766 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[March i, 1883. 



and additional nitrogen, in quantity, superfluous, if 

 not positively prejudicial? Were he unable to say, tlie 

 shareholders, wlio have succeeded till within the last 

 yeariu pocketing their 8 per cent free of income tax re- 

 guhirly for years might not be disinclined lodo so! 

 Or, why, but for the reason that it destroys a vast 

 quantity of organic mutter, acting, though more per- 

 manently, as would green or root crops, as a natural 

 magazine of nitrogen, has the burning-offof a new clear- 

 ing been. I believe, always universally regarded as 

 a very wasteful system, tolerated only as conve7iience "! 

 " W, D. B." props his theory on statements of M. ViUe 

 and Mr. Hughes, but overlooking that the fact that these 

 statements were made prior to Mr. Warington'a revel- 

 ations on the subject of nitrification. Now calculating 

 oil the rajiidity with which thi? is proved to go on 

 ill a temperate climate, the figures quoted (no allow- 

 auce being made for losses by nitrification) are, it 

 seems to me, at "nee upset, unless it can be shewn 

 that the trees take up all the nitrates as they 

 are formed. And when it is further shewn that 

 under a tropical sun the rate at which the pro- 

 cess goes on is so greatly increased that there 

 seems even to be a possibility of turning this com- 

 mercially to account for the artificial production of 

 nitrates of soda or potash in some parts of India, I 

 think it mi.y be fairly assumed that nitrogen Itasnol been 

 allowed too prominent a place in manuring operations, 

 or that its importance has been overestimated by me ! 



In saying ihat cattle manure is chiefly valued 

 because it at once contains a majority of the 

 necessary elements, "VV. D. B." is I admit in a sense 

 correct; but to imply, as I understand him to do, 

 that it does not at all times, if well preserved, contain 

 nitrogen in very large proportion — sulBoiently so (and 

 especially if[cake fed) to entitle it to be classed as essenti- 

 ally a nitrogenous manure — is I maintain incorrect. 



In broaching the discussion I neither at the 

 time, nor have I since, attempted to write in 

 any sense dogmatically, and certainly from no desire 

 to personally nnnoy your correspondent, and I with 

 regret notice that instead of without misrepresentation 

 refuting any ideas I may have ventured on contrary 

 to his own opinions, one bj" one, with a sound reason — 

 opinions I should then be only too glad to accept, and 

 also to admit myself wrong, on good shewing — he 

 prefers meeting tliem with a reply commenced and 

 ended with remarks thatsavour rather of slight irritation. 

 I have intentionally said nothing to provoke. Brevity 

 may be the soul of wit, but not nece-sarily (or always 

 possibly) of reason, though, under a more able pen than 

 my own, what I have desired to express might have 

 been put in ferer words ! But as we bave both now 

 had our say, and I am anxious to cut short, the dis- 

 cussion as between us, as well as for the valuable 

 information it might elicit : if " W. D. B." will l.iy our 

 correspondence before M. Ville, Warington, or Huslirs, 

 or all of them — if our local professors will not satisfy 

 him — J will engage to pay a moderate fee, should they 

 decide that my conclusions are in the main wrong, 

 or that I have not on the whole fairly and correctly 

 met his statements. 



He quite, on the face of it, iiirorrrelly and un- 

 necessarily attempts to saddle me with the clos- 

 ing paragraph of my last letter ; the suggestion 

 bidng given, as not my oirn idea distinctly ! I may — 

 very likely — have recorded the surmise incorrertly. If 

 not, he is in the lists, if I mistake not, with one of the 

 most successful agricultural scientists of the day — 

 Professor Buckman : a man who by reason of his 

 science has vedtably succeeded in inducing " two 

 blades of grass to l:iow where but one was before," 

 making his property pay in seasons when the "old 

 rule" farmers around were all more or less out of pocket. 

 Though neither questioning, nor doubting, the 

 important bearing they may exercise on it, I pro- 



less personally to know as little abou t atmospheric gases, 

 or occult influences with respect to leaf disease, 

 as your correspondent lays it open to he supposed he 

 does of the vast importance of nitnigen, and of doing 

 the utmost to ronserrc the same, in writing '"sufficient 

 unto the day is the evil thereof" with regard thereto. 



X. 

 P. S. — "W. D. B." gives a good suggestion in recom- 

 mending the application of lime with manure, but 

 might have advantaiieously menti'ined in what form — 

 quicklime, hydrate, or carbonate — n.erordinr/ to the special 

 condition of the manure fr compost at the time ; 

 for on this evidently depends whether it may be re- 

 garded as a friend or an enemy. The .Tune or .Tuly 

 (1881) number of the Tropical Aiiricultunst contains 

 full information in a lengthy extract from the Field. 

 The valuable properties of g.vpsum are also fully de- 

 scribed and laid stress on ; and, judging by what is said, 

 it seems a pity it cannot be procured cheaply as at 

 home, and largely used. The same article refers to the 

 grey chalk as being of supposed greater value as a manure 

 than purer forms, owing to its containing an admixture 

 of alumina, and probaldy thus a valuable double 6<;«c, 

 of which it would be interesting to know something 

 more, and whether it cannot be produced here artifically 

 by an admixture of lime with some of our clays? 

 Since writing the above, I have come across some 

 particulars regarding the root crops suggested that 

 W' uld seem to shew them to be ijuite unsuitable. 

 Perliaps " ground-nuts," if I am not mistaken, a 

 leguminous plant, might answer. I am under the 

 impression that they grew well, and without doing 

 injury, underneath the large "Ceara" trees at the 

 Peradeniya Gardens. The crop could be dug in, 

 anyhow, hefore the nuts became fully matured, 

 and a serious drain on tiie mineral constitu- 

 ents of the soil. Though it of course would not 

 do to remove them in quantity from the land, the 

 stems and foliage are an excellent fodder, that horses 

 seem to be as greedily fond of as of vetches. X. 



THE IRONWOOD OF CEYLON. 



Colombo, 22ud Feb. 1883. 



Pear Sir, — I have to thank Mr. Willi.im Ferguson for 

 the valuable information contained in his letter, publish- 

 ed on page 76."?. The wood I referred to under the Tamil 

 name of " palu," pronounced "pnlai" in Trincomalee is 

 not the wood of the tree " bearing the glorious brilliant 

 crimson young leaves, and the large fragrant white 

 flowers, with masses of yellow stamens in the centre, 

 and usually grown in the vicinity of Buddhist 

 Temple*" in the Western, Onind, and Southern Pro- 

 vinces ; but the kind with the dense " spreading head, 

 with leaves crowded near the end of the branches, 

 and abundant small flowers among them," ami I may 

 add bearing a small frrit — like a raisin of a sw'eet 

 luscious taste — specially relished by bears. — I am dear 

 sir, yours truly, \V. H. 



[Quite so : the Trinconialee " palu" is not to be 

 confounded "ith the true ironwood, called na by the 

 Sinhalese. — Ed ] 



Professor Law.^on. — This gentleman, whose arrival 

 in Madras we noticed the other day, left on 24th 

 Feb. by the S. S. " Navarino " for Colombo, to Pera'] 

 deniya, where he has en route been desired to proceed 

 by the Madras Government to confer with Dr. Trimen. 

 the Director of the Ceylon Government Botanical 

 Gardens, on certain knotty points in connection with 

 the identity of some species of cinchonas which he 

 has partly come out to solve. It is hoped that some 

 definite conclusions ^vill be arri^•ed at towards settling 

 the various ve.\ed questions that have formed the bnue of 

 contention among botanists for some years past. - M. Mail. 

 [Mr. Lawson Is now at Peradeniya. — Ed.] 



