278 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



MAIZE MEAL AND PEAS MEAL CASES. 



With reference to the reports which you 

 have forwarded to me, regarding the white maize 

 meal and peas meal case3, in which the vendors 

 were convicted by the bench, I must confess 

 that I most heartily apprtve of the result. 

 Farmers have, for too long, been simply robbed 

 by the sellers of trash, under the names of 

 the artificial manures and feeding stuffs, and 

 the fact of any analyses being given, of samples 

 of such, do?s not help them in the very least. 

 The British farmer has not time to go hunting 

 after honest tradesmen, and when they do go 

 the length of getting the article, which they 

 have purchased, analysed, and find it wanting, 

 the fact only embitters their lives the more ; 

 because there is not one farmer in a thousand 

 who caree to go to court, to fight against any 

 such fraud. In the two cases referred to above, 

 I was glad to read that the farmers had been 

 game to go to Law, and that they had won 

 their cases ; but the result will avail nothing, 

 for the sale of adulterated manures and feeding 

 stuffs will go on as merrily as ever. 



In ray own case, [ am not a buyer of artifi- 

 cial manures, as I found, from bitter experience, 

 that they did raoro harm than good, but 1 

 do buy a considerable quantity of feeding stuffs, 

 and yet I feel positively certain that I seldom 

 get what I order, but have just to grin and 

 bear with tho poorness of the quality. The 

 result of this is that I now uee tons of my 

 own grown oats, which I know to be pure and 

 unadulterated, in preference to buying feeding 

 cakes which are mysteriously manufactured. 

 Undecorticated cotton cake is, probably, the 

 worst of all adulterations, except, perhaps, the 

 mixture which is dignified by the naraeof Lambs 

 food, and which \i merely the sweepings of the 

 dealerb' stores, composed, no doubt, of a lot of 

 good spillings out of bags, but of a greater lot 

 of mud, dogs' hair and other extraneous matter. 

 This may seem a very sweeping condemnation 

 on my part, but I am writing from personal ex- 

 perience. With regard to pure maize meal, I 

 have great satisfaction in saying that I do know 

 one place where I can get this in perfection, and 

 I would rather pay £1 more, per ton, tor a sup- 

 ply from this vendor than accept a cheaper 

 article from any other dealer. The seller referred 

 to, however, is, I am afraid, the exception which 

 proves the rule. With regard to Mr Hughes' 

 own patent, — basic superphosphate, — I can 

 say nothing. The superhosphate, without the 

 basic, — by which Sir John Lawes made a fortune, 

 is, unquestionably, the worst thing in the shape 

 of artificial manures that ever I tried, and I have 

 observed that wherever this is much used, there 

 linger and toe in turnips is to found rampant. I 

 am always ready and willing to try anything in 

 the shape of manures, but I have of tbner found 

 them worthless rather than useful. Take the much 

 vaunted "kainit,'' for instance, which I was per- 

 suaded to apply to my potatoes. I gave it a fair 

 trial, took great trouble with the crop, and the 

 haulms grew so luxuriantly that I thought, at 

 last, I had got a good thing, and was likely to 

 make a larger purchase next year. But, alas, 

 when the potatoes were dug up, there was posi- 

 tively not a tuber at the roots, except the Beed 



ones which had been planted, everything had 

 gone to tops. " Kainit," as you can understand 

 is, therefore, now " taboo " with me. Of course 

 I believe in bones, and would gladly apply them 

 to my land, if I only knew where the bones came 

 from, but, when I see my neighbours losing 

 cattle from anthrax, the result of putting bones 

 of deceased cattle from abroad, on their ground, 

 I, naturally, stay my hand and buy none, but 

 keep on using the good old fashioned cattle man- 

 nure, which, although the dearest ani most 

 laborious to apply, is still the best, for it never 

 fails and needs no analysing. The proof of the 

 pudding ia the eating thereof, and I find that 

 those who spend their money in adulterated 

 artificial manures and feeding stuffs have neither 

 better crops nor fatter stock than I myself have, 

 the result of applying cattle manure only, to 

 my ground, and using my home grown oats for 

 feeding purposes. — Co>. [Written some time 

 ago, but M.S.S. mislaid.— A. M, & J. F.] 



ARTIFICIAL AN DFAKM YARD MANURE. 



Writing on Feb. 16th, Mr. John Hughes 

 sends us the following remarks which come in 

 appropriately in view of the fore-going criticism 

 on t ho other side : — 



"In reference to the enclosed cutting on 

 farming in Aberdeenshire I can assure you 

 the use of artificial manures is now so fully 

 recognised as beneficial when prcperly selected 

 and properly applied, that no argument is 

 necessary to support this view. Farm-yard 

 manure being a complete manure is, of course, 

 generally the safest and most effective for all 

 crops and on all soils, but no farmer has suffi- 

 cient to treat his land with, so he is compelled 

 to employ artificials for those other parts of 

 his farm which have not had any farm-yard 

 dung. Last summer being so dry the artificials 

 could not produce their lull effect on the crops, 

 whereas dung which contains 75 per cent, of 

 moisture was most effective in supplying water 

 as well as the necessary plant-food ingredients." 



In Ceylon we have authority for saying that 

 the demands are so numerous for manures 

 from tea, rubber and coconut planters that the 

 Colombo dealers find it difficult to oveitake 

 them quickly enough. 



RUBB EH SEE D OIL. 



The commercial value of rubber seed oil as a 

 substitute for linseed oil has been favourably re- 

 ported on by the Imperial Institute. The ex- 

 perimental feeding of cattle with Para rubber 

 seed-cake has given promising results, but its 

 definite value as a food cannot be stated without 

 more extended trials. The oil is clear, and in 

 colour and smell resembles linseed oil. It be- 

 longs to the class of drying oils, and gives a 

 clear transparent film when dried by exposure 

 to air. The husks contain a yellow fat which 

 has a high saponification number and a low 

 iodine value, but since the amount of this solid 

 fat in the husks is very small, it hardly affects 

 the properties of oil obtained by grinding ker- 

 nels and husks together. Leading brokers re- 

 port that the oil would be worth probably 20s. 

 per ton, but that merchants would not take it up 

 without an opportunity of first testing it in bulk. 



