February, 1909. j 



129 



Oils and Falsi 



The reason for applying a large per- 

 centage of kainit was to supply sodium 

 chloride (common salt) to the soil. This 

 I think of great importance to lands 

 away from the sea. Kainit contains 

 over 30 per cent, of salt. 



A cooly could easily manure twelve 

 trees per day, i.e., measuring and mixing 

 the manure, spreading, turning in the 

 manure to a 6 feet radius, and turning 

 another 3 feet outside this radius ; this 

 means, wages being at 33 cents per day, 

 that each tree costs a little less than 

 3 cents. Turning the sods competely 

 over thereby burying the grass and 

 manure, I consider very important. 

 This is easily done except on estates of 

 a sandy nature, by removing the first 

 lot of sods and turning the second lot 

 into the trench, working from the base 

 of the tree to the outer. I also found 

 that two or three coolies turning the 

 soil at one tree simultaneously could do 

 better work, and the Avork does not seem 

 so tedious, as one cooly working at each 

 tree by himself. 



Planting Vacancies. 

 I had to do this on a large scale, as on 

 taking a census of the estate I discovered 

 that there were about 3,500 vacancies, 

 and as I had over 200 head of cattle to 

 protect the plants from, I adopted a 

 method that had been carried on before ; 

 that of using husks stacked up around, 

 as a fence. I found this an excellent plan, 

 as it not only acts as a fence but as a 

 mulch in conserving moisture. I carted 

 five cart-loads of husks to every vacancy 

 and had them stacked round the holes 

 when convenient. When the wet 

 weather came I planted. Results were 

 astonishing, and the method is to be 

 highly recommended ; only care must be 

 taken that the stacking is well done, 

 starting with a good broad base and 

 gradually thinning. Otherwise, the first 

 bull that comes along and tries to get 

 at a dainty morsel growing inside, 

 knocks down half the fence and makes 

 endless work. 



Picking. 



I do not believe in picking by means 

 of a long bamboo with a knife attached, 

 as the trees do not get cleaned, and the 

 pickers are liable to cut down immature 

 bunches, which is undoubtedly a serious 

 loss. I persisted in the climbing process 

 which, although a little more expensive, 

 is I consider cheap and safe in the long 

 run. I consider nothing requires such 

 careful supervision as the getting of the 

 right bunches picked, as after all, the 

 labour and expenses on an estate is for 

 the purposes of getting the best fruits 

 at harvest. 

 15 



Propping Bunches, 

 This I found absolutely necessary, as 

 certain young trees have long fruit 

 stalks, and these stalks being weak could 

 not support the weight of the bunches, 

 A little experience and observation 

 taught me that the propping requires 

 careful attention, for if it is not done 

 carefully and thoroughly more harm 

 than good would be the result. Luckily, 

 I had a large reserve jungle to procure 

 my props from, and so had the pick and 

 choice of the best sticks and was not 

 limited to number. My experience has 

 taught me that the props used should be 

 of the strongest willowy timber ; that 

 the ends should be carefully pointed ; 

 that the props should not be longer than 

 is absolutely necessary for the particular 

 bunch and the situation of the bunch ; 

 that the bunch should only be very 

 slightly raised; that the point of the 

 prop should be very securely driven into 

 the trunk of the tree, and that the 

 PORK OF THE PROP SHOULD BE INSERTED 



INTO THE CENTRE OF THE BUNCH 

 and not at the end. The cutting, point- 

 ing and propping cost for 11,160 props 

 is Rs. 74*51, the work being done by 

 trained Tamil coolies under direct super- 

 vision. Trees from 20 to 25 years old 

 seemed to get over this propping stage. 

 I should think that in selecting nuts for 

 the nursery, if they were chosen from 

 trees that always, had short tough fruit 

 stalks, we would be able to reproduce 

 "chips of the old block "and propping 

 becomes a thing of the past. Propping 

 becomes a serious question on some 

 estates, as props of any kind are getting 

 scarcer and scarcer, and prices higher 

 and the sources are getting less and 

 further away. It would be a great boon 

 to most planters if some inventive genius 

 would produce a suitably cheap, pliable, 

 imperishable substitute to the jungle 

 forked-stick now used, I read in an 

 English magazine that railway rails 

 were being manufactured out of com 

 pressed paper ; it that is possible, it 

 should make excellent props with the 

 addition of a steel point. 



Drying. 



It seems a great pity that no better 

 process has been introduced than the 

 present method of smoking, The system 

 is scientifically incorrect and risky, but 

 I suppose, with the usual backwardness 

 of Ceylonese enterprise; it will be a long 

 time yet before we get anything better. 

 I had a great deal of experience in dry- 

 ing apricots, peaches, raisins, pears, 

 plums, etc., which was entirely dried by 

 the sun in a climate where the average 

 rainfall is If in., and the thermometer 

 very often registered 120° in the shade. 

 The fruit was exposed to the sun on 



