60 “THE COFFEE PLANTER OF CEYLON.” 
coffee plants. It is now nearly fourteen years since 
Mr. Wall (in a paper which we trust he will soon 
republish, corrected and ‘expanded as the result of 
extended experience) drew attention to the applica- 
tion of mana grass and the result in extirpating 
weeds on free soils, and, in additon, largely promot- 
ing (indeed creating) fertility in the case of cold 
stiff soils. We quote as follows:— 
“Mana GRass is most useful, both as bedding 
for cattle and a litter to be applied on the surface 
of the soil. When used for the former purpose, its 
chief advantages are its abundance, and the facility 
with which it may be cut and carried ; for the latter 
purpose I have employed it very extensively, and 
with widely different results. When applied te 
free soils that abound in vegetable matter, as those 
of Hunasgiriya, it is scarcely of any use except to 
keep down weeds or to kill running grass; but on 
the cold, wet soil of Ambagamuwa, its effect is almost 
magical, exceeding that of a heavy dose of cattle- 
manure. I have applied it to a cold, heavy, yellow 
soil, in which coffee bushes could scarcely exist, and 
where their scraggy branches had only a few small 
yellow leaves on them, and the effect was most sur- 
prising. Not only were the trees soon clothed with 
fine dark green foliage, but even the soil appeared to 
be changed, and, to the depth of three or four inches, 
became friable and dry. How this change was aecom- 
plished, whether by the acids resulting from the de- 
composition of the grass, or by the protection afforded 
to the soil, I do not pretend to say, but I can speak 
confidently to the fact. 
‘‘Hrrect.—The increase of crop obtained through 
the agency of this manure, in the instance above 
alluded to, was at least five hundredweights per acre. 
‘¢Cosr.—The cost of this method of manuring is 
much less felt on a weedy estate than on a clean one, 
because on the former it almost supersedes the neces- 
-sity for weeding. The principal item of cost is the 
carriage of the grass. I have, therefore, restricted the 
-use of mana grass to places within one hundred trees 
of the spot where the grass is grown. Under this 
system the cost of a heavy littering, in which each 
tree has a very heavy cooly-load of grass, is 35s. per 
acre. One such heavy littering, and two light ones 
of about 20s. per acre each, are sufficient for a year, 
that is, about 75s. per acre per annum for weeding 
and manuring. 1 am of opinion, that, after two or 
three years of this treatment, the land would beable 
to bear several successive ‘crops without requiring the 
assistance of litter. 
‘<The effect of surface littering 1s much inhereased 
