568 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



f actured in England and Belgium. Th° terne 

 plate cups, often erroneously called "tin" cups, 

 which are, of course, still very largely used, are 

 exported from England. Large as the demand 

 now is, it is not difficult to foresee that it is 

 nothing to what it will soon become ; while even 

 in five or six years' time, when the present vast 

 planted areas are in bearing and supplied, the 

 opening up of new land and the need of repla- 

 cing existing stock will guarantee a steady 

 market for tapping cups as long as rubber re- 

 mains a profit-earning product. In these cir- 

 cumstances it is interesting to notice that the 

 Home manufacturers appear to be awake to 

 the possibilities which this trade holds out, and 

 are pushing their goods in an enterprising 

 manner.- — Malay Mail, Nov. 16. 



BOMBAY MANURE FOR GEYON 

 ESTATES. 



A NEW DEVELOPMENT. 

 We received at the beginning of this month 

 a letter from the Executive Engineer of the 

 Bombay Municipality, asking if there would be 

 any demaud for artificial manure manufactured 

 out of the refuse of animals destroyed under 

 Municipal supervision there. Particulars were 

 given of the contents of such a product and a 

 rough estimate of the cost ; it was also stated 

 that there was practically no smell. Informa- 

 tion was asked for as to the demand for such 

 manure for. estates in Ceylon ; and, with a view 

 to obtaining the information required, we ap- 

 proached the Colombo firms interested and 

 forwarded their replies, as well as other expert 

 opinion, to the Bombay official who wrote to us. 

 In the course of these enquiries we learnt that 

 no doubt was felt here that such refuse had a 

 considerable manurial value ; there was no 

 reason to suppose that it would not make a 

 satisfactory ingredient for tea and sugar-cane 

 manure from this point of view alone. To com- 

 mand a sale in Ceylon, it would have to compete 

 successfully with fish manure, at present a 

 cheap source of Organic Nitrogen and Pho- 

 sphoric Acid. There is no dividence to show 

 that meat meals possess any advantage over fish 

 refuse, and many other forms of waste organic 

 matter, as regards the availability of their 

 manurial constituents ; and they fall consider- 

 ably short of the true Guanos in this respect. 

 Any calculation of the value of meat meal for 

 sale in Ceylon, therefore, must be based on the 

 value of fish manure here, and on that basis a 

 material with the analysis quoted from Bombay 

 would be valued by Ceylon manure merchants 

 at about R70 per ton, making allowance for the 

 fact that it would probably be more finely 

 ground and more free from fatty matter than the 

 fish received here usually is. Our correspondent 

 stated that the material will be free from 

 offensive smell. This is an important point, 

 but experience with European and American 

 meat meals created doubt as to the possibility 

 of this — the smell from these being such as 

 practically to prohibit their use. The point 

 emphasized by the experts consulted was the 

 necessity for freedom from offensive smell. 

 One opinion stated that it must not only be free 

 from offensive smell, but olso from any large 



proportion of fat ; also in a fine mechanical state 

 so as to be easily used. Another point was that 

 the flesh must not become decomposed before 

 the manure was prepared or exception would 

 be taken to it for use on fields above any water 

 supply. The composition as described to us is 

 judged to be good, and at the relative price of 

 best fish manure enabling mixtures to be cheap- 

 ened somewhat, but the composition wouid have 

 to be uniform and the supply constant. One of 

 the questions asked us here was would such a 

 manure be available in regular quantities ? — 

 great inconvenience arising when a demand was 

 created for a material and the supply of it can- 

 not be depended upon. It must, we were told, 

 be also at least as cheap as fish manure per units 

 of nitrogen and phosphoric acid ; the amount of 

 potash mentioned was too small to be of conse- 

 quence in tea manuring. 



Today we have had an acknowledgment of our 

 letters and enclosures, and the Executive Engi- 

 neer of Bombay refers to the fact that the supply 

 of the manure in question would be constant 

 and, being of the quality indicated, he thought 

 it would be of some service in this island. The 

 supply expected will be equal in bulk to 10 

 bullocks and 30 goats or sheep per day. As 

 regards smell, the Bombay official examined 

 some of the composition when in England in 

 June last. He found nothing offensive in it and 

 could handle it freely without discovering objec- 

 tionable properties. Its mechanical condition 

 was such that it flowed through his hands like 

 coarse oatmeal. 



We learn, finally, that the Bombay Munici- 

 pality have decided to adopt his proposals during 

 the next financial year, and fuller particulars 

 will be forwarded as soon as available. All that 

 remains to be done is to submit samples of their 

 manure to the Ceylcn Government to be passed 

 by the Port Medical authorities, any such 

 product coming from a plague centre like Bom- 

 bay being open to suspicion until the Plague 

 Committee here are fully satisfied as to the 

 conditions under which it is produced and the 

 strictness with which such regulations are 

 maintained. 



TAXI-GABS AND THE DEMAND 

 FOR RUBBER. 



As regards the users of rubber, reports have 

 been received indicating an enormously in- 

 creased denfand for tyres, and huge contracts 

 are reported to have been placed by a syndicate 

 interested in tha taxi-cab business. (Jreat ex- 

 tensions of the taxi-cab industry are anticipated 

 and with these extensions a great increase 

 in the consumption of raw rubber for tyre 

 manufacture. A. number of manufacturers 

 who have fixed up contracts for manufactured 

 goods hav-} apparently covered themselves by 

 buying forward supplies. On the other hand, 

 contracts usually given out at this time have 

 been postponed, and the trade in this country 

 must be suffering severely from the consumer's 

 very natural dislike to buying at prices so much 

 above the usual level. Investors in rubber grow- 

 ing companies have persuaded themselves that 

 it will be some time before the supply of rubber 

 overtakes the demand.— H. & C. Mail, Nov. 12. 



