced out clearly, and doubt and uncertainty 

 are reduced to a minimum. Such a thing as a failure of 

 a crop of fruit from strawberry plants never enters into 

 my mind. ' AFork is prayer' was the motto of the monks 

 of old, when they cultivated their land ; so it is with me. 

 AVork is prayer, and cultivation manure, are the two lead- 

 ing principles of my life, and place me ou a higher level 

 tban most cultivators have attained to. The blessing of 

 health (and perfect health induces strength) which I fully 

 enjoy enables me to put these principles into practice. 

 Tlie perfect man possesses the strong muscles and the clear 

 brain ; and if in addition he is cheered and strengthened 

 with the thought that his work will benefit his fel'ow-meL, 

 and be rewarded .vith the approv.al of his Creator, he need 

 wish for no higher or happier state in this life. 



Nothing is easier than to produce disease in plants by 

 feeding them with gross manure, especially if of a stimul- 

 ating natm'e or in a liquid state. Feasting plants brings 

 on disease and predisposes to disease. As with animals, 

 so with man ; and when I say that men might live to 

 100 years or more, I argue in this wise : men live to 

 80 who have spent their lives feasting and fasting, drink- 

 ing spirits .and smoking tobacco, breathing impiu-e air (in 

 bedrooms at night especially), and drinklLig pnlluted water, 

 the pores of the skiu clogged with the accumulated depnsit 

 of years, besides other excesses. In spite of all this liv- 



ing in defiance of the laws of life, men live to 80 or 90 ; 

 yet is it any wonder that man is subject to disease? No; 

 the wonder is that he does not suffer more. If, after 

 •abusing and wasting life, as is the too common practice, 

 disease did not make its appearance, I should be inclined 

 to doubt the truth of that wise law of natiure wliich ordains 

 tint punishment shall follow breach of law. — I .am, &c 



AV. L. 

 [We should say, regarding the above, which has 

 been sent to ns by our Aberdeen correspondent, that 

 sh.allow egotiein is apparent in every line. Tiie good 

 effects of turuing over the soil, so as to lay it open 

 to the action of the air, are universally acknowledged ; 

 but it is equally understood that the fertilizing qualities 

 of the richest soil will become exhausted by constant 

 cropping. If the land gets neither rest nor manure, 

 it will simply, after a period more or less prolonged, 

 according to the nature of its constituents, cease to 

 yield crops. — En.] 



KITTUL FIBRE. 



(From "Notes oti New Industries." By Arihur 

 KOEOTTOM. ) 



[This article appears in the Labour Neios, a copy of 

 which has been sent to us. Our readers will observe 

 that its very excellence has been fatal to the kitnl fibre, 

 the brush and broom makers considering it bad for 

 trade to use an article which is everlasting ! Surely 

 there arc other important purposes for which this 

 quality would render it valuable? — Ed.] 



About 30 years ago the fibre now known as kittul 

 was unknown in England. It came under my notice 

 in a somewhat curious and accidental manner. At this 

 time I was frequently in London, and, being a lover of 

 music, I spent my tvcnings at Julien'.s concerts. At 

 the back of the orchestra, I observed a table, covered 

 with a large number of foreign p.apers. One evening I 

 walked to the table and took up a paper accideutly, 

 which turned ont to be a Cejdon journal. Being inter- 

 ested in the fibre tr.ade, my eye at once turned to a 

 par.agraph coniaining a short account of the kittul palm. 

 I was so much struck with the merits of the palm, as 

 set forth in the article, that I at once put myself in 

 communication with a Ceylon firm, requesting them to 

 forward me a sm.all parcel to London. In due course 

 the sample of kittul fibre arrived, and I began to 

 introduce it to the brush makers aa a substitute for 

 bristles. Shoitly afterwards other parties began to 

 ship this fibre, and a very large parcel arrived— just as 

 it was gathered from the trees, and quite useleps in 

 this state to the brush-makers. This was put up to 

 auction, and I bought it at id per lb., considerably less 

 than the cost of freight .ind other ch.arges. There were 

 some tuns of it, and I had it stored in some coach- 

 hou-es and stahles at the back of my house in the 

 suburbs of Birmingham. Some weeks afterwards, I 

 was making some experiments with a new kind of oil, 

 and wishing to cleanse a liirge saucepan tliat the oil 

 had been in, 1 took up a small bundle of this kittul 

 (the colour of which was a dirty brown) arul begiin 

 wiping out the oily saucipau. To my surprize I found 

 that tlie moment th* fdire came in c mtact with the 

 oil, it turned to a beautiful black. I imparted 

 this information to a practical working m.in, who 

 was a friend of mine, and he ut once became in- 

 teresied, found his experiments successful, and went 

 into the concern vignrouely. Before long the trade 

 increased to a very considerable extent, large quant- 

 ities being used by the l rush makers to improve the 

 quality of the bristle broom. 



Thus the trade was regularly started, and bade 

 fiiir to monr.polize a lariie share of the attention of 

 the bru h-makers of the United Kingdom. An ex- 

 tensive use was found for kittul in the making of 



