October i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



337; 



$otiii6spond«noj^. 



To the Editor of the Ceylon Observer. 

 INFORMATION FROM PERU AND CHILE. 

 Edinburgh, 2Gth July 1S82. 

 Dear Sir, — The annexed extract from a private letter 

 received from mj brother in South America may be 

 interesting, should you care about publishing it. — 

 Yours, kt, P. D. iMILLIE. 



"Coqnimbo, ChO^, June 18b2. 



" Cinchona. — You aregcingto have a pretty low price 

 for your produce, now that its cultivation is carried on, 

 on so large a scale, almost everywhere that the tree 

 will grow. Quinine will ere long be amazingly che.ap 

 too ; all the better for mankind, if not for the planters. 

 A letter has at last been received from the ViceCousul 

 at the port of Mellendo in Pern. It turns out just as 

 I told you would be the case. No planter will sell, or 

 allow to be taken, if he knows it, the seed of 

 the Calisaya Vera. They will let you have any 

 quantity nf tlie other varieties without difficult}'. The 

 Consul writes that he made every tfibtt to get some 

 seeds of the right sort, but to no purpose. Of course a 

 botanist might take the matter into his own hands, 

 and roam about iti Upper Peru, helping himself to any 

 seed he might find on the trees, but, if suspected of 

 doing so, as doubtless he would be, I guess his life 

 would not be woith niuch. 



" The Bolivians have latterly taken to cultivating the 

 tree, aid are not ench fools as to assist anybody idse 

 to obtain the seed oi the coveted variety, the almost 

 exclusive possession of which (were this possible) 

 would enable them to compete with all the world. 



"As regards 'New Products' for Ceylon; I fancy 

 that a great many have been almost overlooked. 

 Instance tho grape, which, I observe, lias only recently 

 been found to be quite easily cultivated in some parts 

 of the islaad. In India nobody used to think that 

 wheal would succeed. This year, I observe that 

 1,000,000 tons of shipping will be required to carry 

 wheat from India to Europe ! 1 wonder if this is 

 really true ? The Argentines used to think that wheat 

 would not grow on the River Plate, and were sup- 

 plied with it from Chile ; now they are exporting 

 too. I could give many more instances of the same 

 tind, and think that, in Ceylon, with a great variety 

 of climates, little enterprize and tact have hitherio 

 been shewn in the way developing products. [Nuio 

 it is different.— P. D. M.] 



"Here in Chile for years, I might say for gener- 

 ations, we have been importing wines, beer, oil, and 

 mai.y other things, which we are only now finding 

 out can be abundantly produced in our own country 

 if we will only turn our attention to agriculture, 

 or horticulture as a science and get competent peo- 

 ple to start new undertakings, inste;;d of bringing 

 wine, beer, and oil from Europe. We want the men 

 who are skilled in producing them. Perhaps there is 

 some room for this sort of thing in Ceylon, too, 

 "T. J. W. Millie.'' 



THE NITRATES QUESTION: WASH, DRAINING, 

 WEEDING, &c. ON TROPICAL PLANTATIONS. 



23rd August 1882. 

 Sir, — With reference to your footnote to my letter, 

 in which you say that I cannot be serious in suggesting 

 that the loss of nitiates is of no importance to the 

 coffee iilanter, I would endeavour to illustrate my 

 meanii g by saying that, if a man has enough money to 

 live OB, the loss of any surplus income is practicuUy 

 of no importance to him : he merely puts by surplus 

 48 



income with the view of providing for the contingency 

 of inability to make money, or for the benefit of pos- 

 terity. If he had none of these contingencies to 

 provide for, there would be no need for surplus 

 income. The supply of nitrates is regular, the crop 

 is perennial, and what need to weep over the loss of 

 nitratfS which so far have not been shown to be difl- 

 cient? Loss by wash seems to me to be far more 

 important ; and practically there is not the slightest 

 doubt that this evil has been mitigated by close drain- 

 ing. In what are called the joung districts one does 

 not see the roots laid bare as in the old districts opened 

 without drains. The last thing deserving of condemn- 

 ation is draining, and I cannot agree with "J. L. A." 

 in regretting the money expended in keeping the 

 drains clean. The greatest enemy to clean draii s is 

 the weeding contractor, who tumbles down earth, 

 stones and logs without heed, whereas in weeding on 

 estate account the cleaning out of drains inny be 

 effected month by month without any appr.ciahle 

 increase to the cost of weeding. Anytlung that will 

 stop wash must do good ; and, speaking more esp. cialiy 

 with reference to tea, I believe that this would be 

 approached by growing the creeping grass frequently 

 used for lawns underneath the shrub. I am not sure 

 that it would do any harm to coffee. Fruit-trees at 

 home and coconuts out here do very well in grass. 

 Manuring would have to be carried out on the old 

 principle of holes, but the land might be benefi- 

 cially prised up with forks without turning over 

 the sod at suitable seasons. "X." appreciates 

 our troubles and seems to grasp at any new idea, 

 any departure from our present modus operandi. A 

 great evil to be guardtd a.:ainet iB the tendency of 

 planters to follow their leader, to emlTai;e new ideas 

 en viasse, to prune in the same way, lop to the same 

 height, manure on the same principles and in the same 

 quantities, regardless of local conditions. This is due 

 in part to the fact that there is very little scope 

 allowed to the superintendent in the present day, 

 that his local knowledge is ofien '' pooh-poohed, " that 

 he lias merely to carry out the views of the visiting 

 agent, or still worse of the omnipotent Colombo firm. 

 If climatic infiuHnces are important, it must no; be 

 forgotten that they vaiy on every gi-uup of estates 

 and even on every estate, and that local experience 

 is more valuable than the most ingenious theory. "X." 

 is ffrtil' in new ideas, but I think that he is mis- 

 taken in supposing that pigs do no damage ; they 

 knoi k oft' crop and break the lower primaries. 



Since writing the above I have Feeo "W. D. B." 's 

 and " W."'s letters in your issue of the 22nd, and I am 

 glad to find that " W. D. B." agrees with me in 

 attaching little importance to the loss oi nitiates theory. 

 As to what ctiutes our short crops : I believe it to be 

 the diseased condition of the tree, leaf-disease in 

 short, aggravated it may be by climatic conditions, 

 and certamly in our older districts by exhaustion— an 

 exhaustion hurried on by want of ( raining and bad 

 cultivaiion, by constnnt change of supervision, by the 

 wholesale adoption of new views, sud by a general 

 disregard of the careful noting and preservation of 

 ri suits. It is to carefully conducted experiments, and 

 the faithful record of the same and their results, we 

 must look for hope in the future, not only for ourselves, 

 but, as Mr. Bosanquetnobly says, for those who come 

 after us. Y. 



SHORT COFFEE CROPS AND THE CAUSE. 



28th August 1882. 



Dear Sir, — " W" 's letters on the cause of short 

 crops seem to have called forth little ■liscussion, but I 

 think silence iu this case does not me.m con.-ent. 

 Nothing that "W." has brought foiwaid justifies his 

 stateme'nt that "the case against the fungus must be 



