November i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



441 



when the crude drug is required for sale in that state. 

 This gentleman apjjears to have paid considerable atten- 

 tion to the cultivation of the drug, and the following 

 statements gathered from information communicated by 

 him m.iy have some practical value. 



At first the jalap w.^s planted among the cinchonas, 

 but it was found to exhaust the soil too much, and was 

 consequently removed. In the year 1S80-31 the crop of 

 Jamaica jalap amounted to 14,924 lb., and sold in the 

 fresh state for £62 3s 8d. He found it impossible to dry 

 the tubers, either whole or gashed, without the aid of 

 artificial heat. They lost over 70 per cent in drying, so 

 that it required nearly 1,800 lb. of green tubers to yield 

 500, lb. of marketable jalap. Some specimens of Jamaica- 

 grown jalap received from Mr. Morris were cai-efully 

 analysed at my request by Mr. T. Greenish, F.O.S., who 

 found that the whole tubers yielded 9'13 per cent of 

 resin while the sliced drug, dried without artificial heat, 

 yielded 9'89 per cent of resin, and a specimen of India 

 jalap contained rather less. Mexican jalap yields on an 

 average 11 or 12 per cent of resin, but sometimes as 

 much as 18 per cent. The percentage of resin in jalap 

 root is often erroneously estimated at too high a rate by 

 those unaccustomed to analysing the drug owing to the 

 difficulty, without careful washing, of freeing the resin 

 from adhering sugar ; but in the analysis above quoted, 

 especial care was taken to obviate this source of error. 

 It woidd appear, therefore, that neither Jamaica nor India, 

 as yet produce jalap equal either iu percentage of resin, 

 or iu appearance or odour, to that of Mexico. Accord- 

 ing to the experiments of Professor Tichborne and Mr. 

 Oonroy,* the largest Mexican tubers are inferior to those 

 of smaller size, the former containing often 25 per cent 

 less resin, and more starch in proportion. 



In its native country jalap grows in shady woods on 

 the eastern declivities of the Andes, at an elevation of 

 5,000 to 8,000 feet, in regions where the rain falls almost 

 daily, and when the temperature during the day ranges 

 between 60 ° to 70 ' Fahr. It prefers a deep, rich 

 vegetable soil. Where these requirements are met with, 

 jalap may doubtless be successfully and profitably cul- 

 tivated, although the demand for the drug will probably 

 always be a Umited one, as compared with cinchona bark 

 — Ftanters* Gazette. 



OOFFEE MANURES. 



Whilst there is still great difference of opinion amongst 

 experienced planters as to the best description of artificial 

 manure for coifee, there are very few indeed who do not 

 admit that high cultivation is absolutely necessary in order 

 to sustain the vitality of the trees, and enable them to 

 resist successfully the attacks of disease or the efi"ects of 

 continuous crops. It will therefore be interesting to give 

 some account of the special fertilizers for coifee manu- 

 factured in this country. Three makers have established 

 a high reputation for themselves in this particular line, 

 and we shall refer to each iu turn. The wi-iter of a pam- 

 phlet on Odam's Special Maniure for coifee says: — "The 

 best results are ol tained by the application of manures 

 which contain not two or three ingredients of nutrition 

 only, but a variety of the fertilizing elements of plants, 

 and these in a natural form in order to the proper nourish- 

 ment of the tree and its maintenance iu full bearing. All 

 merely nitrogenous manures wholly in a soluble form should 

 be avoided, such maniu:es being stimulants only, the free 

 use of them scourging the laud and leading to disease, 

 and at best a premature exhaustion of the tree. 



Old estates, especially, are deficient in org.auic matter, 

 and for successful cultivation in such cases organic mat- 

 ter containing nitrogen must be supplied. Odam's Special 

 Manure may be applied in conjunction with cattle dung, 

 rotten grass, leaves, pulping, i^c. Those applications are 

 conducive to the preservation of moisture in the soil, 

 which is of the utmost importance for the continuous 

 growth of the coifee tree, and much promotes the proper 

 a.ssimilatiou of the ingredients of the fertilizer einployetl. 



This manure will be found suitable for cither plant- 

 ation or native coffee. 



Those who may be in the habit of using bone dust will 



• Pharmaceutical Journal, October 15, 1881, p. 324. 



find much advantage from a mixture of that article and 

 Odams' Special Manure, instead of applying bone dust .alone 



Mr. John Hughes, F.C.S., has reported favourably of 

 the compound above referred to, and furnished the fol- 

 lownig aualysis ; — 



Moisture ... ... ... 15*10 



*Water of Combination and Organic Matter, in- 

 cluding Salts of Ammonia ... 26'92 



Monobasic Phosphate of Lime ... ... 1464 



(Equal to Tribasic Phosphate of Lime rendered 

 soluble by acid) ... ... . (22'93) 



Insoluble Phosphates (Bone) ... ... 6'48 



Sulphate of Lime ... ... ... 22'15 



**AIk,ahue Salts and Magnesia ... ... 12-20 



Insoluble Silicious Matter ... ... 2'45 



10000 



*Oontaining Nitrogen... *Nitrogen soluble equal 



to Ammonia ... 3-27 



Equal to Ammonia ... Nitrogen insoluble equal 



to Ammonia ... -69 

 **Oontainiug Potash ... ... .., 



Equal to Sulphate of Total Ammonia ... Sgg 



Potash... ...»»Oontaining Potash .. " 5-55 



Messrs. Arnott Bros, k Co. is one of the oldest firms 

 that have devoted attention to Special Manures for the 

 leading tropical products, and for many years past the 

 " Raw Bone Super-Phosphate Blauure " and •' Ammonia 

 Phospho Coffee Maum-e " have been known and appre- 

 ciated in Ceylon and other producing countries. Recently, 

 however, another speciality has been added to the list in 

 the shape of " Anti-Vastatrix Fertilizer New Leaf Disease 

 Slanure," regarding which the manufacturers say — It is 

 the only Fertilizer, so far, that has really proved of any 

 effect in subduing this disease, and it is fully protected 

 under our BegLstered Trade Mark. 



This Manure should be applied at the rate of about foiu- 

 cwt. per acre, and as a large proportion of its components 

 are readily soluble in water, it should be well mulched, 

 which will^ keep it at the rootlets of the trees, encom-age 

 its absorption, and not allow it to be so easily washed away 

 in heavy rain. 



Messrs. Ohlendorff, whose dissolved Peruvian guano has 

 obtained world-wide repute, have also since 1874 been 

 making a concentrated coifee manure which they describe 

 as follows ; — 



This manure, which is styled Ohlendorff's Guaranteed 

 Coffee Manure, is prepared by us, and sold of uniform 

 strength, guaranteed to contam nitrogen in various stages 

 of combination, equal to 4 per cent non-volatile ammonia, 

 27 per cent bone phosphate of lime, 20 per cent alkaline 

 salts, including 5 per cent potash. In a fine, dry, powdery 

 condition. 



The phosphates we guarantee to be present in the shape 

 of bone, or iu organic forms, to the entire exclusion of 

 cheap and ineffective mineral phosphates. Of the 2" per 

 cent of pho.sphates, 5 to 6 per cent are rendered soluble 

 in water, and the rest is present as insoluble bone phos- 

 phate of lime, in a state of combination sufficiently avail- 

 able to support the healthy growth of the trees, and to 

 promote a large yield of well-matured coffee-berries. 



Alkaline salts, or salts of potash and soda, which we 

 are informed are generally deficient in Indian coffee soils, 

 play an important function in coffee cultivation, .and the 

 supply of potash in a proper state of combination, hitherto, 

 has not received the attention which it deserves. 



In addition to above constituents our coffee maniu"e con- 

 tains magnesia, lime, soda, oilica, &c., and in fact all the 

 mineral constituents found in the ash of the coffee-berry. 

 Thus our coffee manure embodies all the organic and in- 

 organic elements of nutrition, essential for the coffee tree. 

 — Planters^ Gazette. 



A GLIMPSE AT WHAT JIIGHT BECOME 

 A NEW INDIGO COUNTRY. 



It was at the end of the last, and at the beginning of this 

 century, that the indigo industry in India took an im- 

 nu'use start under the enterprising energy of Em-opean 

 settlers. The stock from which they obtained their plant, 

 was that of the Indigofera tiuctoria, " anil" and "disperma," 



