and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— November, 1912, 419 



STERILISATION OF MANURES. 



OPINIONS OF LEADING FIRMS IN 

 COLOMBO. 

 Interesting Views. 



TheDimbula P.A. Resolution with regard to 

 the desirability of sterilising manures imported 

 into Ceylon, which was referred to the Agricul- 

 tural Department at the Ceylon Planters' Com- 

 mittee meeting last Friday, has aroused a 

 good deal of discussion. Our representative 

 interviewed three of the leading manure firms 

 in the island on the proposal ; generally the 

 idea seemed to be that it would be an exceed- 

 ingly difficult matter to do more than what was 

 being done. 



The Commercial Co.'s View. 

 Mr to J Cary, Acting Manager for the Colombo 

 Commercial Company, was decisive, when shown 

 the paragraph in question. "Absolutely im- 

 practicable " was his first verdict. The matter, 

 he says, has come up periodically, but was an 

 impracticable one to deal with. Most manures, 

 like basic slag and phosphates, are practically 

 sterilised in themselves. The resolution could 

 only apply to manures like fish and ground cake, 

 etc. "And what," he asked, "would be the good 

 of sterilising these? You may sterilise them, 

 but unless you are going to seal them hermeti- 

 cally they will have lost their value by the time 

 they got to the estate even. Take a glass of 

 water, for instance; you may sterilise that, but 

 if you leave it in the glass open on this desk in 

 a very short time it will be no longer sterilised. '' 

 Mr Cary also pointed out the difficulty of plant, 

 and general supervision. 



A Chemist's Opinion. 

 Mr P A Keiller — analytical chemist to the 

 Colombo Commercial Company — said he be- 

 lieved the scheme was an impracticable one. 

 The complaint he thought arose through the 

 presence of weeds in the manure, and this was a 

 thing they naturally tried to avert. Seeds could 

 only be contained in poonac and similar man- 

 ures, where the matter had not been sufficiently 

 screened, but his firm had had complaints of seeds 

 in slag manure, which of course was impossible. 

 The only remedy as far as he could see was for 

 the matter to be thoroughly screened before it 

 oame over to Ceylon. Much of the weeds com- 

 plained of might be traced to weeds by the 

 roadside, which under certain conditions would 

 seed, and the seeds be carried into the tea. Mr 

 Keiller added that the complaint was one that 

 cropped up every now and again. He agreed 

 that plant would be most expensive, and that it 

 was almost iupossible to deal with sterilisation, 



though they always tried to keep their manures 

 as pure as possible. 



Another Expression of Opinion. 



Mr. T E Wagner, Manager for Mr A Baur, 

 asked if he had seen the paragraph, said : — 



" Yes, I have read the small paragraph of 

 the Ceylon Planters' Association on the subject 

 of the sterilisation of the mauures imported 

 into Ceylon. I can ascribe no reason for sug- 

 gesting the advisability of insisting on any 

 special sterilisation of manures imported into 

 Ceylon, and consider that the proposition was 

 perhaps made without proper knowledge of the 

 manufacture of fertilisers in Ceylon. As the 

 largest Manure Works in the island my firm has 

 naturally adopted the most up-to-date processes 

 for the manufacture of fertilising substances. 



All the fertilisers are manufactured out of 

 very clean manurial ingredients which a rapid 

 glance over my Price List will show. There 

 are the oil cakes such as Castor Cake, Rape 

 Cake and Groundnut Cake. These are obtained 

 through the extraction of oil from Castor and 

 Rape seed, aud groundnut kernels respectively. 



The sterilisation of organic substances which 

 could be carriers of germs are, you will be 

 glad to hear, carried out either at the places 

 of manufacture outside of Ceylon or in Ceylon 

 itself. Fish Guano for instance is a manure 

 obtained by the extraction of oil from freshly 

 caught sardines. As this extraction is car- 

 ried out by steam or boiling water, the pro- 

 duct, which is a valuable manure, is, of 

 course, absolutely sterilised and as the guano 

 is dry no subsequent decomposition can occur. 

 Large quantities of Fish Manure are imported 

 into Ceylon. Fish manure is manufactured 

 from freshly caught sardines which are spread 

 on the beach and dried in the sun. This 

 product is, therefore, absolutely clean and in 

 my opinion just as harmless as the dried fish 

 which is imported from India and the Maldives 

 into Ceylon in large quantities for human con- 

 sumption. 



Then there is Blood Meal, a manure especi- 

 ally valuable for tropical plantations owing to 

 the fact that it nitrifies rapidly in soils poor 

 in lime such as Ceylon soils unfortunately are. 

 1 import all this Blood Meal from England 

 and Australia, where the manufacture is carried 

 under Government supervision, and the pro- 

 duct is received here in an absolutely steri- 

 lised condition. 



Absolutely Sterile. 



There is another organic article which is 

 greatly used in Ceylon and this is Bone Meal, 



