m 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May I, 1886, 



i hat there should be set apart in each coffee centre 

 • an experimental field, worked under the direction of 

 :i central authority by which all results should be 

 carefully collected and circulated. . . The initiation and 

 direction of such a scheme must be undertaken by 

 the (Government, also probably the scientific advice 

 ;ind analyses required ; the cost ot working should be 

 borne by the planters, but there is no reason why 

 the experimental fields once started should not be 

 self-supporting." The idea appears to be a good one, 

 and with an organisation such as the Ceylon Asso- 

 ciation would uo doubt soon be taken up. Planters 

 in India, however, are fond of working for their 

 own ha.uds, and, outside their District Associations 

 show little aptitude for combination, except when 

 threatened by some act of the authorities, involving 

 a common danger. There can be no doubt that with 

 the present loiv prices for coffee any scheme that 

 would show planters how to increase the yield of 

 their trees, and save them from deterioration ought 

 to be welcome. — Madras Mail. 



MANURING FRUIT TREES. 

 A series of investigations has lately taken place 

 relati\e to the manuring of fruit trees. It is assert- 

 ed that the generality of fruit tre^-stake away from 

 mother earth large amounts of mineral and other 

 manures known as fertilising .salts, and that either 

 non-productiveness or smallness of the fruit is chiefiy 

 attributable to the exhaustion of these soluble salts. 

 Experiments made on two sections of a vine plantation 

 —one ]iart left to nature and the other manured 

 with soluble phosphates— proved that the grapes con- 

 tained a greater quantity of sugar and a considerable 

 rise in the percentage of potash over the unmanur- 

 ed portion; also, that the plants, far more healthy 

 in appearance, retained their leaves longer in the 

 autumn, and were li'ss liable to the attacks or oidium. 

 If these statements are correct, it is evident that 

 the application of bonedust, nitrate of soda, guano, 

 and other similar manures would have a very bene- 

 ficial effect on our vines, whether they are grown 

 for wine or dessert purposes. Experiments go to 

 prove al.so that strawberries show a wonderfully 

 marked improvement when treated with the manures 

 above mentioned. It has also been well proved that 

 peach trees gain a valuable advantage by the applic- 

 ation of such manures, as the fact has been proved 

 that the fruit ot trees manured is both larger and 

 better flavoured. If the plan is of advantage to the 

 a'jovemontioued trees, it must be evident that it 

 wonld be of advantage to all other kinds of fruit 

 trees, and entirely throws to the wind the dictum 

 of an orange-grower that disease only appeared in 

 the colony after such manures were administered to 

 tlie trees. Dr. Goessmann's writings and experiences 

 conclusively show that it is the want and not the 

 application that causes the diseases complained of. 

 Again, growers cliug to the old-fashioned stable manure 

 as benig the most suitable ; but, wliile we are not 

 prepared to dispute its valuableness, it is not the thing 

 that nature requires, especially as in it cannot be 

 found the mineral salts re(|uisite to establish the defi- 

 ciency caused by the absorption of the original elements 

 by the trees. Our fruit tree growers have at com- 

 mand, weather being favourable, maimres, easily handled 

 and easily applied, that will render fruitgrowing a 

 more payable affair than hitherto, and result in good 

 healthy growth and the keeping away of all manner 

 of insect pests. To do any good wet weather is necess- 

 ary, and this much can be said in its favour— that 

 no kuid of manure is of the lo.ast value when applied 

 during dry weather, or when the soil itself is dry 

 Fruit tree growers need not be told that towards 

 the end of winter is the best time to dress vines 

 and fruit trees. Again, by burning the pruniugs .and 

 <lressiag the soil with the ashes, the grower will 

 give in an indirect manner to his fruit trees valuable 

 nitrates, and in these days of troublesome insect pests 

 the most sensible method is always to burn the 

 pruniugs in place of continuing the old practice of 

 throwing them into a heaj), from which ia some form 



or other the enemy may escape and continue its 

 damages. The value of these chemical or mineral 

 manures is but yet imperfectly understood, and it is 

 only owing to the scarcity of oldfashioned manures 

 that growers have become conversant with their im- 

 portance, and from older countries than this we can 

 glean valuable information of their utility Again, 

 in this colony, stable manure is for the most part 

 nearly valueles.s, consisting of sawdust and droppings, 

 so that it IS far cheaper in the end to use the inaiuues 

 advocated m this article. By-the-way, experimental- 

 ists advise that these manures" should always 

 be applied well away from the bole of the trees, 

 a very sensible advice, considering that the root 

 feeders are well away from the trunk, so that the 

 apphcation near the trunk must simply be a waste 

 of money. While ou the subject of chemical manures, 

 our American cousins have been experimenting on 

 their valuableness in jiotatoe cultivation. The old 

 theory is that there is no better manure known for 

 potatoes than good stable compost. Yet, strange to 

 state, comparisons prove that the balance ot crop is 

 in favour ot the soluble salts in the ratio of eight 

 to six, thus fairly proving that ground requires to 

 be renewed with these salts even to grow fair crops 

 of potatoes. The conclusion is simply this: that all 

 crops exhaust the soil more or less of mineral 

 manures, and if the cultivator's object is to keep 'up 

 fertility he must in addition to ordinary manuring 

 freely apply to the land in some shape or other 

 chemical sohible salts known as fertilisers. To the 

 yigneron the hints herein contained, that by apply- 

 ing these fertilisers the fruit will contain a greater 

 percentage ot potash, should be valuable, as by their 

 application the general acidity so noticeable in our 

 colonial wines may in a measure be overcome, and 

 even when used for dessert purposes their luscious- 

 ness will be greatly enhanced. Those who grow goose- 

 berries m the interior of the colony should not fail 

 to well manure their bushes. It is a well-known 

 fact that gooseberries are gross feeders, and quickly 

 exhaust the ground of any goodness that may be 

 in it. Therefore, if good food is required, manuring 

 of some sort should be given annually during the 

 winter months. The same rule applies to currants, 

 which, in regard to size of fruit, would be materially 

 improved by the application of nitrates or good stable 

 manure. — Sydney Jfail. 



TLANTING IN CETLON AND IN FI.JI. 



Under the head of " Planting in Ceylon," we recently 

 published a valuable contribution from Mr. K. L. 

 Holmes. The range of subjects therein brought under 

 notice cannot fail to possess a deep interest for all those 

 engaged in developing the agricultural resources of the 

 colony. Indeed, as the progress of the colony and 

 the prosperity or all who are as.sociated with it is 

 entirely dependent upon this <levelopment, the interest 

 should become general as each recognises the direct or 

 indirect bearing of the matter upon his individual wel- 

 fare. The community has already received a sufficiently 

 severe lesson upon the folly of carrying all the eggs in 

 one basket, "\7hen the cotton failed, planters had 

 literally nothing to fall back upon. The time that .should 

 have been devoted to experimental culture had been 

 wasted. It had then to be dispensed with as a guide, 

 and to be prosecuted at hap-hazard, in the face of con- 

 ditions which made failure assume the most serious 

 proportions. The planters were literally at their wits' 

 end to find a remunerative industry, and years were lost 

 in "pottering" before the sugar industry gathered 

 sufficient strength to consitute it a mainstay. 



It cannot be altogether unprofitable to reflect upon 

 the probable amount this h,as cost the planters individ- 

 ually, and the colouy generally. How many thousand.s, 

 for instance, might h.avc been saved if a course of experi- 

 ment, conducted in various parts of the group, had 

 first demonstrated the most favorable conditions under 

 which coffee coul.i be cultivated, and had indicated 

 under what circumstances it was imposilile to make it 

 a success? How many thousands might have been 

 added to the aggregate value of estates if such a coursg 



