and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



387 



perienced coconut planter and this is what 

 he wrote in 18(51 : — 



" The planter of coconuts can point to ex- 

 perience and say that whether science in 

 general, and chemical analysis in particular, 

 be for or against him, Salt is the manure 

 which he must have. The late Dr. Gardner* 

 used to describe the value attached, in the 

 Brazils, to salt as a manure for Coconuts, 

 stating that a man would walk many miles 

 for it, pay high for a load, aud then apply 

 it to a single tree. At Singapore the athes 

 of a plant, rich in salt, are used with ex- 

 traordinary results— and I think that at Batti- 

 caloa the ashes of the mandrake are from the 

 same cause, those which produce the most 

 effect. Here, day after day, may be seen strings 

 of carts, creeping from the beach to the estates, 

 laden with sea-weed — which, experience has 

 proved so useful as a manure. For the sake 

 of the salt it contains, (22 - 25 per cent in the 

 ash), we drive a cart load of matter which we 

 could obtain (if required) much nearer, and 

 at a tithe of the cost, because our rulers 

 persistently refuse to allow us at Vie pries they 

 sell it for exportation, to purchase that salt for 

 our estates, which it sometimes costs hundreds 

 of pounds to destroy. I know not what has 

 been done elsewhere in the hope of getting 

 it, for agricultural purposes, at a reduced rate ; 

 but it may be useful to show that the planters 

 of the .Northern Province have done their utmost. 

 I think I am right, (I write frjra memory) in 

 saying that the following offer was made to 

 Government. Parties, to get salt at export 

 price, would adulterate it, with tar water or 

 any other matter best adapted to render it 

 unfit for ordinary purposes, in the Government 

 stores. Before removing it they would enter 

 into a penalty bond, to the full value of the 

 salt, at the market price, that it should be 

 used solely as manure for coconut trees, and 

 they would pay for a Government employee who 

 should certify to its application as specified. 

 This offer, like every other, was refused. About 

 a mouth ago petition for salt at reduced rates 

 was refused on the ground that if given at 

 reduced rates for agricultural purposes, it must 

 be given at the same rate to fish curers, &c. 

 The fallacy of this reasoning is apparent if 

 we consider, that it places the producer and 

 manufacturer in the same category; and applies to 

 them in common a principle acting differently on 

 each. We deserve, perhaps, that our wants should 

 be disregarded ; for I do not remember that 

 coconut planters have ever combined to have 

 them fairly represented. With more of unity 

 and combination in our efforts we should doubt- 

 less command success." 



[This is a matter which should be looked 

 into by the Lowcountry Products A. — Ed. ] 



Salt For Coconuts.— This is what Dr. 

 Butler says in his Report on Travancore ! — 

 " It is said also to flourish best sufficiently 

 hear the sea to allow of the sub-soil being 



* Dr. Gardner travelled in South America 

 before he took charge of Peradeniya Gardens. 



-Bp, 



infiltrated with sea water. Different analyses 

 in India, Ceylon, and the Philippine Islands 

 seem to show that a heavy crop removes over a 

 hundred pounds of potash salts and over sixty 

 of sodium chloride (common salt) per acre per 

 annum, and may explain this preference. Be 

 that as it may, a large proportion of the best 

 Travancore coconuts are in soil which is infil- 

 trated with salt or brackish water. That this salt 

 is a necessity to the tree is evidently believed in 

 many coconut growing countries where, as in 

 Travancore, an application of salt to its roots is 

 frequently made. Its requirements in potash 

 and magnesium are probably supplied in part 

 by infiltrated sea-water in low-lying littoral or 

 backwater soils. Elsewhere they are furnished 

 by dressings of wood and leaf ashes (largely of 

 the coconut itself) applied around the base of 

 the tree. Beyond this a limited amount of 

 manuring with coconut or other poonac, cattle 

 manure, fish manure and occasionally bones 

 is practised." 



COCONUT STEM DISEASE. 



April 3rd. 



Dear Sir, — lu response to your inquiry, I 

 may say that 1 have not lost a single tree from 

 the disease. But Franklands being younger than 

 Horrekell}-, the wood is reached earlier, and 

 cutting out is more urgent. The higher up the 

 stem the disease is detected, the greater the 

 danger. In one tree, with a six-foot stem, it 

 was discovered I am afraid too late. The cutting 

 up had to be carried up right to the fronds, 

 that is up to the very heart. It remains to be 

 seen whether that tree can be saved. My Supe- 

 rintendent will report in my absence. There is 

 danger in neglected gardens. 



F.B. 



PLANTING EN NEW GUINEA, 



RUBBER AND COCONUTS. 



A recent number of The Clarioit—A Mel; 

 bourne Illustrated Journal — edited by "Ralph. 

 Bedford " — contains an interesting account of 

 Papua, from which we take a few salient ex- 

 tracts ; but we miss any reference to the all- 

 important question of Labour Supply. Even 

 in the Government Regulations with all about 

 Land Laws and general information, not a word 

 is said on labour. Our first extract refers to 

 a Coast village where, at least the Government 

 insists on sanitary regulations. We road : — 



In Samarai there is always a floating popula- 

 tion from the goldfields ; the permanent white 

 population numbers ninety. The great bulk of 

 the black population of the island is in gaol. In 

 the Eastern division of the Possession, of which 

 Samarai is the capital, there are 74 coloured men 

 other than Papuans, and a mixed lot they are. 

 Of these there are seven Japanese, two Chinese, 

 seven Malays, cne Javanese, eight Filipinos, 

 fourteen Solomon Islanders, Line Samoans, 

 two Savage Islanders, three Raratongans, 

 twelve Fijians, three Rotumah mei>, one Tahi- 

 tiau, on West Indian, three Cape de Venlq 



