November i, 1882.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



399 



done with lime so soon as the railway is open to the 

 higher districts, and we believe more thorough pruniug 

 and utilization of all green atutf as well a3 the dig- 

 ging of the soil will be found to repay on every plant- 

 ation where the coifee is in fair heart Dr. Taylor of 

 "Science Gossip" writes; — 



As far back as a quarter of a century M. Pastour 

 suggested that the process of nitrificatioa going on 

 in soils and waters might be due to the agency of an 

 organism. The researches of Schlosing, Muntz and 

 Warington have now proved that this is the case, 

 and that the organism is a bacterium. This baotervim 

 is present in all fertile soils, and under proper con- 

 ditions of temperature, moisture, supply of oxygen, 

 and the presence of a saiitiable base, it is engaged 

 in continually converting ammonia and nitrogenous 

 organic matter into nitrates. These nitrates are the 

 chief sources whence our crops obtain their nitrogen. 

 Nitrification in soils has been disciivered to take place 

 most rapidly in hot weather. The bacterium, which 

 thus produces nitrification of soils is only one of a 

 great number of the lower forms of life which are 

 just now engaging the attention of scientific men. 

 Amongst others are the life-histories of the organisms 

 which bring about the changes occurring during the 

 souring of milk and the ripening of cheese. " Beet- 

 eickness " — that is, the unacsountable withering away 

 and shanking of the beet plant at a time when it 

 ought to be rapidly growing — has been traced to the 

 presence of a nematode worm. 



Most agricultural chemists regard the vast stores of 

 nitrogen contained in our atmosphere with envy How 

 are those supplies to be tapped ? To the man who 

 can solve this problem wealth and fame are open. 

 Some plants, chiefly leguminous, have partially dis- 

 covered the secret. Professor Ville, the distinguished 

 French agriculturist, advises the European Govern- 

 ments to unite and ofll'er a large reward for the dis- 

 covery, 80 as to tempt experimentalists. But the 

 discovery will be made eventually without any in- 

 ducements of this kind. Already it has been found 

 that if 1 per cent of magnesium sulphate be added 

 to any mauure-heap, the nitrogen is increased by 

 absorption from the atmosphere. 



PROPOSED FORMATION OF A COFFEE 



SYNDICATE. 

 We lose no time in publishing and drawing attention 

 to a letter from iVIr. Bourdillon, the Secretary to the 

 Travancore Planters' Association, on the question of 

 a Coffee Syndicate, so that there may be the 

 opportunity for consideration of the scheme at the 

 approaching meeting of the Ceylon Planters' Associ- 

 ation. The arguments used by Mr. Bourdillon are such 

 as have always seemed to us to be forcible and con- 

 clnsive. We can see no possible reason why a distinc- 

 tion should made in legislation between tea and coflfee, 

 guarding with strict jealousy the purity of the one] 

 while free scope is allowed for the adulteration of the 

 other. Even granted that to some coffee may be dis- 

 tasteful, unless its native strength is mortified by a 

 mixture of chicory, surely the two articles can be 

 sold separately, the consumer mixing to his taste. If 

 our legislators profeas that this would be entailing 

 trouble on the consumer from which the benevolent 

 grocer ought to be allowed to save him, then we replj', 

 " at least, insist on the grocer inscribing on his packets 

 the proportions in which they contain the genuine 

 article and the adulterant. " The true reason why 

 such arguments are not listened to is that legislation 

 is influenced more by the powerful dealer interst than 

 by the coffee-di inking people or their friends. From 

 the oontant discovery, invention and advertisement 



of date coffee, pelotas coffee and other substitutes, the 

 impressioti might fairly be received by onlookers th.Tt 

 the genuine coffee was a poisonous imoostor wh ) 

 ought to be as nmch 8up"r3eded by innocuous, if feeble 

 beverages, as Hans Anderson's character in the tale 

 was by his own shadow. Coffee, in truth, has been 

 so put in the background and overlaid by things which 

 come lilie shadows but do not so depart that, although 

 the fragrant berry is not a new article like Indian 

 tea, yet there is a real necessity of proving to the 

 public the existence and the merits of genuine, un- 

 mi.xed, unadulterated coffee, which is as superior to 

 imitations and substitutes as Stilton cheese is to Dover 

 chalk. The Ceylon planters are the best judges of what 

 will snbserve their interests, .and it is true that at 

 present they are likely to fiud a ready market for all 

 the colory plantation coffee their much-tried bushes 

 will bear. But as we have not given up heart or 

 hope, even in regard to our "sick man," King Coffee, 

 so we think this idea of a Coffee Syndicate" for the 

 purpose of exhibiting and pressing the claims ann 

 merits of genuine coffee is worthy of consideratiod 

 and support. 



PLANTERS AND THEIR AGENTS IN S. INDIA. 



A ' Garbler' writes : — 



" Please lUlow me to put ' Dry Cherry' through an 

 iJlegorical peeler, and try and make something of him. 



1. Would ' Dry Cherry' kindly state the weight he 

 dned his coffee down to on the Estate ? There is not 

 one Planter in fifty who sends his coffee down to his 

 Agents perfectly dry and tit to peel. Planters have 

 few facilities for drying coffee in Wynaad, such as 

 large barbecues, &c. The mountain dews and mists 

 are also fatal to proper drying. Could the coffee be 

 dried on the Estates, cofiee-curing would cost much less 

 than it does at present, I should also like to know 

 how he makes out that the samples he weighed on the 

 estates are bulk for Inilk lighter than after it was 

 cleaned and put on board ship ? How can he compare 

 the two weights, of pttrchiuent when it leaves the estate, 

 and that when it has been dried, peeled, sized, garbled 

 aud packed ? 



2. He says he took one lot of coffee and sent it 

 down to the Coast m three consignments under tbree 

 marks. I will prove that what he sent down could 

 not have been parchment coffee, as no parchment, un- 

 less it was utter refuse, would turn out 122 bushelno 

 the ton. 95 is about the average. It could not have 

 been cherry, or mixed, as that averages 140 to 150 

 bushels to the ton, and never turns out so low as 98 

 What could it have been ? It must have turned out to 

 be some nevi produce of Fair Wynaad, certainly not 

 coffee ; but, happy thouglit, it might have been date 

 conee. 



3. He says the coffee that he measured on the 

 estate turned out exactly the same number of bushels 

 when It rc'iched the Agent. He is evidently a lucky 

 dog and had an honest cart contractor; but given 

 that the contractor is honest, and the coffee fairly 

 dry when sent off, I will, as Mr. Dry Cherry wishes to 

 make a moderate bet, eat his best hat if that coffee does 

 not turn out the same number of bushels when it 

 arrives on the coast as when it left the estate : 

 should it not do so of course Mr. Dry Cherry would 

 have to eat my best hat, a fine old beaver by Lin- 

 coln aud Bennett. I guarantee it would prevent the 

 tonic gurgulations which he appears to be suffering 



rom, auil which are, strnnge to say, in his case caused 

 by excessive drainage. With myself and others, when 

 we get an attack of tonic gurgulations (which of curse 

 IS never, or, well, hardly ever) they are caused by 

 excessive dampness m the interior of the body • Fx- 

 shavv No. 1, or gin tonic, taken in too large dose's will 

 produce the gurgulatious referred to. The only dry 

 drink I know of which will cure them is Dry Monopolo 



