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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 1882. 



glutinous material which envelopes the s>'ed or beaus. 

 In the process of pulping the ripe fruit is brought 

 in cont.n-t with revolving cylinders, furui<!hed with 

 small holes sufficiently large to allow the beans to 

 be washed through into the fermenting tanks, while 

 the pulp is carried by a stream of water through 

 spouting into an adjacent pit, where it remains 

 usually for some weeks until, crop time is over. 



It is then customary on most estates to apply 

 this refuse pulp either alone or mixed with lime, or 

 some concentrated manure, as a dressing for the trees ; 

 but there appears to be great difference of opinion 

 among planters as to its merits as a fertilizer. 



Some say that it is of little use in itself, and is 

 very slowly decomposed in tLie eoil, cases being men- 

 tioned where, upon digging up the soil twelve months 

 after application, the pulp has been found in tbe same 

 state as when removed from the pit {Grigsou's pamph- 

 let ou cqfee culture). Others, however, contend that 

 when mixed with a little artificial manure the re- 

 sults, both a3 regards the production ot wood and 

 fruit, are very decid'xl. 



This uncertainty respecting the action of pulp ae a 

 manure may, I think, be traced to a difference in 

 the tieat'Uent previous to tipplication. In the one case 

 it has been allowed to remain for weeks in a heap 

 exposed to heavy rainfall and to the action of waste 

 water from the pulpiug-bouse, whereby all the valu- 

 able salts of potash and soluble nitrogen compounds 

 have been removed, leaving only a mass of woody 

 fibre or cellulose, whicli would be of no more use 

 as a manure tlian ordinary sawdust. 



In the other cast', the pulp has been regularly 

 removed from the pit and mixed with cattle dung, 

 or at lotist madi' into a heap away from the 

 action of the running stream, and subsetjuently 

 mixed with soil and lime to form a com- 

 post. At any rate care has been taken to preserve 

 the valuable salts, and to t-fl'ect the decomposition ot 

 the vegetable tissues previous to being applied to the 

 coffee trees, and the results are eonsequently said 

 to be satisfactory. 



However, in order to form some practical opinion 

 of tlie real Viduo of coflee pulji when carefully treated, 

 I took the opportunity, during my residence in Col- 

 ombo, to prepare a sample of this material for 

 future analysis on my return to England. 



Some vei'V line ri])e cherri s were sent me by post 

 in a tin case from i lie neighbourhood of BaduUa, and 

 were taken in h lud and shipped immediately on 

 arrival. Every iOO parts by weight of cherry yielded 

 in round numbeis 40 parts of puip, and this gave on 

 analysis th" following results : — 



(.'ompoiitioii of J'resh Coffee JTuliJ — 

 Water ... ... 78-310 



*Organic vegetable matters ... 1HS60 



**Mineral matters (Ash) ... l'S30 



Containing Nitrogen 

 **Oonsisting of : — 

 Potash 

 Soda 

 Lime 

 Magnesia 

 Oxide of Iron 

 Pho.spheric Acid 

 Sulphuric Acid 

 Ohloriue 

 Silica 

 Carbonic Acid 



100-000 



•330 



•874 

 •031 

 ■184 

 •037 

 •029 

 •084 

 •062 

 •047 

 072 

 •410 



1-830 



•55 

 •70 

 •25 

 •50 



jjliosphoric acid, lime, and nitrogen, it is superior in the 

 quantity of jiotasli. Thus, in 100 parts of farmyard 

 manure, we may assume that the above constituents 

 are present in the following proportions i 



Nitrogen , 



Lime ... 



Phosphoric Acid 



Potash 



If, however, pulp ha exposed to continued washing, 

 as is generally the case, the agricultural value is cert- 

 ainly less than it would appear to be from the above 

 analysis. For I found by actual experiment that, if 

 100 parts of pulp were allowed to remain in contact 

 with 10,000 parts of cold water for 24 hours, there were 

 dissolved out the following -. — 



Organic matters (soluble) 6'543 



Mineral matters (soluble) 1^201 



In other words, g of the organic matters, and % of the 

 mineral matters, including tlie potash Baits, were washed 

 out with cold water after saturation for 24 hours. 



It is therefore evident that planters would do well 

 to remove the pulp directly from tbe separator, and not 

 allow it to remain in the pits even for a day, and 

 certainly should not permit the continued action of 

 running water. 



At the present time, when crops are short and prices 

 low, it is certainly imperative that planters should 

 lose no opportunity of obtaining from a residuum 

 material like pulp all the possible advantages of a 

 useful manure. 



It should also be remembered that properly decomposed 

 vegetable matter must ever be a most valuable applic- 

 ation to soils naturally light and porous like the ma- 

 jority of Ceylon, India, aud Jamaica coffee estates ; 

 for thereby the supply of carbonic acid is increased, 

 and the mineral resources of the soil are more easily 

 rendered available as plant food. 



As regards the best method of preparing coffee 

 pulp, I would suggest that, where cattle or pigs are 

 kept, it should be mixed with the manure from 

 the sheds as soon as possible. But in other cases 

 compos'ts should be made of pulp, bones, and any 

 other fertilizers that may be at hadd. If nothing 

 else be available, it should be mixed with a little lime 

 and soil, and remain well protected from rain for a 

 couple of months. When economy is abeolutely neoess- 

 arj' on all estate?, it may be useful to direct atten- 

 tion to the natural advantages of coffee pulp when pro- 

 perly prepared as a manure. 



Analytical Laboratory, 79, Mark Lane, Loudon. 

 — Planters' Gazette. 



From the nbovc n-.sults it vtill bo observed that fresh 

 pulp, if tukcn direct from the piilper, is really a very 

 iroful and valuable m.attrial. and. though inferior to 

 oidinary cattle dung as regards the proportion o 



The "Tropical Aokicultukist." — A native gentle- 

 man writes ; — " It will he very useful and accomplish 

 a long felt want if the Loudon and New York Price 

 Cuirents are included in the Tropical Agriculturist." 

 We purpose adopting this suggestion, beginning with 

 the July issue, the first of a new year. Tlie June 

 number is now complete, but "e have to add to it a 

 full index for the yearly volume, which can then 

 be bound up. The index is in hand. A Nawalapitiya 

 planter writes ; — " The T. A. is a special comfort to me 

 and I am looking forward to this month's No. " 



ExACUM Maceanthum is a native of the mountains 

 of Ceylon, where it is found at an elevation of about 

 6,000 feet above sea-level. It is a fine ornamental 

 plant, belonging to an order — (ientianaceaj — which turn- 

 islies our gardens with by no means a few showy 

 things. It grows about a couple of feet in height, 

 has large, gliihrous, glossy leaves, graduall.v becoming 

 smaller as the terminal corymbs of handsome dark 

 rich purple biossiims are renched ; these measure about 

 2 inches in diameter, the yellow eye and large yellow 

 stamens forming a striking eonira,st with the purple 

 of the corolla. JNow in flower in No. 8 house at Kew, 

 — Oardtuers' (,'hroiticle, May 2Cth, 



