MANURING COFFEE. 205 
‘question acquires increased importance, because the 
superphosphate being the least expensive of the four 
substances forming the normal manure, and its efficacy 
being in certain cases very great, a slight increase 
of expenditure suflices to obtain a large excess of 
crop. With the normal manure, No. 6 (calcic super- 
' phosphate 352 1bs. ; potassic nitrate 176lbs.; calcic 
sulphate 352 lbs. ; M. de Jabrun of Guadeloupe) obtained 
18 tons of sugarcane, stripped of leaves, per acre. 
With an increase of 176 lbs. of calcic superphosphate 
the result was raised to 38 tons, an excess of 14 tons 
of cane, valued at £11 4s to £12 16s, the increase of 
expenditure being about 12s 9d.” Thisis very tempt- 
ing, but we need not tell our readers that in the 
case of the coffee plant we might endanger the life 
of the tree by forcing it into an over-yield of fruit. 
Let us listen to M. Ville’s advice: ‘‘ First of all be 
sure of the dominant constituents and the proportions 
in which it is necessary to employ them in order to 
obtain the maximum of their useful effects ; secondly 
know the proportion of the subordinate constituents 
which these same dominants require in order to bring 
out their action; and lastly, only draw conclusions 
from the test of experiment.” Some readers may be 
surprised to learn that in a ton of 2,240 1b. of farm- 
yard manure tbe proportions of the four fertilizing 
substances are so low as 
Nitrogen She flip, 
Phosphoric acid __... a ae 
Potash a ae Si. 
Lime is mel is 
: : Me) 
This indicates a value, according to the ruling price 
of chemicals, which M. Ville believes will go lower 
instead of higher, of 10s 6d. The grand disadvantages 
of farmyard manure, it vill be observed, are its 
enormous bulk and weight, at any rate the weight 
{8-10ths being contributed by water) in proportion 
to the small amount of really fertilizing matter. In 
wet climates especially is the water in this manure 
worse than valueless. In comparison between it and 
chemical manures, the results in repeated trials were 
always in favour of the chemical manures, as to 
produce, while the artificial manures were also found 
to be morelasting. Thereis a most valuable appendix 
to M. Ville’s work, No. 1 of which deals with ‘‘ The 
chemical description of the ingredients which enter into 
the composition of chemical manures.” We only 
wish we had space to quote from this most interest- 
ing paper. We can only mention that M. Ville, 
besides being a believer in the ultimate discovery of 
economical means of deriving nitrogen frcm the air, 
R 
