376 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[June i, 1885. 



India, although beautiful and romantic are iucouvenient 

 aud sometimes dangerous, when the moisture o£ clouds 

 deposited on the near-by mountains rushes down in 

 resistless floods. Knowing as I do the amount of 

 property and the number of lives sacrificed in former 

 days at fords, I can keenly appreciate the value of 

 the hundreds of bridges which now span most of tho 

 large and so many of the smaller rivers ef Ceylon, and 

 so I was glad to learn that there is prospect of lino 

 iron bridges affording the Kelani Valley planters and 

 others unimpeded paseage over the Kelani and Sita- 

 waka rivers. How different the state of things already, 

 with the excellent road ruuning through the Valley, 

 to that which existed some seventy years ago, when 

 the British troops had to toil over imperfect jungle 

 paths, exposed to wet and leeches and malaria, The 

 Kuwaiiwella fort, of which General Sir Robert Brownrigg 

 laid the foundation in 1S14, is au interesting memorial 

 of the early days of British occupation, before the 

 Kaudyan kingdom ceased to be a power and became 

 a mere name for an English Province. How the first 

 commandant of Ruwanwella would have stared, had 

 anyone vaticinated the time when, all fear of Kandyan 

 aggression being over, the country around the military 

 post would be converted into a series of flour, 

 ishiug tea estates. And this reminds me, that, what- 

 ever difficulties our friends in the lowcountry may 

 encounter, they are not likely to have to contend 

 with one disadvantage which attends tea culture 

 iii the high, damp altitudes of the mountain country. 

 Up here we are findiog the carpeting of thick, 

 beautiful, velvety mo^s, which clothes the surface 

 of the soil and ou the principle of "the survival of 

 the fittest " would, if let alone, extirpate all other 

 weeds, a serious enemy of the tea tree. The moss, 

 not contented with spreading over the surface of 

 the ground, ascends the stems and clothes the 

 branches of tea bushes. It first became necessary 

 a short time ago, to send coolies round to rub the 

 moss off the stems and branches of the tall seed- 

 bearing trees, but now we find that the same pro- 

 cess must be applied to a considerable proportion of 

 the older bushes cultivated for leaf. When the moss 

 clothes tho stem and branches, the earth dashed up 

 by rains is held in the embraces of the parasite, 

 aud tikes its part in stopping the pores of the bark. 

 Some years ago Mr. Klphinstone bad the coffee on 

 Logie cleared of moss and fungus (not the leaf pest 

 but a dirty black growth) by means, we believe, 

 of coir gloves which the coolies used. Gloves may 

 not, probably, be needed in dealing with the tea 

 bushes, but they certainly must be dealt with and 

 the moss got rid of, from them and from the soil 

 in which they grow, all except embankments which 

 the moss helps to solidify. I had just expressed my 

 conviction that lime, although not entering largely 

 into plant composition, and being least of all re- 

 quired in any quantity by tea, would be the best 

 remedy (with deep forking) for soil of good quality 

 but mechanically stiff, in which coffee bushes had 

 largely "died out," and also for eradicating the in- 

 sidious moss, when I found my views fully confirmed 

 in an article on Lime by Dr. Andrew P. Aitken, 

 Chemist to the Highland and Agricultural Society. 

 The entire article has been or will be, no doubt, 

 reproduced in the Observer, or at any rate in the 

 Tropical Agriculturist, but I now quote the passages 

 which sustain my opinion in favour of caustic, that 

 is burnt lime, improving day soil and cremating 

 weeds aud moss. After showing that injudicious 

 applications of lime may be injurious in producing 

 nitrous acid and a consequent loss to the fertility 

 of the soil, Dr. Aitken proceeds : — 



But there are occasions when a cautery is needed, and 

 when the application of caustic line is of special benefit, 

 ■ti:., where the surface of the land has become fouled by 



the growth of moss and feeble annual weods. The strongly 

 alkaline action of caustic lime is fatal to these superficial 

 shallow-rooting plants, while it is unable to kill out. or do 

 much injury to, the deeper-rooted plants such as clover 

 and the more valuable grasses. Accordingly a fogged-up 

 pasture is cleaned and improved by the application of 

 caustic lime. 



Tho phrase "a fogged-up pasture " is explained by 

 the fact that in Scotland moss is spoken of 

 frequently as "fog," while a fog in the atmosphere 

 is known simply as mist. Dr. Aitken proceeds : — 



There is another use of lime which has been long known, 

 viz., its power of decomposing and improving clay land. 

 The influence of lime upon clay is very remarkable, and 

 it is of a twofold character, partly physical and partly 

 chemical. The chief defect of clay land is its tenacity 

 aud want of permeability in wet weather. It absorbs a 

 limited quantity of rain, and then becomes slimy, and re- 

 fuses to allow any more water to pass through it. The 

 water collects in pools on the surface, or is run off the 

 land as surface drainage. Land in this state is unfit 

 to be touched in any way, and it requires the lapse of 

 some days before it is dry enough to be in condition for 

 working. If any portion of such a field had lime re- 

 cently applied to it, it would be the first to dry up. The 

 effect of putting lime on wet sticky clay is to cause the 

 slimy surface of the clay to coagulate into little granular 

 particles through which water can filter away. This is 

 not altogether a mechanical process, but is due, in great 

 measure to a chemical union between the lime and the 

 clay, whereby an insoluable lime salt is produced, and the 

 effect is similar to that observed when hard limey water 

 acts upon soap. The slimy surface of the clay may be 

 regarded as a kind of soap which becomes granular, in the 

 same way as soap becomes curdy when acted ou by lime- 

 water. In order that a permanent improvement in the 

 value of the soil may be achieved by this means, the 

 quantity of lime must be very considerable, and where 

 lime seems to have had very little effect in improving the 

 condition of clay land, it is usually owing to the land 

 having been lightly instead of heavily limed. Where clay 

 soil has been derived from the disintegration of felapathic 

 rocks, such as is common in coarse lands, it contains with- 

 in it a large store of potash and when lime is applied to 

 it, it unites with it, forming a lime clay, and sets free 

 the potash, rendering it rapidly available for the use of 

 crops which require potash largely, such as beans and 

 other leguminous crops. 



It is evident from what has been said regarding the 

 I action of lime in agriculture, that it is a powerful agent 

 in the bauds of the farmer, and its chief uses may be 

 summed up under four heads: — 



1st. It supplies au ingredient which is essential for the 

 growth of plants, but it is seldom applied for that pur- 

 pose, seeing that soils under ordinary cultivation usually 

 contain far more lime than crops require. 



2nd. It is a powerful cautery when applied hot to the 

 soil, and kills out moss and surface weeds. 



8rd. It hastens the rotting of organic matter, and is 

 therefore beneficially applied to moss and moorland, and 

 it also favours the production of nitric acid in the soil. 



4th. When applied to clay land it decomposes silic- 

 ates of potash, and improves the texture of the soil, ren- 

 dering it more friable and permeable to water. 

 It seems clear, therefore, that although there is 

 sufficient lime in our upland soils for tea, a moderate 

 application of freshly burnt lime may be very 

 useful to kill or prevent the growth of the pre- 

 valeut and troublesome moss I have referred to, 

 and that where soil i3 clayey and stiff or hard, a 

 good dose of lime, with deep forking cannot but bo 

 useful. Tea, however, «au pierce, by means of its 

 powerful taproot and flourish in stiff clay soils, 

 where cinchonas and even coffee had " died out. " 

 Then it becomes a question whether lime, added 

 to cow-dung and other ammoniaeal manures, may 

 not be found absolutely necessary in enabling tea 

 to flourish in soils very different to those in the 

 lowcountry through which we recently passed aud 

 the high country in which we now write, Lawcs 



