Miscellaneous. 



152 



[February, 1910. 



which bananas had been grown for 

 some six years and then abandoned, and 

 the other virgin soil about to be planted 

 in bananas. The two soils were for all 

 practical purposes identical, and a 

 complete analysis showed very little 

 difference between them in the total 

 amount of potash ; but a second analysis, 

 to determine the available potasb, show- 

 ed that the virgin soil contained five 

 times as much as the laud on which 

 bananas had been grown and given up. 



As a further instance of the necessity 

 of having a sufficient quantity of avail- 

 able potash in the soil I can quote the 

 experience of a large pineapple-grower 

 on the North Coast Line. The soil on 

 which the pines are growing is deep 

 sandy loam, that was originally covered 

 with a growth of timber which was 

 burnt off on the land. 



For the first five years the pines made 

 a good growth, and gave good returns 

 without any manure. They then began 

 to go back, and were manured with 

 meatworks manure (phosphoric acid and 

 nitrogen), and the results were still 

 satisfactory for some time. Finally, 

 they again showed signs of going back 

 even though they received a greatly in- 

 creased dressing of meatworks manure. 

 The pines had depleted the supply of 

 available potash, and, consequently, 

 owing to the want of potash, the meat- 

 works manure failed to act. This was 

 clearly proved by the addition of potash 

 to the land as the pines responded at 

 once, and produced a heavy crop of 

 excellent fruit. Previous applications 

 of potash to this laud had, apparently, 

 no result; and it was only when the 

 available potash was depleted that the 

 addition of potash as a manure had 

 such a marked effect. 



When land is deficient in available 



Eotash as shown either by analysis or 

 y the simple tests that I have recom- 

 mended, the addition of potash as a 

 manure for all kinds of fruits and vege- 

 tables will have a very marked effect, 

 and is one of the best investments 

 the grower can make, I am often con- 

 fronted by the grower saying, that 

 potash is such an expensive manure, it 

 costs £14 or £16 a ton ; true, yet a ton 

 of high-grade sulphate of potash con- 

 tains about 50 per cent, of pure potash, 

 or, in other words, 100 lb. of sulphate of 

 potash contains 50 lb. of pure potash, 

 and, at the higher rate of £16 per ton, 

 this works out at only 3|d. per lb., 

 which is about the same price per lb. 

 as one has to pay for phosphoric acid, 

 and only about one-third of the price 

 per lb, one has to pay for nitrogen, 



Sulphate of potash is a concentrated 

 manure, and is the cheapest form in 

 which to buy potash, especially when 

 the question of railway or steamer 

 freight and cartage is to be considered- 



CO-OPERATIVE CREDIT IN BENGAL. 



(From the Indian Agriculturist, Vol. 



XXXIV., No. 0, September 1, 1009.) 



In an admirable article published by 

 the Bengalee, the evil effects of absentee 

 landlordism upon village economy were 

 forcibly demoustrated. To this indict- 

 ment of those zemindars who live in a 

 grand style in Calcutta and leave their 

 tenants to lead a miserable existence 

 in villages haunted by malaria and 

 cholera no serious reply has been at- 

 tempted. It has indeed been argued by 

 a correspondent who is himself, it would 

 appear, a zemindar, that the landlords 

 have no more obligations towards their 

 tenants than any educated man has 

 towards the uneducated. Whether this 

 cynical repudiation of responsibility 

 represents the general view among 

 absentee ztmindars we have no means 

 of knowing, but it is certain that those 

 who cherish the notion that their sole 

 duty is to levy rents from their tenants 

 and spend the money where they please 

 and as they please, are harbouring 

 niediasval ideas which will lead to a 

 rude awakening before long, The day 

 will come when they will be asked to 

 justify their existence which, so far as 

 we can see, serves no useful purpose. 

 There is, however, another class of 

 absentee landlords who without deny- 

 ing that they have certain obligations 

 towards the ryots on whose earnings 

 they live, plead that their own health 

 should form their first consideration, 

 and that they can look after the in- 

 terests of their tenants more efficiently 

 at a safe distance from insauitary 

 villages. "It is hopeless," says the 

 Hindoo Patriot, " to except any ener- 

 getic action from a zemindar who is a 

 prey to malaria or any other malady, 

 because, under the circumstances, he 

 cannot bring himself to give attention 

 to anything else but his own interest. 

 But when he enjoys good health he 

 feels for those who are not similarly 

 blessed." A sympathetic feeling i3 an 

 excellent thing, so far as it goes. But 

 sympathy at a distance is not what is 

 wanted. The decay of village life can- 

 not be arrested by the compassion" of 

 a zemindar class residing in Calcutta. 

 If the villages are to be made moie 

 healthy, to be provided with pure 

 water, and to be delivered from malaria, 



