and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society, 



391 



estate, whatever its altitude, and however far 

 removed from a cart road. But there was an 

 interregnum between the era of expensive cattle 

 establishments and the easily available legumes. 

 During that period the Tea industry came into 

 existence and is, what it is entirely with the 

 aid of artificial manures. 



To come to my particular subject : Coconut 

 Cultivation. I am in charge of an estate of 

 over 50 years of age and with a large percentage 

 of the soil, a poor, white sand. By regular till- 

 age of the soil and the application of manure 

 every alternate year, the crops have been in- 

 creased by 25 per cent, and the condition of the 

 trees will compare favourably with younger trees 

 in localities more favoured as regards soil. The 

 " artificial" manures I use are castor cake, fish 

 steamed bones and potash, all natural products. 

 As stated at the beginning of this letter, I apply 

 very large quantities of cattle manure also, but 

 almost exclusively to the white sand portions of 

 the estate. I endeavour to increase the supply 

 of humus-yielding material by growing and 

 burying crotalaria and the nitrogen-gathering 

 legumes. But these cannot be grown as 

 largely here as they are grown on up-country 

 estates, as the passage of carts through the estate 

 crushes down the crotalarias. 



I have found an application of lime and 

 kainit to such fields as did not respond satisfac- 

 torily to the application of other manures, 

 yields very encouraging results. I did not lime 

 the entire surface of the soil and with heavy 

 doses as in European agriculture. I applied a 

 small quantity to each tree chiefly with the 

 object of galvanising into activity the latent 

 nitrifying organisms in the soil. To sum up, 

 my opinion, based on extensive personal experi- 

 ence and observation is that " cultivating " the 

 soil is aii absolutely necessary operation of 

 successful agriculture. That wherever obtain- 

 able, cattle manure and other humus-yielding 

 applications, with "artificial" manures, yield 

 the most satisfactory results. That the supply 

 of cattle manure being limited, the use of "arti- 

 ficial" manures becomes indispensable and 

 yields remunerative results. —Truly yours, 



B. 



(By Cosmopolite. ) 

 That was a most excellent letter from "B" 

 of Marawila on the above subject, which ap- 

 peared in the Observer, and L am ready to admit 

 that he has had much practical experience, even 

 although we may not agree in all things. When 

 I read— "the annual average of the manure I 

 apply is about 100 tons of artificials," I said to 

 myself — " poor chap, vvhat a waste of money"; 

 but when I found that he added "and 25,000 

 cubic feet of cattle manure," I joyfully exclaimed 

 — " Good you are ' B,' you are going strong and 

 deserve all the success lam sure you are having." 

 He goes on to say, " I do not favour the highly 

 concentrated and, therefore, the very injuriously 

 stimulating artificials." Now, Mr. Editor, these 

 are almost my own words, which appeared in 

 your own paper several years ago, when I said 

 that it was impossible, on some estates, to get 

 all the cattle manure necessary, and the residue 

 had to be made up by such manures as bones, 

 poonac, castor or rape cake, which could scarcely 



be called artificial, as they are, in reality, natural 

 products. But, although I have no prejudice 

 against these, I still prefer cattle manure, k it 

 is to be got at all, and would grudge paying for 

 the above "artificials" if I could do without 

 them. " B " 's letter is the best on the subject 

 of manuring that has appeared in your columns 

 for many a-day, and I am taking the liberty of 

 filing it away in the book in which I keep 

 copies of any articles that I consider worthy 

 of being read a second time, and even more 

 times. "B" writes only of his own experience, 

 and the effect of various manures on his own 

 estate. 1 also have only given my experience 

 in connection with my own ground, and I have 

 no wish to dissuade any one from purchasing 

 "artificials" if he finds them suitable to his 

 land, but let the advocates of " artificials ' 

 always remember the old saying about planting 

 in Ceylon, that "many million British sover- 

 eigns have been buried, in the shape of manuros, 

 in the coffee clad hills of Ceylon that will never 

 be resurrected again. ,: 



GROUND-NUT. 



Ground-nut seems destined in the near 

 future to cover a great deal more ground than 

 in the past, says the Bombay Gazette. This is 

 true, at any rate, of the (Southern Presidency, 

 where, having hitherto been raised on a syste- 

 matised scale in a very circumscribed area on 

 the Coromandel Coast, it has now been intro- 

 duced with the most encouraging results on the 

 Malabar Coast, where it has been up to now as 

 a dryland crop, and has proved far more pro- 

 fitable than the dryland crops that are usually 

 grown. On a coast with a heavy monsoon, the 

 crop will probably take from six to six and a 

 half months to mature. Harvesting should 

 commence when most of the nuts are ripe. 

 Ripeness is denoted by the skin of the kernel 

 assuming a pink colour. After the nuts have 

 been gathered they should be sun-dried for 

 several days, being heaped up every evening and 

 protected with straw and spread out again the 

 following morning. Owing to the heavy rain- 

 fall, ground-nut cultivation should not be con- 

 tinuous from year to year, and Mr. Sampson, . 

 Deputy Director of Agriculture, Madras Pre- 

 sidency, suggests the following rotatory system : 

 — One year ground-nut, next year cereal, third 

 year fallow. Throughout the period of culti- 

 vation, the growing crop should be watched, 

 and after the pods are formed, the watchfulness 

 should be redoubled, as jackals, jungle rats, 

 crows and other enemies will persistently attack 

 the pods, and do much damage if they are not 

 scared off. — I ndian Ar/rieidttirist, Feb. 1. 



STATE AID FOR AGRICULTURISTS. 



The Work of the Benual Seed Depot. 



" A circular is issued by the Bengal Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture referring to the operations 

 of the Bengal Seed Store in Pollock Street. 



To meet the long-felt want of good seed the 

 Bengal Seed Store was opened to work in con- 

 nection with the different Provincial Farms 

 where definite varieties of seed are grown, 



