May r, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



70 1 



WINTEBING AND LATE PBUNINCJ. 



TO THE IDITOB OF THE " MADE AS MAIL." 



Sir, — My attention has just been called to a leader 

 in your paper of the Ist of April last. I think your 

 review of my essay in the 'Tropical Agriculturist ' is 

 a very fair one. * En passant ' I may remark, that 

 planters are proving my • modus operandi ' by sniall 

 experiments. I feel sure that the system I advociite 

 will graduallly steadily supersede the present utterly 

 indefensible and pernicious method adopted, inasmuch 

 as my mode aids nature by acting iu consonance with 

 the seasons, which continue unaltered, as evidenced 

 by the statistics (covering a period of twenty-two 

 years) which I embodied in my essay. I take thin 

 opportunity of pointing out a few mistakes made in 

 your reference to it. First; I do not condemn ' handl- 

 ing,' but I do deprecate the present method of pull- 

 ing off with the fingers. I use a knife, for rea.'Jons 

 explained, and the advantages of it must be obvious 

 •prima facie.' Second: Gaulting — here I think you 

 have slightly misjudged my mode, to e.xplain which 

 I subjoin extracts from your leader and my essay. 



From Leader. From Essay. 



" Gai,ltiiifi—ThU is " Gniiltini/—An that 



adopted in steep lands caiuiot be manured, and 

 with a view to prevent is too steep to dig 1.5 

 wash. It consists of cut- inches deep, dig trenches 

 ting trenches 2 feet in in alternate rows, oblique 

 width by 2 feet in depth if necessary, to secure easy 

 * * » Mr. Quarm says gradient along side of 

 that a coolie can do hills. Trench from Ih to 

 12 trees, and that the 2 feet deep and one "foot 

 work costs KIO per acre. wide. A cooly will do 

 .Since, however, a cooly's 12 trees." 

 pay is four annas, and 

 that coffee is planted with 

 about one thousand eight 

 hundred trees to the acre, 

 a simple calculation will 

 show that he is Qonsider- 

 ably mistaken in his 

 estimates." 



This computation of cost was made with refereuce 

 to the planting on the .Shevaroys, which is usually 

 7x7 feet apart ; cooly hire under 'A annas per day. 

 So gaulting, on this data, costs considerably under 

 UIO per acre. 



Third. — liiyging. — Though this operation ou the She 

 varoys has cost R50 pt-r acre, I since ascertained from 

 experienced planters in Wynaad, that such digging 

 would cost about R20 per acre iu that locality. 



Fourth. — You doubtle.ss have data for pointing out 

 what appears to you the "great blot" of system. 

 In ISSl-tt2 we could arrange to get alteriiatu gar.ga 

 both of Malals and Churnias, as well as Woiilahs, to 

 come up regularly from March to the uiiddl.- of 

 .Fune, and I venture to slate that if on )lr. Keilly's 

 estate. Canarese and Tamil women are taught prun- 

 ing. Moplahs, Malals and Churma nif 11, who in timber 

 woik I knew to be singularly intelligent, are not 

 less fitted to pick up a very simple process. Tlie 

 facts that tea estates on these hills are worked 

 practically all the year round, and that coifee estates, 

 to wit Glenvans, with good management, can keep 

 over 150 coolies during these months, March, April. 

 May and June, tend conclusively to prove that laV;our 

 can be made available whenever wanted, especially 

 now when, owing to the depressed state of labour, 

 and the money markets, labour is abvmdant. I con- 

 tend, with instances to prove my allegations, that 

 no enrnest planter has ever lacked labour. My fur- 

 ther allusion is to the late Mr. .lames flordon, who 

 in the midst of much bolder settlirs in Vylhery was 

 tolJ he could not the year round keep '300 acres 

 clean-hand weeded. He kept 7llO acr^s .so. by energy 

 and determination. Permit me to close this letter by 

 pointing out the immense advantages derivable from 

 the system I advo<iate, whi'ieby succeeding crops of cof- 

 fee can be obtained for six years, without the applic- 



ation of manure : — 



Wintering without manure ... 2 crops 



IJaulting do do ... 2 do 



Digging 1.5 inches |deep pucca ... 2 do » 

 Cost: wintering in Shevaroys 30 trees at 3 annas, 

 flOO to acre, tJanlting R.s per acre, and digging (on 

 Shevaroys costs R.32 and Wynaad K2rii. 



I am, with other planters, indebted to you for bring- 

 ing planting interests powerfully forward as I see by 

 your issue of the 13th instant. — (Agar) A. Qr.XR.Mg, 



AtJBICULTURE ON THE CONTINENT OF 

 EUROPE. 



'Special Letter.) 



To counteract the extensive frauds in the sale of 

 commercial fertilizers, engro9ses more aud more the 

 attention of the agricultural community. Tho restor- 

 ation to the soil of the fertilizing materials carried 

 off by the harvests since many centuries of culture, 

 is the sine (jiia 11011, not of all progress, but of aug- 

 mentation iu yields. Farmers now "form clubs to pur- 

 chiise chenn'cal manures direct from standard factories, 

 and the banks discount their joint paper, for eight 

 or ten months, at low rates. A co-operative society, 

 generally limits its action to a radius of eight miles. 

 Many extend their operations to the purchase of seeds, 

 ameliorated live stock, machinery, and cattle foods.' 

 In the case of new machinery, an instructor is em- 

 ployed to explain and superintend working. One club 

 has nominated ambulatory book-keepers, to post up 

 members' accounts. The " union " principle is working 

 so admirably, that it is in contemplation to extend 

 its sphere of action to the erection of out-olfices. 



In the iron-smelting districts of Germany, an ex- 

 tensive industry exists, for the extraction of the phos- 

 phorus from the ore, so as to enable steel of greater 

 tenacity to be prepared. The scoria or slag is thus 

 rich in residual pho.sphorus ; also in lime, as the lattiT 

 is employed to dephosphorize the iron-ore. The 

 slag crumbles to a coarse powder when exposed to 

 the air; but when it contains less lime aud more 

 waste iron, it has to be crushed like mineral phos- 

 phates. On peaty soils requiring to be sweetened, 

 or meadows rich in humus, this granulateil dross is 

 invaluable; the same happy results must follow, on 

 lands deficient in phosphoric acid and liin.'. The new 

 feitilizer— for such it really is, has told with maiked 

 effect on barley, oats, and marigolds. From 5 to 1,'i cwt 

 of the powdered scoria, along with a proportion of 

 potash aud nitrogenous fertilizers, sufBce for an acre 

 According to M. FU-isher, the pho.sphate slag, contains 

 17i per cent of pho.sphoric acid. 



A MOUNTAIN BIDE IN JAMAICA COFFEE 

 AND CHINCHONA PLANTATIONS. 



A bright January morning in Jamaica— and it if 

 difficult to imagine anything more invigorating than 

 such a morning in these latitudes at an elevation of 

 4.000 ft. above the sea— tempted me to forego the cares 

 of official life for a seaso , and to start oa a visit to the 

 Oinchonn Government estate, situate on the great Hlue 

 Mountain range. Leaving the cantonment of New 

 Oastle. our road first leads by a steep zigzag ascent to 

 Woodcutters Gap, the eve being charmed with the 

 view of strange crumpled hills melting into the Liguanea 

 plains, with their brilliant gleams of sugar cane, and 

 beyonil that the sea of a deep blue. It was au e.tccp- 

 tionally promising day for a mountain ride, as the nea 

 view en.led in a cliiarly defined horizon, which is unusual 

 here, and an horizon rutting the outline of hills over 

 2.0,10 ft. in height. M'oodcutters (iap is some 500 ft. 

 hi:;lu!r than New Castle, and lies in the line of least 

 width of the island, aud consequently affords a beautiful 

 prospect of th.' s,-i ou the nnrtli siile and that on the 

 south of the island. To the north, over Cedar Valley, 

 and hlopes and bills beyond description, is seen Annotta 

 Bay, and to the southward the town of Kingston, the 

 long rib of the I'alisadoes fringed with cocoa palms' and 

 mangrove jwamps, endi ng in Port Royal in the blazing 



* Extract from Essay. ' 



