February, 1909.] 



175 



Scientific Agriculture. 



increase in production can be secured by 

 the more thorough tillage of the soil. 



COCONUT CULTIVATION, MANURE AND 

 TILLAGE. 



In applying the above general remarks 

 to coconut cultivation, I think my 

 readers will agree with me that in most 

 eases our coconut estates do not receive 

 the great impetus necessary for success- 

 ful results with economy,— (1) either by 

 making the dormant plant-food in the 

 soil available by the addition of special 

 ingredients to convert the dormant 

 matter into active plant food, (2) or by 

 judicious manuring, (3) or by tillage, 

 turning up and stirring up the dormant 

 plant-food which by nitrification and by 

 other chemical changes caused by 

 atmospheric influences, causes the sleepy 

 plant-food to turn into active life. The 

 first method seems hardly to be taken 

 advantage of at all. Of course, it is 

 possible that a lot of practical planters 

 may not be aware of -this method, and in 

 the other case, those that are aware of 

 it may not consider that research by 

 tedious experiments is worth the trouble. 

 If one would take the trouble to think a 

 little deeply on the subject, he will come 

 to the conclusion that there is more 

 than likely a large accumulation of 

 dormant food in his soil, and that it is 

 more economical to add one or two 

 ingredients to convert that which is now 

 not available, into available, food, 

 rather than to go to the heavy expense 

 of buying a complete manure. The 

 second method, that of artificial manur- 

 ing, is largely carried out, but in all cases 

 I do not think it receives the careful 

 study it should do. Some planters have 

 got into their heads that artificial manur- 

 ing only is necessary for their estates, 

 but I think a perusal of the first portion 

 of this article will prove to them that 



BOTH ARTIFICIAL AND CATTLE MANURE, 



applied judiciously, and at suitable 

 intervals, will give better results at 

 much less expense. With reference to 

 tillage I make bold to say that the culti- 

 vation usually carried out on coconut 

 estates is absolutely inadequate, The 

 method usually adopted is to turn the 

 soil round the trees to a distance of six 

 feet from the base, leaving a band a foot 

 or eighteen inches at the base untouched. 

 In some few instances seven to eight 

 feet is cultivated. Why should not the 

 whole land be turned up to as great a 



depth as possible. Why do we leave from 

 25 to 30 feet between the rows of trees ? 

 Is it not as feeding-room for the roots of 

 the trees ? If that is so, is 4 ft. 6 to 5 ft. 

 of actual cultivation sufficient? No doubt 

 a lot of planters will say that this reads 

 well on paper, but is not practicable— 

 that of turning up the entire soil on ac- 

 count of the heavy expense. It would, 

 however, be found cheaper to extend the 

 cultivation, so that the whole land is 

 well turned up rather than go to the 

 much heavier expense of supplying com- 

 plete artificial fertilisers. Tillage— which 

 makes the plant-food more available, 

 and in most cases, where only a few feet 

 of the soil round the tree is cultivated 

 from the time of planting— is all that 

 is required for a long time 



TO PRODUCE GOOD CROPS. 



For nitrification or the action of minute 

 bacteria on the soil which produces a 

 process of fermentation, it is necessary 

 that air should penetrate into the soil, 

 as without air the bacteria cannot 

 exist in its first generation. The effect 

 of this process of fermentation is to 

 render assimilable the otherwise dor- 

 mant nitrogen, the element of value in 

 the organic portion of the soil. There 

 is no doubt that ploughing would be 

 cheaper and undoubtedly better than 

 hoeing, etc., by hand as it would be more 

 uniform in character, and the plough 

 would turn up the soil to an even depth. 

 Every planter knows that a lot of bad 

 work can be done by hand work, as it 

 is impossible to supervise every indivi- 

 dual cooly, but unfortunately we have 

 not yet reached the stage where we 

 have both the plough and motive poiver 

 to turn up the soil to an even depth of 

 about 8 to 9 inches- There are plenty 

 of first-class ploughs available in other 

 countries and can easily be imported, 

 but we have not at present the animal 

 power capable of drawing them. But 

 I feel sure that, if proprietors of coco- 

 nut estates thoroughly understood the 

 great advantages gained by properly 

 ploughing their land, they would not 

 allow this stmublingblock to stand in 

 their way for very long, as heavy draft 

 cattle can be imported in the first 

 instance from India or elsewhere, and 

 judicious breeding would supply fresh 

 cattle for later periods. 



P. G. SCHRADER. 



—Ceylon Independent. 



