246 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[September i, 1882. 



Strong arguments I know ean be adduced under other 

 headings in favour of the present syst -m and as to 

 its beiug ths most, if not the only, efficient one. Under 

 the item of draining however — as regards the chief 

 point in its favour, viz., the prevention of wash — 

 I am inclined now, from an experiment under trinl, 

 to believe that this might have been, and can be, 

 as effectually checked by a system of terracing (not 

 unsimilar to the Sinhalese method of terracing their 

 hillside paddy fields) at a somewhat greater though 

 not prohibitive outlay. And then as regards clean weed- 

 ing. How would it do on young clearmgs upcouutry, 

 rather than leave the ground bare during the rains, 

 to grow thinly-planted crops of sugar beet (beet being 

 3 crop highly spoken of for the purpose intended)? If 

 it be not rich in nitrogen, extract the sugar, and 

 return the refuse, either in the form of cattle manure, 

 or directly, or after killing the roots, to allow them 

 to rot, as thfy stand ? In the lowcountry a crop 

 of mustard, to be dug in and repeated at intervals, 

 might meet Mr. Warington's advice, and I am inclined 

 to fancy might prove an effectual check on white ants. 

 At least a friend who has studied agriculture at home 

 mentioned the plan as effectual in the case of wire- 

 worm — here now the pests have taken to cutting dowu 

 the young nutmeg plants. These, however, are not the 

 only points for or against the existing system. But 

 the fact (on Mr. Warington's shewing) remains, as far 

 as I can make it out that it can only be carried on 

 without some modification's or improvements at an 

 alarming loss of nitrogen. 



We are told that at a temperature of 98° nitrific- 

 ation takes place i!e?i times more rapidly than at 57° ; 

 that "the average of the two sizes of drain gauged 

 20" and 60" deep shewed that during 5 years they 

 had in the one case 4-l'81b. of nitrogen draining 

 throu(;h tlie soil, and in the other case 42 Gib. "; 

 that nitrates form rapidly on bare fallow, and that 

 when formed, on wet weather setting in, they are rapidly 

 washed into the drains and carried off, or, deep down into 

 the soil that he (Mr. Waringtou) believed that a 

 part of the present agricultural depression was owing to 

 the extremety wet winters of the past few years, lower- 

 ing the condition of th« soil by washing out extra- 

 ordinary amounts of nitrates. 



Now in consideration of our everywhere higher tem- 

 perature, and the enormous excess of rain falling dur- 

 ing the monsoons, it can liardly be an exagjjeration 

 to asmmc twice the home loss, as occurring, at least, 

 during the first two years of a clearing, if left under 

 bare fallow, as usual at present, and consequently a 

 sufficient quantity of nitrogen is allowed meanwhile 

 to escape to support a crop of 120 busiiels of wheat 

 — or probably over two tons of cofft-e — unless it cau 

 be shewn that coffee consumes proportionately more 

 nitrogen than wheat ; when, if this be so, its loss is 

 obviously of still more serious import ! 



And it is not only to coffee that this seems to me 

 equally to apply but to almost every new product as yet 

 Udder trial in the country. 



The fact that, if not drai"ed off the land, the 

 surplus nitrates get washed deep down into it, I 

 think points to the reason why tea is found to he a 

 so particularly lasting cultivation, and why it continues 

 to improve in yield rather than diminish for several 

 consecutive years without manure, and why to'i it 

 (if more slowly at first) eventually attains to full 

 perfection, in many places, on abandoned laud : 

 also why we mjy anticipate that Liberian coffee 

 will provx a more lasting tree than C. aeabica, and 

 certainly less dependent ou extraneous supplies of 

 nitrogen. They iire both, the tea especially, deeper 

 rooted plants, and, as they grow old, their roots searc'n 

 out the nitrates that have been washed down to a 

 depth completely beyjud the reach of ,the roots of 



the former, or by reason of their greater strength 

 break into hard .soils these could not possibly pene- 

 trate. Tea too, as it has often before been pointed 

 out, may be presumed to perform a much more 

 powerful part in draining the land, and (vide Mr. W.) 

 may be regarded as exercising conservative influence, 

 not merely by reason of the nitrates taken up, but that, 

 by relieving the soil of an excess of moisture, a check is 

 placed on their too rapid formation. Mr. W^ariug- 

 ton's rem.arks seem also to afford explanation on a 

 point that has often puzzled me, viz., why in the 

 dryer sections of the island (at least those that are 

 or have been under forest) at all elevations, the 

 soil is as a lule far richer than elsewhere. 

 The reason, I would now suppose, is that the 

 fallen leaves decay more slowly, and that with 

 less hea^"y rain the trees have time granted them 

 to absorb a majority of the nitrates formed, to be 

 again returned in the form of insoluble nitrogen at 

 next fall of leaf ; whereas, wherever periods of pro- 

 tracted heavy downpour occur, a vast quantity of the 

 nitrates must surely be carried away even on the 

 heaviest forest land, though not to the same ruinous 

 extent, of course, as on bare fallow, but that 

 nothing short of a close gro'ndiig crop such as wheat 

 or grass fallowed entii-ely prevents it. Did the same 

 quantity of rain, be it almost however great, fall evenly 

 and gently throughout the year, so that the nitrates 

 were brought gradually to the roots as they became 

 formed, instead of as in many parts of the island now 

 (owing to the clearing, I suppose, of extents of foi-ests !) 

 in hea\"y plumps alternating with spells of dry weather 

 (washing off. instead of into, the elements of fertility) 

 it would be quite a different matter. I remem- 

 ber well a very old BaduUa planter, some years ago, 

 too, contrasting seasons present and past. He said 

 that in olden days, in many parts of Ceylon, there 

 was almost an incessant light drizzle and mist occur- 

 ring, so that you rarely saw the sun for any con- 

 tinuous length of time. And I think I remember too 

 Mr. Shand once telling me that in Rakwaua they 

 used formerly to experience the greatest difficulty in 

 getting their crops dried for a similar reason. 



The conclusion forced on my mind is that, to take 

 full advantage of nature's (jiftK, it is necessary to 

 devise means: — 1st, to pass every drop of rain 

 water that falls throtiyh the soil, and thus clean rob 

 it of all its riches : '2nd, to place an effectual check- 

 on the nitrates as they are formed being wholly or 

 partially washed away or beyond the reach of the 

 plants. That as regards the application of nitrogenous 

 manures, they should rather be supplied often and in 

 quantities sufficient only to meet the more immediate 

 requirements of the trees and in proportion to the 

 crop set that may be required to be supported ; and 

 that to apply such manures as castor cake and other 

 poonacs in over big doses can only result in great waste. 



It is out of no desire to run down the present modus 

 operandi of estate working that I venture tlie above 

 queries, but rather in the hopes that they may give 

 rise to suggestions likely to counteract, if possible, any 

 existing defects. Draining is undoubtedly a desirable 

 work, 5 only means can be devised to conserve the 

 nitrates, and furtlier. to pass the rainwater through 

 the soil before it reaches the drains. And so as to 

 clean weeding : if by other means than allowing the 

 weeds to grow (and be hacked down from time to time 

 as in olden day here, or, as at present, I believe, in 

 some parts of India, sickled !) the nitrates can be con- 

 served. What I would be inclined to say is add to 

 rather than alter the present system. 



If the losses that have been caused in Ceylon — by wash, 

 waste by nitrification, short labor and consequent 

 fall of crop, white weed, thieving cart contractors, 

 and the want of railway communication not only in one 



