May 



1SS3.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



901 



0INNA5ION PRODUOTION AND SALES. 



TO TUK EDITOK OF THE CEYLON "EXAMINER." 



De.vb Srn, — I notice a letter iu the columns of the 

 Ohseiyer signed "K. G." on Cinnamon Oultivation, which 

 is evidently written by an old stager. I am at one with 

 him in his statement that small native holdings turn out 

 little, if any, chips. For this reason, that in such places 

 peeling goes on almost all the year round, and no sticks 

 are allowed to grow "coarse." It is ditf(Tent on a large 

 estate. Duruig the peeling season, the estate is gone over 

 once, and very seldom twice. For a variety of reasons, often 

 uncxplainal>le, a certain proportion of sticks do not peel. 

 Thi-y reiaaiiL till the next crop, when if they are peelable 

 tliey are cut and peeled, or if they have passer! the peeling 

 stage and have turned "Katta," ifbey are cut down by the 

 primers, and the bark converted into chips. 



In former days when cimiamon was carelessly quilled 

 and the 4th quality cinnamon was made half the length 

 of the other qualities, and as thick as a child's arm, the 

 practice "K. G." refers to of getting peelers to cut coarse 

 sticks first was no doubt very good and profitable; but in 

 these times of severe competition, when every man sti'ives 

 to excel his neighbom* in the fineness of his quill, and none 

 but cinnamon of fine make is saleable,^ or at least saleable 

 at a price to leave a margm of profit, however small, the 

 cutting of coarse sticks is next to useless for quilling pur- 

 poses. Often and often have I cut sticks of medicore 

 coarseness to have quilled for 4th quality cinnamon, and 

 have signally failed, owing to the bark not folding in. This 

 wasn't a drawback formerly, when it wasn't essential for the 

 quills to be closed and the heart hid fx-om view. Now, Sir, I 

 am of those wlu think that the loss of these coarse sticks, 

 and in fact of the coarser quahties of cinnamon and of chips, 

 is a positive gain. Less cinnamon, but of finer quality, will 

 be thrown into the market, and is bound to fetch higher 

 prices, and higher prices will more than compensate for the 

 withtlrawal of coarse cinnamon and chips. I have been con- 

 sistent hi this belief and I have acted up to it. Unfortunately 

 solitary efforts cannot stem the tide, and coarse cinnamon 

 and chips are shipped in large quantities. "More cinnamon, 

 more money," is analogous to the deep-rooted behef of the 

 ignorant peasant, "more trees to the acre, more crop." 

 Acting up to this belief he stocks a patch of ground with 

 trees that will more than suffice for four times the acreage, 

 with the result that the plants choke each other, an<l have 

 an iqiward race for light and wannth, and bear little or no 

 crop. This in no way shakes his behef iu liis system, and he 

 cxultingly speaks, not of the extent of liis land, but of the 

 numl)er of trees it contains. So with cinnamon proprietors, 

 men of education, they fail to see that when the demand for 

 their produce is limited, a limited supply will help to keep up 

 prices. Facts and figures have been placed before them in 

 vain. It is a cr^vmig shame that when the principal growers 

 of cinnamon are the prominent members of an Association, 

 that Association, from want of uuanimit)', is powerless to 

 effect a change for the better. — Yoiu-s tndy, B. 



LOSSES OF NITKOGEN IN DRAINAGE WATERS. 



From a letter by " Agricola " in the Field on this sub- 

 ject, we take the following extracts : — 



There cannot be the slightest doubt that the heavy 

 seourings in summer and autumn, which bave in-oved such 

 striking features in the last few years, are devastating in 

 washing from the soil a great deal of soluble fertility. 

 Even the mure illiterate of farmers are well aware, from 

 observation and experience, that such is the case ; but, 

 after all, these seourings arc Umited as to the actual in- 

 jury they can do ; while, on the other hand, wherever not 

 absolutely excessive, the fact cannot be too strongly borne 

 in mind that rains are calcvilated to be quite as beneficial, 

 even chemically considtTed alone, in bringing tlown manure 

 from the clouds, so that there is comptmsation even here. 



And here comes to the very front the retlection of Mr. 

 (Tamieson, th.it the actual proportion of manure in soils 

 whi '1 is actually soluble; for the pnrposi's of phmt devflo[»- 

 meiit is absolutely unknown, which naturally embodies an- 

 other conclusion, that the actual projiortion liable to be 

 washed out by heavy rains camiot be estimati'<l very defin- 

 itely or concisely as yet. The bag and baggage of the 

 agricultural army may be gi"eat or small ; but the question 

 IU 



does not bear on the bulk of the equipments, but only 

 on the proportion liable to be lost. And herein it is to 

 be found that the heavy impcdimeida or stores ixa ajjpear- 

 ing in huums or farmyard dung, or animal manures of 

 any kind, have ten times tho chance of withstanding the 

 remorseless seourings of the storm-cloud than the light, 

 volatile chemical mixtures, which, however valuable, as 

 dishes ready prepared for weak, sicldy plants, may easily 

 be swept away and lost ere they can be devoured and 

 assimilated. 



If a man or animal feeds on an excess of nutriment, 

 the portion which cannot be assimilated by the organic 

 system passes off as wa.ste, and thus it must always be 

 when the .soil is fed ; only there is an all-wise provision 

 in nature that the insoluble portion or the plant food, of 

 which farmyard dung and animal manm'es largely consist, 

 are storcil iqi in the interstices until wanted ; only the 

 energy of soluble fertility which cannot be taken up with 

 sufficient rapi>lity by the roots of plants, is lial>le to l»e 

 washed out by rains, and the farmer must endeavour to 

 guard against this evil by employing nitrate of soda and 

 sulphate of ammonia in small doses, and always m the 

 spring. 



This article commenced with Mr. Jamieson, and it may 

 profitably end with him, for, at the annual meeting of the 

 Sussex Association, he remarked on the fact that many of 

 the soils which are now washed by the rains are the richest, 

 while the and and sun-baked are usually characteiised by 

 a far less amount of fertihty. In alluding to the Ijeau- 

 tiful climate of the south of England, and the ability of 

 farmers to gi*ow a large amount of catch crops than in 

 Scotland or the north of England, Mr. Jamieson remarked: 

 " These good points are accompanied by certain evils, 

 for the continuous heat burnt up a quantity of the, 

 decaying vegetable or animal matter, and, in doing this, a 

 large proportion of nitrogen was dissipated." And again 

 he said : " They did not seem to have in the soils of Sus- 

 sex more than half of the nitrogen they had the lienefit 

 of iu the .soils of colder climates." Here we have nitrogen 

 losses and infertility attributed to the very opposite in- 

 fluence. While the rain when it raineth every day is re- 

 presented at Rothamsted as a pitiless scourger of fertility 

 and an ab.stractor of wealth from farmers' pocket^s, a Scoteli 

 chemist, coming over the Border from the curses, moors, 

 and fells, on which the clouds continually chst-barge them- 

 selves by bncketfuls, thinks that thr_' sterility of the south 

 country bears testimony to the blessing miderlyiug all 

 such sousings; but, on the other h;jnd, falls into the error 

 of abusing the glorious sunshine, and deeming it a mis-' 

 fortune to be subject to nature's warming etnbrac;t'S. i'rob- 

 ably in the end it will be found that nature is not so lui- 

 friendly to mankind and the art.- of husbanthy as our 

 savants at presei\t think. We are only just beginning to 

 understand her laws and pry into her secrets. If fertility 

 is liable to be washed out of the soil, it is brought back 

 again in the rain ami dew; and t) whatever extent the 

 sun may burn up decaying vegetal'le matter, it imparts 

 new vigom- to plant development, and is the life and soul 

 of the world. Both sun and rain may do some harm iu 

 their severest visitations, but least to those who know how 

 to trim their sails to the gale, and to be prepared for either 

 vicissitude. [This seems to be the true philosophy. — Ed.] 



THE USE OF MATE TEA IN SOUTH 

 AMERICA. 



Our last number contained some curious ilhistrations of 

 the effects produced by the drinking of mate in Tatagones, 

 and gent.Tally speaking it is the universal beverage tlnough- 

 out a large portion of the South American continent, 

 including Paraguay, the Argentine Republic, ^-c. The 

 following is an extract of what appears in om articU- 

 above alluded to : — " That a people can become too temperate 

 may be as great an anomaly as that they may be too 

 virtuous. If Glasgow was as temperate as Carmen de 

 Fatagones. query, would they builil as many steamers on 

 the Clyde? There are no GougJis or Father .Matthews 

 needed on the banks of Rio Negro, but I note it iu my 

 tablets that where there is most itulustry there is mosi 

 intemperance, ergo, in<lnstry breeds intemperance, and s- 

 it is iu nearly all the all'airs of life, the alloy is met witi 

 somewhere. Mate breeds idleuess, bew iudustiy, whisky 



